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[tracy_loo_who]

A year ago today, I received an email saying I'd been accepted by my current company to do an internship in Portugal. One of my first thoughts was, IS THIS AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE? Turns out it wasn't, so here I am, a year later. My internship ends on May 4th, and then I shall be doing a Eurotrip with some friends!

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to narrow your favorite European cities down to three and tell me what they are. :D

I've already got Frankfurt (and neighboring Bacharach with its youth hostel IN A CASTIEL CASTLE that I've already booked a night in omgitwillbeamazing), Prague, and Munich planned, simply because a friend from the U.S. will be joining us that first week and these are the cities he chose.

...Actually this friend is my college boyfriend, lol. Most of you weren't around back then but we had all sorts of fantasies about running away to Europe together, so it's a little bit hilarious that it's pseudo-happening now, over three years after we broke up.

I DIGRESS. Europe! :D :D :D

Also, job hunt (that I should've started three months ago)! D: Would you believe it if I said the biggest obstacle between me and my job hunt is not having a professional email address? *facepalm*

Say your name is Mike Litoris and you have your name as a domain name. These are some possible emails:

mike@mikelitoris.com (but it's too repetitive, right?)
himself@mikelitoris.com (but it's too egotistical, right?)
contact@mikelitoris.com (I can't even put my finger on why I don't like this one but I don't.)

Anyone have more ideas? I WOULD LOVE YOU FOREVER for helping me to solve this GIANT DILEMMA.

Yes, this is really my life right now. But it's awesome, because EUROTRIP, and also because I watched Peaceful Warrior the other day and to my utter surprise and delight, Tim DeKay was all over it. \o/

Comments

[nalathilion.livejournal.com]

Oh gurl, I like to contact Mike Litoris.

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Don't we all? XD

[hils.livejournal.com]

mike@litoris.com

Are you coming to England on your Eurotrip or is it mainland only?

[tracy.livejournal.com]

My last name is already taken. :(

Welllll, see, I would go to the UK again, but I've been illegal in the EU since like, last year, so if I left the Schengen zone I wouldn't be able to come back. *facepalm*

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Oh, aweomse! ibroketuesday sent me a huge list of things to see and do around Frankfurt so I am really looking forward to it! :D

I would totally do mike@litoris.com if my last name was available. :(

[prongsy.livejournal.com]

Are we limited to only Continental Europe?

If not - Bath (http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6674/bath41.jpg), London (http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6154/londonct.jpg), and Edinburgh (http://img858.imageshack.us/img858/2777/dsc00310victoriawayedin.jpg).

If so - Then I shall have to admit hearsay evidence on a present sense impression exception and say (geek -_-) I've been told: Rome, Vienna, and Siena...

Paris is pretty cool (first hand experience).

Awesomesauce on you and good luck! Have fun! <3

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Pretty much limited to Schengen zone, actually, since I'm illegal here and wouldn't be able to come back if I left. :P Luckily I've already been to London, at least!

Rome is for sure. I've always wanted to go to Rome, and one of my travel buddies is really gung-ho about it too. :D Paris is also for sure.

Thanks, bb! <3

[coffeejunkii.livejournal.com]

okay, frankfurt is one of the most boring german cities, just fyi (and in my biased opinion). i hope you aren't spending a significant amount of time there. berlin is about a gazillion times cooler imo.

i would have recommended prague, but i'm glad to see it's already on your list. i want to suggest vienna. i spent a week in vienna a few years ago and it was magical. plus the cake! omg, the cake.

i also really like dublin, but i don't know if you want to pay for a flight there.

[tracy.livejournal.com]

I hear the area around Frankfurt is really scenic and gorgeous and quaint, which actually appeals to me more than a city full of museums and monuments and ruins, although it would be awesome to see the ruins of the Berlin wall. Anyway, definitely not crossing Berlin off my list or anything, I'll have time to see it after my friend leaves if I want! :)

I definitely want to go to Austria, so Vienna seems like the obvious choice of city!

Heh, I think Ireland may have to wait for another trip, though.

[scarlet-malfoy.livejournal.com]

1. VENICE.

2. BARCELONA.

3. AMSTERDAM.

:D

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Already been to Barcelona, but yesss, I really wanna visit the other two! :D

[mordyn4]

mail @ domain . com ?

So my opinion totally doesn't count because I've never been to Europe, but I'm going to tell you where I definitely want to go anyway: Barcelona and Ghent. From what people tell me, Barcelona is cheap and fun to the extreme. And the pictures I've seen of Ghent leave me breathless.

HAVE FUN!!!

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Hmm, thanks for the idea, I shall sleep on it!

I went to Barcelona last year and spent much of the weekend just driving around the city, it was amazing. Ghent, though, oooh. Interesting choice, I'll have to look into it!

