In short we were in London for four nights and 3 and half days. We did all the normal stuff Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, museums, and art galleries. It was quite the experience and we had fantastic weather the entire time. Due to the exchange rate and us being out of money we want to focus this post on the things we enjoyed, the things we learned, and things we missed.
Things we learned:
Europe is a place everyone must visit. Although not everyone will get the chance to see it the way we did, it is easy to say that no matter who you are and no matter where you are from expereiencing the cultures outside of your own make you appreciate and in turn become a better person. We also learned Europe is hard and traveling isnt easy. Spending six weeks with one other person isnt the easiest thing in the world but for us it was. We learned more about each other, the world, our lives, and what we love about it all. We spent countless hours on trains, in hostel beds, and dealing with foreign languages and because of it we have laughed more, loved more, and lived more than we would have otherwise.
We learned the Roma pass is a waste of money. We learned neither of us really understand art. We learned that Mike could spend weeks inside museums while Mal could spend weeks out front of the museums in the sun. We have spent countless sunsets with cheap bottles of wine talking about absolutely nothing. We have lost ones we loved on this trip and we have gained friendships to replace.
Things we enjoyed:
We loved the cheap wine and even cheaper bread. We loved hearing people speak english when we hadnt heard it in days. We loved saying where we were at that exact moment and how special it was to be there. We loved the beach. We loved waking up to emails from our families and reading them time and time again throughout the trip. We loved celebrating Primavera in Barcelona and Canada day in London. We loved cooking in random kitchens, with random utensils, with random meats all across Europe. We loved walking countless kilometers, or miles for the americans, every day and hearing how crazy we were from all our roommates about not using the metro. We loved seeing art, experiencing culture, and soaking up as much of it as we could in such a short amount of time. We love Europe.
Things we missed:
Our families. We missed hearing the voices of our parents on a regular basis. We missed being able to call my sister for her birthday but still sending a postcard from abroad. We missed cheering on our family while they road into Glenwood Springs together. We missed one of our best friends weddings. We miss Obie. We missed listening to our siblings voices and more so having a cold beer with em. We missed chipotle. We missed the Nuggets losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. We missed our friends. We missed driving and Colorado summer. We missed explaining directions by the direction of the mountains. We missed BrewFest. We missed sleeping in the same place for more than 3 nights at a time. We missed.
We have learned, we have loved, and we have seen things we will never forget. To everyones surprise we are still together and still very much in love. We are very happy to be ending our adventure and going on vacation at the beach. We can't wait to finally move to Denver and share our adventures with everyone.
We love, we miss, and we learned that no matter where you go and no matter who you meet it's never quite home.
Aer Lingus flight 109 out of Dublin at 5pm GMT lands in JFK New York, NY at 7:25 pm and our adventure ends but our journies have just begun.
much love to all that followed our trip and safe travels to everyone who enjoys adventure,
m&m
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Goodbye to the Euro...
As our journey has started to wind down we realized we had to minimize our stay in smaller cities. We decieded to visit Heidelberg for one night as well as Frankfurt for one night. It was quite the adventure to say the least.
When the train pulled into Heidelberg BF you would of thought we were on the moon. For point of reference I thought Heidelberg was nestled in German Alps while Mal thought it would be splattered with castles as far as the eye could see. To say the least we were both wrong. We wondered the short 45 minute walk to 223 Hauptstrausse which we didnt realize was a beer-garten until we arrived. As we checked in from the beer tap we knew we were in for quite a journey. Soon we were ushered to our 8 person room and given the grand tour. The bathroom is the down the hall, the showeres are upstairs, and the beer is expensive thank you for your business was the speech. We wondered the street and paid far to much for beers but enjoyed the comfort of the one castle in our view while we drank away.
We returned to our hostel to have a first introduction with what might have been our stangest encounter of the trip. A 60 year old babbling german woman who could have easily, and was by us, confused for a traveling gypse. She smacked me on the head a few times trying to explain the story of the night before, Mal couldnt help but laugh aloud while I stook in awe. Later in the night we learned from her snooring that the slap on the forehead had been the person sleeping above her, now me, in the middle of the night.
The next day was spent exploring the castle, it lasted 23 minutes, and had a pleasent afternoon with rain. We enjoyed conversation with the roommates we hadnt met the night before and prepeared for our trip to our next stop. We hopped on the 3pm train back to Frankfurt.
As we entered our hostel room in Frankfurt we were greeted by an American laying in bed with his pants on the floor yelling 'it's not as it seems' I kindly responded with we've seen worse. We spent the next hour listening to his story of how his luggage had been lost and he spilt beer on his pants. We took advantage of the cheap laundry and the nicest showers of our trip. Mal showered in the boys shower while I guarded. we spent the evening wondering the red light district and enjoying Frankfurt's downtown with our new found American friend.
The morning came all to early as we had booked the cheapest flight of our life, o.00 euros. With taxes and checked luggage it came to 25 euros for a one way flight to london. Little did we know we were flying out of an airport known as Frankfurt Hahn and into London Stansted. Background knowledge would of let us known FH isn't even in Germany while Standsted is £20 and an hour fifteen minutes outside of London. Our lesson had been learned, but not before the flight for life.
Ryanair, check it out at Ryanair.com for non-believers, operates on the cheapest mentality possible. Fly the same airplane outof the smallest airports with the smallest crew possible while offering nothing for free. To say the least after we landed they played a cheers horn over the PA congratulating off on another safe landing.
We took to London as if it had been freshman year of college to beer.
Things we learned in Heidelberg/Frankfurt
1) There are no mountains
2) The nats are unbearable.
