porto and tour guide toby

So my first day in Portugal was not exactly the warm, beach-like weather I had been hoping for. However, it was filled with interesting portugeese food, lots of sights, a port house tour and a lot of rain! We are not exactly fans of Port but since we were in PORTO we decided to explore some of the port houses and it was a great experience. I know my dad is going to be jealous, but I did pick him up a little treat! It was cold and wet and we were very relieved to have super tour guide toby to lead us around so that we were not aimlessly wandering in the rain. He, I must say, is a proficent map reader and was invaluable to our tour. Also, because we speak not a word of Portugese. Although we are learning to say sorry and thank you, which have become essentials. On tuesday we decided to go out for traditional portugese food at a small little restaurant in downtown Porto. I felt like we were actually in a Portugese family kitchen as our chefs and servers were two parents and a son, the walls were covered with beautiful traditional portugese tiles, the tv was on and tuned into the Porto football game and our dinner came out in metal pots! Since we could not read the menu and the staff could not speak any english, Toby and his Brazilian roomate Daniel oredered for us. There were five of us and we ordered four dishes to share. Well, when the food came out we quickly learned that we could have easily only ordered TWO meals. We had enough food to feed both football teams that were playing on tv that night. Everything was going swimmingly until Daniel noticed something unusual in his dish. He asked all of us what we thought it was, first Kate thought it might be a screw, and then we discovered that it was in fact a CATERPILLAR. Yummmmm. I was the first, and only to suggest that perhaps Portugese people need a little extra protein? So, luckily Daniel speaks Portugese of course and he dealt with it. The portugese mama came over and was absolutely shocked. She said since they opened the place ten years ago this has never happened. At one point she went to the back and brought out a huge frozen fish to explain the process they use to cook their meals. She took off two meals from our bill, which was actually nice since we were treating everyone! Poor Daniel is scarred for life though and I do not know if he will be able to eat out in Porto for a while.

Our next day in Porto was very lovely. The weather was amazing and we took it easy because Toby, being the german drillmaster that he is had worn us out the night before. We just wandered around and ate a lovely lunch on the water in front of all of the Port houses in Villa Nova de Gaia which is directly accross the river from Porto. The setup is similar to Dartmouth and Halifax and they even have the same saying in Porto as they do to Halifax that "The best thing about Gaia/Dartmouth is the view of Porto/Halifax! We hung out at the beach before going to the grocery store with our official portugese translator, Daniel to buy things to make dinner for the night. We really wanted to make Toby and his lovely roomates a traditional Canadian meal but we were stumped at what we could make and what we would find ingredients for so we settled on Ann Milligans famous pasta! We also tried to make them Ceasars, which we think are indigenous to Canada but since we didnt have Clamato, they were not as awesome as they could have been. But luckily we had bottles of wine (which cost 1.50). The rest of the evening was spent with Matcheks family (one of tobys roomates) who came from Poland to visit. His Dad was showing us photos of his trip to Africa and it was fun to see all of his kids translating for him. Kate and Sarah decided to stay in for the night and I went out with Toby and his friends. They took me to this huge square in the middle of the city where students were drinking beer and a port-like drink. There were hundreds of students in black capes, which is apparently what upperclass people wear on a daily basis and all of the "frosh" were in yellow shirts. It was like Mount A frosh week as all of the younger students were performing embarassing tasks and doing huge group cheers. That is how I had the opportunity to turn down my first (of many?) marriage proposal on my first night here because an upperclass student told a frosh he had to ask me. Now, we are in Lisbon and are in a beautiful hostel....Toby is joining us for the weekend with a bunch of his friends from school and Sarahs two friends from her cottage will also be in Lisbon so I am sure it will prove to be quite fun! Adeus!!