Thanks bb! :D

[ravenqueen55.livejournal.com]

LOVED LOVED LOVED Barcelona, especially the Gothic Quarter. Rome was fascinating and amazing, and visiting the Vatican Museums was unbelievable ~ even for an atheist like me! I don't really have another specific city to recommend, but Turkey was beautiful...and if you go, make sure you drink the apple tea! It was delish. :-)

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Actually I have a really good friend in Turkey but he's doing his military service now so I guess I'll wait to go there. Definitely someday though!

[ibroketuesday.livejournal.com]

I would suggest mikelit@mikelitoris.com. :P

BACHARACH BACHARACH BACHARACH \\\\\o/////

[tracy.livejournal.com]

You are a genius, why didn't I think of this? :P

[ibroketuesday.livejournal.com]

Oh also BEST EUROPEAN CITIES:

1. Veniiiiiiiiiiice
2. Amsterdam
3. Paris
4. VENICE AGAIN
5. Berlin
6. London

After Venice these are not in any particular order.

You are already going to Prague so I left it off the list.

[zedmeister.livejournal.com]

How about initials, e.g. ml@mikelitoris.com?

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I kinda like that, thanks!

[elanorofcastile.livejournal.com]

My travels are limited to Germany/Switzerland, but I recommend Rothenburg o.d. Tauber, Interlaken and Baden Baden :D

[ibroketuesday.livejournal.com]

ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER. I think I actually recommended that to her but she did not love it. :( ALSO INTERLAKEN IS AMAZING OMG <3

[cugami.livejournal.com]

It took me forever to get a professional email as well lol but I did away with using my domain at all (other than I was too lazy to maintain it anyway). So I went for gmail and just used the first 2 letters of my name then my surname. so it's militoris@gmail.com :3

Also, you need to go to Switzerland and visit Castiel! For the name alone.

[tracy.livejournal.com]

I'll have to see what gmail names are still available, really wish I'd taken my name when gmail was still new. Oh well.

Castiel! I didn't know that was in Switzerland. Thanks!

[chaneystarr.livejournal.com]

Dude. I totally knew you back then. But I think I've known you forever. *loves*

[tracy.livejournal.com]

I met you when I was in HIGH SCHOOL. You were around my age now, I cannot fathom what made you decide it would be a good idea to be BFFs with a high schooler. :P

[seraphim-grace.livejournal.com]

Carcassonne

which is a fantastic medieval city near Aude in France
and right in the middle of all the grail stuff so everyone around there is just crazy, it's great
near it is a small town called Rennes le chateau which has a symbolist church (Marie Madeliene) and the very famous Magadelene Tour (tower) which is just amazing, it was the capital of france until the merovingians were defeated by the carolingians (I think it's that way around) and the last merovingian king was actually given droit de seigneur by the church and is supposed to be the last descendant of christ
it was a huge templar stronghold, and the painting Et in Arcadia Ego was set there
you can visit it at the same time as Carcassonne which is just begging to be wandered aroudn on foot, it's all medieval streets and passages which is tres cool

also if you're hitting prague then there is a small town outside called Sedlec which totally warrants a day trip
it has one of the best ossuary in the world, The church of all saints of Kutna Hora
it's not as creepy as it looks in photos, it feels really inviting and warm considering is entirely decorated in human bones.

oh and there's a place in austria called Fucking. Always good for photo ops

hope this helps
I'm tempted to say I have to go for Peterfile@hotmail.com

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestions! Have to admit I'm not huge on religious stuff, but some churches are gorgeous and those sound interesting even to me. And hhaaha fucking, I would love to go there. XD

[lady-jane.livejournal.com]

Paris, Paris and Paris. *points at icon which I took last trip* It's been way too long. Go! Post pictures! Let me live vicariously through your awesome life while I grind away on my neverending dissertation, trapped in the states!

I know it's a total cliche, Paris. I also adore the Towers at Notre Dame with the gargoyles.

Seriously, though. Paris is awesome. My last trip, I didn't get enough sleep after the moron concierge in Florence didn't wake me up (wake up call means BE SURE THE GUEST ANSWERS THE CALL) and I ended up sleepless overnight in Milan waiting for the Orient Express and arrived in Paris just in time for the Louvre's Wed. late night and ended up taking a "penis tour" of the museum in which I photo'd the naughty bits of many, many statues. The winner was the Pan statue. Very impressive.

...

...um, that may have been a bit TMI. I've had a stressful day.

*runs away*

[tracy.livejournal.com]

I will definitely be spending a few days in Paris! With any luck a friend of mine will find a job there in the next month so we'll even have a place to stay. :D

The penises are extra incentive, as far as I'm concerned.

[heard_the_owl]

I don't think mike@mikelitoris.com is repetitive at all. If it was a company email address, I would just assume mike was the boss.