3) Frankfurt is the most westernized city in Europe.
things we loved
1) experienceing something we didnt expect
2) Frankfurt having the best hostel of the trip
3) the beds, the showers and the food.
much love,
m&m
When the train pulled into Heidelberg BF you would of thought we were on the moon. For point of reference I thought Heidelberg was nestled in German Alps while Mal thought it would be splattered with castles as far as the eye could see. To say the least we were both wrong. We wondered the short 45 minute walk to 223 Hauptstrausse which we didnt realize was a beer-garten until we arrived. As we checked in from the beer tap we knew we were in for quite a journey. Soon we were ushered to our 8 person room and given the grand tour. The bathroom is the down the hall, the showeres are upstairs, and the beer is expensive thank you for your business was the speech. We wondered the street and paid far to much for beers but enjoyed the comfort of the one castle in our view while we drank away.
We returned to our hostel to have a first introduction with what might have been our stangest encounter of the trip. A 60 year old babbling german woman who could have easily, and was by us, confused for a traveling gypse. She smacked me on the head a few times trying to explain the story of the night before, Mal couldnt help but laugh aloud while I stook in awe. Later in the night we learned from her snooring that the slap on the forehead had been the person sleeping above her, now me, in the middle of the night.
The next day was spent exploring the castle, it lasted 23 minutes, and had a pleasent afternoon with rain. We enjoyed conversation with the roommates we hadnt met the night before and prepeared for our trip to our next stop. We hopped on the 3pm train back to Frankfurt.
As we entered our hostel room in Frankfurt we were greeted by an American laying in bed with his pants on the floor yelling 'it's not as it seems' I kindly responded with we've seen worse. We spent the next hour listening to his story of how his luggage had been lost and he spilt beer on his pants. We took advantage of the cheap laundry and the nicest showers of our trip. Mal showered in the boys shower while I guarded. we spent the evening wondering the red light district and enjoying Frankfurt's downtown with our new found American friend.
The morning came all to early as we had booked the cheapest flight of our life, o.00 euros. With taxes and checked luggage it came to 25 euros for a one way flight to london. Little did we know we were flying out of an airport known as Frankfurt Hahn and into London Stansted. Background knowledge would of let us known FH isn't even in Germany while Standsted is £20 and an hour fifteen minutes outside of London. Our lesson had been learned, but not before the flight for life.
Ryanair, check it out at Ryanair.com for non-believers, operates on the cheapest mentality possible. Fly the same airplane outof the smallest airports with the smallest crew possible while offering nothing for free. To say the least after we landed they played a cheers horn over the PA congratulating off on another safe landing.
We took to London as if it had been freshman year of college to beer.
Things we learned in Heidelberg/Frankfurt
1) There are no mountains
2) The nats are unbearable.
3) Frankfurt is the most westernized city in Europe.
things we loved
1) experienceing something we didnt expect
2) Frankfurt having the best hostel of the trip
3) the beds, the showers and the food.
much love,
m&m
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Lions Den....
As the train arrived into Berlin HBF we couldnt have been more relieved to be there. This was an exciting destination as it was the only stop on our adventure that hadnt been predetermined. Once we realized how expensive Switzerland was we dropped Zurich and added Berlin.
Our hostel was located in the artistic part of east Berlin. As we wondered the streets looking for the Lettem Sleep 7 we couldnt stop thinking about how nice it was to finally see the sun. We arrived to a very friendly staff and quickly met our roommates as usual. At this point we had made the transformation to seasonsed travel vets. Soon, we were in the typical conversation you have after arriving at every hostel ie where you are from, where you have been, what are your feelings of president Bush, etc. You know just the basic information when meeting new people. Let it be known Mallory could care less if i ever talk politics with another european again as she has heard it in 13 cities now. This go around our roommates were from Sweden, Finland, Austrailia, Japan,and finally South Carolina.
The question of the night for us usually starts with so what do you feel like eating.... After 5 foreign countries you would of thought we would figure this out. We had oven baked pizza, the flavors were western and BBQ chicken. A meal for the ages to say the least. Prior to going out our roommates had invited us to a local club called Watergate, having traveled all day we did our best to avoid having to go at all cost. The oven in the guest kitchen reluctantly wasnt working and the front desk attendant was nice enough to let Mal and I use one of the apartments. We dined on fine frozen pizza and a lovely bottle of white wine. For the first time in a long while we had nothing to listen to but ourselves, and it was nice.
The next morning we had planned on taking the free berlin tour. At this point in the trip Mal's cold had shifted to my cold, which wasnt going to put a damper in our adventure. We set out in hopes of making it to Brandenberg Gate by 1pm. We got lost, and we didnt just get a little lost, we got real lost. For the first time in more than 12 thousand miles traveling we didnt make it where we wanted to when we wanted to. Instead we took the free guided tour from Mike and Mal, we figured it worked well in the previous 11 cities who was going to teach us anything we didnt already know.
The tour started at the famous TV tower Berlin located at Alexander Platz. Next, we made our way over to Museum island. For any of you history buffs out there museum island is where all the famous Nazi rallies were held. We took in the ambience for a while trying to think of how much history this city had really seen. As usual our peaceful experience was ruined by gypsie beggers asking if we spoke english. Once again we replied in perfect english 'no we dont speak english' it always seems to do the trick. After the island we made our way to berlins version of the tomb of the unknown soldier as well as the University of Berlin. This portion of the tour ended at checkpoint charlie in front of the Brandenberg Gate. We took in the sights, the sounds, and the street performers for a good half hour. We made our way through the lobby of the Kennedy museum as well as the US embassy. The next stop was the Reichstag, German parliament, followed by the white crosses of the river spree. Finally, we made our way to the berlin wall memorial.
