Praha (sounds better than Prague I think)

Ok, now I've finally published a bunch of older posts written over the past few weeks.  I'll catch up with a bit on Athens, Istanbul, Sofia, Ljubljana, Budapest and currently Prague soon (I promise!)   Enjoy this and more to come soon!  Sorry for the lack of pictures right now, I am lazy and there are so many pictures its hard to make an album.  And I'm trying to figure out a good background..sorry if its hard to read right now.  I'm being begged to sign out right now and go do something.  Cheers!

Ferry from Bari, Italy to Patras, Greece

here I am on a boat sailing from Bari, in southern Italy, to Patras, Greece. It feels magical, and lucie and I are so excited. We did a great job traveling and figuring out a lot of problems today. Neither of us thought with all the complications that arose that we would actually be sleeping on this boat tonight, but nevertheless, here we are. Every leg of the long journey today was close, but it all worked out. Neither of us have ever been on a boat for this long. We got on in the rain, the first rainy day we've had since being here. The whole train ride was very taxing...Italian trains are decidedly a lot less organized than Swiss or French trains. First we got to the Rome Termini station with plenty of time to make our reservation, then no one would help us when we couldn't actually find the train we were planning on getting on. (We did talk to 2 very unhelpful Information people) Then, we waited in the reservation line twice, 40 minutes each time, to talk to the same very incompetent woman who was so impressed when, after our first train was already full so we couldn't make a reservation, we actually figured out another route that would work and get us to Bari to the ferry to Greece by 16:00, to avoid staying in Rome an extra day. (We asked her to tell us if there was another route the first time we waited in the line, and she said there was nothing, so we just figured it out for ourselves.) She proceeded to have a big computer glitch as she was processing our tickets and almost made us miss the train we did make a reservation for...erg. Sometimes you really must take matters into your own hands and not depend on the people whose jobs it is to help you, especially if they don't seem to know what they're doing. Actually no one checked any of our tickets the whole day and we were on 3 or 4 different trains.. I really can't complain..my whole journey today-3 trains, a very sketchy taxi ride that fortunately occurred with a few other people and now an overnight ferry, coupled with my Eurail pass, was a whole 42 euros. We went across Italy and are now crossing the sea to Greece. Waking up at 5:45 to see the sunrise. A Titanic-themed photo shoot may commence afterword.

Quick Thoughts--Roma, Italia, and some Paris

~Working at the Travelers Club has educated me a great deal on beer. I know at least one of the main beers everywhere I've been so far.

~”Fifteen different churches and no bakery. This isn't like France” -Lucie

~Je ne parle pas Francias. I don't speak French

~This sounds cheesy, but seeing some of the impressionist paintings in real life really brought tears to my eyes. I could feel my heart almost stop.

~There are a whole lot of really stupid tourists. I know I'm a tourist too, but the really stupid ones annoy me.

~There are a whole lot of really stupid tourists in art museums. When you're seeing Manet for the first time, it is inappropriate to discuss your business transactions and the bad weather in New York really loudly with your colleague for half an hour.

~There comes a point where you can easily predict not only whether people are tourists (not too difficult) but where they come from. For instance, some Eastern Europeans in Rome, often very overdressed, as told to me by an American tour guide Lucie and I met.  It is kind of comical to watch men helping their wives or girlfriends navigate very uneven terrains like cobblestone streets, or climbing the rocks to the Acropolis for instance, because they decided it was good common sense to go out on vacation with stiletto heels the size of the Eiffel Tower.  Fashion hurts.  Americans are easiest of all to pick out. We stick out like a sore thumb with the fanny packs and safari-esque clothing and loud use of English. I try to not do any of these things, but I do have a hard time putting my fanny pack away.

~Maybe I should retitle this, thoughts on tourists.

~There may be a valid reason to tell people to cover their shoulders when entering churches in Rome. No, your less than bum-length transparent white skirt with the pink thong underneath does not look like you have class. Anywhere.

~Backpacking makes you come to accept the fact that you don't look quite yourself all the time. And you look kind of dorky sometimes. (Or maybe cool, when people see you can carry your entire life on your back, turtle-shell style) But this is well-understood backpacker philosophy and no one really cares. And frankly, I don't care that much anymore about my clothes, or how clean they always are.

~This sounds superficial, but I like to check out hot, interesting, and cool-looking people while traveling, or walking in a new place. Who doesn't? Once in awhile one of them talks to you, and that's fun too.

~I love coffees. Especially in Europe they ain't no Starbucks (although Starbucks does exist here) Tiny cups with tiny saucers. And it often comes with a really high quality chocolate coated hazelnut on the side.

~I must learn more languages. Must.

