I'd like to start this entry by not talking about Europe but rather my return to Houston. Houston feels strangely unfamiliar and different after Europe. For a few things that I haven't done for a year like driving and directions I picked up quickly, but for some weird stuff like paying tax added after purchase (in europe price shown includes tax), not seeing spirits sold in every store in town, and everything decreasing a fold in price really does feel different. Some of the changes have shown some dangerous side-effects, such as this once when I complained to the cashier at a milk tea cafe that she overcharged me, gazing in the disappointing alcohol section everytime I go to a Krogers or a Wal-mart, and buying everything that I think is ridiculously cheap and ending up spending way more than I should on grocery shopping sprees. Well, those are just surface differences, while culturally I also find myself craving quite alot of stuff European. I'm not going to go into the specifics but I'm sure you'll understand if you go to Europe.

So wow, what me and YANG YANG Linda Yang went through in Europe is intense, exciting, sometimes life threatening, but most of the time just adventurous and fun. Ever seen Eurotrip? Well, if we had filmed our two months together, I'd send it to MGM to have it considered a sequel. So what happened? Lemme see... flight cancellation (as mentioned in the previous entry), homeless nights, and really sketchy stories that I  should not go into detail. But that's the kind of stuff you'd expect to face... The highlight of the trip is still the unbelievable stuff we saw, and delicious meals we've had (and yes, instant meals count), in some cases the sketchy situations themselves. As usual: now the pictures.
SPAIN

Royal Palace, Madrid

Artist, Madrid

Wedding, Salamanca (Yes, I also crashed a wedding at Salamanca, Spain)
SWITZERLAND
So the flight to Milan was canceled and we went to Geneva instead.

Worldcup Final, Geneva, Switzerland (Damn, should've been in Milan for this)

Geneva, Switzerland

Me begging on the street... at 3 am
CRUISE, GREECE
Took the ferry to Greece. No cabins were available so we had to spend the night on the deck... That light's freaken bright!

Greece alas!

Ah Greek Kebabs are to die for, even though they're the cheapest thing you can get there. This is at some cafe by the Acropolis.

We met up with a Greek friend of mine from Bristol, Manos, who took us to the beaches by his house and then this amazing seafood restaurant.

Parthenon!

Linda and Effie, a Canadian/Greek/Macedonian girl we met at our hostel.

On the way back to Italy. No, this is not our cruise.

Hey that's my hat!
ROME

Linda having a heart-attack after her first cup of Italian coffee...Or maybe in finding out that we lost our booking for that night's hostel and now have to look for a hotel when we get to Rome at midnight...

Linda singing Britney Spears in St. Peter's Basicila, Vatican City.

Now she's dancing...

Finally realizing where she is and asking for forgiveness

Some pretty bridge

The Pantheon

Improvising at its best

Oh yeah, who's that stud

Inside the Vatican Museum

Linda thinks she deserves a place in the painting.

The staircase leading out of the Vatican Museum

Italian gelato!!! Mucho deliciouso!
FLORENCE

Someone's on the path to becoming a nun. This is inside the Duomo in Florence.

Outside of the Duomo.

Our favorite restaurant out of ALL the places we went to! If you want authentic DELICIOUS Italian food at prices you won't choke at first sight, this is the place to go!

Self explanatory
SWITZERLAND II- Interlaken, Lucerne

Our first meal there: instant noodles. What I think: WOW! Instant satisfaction! Our B&B is amazing. We got a double with, yes you guessed it, our own porch.

Train ride to Lucerne. Something we learned the hard way: Swiss trians are ALWAYS on time.







Snitzel: fried chicken pattie

GOLDBAREN! God I love that stuff. Oh right, they're the original gummy bears.

Lucerne!


Har har

I love my camera.

Our instant meal that night at our B&B with our Australian neighbor Lita. That stuff I'm holding, Lychee fizzy wine, is a brilliant find.
MUNICH

Our first meal in Germany: you guessed it, SUSHI!