As two twenty somethings the berlin wall memorial might be the closest thing to history we could see. For hours we walked the length of whats left of the wall reading anything we could see. The tour ended and the night began as we arrived back at our hostel. the sweed invited us to see a side of Berlin we never would have without him. He took us to his favorite restaurant in Berlin, Babel. From the outside this place looked like just another kabab stand, but it had so much more to offer. We enjoyed an authentic Lebanese meal and another conversation about foreign diplomacy. After dinner the sweed bought us Berlin native beer and we communed in a park while the sun went down. We talked in length at what life must have been like 20 years before and together couldnt fathom the cities history.
Our final day in berlin took us to one of the more moving experiences of either of our lives, Sachsenhausen concentration camp. We spent close to 5 hours wondering through the exhibits and remnants of this historical place. For the first time in our trip we knew our day wasnt going to be a high one but something we should see. The memorial housed old barracks, the yard, memorials grave sites, the firing range, and whats left of the crematorium. We learned a lot and were very appreciative of the chance to see the memorial.
We headed back to the hostel and spent much of the night planning our trip to Heidelberg and updating the blog. Our room housed two snorers that might as well had been playing dueling banjos. Mal spent the evening flashing her light in their faces while I rolled around on the bottom bunk to the degree that mal could 'feel the anger rising to her bunk'.
As we left Berlin we thought back about how much we have seen, learned, and experienced in the last month and half and reflected on it all.
Things we learned in Berlin
1) the sweeds think they are gods children.
2) the Fins snor like bears
3) the U bahn means underground while the S bahn means surface
4) Curry-Snitzle really isnt that good
5) the Berlin metro is an honor system; buy one ticket for the whole trip if you're on a budget
Things we loved in Berlin
1) seeing the sun again
2) Babel
3) how Berlin is the center of European culture
4) remembering much of the history took place in our life times.
5) the soft beds.
much love,
m&m
Our hostel was located in the artistic part of east Berlin. As we wondered the streets looking for the Lettem Sleep 7 we couldnt stop thinking about how nice it was to finally see the sun. We arrived to a very friendly staff and quickly met our roommates as usual. At this point we had made the transformation to seasonsed travel vets. Soon, we were in the typical conversation you have after arriving at every hostel ie where you are from, where you have been, what are your feelings of president Bush, etc. You know just the basic information when meeting new people. Let it be known Mallory could care less if i ever talk politics with another european again as she has heard it in 13 cities now. This go around our roommates were from Sweden, Finland, Austrailia, Japan,and finally South Carolina.
The question of the night for us usually starts with so what do you feel like eating.... After 5 foreign countries you would of thought we would figure this out. We had oven baked pizza, the flavors were western and BBQ chicken. A meal for the ages to say the least. Prior to going out our roommates had invited us to a local club called Watergate, having traveled all day we did our best to avoid having to go at all cost. The oven in the guest kitchen reluctantly wasnt working and the front desk attendant was nice enough to let Mal and I use one of the apartments. We dined on fine frozen pizza and a lovely bottle of white wine. For the first time in a long while we had nothing to listen to but ourselves, and it was nice.
The next morning we had planned on taking the free berlin tour. At this point in the trip Mal's cold had shifted to my cold, which wasnt going to put a damper in our adventure. We set out in hopes of making it to Brandenberg Gate by 1pm. We got lost, and we didnt just get a little lost, we got real lost. For the first time in more than 12 thousand miles traveling we didnt make it where we wanted to when we wanted to. Instead we took the free guided tour from Mike and Mal, we figured it worked well in the previous 11 cities who was going to teach us anything we didnt already know.
The tour started at the famous TV tower Berlin located at Alexander Platz. Next, we made our way over to Museum island. For any of you history buffs out there museum island is where all the famous Nazi rallies were held. We took in the ambience for a while trying to think of how much history this city had really seen. As usual our peaceful experience was ruined by gypsie beggers asking if we spoke english. Once again we replied in perfect english 'no we dont speak english' it always seems to do the trick. After the island we made our way to berlins version of the tomb of the unknown soldier as well as the University of Berlin. This portion of the tour ended at checkpoint charlie in front of the Brandenberg Gate. We took in the sights, the sounds, and the street performers for a good half hour. We made our way through the lobby of the Kennedy museum as well as the US embassy. The next stop was the Reichstag, German parliament, followed by the white crosses of the river spree. Finally, we made our way to the berlin wall memorial.
As two twenty somethings the berlin wall memorial might be the closest thing to history we could see. For hours we walked the length of whats left of the wall reading anything we could see. The tour ended and the night began as we arrived back at our hostel. the sweed invited us to see a side of Berlin we never would have without him. He took us to his favorite restaurant in Berlin, Babel. From the outside this place looked like just another kabab stand, but it had so much more to offer. We enjoyed an authentic Lebanese meal and another conversation about foreign diplomacy. After dinner the sweed bought us Berlin native beer and we communed in a park while the sun went down. We talked in length at what life must have been like 20 years before and together couldnt fathom the cities history.
Our final day in berlin took us to one of the more moving experiences of either of our lives, Sachsenhausen concentration camp. We spent close to 5 hours wondering through the exhibits and remnants of this historical place. For the first time in our trip we knew our day wasnt going to be a high one but something we should see. The memorial housed old barracks, the yard, memorials grave sites, the firing range, and whats left of the crematorium. We learned a lot and were very appreciative of the chance to see the memorial.
