After an 8-hour ferry through the Mediterranean, we arrived at the port in Santorini- probably one of the most beautiful places on earth. After being herded off the ferry, we were accosted by old Greek men trying to give us rides and places to stay on the island... after walking around aimlessly we found a random charter bus that would take us into town. Then when we got into town, we walked around even more aimlessly hauling all of our things, got lost like 20 times, and finally made it to our hostel. In the end it was completely worth it. Our hostel looked out over the sea, and was an easy walk to great restaurants and shops. We started our stay on the islands with a traditional greek meal and a sunset that nearly moved us to tears. We bought a zephyrhills-style bottle of wine, since we didn't have a bottle opener, and drank on our balcony, while some guy screamed greek music on his balcony nearby..
The next day we carted ourselves off to the beach in another "charter" bus, but literally there were about 40 more people on the bus than there should've been... and everyone smells lovely. But the beach made up for everything 50-fold. We went to a black sand beach, and were amazed at how clear the water was. We pretty much just layed out all day and swam.. then it got REALLY fun.
Earlier in the day we had seen some people jumping off the cliffs at the far end of the beach and being me and Kathryn, we HAD to join in. We first tried to figure out how to get up ourselves, but only attempted to climb a "cliff" like 5 feet above sea level. That was before a couple of Aussies, one of whom was a mountain climbing instructor, swam out and helped us free climb up a face of a cliff. This was after I got stabbed in the foot by a sea urchin. So we're climbing up a cliff in our bathing suits and bare feet in Greece with 2 Australian guys... doesn't get much better than that. We made it to the top of the cliff, took in the views, and after finally getting up the courage to do it, we jumped. It was something that we'll never forget.
We wished we could've spent more time in Santorini, it was amazing.. but it was back to Athens...........
Here's where it gets interesting.
The ferry ride back was quite the journey. I was seasick and about to barf the entire time, so I had to sit on the top deck where it was pouring and probably 10 degrees. Kathryn, who woke up with a sinus infection, was sitting below blowing her nose to no end and holding her face. THEN we finally make it to Athens about 2 hours after we were supposed to... check into our hotel which is right next to a CLASSY strip club and turns out......... A/C... not working. So we figured we'd solve the problem by opening the doors and windows... but no such luck- considering our room was facing the combination of I-95, I-75 and the LA Freeway, without any speed limits. So after going down to the front desk and trying to communicate what the problem was with the front desk manager, he comes up to our room with us and pushes a bunch of buttons, and says "please now it will be cold, 10 minutes." Foolishly we believe him, mistake number 1. After 45 minutes of us sitting there staring at each other, we realize the air just isn't going to get any cooler. So we open the doors and attempt to fall asleep listening to semis and motorcycles going 120 mph and beeping their horns simultaneously. I decided I'd rather blow my eardrums listening to Bleeding Love on my iPod, and Kathryn had her noise cancelling headphones on, to no avail. Somehow we get a few hours of sleep and walk down this morning. A new lady was on staff, and we tried to once again explain that our air wasn't working... so she tells us to meet the housekeeper upstairs and she would help us. I think they thought that we just didn't know how to work it... to the housekeeper spends 30 minutes pushing buttons and looking around, doesn't speak A word of english and keeps talking to us, so THEN we go downstairs again after she randomly leaves and doesn't come back. After this time we finally get a room change after we'd already asked like 5 times. At the time, we wanted to kill ourselves, but now we're laughing hysterically... only in Athens.
We go to the pharmacy after hunting down a bus ticket and Kathryn asks for Sudafed, and the pharmacist tells her it doesn't exist in Greece... so she gave her a prescription antibiotic instead. For 2 euro. WAY easier than the states.
Now we're off to the Acropolis- FINALLY. Hopefully the sea urchin barbs won't hurt too badly on the hike up, but we're not letting anything stop us now. We're on a mission: see the Acropolis and get the hell out of Athens.