portugal and toby, the best german host

When we arrived in Portugal, Sarah and I had our fingers crossed that Toby, a friend of Katherine´s and a boy we had never met would be waiting for us at the arrivals gate to pick us up. Katherine had sent us an email (entitled "hot boy at the airport") with a picture of him which we studied thoroughly before we left Antibes. Luckily as soon as we got to the arrivals gate we spotted him and got to ride in his sweet van back to his apartment. We became fast friends as Toby is VERY nice and made us feel extremely welcome. He gave us a lovely breakfast and then let us have a much needed nap in his room for a couple hours, as we were severely lacking in sleep from the night before. When we got up, we all took a walk from his apartment through Porto, on the way to the beach! It was a beautiful Portugese day, 25 degrees and sunny and Sarah and I felt like it was a beautiful summer day in the Maritimes. Toby showed us his University on the way where we bumped into one of his friends from school and he introduced us as his friends from Canada even though we had only known him for approximately 4 hours. We got down to the water and had an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean from the side we are not used to seeing. We walked along the water until we came to a beautiful beach where we lay out on towels and soaked up some sun (well Sarah did, I clearly applied sunscreen!) I put my feet in the Atlantic but decided that it was not quite as warm as the Mediterrean, so my feet were as far as I got. From the beach, Toby took us to a have our first Portugese beer which we very much enjoyed. We took the bus back to the apartment, and While Toby went to class Sarah and I relaxed for a couple hours before we all got back in the sweet van to pick up KJ at the Airport! When Katherine finally arrived after her 20 hour travel day, we were all very happy to see her and very excited to complete our threesome. Even though the first words out of Katherine´s mouth were " I am so tired" she was an amazing trooper and Toby took us all out to a Portugese bar where we met a lot of his friends and drank caipirinha´s, a very strange frozen drink which I´m still not sure exactly what it was. Katherine, being very sleep deprived was a little delerious but very entertaining for the rest of us and proceeded to ask a fraternity, sorority type of organization who were at the bar why they were all wearing black capes.... one thing lead to another, ending with one of the first year students proposing marrige to her. All in all it was very good night but an even better sleep.
- Kate

that time we slept at the marseille airport

sunday night kate and i fulfilled every backpackers duty... we slept at an airport. although it was way better than we expected, we hope to never do it again! we took chris saw us off from the station in antibes at 830 that night, and we arrived at the marseille train station at 11. we were very worried about finding the connecting bus to the airport that we had booked, and getting there in time, as the last shuttle left at 1130pm. after that, we would have needed to take a taxi, something neither of us were very keen on. we found our bus platform, and decided we would get some mcdonalds, as we knew hardly anything would be open at the airport once we arrived. it was the worst mcdonalds experience we had ever had!! pretty sure in france, they pre-make your food and at 1130pm, it is not very fresh. we got on this huge bus, and thankfully there was one other passenger... because our bus driver was a little crazy. we listened to a hilarious selection of english radio hits, ending with "sexual healing" as we pulled up to the airport. we were glad to arrive, and both agreed the whole experience could have been much worse. we found a comfy area of floor, and each managed to get a little sleep, before having to switch terminals at 440am to check in for our ryanair flight to portugal. let me take this opportunity to shed some light on our first ryanair experience.... assigned seating does not exist with this airline, and kate and i quickly learned that once they call your flight, the best plan of attack is to RUN to get a place in line. it was completely bizarre! people would step right in front of you in line and stay there! we got seats together, but it might be more difficult travelling with three than two in the coming weeks! one thing is for sure... taking your time is not an option when flying ryanair!

day 4, 5 & 6 in the south of france

on friday morning, kate and i woke up, checked out of our comfy little paris hostel and got on a five hour express train to antibes, a little town in between nice and cannes in the south of france to visit chris and james, friends from mount a living there for the year. the train was awesome, we covered an incredible amount of ground (all of france) in such a short time. we learned quickly that train travel in europe is going to be very efficient for us. we arrived in antibes, and needed to call chris for directions, as they had to be at work setting up for the 20th anniversary of their bar... the party was conveniently that night and even better... they were giving away drinks! kate and i unloaded our stuff, and took the map that chris left for us in the kitchen and walked around the old town of antibes. it is so gorgeous there! chris and james live in an apartment on the 4th floor of a house on a cobble stone street in the old town. true to chris, the apartment was spotless, and kate and i took over his room for the weekend. we wandered down to the little beach near the harbour and stuck our feet into the mediterranean for the first time. by this time, the free drinks at the bar had started, and we went by for a drink or two (and a welcome to antibes jagerbomb from james) before supper. we ate at this amazing little restaurant just down the street from the apartment and decided we were going to drink some rose wine, because it appeared all the locals loved it. by this time, we certainly didnt need the bottle of rose we had purchased, but we drank it anyway back at the apartment, and ended up at the bar. chris proceeded to give us another bottle, and things went seriously downhill from here. i broke two wineglasses (one on james greens foot), and by the time kate and i got home, we couldnt even wait up for the boys. welcome to antibes. chris took us to the beach on saturday, which was a perfect activity for us after our evening out. it was a beautiful day, and we even got some swimming in. after the guys left for work, we hopped on a train to cannes, just 12 minutes away to check out the most famous area in the south of france. it was pretty unreal... very ritzy and we enjoyed the serious window shopping we did at louis vuitton and hermes. back in antibes, went down to the boys bar for some drinks, watched the montreal game with james (a die hard fan) and ended up back at the apartment where we stayed up until 6am having some drinks and visiting. lets just say sunday was a very lazy day, which was exactly what we needed after our whirlwind weekend. packing up our backpacks is not as fun as we had imagined, and takes a lot of mental prep. i am fast realizing that i brought too much stuff!!