We headed back to the hostel and spent much of the night planning our trip to Heidelberg and updating the blog. Our room housed two snorers that might as well had been playing dueling banjos. Mal spent the evening flashing her light in their faces while I rolled around on the bottom bunk to the degree that mal could 'feel the anger rising to her bunk'.
As we left Berlin we thought back about how much we have seen, learned, and experienced in the last month and half and reflected on it all.
Things we learned in Berlin
1) the sweeds think they are gods children.
2) the Fins snor like bears
3) the U bahn means underground while the S bahn means surface
4) Curry-Snitzle really isnt that good
5) the Berlin metro is an honor system; buy one ticket for the whole trip if you're on a budget
Things we loved in Berlin
1) seeing the sun again
2) Babel
3) how Berlin is the center of European culture
4) remembering much of the history took place in our life times.
5) the soft beds.
much love,
m&m
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The rainy days....
Our trip to Luzern took us through quite possibly the most beautiful parts of Switzerland. Each time the train came around another bend we were surprised with waterfalls and snow capped peaks. In the likeness of rick steves we both had our heads as far out of the panaramic windows as possible. Until in typical fashion it started to rain.
We arrived to Luzern in the middle of the afternoon and the begining of the thunderstorms. As we got off the train we immediately went to our packs for our rain coats. After what seemed like ten minutes of digging they finally curlded their way to the tops of our packs. We quickly threw them on took off on foot against our hostels directions advice. In no time at all we had found ourselves at 71 zurichstrasse Lion Lodge Luzern. We quickly came to know it as Spider mansion. the nicest albanian man in all of Switzerland checked us in bright eyed and bushy tailed. After the cordial conversation we marched our soaking wet packs and bodies up the 4 flights of stairs to room 32.
Our roommates were the nicest little Asians ever. Literally, little like 4 feet 10 inches, little to no english, lone travelers. The first from South Korea and the second from China. We talked about Chris Jo and Yao Ming, they hadnt heard of either.
We spent the first night cooking a light meal and enjoying a bottle of wine on the 2nd floor balcony,really the third floor, until Mal was viciously attacked by a hybrid brown recluse with black widow like speed. Fortunately, she wasnt harmed in any way nor did she see the spider at all but she swears it was there.
We cooked a travelers breakfast in the morning. We guarded each other while we stole other peoples milk out of the common refrigerators. Once all preperations had come to an end and we were ready to begin it happened. As mike was about to put his eggs on the burner he looked up to a spider with black widow teeth, terantula legs, a body the size of a large wasp, and an egg sack that according to mal housed 10,000 babies. Mike was put in the perfect boyfriends delimea, I can´t kill the spider and risk eating spider babies in our food and I can´t let it be cause Mal is freaking out constantly. Eventually, the spider fell to the ground, Mike gave up all hope and went on with his cooking in hopes of being attacked and taken from the scene. Mal did her cooking from a stool at an arms length from the stove. We ate in peace, like the russians vacationed during the cold war.
For the first time in a long trip across the pond our bodies finally caught up to our location. With the awful weather we both felt our bodies begining to weaken. We only spent a few hours wondering Luzern in our two days there. We spent the afternoon wondering Lake Luzern, visiting the bridge, and enjoying the company of 14 Asian tour groups at the Lion in the wall. For dinner, at Mals discreation, we avoided cooking and had a salad.
We left Luzern in the same state we found out, rainy and somehow still beautiful. Munich, had everything we could have ever imagined. In Mal´s best description a January summer and Canadian roommates, perfect. By this point Mals cold had reached full potential. We decided to do a pub crawl. The advertisement had said all the free beer and stew for the first two hours. We indulged ourselves in as much spam stew and munich beer as our bellys could handle. The tour took us to our first and what would become our last stop of the tour, Cafe Americanos. If we have learned anything at this point in Germany it´s that they have worse techno than they do fashion. To the tour guides advice we tried a shot known as a porno wodka. Ingredients are as follows, one shot of bad vodka, one packet of german version of fun dip/ pop rocks. Insert fun dip and dump the shot over while enjoying the fizzy sensation that follows. America needs this as we were both pleasently surprised by the aftermath. While the rest of the pub crawl danced like Hans and Veder to Lady Gaga´s poker face Mal and I made our second attempt at shots. In our best German we politely picked up the menu and pointed. Mal ordered straight jager with a lead pencil finishing taste. In true european road trip fashion we realized we had both spent 5 euro at the bar and persisted on going home. Apperently, everyone else in the world wonders the streets of foreign cities until all hours of the night, it wasnt in our agenda.
we awoke the next morning to more rain. Mike arose to an even more pleasent sound of a stuffy nose and sore throat from the bunk above. Being the good boyfriend he immediately jumped out of bed wondered the streets of Munich in serch of any grocery store that sold OJ. He struck gold like Hasselhof brought down the Berlin wall. Aldi Sud as it is better known by in Munich, is like costco for countries who have been shamed by the rest of the world. Orange juice, ramen, jam, and two giant bear claws was a wopping 3.50 euro. Mike could barely contain his enthusiam upon his return to the sickened and battered top bunk of room 401. While Mal enjoyed 1.5 liters of heavy pulp oj, Mike had ramen and bear claws like it was going out of style.
We spent the day wondering the streets of Munich. We saw all the major sites that normal tourists do but our favorite part wasnt even on the map. Apperently, the population of Munich realized the nearest ocean is more than 1000 km away and in doing so had jimmy rigged a wave in one of the major rivers outside of the main park. Alongside one hundred other spectators on this cloudy monday morning we watched person after person ride the waves. The evening was had in one of the many beier gartens Munich posses. Although the weather was the major factor of hindering our adventures in Munich, we persevered and enjoyed the january summer as much as one can.
things we learned in Luzern
1) Lion Lodge Luzern houses a spider worth seeing more so than any tourist spot in the city.
