Planes, trains and automobiles. Since Jess and I have started this three week whirlwind adventure, it seems as if we have employed practically every type of transportation. It's been fun being so spontaneous and not exactly knowing what each day brings. We've only booked our travels days before each destination and have certainly felt the pressure of it all. We feel like we're on the show The Amazing Race, where contestants race around the world completing challenges along the way and the most resourceful team ends up the winner. After this trip, Jess and I feel confident we'd win.
After a delayed flight from Paris, we arrived in Prague and mastered the public transportation system in the middle of the night to safely arrive at our hostel. We then spent three days touring around one of our new favorite European cities. Prague is beautiful, interesting, friendly, and in mid-January, FREEZING COLD. We are sure that Jess got minor frostbite on one of her toes. It probably didn't help that on one day we took a three hour outdoor tour of the city. and the next day hitched a ride with some Australians we met to a small town in Lord-knows-where, Czech Republic to see a church made partially of human bones. (Don't worry dad - we knew the Aussies a whole 12 hours before we got in a car with them! haha) The Aussies had been traveling Europe in a giant white, beat-up van with no heating. Of course, we got lost on the way, and then the van, surprisingly enough, broke down! We missed the bone church and to top it all off, Jess and I can honestly say that we have never been colder since we were forced to spend the whole day in below freezing temperatures. We finally made an executive decision and said our goodbyes to the Aussies and instead hopped on a train back to Prague. We are still not sure if they ever made it out with a fixed van. Oh well, I suppose that is the life of a backpacker!
Upon arriving back safely, we celebrated out final night in Prague by consuming one of our favorite meals this whole trip. Rightly coined 'The Feast', we ate a traditional Czech meal of potato and bread dumplings, pork, sausage, ham, more pork, cabbage, potato pancakes, and traditional Czech beer. Delicious. Also, if you are a vegetarian, dont go to Prague.
The next morning we had scheduled a bus for Munich and got to the bus station about a minute before departure. It was not our favorite moment. We are thinking of writing a letter to the City of Prague telling them to more clearly mark their bus stops!
After a short 5-hour bus ride, we got to Munich and had the whole day ahead of us. We met some more Australian friends at our hostel (we started to wonder if anyone else traveled around Europe this time of year...). We didn't know what to expect in Munich and after several peeks at the guidebook we still had no idea what exactly the city had to offer. A lady on the metro asked us what we were interested in and Jess quickly replied, FOOD! So we set out on a quest to find the traditional German bratwurst and beer. We found some at a famous Beer Hall where interestingly enough, Hitler made some of his first speeches. We also managed to see the Glockenspiel, some Biergartens, Englisher Garten (bigger than Central Park!), and the site of the Munich Olympic games - all in one day!
We then found some lats minute tickets on an overnight train to Rome where we got our best night's rest yet! We are not enjoying the 'Eternal City' and will post more later.
Ciao!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Paris
Today Jess and I leave Paris and fly to Prague, Czech Republic. Our time in Paris has been wonderful thanks to my friend Brian who has lived in Paris for two years and is currently a student at the American University in Paris. Jess and I had a free place to stay and plenty of free meals all thanks to the meal tickets Brian gets from his internship! We brought in the New Year at the Eiffel Tower, met lots of interesting people, and became well versed in the Parisian metro system.
I figured that many of French stereotypes would be refuted once I came here but surprisingly, some of them are actually true! Most Parisians only wear black and gray, and act very "cultured." Most smoke. Its funny. Needless to say, Jess and I felt very "American" here. We were tempted to order Freedom Fries instead of French Fries just to stick it to these Frenchies, but restrained. Just kidding, our experience in Paris was great!