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's an awesome way of looking at it. I am totally the boss. :D

[a-carnal-mink.livejournal.com]

Salzburg, Austria (Mozart's birthplace! they filmed Sound Of Music there! awesome castle!)

Venice. Seriously. I won't even name it as "Venice, Italy" because it's totally its own separate country.


Also... not exactly pleasant places to see, but important and terribly affecting... you'll never forget a visit to a concentration camp.

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Oh, I had no idea about Mozart's birthplace, but now the geeky side of me that loves classical music has perked up!

Venice is definitely on the list. ;)

Yeah, I heard there were some concentration camps around Berlin, I may try to visit one. :|

[zanyrainey.livejournal.com]

AMSTERDAM! - see icon for advice on Dutch travel.

ATHENS! - for the food (and gay Greek sex)

VARNA, BULGARIA - (not kidding, Black Sea resort, and gay sex while playing Chalga music)

[tracy.livejournal.com]

LOL sage advice indeed, thank you dear! XD

I've heard lovely things about gay Greek sex already from my flatmate, but I dunno if I'll have time to hit up Greece on this trip. Maybe I'll do Turkey/Greece as a separate trip some other day?

[antismiles.livejournal.com]

Don't know if anyone's mentioned this, but you should definitely go to Budapest. My love for that city is insane and forever. And I know you're already planning on Prague, but I wanted to tell you that is an excellent choice. ;P

I haven't visited all that much of Europe, so I can't make more recommendations. But DEFINITELY those two.

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Actually I have a friend who's moving to Hungary next week, though I have no idea how close to Budapest he'll be. Hopefully he'll be around there and I'll be able to visit!

[whumpses.livejournal.com]

I've been nowhere in Europe. I hear lovely things about Prague. I've been to Greece, I liked Santorini - mindblowingly lovely views, weather, food. Also, Mykonos, which was just really, really, gay :-)
also.
ML@MLitoris.com
or.
ML@MikeLitoris.com

Going for the shortest possible email is the path to Paradise

[tracy.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking about saving Greece for a separate Greece/Turkey trip later, but we'll see.

Thanks for the suggestions! :)

[mark356.livejournal.com]

I think Gmail definitely counts as a professional email address, as long as it's your name or pretty close, e.g. mikelit@gmail.com or mlitoris@gmail.com or something like that.

That said, I think there's nothing wrong whatsoever with mike@mikelitoris.com! Lots of people do that: e.g. Spacefem@spacefem.com. (Granted, that is not a professional email address, but it's classy enough.) If the address is mike@mikelitoris.com, most people will understand which Mike it is, and they'll see that he even has his own domain name, so it's fine. Of course I'm in no position to judge, though.

I think the most professional email addresses use the name of a company anyway, e.g. mike@armani.com.

[tracy.livejournal.com]

I really wish I'd gotten my name when Gmail was still new and it was still available. But now all the names similar to mine are taken. :(

May just stick with using mike@mikelitoris.com after all, thanks for the thoughts!

[tazza-di-jo.livejournal.com]

*delurks*

Hi!! *waves* Welllll... as an Italian, I would have to recommend Rome. Absolutely. Florence is amazing as well, if you want to stay in the area! (it's like, 4 hours away)

I lived in London for a year, and while I've now moved to Cardiff I was still going to recommend it but, um, limited to Schengen you said? Then Berlin. It's aaaaaaaaamazing. Or Vienna!

I see people recommending Venice... well, it's probably lost its luster to me because I used to live, like, an hour away and have been there TONS, but it's ok, I guess? My only pickle with it is that... there's nothing there, really. It's a bit of a dead city. Only elderly people (and students during the academic year) live there. A day or two is PLENTY enough to visit every corner.

So! 1. Rome, 2. Berlin, 3. Florence/Vienna, I'd say :)

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Yessssss, Rome. I've had a crush on the Colosseum for like like, all my life.

Already been to London, it was indeed amazing! I really wanna go to Berlin and Vienna too.

I guess Venice, like Paris, is one of those places where you can't really go to Europe without visiting, so I'll go and see for myself. :)

[tracy.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd love to see it, thanks! :)

And I've heard things about Bruges, so I'll try to go if I have time.

Hahhaha I know, that was on purpose. Thankfully my name is not actually Mike Litoris. :P

[gwaevalarin.livejournal.com]

I don't really like Frankfurt, to be honest. Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Nuremberg are very beautiful. Wuerzburg too. And not too far away from Frankfurt, actually.
I may be biased though, I live in the area. ;)

Other than that:
1. London
2. Prague
3. Venice

[tracy.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly going because of the cheap flight and the castle!hostel in Bacharach. :)

Already been to London, and the other two are definitely on the list. :D Thanks!