Saturday, February 11, 2006

My travels: Conclusion

Tomorrow I catch a train from London, and a plane home from there.Here is my last update, so people know what I've been up to.

Zurich was a quite change from Italy and Greece. Due to problems withtrains both arriving and leaving I only had one day in Zurich, whichwas just as well, I couldn't afford much more. I walked up one of thebig hills over the city to have a thick fog descend, which clearedafter walking down.

Wondering around I noticed that while the city was very nice it seemedto lack modern buildings and shops that you would expect, not tomention people. I eventually ventured down a nondescript stair caseto arrive in another world. All the shiny new busy shops areunderground in a maze like shopping centre.

After a long journey to Barcelona I expected to see something akin toAthens. Instead I was completely amazed by the city. It has greatwide streets, castles, cathedrals, monuments, parks and fountains inevery imaginable style, all impressive. The parks are filled withpeople playing Bocce, Dominoes, Cards, and other games I didn'trecognise.

Madrid was also very nice, however it was hard to appreciate afterBarcelona. This was not helped by the hostel I was staying at whichwas shabby, but had two TVs so you could take your pick of badAmerican shows. Both Madrid and Barcelona had public water tapsscattered over the city, though for some reason none of the taps inMadrid actually worked.

I travelled up to Paris, deciding to get the metro from the station Iarrived at to the hostel. After walking across the station I got totake an accelerating escalator, though even when it was at full speedit really didn't seem worth it. This was followed by a long maze oftunnels. By the time I got to the metro train I concluded that I musthave been half way across the city, and the only reason for this wasfor the large amount of advertising space it created.

When I finally left the metro I was great by a Frenchman sellingchestnuts roasted over a drum fire in a shopping trolley. While mostof Paris is very nice you do not have to stay for from the touristareas to find poor, overcrowded and dirty suburbs.

I am excited about returning home, I will see you all soon,
Bruce