We visited most of the main sites, and climbed the Arc d'Triomphe - twice! It was built to celebrate Napoleon's victories and was meant to welcome home the armies. We walked up the almost 300 step spiral staircase to the museum above, then saw people standing in line for an elevator. We figured that must be taking people to the very top, where you can look out onto the Champs d'Elysees, the most popular shopping district in Paris. To our surprise, the elevator actually took people all the way back down to the bottom! So we climbed all the way up again and finally got a fantastic view of Paris. We also went to the Louvre, but only saw the impressive outside since there were too many people inside that they actually museum closed! We did however visit the Musèe d'Orsay and instantly felt loads more cultured! Unfortunately the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower was closed as well but we were happy just to stand at the base and gawk at the impressive landmark.
Jess' trip was made one night while we were eating at a popular tourist restaurant in Paris - a place where they serve wine in baby bottles and diners eat delicious fondue. Jess spotted the actress Leighton Meester, a girl who stars in one of her favorite shows, Gossip Girl. Brian and I had absolutely no idea who this girl was, but perhaps if any of you readers know a 12 year-old girl they might give you some more information! (You can probably tell that we will never stop teasing Jess for this silly obsession!) Anyway, Jess got her picture taken with Leighton who by the way, was not very excited to meet a fan. Despite Leighton's disinterest in us, we were happy to act superior since we got a table at the restaurant and this actress was forced to wait outside! Attached is a picture of Jess with the actress.
That's about all for our time in Paris. I've been so blessed to be with a good friend from high school and one from college as it's nice to not always travel alone. Tonight we'll be in Prague for 4 days, then Munich for 2 nights, then back to Rome for 6 nights! What a whirlwind travel experience!
Au revoir!
I figured that many of French stereotypes would be refuted once I came here but surprisingly, some of them are actually true! Most Parisians only wear black and gray, and act very "cultured." Most smoke. Its funny. Needless to say, Jess and I felt very "American" here. We were tempted to order Freedom Fries instead of French Fries just to stick it to these Frenchies, but restrained. Just kidding, our experience in Paris was great!
We visited most of the main sites, and climbed the Arc d'Triomphe - twice! It was built to celebrate Napoleon's victories and was meant to welcome home the armies. We walked up the almost 300 step spiral staircase to the museum above, then saw people standing in line for an elevator. We figured that must be taking people to the very top, where you can look out onto the Champs d'Elysees, the most popular shopping district in Paris. To our surprise, the elevator actually took people all the way back down to the bottom! So we climbed all the way up again and finally got a fantastic view of Paris. We also went to the Louvre, but only saw the impressive outside since there were too many people inside that they actually museum closed! We did however visit the Musèe d'Orsay and instantly felt loads more cultured! Unfortunately the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower was closed as well but we were happy just to stand at the base and gawk at the impressive landmark.
Jess' trip was made one night while we were eating at a popular tourist restaurant in Paris - a place where they serve wine in baby bottles and diners eat delicious fondue. Jess spotted the actress Leighton Meester, a girl who stars in one of her favorite shows, Gossip Girl. Brian and I had absolutely no idea who this girl was, but perhaps if any of you readers know a 12 year-old girl they might give you some more information! (You can probably tell that we will never stop teasing Jess for this silly obsession!) Anyway, Jess got her picture taken with Leighton who by the way, was not very excited to meet a fan. Despite Leighton's disinterest in us, we were happy to act superior since we got a table at the restaurant and this actress was forced to wait outside! Attached is a picture of Jess with the actress.
That's about all for our time in Paris. I've been so blessed to be with a good friend from high school and one from college as it's nice to not always travel alone. Tonight we'll be in Prague for 4 days, then Munich for 2 nights, then back to Rome for 6 nights! What a whirlwind travel experience!
Au revoir!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Leaving Norway
I can't believe that it's already time to leave Norway. My time here has been wonderful - I loved reconnecting with old friends and being part of a family! Kate and Thor have two beautiful little girls and so it was fun to act like a nanny and help out the family. I got a chance to see their ministry to native Norweigan teenagers up close and I was encouraged and inspired because working with people from a different culture is not always easy! Christmas was great because we were invited by Kate and Thor's friends to eat moose for Christmas Eve dinner - it was delicious! I also had to try every kind of Norweigan dessert and was not disappointed! We hiked a bit in the fjords and drove to visit a bunch more which helped me understand just how beautiful Norway really is. Perhaps I'll get a chance to come back here and go on some more outdoor adventures! I was also really grateful to have unlimited access to the internet, central heating, American movies, and the chance to use a free phone line to call the US = all things you take for granted but when you're holed up on somebody's farm in Italy you don't always have access to them!