Oh by the way, one more funny story. We were eating at a cafe outside, and this guy who was nearly comatose comes up to us with a pair of "Ray Ban" sunglasses to try to sell them to us. Kathryn keeps saying no while I take the logical approach and try to calmly explain that Kathryn already has sunglasses, so why would she need another pair? That didn't work... but he DID whip out a lighter and proceeded to try to light the glasses on fire in an apparent attempt to prove that they REALLY WERE fireproof. Needless to say we didn't fall for it.. but I was curious as to why you'd need fireproof sunglasses. Point is, even though sometimes everything doesn't go according to plan, it still makes for the best memories... we'll write again when we get to Rome- peaceee.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Hellas yeah
So apparently the Gator Nation really is everywhere... at our hostel bar last night we ran into a group of Gator guys traveling together sooo that was cool. Our roomies were nice and the room decent. We had a nice stay and took off early this morning for Athens.
We got to Athens around 3pm and were a little shocked by what the city is really like. It's strange to be walking around a sketchy place and then stumble upon ancient ruins pretty much everywhere. Let's just say we're excited for Santorini tomorrow but we're looking forward to coming back to Athens to see the classical things... ie the Acropolis and museums. I was super excited to see like, a column, and Kathryn was REALLY excited to have greek salad, a gyro, and even baklava! The food... amazing. We were surprised that they didn't have kalamata olives in the salads- Panera needs to step up their game.
I guess the confusing part about Athens is that there's no real "metropolis"... it's kind of just a bunch of run down buildings surrounding 5,000 year old monuments. A TLC show should come and do an extreme makeover or clean sweep or something. The hostel is fine... for the night... we might die from mold and mildew but I guess that's part of the whole experience (ps we're not complaining... so shut the hell up.)
We have to wake up super early for the ferry in the morning so we'll try to post one day in the islands if we're not too busy laying out on the beach in the Mediterranean!
Love Silvana and Kathryn
We got to Athens around 3pm and were a little shocked by what the city is really like. It's strange to be walking around a sketchy place and then stumble upon ancient ruins pretty much everywhere. Let's just say we're excited for Santorini tomorrow but we're looking forward to coming back to Athens to see the classical things... ie the Acropolis and museums. I was super excited to see like, a column, and Kathryn was REALLY excited to have greek salad, a gyro, and even baklava! The food... amazing. We were surprised that they didn't have kalamata olives in the salads- Panera needs to step up their game.
I guess the confusing part about Athens is that there's no real "metropolis"... it's kind of just a bunch of run down buildings surrounding 5,000 year old monuments. A TLC show should come and do an extreme makeover or clean sweep or something. The hostel is fine... for the night... we might die from mold and mildew but I guess that's part of the whole experience (ps we're not complaining... so shut the hell up.)
We have to wake up super early for the ferry in the morning so we'll try to post one day in the islands if we're not too busy laying out on the beach in the Mediterranean!
Love Silvana and Kathryn
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Last time on the blog.....
We had just made it into Salzburg. One word: beautiful. It is also the town that "The Sound of Music" was filmed in, and we are obsessed with that movie. The alps are amazing and Salzburg is an awesome town. Our hostel was nice, they had breakfast in the morning and played The Sound of Music every day, so it gets an "A" in our book.
Our first day in the Burg, we did a lot of walking. We went to the Mirabell Gardens, where they sing "Do, re, mi" in the movie and walked around. Then we actually did a hike up a mountain to see an amazing view of the city and castle.
The best part of Salzburg was the Sound of Music tour we did Saturday morning. We went all over Salzburg and saw different places the where scenes of the movie were shot. We got to see the gazebo, the trees the kids climbed, the church they got married in and a bunch of other places. We got to drive into the mountains outside of Salzburg and the views were amazing. Silvana and I sang along with the tour leader to a few songs from the movie--we would have made our mothers proud.
We really wished we had had more time in Salzburg because we realized that there is so much to do there, but we had already made reservations for the night in Vienna, so we hauled our stuff to the train station and boarded a train for Vienna.
Surprisingly, our trip to Vienna went very smoothly and we had our own cabin on the train--awesome.
So far Vienna has been nice. We have only gotten lost once, and that one time was not for very long. Tomorrow we leave for Greece, and we could not be more ready for some sunshine!
Our first day in the Burg, we did a lot of walking. We went to the Mirabell Gardens, where they sing "Do, re, mi" in the movie and walked around. Then we actually did a hike up a mountain to see an amazing view of the city and castle.
