Exodus

Ok, I promise not all my titles will be books from the Bible, but so far they've been fitting. Exactly two weeks from now, I'll be learning how to fasten my seatbelt on Air France flight 83 with nonstop service to Paris. From there, I will catch a connecting flight to Geneva, arriving at about 1 pm local time. I've designed this trip in order to go places I've never been. I loved Italy and England, and I know there are plenty of places in those countries that I could still discover, but I wanted to mix it up a little more than that. Concerning the Middle East, Allison…intriguing but I think I'd like to go there with a friend so if there's an attempted kidnapping, I have someone to outrun.

So here it is:

June 27th- Arrive in Geneva, eat Burger King by the lake (sentimental value in this) Take afternoon train to Murren:



June 28th- Murren
June 29th- Murren (find place to watch Eurocup finale with locals)
June 30th- Train to Salzburg. This will be long but I'm excited as it goes through the Swiss and Austrian alps (with a stop in Innsbruck) and the train has extended windows over the roof for better viewing.
July 1- Salzburg (staying at a hostel that shows Sound of Music everyday at 10:30am)
July 2- Train to Vienna
July 3- Vienna
July 4- Train to Budapest (I'll only have an afternoon and evening here, but it's jam packed with a city tour, statue park where old communist relics were dumped, and a Danube river cruise at night while listening to classical music)



July 5- Train to Prague
July 6- Prague
July 7- Train to Berlin
July 8- Berlin
July 9- Train to Amsterdam
July 10- Amsterdam (I'm staying at a dive here by the red light district, should be interesting)
July 11- Train to Paris (Will do the Friday night rollerblading through Paris with thousands of others)
July 12- Paris
July 13- Train to Pamplona
July 14- Pamplona (Running of the Bulls, will buy white pants and red scarf the day before, that'll be me with the big hair:)



July 15- Train to Barcelona
July 16- Barcelona
July 17-Train to Granada
July 18- Granada (One of the places I'm most excited for)



July 19- Train to Madrid
July 20- Madrid
July 21- Madrid/Segovia (google it, looks like a really cool town):




July 22- Flight to SFO

So it seems like half my time will be spent in a train, and indeed half my days will consist of some time in a train, but most of the rides are less than 4 hours, so it's really just the morning. Plus, I love taking trains and looking out the window. I know I've been to Paris before, but I had to stop by there for the rollerblading. Each Friday night, 10-15K people meet at the Montparnasse train station and rollerblade around the city. I'm very excited to do this, and there's a possibility they'll let us go down the Champs-Elysees, which happens every few months. Also, I need to get a Kebab and speak some French, so voila.

I know these are places that most of you haven't been to, but when I ask for suggestions, that doesn't necessarily mean you've done it and want me to try it. It could also mean something you would like to vicariously do through me.

I've always enjoyed using the following line when talking to people, "Oh, that reminds me of the time I was [verb]ing in [place]." So, if you can think of a cool activity, let me know. Something like, "Oh, that reminds of the time I was eating at this cafe in Prague..." Not bad eh?