So we have now been home for about 3 months and I realize that there was never an ending to our blogging so I thought I would try to wrap it up just a bit.
We finished off our time in Interlaken with the bungy juming/cannon jumping trip which was terrifying. I think it was mostly that we had booked it the day before so all night I knew what was coming the next day. I woudl have been much better to of just been thrown into it last minute!
But we survived ... and you can see pictures of our jumps at the bottom with the larger pictures.
Our last day in interlaken we went white water rafting which was very mild compared to all the other activities but still very fun! there was a man on our raft that had to be at least 75 and he was having a blast with his daughter (who was in her 40's) . they were really cute : )
we left interlaken and took a train to geneva where we sayed the night and flew out the next morning. we were flying through london and this was the day after the car drove into a london airport (different airport though). so, we decided we should get to the airport extra early incase there were delays.
our flight was at 6:30 am and so we decided we should be there at LEAST 2.5 hours early - i mean it was an international flight - so we arrived at the airport 4am!
well, apparently the geneva airport is not open 24hrs and we had to sit in the dark waiting area basically completely alone except for a couple other people and the floor waxer/night janitor and wait until the counter opening at around 6am. what a waste!!
end the end we made it home safely and only had a minor problem finding michael's parents - since we hadn't brought (or needed) cell phones to europe - it was funny that we weren't back in the US for more than 5 minutes that we were all the sudden were really hurting for one!
we got home and barelly had time to catch our breath before we were off to st. pete beach for a long weekend to celebrate melissa and joeys wedding!
after all the wedding events we finally had a few days to relax! we were home about another week or two and then packed up the car and drove across the country for three days, finally arriving in los angeles.
we spent one month living in a temporary sublet in hollywood (rented from a woman named ayu who clearly did not understand the concept of subletting -- as she kept coming over to get things allll the time! which would make since that she would need to do that since she left what had to be at least 95% of her worldly possessions in our temporary home -- including all her toiletries, left over food in the fridge and her clothing in the drawers. weird.) we also traveled to seattle for michael and casey's wedding a week after making the move!
now, we just finally moved into our permanent apartment in Culver City a couple weeks ago and we love it! I am working downtown at a corporate design firm, Klawiter and Associates, and Michael is working at a Sports Chalet in marina del rey.
we all love our new home (including meeka).
i know this last bit has all seemed non-europe-related, which it is, but it has really all felt like one big trip. or, at least all one big adventure.
i think this very week when we finally got all our things settled and unpacked into the new apartment is when we at last felt we were somewhere we could call home and no long nomads!
from gainesville to tampa to european country to european country (10 countries in all) to tampa to a st. pete wedding to the hollywood sublet to a seattle wedding and back to hollywood and (FINALLY) to our culver city apartment! it has been a looong, wonderful, unforgettable summer!
...THE END...
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Coming to an end... Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice, Interlaken
we left rome in a hurry!
we woke up the morning we were to leave, left our hotel, and walked toward our favorite, cheap
internet cafe to check emails before catching a train to florence. on the way down the street we saw alllll these people marching and picketing in the distance, but all the signs were in italian so we didn't really know what they were protesting, and didn't really care. we got to the internet cafe and checked emails and i added pictures to the previous blog post, etc. then, a group of american guys come in to use computers, "to try to find another way to florence because of the train strike."
we woke up the morning we were to leave, left our hotel, and walked toward our favorite, cheap
internet cafe to check emails before catching a train to florence. on the way down the street we saw alllll these people marching and picketing in the distance, but all the signs were in italian so we didn't really know what they were protesting, and didn't really care. we got to the internet cafe and checked emails and i added pictures to the previous blog post, etc. then, a group of american guys come in to use computers, "to try to find another way to florence because of the train strike."
what train strike? you ask.... well, apparently all that picketing was rome's entire rail system going on strike!
ahhhh! we had already checked out of our hotel and were all ready to go to florence! we really don't want to buy a plane ticket, and we don't want to rent (or drive!) a car in rome, which is what the group of guys plan to do, so we decide to hurry to the train station to try our luck and maybe there will be at least a few trains running!
we get to the train station and its mayhem! there are hundreds of stranded people and no trains seem to be going anywhere. when looking at the boards that usually list arrivals and departures, every single train says its a no go.
also, every ticket line and all the information stations have lines that look a mile long.
our next thought is taking a bus. we find the bus station area attached to the train station and wait in the bus information line. she says that she only has information for the local buses but tells us another window in the train station that can help with buses to florence. we are wandering around trying to find this elusive help window and stumble upon another window that sells bus, plane and train tickets and since it is so tucked away in the station the line is noticeably shorter than any of the others.
we get to the front of the line and say we want to get to florence. she says no problem and prints us tickets for a TRAIN to florence. we were very confused, and asked her twice if this train was actually leaving and she said yes.
we still thought it was too good to be true. but we found the info boards again and amidst all the stopped trains is one to florence that has an actual platform and departure time!! we still cant believe our luck! everyone on board seemed to be holding their breath until the train actually began to move, but it did and we made it to florence!