The best part of Salzburg was the Sound of Music tour we did Saturday morning. We went all over Salzburg and saw different places the where scenes of the movie were shot. We got to see the gazebo, the trees the kids climbed, the church they got married in and a bunch of other places. We got to drive into the mountains outside of Salzburg and the views were amazing. Silvana and I sang along with the tour leader to a few songs from the movie--we would have made our mothers proud.
We really wished we had had more time in Salzburg because we realized that there is so much to do there, but we had already made reservations for the night in Vienna, so we hauled our stuff to the train station and boarded a train for Vienna.
Surprisingly, our trip to Vienna went very smoothly and we had our own cabin on the train--awesome.
So far Vienna has been nice. We have only gotten lost once, and that one time was not for very long. Tomorrow we leave for Greece, and we could not be more ready for some sunshine!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The Burg...2
Since our last post we've done quite alot! The morning after the absinthe we woke up at 5am to catch a train from Prague to Salzburg... but that's just the beginning of the story. We got on a train, which was already sketchy, but didn't think much of it, until it stopped and they told us to get onto a bus which was about a mile away down some random road in the Czech Republic (by the way... we figured all of this out by chance because literally noone spoke english... or cared to help us, big shock) sooo we get onto this bus and are sitting on the floor because there's no room. At this point we're pretty sure we're getting sold into slavery or taking part in the filming of Hostel 3. Anyway, we make it to a random train station which consisted of literally 1 platform, and 1 train, so we figure that must be the one... we get on the train and switch at another station and after 8 hours somehow make it to Salzburg!!!! Internet time running out... super expensive... to be continued.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
We heart Prague!
So tonight we ate at a Mexican joint and had Absinthe. They bring it out with a spoon and packs of sugar. You put sugar on the spoon, soak it in the green drink and light it on fire. After the sugar carmelizes, you stir it into the drink and shoot it. So, we had absinthe, it was cool.....goodnight:)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Prahahahahahaha!
We made it to Praha, which is the real name for Prague, according to Silvana. Arriving in the Czech Republic was a whole new experience because this language is IMPOSSIBLE to understand at all. Plus, not that many people speak English here. But we made it into town after landing at the airport, then getting on a bus and then a train and then walking with backpacks in tow.
Our hostel is actually really nice here with amazing bathrooms. Last night, we once again had to settle for McDonalds after realizing that in our area of town, it is either KFC or the Golden Arches at 11pm. But the best part is that it is pretty cheap here. The money is weird, and 2000 dollar bills actually exist, but that only equals about $20. It was weird getting 2000 dollar bills out of the ATM though.
Anyway, we slept great and awoke to cold and rainy weather. Bummer, but we put on like 3 jackets each and made our way out into the city.
Some people say Prague is the Paris of Eastern Europe, and Silvana and I can definitely agree with that. It is absolutely beautiful here even when it is cold and rainy. We walked to the Old Town Square and you are surrounded by beautiful, colorful buildings, winding cobblestone streets and some impressive baroque style churches.
There is and was a large Jewish population here in Prague so today we did a tour of Jewish town. Then we hiked up to the castle, which is a massive complex built high above the rest of the city. The gardens in the castle were amazing and the hike up provided some amazing views of the city and the river.
We had a glass of wine at a river side cafe and talked about nothing for awhile, like Silvana and I can tend to do. Oh, here is a hint for Euro-travellers: just because a pack of pistachios is on the table does not mean they are free to eat. The tricky-Czechs won't say anything, let you eat the nuts, and then add it on to the bill. So be aware of that.
After a nice dinner we walked across the Charles Bridge, the most famous bridge across the river. We tried to find a bar that sells absinthe so we could give it a shot, but settled for chocolate milkshakes instead....maybe tomorrow night. Like Paris, anything can happen in Prague!
Our hostel is actually really nice here with amazing bathrooms. Last night, we once again had to settle for McDonalds after realizing that in our area of town, it is either KFC or the Golden Arches at 11pm. But the best part is that it is pretty cheap here. The money is weird, and 2000 dollar bills actually exist, but that only equals about $20. It was weird getting 2000 dollar bills out of the ATM though.
Anyway, we slept great and awoke to cold and rainy weather. Bummer, but we put on like 3 jackets each and made our way out into the city.
Some people say Prague is the Paris of Eastern Europe, and Silvana and I can definitely agree with that. It is absolutely beautiful here even when it is cold and rainy. We walked to the Old Town Square and you are surrounded by beautiful, colorful buildings, winding cobblestone streets and some impressive baroque style churches.
