Roy and Arik's Excellent Adventure

2002-02-23T17:27:00.000-05:00

In Case you don't already know...we're in Ottawa Canada now! Home, Sweet Home. Just in time to watch the Hockey Gold medal match between Canada and the US.
More to come...

2002-02-11T08:19:00.000-05:00

Goodbye blue sky, hello grey sky. We are now in Paris.

Barcelona has been the best party town yet. We have met many poeple from Argentina, Belgium, Finland, Australia, US, England, Holland, Canada (Sandy Hill Area!) Chile, and of course Spain. We saw the major tourist attractions in the first couple of days, then we barely saw any because we slept in so much since we *had* to go out every night! That's where we had Absinth (sp.?), which tastes like Anis, or Black Licorice. There, we met another good friend named "Don Simon." He was with us every night. For those who don't know, Don Simon is a cheap brand of Sangria. Sangria every night baby!!! We did not want to leave Barcelona because of the night life and the blue skies in the daytime, not to mention the beach and the sun. Roy even got to go to his dumbass Club were they played his favourite techno and house music, which Arik thought was crap! It was a really cool club called "Moog".

We're running out of time on this internet café account...and this french keyboard is driving Roy crazy!!!!! More to come.

2002-02-07T09:39:00.000-05:00

So, we´ve arrived in Barcelona, and we just have to tell you about Toulouse. This was a really good place to relax and unwind after that long train ride from Florence. The weather in Toulouse was great! It was around 15 degrees. Not too hot. Not too cold. Bruno has a Sony Playstation 2, so we played some Tricky SSX (snowboarding game)
the first night since we were really tired and just needed to chill. The second day, Bruno and Valerie took us out and showed us the streets of Toulouse. Toulouse is a nice little town that has its own charm. It has lots of good food. Oh yeah, it´s also called La Ville Rose. We could see why because when the sun starts going down, all
the red bricked houses look pink. There were a couple really old quarters where you could really notice this. We learned that here in Toulouse, you have to walk with "La tete en bas" because there was a lot of dog sh*t on the ground. We went to a really nice restaurant where we had "fois gras" from the local region. Wine is very good and cheap in Toulouse. Also the selection of cheese is excellent when you visit a "Fromagier" in Toulouse. After enjoying some good cheese and wine from France. We watched two excellent French movies:

Amelie: a very good movie about this chick that likes to live her life to the fullest by helping other people. The things she does and the characters in this movie are excellent.

Le Placard: Starring Gerard Deparieu (Not Jerard Depardoo as the Americans say it). This as well is a very good movie which is about a guy who is about to loose his job and then pretends to be gay so that they cannot fire him for politically incorrect reasons. This movie is well worth seeing.

So for the train ride we also bought some young Camembert and a good bottle of wine which cost 2 euros. This helped us both sleep well on the train for our voyage to Barcelona.

2002-02-05T12:23:00.000-05:00

So we saw Dave and it was pretty cool. Saw many, many pieces of art but like non-artsy engineers we are we only awe the paintings of painters that we have heard about, otherwise we'd just say "oh, that's a nice painting". For example, if we see a painting by Rafaello, we think of Rafael from the ninja turtles. We did not find a painting from Donatello. Maybe he's not a painter. We went and saw the Uffizi Gallery, the Academia Gallery, the Archeological Museum, and the Medici Palace. In all places they did not want to have pictures taken in the galleries except the Archeological Museum it was ok as long as there is no flash. Arik took pictures with the flash anyways at the Archeological museum.

We started off at the Hostel Villa Camereta which way out in the city, however the place was like a resort. The beds there were not comfortable so we doubled up on the mattresses. After we decided to go to another Hostel right down town called Archi Rossi. It was great and it had a bathroom of our own in the room. We shared this room with two Japanese guys which we don't remember their names cause they are quite complicated. At the hostels we met 5 really cool Australians. In order of appearence they are: Peter, Rachelle, Catherine, Adrian and Jen. (Now you're famous!!) We ate really well in Florence at a restaurant called "Osteria Dell'Agnolo". The food there was excellent and not expensive. It was so good that we planned a dinner with our new Aussie friends. We had good laughs and good eats there, not to mention the excellent wine. Afterwards, we went to a Bar where we enjoyed a nice pint of Fosters.

The next day, we went walking around to check out the Synagogue of Florence. Like the bad jew that Arik is, he forgot that it was Shabbat and the Synangogues are closed. All we got from that is a nice long walk and a picture of the outside of the Synagogue being renovated. So we kept on walking and we wanted to see the big park of Florence. We walked all around and we could not find the entrance so we said screw it. Still we kept on walking to the Ponte Vecchio where we sat around to admire the view. We went on then by accident we found the Medici Palace. There we met up with Catherine and her mom. We did the tour of this place and it was twice the size of any gallery we went to. The ceiling of all the rooms have paintings as well that were kick ass.