2) Richard the bird duck does in fact have two legs. Not one like the pictures will show.
3) Karma does play a role in this life. When your roommates recomend closing the windows and stopping all air circulation what so ever in the room and you can actually count the minutes to your 6am wake up from them, you realize you did something wrong in the city before.
Things we loved in Luzern
1) Richard the bird duck has two legs.
2) the swans
3) Lake Luzern
Things we learned in Munich
1) all you can eat stew and beer is a hoax.
2) June=January in Mallorys book.
3) Germany runs on techno and red bull.
4) surfing is possible, we have video to prove it
5) Our hostel´s basement could have housed a neo nazi meeting if necessary
things we loved in Munich
1) the history
2) the beer gardens
3) the black footprint
4) everything is cheap
much love and we´re still treking... Look for the Berlin installment ASAP.
Much love m&m
We arrived to Luzern in the middle of the afternoon and the begining of the thunderstorms. As we got off the train we immediately went to our packs for our rain coats. After what seemed like ten minutes of digging they finally curlded their way to the tops of our packs. We quickly threw them on took off on foot against our hostels directions advice. In no time at all we had found ourselves at 71 zurichstrasse Lion Lodge Luzern. We quickly came to know it as Spider mansion. the nicest albanian man in all of Switzerland checked us in bright eyed and bushy tailed. After the cordial conversation we marched our soaking wet packs and bodies up the 4 flights of stairs to room 32.
Our roommates were the nicest little Asians ever. Literally, little like 4 feet 10 inches, little to no english, lone travelers. The first from South Korea and the second from China. We talked about Chris Jo and Yao Ming, they hadnt heard of either.
We spent the first night cooking a light meal and enjoying a bottle of wine on the 2nd floor balcony,really the third floor, until Mal was viciously attacked by a hybrid brown recluse with black widow like speed. Fortunately, she wasnt harmed in any way nor did she see the spider at all but she swears it was there.
We cooked a travelers breakfast in the morning. We guarded each other while we stole other peoples milk out of the common refrigerators. Once all preperations had come to an end and we were ready to begin it happened. As mike was about to put his eggs on the burner he looked up to a spider with black widow teeth, terantula legs, a body the size of a large wasp, and an egg sack that according to mal housed 10,000 babies. Mike was put in the perfect boyfriends delimea, I can´t kill the spider and risk eating spider babies in our food and I can´t let it be cause Mal is freaking out constantly. Eventually, the spider fell to the ground, Mike gave up all hope and went on with his cooking in hopes of being attacked and taken from the scene. Mal did her cooking from a stool at an arms length from the stove. We ate in peace, like the russians vacationed during the cold war.
For the first time in a long trip across the pond our bodies finally caught up to our location. With the awful weather we both felt our bodies begining to weaken. We only spent a few hours wondering Luzern in our two days there. We spent the afternoon wondering Lake Luzern, visiting the bridge, and enjoying the company of 14 Asian tour groups at the Lion in the wall. For dinner, at Mals discreation, we avoided cooking and had a salad.
We left Luzern in the same state we found out, rainy and somehow still beautiful. Munich, had everything we could have ever imagined. In Mal´s best description a January summer and Canadian roommates, perfect. By this point Mals cold had reached full potential. We decided to do a pub crawl. The advertisement had said all the free beer and stew for the first two hours. We indulged ourselves in as much spam stew and munich beer as our bellys could handle. The tour took us to our first and what would become our last stop of the tour, Cafe Americanos. If we have learned anything at this point in Germany it´s that they have worse techno than they do fashion. To the tour guides advice we tried a shot known as a porno wodka. Ingredients are as follows, one shot of bad vodka, one packet of german version of fun dip/ pop rocks. Insert fun dip and dump the shot over while enjoying the fizzy sensation that follows. America needs this as we were both pleasently surprised by the aftermath. While the rest of the pub crawl danced like Hans and Veder to Lady Gaga´s poker face Mal and I made our second attempt at shots. In our best German we politely picked up the menu and pointed. Mal ordered straight jager with a lead pencil finishing taste. In true european road trip fashion we realized we had both spent 5 euro at the bar and persisted on going home. Apperently, everyone else in the world wonders the streets of foreign cities until all hours of the night, it wasnt in our agenda.
we awoke the next morning to more rain. Mike arose to an even more pleasent sound of a stuffy nose and sore throat from the bunk above. Being the good boyfriend he immediately jumped out of bed wondered the streets of Munich in serch of any grocery store that sold OJ. He struck gold like Hasselhof brought down the Berlin wall. Aldi Sud as it is better known by in Munich, is like costco for countries who have been shamed by the rest of the world. Orange juice, ramen, jam, and two giant bear claws was a wopping 3.50 euro. Mike could barely contain his enthusiam upon his return to the sickened and battered top bunk of room 401. While Mal enjoyed 1.5 liters of heavy pulp oj, Mike had ramen and bear claws like it was going out of style.
We spent the day wondering the streets of Munich. We saw all the major sites that normal tourists do but our favorite part wasnt even on the map. Apperently, the population of Munich realized the nearest ocean is more than 1000 km away and in doing so had jimmy rigged a wave in one of the major rivers outside of the main park. Alongside one hundred other spectators on this cloudy monday morning we watched person after person ride the waves. The evening was had in one of the many beier gartens Munich posses. Although the weather was the major factor of hindering our adventures in Munich, we persevered and enjoyed the january summer as much as one can.
things we learned in Luzern
1) Lion Lodge Luzern houses a spider worth seeing more so than any tourist spot in the city.