day 3

today was our last full day in paris, and we had a great one. we woke up this morning and took care of some reservations at the train station for our trip down south tomorrow, and then ventured out on the suburban paris metro lines to versailles. we got off the train, and walked about five minutes from the station, turned right, and there it was. the palace was so incredible... no detail was spared. we got to tour through all the private chambers of the royal family, and we saw marie antionette's bedroom and the king's hall of mirrors and the peace drawing room. everything about the place was unbelievable... the hallways were long, the arches were high, and the highlight was probably the chapel. the grounds were just as impressive as the palace itself. the gardens are kept immaculately, and we took some pretty amazing photos. tonight we headed to the bastille quarter for supper. we were supposed to meet kate's friend joanna, and we waited, but she was about 45 minutes delayed when the ATM in the station ate her bank card, so we decided something had come up and we went to find a place to eat ourselves. we ended up at this trendy little bistro called chez oscars, and we had the best meal we have had in paris. tonight we have been packing up our bags and getting ready for our early morning train to antibes, to visit chris and james for the weekend. the weather forecast looks nice and warm, so we are very excited for the weekend!

day 2 in paris

today was a great day, although we woke up to gray skies and some rain. we totally made the best of it and did a serious tour of the city's great sights. after a much needed 12 hour sleep, we had the hostel's free continental breakfast which was great, and headed out to the louvre. the palais-royal was a sight to see in itself, such an impressive building rich with history. as soon as we saw the glass pyramid, i think we began to get really excited. we toured through the museum at a decent pace, hoping to see as much as we could in a short time frame. we got through all the egyptian exhibit (a ryan lebans suggestion!), and partially through the greek antiques and sculptors, before we got lost, and ended up at the mona lisa! it was pretty cool to see in person, although there were about a million people trying to get a picture in the hall. it was actually a lot smaller than i had imagined, but impressive all the same, especially considering there are people that stop at the museum exclusively for this piece. we got through the italian sculptures, and ended up calling it quits after ending up near the escalator out. it is difficult to navigate in the building, and we figured if we didn't leave then, it might be another hour or so until we would have the opportunity and we still had lots we wanted to do! we ended up at the arc d'triomphe, which was pretty impressive, and i took lots of pictures because i knew my dad would think it was tres cool. we wandered down champs-elysse, and did some serious window shopping at louis vuitton before having lunch at a cafe. we got back on the subway and decided to head over to see notre dame cathedral before the afternoon was over. it was actually a huge highlight for me, the stained glass was so impressive, and they let you tour through the church which i wasn't sure they would. it was also cool to see the famous gargoyles gaurding the city. we went out for dinner tonight in montmartre, a really trendy area of the city, and also home to the moulin rouge and the paris red light district. it was a little shocking walking down the street, but an experience for sure! we are back in the hostel trying to plan our day tomorrow to versailles, but very pleased with our second day in paris!!

arrival in paris!

after a very long twelve hours, we have made it to paris! the seven hour flight wasn't too bad, and we were able to sleep a little bit which was nice. we arrived in paris around 10am this morning local time. everything upon our arrival was almost too easy... there was hardly a line at customs, our bags arrived (we were a little worried kate's might have been lost in the connection from halifax) and we exited to find the train station. we were able to purchase our tickets, find the right train and get on it without asking for help once!! we were bound to encounter a problem by the time we arrived at the central paris station. we think we were scammed by a guy who was awfully helpful to us, but we aren't really sure. he led us to a ticket machine and explained the type of pass we should get, and before we had really said yes or no, he had shoved his OWN credit card in the machine to make the payment. it ended up being about thirty euros each for this three day pass, and we thought we had been totally ripped off, but it turns out it is for the metro, the bus systems, and the RER trains which can take us all over the city and to versailles, so we might be OK. it was unsettling though, and it certainly taught us to be careful of friendly strangers!! we made it to the hostel on the metro, and now we are waiting for our room to be ready at 2pm to freshen up before heading out and hopefully visiting the eiffel tower and getting some much needed food and coffee!! its looking a little grey outside, but paris is lovely already. the trees are all changing colour and they line the streets. we can't wait to explore!