~Part of travel is accepting the fact that you are forced to be like a child a lot, and not understand anything going on. But ask a lot of questions, just to be sure of the things you need to know, or you'll surely be screwed.

~Travel is taking moments to stop, think, wait, write, sit. Lucie and I do that very well together. We talk a lot to each other, and there are lots of silent moments which we each take our own time and give each other our own space as well. That is so important.

~You can find anything in Paris. Anything. Stores just for metal drawer handles. Or for Tunisian desserts.

~In Kenya I wanted to blend in so much, not take pictures, look like the tourist. Now I don't care and I take pictures when I feel like it. And ask the questions I need to without worrying about looking stupid. I AM the stupid one here—I don't speak the language and still need to know stuff!

~There are so many foods I need to make once I'm home. And so many books to read. And so many movies to watch. And so many languages to learn. And so many Lonely Planet books to drool over. There is so much more traveling to be done.

~This entire trip is basically planning the future trips for all the stuff I'm missing or want to stay at longer. So far, Ireland backpacking, Italy trip, Eastern Europe trip, along with the Russia, India, Southeast Asia, and South America trips I want to do.

~I love art. I really don't like art museums. Except the Villa Borghese. Heartstopping. And I saw with my own eyes just how amazing Bernini is. The pictures we weren't allowed to take just wouldn't describe it in the slightest. I just wish they let you stay in there more than 2 hours. There are just so many better ways to experience art than in a sterile quiet environment where you feel like you'll always get in trouble and have to move along all the time and go the right direction. The Villa Borghese itself is such a work of art.

~In our fast and connected world, we are able to walk by paintings and at a glance go, yeah, I like that. No, I don't like that. I want to spend time with like 10 paintings at a time in a whole day. You get art fatigue after awhile and it doesn't impact anymore.

~I love the dogs and cats in these cities. They seem stray but people feed them. Some have collars but just wander. And you can always find friends to pet for a few minutes.

~Why is ice cream so good here?

~Picture menus are awesome.

The Day We Decided To Take The Metro--Paris, France

Bad decision. After using the velos all over the city for awhile, for some reason one evening, Lucie and I decided to take the metro back to her apartment. Some weird stuff had happened shortly before that and the energy wasn't so good. Then, in the middle of a tunnel, the metro stopped and the electricity went off. People on metros throughout the world always look so bored to me and like they don't care at all, while I always spend time being nosy and checking out the other people around me on metros, maybe because the novelty of them hasn't worn off yet. This was the first moment on a metro though that I've been on where people started looking around and wondering what was going on. An announcement came that there was some sort of accident on the tracks ahead of us and we couldn't go forward, so after a few more minutes of the lights going on and off in the metro tunnel, we went back to the station where we started. As we had to get across town, couldn't take the metro, and didn't want to take a bus or taxi, we decided to do the velos. Lucie didn't have enough money on her bank card to get a new one-day pass, but I still had mine from the day before, so it was 2 girls, 1 bike.

I sat on the back first while Lucie pedaled, still in her office attire, while I struggled to keep my bum from sliding to the front of the seat to give her an inch or two of space to sort of sit on my lap. Then we switched spots after awhile. I don't think anyone looked twice. I don't know, I didn't look.

Another time I had to ride home barefoot the day my sandal broke.  Hippie.

Way Too Many Tourists

I saw the best tourists ever today. Scene: standing out in the sun on a lovely day waiting in line with 500 or so of my fellow tourists waiting to get into the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, home to many of the most famous paintings in the world, naturally a tourist haven. Ahead of me in the line, I saw what seemed to be one of those hats with an umbrella on top poking out of the crowd. Oh, this is going to be good, I thought. As the people came into view, the woman in this family was the wearer of the hat, her black and white jogging suit and rhinestone bedazzled glasses reflecting in the sun. Her backpack matched her husband's as well as her 12 year old daughter's, who was wearing equally bedazzled glasses (except the girl's had stars). Her husband had on one of those khaki safari hats, which was covered in souvenir pins, one of them matching his shirt which barely covered his protruding belly and bore the image of a French flag and proclaimed Welcome to Paris on it. If I were a pickpocket, I'd know my target.

On the other hand, I, being far more sophisticated, was asked for directions a total of three times that day. I hoped it was because I looked so French. Too bad my cover was blown the second I opened my mouth and said, No Francias. I was able to help 2 of them out though.