2) Richard the bird duck does in fact have two legs. Not one like the pictures will show.
3) Karma does play a role in this life. When your roommates recomend closing the windows and stopping all air circulation what so ever in the room and you can actually count the minutes to your 6am wake up from them, you realize you did something wrong in the city before.
Things we loved in Luzern
1) Richard the bird duck has two legs.
2) the swans
3) Lake Luzern
Things we learned in Munich
1) all you can eat stew and beer is a hoax.
2) June=January in Mallorys book.
3) Germany runs on techno and red bull.
4) surfing is possible, we have video to prove it
5) Our hostel´s basement could have housed a neo nazi meeting if necessary
things we loved in Munich
1) the history
2) the beer gardens
3) the black footprint
4) everything is cheap
much love and we´re still treking... Look for the Berlin installment ASAP.
Much love m&m
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Home away from Home.
We left Venice on the 8:09am train to Venice Mestre. We hoped on the 8:29am train to Speiz. And at least caught the 2:25pm train from Speiz to Interlaken OST. We couldn't believe our eyes as we spent the last 15 minutes on the train. The water is crystal blue, surrounded by emerald green forests, topped off by white snow capped mountains.
We hoped off the train and immediately realized how tranquil a country can be that has been neutral in every war for the last 150 years. It's clean, quiet, and everyone wants to help you. Honestly for a minute we thought we were in a retirement community. After 40 minutes of following a 79 year old Swiss man we found our hostel, The backpackers Villa Sonnenhof. We checked in and were immediately taught about the free laundry, free internet, free mini golf, free breakfast, free ping pong, free bus pass, and free pool entry. We also learned the Franc is actually equal to the dollar. What we didnt learn was that living in Switzerland is like living in the Vail village. It's very expensive.
After listening to stories of bungee jumping, white water rafting, and canyoning from our roommates we setteled on our adventure, hiking. We spent the evening wondering the streets in hope of a grocery store and our first view of Jungfrau due to the rainy afternoon. We hit the bunks early with only minimal success of seeing the mountain but were so tired it hardly mattered.
We enjoyed our morning to a cloudless view of Jungfrau as we ate our free breakfast on the south facing porch. We started our adventure in the late morning around 11:30. In the first hour we managed to make it to the grocery store, a liquor store, and the Rugenbrau brewery. Since neither of us spoke German we tried our best to decipher the trail map and follow signs along the way. We passed a 900 year old castle, multiple villages, farmers, and a cow with a bell on its neck. Then it finally happened, we turned back around to witness our first sight of the Swiss alps the Eiger, the Monch, and Jungfrau. It was so breathtaking we realized we hadnt seen anyone in two hours and stopped there to enjoy our hiking wine. We spent close to an hour in complete peace just us, the mountains, and a billion dollar view with no one else.
We spent the evening at the free mini golf course as Mike has never taken Mal on a mini golf date. What we didnt know is that the Swiss have to be the greatest mini golf course designers in the world. One hole was a halfpipe with a hole at the top. Another you literally teed the ball up as if you were at the driving range and had at it. Mallory ended up winning by 4 strokes but we managed to make friends with 6 elder Germans who had no idea how to hold a golf club. After our game we wondered back through the streets as we watched the sun go down over the mountains. It might as well have been heaven on earth.
We spent our last day wondering the streets of west interlaken in hopes of finding the lake. When we finally arrived we learned it was a private grass patch. We put on our best German accents in full force and acted like we were supposed to be there. Our stay was brief but enjoyable as we got to take in the views of this serene little piece of heaven.
We are headed to Luzern tonight and have no idea what to expect. Still very excited at the thrill of adventure today marks a sad day as learned we leave two weeks from today. We miss everyone back home and can't wait to share our stories but in due time. After Luzern were headed to Munich, Berlin, and Heidelberg. Afterwards, we fly from Frankfurt to London via Ryan air, it cost us 50 euro for the both of us, we spend 4 days in London then back to the states.
Things we learned in Interlaken:
1) The Swiss are really good at mini golf.
2) We can't afford to do anything in Switzerland.
3) Distance is in minutes or hours, never in actual distance.
4) Interlaken is partly owned by Asians.
5) They have a hooters here.
Things we loved in Interlaken:
1) Interlaken
2) how polite everyone is
3) the color of the water alongside the sunsets.
4) our hostel
5) Rugenbrau
miss and love everyone,
m&m
We hoped off the train and immediately realized how tranquil a country can be that has been neutral in every war for the last 150 years. It's clean, quiet, and everyone wants to help you. Honestly for a minute we thought we were in a retirement community. After 40 minutes of following a 79 year old Swiss man we found our hostel, The backpackers Villa Sonnenhof. We checked in and were immediately taught about the free laundry, free internet, free mini golf, free breakfast, free ping pong, free bus pass, and free pool entry. We also learned the Franc is actually equal to the dollar. What we didnt learn was that living in Switzerland is like living in the Vail village. It's very expensive.
After listening to stories of bungee jumping, white water rafting, and canyoning from our roommates we setteled on our adventure, hiking. We spent the evening wondering the streets in hope of a grocery store and our first view of Jungfrau due to the rainy afternoon. We hit the bunks early with only minimal success of seeing the mountain but were so tired it hardly mattered.