Since we needed to get to Toulouse via Pisa, we decided to go to Pisa a little bit earlier so we can check out the tower. When we got there, we found that the tower was all the way at the other end of the city. So, with our huge backpacks we started to venture that way. In the middle of this journey a very nice English fella named Andrew who was born in Montreal saw our Canadian flags stitched on our backpack and he guided us to the tower (he actually came all the way there with us and took pictures for us and stuff). We walked back and we found that everything in this town was closed. We wanted to find a place to sit down and have a couple of beers and coffee since we had to catch our train at 2:46 am. Nope, nothing open that late. We found a chinese restaurant that let us stay there until 11:30 pm. After we just went to the train station and waited there where there was a lot of wierd people. Finally we caught our train (at least we thought it was our train at 2:40 am at the same platform) but it turns out that it was not the right train. Luckily it was in the same direction. The next stop was about 1 hour away so we had to stay up longer. We caught the right train finally and we found a cabin for ourselves were we slept like babies. Overall, the trip to Toulouse France was 14 hours and sucked ass. Forgot to mention that for 6 of these hours we had two devil spawns sitting in the seats beside us. These kids just would not shut up... yelling like crazy the whole trip.

We are now at Tououse and we are relaxing very well here. The temperature here was about 15 degrees here. We imagine that it will be even nicer in Barcelona.

2002-01-31T12:34:00.000-05:00

Here are 2 Pictures from the Swiss Alps (Thanks to Brennan for hosting them):

So we spent a 2 days in Switzerland. One in the Swiss Alps, and the other in Geneva. Geneva is a very expensive place. We know this because it costs about $3.30 CDN for a stupid hamburger at McDonalds!!! This is our system of how we find how expensive each country is :-) We go to a McDonalds and we check the price of a hamburger.

The Swiss Alps were amazing! We took a Panoramic Train with Irka who was our wonderful guide in the mountains. We took many pictures and we had a nice swiss meal in the Alps. Thank goodness for our Europass because the Panoramic train tour costs about $90.00 CDN.

In Geneva, we took pictures of the waterfront and of the entire city from a very high tower in a cathedral. Arik took a picture pretending to be Quasimodo from "Hunchback of Notre Dame." I'm sure the priests are impressed by our artistic creativity.
We're also now packing "heat" thanks to a pair of very cool Swiss army knives. Must remember to pack them in the luggage and not the carry on.

We're in Florence now and we just finished touring the Gallery de Uffizi. It was huge! It took us over 2 hours and that was just walking through! Maybe if we were artsies, we would've taken the whole day. Tommorow we plan to see "Dave" at the Gallery Acadamia.

2002-01-28T12:36:00.000-05:00

So, we've now been to Germany (near the Black Forest) and are have just arrived in Geneva, Switzerland since we our last update in Holland.

We went to Amsterdam where the famous Red Light District is, or RLD for short ;-) Van recommended the Sex Museum with the big pink elephant.
After much searching, we found this joint, and we found it quite interesting. We toured around the RLD and saw the "hard working women." We must say that most of them are quite NASTY, while others are somewhat attractive. Also, we found our way to the famous Coffee Shops that they have. We had coffee and other things there. The next day we went to the boat tour where had a tour of the canals of Amsterdam. There was a gentleman from New Zealand inside who told us about another Sex Museum. We thought we might as well take a look there. This place was cheaper and bigger than the other place. This was also interesting. Arik managed to burn his hand on a novelty lighter because he did not know which end was up. Luckily, it was a small boo boo.

For the Artsy folks, we went and saw the Panorama Mesdag in Den Haag.. Very cool.

In Germany, we visited our friends Rolf and Anne in Trossingen. We toured a castle where we had to walk a very steep hill for a couple of kilometers. We took the tour though it was in German only, so we just made like dumbass tourists and gawked at all the painting and the inside.

The next day, we went to a carnival called a Narrentreffen (NARRI!! NARRO!!). It's like Halloween in January with marching bands. Very neat. We took lots of pictures.

That's all for now.

2002-01-24T06:50:00.000-05:00

<< Message from Roy >>:

A quick post. My email was down from the 16th to the 24th without my knowledge. I fixed it now.
you can send to roya@ottawa.com or roy.assaly@sympatico.ca or the click the 'contact' button at the top of this page (easiest).

roy

2002-01-22T16:11:00.000-05:00

An Update...Finally!!!

This is roy and arik here, coming to you from Haarlem, Holland.

<< Message from Roy >>:

Well, I arrived on the 17th in Lille France, Jet Lag was a nightmare. And when I did find an internet Cafe, it was closed! I got to meet my cousin Sandra and uncle Michel and aunt Juliet whom I hadn't seen for 13 years. They were very nice, only my other cousins (Najib, Manuel, Henri) who are from France, only spoke french. The food is amazing in France. They love eating. I had some very nice Lebanese Cuisine in my Uncle's Restaurant, very swanky. It's always packed. They even have a belly dancer come in on Saturday nights. My cousin Sandra and her father-in-law tricked me and got the belly dancer to make me dance with in the middle of the Restaurant. She then took a picture of me and plans on sending it to my mom! How embarrassing is that! ;-)

All my family there is so nice. The french really do love Canadians! Oh, yeah, I also went to the General (Charles) de Gaulle Museum. We took a couple of photos before getting kicked out cause it was closed 'till June 2003!?!? Ah well.