Today I fly out of Stavanger into Paris where I'm excited to meet my friend Brian from college who attends grad school at the University of Paris. My friend Jess is flying over from the US to meet there as well. She and I will spend the next three and a half weeks traveling around Europe! I was thinking that the title of my blog, "gets the boot" is no longer relevant since I'm not actually in Italy anymore, but rest assured, I'll be back there soon! In the meantime, I hope you had a blessed Christmas and have a Happy New Year - I'll be celebrating in Paris this year!
Today I fly out of Stavanger into Paris where I'm excited to meet my friend Brian from college who attends grad school at the University of Paris. My friend Jess is flying over from the US to meet there as well. She and I will spend the next three and a half weeks traveling around Europe! I was thinking that the title of my blog, "gets the boot" is no longer relevant since I'm not actually in Italy anymore, but rest assured, I'll be back there soon! In the meantime, I hope you had a blessed Christmas and have a Happy New Year - I'll be celebrating in Paris this year!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Stavanger
Norway is cold. and dark. I arrived here last night and am so happy to be staying with my old Young Life leader Katie and her husband Thor, and their two children, Hannah and Nora, here in Scandinavia. Katie and Thor are on Young Life staff in Stavanger, Norway (www.younglife.no, or www.younglife.org) and are so great and encouraging to be around!
The last two weeks I was in the Lazio region of Italy in a small town called Marta. The place was fairly rustic (no internet access hence the lack of blog updates) and rained heavily almost every day but I was fortunate enough to have a few days of sun to ride a bike through the Italian countryside and visit the ancient town of Tuscania. I also felt like I was in a two week Italian immersion language course because the family I stayed with had three children (Tommaso 9, Cecilia 7, Constanza 5) who didnt speak English and were the best Italian teachers a girl could ask for!
In the meantime I am so excited to be in a new place where its incredibly clean (unlike some of Italy) and instead of seeing a lot of dark haired, short, olive skinned people, I'm meeting plenty of tall, pale, blonde hair, blue-eyed Norwegians! I am also very happy to be in a heated house, have plenty of internet access, an american phone line, a dryer, and english tv shows! I will be spending four days of Christmas on one of the Norwegian islands with Thor's extended family so that should be wonderful for experiencing real Norwegian food and culture. The sun is only out for a bit during the day this time of year but that's not so bad - it's fascinating to really see the effects of living this far north!
I'll update more later, hope all is well back at home!
The last two weeks I was in the Lazio region of Italy in a small town called Marta. The place was fairly rustic (no internet access hence the lack of blog updates) and rained heavily almost every day but I was fortunate enough to have a few days of sun to ride a bike through the Italian countryside and visit the ancient town of Tuscania. I also felt like I was in a two week Italian immersion language course because the family I stayed with had three children (Tommaso 9, Cecilia 7, Constanza 5) who didnt speak English and were the best Italian teachers a girl could ask for!
In the meantime I am so excited to be in a new place where its incredibly clean (unlike some of Italy) and instead of seeing a lot of dark haired, short, olive skinned people, I'm meeting plenty of tall, pale, blonde hair, blue-eyed Norwegians! I am also very happy to be in a heated house, have plenty of internet access, an american phone line, a dryer, and english tv shows! I will be spending four days of Christmas on one of the Norwegian islands with Thor's extended family so that should be wonderful for experiencing real Norwegian food and culture. The sun is only out for a bit during the day this time of year but that's not so bad - it's fascinating to really see the effects of living this far north!
I'll update more later, hope all is well back at home!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
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