once in florence we were touring around and all the sudden it dawns on me... CRAP! I left our usb memory stick with all our backed up pictures in the computer in rome!!! we had left in such a rush i never pulled it out! we really just used it as a back up for our pictures incase the camera was ever lost, stolen, or broken, but it still had pictures on it that we had deleted on the camera memory to make more room. we decided it was worth it to try to save those lost pictures and we got back on a 3 hr train to rome. we ran back to the internet spot and looked, but it was predictably
gone. : (
now disappointed and tired, we had the task of finding a way out of rome for a second time during the strike! luckily we were able to get on the same train we had taken before and escaped again.
we had a lot of fun in florence. its a very walkable city and our hostel was one a fun and lively street with a ton of shops and restaurants and was right next to the duomo.
we also took a day trip to pisa to see, well, you know.
we left florence an
d took a train north to an area called the cinque terre (or 5 towns). these five little italian towns are perched on the coast and there's a hiking path that makes it possible to start at the first town and end at the last. we began at the southern most town and hiked our way through along the cliffs and through the vineyards all the way to the northernmost town. they are all adorable and the hike was challenging but worth it. there was a LOT of climbing uphill followed by hiking back uphill and then downhill again, etc. the 9km takes about 5 hours to cover and we were proud and exhausted at the finish!
that night we slept at a campground (believe it or not.... and michael couldn't believe it) but it was only borderline camping. ok, not even borderline. it was technically a tent, but we had a fake wood floor and two real deal beds. plus there were very nice, very hot showers, toilets, laundry, the works. the only really camp-like thing about it was the lack of light (we used my booklight to see at night) and the bugs.
the next morning we traveled for 5 hours by train and got to venice by mid-afternoon. venice was great. it was even more venice-like than i thought venice was. i knew it was all on water and such, but i seriously still thought they had cars on the streets, which they don't, and they must not even allow bikes (!) because we never saw a single one. if you want to get anywhere you better walk, or take a boat. period.
we also had a ridiculous time with our hotel and crazy italian hotel-man, but that's a whole 'nother story, and this is already going to be a way-too-long-post.
if you are even still reading by now give yourself a pat on the back and get a snack, because we still have a ways to go....
anyways, after a venice day and a half we said goodbye to italy and headed to interlaken, switzerland, where we are now. interlaken is the extreme sport capital of the world, and by-golly we are holding them to it.
we got in really late (after midnight) and decided we would take the next day as a rest day
before risking our lives doing anything crazy. didn't work out as so. the next morning as we began what we thought we be a nice quiet day of touring the little german-like swiss village and we stopped to ask our hostel lady about booking a skydiving trip. well, next thing you know we are being picked up in an hour to jump out of a helicopter!
we decided to go with the helicopter jump because 1) you get a 15 minute scenic
tour of the alps and valleys in a glass walled helicopter before you toss yourself out, 2) there are only 3 cities in the world that even do helicopter skydiving and 3) it is just waaaaay cooler.
so, we jumped 12,500 feet and lived to tell. always a plus.
so, now that we've gotten all that business out of the way, we decided today was defiantly going to be our rest day. and who knows how it happened, but we went canyoning today. canyoning is hard to describe, but you basically make your way down a very fast and very rocky river that is in a canyon. michael decided it's like white water rafting but without the boat (i wouldn't know about white water rafting, because ive never done it, but we'll get to
that in a minute...) there are high jumps (i think i was officially more scared than the skydiving yesterday), waterfalls, sliding down rocks, etc. it was so, so, so much fun. and im pretty sure more dangerous than skydiving considering the startling amount of protective gear you sport to do it.
as for our relaxation day, we will have to take it in tampa. we booked bungee jumping tomorrow (actually michel is bungee jumping and i am canyon jumping, slightly different, but we'll get into that another time) and the following day, our last in interlaken, we are going white water rafting.
wish us luck.
and by the way, don't tell my mom.
ahhhh! we had already checked out of our hotel and were all ready to go to florence! we really don't want to buy a plane ticket, and we don't want to rent (or drive!) a car in rome, which is what the group of guys plan to do, so we decide to hurry to the train station to try our luck and maybe there will be at least a few trains running!
we get to the train station and its mayhem! there are hundreds of stranded people and no trains seem to be going anywhere. when looking at the boards that usually list arrivals and departures, every single train says its a no go.
also, every ticket line and all the information stations have lines that look a mile long.
our next thought is taking a bus. we find the bus station area attached to the train station and wait in the bus information line. she says that she only has information for the local buses but tells us another window in the train station that can help with buses to florence. we are wandering around trying to find this elusive help window and stumble upon another window that sells bus, plane and train tickets and since it is so tucked away in the station the line is noticeably shorter than any of the others.
we get to the front of the line and say we want to get to florence. she says no problem and prints us tickets for a TRAIN to florence. we were very confused, and asked her twice if this train was actually leaving and she said yes.
we still thought it was too good to be true. but we found the info boards again and amidst all the stopped trains is one to florence that has an actual platform and departure time!! we still cant believe our luck! everyone on board seemed to be holding their breath until the train actually began to move, but it did and we made it to florence!