Haha, I wore my pants backwards

Hafbrauhaus: world famous beer hall.

Munich's post WWII townhall built to Medieval design

Bottoms up!!!
NEUSCHWANSTEIN

Coke featuring natural spring water

Yeah, it's the best natural water I've ever had. And it's free.

Bavarian paradise

The fairytail castle aka the Sleeping Beauty castle

Goldbaren: highly recommended

Can you hear me now?

Brilliant idea NOT stolen from any commercials.

Copycat!
HEIDELBERG


You might've guessed it by now, I have a thing for these bears.

There's nothing like having Chinese food in Germany with beer.

These German high-speed trains have better facilities than almost every airplane out there...
COLOGNE
 
What's a better way to greet our arrival than FIREWORKS!

Germans automate everything.


Linda took it
BRUSSELS

Their "the world's prettiest square"

Belgian waffel is so good. Too bad we just weren't hungry enough and had to through both of ours away half eaten.

Chinese tourists buying chocolate at "special chinese people only price"

Better start practicing!

Belgian beer up close (i think that's what Linda was going for??)
FINALLY PARIS

Just one ordinary Parisian cathedral.

The Pompediu center (I think that's how use spell it. You can only half tell with French)

The Notre Dame interior


The lovely Seine

The Pantheon

Getting some insight

Why else would you come to France?

Another Parisian cathedral

The Ritz Hotel where Diana and Dodi el-Foyed spent their last night

Some Parisian thinking that he owns Champ-Elysees

Self explanatory

BMW: conquering all roads. Much like that guy Napoleon before he failed.

The ceiling of a Parisian mall

The Grand Arch in La Defense

Buying groceries for Linda's amazing Parisian relatives who were restaurant owners and makes us food only worthy of their old establishment.

The Moulin Rouge. Ticket to a show costs a whopping 200 USD

Inside the pyramid in the Louvre

Tourists and Venus de Milo

The Pyramid

Versailles.
It's 4 am and I'm off to bed. Peace out!

My summer officially started on Monday, June 19th, when I left Bristol. I met up with Ben at Stansted and got to Rome CIA (Ciampino for those where thought wth) safely. Our crazy Eurotrip has started. The trip so far is best highlighted through pictures.
Rome
Thank god I brought my tripod, without which this shot would not have been possible. People were looking at us and some cars even honked while we were shooting. Haven't you people ever seen tourists?

Naples
A city famous for its pizza and even more for its crime. Got a taste of the bad when two shop owners told me one after the other to be careful "attencione" of robbers. But nothing can ruin the experience of Naples' delicious seafood and even better pizza.

Capri
A few miles off the coast of Naples is the famous isle of Capri, where me, Ben, and five Singaporeans we met at our hostel decided to go to enjoy the beaches. When we got there lying on the beach was scrapped when they turned out to have more rocks than sand. So a little brainstorming of what we can do on an island with no beach led to our renting a powerboat which turned out to be THE best thing anyone can do around any island. A few cans of beer, crystal clear water, bright sun, and the company made that boat trip one to remember. Crazy stuff we did include swiming into caves, picking up two stranded Italians in a "lifeboat" who didn't know a lick of English, and dropping a friend off at the wrong beach...


Pompei and Mt. Vesuvius
Not much explanation needed. Just know that it was damn hot.

Venice
Beautiful city with not too much to see. St. Mark's square at night:

Barcelona
Spain is suprisingly pleasant; weather wise and people wise. We saw a classical guitar concert where we were so blown away that we decided to buy the CD. Coincidentally Linda decided to go to Barcelona for the weekend, so we went clubbing one night and went to the beach the next day. I've finally got a tan!


Madrid
Saw a bullfight the first night and went to the opera with Linda the next night. This morning Ben went back to England  to pick up his stuff to go home. Today I decided to just take it easy and update this and facebook.  Four more weeks to go. This will most likely be my last entry in Europe before I sum up my trip when I get back to Houston in August. Bye bye!