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
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)