once in florence we were touring around and all the sudden it dawns on me... CRAP! I left our usb memory stick with all our backed up pictures in the computer in rome!!! we had left in such a rush i never pulled it out! we really just used it as a back up for our pictures incase the camera was ever lost, stolen, or broken, but it still had pictures on it that we had deleted on the camera memory to make more room. we decided it was worth it to try to save those lost pictures and we got back on a 3 hr train to rome. we ran back to the internet spot and looked, but it was predictably
gone. : (now disappointed and tired, we had the task of finding a way out of rome for a second time during the strike! luckily we were able to get on the same train we had taken before and escaped again.
we had a lot of fun in florence. its a very walkable city and our hostel was one a fun and lively street with a ton of shops and restaurants and was right next to the duomo.
we also took a day trip to pisa to see, well, you know.
we left florence an
d took a train north to an area called the cinque terre (or 5 towns). these five little italian towns are perched on the coast and there's a hiking path that makes it possible to start at the first town and end at the last. we began at the southern most town and hiked our way through along the cliffs and through the vineyards all the way to the northernmost town. they are all adorable and the hike was challenging but worth it. there was a LOT of climbing uphill followed by hiking back uphill and then downhill again, etc. the 9km takes about 5 hours to cover and we were proud and exhausted at the finish!
that night we slept at a campground (believe it or not.... and michael couldn't believe it) but it was only borderline camping. ok, not even borderline. it was technically a tent, but we had a fake wood floor and two real deal beds. plus there were very nice, very hot showers, toilets, laundry, the works. the only really camp-like thing about it was the lack of light (we used my booklight to see at night) and the bugs.
the next morning we traveled for 5 hours by train and got to venice by mid-afternoon. venice was great. it was even more venice-like than i thought venice was. i knew it was all on water and such, but i seriously still thought they had cars on the streets, which they don't, and they must not even allow bikes (!) because we never saw a single one. if you want to get anywhere you better walk, or take a boat. period.we also had a ridiculous time with our hotel and crazy italian hotel-man, but that's a whole 'nother story, and this is already going to be a way-too-long-post.
if you are even still reading by now give yourself a pat on the back and get a snack, because we still have a ways to go....
anyways, after a venice day and a half we said goodbye to italy and headed to interlaken, switzerland, where we are now. interlaken is the extreme sport capital of the world, and by-golly we are holding them to it.
we got in really late (after midnight) and decided we would take the next day as a rest day
before risking our lives doing anything crazy. didn't work out as so. the next morning as we began what we thought we be a nice quiet day of touring the little german-like swiss village and we stopped to ask our hostel lady about booking a skydiving trip. well, next thing you know we are being picked up in an hour to jump out of a helicopter!we decided to go with the helicopter jump because 1) you get a 15 minute scenic
tour of the alps and valleys in a glass walled helicopter before you toss yourself out, 2) there are only 3 cities in the world that even do helicopter skydiving and 3) it is just waaaaay cooler.so, we jumped 12,500 feet and lived to tell. always a plus.
so, now that we've gotten all that business out of the way, we decided today was defiantly going to be our rest day. and who knows how it happened, but we went canyoning today. canyoning is hard to describe, but you basically make your way down a very fast and very rocky river that is in a canyon. michael decided it's like white water rafting but without the boat (i wouldn't know about white water rafting, because ive never done it, but we'll get to
that in a minute...) there are high jumps (i think i was officially more scared than the skydiving yesterday), waterfalls, sliding down rocks, etc. it was so, so, so much fun. and im pretty sure more dangerous than skydiving considering the startling amount of protective gear you sport to do it.as for our relaxation day, we will have to take it in tampa. we booked bungee jumping tomorrow (actually michel is bungee jumping and i am canyon jumping, slightly different, but we'll get into that another time) and the following day, our last in interlaken, we are going white water rafting.
wish us luck.
and by the way, don't tell my mom.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Long Go... Greece to Italy
since we last wrote we left naxos and visited our last greek island, santorini. everyone had been telling us that you go to naxos for the beaches and santorini for the view.its true, the beaches weren't the best ever but the view from town was delightful. the island was created by a volcanic eruption and therefore instead of sand the beach is made up of little black rocks. they are very light and porous and somehow absorb much
more heat than you ever would have thought them capable! even a 3 foot walk to the water from your chair requires flip flops because it is just so scorching hot! we still enjoyed out last few days on the beach and loved the santorini town area with shops and restaurants seemingly stacked on top of each other on the vertical surface of the island all overlooking a very pretty view of the agean sea.
we had our flight booked from athens to naples, italy for the night of june 16th at 7:20pm. we left santorini on the first ferry out that morning for athens so that we would be able to have a quick lunch with our friends kayla and blair, who are also traveling europe and happened to be in athens. perfect timing...so we thought!we arrived in athens at 3:00 and then headed into the center of the city to meet kayla and blair. we got there around 3:45 and went to find a restaurant to eat. we wanted to leave athens to go to the airport (which is a ways outside the city) at 5:20. we took the bus in from the airport when we arrived in athens earlier in the week and it took 45 mins, but we planned to take the metro out to the airport this time because we were told it was much faster, but thought we should plan for 45 mins anyways.
however, lunch took longer than we thought and next thing we knew we were just getting on the metro at 5:50 (30 mins later than planned!). all we could think was thankfully the metro was going to get us there in less than 45 mins...
however, that was completely wrong and it took 1hr and 30 mins!!!!!!!!!!!!! getting us the the airport at exactly 7:20 (our departure time).
