6/28/08 Saturday ~ Travel Journal

Fussen, Germany

10:18am

We are on a train heading to Fussen Germany. There is a castle called Neushwenstien castle there that we want to see. Yesterday we walked in the old part of Munich. We went to the Karlsplatz fountain and walked through the pedestrian zone where there are shops and restaurants. We went into a Swarovski Crystal shop and another store that was like a department store. After a bit of walking, we came to a plaza where the Glockenspiel Church is located. There is a clock in the bell tower that has figures that dance at certain times.

It's a pretty nice thing to view when coming into a plaza. Basically we spent the afternoon wandering around. We really wanted to watch a movie at an Imax theater located on the map but we got there and the girl told us it had been closed for the past three years. it was another type of theater but nothing for us to see. Soo we walked. After a while it was close to dinner time so we headed to the Hoffbrau Haus. It's a well known beer garden because it's one of the largest. I ordered a "Radler" which is beer with lemonade.

Jere ordered an "Original" which is original to the Haus. I also got a large pretzel while Jere ordered "The Suckling Pig". It was a nice atmosphere and we enjoyed just sitting. We met some people from Northern Germany who were on a holiday for four days in Munich. They seemed really friendly and took pictures of us with our huge drinks.

By the time we got back to the camping we were exhausted and went to bed around 9pm! I woke up around 4am but fell back asleep till 8am.

This morning while Jere showered, I ate breakfast and met an older guy named Richard. He is from Arizona and seems to have traveled a lot. We just talked about our experiences and various tips and advice. He advised that if you aren't getting results from lower level people in a company that you should just go straight to the CEO. Write a letter or E-mail. Seems like he's gotten some good results. So, now we're heading to Fussen to see the castle that Walt Disney used as inspiration for the Cinderella Castle.

11:24am

Well we've been on the train for about an hour and chatting with Gentz. he is in advertising and is visiting his girlfriend in Geltendorf. He was really friendly. He just got off and we still have an hour and a half till we arrive at our destination.

4:11pm

On the train here, we chatted with some folks from Korea. They are so nice. Because we arrived about the same time, they are on the tours of the castles with us. We visited the Schloss Hohenschwangau and it's a pretty sweet castle. The tour guide was pretty plain and seemed bored. It's just cool to hear the information. So after we toured the castle of Ludwig II parent's, we went to his castle. First we stopped to get a snack because we were starving. We are still hungry so hopefully we can get a good dinner.

Instead of taking a carriage like I wanted, we hiked up a really steep mountain side. When we got up to the castle, we met a couple from Florida. They lived in Kansas for a while so it was nice to chat. We were also on the same tour as the Koreans that we met. The girl doing the tour was really cute and animated so it was fun. Not like the boring tour of the guy at the first castle. I really liked the rooms in the Neuschwanstien castle because they were so brightly colored. And none of it was faded. maybe they've been touching it up over the years. It's so interesting to me to think about living in the time period when people would have lived in castles. In this case 1660-1880's.

Once the tour was over, we walked down the steep, steep hillside to the base. We caught a bus and now we're waiting for a rain to take a two hour train ride to Munich. Hopefully we can get a good meal somewhere for our last night in Europe.

The Neuschwanstien Castle is surrounded by trees and sits atop a high mountain.

8:38pm

We are eating at the Hoffbrau Haus! I am starving. I'm going to get Bavarian potato soup to start and then two meatballs and mashed potatoes. I am also looking forward to the Radler beer. It's nice and sweet.

(Jere at dinner)

To see other pictures from our trip visit our flickr account.

6/27/08 Friday ~ Travel Journal

Munich, Germany

2:11pm

We are sitting in a Greek restaurant just finishing our lunch. It took us a while to get around this morning but we did laundry, ate food and showered :) We walked from the camping to an ATM and walked through the grounds of a castle on the way. There is the castle and then a wall surrounding the grounds.

This castle is the Nymphenburger Schloss. Schloss = Castle. It was so random, we didn't know it was there and just stumbled onto the grounds by accident.

Along the wall there are houses attached to the wall. It looked pretty cool. There were swans swimming in a pond and it was nice to look at them and think about jumping in the water.

