Europe 2002: The Emails

Aug 5, 2002
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A view of the canals in Venice, Italy
Above: A view of the canals in Venice, Italy.


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: First update...
Date: July 3, 2002 5:41:33 AM PDT

First of all, forgive me if there are a lot of typo's because the european keyboard is completely different from the american qwerty one! Europe is awesome! We are in Brussels right now at an internet cafe and just spent the day walking around seeing the sites of the city. Its been raining hard all day and unfortunately our umbrellas aren't very strong... So far we have managed to get lost and have to ask directions only about 20 times! But everyone is incredibly nice here and have been very helpful. We leave tonight for amsterdam...

Jon


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: update 2
Date: July 8, 2002 10:04:11 AM PDT

Hey all,

sorry I haven't had a chance to send out emails but we've been pretty busy... I'm currently at a hostel in prague and we have now been through brussels, amsterdam, berlin, and Potsdam... Everything is going great and I have a lot of stories to tell when I get back. Talk to you later

Jon

PS Sara tell mom I'm doing ok because I haven't been able to call her since the beginning of the trip...

PPS Eileen and Sousie email me your addresses!


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: Update 3
Date: July 10, 2002 10:34:00 AM PDT

Hey all...

I'm currently at an internet cafe in Vienna that only charges €2 for unlimited use so we feel the need to use it for a while... We leave in a few hours on a night train to Munich where hopefully we will get there in time to make reservations at a hostel located in an old castle... apparently the line starts forming at 7:30 AM to get in to it! Vienna was pretty cool... I saw a few palaces but none that compare to Potsdam that was by far my favorite city because of the amazing palaces from Frederick II and Frederick William IV... Today we saw the cemetery with Bethoven, Mozart, Shubart, Braums, and Strauss... It had a really nice area dedicated to these composers... Hostels have been fun. Every night we meet a whole mess of new people... The other night in Prague we ended up hanging out the whole night with two girls from Germany and it was really cool just swapping stories about our everyday lives and culture... Í know I'm spouting a bunch of random thoughts but I never realized just how many amazing churches there are in Europe! Literally every city has like 10 huge old gothic cathedrals one more beautiful than the next! Well alright I will check in again later and give a much more detailed account of my trip later...

Jon

PS Sousie I kept sending this to the wrong address so now hopefully you are on the list... email me your home address at this email!


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: update 4?
Date: July 14, 2002 1:19:38 PM PDT

Well we skipped out on Munich because it was raining pretty hard when we got there and none of us had anything in particular we wanted to see there... So we ended up hoping on a train to Geneva Switzerland. Geneva was a really nice city and I really enjoyed walking around there... I ended up getting a Swiss Military watch as a souvenir. We also tried rochlettes and Fondue for dinner that night which was very good! After that we went on a train the next afternoon to zurich and spent the night there. The next day we went back up to Berlin for the Love Parade (a 54 hour long rave literally out in the street of the city). It was a lot of fun but mass chaos! Over 1.5 million people came out from all over the world last year... Ironically enough the one person we met at the rave was a guy that just graduated USC last year! Small world... Now we are in Lichtenstein visiting a friend and tomorrow we are going to go see the Rhine Falls. After that we are on to 6 days in Italy... I'll email again when I get a chance!

Jon


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: update ?
Date: July 19, 2002 7:36:26 AM PDT

hey all...

I don't have to long so this is going to be quick! I'm in Florence right now and am leaving on a train to Rome tonight. Venice was really nice and relaxing... and really good food! Florence has been amazing... yesterday we saw the Duomo, Michelangelo's David, and Donatello's David. And that night we went to Pisa and saw the leaning tower. Today we went to the Medici's Palace and saw the Birth of Venus. This city really has some amazing works of art! Gotta go!

Jon

PS Sara whats your zip code and Nico what is your address. Also Susie I still need your address!

PPS Ellie are you in England yet?


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: update...
Date: July 21, 2002 1:54:15 PM PDT

Rome was awesome! We saw everything from the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the baths of Cariculla, and the catacombs to Vatican City with St Peters Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel... Greece is going to be even better. Ian is going to one of the Islands to hang out for the three days and relax while the rest of us try to work in athens, Delphi, Mycenae, Epidaurus, and Olympia! We are thinking about renting a car but we're not sure if we'll be able to or not... I'll let you know what happens!

Jon

PS Hey Eric I thought I had your address with me but now I cant find it... could you email it to me?


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: Barcelona
Date: July 25, 2002 10:23:56 AM PDT

Hey all Greece was awesome! I didn't get to do everything I wanted because I couldn't rent a car and had to bus it but I did see a lot... Our plane was two hours late leaving so we didn't get in till late afternoon on the 22 but we did have enough time to go to the Acropolis. The second day Deryn and I woke up at 4:30AM and got on a bus for Mycenae... THe transportation system in Greece is by far the worst I have ever seen. We had to take buses and transfer to others but no station knew when buses left from the other ones and sometimes the station only consisted of a bench... It was pretty bad. We ended up taking a cab from Tripoli to Olympia (2 hours!) and then we didn't end up getting back to our hostel until 5:30 Am the next day... a nice 25 hour day! The next day I just ended up staying in Athens and seeing the archaeological museum and some other sites... It was a nice city. Now I'm in Barcelona and will spend my Birthday here tomorrow. THen we're on to france and england...

Talk to you later!

Jon


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: Paris
Date: July 30, 2002 1:14:29 PM PDT

Hey everyone!

Thanks for the birthday wishes... Barcelona was a great place to spend it at! We stayed at this famous hostel called Kabul and everyone was awesome and a bunch of people came out for dinner and then we all went out after... It was a lot of fun! Now we are in Paris. I REALLY like this city... For the first time it actually feels like a city equivalent to Los angeles and new york. There is also a lot to see and do. We went up the Eiffel Tower yesterday and walked the whole length of the Champs-Eleysees. Today we went to Napoleon's Tomb and the Musee d'Orsee. We are thinking about going to Versailles tomorrow... I'll let you know what happens! Talk to you later and thanks for the Birthday wishes!

Jon


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: France
Date: August 2, 2002 6:53:25 AM PDT

France has been great! a couple days ago we went to Versailles and the came back and stayed in the louvre until 9 pm! Its amazing how much is there... Yesterday we went to Bordeaux and took a tour of the vineyards and saw a little of the city (I can totally see you living here howard!)... Today I went to the catacombs and the Pantheon (where voltaire, rousseau, victor hugo, and many others are buried)... I also spent the majority of the day just walking around exploring the city. This has probably been my favorite all around city so far...

Talk to you all later

Jon


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: London
Date: August 4, 2002 4:10:56 AM PDT

Well we left Paris yesterday and got into london around noon. After we went to the hostel we ended up going straight to Stonehenge. It was a lot smaller than I expected but was still really cool to see... Today I am going to explore London.... I already went by Buckingham Palace but I might go back tomorrow because they are going to be opening up their state rooms for tours for one month. Only 3 days left!

Jon


From: jvidar@usc.edu
Subject: Last days
Date: August 5, 2002 1:01:11 PM PDT

Well our trip is almost over! We are leaving London at 1PM on the 7th and get into LA around 10PM... London has been pretty cool... I went to Westminster Abbey, saw the Changing of the guards, went to the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Cabinet War Rooms, and many other things in the last two days. Tomorrow I might be doing the tours of Buckingham Palace and the Parliament as well as the British Library... We'll see. Anyways this is probably the last email I'll send before I'm back on American soil... So I'll talk to you all when I get back!

Jon

A view of the canals in Venice, Italy

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