Velo Love--Paris, France

So there is this amazing bike rental system in Paris that I think every city in the world should adopt. I have been biking my butt off all over the city once Lucie introduced me to them (ok mostly I was with her, but I was by myself some too.) There are bike stands all over the city with these special bikes and all you have to do is have a bank card (preferably one that works, mine wouldn't, Lucie helped me out)

and you promise to pay 150 euros if you steal the bike, then you get a little card and Voila, grab a good bike. You can bike for free for up to 30 minutes, and when you're finished, just hook the bike back into another of the little bike stands, which are all over the city. If you're almost to 30 minutes and don't want to start paying for the bike, just hook it back up to a stand nearby for a minute or two, then grab a different bike for another 30 minutes. Isn't that sweet? I shouldn't even have to ask.

An added bonus to this system is the way bike lanes have been integrated into every part of the roadways. Bikes go along the right side of the road sharing with the bus lanes which are often separated with a concrete barrier from the regular lanes, or sometimes there are bike lanes along the sidewalk. Its all really well marked, and because of the popularity of these bikes, cars are all used to watching for them all the time. Paris introduced this system 4 or 5 years ago, and since then all larger French cities now have these bikes. I think the rest of the world should follow suit.

As an addendum, since I actually wrote this a few weeks ago, after being in other cities with similar systems like this (Rome for example) Paris' system is definitely the best integrated and seems to be most widely used. You see people everywhere riding these very industrial looking grey bikes that look impossible to break.  They had the same thing in Roma, but there is no room to bike, plus all the streets are cobblestone and narrow, and we never actually saw any bikes on the racks.  In Paris people actually use them, or in some cases, 2 people use one.

Bienvenue a Paris

So its about time I got my blog started up. Hello all, this is Alexandra, an aspiring world traveler, with the lofty goal of visiting as many places in the world as she can before she dies. 24 before 24 I decided on...24 countries before the age of 24. I think I'll be there by the end of this trip. (Europe makes that easier) I landed in Paris on Wednesday, August 19 and was picked up by the famed Lucie Wa', a French exchange student I knew in high school and got to be great friends with. Now we've been hanging out seeing each other for the first time in 5 years! Not a lot has changed between us and we've been having a ball. She has an internship in Paris for the summer at the French department of defense, which doesn't really seem along her lines for those who know her at all, but she said it's been a great experience and has actually really changed her formerly negative views of the military. She also has an apartment she so graciously has been sharing with me.

What have I been doing? Eating lots of bread and cheese, so much cheese. And its so good. Wandering, chatting, riding trains, riding bikes, trying to learn enough French to get around (I know German), lounging in the outdoor cafes (they all have outdoor seating, I love it), eating croissants and baguettes, getting familiar with the layout and different neighborhoods of Paris, walking along the Seine, (river that runs through the middle of Paris) visiting places like the Eiffel Tower, Rodin Museum, Louvre, Montmartre-where the film Amelie took place, etc. Dad, you would have been proud of me going to the Cemetiere du Pere Lachaise, Paris' most famous cemetery with at least 50 or so famous people in it—Modigliani, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Bellini, and...Jim Morrison. Lucie was especially excited to see what crazy American tourists would be doing at the grave. She said last time she was there they were kissing it and crying and putting flowers and stuff. We didn't see any displays like that, just a few people leaving him cigarettes and having a smoke in his honor.  I'm sure he appreciated it.

Its taken awhile, but here I am!

Welcome everyone to my new blog! Actually the big holdup was thinking up a name and designing it this whole thing and getting it going. (Computers are not my love or forte. They are a tool I utilize for business) Finally I got tired of just waiting around writing stuff that wasn't going up, and figured, I need to just get this thing started. So, the dawn of Alexandra Everywhere. I thought the name sounded a little pretentious at first, but I think I like the ring of it. Alexandra Europe just didn't do it the same. Plus, that is kind of a life mission for me, to go and experience as many different places and cultures as I am able to before I die.

So...what am I doing? All kinds of stuff! I've been in Europe, starting in Paris since August 18, and am planning to be here until November 15th-ish. I don't remember the day. After landing in Paris, I met up with my dear friend Lucie. She was a French exchange student at Mason High School in 2004-5 and we got to be fast friends. So we decided to do a bit of traveling together after not seeing each other for 5 years. I've become very picky about picking traveling partners over my past travels because its sort of like getting into a relationship or choosing a roommate, but almost more than those, because from the start you have to rely on each other a LOT and be good at working together, living together, problem-solving together, dealing with crisis together and also hopefully having a lot of fun together. Emphasis on Together. I think things have gone pretty smoothly so far, with pretty limited grumpiness. We're both pretty optimistic, energetic cats with similar travel styles and schedules. More cheesiness on the beauty of our relationship later.

So..let's get into it. Where have I been so far? Paris, Switzerland, Rome, Athens and currently Istanbul. Let the recounting of the fun begin.

Hopefully I'll figure out how to put up lots of pictures very soon.