needless to say out flight was closed. it was not, not, not good. there was not a single other flight to naples leaving that night and we ended up having to fly out the next morning at 6:30am (an exorbitant amount of money later) which also meant we had to sleep in the airport next to a mcdonalds (although arguably one of the nicest mcdonalds ive seen .... its labeld the "mcdonalds lounge") and we had to fly though milan to get to naples (geographically ridiculous). oh, and of course our layover the next day was delayed a long, long time and milan apparently doesn't believe in chairs.
we finally made it to naples licking our wounds (mainly the massive wound to our wallet) and then got on a train to head straight to pompeii (this was already planned for that day and we stubbornly refused to change it). so, we stowed our bags and walked all around pompeii (which is HUGE ... i had no idea!) on a very hot june afternoon still in the clothes we had put on way back in time, in santorini (before the ferry to athens, the metro to the airport, a night on a banquette, a flight to milan, a flight to naples, a train to pompeii...)
we saw as much as we could in pompeii before throwing in the towel and walked (with our backpacks) 2km to a different train station than we came in on to catch a train to solerno, italy. once there we got on a bus for a 1 and 1/2 hour ride teetering and swerving along the edge of cliffs to almalfi (we both decided that if we had ever gotten car sick in our lives it would have happened on this bus for sure) and FINALLY to a hostel!!!!!
almalfi was nice and our little area of town was so cute and so italian. kids filled the piazza and beach each day completely exuberant that summertime is in full swing.
we mainly used almalfi as our home-base for a day trip to the pricier i
sland of capri. it's a beautiful, lively island with lots of high-end, designer shopping and high-end, designer people to match. we spent the day walking the streets and did the compulsory boat ride (or maybe, dinghy ride) into the blue grotto, which is a cave area on the coast where the water literally glows bright, neon blue.two nights later we were rested and ready to get back on the bus of terror to the train station in solerno to then travel to rome.
we are now on our second day in rome and trying to catch our breath! we did a day and a half of nothing but roman site after roman ruin after roman church and are exhausted. apparently that week on the beaches in greece has made us soft and we are trying to restrengthen our sightseeing stamina.
we have visited almost every major site listed in bold in any tour book and eaten pizza and gelato at least once a day since we arrived in rome. our typical lunch and dinner are basically identical: caprice salad, a piece of bruchetta, and a pizza. basically the same 3 ingredients reworked 3 ways and consumed twice daily.
we have also learned that the locals favorite game here is guessing where people are from. we get spain and portugal a lot. i don't think our newly tanned skin is helping the matter, but within an hour and a half yesterday michael had two locals insisting that he was portuguese. the second man (a server at a gellato shop near the trevi fountain) basically told michael that he was infact portuguese despite anything he's been told during his life:
"where you from? espana o portuguese?"
"no, neither."
"yes you are, you are portuguese"
"no, actually we are from america."
"no, no. you from brazil."
"no, america."
"no, brazil!"
"no, no, really. america!"
"okay, okay. you from america.... but your mama, she from brazil!!!"
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Athens and the Islands (so far)
We spent about a day and a half in athens and mainly just visited the acropolis. it was soooo hot and very crowded... i wouldn't say it was our favorite site ever, but we knew we had to see it!!the ticket line was basically chaos - they need a much better system, which could also be the reason that a woman came out of the ticket office and posted a sign announcing that they were going on strike that night (and "sorry for any inconvenience")!! the pictures are pretty, it was a very clear day - barel
y a cloud in the sky - but other than that, it was just more of a good, we came, we saw, lets get to AC! the islands have been beautiful! as much bad luck as we have had with weather this trip (rain almost every single day since madrid) we have had perfect, perfect beach weather
** knock on wood! **
we began in mykonos where we stayed at a wonderful hotel! it was expensive for us, but really reasonable (especially for a resort island like mykonos). it was family run and they were all so nice. there were only 18 rooms in the whole place and we had a room right off the pool, so it really felt like our own little house. we went to a different beach each day and enjoyed all the great greek foods!* the picture is of our hotel... you can see michael coming out of our room right behind the pool : )
we are now in naxos, another island, and at another family run villa - recommended by our last hotel - and they are also great. whenever we ask a question or need anything they say, "oh yes, mama will get that for you" ... they call for mama and the little old greek lady dressed head to toe in black (think "my big fat greek wedding") comes scurrying over, takes my hand and leads us to get beach towels, or to serve us juice, etc.
this morning she sat us down, got us delicious oj (there must have been added sugar, it was just too good to be true) and then disappeared for a few minutes before coming back with a rose she had just picked from the garden to give to me. she is so cute! and she tries to talk to us in greek
even though we clearly have No idea what shes saying. we love "mama"we have been basking in the greek sun for 3 days in a row now and barely recognize ourselves.
i think the sun is brighter here or something...
