London, Paris, Amsterdam-Lasers, and Santorini

You would think Paris and Amsterdam would have internet for less than $25 a day, but no.

We went to the Ice Bar our last night in London. It was a lot of fun. We got a lecture when we rightfully believed the ice glasses were shot glasses and hit them on the ice table. Well the glasses actually break into a million pieces. We cleaned up the pieces and everything was fine. It was totally worth it, though I wouldn't suggest you make the Ice Bar people come and talk with you.

After the Ice Bar we went to see Avenue Q. We went through Leicester Square on the way to Avenue Q and got to see Angelina Jolie. She was there for the British premiere of Salt.  Avenue Q was funny as always. After Avenue Q, Nam and I met up with a friend of mine from UT who just graduated with her two travel friends from SMU Law. We had a fun time catching up.

The next day we took the Eurostar Chunnel train from London to Paris. I stayed awake for most of the journey. It was fun, but the pressure kept changing so we had to continually pop our ears. We got to Paris in about 2.5 hours.

We found a great hotel deal in the middle of Paris. Since we had 4 people traveling at that point we got a suite. It took some getting used to for the other guys. Hotels are very small in Europe. The elevator could only fit 2 people and went incredibly slow. We were on the top floor of the hotel and had a view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

We got settled in and then went to Sargeant Recruiters for Dinner. Sargeant Recruiters is a very old restaurant that serves all you can eat appetizers, a main dish, dessert, and all you can responsibly drink wine. The place used to be where young men were recruited into the military. They would eat and drink a great deal, in their drunken states sign up for military service and the next morning they were shipped off.

Esma, a good friend from my summer in London met us at the end of the meal and showed us around Paris. She was a very patient tour guide.

The next morning Farzin finally made it to Paris. We all walked up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. We had lunch in the area and took the short trip to the Louvre. We put in a solid 2.5 hours at the Louvre. We saw the Mona Lisa and numerous other famous works. You could spend months in there. After the Louvre we got a drink in the park and shared a nutella crepe. There are few things better than nutella crepes. Nam was inspired when we walked past a fountain and took this picture:

Yes it looks like the lady had too much water before her nap. I think Nam has a future as a photographer.

We went back to the hotel room, took quick naps and then Esma met up with us and showed us a really good duck restaurant. It was delicious. We then went to meet up with a UT friend, but missed them due to miscommunication.

The next morning we got up and took the train to Amsterdam. The best part of the trip was when we were about to get on the train Derek sees his reflection in the train glass and moves in to fluff his mane. This process takes a solid two minutes. It suddenly occurs to Derek that it is a train window and not a mirror and therefore there is a girl right behind the glass laughing very, very hard at him.

We got to Amsterdam and walked to our "apartment." We had a kitchen, living room, and 2 bed rooms right on the canal. That night we went on a pub crawl and had a good time meeting people from all over. As I was walking home a drunk man decided to push me to the ground from behind. I hit the pavement pretty hard, ripped my jeans, cut my knee, and left forearm. I'm fine and was so stunned I didn't really say anything. A lot of people came to help me up and make sure I was okay. I'm fine now, but it is annoying to have all of these cuts when I want to be as active as possible. The next day we walked around the city, by the Dam, and the shopping district. There are some very dirty parts of Amsterdam and at the same time many more very beautiful parts. The next day we went to the Heineken Brewery. It was pretty neat. One of the tour guides said "Drinking beer doesn't make you fat, all of the food you eat after drinking the beer makes you fat." We thought that was funny.

Farzin really wanted to see lasers at a discotec in Europe. We went to a place called Escape and he got his fill on lasers and loud techno music. We did the Jersey Shore fist pump and all was well. I told him I would name this post Lasers for him.

I had a great time with Farzin, Nam, and Derek. It was sad to see Nam and Farzin head back to the States. Derek and I flew to Santorini through Athens 2 days ago. We landed at sunset and it was a beautiful sight. We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and ventured out to the boardwalk type beach street. There are about 50 cafe restaurants on the beach with a great view of the moon. The Greek Isles are a bit awkward with both us here because most people here are couples and many are on their honeymoon. We ate a delicious traditional Greek meal.

Okay, so yes I couldn't help eating half before thinking to take the picture. We booked the "full" Santorini tour for the next day and went to bed.

Yesterday we got up early. Our clothes needed to either be washed or burned at this point so I found a laundry place that did our laundry and folded it for a very good price. I hope there are more of these places all over Europe. We caught the bus for our tour. It took us down mountains in very much the same way San Francisco has side to side steep streets. It was...well...interesting to see the driver talk on the phone while taking perilous turns down to the ferry port. At port we took a ship to Nea Kameni- Volcano Island. It is basically just volcanic rocks. We walked 2 km over the pebbles to the top. The wind was intense at the top, but gave us amazing views of the other islands.

Many parts of the Volcano Island are still very, very hot. You could smell something burning on the path in many places. Our tour guide said that geologists are closely watching the island and say they will know 1 month before it will explode so we shouldn't worry too much. On that topic, earthquakes occur fairly regularly here. Lord of the Rings type castles were built on the side of the cliffs and disappeared in minutes due to earthquakes. I hope nothing happens while we're here.

Next our boat took us to swim near the Volcano Island. We jumped off the boat into the very cold Mediterranean water and swam to a beach where the water was a yellowish brown color. As we swam closer the temperature of the water got increasingly hotter. Finally when we could touch the water was warm. The mud from this beach is supposed to be very good for your skin so all of us looked like we survived the Lord of the Flies with mud from head to toe. We washed up and got back on the ship.

Next the ship took us to Thirassia an island with a population of 250. The people live at the top of a huge mountain. Observe:

It was a serious hike. Derek stayed by the boat, but I took the journey up. They have donkeys you can ride, but I wanted to walk it. The stairs are huge and after the donkeys go up and down them all day they are basically a donkey toilet. I dodged "bullets" all the way up and it was so worth it. The view was breathtaking.

That little thing is our ship. I think you can see Derek chillin' on the beach if you look real close.

We got back on the ship and I ate my first meal of the day...a bag of chips and a water. The boat took off for Ia, which is the most picturesque part of all of the Greek Isles, according to many. If you've seen Mamma Mia it looks just like that. We were both exhausted from the day and Derek decided to get back and not go to the sunset part of the tour. I got off the boat in Ia and had the enjoyment of walking to the top. It was even higher than the last island. The city at the top is incredible. I walked around the town for 2 hours and then took in the sunset. I put together short video of the day on my phone on the bus ride back.



I'm running out of battery, but the ferry we wanted to take to Mykonos tomorrow is sold out so we are staying in Santorini another night before heading to Mykonos tomorrow. In the end this is a good thing because we have a day to relax. Mykonos tomorrow and then Derek and I part ways until Barcelona.