There is and was a large Jewish population here in Prague so today we did a tour of Jewish town. Then we hiked up to the castle, which is a massive complex built high above the rest of the city. The gardens in the castle were amazing and the hike up provided some amazing views of the city and the river.
We had a glass of wine at a river side cafe and talked about nothing for awhile, like Silvana and I can tend to do. Oh, here is a hint for Euro-travellers: just because a pack of pistachios is on the table does not mean they are free to eat. The tricky-Czechs won't say anything, let you eat the nuts, and then add it on to the bill. So be aware of that.
After a nice dinner we walked across the Charles Bridge, the most famous bridge across the river. We tried to find a bar that sells absinthe so we could give it a shot, but settled for chocolate milkshakes instead....maybe tomorrow night. Like Paris, anything can happen in Prague!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
We love Ulrika and her family!
First off, could it BE any colder in Stockholm... seriously, it's like, 40 degrees. BUT we love it here! We got on the train from Copenhagen at 830 this morning and arrived here at around 2pm... without any interruptions or random bad luck! Well, except Copenhagen had the last laugh, we couldn't get our traditional souvenirs that we have gotten in every city so far, everything in the city was closed in the morning... I don't know why that city hated us but it really did. So we got off the train in Stock and almost died of hypothermia, but got to our hostel safely and discovered that it's pretty decent, which makes us nervous everytime. Kathryn did the usual bed bug-check and the mattresses passed, so we aren't totally disgusted with this place.. and there are locks. Bonus.
When we got here we called a family that Kathryn's grandfather had met while skiing in Tahoe. They invited us over to their house for dinner- Swedish meatballs (authentic-no more stouffer's microwave lunches for us) and enjoyed having time to get to know the Swedish culture and talk about the differences between American and Swedish life! We're staying over there tomorrow night, yay a real house! SO we're super excited for that.
Tomorrow we're doing a hop-on, hop-off bus tour because our feet are about to fall off of our bodies, and it's also FREEZING! It seems to be beautiful here though, so we're pumped to start exploring tomorrow... we'll probably head out to the Archipelago at some point maybe Tuesday before we're off to Prague! Today was relaxing, and definitely some needed downtime.
We'll blog more tomorrow night... after we see some sights and what not... k bye!
Silvana and Kathryn
When we got here we called a family that Kathryn's grandfather had met while skiing in Tahoe. They invited us over to their house for dinner- Swedish meatballs (authentic-no more stouffer's microwave lunches for us) and enjoyed having time to get to know the Swedish culture and talk about the differences between American and Swedish life! We're staying over there tomorrow night, yay a real house! SO we're super excited for that.
Tomorrow we're doing a hop-on, hop-off bus tour because our feet are about to fall off of our bodies, and it's also FREEZING! It seems to be beautiful here though, so we're pumped to start exploring tomorrow... we'll probably head out to the Archipelago at some point maybe Tuesday before we're off to Prague! Today was relaxing, and definitely some needed downtime.
We'll blog more tomorrow night... after we see some sights and what not... k bye!
Silvana and Kathryn
Saturday, May 17, 2008
LOST, broke, and Kathryn's feet still hurt
So apparently, Copenhagen is a city with one of the highest standards of living in the world. And to say the least, on this trip, our standards are pretty low.......so we can't afford ANYTHING in this city. You are hard pressed to find a sandwich for less than 75 DKK, which is about 16 dollars....yikes. Therefore, we have eaten McDonalds twice in less than 24 hours and just ate a weird sandwich thing that was good, but still around 8 dollars for just the sandwich. Needless to say, it is a good thing that we are outta here tomorrow morning.
Don't get me wrong, we have liked it here. Yesterday we got to see the Little Mermaid statue which was very cool and today we went to Tivoli, a theme park in the middle of the city. We rode a few roller coasters and screamed on this crazy-high drop thing. But, apparently adventure is always around the corner for us and we ran smack into it today on our side trip to Røskilde to see a Viking Ship Museum.
We made it to the city easily with a short train ride from Copenhagen, and even made it to the museum with no problems. PLUS, we got to dress up as vikings, which was probably the most exciting thing for us.