Romania
We spent two short days in romania. The first was in brasov which is a smaller town but has more of the medieval type structures you think of when you conjure images of romania. we weren't too enchanted with it at first (lots and lots of poverty) until we found its charming little town square area. there were lots of shops and restaurants as well as little old ladies selling traditional romanian crafts. we spend most of our time in this square walking the streets and seeing ice cream stand after ice cream stand. apparently they love their ice cream! and then we realized how cheap it was!! about .40 cents (american) and then the trouble began --- we had three ice cream comes in one day!! two of them were literally back to back (we couldn't decide if we wanted hand dipped or soft serve... so we settled on both!) and the third cone was a double scoop for each of us. by the end of the day we felt sick and vowed to stick to a one ice cream 
a day minimum from there on out.on to bucharest and there was a lot of the things we didnt like about brasov and even more of it. the train station (much like in brasov) is full of homeless children - with no parents to be found- begging and begging, very persistently, for money. most seemed around 7-9 years old, but some were as young as maybe 4. its very, very sad and hard to see.
we flew out of bucharest to athens on the 9th (our plane leaving at a very unpleasant 5am!).
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Budapest, Hungary
we spent two days in budapest, hungary, june 5th and 6th. luckily we had enough fun that our only memory of the city wont be the disgusting hostel!! it was by FAR our worst accommodation! it was actually an apartment in a run down complex and i don't think there was a clean molecule in our room. we spent the two days avoiding having to go there and slept on top of a sarong stacy gave me from greece so we wouldn't have to touch the bedding and spread a scarf over the pillows. very gross.
our first day in budpest we took at bike tour with a very nice hungarian woman as our guide. it was really a good tour except for the exhausting uphill climb to get to the top of a hill to a castle. it was sooo hard i had to walk my bike up the last bit because i thought i was going to have a heart attack. the cobblestone streets didn't help much either. regardless, we heard a lot about the city and its many hardships, past and present.
later in the afternoon after biking and walking all day we went to one of their well known bath houses. it was a huge place with a million different rooms with saunas and baths, plus a large outdoor area as well. it was a little confusing because nothing is written in english and there are separate rooms for men and women for changing and such and i think there are different areas inside that are segregated as well, like certain saunas and tubs, but since nothing is in english we were nervous we were going to wander into the wrong areas.
we had fun going from tub to tub and they are labeled with their temperature. so we would get in one that was 36C and then get hot and go to 34C and then get cold and go to another... its all thermal waters from budapest's natural springs which they cool down to different temperatures. each of the bath houses is known for different mineral contents that are supposedly beneficial for different ailments. there are also a lot of older people there and we learned that it's partly because they can go to their doctor and depending on what health issues they may have they get prescriptions for the bath houses and get in free.
our second day in budapest we decided to benefit from another incident of their natural hot springs and go caving. we went with a group of 7 other people, plus our guide and went climbing all through an elaborate cave system created by the springs. it was so much fun. they give you jumpers because you get absolutely filthy and spend 2 hours deep in the dark underground (the deepest cave we entered was 25 miles below the surface) climbing and sliding through some of the 
smallest spaces you can imagine. some of the holes you shimmy though look like there would be no way you could ever fit, and then some how you do. everyone on our tour was a girl except for michael and one other guy who was a pretty big kid. the limit t
o go on the tour is 100kg (220.5 lbs) and this kid was right AT the limit at 220 and there were some TIGHT squeezes for him (squeezes for all of us really, but especially for him). it was maybe the most fun thing we've done and by the end we were exhausted!! plus we are both a little sore today (more upper body work than we are used to) but it was great, great fun!!
we took a night train last night and arrived in brasov, romania this morning!
our first day in budpest we took at bike tour with a very nice hungarian woman as our guide. it was really a good tour except for the exhausting uphill climb to get to the top of a hill to a castle. it was sooo hard i had to walk my bike up the last bit because i thought i was going to have a heart attack. the cobblestone streets didn't help much either. regardless, we heard a lot about the city and its many hardships, past and present.after the bike tour we walked over to the jewish quarter for lunch and to tour the 2nd oldest synagogue in the world.
later in the afternoon after biking and walking all day we went to one of their well known bath houses. it was a huge place with a million different rooms with saunas and baths, plus a large outdoor area as well. it was a little confusing because nothing is written in english and there are separate rooms for men and women for changing and such and i think there are different areas inside that are segregated as well, like certain saunas and tubs, but since nothing is in english we were nervous we were going to wander into the wrong areas.we had fun going from tub to tub and they are labeled with their temperature. so we would get in one that was 36C and then get hot and go to 34C and then get cold and go to another... its all thermal waters from budapest's natural springs which they cool down to different temperatures. each of the bath houses is known for different mineral contents that are supposedly beneficial for different ailments. there are also a lot of older people there and we learned that it's partly because they can go to their doctor and depending on what health issues they may have they get prescriptions for the bath houses and get in free.
our second day in budapest we decided to benefit from another incident of their natural hot springs and go caving. we went with a group of 7 other people, plus our guide and went climbing all through an elaborate cave system created by the springs. it was so much fun. they give you jumpers because you get absolutely filthy and spend 2 hours deep in the dark underground (the deepest cave we entered was 25 miles below the surface) climbing and sliding through some of the 
smallest spaces you can imagine. some of the holes you shimmy though look like there would be no way you could ever fit, and then some how you do. everyone on our tour was a girl except for michael and one other guy who was a pretty big kid. the limit t
o go on the tour is 100kg (220.5 lbs) and this kid was right AT the limit at 220 and there were some TIGHT squeezes for him (squeezes for all of us really, but especially for him). it was maybe the most fun thing we've done and by the end we were exhausted!! plus we are both a little sore today (more upper body work than we are used to) but it was great, great fun!!we took a night train last night and arrived in brasov, romania this morning!