Today we don't have time to make it to Dachau or the Neuschwanstien Castle (Disney modeled after this castle) but we have tomorrow to go to one place. We'll probably visit the castle as someone said it's a good size day trip. Today we'll just explore the city and go downtown.
As we asked for the check for our lunch, our waiter brought us two drinks instead. Jere was given whiskey and he gave me a fruity drink. It was good! And free! Maybe he liked us since we're foreign.

In the evening, we ate at the Hoffbrau Haus. I wrote about that and other activities that we did the next day.

6/26/08 Thursday ~ Travel Journal

These posts are taken from the journal I kept while traveling in Europe in June 2008.

Vienna, Austria

10:27 am
We are waiting for Ingrid and Mirjam to get home so we can get something to eat. I am starving! The plan right now is to leave on a rain at 1:40pm. We would get into Munich around 6:30pm if we go through Salzburg instead of going directly to Munich from Vienna.

10:55am
We are still hungry. Someone kept calling but we didn't pick it up. We found out about five minutes later that it was the cleaning lady. We heard someone come up the stairs and open the front door but it wasn't who we were expecting! She didn't speak English and basically made a signal that she would call Ingrid. Weird meeting someone who doesn't know what's going on!

Obviously Jere was still hungry...

7:05pm
We are on the train to Munich and should arrive around 8:30pm. I think the camping is close to the train station, not a far walk. Ingrid and Mirjam got home a bit after 11am and we went to the Hummel Cafe for lunch. I had Wiener Snitzel and Jere had Fikergoulash. his was more like a stew and it was really good. The meat was really tender. Ingrid ordered us some Sache Torte cake to tr and it was really good. Mirjam had a dessert but it was striped. I can't remember what it was called. So Mirjam took Jere and I to the store and to a bakery called "Aida" to buy a small Sache Torte cake.

Check list for 6/27/08

• Laundry


• Shower


• Send Ingrid Money


• Get nose ring

Munich, Germany

11:56pm

We arrived in Munich Germany around 9:30pm. We took the tram straight to our camping - "The Tent". It seems like a really cool place with lights strung places, a bonfire going, nice toilette's, Internet, cafeteria etc. The people seem very nice so far.

Yesterday afternoon I got a message on Facebook from a friend sending condolences about Lady. I was confused at first but didn't have a good feeling and was certain she had died. I cried (with Ingrid and Mirjam present). I chatted with Rachel last night and she said she was sorry I found out this way on the trip. Tonight, Dad sent me an e-mail telling me the whole story of how she passed and what happened. It's so sad because I can picture Lady's sweet face laying on her side like she did at our house. Dad said he thinks she had a stroke or heart attack. She was breathing but not responding. Dad took her to the vet and let her go while petting her and telling her what a good dog she had been to us. And she has. She has been such a great dog. I just can't get over the thought that she won't be around staring at the person cooking the food, always under foot. I'll just let the tears come until they stop on their own.

At first I didn't want to write about Lady dying into my travel journal, but realized that it would probably help. I had been crying on and off since I had found out and after I wrote my feelings down I was able to go to sleep and calm down for the rest of the trip. I was so sad.

6/25/08 Wednesday ~ Travel Journal

Vienna, Austria

3:46pm
We slept in until 11:30am! I slept a little fitfully and also had a bad dream where I woke up bawling. I hate it when I dream about people dying. We had a great breakfast of bread and tomato spread as well as marmalade and butter. We also had eggs and tomatoes. We showered and then showed Ingrid pictures o our flickr account. By the time all that happened, Mirjam was home from school (They finish school late and start the school year later than we do!) We walked down to a cafe they frequent and had a bite to eat. I had tomato soup! Now Mirjam is going to take us around and show s the city :) Later Ingrid will pick us up in their car.

9:05pm
Mirjam took us around the city today. After our lunch, Ingrid offered to show us Viennese coffee and it was very good! It tastes so smooth.

After coffee, Mirjam took us t see the town hall, Parliament, Stephensdom, Karlskirche and other areas. We got ice cream at the best place in Vienna.

As we were walking in the shopping area, we saw the store "Lush". It's the same store Jere bought massage bars and bath balls for me. Anyways, he bought those online and this was a shop where we could touch and smell everything. We bought two shampoo bars and two shimmery body bars. We also bought Merriam some body jelly as a gift for being our guide.

This is the subway!