Then we decided to leave and walk back to the train station, which was apparently our first mistake. Our second mistake happened somewhere after a roundabout when we walked too far north and west. Our THIRD mistake is turning around even though Silvana heard the trains around the corner. SO we decide to walk around for a good hour and a half, sit at a bus stop for 30 minutes to no avail, realize that noone in this town speaks English, then walk the complete opposite direction, and do an entire circle around the very outskirts of this very small city. We finally find the train station and realize that we were literally 50 feet away when we had decided to turn around the first time. Obviously, this is why Kathryn's feet still hurt.
Our morning "excursion" ended up taking us about 5 hours, so that didn't leave us much time for Tivoli, but we got in as much as we could.
HOSTEL UPDATE: Slept fine, and our roommates were both American, get this- one of them was an "actress" AND had her own clothing line!!!!!!!!!!! And she was modest too. Kathryn asked like 15 times where she was from and she kept saying she was from "the states".. a) as if we don't know what the states are, and b) what state are you from, there are 50 and we know them.
So um, we've left our mark on another city and are ready for Stockholm in the morning, our train leaves at 8:30am. Hopefully Stockholm's standards aren't so high. Miss you guys- unless you're one of those random people reading our blog, and in that case... nice to meet you.
Kathryn and Silvana
P.S. I'm not really sure why... but there are 7-11s EVERYWHERE in Copenhagen... and it's really bothering me. I mean, we have them in Melbourne but we don't have them in Gainesville, but we have them in Copenhagen??? What is this? Oh and the Gatorade here sucks. But they do have slurpees.
Don't get me wrong, we have liked it here. Yesterday we got to see the Little Mermaid statue which was very cool and today we went to Tivoli, a theme park in the middle of the city. We rode a few roller coasters and screamed on this crazy-high drop thing. But, apparently adventure is always around the corner for us and we ran smack into it today on our side trip to Røskilde to see a Viking Ship Museum.
We made it to the city easily with a short train ride from Copenhagen, and even made it to the museum with no problems. PLUS, we got to dress up as vikings, which was probably the most exciting thing for us.
Then we decided to leave and walk back to the train station, which was apparently our first mistake. Our second mistake happened somewhere after a roundabout when we walked too far north and west. Our THIRD mistake is turning around even though Silvana heard the trains around the corner. SO we decide to walk around for a good hour and a half, sit at a bus stop for 30 minutes to no avail, realize that noone in this town speaks English, then walk the complete opposite direction, and do an entire circle around the very outskirts of this very small city. We finally find the train station and realize that we were literally 50 feet away when we had decided to turn around the first time. Obviously, this is why Kathryn's feet still hurt.
Our morning "excursion" ended up taking us about 5 hours, so that didn't leave us much time for Tivoli, but we got in as much as we could.
HOSTEL UPDATE: Slept fine, and our roommates were both American, get this- one of them was an "actress" AND had her own clothing line!!!!!!!!!!! And she was modest too. Kathryn asked like 15 times where she was from and she kept saying she was from "the states".. a) as if we don't know what the states are, and b) what state are you from, there are 50 and we know them.
So um, we've left our mark on another city and are ready for Stockholm in the morning, our train leaves at 8:30am. Hopefully Stockholm's standards aren't so high. Miss you guys- unless you're one of those random people reading our blog, and in that case... nice to meet you.
Kathryn and Silvana
P.S. I'm not really sure why... but there are 7-11s EVERYWHERE in Copenhagen... and it's really bothering me. I mean, we have them in Melbourne but we don't have them in Gainesville, but we have them in Copenhagen??? What is this? Oh and the Gatorade here sucks. But they do have slurpees.
Friday, May 16, 2008
THE Burg
So... apparently it's been awhile since our last blog, so we need to update!
We left off with the crazy roommate who slept all the time... when we got back the next day-still sleeping. She might be dead, not sure. After Munich we were off to Berlin! The trains in Germany were actually super nice, and on time which is a bonus since the trains in Italy are pretty much retarded. Anyway so we get to Berlin and pretty much the first thing we see are pieces of the Wall all over the city. It was overcast outside, and overall kind of shady. Basically the city is trying to recover from everything it's been through and we thought they're doing a great job. It's what we expected of Berlin and it was great, the historical monuments were cool, and we're sort of obsessed with Checkpoint Charlie- they give you a stamp for your passport, what more could you ask for... seriously.