Austria
austria was beautiful. we spent two and a half days there, june 2nd in vienna, the 3rd, my birthday, we took a day trip to the to salzburg, and we spent half the day of the 4th back in vienna before leaving by train to budapest.
we had originally really wanted to go to austria, but it wasn't fitting into our itinerary so we cut it. however, we are moving faster than we had thought we would and realized we could fit it in. i am so glad we did. i think it is THE most beautiful place we have been -- i would say even more beautiful than paris. its more quaint then paris and even off the beaten path, every street we walked was adorable.
our day in vienna was spent walking around the main town square area. all the buildings are so pretty, it really all looked like it was just out of a fairy tale. toward evening street performers begin setting up their acts in different areas of the square, one after another. we watched a bunch of groups from magicians to break dancers to a man playing music on crystal glasses to a woman playing classical pieces on the piano very, very well (she rolls our her entire grand piano into the middle of the pedestrian only street and she had quite a large and impressed audience).
the following day we went to salzburg for the sole purpose of taking the
sound of music tour for my birthday! it was a great birthday and it was such a fun tour... you are taken in a huge goofy bus (every inch painted with sound of music murals) all over the city and into the country side. it is all based around the movie, but really the movie was filmed in all the most 
beautiful sights in salzburg so it was just a great sightseeing excursion as well. we went all the way up into the mountains into the lake area and just like in vienna everything is just picture perfect! : )
on the 4th we were back in vienna and spent our remaining half day at the schobrunn palace. this was the summer palace of austria's royal family and is similar to versailles but with more to do. we didn't do the tour of the palace, but instead enjoyed the gardens (free!). we hiked up to the highest point of the gardens to a pretty "panorama gazebo" and then played in the hedge mazes! i had never seen one in real life an
d it was like being in alice's wonderland. everything at the palace was manicured and beautiful and without flaw.
we had originally really wanted to go to austria, but it wasn't fitting into our itinerary so we cut it. however, we are moving faster than we had thought we would and realized we could fit it in. i am so glad we did. i think it is THE most beautiful place we have been -- i would say even more beautiful than paris. its more quaint then paris and even off the beaten path, every street we walked was adorable.our day in vienna was spent walking around the main town square area. all the buildings are so pretty, it really all looked like it was just out of a fairy tale. toward evening street performers begin setting up their acts in different areas of the square, one after another. we watched a bunch of groups from magicians to break dancers to a man playing music on crystal glasses to a woman playing classical pieces on the piano very, very well (she rolls our her entire grand piano into the middle of the pedestrian only street and she had quite a large and impressed audience).
the following day we went to salzburg for the sole purpose of taking the
sound of music tour for my birthday! it was a great birthday and it was such a fun tour... you are taken in a huge goofy bus (every inch painted with sound of music murals) all over the city and into the country side. it is all based around the movie, but really the movie was filmed in all the most 
beautiful sights in salzburg so it was just a great sightseeing excursion as well. we went all the way up into the mountains into the lake area and just like in vienna everything is just picture perfect! : )
on the 4th we were back in vienna and spent our remaining half day at the schobrunn palace. this was the summer palace of austria's royal family and is similar to versailles but with more to do. we didn't do the tour of the palace, but instead enjoyed the gardens (free!). we hiked up to the highest point of the gardens to a pretty "panorama gazebo" and then played in the hedge mazes! i had never seen one in real life an
d it was like being in alice's wonderland. everything at the palace was manicured and beautiful and without flaw.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Krakow, Poland (and Auschwitz)
we spent the 31st of may and the 1st of june in krakow and had a lot of fun in the city. we really only had one full day in krakow since we spent our second day at auschwitz.as we mentioned in the last post, we took a bike tour. it was a good way to get familiar with the city. i'm glad we took the time to do it because we really didn't know anything about krakow. for example, we didn't realize it had such a medieval influence. the main square, the "old town" was founded 750 years ago (really more than that, but that's when it became "official" when they finished their wall surrounding the city, which was apparently a requirement at the time if you wanted the title of being a town). this "old town" is really cute with lots of cafes and a big church and a tall bell tower which a man plays the trumpet out of the upper window every hour on the hour. this area is surrounded by said wall and right outside the wall is a grassy area circling the entire area, which we learned is what has become of the old moat that used to surround the entire city.
on the bike tour we leaned a lot about krakow's quirky legends and stories and we saw their big wawel castle and the fire breathing dragon statue. there's also a funny statue nearby of a dog. apparently, in 1990 (its a true story) a dog was leashed to a bridge by his elderly owner as the man went across to go to a market, and along the way the old man had a heart attack and died. friends of the man tried to take the dog home but he refused to budge, just continuing to wait for the man to come back to get him. they gave in and let him stay, bringing him food and water, but he died a few months later in the same spot just waiting and waiting. the dog became so well known that the city paid to have a statue created in his memory. very cute.
we also went through a lot of the old jewish quarter, although there are very few jewish people left in krakow as they all fled during the the war... or worse. the city used to have a very, very large jewish population and there are hardly any left at all. but, they still have a pretty synagogue and very old, beautiful jewish cemeteries. on the other hand, you can still see the wall built to trap them within the jewish ghetto during the nazi occupation.