I'm glad we're spending time with them instead of touring the city by ourselves. it's so much nicer viewing things with local people. So now we are back at their flat watching the soccer game of Germany VS Turkey. When we were our earlier, there were fans everywhere. Merriam took us to "the fan zone" where there are streets closed off and screens set up to watch the game. Now it's raining! It sounds so nice - also it will be nice to cool the air. We were pretty hot earlier when we were walking around. I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow...Probably leave. We'll have to figure it out tonight.

6/24/08 Tuesday ~ Travel Journal

Interlaken, Switzerland

10am

We are leaving Interlaken. Such a sad day! This area is so beautiful and the best camping we've stayed in so far...Although all of them have had different good qualities.

We really enjoyed paragliding and rafting and although I am sure we'll see awesome things in Austria and Germany, I am really sad to leave Switzerland. By this afternoon sometime we should be in Halstatt, Austria - which looked gorgeous in pictures. I am excited to go but like any new place, a little apprehensive about what we'll find. Also I would like to explore Salzburg a little. I didn't realize this before, but a fellow camper mentioned it's the town where the sound of music happened.

12:53pm

We have just kind of realized that today is going to be a travel day. Our path was Interlaken to Bern to Zurich and now from Zurich to Salzburg to Halstatt. Our train leaves at 1:40pm and gets to Salzburg at around 7:30pm. Then it's another hour or so to Halstatt. Fun.

9:28pm
Well, we are really veering from the schedule now. We've been traveling since 10am and will have been traveling since 10am and will have been on the train for 12 hours total. We met George who sat in our coachette. He got off in Innsbruck, Austria. Then we had some boys sit with us. They didn't speak English. Then a mother and daughter came to sit with us and now we are going to stay the night with them in Vienna, Austria! Ingrid is the mother and Merriam is the daughter. Ingrid invited us to come visit and since we were already on the way there, we just stayed on the train! Kinda crazy...Earlier we were discussing American schools because Merriam wants to go for a semester to a U.S school when she is sixteen. She's not sure where, but she s only 13. She has a few years to decide. Ingrid is completing her masters degree in event planning and will be done in two months. Is it strange that we're staying with complete strangers?! I mean obviously Ingrid feels comfortable enough to invite us so we're good with it. I'm not sure how long we'll stay. We'll see what happens.

Earlier when George was chatting with us, he brought up the fact that he is wanting to convert to Judaism. he had brought some kosher meat back from Zurich and anyways we got into a conversation with him about what we believe. I think it was really good. I ended up falling asleep, but Jere was doing most of the talk anyways :) Jere said after George left that he thinks it opened George's eyes a little or just gave him something to think about. He definitely just seemed like he is searching. He was a very nice boy (23 years old) and he just got his teaching certificate for kindergarten teaching. He seemed very excited and full of hope for the possibility of caring for kids at that young age. Jere got his email address so maybe we can contact him sometime. His village only has 1,200 people - very small. he will be moving to Vienna to teach though. All in all, we have met some great people so far and now we're on another adventure. I hope to still visit Halstatt. Maybe on our way from Vienna to Munich we can do that.

11:45pm
I am sitting in Ingrid's apartment and I feel a bit crazy. Are we really here?! In Vienna, Austria where no on knows we're here because even we didn't know we would come here until a couple of hours ago. Mainly we're crazy because we have gone from Venice to Budapest to Zurich/Interlaken to Vienna to Munich. Look at it on a map - we have zig zagged across FIVE different countries! Not good planning...but we are okay with it. Tomorrow we'll explore Vienna and decide what to do next. My first impression of Vienna is that it's a nice city - In the dark at least :) We arrived at the main train station and took a tram straight to their flat. We had to make change to buy the tickets to it took a little longer than normal. We came to a nice looking building with a nice looking entry. We walked up two flights of stairs made in stone and the staircase was curved. We walked into an apartment with high ceilings, light oak furniture and windows that look into the garden. I love their chair covers for their dining room (brown) and the table cloth is a simple one with a shimmering sheer fabric on top. Every thing seems understated, yet bold. Their living room walls are a light orange and the bedroom we're in is a light mustard yellow. Tastefully done, not tacky. The house feels nice and lived in and I feel privileged to peek into their lives.

6/23/08 Monday ~ Travel Journal

Interlaken, Switzerland

3:45pm

Today I went rafting for the time. It was great! I wish there had been more rapids but it was a lot of fun. We bought the pictures and there's a really good shot of Jere putting on his helmet.