We enjoyed our morning to a cloudless view of Jungfrau as we ate our free breakfast on the south facing porch. We started our adventure in the late morning around 11:30. In the first hour we managed to make it to the grocery store, a liquor store, and the Rugenbrau brewery. Since neither of us spoke German we tried our best to decipher the trail map and follow signs along the way. We passed a 900 year old castle, multiple villages, farmers, and a cow with a bell on its neck. Then it finally happened, we turned back around to witness our first sight of the Swiss alps the Eiger, the Monch, and Jungfrau. It was so breathtaking we realized we hadnt seen anyone in two hours and stopped there to enjoy our hiking wine. We spent close to an hour in complete peace just us, the mountains, and a billion dollar view with no one else.
We spent the evening at the free mini golf course as Mike has never taken Mal on a mini golf date. What we didnt know is that the Swiss have to be the greatest mini golf course designers in the world. One hole was a halfpipe with a hole at the top. Another you literally teed the ball up as if you were at the driving range and had at it. Mallory ended up winning by 4 strokes but we managed to make friends with 6 elder Germans who had no idea how to hold a golf club. After our game we wondered back through the streets as we watched the sun go down over the mountains. It might as well have been heaven on earth.
We spent our last day wondering the streets of west interlaken in hopes of finding the lake. When we finally arrived we learned it was a private grass patch. We put on our best German accents in full force and acted like we were supposed to be there. Our stay was brief but enjoyable as we got to take in the views of this serene little piece of heaven.
We are headed to Luzern tonight and have no idea what to expect. Still very excited at the thrill of adventure today marks a sad day as learned we leave two weeks from today. We miss everyone back home and can't wait to share our stories but in due time. After Luzern were headed to Munich, Berlin, and Heidelberg. Afterwards, we fly from Frankfurt to London via Ryan air, it cost us 50 euro for the both of us, we spend 4 days in London then back to the states.
Things we learned in Interlaken:
1) The Swiss are really good at mini golf.
2) We can't afford to do anything in Switzerland.
3) Distance is in minutes or hours, never in actual distance.
4) Interlaken is partly owned by Asians.
5) They have a hooters here.
Things we loved in Interlaken:
1) Interlaken
2) how polite everyone is
3) the color of the water alongside the sunsets.
4) our hostel
5) Rugenbrau
miss and love everyone,
m&m
The city of mazes....
We planned on leaving our new found experiences in Florence on what we thought would be 10:36am train. To our dismay we stood in line at the train station in front of what was clearly the smelliest man on earth. He kept trying to cut the line around each S curve, trying to detour his movement we boldly threw our bodies and nostrils to the wayside. We took turns doing the kansas city shuffle for close to half an hour until at the last on the last S turn he started yelling and causing a scene in a language so foreign we had no choice but to step away. Finally, it was our turn at the booth. By the time we reached the front it was 10:42 and we had missed our train. We ended up waiting for the 12:30 train and sat quietly people watching for close to two hours. When our train finally arrived we boarded and peacefully enjoyed the three hour ride.
We arrived into Venenize S.C station on the main island. Our directions to the hotel were to walk out the front door, turn left, and walk for three minutes. These directions couldnt have been more spot on. We spent our only evening in Venice wondering the streets enjoying slices of pizza with pepperoni and french fries and a warm bottle of white wine.
We toured the normal stuff and managed to get lost in doing so. For as good as a sense of direction Mike has, Venice is the ultimate challenge in navigation. We enjoyed the grand canal, San Marcos Square, and most of all the air conditioning in our room.
Off to interlaken in the morning!
Things we learned in Venice:
1) gps would be a worthless tool in this city.
2) it does actually cost 120 euro to ride the gondola; it's free to watch though.
3) french fries and pepperoni on a slice of pizza is great.
4) the city floods in the main squares during high tide
5) There is a key for every door, in every hallway, on every floor....
Things we loved in Venice:
1) the canals
2) the giant cruise liner named "Costa Fortuna"
3) the views from the grand canal.
4) the air conditioning.
5) the history
much love to everyone,
m&m
We arrived into Venenize S.C station on the main island. Our directions to the hotel were to walk out the front door, turn left, and walk for three minutes. These directions couldnt have been more spot on. We spent our only evening in Venice wondering the streets enjoying slices of pizza with pepperoni and french fries and a warm bottle of white wine.
We toured the normal stuff and managed to get lost in doing so. For as good as a sense of direction Mike has, Venice is the ultimate challenge in navigation. We enjoyed the grand canal, San Marcos Square, and most of all the air conditioning in our room.
Off to interlaken in the morning!
Things we learned in Venice:
1) gps would be a worthless tool in this city.
2) it does actually cost 120 euro to ride the gondola; it's free to watch though.
3) french fries and pepperoni on a slice of pizza is great.
4) the city floods in the main squares during high tide
5) There is a key for every door, in every hallway, on every floor....
Things we loved in Venice:
1) the canals
2) the giant cruise liner named "Costa Fortuna"
3) the views from the grand canal.
4) the air conditioning.
5) the history
much love to everyone,
m&m
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Under the Tuscan oven..