after the bike tour we checked into our hostel, which was very nice, probably the best up to that point, and the guy working there mentioned that the following night it just happened to be the kickoff of the city of krakow celebrating its 750th birthday of being an official town. he said that the old town would have music and such and we should check it out. he also said we probably had noticed them setting up the stage in the town square (but we really didn't, so we figured, oh just some small stage, we didn't really notice anything special).
the following morning we traveled about 1.5 hours to auschwitz. there are really 3 different camps under the auschwitz name and we went to two of them (the third is basically completely gone).
the first was auschwitz I and consists of the still completely intact
barracks and lay out of the camp. the camp is not too, too big and is strangely almost pretty if you didnt know better, but only because the nazis did not build the structures - they were built by the polish army years before the war as an army base. then, the nazis took them over. so, the result is not what we normally picture a concentration camp to look like. a couple of the barracks were kept exactly as they were found during the liberation to see the horrid living conditions. however, most of the buildings have been converted into different exhibits of the museum focusing on different aspects of the war and concentration life.
auschwitz-birkenau (or auschwitz II) is about 10 mins away by bus and is massive. they originally planed for it to hold 200,000 prisoners, which it was never that big, but it still held around 100,000 people. almost everything was destroyed, burned by the nazis during their retreat at the end of the war, but there are a few barracks still left and there are enough to realize how disgusting it was. the barracks were originally designed by the germans to house 57 horses, but they instead used them to house up to 700 people at a time. this is also the camp of the gas chambers and crematoriums, which were blown up, but the rubble remains.
going through the museum, which being located in poland, its interesting to notice the difference in wording. we saw a lot of ww2 related things in germany and every single thing we read always refered the the "nazis," but in poland, they are always just called the "germans," i guess its not such a big difference, but it kind of is.
there is much, much more to tell, but it really isn't anything that we haven't all learned.
that night we returned to krakow and having been a very long day we thought we would head right to bed. however, at
the last minute we remembered that there was supposed to be something going on to commemorate the 750th birthday. since we were so close to the old town, we decided to pop by really quickly. we were so glad we did! it was a HUGE event. we had no idea it was going to be so massive. it seemed like the ENTIRE city was there to see this huge classical music group. there must have been at least 300 musicians and singers on stage plus a VERY animated conductor that was entertainment on his own. it was a nice way to spend our last hours in krakow before heading to bed and leaving very early the next morning for vienna, austria.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Deutschland
we are actually in poland now, but have spent all our time (expect for today) in germany since we last wrote.
germany was great, although our bad weather streak has been continuing!
we first went to munich for one day and stayed in a great hostel that was really, really close to Marienplatz, which is really the center of town, so we were very close to everything! the star of marienplatz is the Glockenspiel which is this stupid clock that has these little puppets that come out a few times a day and is about the dumbest thing you've ever seen. but, for some reason its the highlight of the square and tons of people stand there and video tape it and clap and cheer.... very strange.
anyways, since we only had one day in munich and we wanted to see as much as we could in the shortest amount of time, we randomly decided to take a bike tour. it was a completely free tour - you just tip at the end if you had fun - so we thought, 'why not?'
well, now i dont know why we have been walking, and walking, and walking miles and miles everyday!! it was so much fun, the guide knew all his munich history and was funny too and i really feel like we saw every notable building (and more - not just buildings) within biking distance and all within about 4 hours! it was a great time, plus we werent as completely exhausted as we are most days. also, very random, there were only 30 people on the tour and there were 2 boys from UF and 2 boys from FSU. so, 6 (including us) out of the 30 were from FL schools. we thought it was pretty funny.
highlights of the tour included the english garden (a huge nudist garden in the middle of the city, with lots of senior citizen nudists), the chinese beer garden (the 2nd largest beer garden in the world, and where we stopped for lunch), and the 'river surfers' (there's a river that runs through the english garden and as the water pours out from under a bridge it 
creates a perpetual wave and a lot of young guys gather there in their wetsuits with their surfboards and basically surf back and forth along the river until they fall, and the next guy jumps in. its really neat -but hard to describe- and i think people are there surfing everyday).
after the tour we still had a night to spend in munich, so we (very uncharacteristically) decided to take a beer tour. we went around, with our guide and 3 other guys on the tour from chicago and s. carolina, and went first to a bar for a beer (everywhere brews their own specific beer), then another bar for beer "tasting" (as in, "i taste a hint of banana") and had a very german dinner (lots of sausage) as well as a step by step tour of how that bar/restaurant brewed their beer, and then a final stop at one of the most famous
(probably the most famous) beer halls in munich. it was actually a lot of fun.
the next morning we traveled to berlin by train and arrived late that night. our hostel was really very nice, but also really, really in the woods! i mean, we had to hike about 5 - 10 mins to even get out of the forest and to a paved road!!
our first day (one of two) we decided to take another bike tour. we went all over berlin (and to another beer garden for lunch) and as much as we liked the mun
ich bike tour, this one was even 10 x better! maybe its just because berlin has so much more interesting and recent history, but it was a great tour. we also had another great, very intelligent guide (and he was from tampa!). we learned more about ww2 and the cold war in those 5 hours than we ever did in all our years of school, or at least we understood it a whole lot more.