BUT in other news from Berlin... we checked into our hostel and we had a 4bed mixed dorm... um, sketchiest 2 guys basically ever. We met them when we dropped off our luggage and they creeped us out so the whole night we were praying that they would just stay out really late and not come back... we even slept in the same twin bed haha, I love hostels. Turns out they never did come back and when we woke up in the morning to go to the trainstation they happened to be down in the lobby- we lucked out. Or so we thought...
We got to the train, hopped on the intercity to Hamburg (or the Burg as I wittily nicknamed it... man I'm funny), and then switched to the train to Copenhagen... basically point of the story is that the whole train goes into a ferry and you have to get out of the train because you can't be in the cargo port during the crossing, so we get up we're walking around and then we realize we're docking in Denmark. We're like hmmm noone's made an announcement but strangely there's noone around.... maybe we should go downstairs and look. We started walking, which quickly turned into running, and as we're running down the stairs there's this old man with a cane at the bottom about to open the door to the cargo port and to the train... so he opens it as we get there and we hear the train doors beep and start to close so we literally PUSH him up into the train and jump in as we hold the doors open and the train moved about 5 seconds after we got on. Um, I know we exaggerate everything to the extreme, but I'm not kidding you I almost had a heart attack. It was like a movie... the old guy who can't walk is slow as all and we're in a foreign country where everyone could care less. All of our luggage was on the train, and we would've been stuck on a ferry in the middle of Denmark where NOONE speaks English, so it's safe to say that God loves us. And that we're apparently the luckiest people on this planet.
Anyway we got to Copenhagen finally and we get to our hostel and about die. Sketchiest.place.ever. We're hoping to stick it out for the next 2 nights but we're in the process of double checking every single hostel we booked and changing anything remotely strange. We want to be cheap, but not wanting to stab ourselves every 30 seconds while we're in our room. Also, everything here is super expensive. Dinner is about 30 dollars... and that's cheap. McDonald's saved us tonight... we'll see what happens tomorrow!
Silvana (and Kathryn- even though she's frantically searching hostels.com ratings)
We left off with the crazy roommate who slept all the time... when we got back the next day-still sleeping. She might be dead, not sure. After Munich we were off to Berlin! The trains in Germany were actually super nice, and on time which is a bonus since the trains in Italy are pretty much retarded. Anyway so we get to Berlin and pretty much the first thing we see are pieces of the Wall all over the city. It was overcast outside, and overall kind of shady. Basically the city is trying to recover from everything it's been through and we thought they're doing a great job. It's what we expected of Berlin and it was great, the historical monuments were cool, and we're sort of obsessed with Checkpoint Charlie- they give you a stamp for your passport, what more could you ask for... seriously.
BUT in other news from Berlin... we checked into our hostel and we had a 4bed mixed dorm... um, sketchiest 2 guys basically ever. We met them when we dropped off our luggage and they creeped us out so the whole night we were praying that they would just stay out really late and not come back... we even slept in the same twin bed haha, I love hostels. Turns out they never did come back and when we woke up in the morning to go to the trainstation they happened to be down in the lobby- we lucked out. Or so we thought...
We got to the train, hopped on the intercity to Hamburg (or the Burg as I wittily nicknamed it... man I'm funny), and then switched to the train to Copenhagen... basically point of the story is that the whole train goes into a ferry and you have to get out of the train because you can't be in the cargo port during the crossing, so we get up we're walking around and then we realize we're docking in Denmark. We're like hmmm noone's made an announcement but strangely there's noone around.... maybe we should go downstairs and look. We started walking, which quickly turned into running, and as we're running down the stairs there's this old man with a cane at the bottom about to open the door to the cargo port and to the train... so he opens it as we get there and we hear the train doors beep and start to close so we literally PUSH him up into the train and jump in as we hold the doors open and the train moved about 5 seconds after we got on. Um, I know we exaggerate everything to the extreme, but I'm not kidding you I almost had a heart attack. It was like a movie... the old guy who can't walk is slow as all and we're in a foreign country where everyone could care less. All of our luggage was on the train, and we would've been stuck on a ferry in the middle of Denmark where NOONE speaks English, so it's safe to say that God loves us. And that we're apparently the luckiest people on this planet.