Later, they took me out to eat some french cuisine (seafood), and I even went and partied with my cousin at a bar in Belgium, 20 minute drive from Lille.

I toured "Old Lille" and I took the metro and learned a few more words of french. France, as I can now note like most of Europe, has the craziest drivers, and the worst parking jobs! Right before I was supposed to meet Arik, my cousin's BMW was taken by the Police for parking illegally, which was an acccident. These cops love giving tickets and towing cars. They have no mercy!!!

Brussels was awesome. Brugge was more than I could have hoped for. Knook was very nice as well. It's the Beach area of Belgium, right on the North Sea.

The Next day, we went with Laurent and Joelle to a Brasserie, typically Belgian. Then we went to a bar where there was over 50 types of beer on the menu!! We had Kwak and Framboise. They were both amazing.

Now we're in Haarlem with Marga and Ruud and so far Haarlem has a very nice surprise. It's a very nice tourist area. However be warned. Customer service SUCKS ass. Don't expect the royal treatment from most stores that have teenagers (young punks) working. Other than that, Holland is very nice.

-roy

<< Message from Arik >>:

Saturday night I went to a very nice restaurant with Laurent, Audrey, Joelle, and Isabelle where we had some very good laughs and a bit to drink. Well at least I did. I got a bit drunk but it that was OK. After that I went to a "boite" which we call clubs called Chez Johnny or Clairidge whatever it is called. There, I had an interesting experiencewhich I will describe as follows:

So here I am going to this club where it is supposed to be the most popular club in Brussels. This is the place to be according to my friend Audrey. I thought I would be going into some place where they play wicked ass music and people are getting jiggy with it all night long. The place plays Disco music... that's right DISCO. They also played French music that sucked half as much "La musique.... oui la musique" (from some stupid ass show called Star Academy). Also they had a DJ competition there. Normally this consists of a couple of DJ's battling out and showing their mad skillz. I thought I was going to see some good shit. Instead, the competition consisted of a couple of guys who played a crappy ass French song each. The people would then scream as loud as they can for their favourite song. It was fun anyways and the dance floor was huge. The guy "Johnny" had this huge blow gun and firing colourful confetti at the crowd.

I also learned a few Belgian phrases and they are described as follows:

1. Ramene tes fraises: like saying get your ass over here. Translated to be get your face over here.

2. A plus: Short for a plus tard.

3. Casser les couilles: someone who "casse tes couilles" is someone who is very annoying.

That's all folks!!
Arik

2002-01-14T09:19:00.000-05:00

Looks like people will be expecting more news here... Ok I don't have that much time but here goes. I saw more family and friends here in Brussels. My aunt Denise came and she takes good care of me and my cousin Laurent. Also saw my friends David, Suzanne, Lise, Stephanie, Esther who all took me out (at different times) to have a good Belgian Dinner. I went to a village called Binche and I ran into a bitchy woman in a souvenir shop who thought I was there to shoplift.

Ok no more time...
Gotta go

2002-01-08T18:55:00.000-05:00

This is Arik here writing from Antwerp. Today I had my first Belgian Waffle. Man they're good. I'm staying right now with my three cousins Tal, Eyal, and Ilan. Today I also went to my old house on 58 Rue Paul Dechannel with my Mamy. So far I had three different Belgian Beers. I will describe them as follows:

1. Maes - a light but good beer. Very similar to Heineken or Stella Artois.

2. Jupiler - a light beer with fruit character.

3. Leffe - we all know Leffe. This beer is a little stronger and is very good.

Actually there is no such thing as a bad Belgian Beer.

So far all I've seen is family so there is not much to tell. It's pretty cold here sometimes cause it is humid. The temperature here is about 1 degree Celsuis. Also it is very cloudy. Oh and the flight was long. 1 hour and a half to Philly and a 4 hour wait to leave to Brussels. I arrived there at 11:00 am and my cousin Laurent picked me up in a Ford Focus which he was test driving. We then went to the BMW building to pick up the new Mini which is a nice car. Very nice interior. My cousin is a crazy driver. I am no longer scared for my life flying cause I am now scared for my life with my cousin's fucked up driving. I have never seen anyone yell so much profanity at another driver in the middle of an intersection in my life before. My cousin took me driving and so far the fastest he went is 180 km/h. He averages at about 140 km/h on the highways. He goes about 90 - 100km/h on the regular roads.

Well I'll write more when more stuff happens.
Arik

2001-12-31T13:11:00.000-05:00

If you would like to see the itinerary of where we will be and when check out this link. Click here.

2001-11-12T16:37:00.000-05:00

So this is the test of the Roy and Arik's Excellent Adventure Website. If this would be an actual post, we'd already be in Europe. So things are still being planned. We still don't have an exact list of where we are going to yet but it will come soon and with a map too. Today a plane crashed in NYC in Queens. Now we are a little paranoid but I think it's still cool. Hopefully my next post will be more interesting.