The best and the worst of Europe

Jessica's ratings:

Favorite city: Berlin. The recent history, the modern architecture and the punk culture really draw me to this city.
Favorite monument: The Holocaust Monument in the middle of Berlin. The use of space and vague metaphorical architecture is very effective for the purposes of the piece.
Best Hostel: Jacob's Inn in Dublin. It was close to the bus station, within walking distance to the Temple Bar and O'Connell Street, and it was clean and organized.
Cleanest Subway: Athens, mostly because the city had to renovate the system for the 2004 Olympics
Most efficient Subway: The Underground in London. That train will take you everywhere.
Best Place to Eat: Cafe Med in Paris. We had a three-course meal for 12.50, and the food was fantastic.
Nicest weather: Amsterdam. After the rain in the morning, the blue skies and 70-ish degree temperatures really made this city shine.
Favorite art museum: the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. The Louvre was cool, but nothing really compares to the Sistine Chapel and the work that Michaelangelo did there.
Cheapest water: Athens, where 1 euro will get you 1.5 litres. Glad we were there when the weather was at 110 degrees.
Best festival: San Fermin in Pamplona, although the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the end of the Black Plague was pretty cool


Worst hostel: Luna Parc in Paris. The place was just plain dirty. The staff had no clue what was going on and it was not near anything. Astor Hyde Park came in close second.
Worst airline: Tie between Easyjet and Ryanair. Easyjet did not have one flight on time during our entire trip, and the system of no assigned seats is just disastrous. Ryanair charges you if you have to check in one bag, even when the airport has more stringent guidelines than anywhere else in the world.
Worst airport: Gatwick in London. There are hardly any words to describe how aggravated I was when we could only take one bag as a carry-on, including my purse. And, we had our tickets checked five times before we got to our gate. I'm sorry, if I were going to up security someplace in London, I would definitely worry more about Heathrow, which is the closest to the city, than stupid Gatwick, which is a half-hour away.
Most expensive meal: Florence, but I don't really want to talk about that. Let's just say it was expensive and not worth it.
Strangest place: The serial killer museum. That was just weird and disturbing.