Anyway we got to Copenhagen finally and we get to our hostel and about die. Sketchiest.place.ever. We're hoping to stick it out for the next 2 nights but we're in the process of double checking every single hostel we booked and changing anything remotely strange. We want to be cheap, but not wanting to stab ourselves every 30 seconds while we're in our room. Also, everything here is super expensive. Dinner is about 30 dollars... and that's cheap. McDonald's saved us tonight... we'll see what happens tomorrow!
Silvana (and Kathryn- even though she's frantically searching hostels.com ratings)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Hallo from Munchen
It's 8:30am Munich time and our "roommate's" phone rings. We both figured she'd answer it and walk outside to talk, we were clearly mistaken for she proceeded to shout in God only knows what language into her phone, for what seemed like an eternity. Welcome to Day 2 of our Eurotrip.
The hostel itself wasn't bad, a little hot, but overall clean. We decided to just get up after our wake up call of sorts and start our day.
After Starbucks bagels and a Red Bull for Kathryn, we hopped onto a train headed for Dachau for a tour of the concentration camp. When we first walked in, it was a little overwhelming because we walked through the gate the prisoners did "albeit macht frei-work sets you free". It was way bigger than we expected, and seeing where these people lived, worked and died was an incredible experience. Seeing the gas chamber and crematorium was haunting and something we will never forget.
We made our way back into the city to check out Marienplatz- sort of the central square of Munich, where alot of old buildings and churches are. We saw a puppet show... overrated. We did hike to the top of the Frauenkirche church, and got to see all of Munich which was amazing. THEN we went to the Hofbrauhaus, one of the most famous beer gardens here. We each ordered a beer and it was exactly like you would picture- a woman in a skirt and apron, carrying out 2 liters worth of beer in one hand. The place has existed for yearsss, and our guidebook said that some of the ceiling decorations were repainted swastikas after the nazi era came to pass.
We were innocently sitting, drinking our 1 liter beers, talking American politics, when a gentleman dressed in authentic German garb scooted past us and took a seat at the head of our table. Clearly a regular who spoke no English, we didn't realize that this was "his table" and got the check. He's one of the guys who has his own stein in a locker at the Hofbrauhaus itself.
Tomorrow we're off to Berlin at 7:22am, we loved Munich, but are ready to see what the rest of Germany has to offer. Let's just hope that our roommate checked out....... aufwiedersen. Kathryn and Silvana
The hostel itself wasn't bad, a little hot, but overall clean. We decided to just get up after our wake up call of sorts and start our day.
After Starbucks bagels and a Red Bull for Kathryn, we hopped onto a train headed for Dachau for a tour of the concentration camp. When we first walked in, it was a little overwhelming because we walked through the gate the prisoners did "albeit macht frei-work sets you free". It was way bigger than we expected, and seeing where these people lived, worked and died was an incredible experience. Seeing the gas chamber and crematorium was haunting and something we will never forget.
We made our way back into the city to check out Marienplatz- sort of the central square of Munich, where alot of old buildings and churches are. We saw a puppet show... overrated. We did hike to the top of the Frauenkirche church, and got to see all of Munich which was amazing. THEN we went to the Hofbrauhaus, one of the most famous beer gardens here. We each ordered a beer and it was exactly like you would picture- a woman in a skirt and apron, carrying out 2 liters worth of beer in one hand. The place has existed for yearsss, and our guidebook said that some of the ceiling decorations were repainted swastikas after the nazi era came to pass.
We were innocently sitting, drinking our 1 liter beers, talking American politics, when a gentleman dressed in authentic German garb scooted past us and took a seat at the head of our table. Clearly a regular who spoke no English, we didn't realize that this was "his table" and got the check. He's one of the guys who has his own stein in a locker at the Hofbrauhaus itself.
Tomorrow we're off to Berlin at 7:22am, we loved Munich, but are ready to see what the rest of Germany has to offer. Let's just hope that our roommate checked out....... aufwiedersen. Kathryn and Silvana
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
We Made It- Munich!
We've now been awake for 36 hours and counting... and starting to get a little delirious. The flight was long to say the least, but our first day in Munich was well worth it. When we first got off the plane that "wow we literally have no idea where we're going..." but with the help of MTV Europe, our trusty guidebook, and some equally trusty Germans, we made our way into the city and easily found our hostel.
