One card for them all

My last Eurotrip post! (A relief for some of you who are tired of it already, but sad for others who still dream of traveling.)

Part of what makes visiting cities exciting is finding your way around.

Barcelona T-10 (10 trips, zona 1), €6,90
(note: the comma takes the place of the decimal point)
As the city is large and our hostel was not in the center, we really needed this. The Metro can be a headache because the tunnels are sometimes unbelievably long, practically like walking to the next station. Buses are ok.

Paris carnet (10 tickets, Billet Ile-de-France), €11,10
I think printing out 10 tiny tickets is still a waste of paper and adds to the litter, but the nice part about it is that you can split up the tickets. The metro system is compact, the RER (train) goes farther, the buses are routes served us well.

Berlin tageskarte (day ticket, zone AB), €6,10
Expensive for one day, but unlimited rides on buses, trains (S-bahn and Underground), trams and ferries eliminate the need for those tourist hop-on, hop-off buses.

Amsterdam strippen kaart (15 strips), €6,80
Weird system similar to the klippekort in Denmark, only a bit more complex. If you're a tourist, you don't need this, as it's much better to walk and there are not many transport links simply because there's not space! The metro will be of no use to you. Then again you might want to take the occasional tram or bus.

Sandeman's free walking tours

I discovered Sandemans New Europe Tours online (stole our photo from their site) and in the past month, I've been on five of their free tours. Yes, five free tours. (Hey, I give good tips.) Their paid tours are pub crawls and other special interest walks.

Guide: Karen (American)
Gives tours of: Paris
Quotable quote: "Americans have potty mouths"
Irreverent Jewish musician who we had on two tours, the regular city tour and the Montmartre tour, which they were testing at the time.

Guide: Maria (Swedish-Japanese)
Gives tours of: Berlin
I love her! An ex-model turned music mag correspondent whose love affair with a rock star brought her to Germany, she has training in acting, and it shows.

Guide: Elysia (American)
Gives tours of: Amsterdam
UPenn grad with a sweet voice.

Guide: Gregg (Australian)
Gives tours of: London
Nationalistic and cocky (in a funny way) boy from Oz.

They also have free tours of Edinburgh and Munich. Tip generously!

Architecture in Berlin

The city of cool, cheap (relative to the rest of Europe) and cute (think Knut the polar bear or the bear mascot that symbolizes the city).

There's something young about Berlin despite its significance in the grim days of the 20th century. This chapter, while it overshadows much of its history, is balanced by the freshness of the architecture. Now if only they could do something about the sewer smell in some areas.

Berlin Hbf

My favorite train station to date: Berlin Hauptbahnhof, the central station opened in time for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. You could see it either as a glass mall that happens to have trains running through it or an airport with trains for planes.

The City of Light

Paris when it drizzles.

Food trip: PAR

When it comes to eating in Paris, the traveler is spoiled for choice. Restaurants, bakeries, bars and cafes line the streets.

The first thing I ate in France (not counting the croque monsieur on the plane) was a huge crepe sallee with the works (egg, mushrooms, sausage, cheese), good for two meals. Ate Vietnamese food once, had baguettes at a certain chain twice. Loved and hated a makunat baguette with heavenly cream cheese, salmon and capers at a place whose name I don't know near Jardin du Luxembourg.

Set meal (quite large) at Le Cafe Montmartre, which was our splurge dinner for this leg of the trip. Looks tasty, but was quite bland. Came with an equally heavy entrée.


Notes on French food:
-I adore creamy Danone yogurt. Now I understand why some French girls think yogurt elsewhere is not as good!
-Just because you bought your bread at the boulangerie doesn't mean it's fresh.
-Paris is not the place for kebabs!

Nous nous appelons Amélie Poulain

A lovely trek that winds down the sloping streets of hilly Montmartre also took us to some film locations of Amélie, including the metro station, the grocer and the cafe. I was so happy that I gave our guide €10 as tip. I have to see the movie again!

Now all I need is Mathieu Kassovitz on a motorcycle...