afterward, we went to potsdamer platz to the big new movie theater that shows original language films to watch a movie in english. the only thing that was any different from american theaters is that 1) they assign you exact seats, and better seats cost more and 2) during the previews a commercial came on for this specific brand of ice cream bars that they sell EVERYWHERE and ALL over europe, and all the sudden at the end of the commercial, the lights come up, and the screen goes dark and 2 employees walked around selling the ice cream bars. it was so funny. a few people bought them, and then they left, the lights went off, and the previews continued.
our second day in berlin we (surprise) took another bike tour! i know, we are very lazy now and don't want to walk anywhere. we went with the same company on a more in-depth tour (longer and smaller - only 5 people) all about WW2 and the 3rd reich.
afterward, we went to the 'topography of terror,' a free, open-air museum also all about the Nazi regime, and then to the museum located at checkpoint charlie.
last night we took a night train from berlin to krakow, poland. today we took our 4th bike tour in 4 days!!!! ahhh, its getting out of hand! and are about to go out to dinner, as we are thoroughly enjoying their uber-cheap currency (they haven't switched to the eruo yet and one of their 'ztoty' is equal to 4 euro!)
Tomorrow we day trip to Auschwitz.
germany was great, although our bad weather streak has been continuing!
we first went to munich for one day and stayed in a great hostel that was really, really close to Marienplatz, which is really the center of town, so we were very close to everything! the star of marienplatz is the Glockenspiel which is this stupid clock that has these little puppets that come out a few times a day and is about the dumbest thing you've ever seen. but, for some reason its the highlight of the square and tons of people stand there and video tape it and clap and cheer.... very strange.anyways, since we only had one day in munich and we wanted to see as much as we could in the shortest amount of time, we randomly decided to take a bike tour. it was a completely free tour - you just tip at the end if you had fun - so we thought, 'why not?'
well, now i dont know why we have been walking, and walking, and walking miles and miles everyday!! it was so much fun, the guide knew all his munich history and was funny too and i really feel like we saw every notable building (and more - not just buildings) within biking distance and all within about 4 hours! it was a great time, plus we werent as completely exhausted as we are most days. also, very random, there were only 30 people on the tour and there were 2 boys from UF and 2 boys from FSU. so, 6 (including us) out of the 30 were from FL schools. we thought it was pretty funny.
highlights of the tour included the english garden (a huge nudist garden in the middle of the city, with lots of senior citizen nudists), the chinese beer garden (the 2nd largest beer garden in the world, and where we stopped for lunch), and the 'river surfers' (there's a river that runs through the english garden and as the water pours out from under a bridge it 
creates a perpetual wave and a lot of young guys gather there in their wetsuits with their surfboards and basically surf back and forth along the river until they fall, and the next guy jumps in. its really neat -but hard to describe- and i think people are there surfing everyday).after the tour we still had a night to spend in munich, so we (very uncharacteristically) decided to take a beer tour. we went around, with our guide and 3 other guys on the tour from chicago and s. carolina, and went first to a bar for a beer (everywhere brews their own specific beer), then another bar for beer "tasting" (as in, "i taste a hint of banana") and had a very german dinner (lots of sausage) as well as a step by step tour of how that bar/restaurant brewed their beer, and then a final stop at one of the most famous
(probably the most famous) beer halls in munich. it was actually a lot of fun.the next morning we traveled to berlin by train and arrived late that night. our hostel was really very nice, but also really, really in the woods! i mean, we had to hike about 5 - 10 mins to even get out of the forest and to a paved road!!
our first day (one of two) we decided to take another bike tour. we went all over berlin (and to another beer garden for lunch) and as much as we liked the mun
ich bike tour, this one was even 10 x better! maybe its just because berlin has so much more interesting and recent history, but it was a great tour. we also had another great, very intelligent guide (and he was from tampa!). we learned more about ww2 and the cold war in those 5 hours than we ever did in all our years of school, or at least we understood it a whole lot more.afterward, we went to potsdamer platz to the big new movie theater that shows original language films to watch a movie in english. the only thing that was any different from american theaters is that 1) they assign you exact seats, and better seats cost more and 2) during the previews a commercial came on for this specific brand of ice cream bars that they sell EVERYWHERE and ALL over europe, and all the sudden at the end of the commercial, the lights come up, and the screen goes dark and 2 employees walked around selling the ice cream bars. it was so funny. a few people bought them, and then they left, the lights went off, and the previews continued.
our second day in berlin we (surprise) took another bike tour! i know, we are very lazy now and don't want to walk anywhere. we went with the same company on a more in-depth tour (longer and smaller - only 5 people) all about WW2 and the 3rd reich.
afterward, we went to the 'topography of terror,' a free, open-air museum also all about the Nazi regime, and then to the museum located at checkpoint charlie.
last night we took a night train from berlin to krakow, poland. today we took our 4th bike tour in 4 days!!!! ahhh, its getting out of hand! and are about to go out to dinner, as we are thoroughly enjoying their uber-cheap currency (they haven't switched to the eruo yet and one of their 'ztoty' is equal to 4 euro!)Tomorrow we day trip to Auschwitz.
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