We were so tired but we knew we had to push through and explore while sidelining the jetlag. First, we ventured into what we thought looked like an ominous subway system that turned out to be pretty easy minus the fact that we can't pronounce ANY of the stops along the way. We went to the Deutsche Museum, which was incredibly random and huge, containing everything from fullsize airplanes to clocks- it was a lot of fun and since it was hands-on, Kathryn stayed entertained.
After that we went to the BMW factory/showroom and were tempted to buy one of the 150.000€ cars as a souvenir, but figured our parents would prefer us to get a t-shirt. We stopped by the Olympic Park, and may go back there tomorrow since apparently you can swim in the Olympic pool!
The best part of the day turned out to be the Englisher Gartens, a HUGEEEEEE park and lake, filled with Germans, dogs, and an annoying American girl who represented Americans poorly as she tried to explain our "culture" to a Dutch guy, who probably didn't understand anything she was saying anyway. The weather was beautiful and it gave us a nice chance to relax.
We ended the day with our first authentic German meal, which is harder to find than you would think, complete with 2 steins of beer, sausage and pretzels for Kathryn, and sausage meatballs and potato/cucumber salad for me!
We finally made it back to the hostel to discover that our three bedroom dorm already had an occupant sound asleep- and also like 45 years old. Kathryn used her booklight to check the beds for bedbugs and quietly... I think, headed off to the showers (which were clean by the way), and now are finally getting some much needed sleep. In the morning, we're planning to go to Dachau, the concentration camp closest to Munich, so stay tuned for next time!
We were so tired but we knew we had to push through and explore while sidelining the jetlag. First, we ventured into what we thought looked like an ominous subway system that turned out to be pretty easy minus the fact that we can't pronounce ANY of the stops along the way. We went to the Deutsche Museum, which was incredibly random and huge, containing everything from fullsize airplanes to clocks- it was a lot of fun and since it was hands-on, Kathryn stayed entertained.
After that we went to the BMW factory/showroom and were tempted to buy one of the 150.000€ cars as a souvenir, but figured our parents would prefer us to get a t-shirt. We stopped by the Olympic Park, and may go back there tomorrow since apparently you can swim in the Olympic pool!
The best part of the day turned out to be the Englisher Gartens, a HUGEEEEEE park and lake, filled with Germans, dogs, and an annoying American girl who represented Americans poorly as she tried to explain our "culture" to a Dutch guy, who probably didn't understand anything she was saying anyway. The weather was beautiful and it gave us a nice chance to relax.
We ended the day with our first authentic German meal, which is harder to find than you would think, complete with 2 steins of beer, sausage and pretzels for Kathryn, and sausage meatballs and potato/cucumber salad for me!
We finally made it back to the hostel to discover that our three bedroom dorm already had an occupant sound asleep- and also like 45 years old. Kathryn used her booklight to check the beds for bedbugs and quietly... I think, headed off to the showers (which were clean by the way), and now are finally getting some much needed sleep. In the morning, we're planning to go to Dachau, the concentration camp closest to Munich, so stay tuned for next time!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
T minus 1 day...
So much to do--so little time. The trip we have been planning for four months launches tomorrow, and after speaking with Silvana on the phone, I can speak for both of us when I say, "Crap, I haven't even started packing!"
No worries though--this procrastination is "classic us," and we both work better on a deadline. We will spend today lying around not doing anything productive and using any excuse(ex: writing this blog) to keep us away from trying to figure out how to fit all of our clothes into an oversized-shoe box of a backpack.
In the end though, we will get it done, because, well, we have to. And, with the help of some vacuum seal plastic bags, which I recommend to anyone packing for anything, we might even get to pack an extra pair of jeans to mix and match with the five shirts my backpack allots space for.
Oh yes, we will be looking quite glamorous in our jaunt across Europe (note the sarcasm), especially after the third or fourth day of wearing the same outfit to German beer gardens.
However, we have come up with the solution that will dress up any outfit: scarves. All the Europeans wear them, so they just might help us blend in to the stylish European culture a little bit, even though they will be covering up beer stains on a four-day dirtied Old Navy T-shirt.
Well, here's hoping.
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