We hoped on the our train out of Roma in the early afternoon around 1:15pm. Sometime 4 hours and 19 regional stops later we arrived in Florence under a mild 93 degree day. We took our usual wonder around the train station trying to get our barings and in typical fashion we managed to wonder for half an hour with heads to the skies until we found our street. We should have known from the sights of the check in desk this hostel would be trouble. We calmly walked in the front door and stood among the masses for nearly an hour until finally it was our turn. We provided the proper identification and to the receptionist confused look we knew it wasnt good. Apperently, hostelworld.com, the website we use for all of bookings, had created 4 seperate reservations for our stay in Florence. We dealt with quite a bit of confusion and bit more standing around but eventually made our way to room 410. It was the first air conditioned room since Barcelona and we couldnt have been more excited. It took no time at all to become friends once again with our new found roommates. Collectively we represented the North American continent 2 Americans, 2 Canadians, and 2 mexicans. We also had a 45 year old Aussie sleeping in the corner but we didnt count him. We had heard of an amazing bar/pub that offered 8 euros for a drink and all you eat buffet. The entire room dined together as we shared stories of all our different travels and viewpoints. The men of the group were extremely excited for this dinner as the pub had the Italian fashion network on in the background portraying scantily clad women across the wall.
The next day Mal and I wondered the streets as we usually do. We found our way to the famous piazza mercato centrale and spent most of the afternoon wandering the boothes. After nearly 3 hours of bargaining with vendors Mal was done shopping and Mike was done traveling... The early evening included wondering through the Dromo, the steps of the Uffizi, the ponte vecchio, and the steps of the Pitti Palace. As our stomachs moaned for more gelato we found ourselves once again dining at the Kitsh pub/buffet. Pleasently surprised to see a new array of fine dining items we gorged ourselves worse the night before. We leisurely strolled back to the hostel and enjoyed the last 5 minutes of 2.50 pint specials by each buying 2. Our roommates joined and kindly asked if we were saving the seats for other people since we had four beers and with no hesitation we laughed and told them they were all ours. We enjoyed the conversation and indulged in aother glass of wine, they sell it for 5 euro a bottle on the terrace, and realized the hostel bar had turned into a full blow party around us. Being completely worn out from the Tuscan sun and daily half marathons of walking we headed for bed. As we headed towards our room the terrace bar closed and we were immediately thrown into what seemed to be the running of the bulls as they headed for the basement bar. We made it safely and calmly fell asleep to the pulsating sensation of European techno.
Our last day in Florence was another easy one; spent booking hostels, updating blogs, and strolling the sights we hadnt seen. We made it the Academia gallery, where Michelangelo's david is, and had no desire to stand in the 40 minute line. We substituted David for the lesser known fake versions all around the city. Tonight, we are headed to piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset over Florence.
Tomorrow, we head for Venice for the night then off to Switzerland the following day. We can't believe how fast this trip is going and realized before long we will be right back in the states. Honestly there will be tons of pictures to see when we get home, uploading hasnt been accesible in a while.
Things we learned in Florence:
1) under the Tuscan sun literally means under the Tuscan bakers oven from hell.
2) gelato is a food group
3) don't create 4 reservations on hostel world, you will have to move rooms 3 times like mike.
4)French Canadians are a strange group of people.....
5) my cousin Jen got engaged.
Things we loved in Florence:
1) Buffets that offer drinks dining for 8 euros.
2) Air conditioning, we honestly dont see how people lived without it.
3) finally accepting the european walking pace
4) finally having an American sized shower again.
5) appreciating the renissance artwork while being completely lost in Florence.
Much love and safe travels to the Harnagel family and crew as they head for their third Ride the Rockies.
love and miss you all especially OBIE,
m&m
The next day Mal and I wondered the streets as we usually do. We found our way to the famous piazza mercato centrale and spent most of the afternoon wandering the boothes. After nearly 3 hours of bargaining with vendors Mal was done shopping and Mike was done traveling... The early evening included wondering through the Dromo, the steps of the Uffizi, the ponte vecchio, and the steps of the Pitti Palace. As our stomachs moaned for more gelato we found ourselves once again dining at the Kitsh pub/buffet. Pleasently surprised to see a new array of fine dining items we gorged ourselves worse the night before. We leisurely strolled back to the hostel and enjoyed the last 5 minutes of 2.50 pint specials by each buying 2. Our roommates joined and kindly asked if we were saving the seats for other people since we had four beers and with no hesitation we laughed and told them they were all ours. We enjoyed the conversation and indulged in aother glass of wine, they sell it for 5 euro a bottle on the terrace, and realized the hostel bar had turned into a full blow party around us. Being completely worn out from the Tuscan sun and daily half marathons of walking we headed for bed. As we headed towards our room the terrace bar closed and we were immediately thrown into what seemed to be the running of the bulls as they headed for the basement bar. We made it safely and calmly fell asleep to the pulsating sensation of European techno.
Our last day in Florence was another easy one; spent booking hostels, updating blogs, and strolling the sights we hadnt seen. We made it the Academia gallery, where Michelangelo's david is, and had no desire to stand in the 40 minute line. We substituted David for the lesser known fake versions all around the city. Tonight, we are headed to piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset over Florence.
Tomorrow, we head for Venice for the night then off to Switzerland the following day. We can't believe how fast this trip is going and realized before long we will be right back in the states. Honestly there will be tons of pictures to see when we get home, uploading hasnt been accesible in a while.
Things we learned in Florence:
1) under the Tuscan sun literally means under the Tuscan bakers oven from hell.
2) gelato is a food group
3) don't create 4 reservations on hostel world, you will have to move rooms 3 times like mike.
4)French Canadians are a strange group of people.....
5) my cousin Jen got engaged.
Things we loved in Florence:
1) Buffets that offer drinks dining for 8 euros.
2) Air conditioning, we honestly dont see how people lived without it.
3) finally accepting the european walking pace
4) finally having an American sized shower again.
5) appreciating the renissance artwork while being completely lost in Florence.
Much love and safe travels to the Harnagel family and crew as they head for their third Ride the Rockies.
love and miss you all especially OBIE,
m&m
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