Taking my FZR600 around Europe
nesr folk: keep any comments work safe. I'm linking this to work friends.
It all started when my friend told me I could get a round-trip ticket from Newark to Rome for $220.
Young, broke, but eager to travel, I bought the ticket and set off on May 4th, from Massachusetts.
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The friend that got me the cheap ticket also got me an employee rate on a Mariott hotel.
Unfortunately it was far from the airport.
Fortunately it was a nice hotel and had a nice view of Vatican city.
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Tired from travel, and trying to ask for directions in italian, we got dinner at Campo de Fiori and slept.
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The ice cream tasted even better than it looked.
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The next morning we hit up Vatican City and St. Peter's basilica. The Pope made an address that morning so the area was bustling with life.
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Onwards towards the city. We started on the north side and went through Piaza de Popolo. There, they had a police anniversary celebration and I got to see the special edition police lamborghini.
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From there we walked down the narrow but scenic streets around Via Del Corso:
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Around there we did some shopping and sightseeing (ie. Trevi fountain, pantheon, etc.) for the afternoon. It was cool how, in the middle of the tight streets of urban Rome, was a historical landmark.
Trevi Fountain
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The Colosseum stood out in the same way:
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This shot came out cool because the bike's in focus:
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We toured Rome a little bit more then made our way to the next city by train: Paris
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Paris was a more classy city than Rome, and had, in my opinion, the prettiest women. Like Rome, Paris was also very scooter/motorcycle friendly, so I got my own parking spot, next to big scooter.
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Big scooter, eh?
2 wheels aside, if there was anything that struck me the most, in the couple days we were in Paris, it was the subway system. It was fast, clean, efficient, reliable, and close to almost everything in the city.
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Our stay was short, and the crepes were sweet, but were now ready for our next destination: Amsterdam.
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After we settled into our Hostel, we stopped at a local coffee shop, and honestly, I can't remember much else (= not many pictures, sorry).
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Two days later I awoke and we headed towards our next destination: Ibiza baby!
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Beaches and blue water galore. It was really a great place to relax during the day and go night clubbing until 7am.
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To investigate this small island off the coast of southern Spain, we rented scooters (note: ATV's are available for rent on the street too).
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A wet swimsuit and sand in our sandles, we departed Ibiza and headed to the mainland to see Barcelona.
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Here we got to see a series of art pieces by Gaudi, including the Sagrada Familia:
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More Gaudi artwork:
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At night we took a stroll down Las Rablas, all the way to the port.
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We took one last look at Spain as we headed back to the airport:
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We then returned to Rome for our departure home.
On our last night we did as Romans would: we went shopping and had some authentic italian pasta over a bottle of Ruffino
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We also got to see the Spanish Steps at night.
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If I could travel Europe again, I would definitely explore the same part of a city twice: once at night and once during the day. They are both equally amazing to see at both times.
We then boarded our United flight, and took the depressing flight home, back to Worcester :mecry:
The End
Re: Taking my FZR600 around Europe
Great job on the write up and creativity on getting the bike in the pictures!
Re: Taking my FZR600 around Europe
Excellent photos, looks like a great trip. The picture of your "bike" next to the scooters on the streets of Paris was hysterical. I also like the picture of the SPAR mart in Ibiza...reminds me of the SPAR I used to go to all the time in my village in Germany. Thanks for sharing!
Re: Taking my FZR600 around Europe
Nice cheap trip! Kudos from a fellow uber-cheap traveller!