See that couple in the foreground, left hand side?? We realized later that it's us making out...

This crazy guy was from New Zealand and is demonstrating how to pull someone back into the raft. His voice was hoarse from yelling over the rapids all the time and he was hilarious. He had quite a few missing teeth (presumably from crazy rafting) and an interesting hair style. He pulled it off well though.

Our guide was Todd-from New Zealand. He's been here for three years rafting for two years. We have had a blast here in Interlaken and I am SO GLAD we decided to come here!! I am going to suggest it to everyone. I really think Jodie would enjoy working here with all the outdoor activities - He would definately fit in somewhere. We talked about canyoning tomorrow but we still have two more countries and cities to visit before we leave to go home this upcoming Sunday. We'll probably leave in the morning. Tonight we might grill at the camp with Sam and Courtney. That sounds really nice to me. :)


5pm

I was laying down and woke up to a splash and people screaming......so I got out of the tent and came out to the common area. People are jumping into the canal and swimming down a ways! I think they're German. Whatever they are, they are definately crazy for sure. That water is miserably cold! It's glacial ice melt!

6/22/08 Sunday ~ Travel Journal

Interlaken, Switzerland

4:55pm

We went paragliding today!! It was awesome. We ended up buying the pictures, but this is kinda once in a lifetime! This morning Jere walked into town and paid for our paragliding and our rafting for tomorrow. We left at 1:45pm and just got back a little bit ago. This morning I did laundry and played cards until Jere got back. We ate lunch, played cards and finished laundry and left for paragliding. Just a normal day - right? No, it was awesome.

After we got back we've been playing cards and hanging out. We'll probably go to the square in town to watch the game tonight. Italy and Spain are playing so it should be good :) We've been hanging out with Darby, Jennifer, Elena, Jason and Brett.

We also met Sam and Courtney today and I think they're going with us to watch the game. Sam and Courtney are from Vancouver and the other five are from everywhere but live in Germany. They work for the Army (contracting) doing technology stuff.

That night we got back from watching the game in town with Sam and Courtney and played more cards with the other group. We went to bed around 1am.

6/21/08 Saturday ~ Travel Journal

Zurich, Switzerland

6:20am

Man, is today really Saturday??!! I'm sitting in the train station in Zurich. I am very excited to be here! It wasn't in our original plans to be here at all but we get to experience another culture. The conductor woke us up around 6am and gave us croissants with juice and coffee! I was shocked. it was very good service. Last night he also gave us bottled water. I slept well but Jere and Shawn woke up through out the night. it was still way better than sitting in the "reclining seats". It would be awesome to see him again someday. His girlfriend is from Zurich - a banker and they're getting married sometime this year. They both want to home school their kids, buy a boat and chopper and travel the world. he has already traveled so much, I could totally see him following through with it. He is 43 years old and has been around the world six times! he told us about this plane trip that you can pay around $3000 for and it'll take you to as many cities as you want - around the globe. That would be awesome to do! After talking to him last night and him saying he wished he could have had kids earlier, I feel like I should just jump into it. (He's never been married - he was close once but he told us that his fiance's sister died giving birth and she went crazy after that.) Hearing it form an older man gives me another perspective. There will always be excuses to not have kids. I know it and everyone has said it. I don't know why hearing it from him was just different.



7am

We just jumped onto a train to Bern, Switzerland. We're heading to Interlaken.



10:40am

I am sitting in our tent at a camping in Interlaken. It is majestic here. Being in the mountains with our tent pitched next to a walking trail and canal with green water is indescribable. The camping costs 30 FR total and right now the US dollar is worth more than the Frank. We might stay in Switzerland an extra day. At least that's out thought as we walked through town to the camping. Taking the trains this morning was probably the easiest time we've had this whole trip. We literally just went from train to train seamlessly and now we're here! We stopped by the tourist office on the way so we have several maps and guides. Very exciting. Jere just got back from checking in and we have FREE bus passes! Sweet.



12:34pm

We're sitting down to lunch at a little pub in town called "Buddy's". They have homemade Chili Con Carne...The bar keep is so friendly and so far everyone we've met has been SO awesome! I can't describe the feeling I have of being here. I just feel happy.



2:26pm

After lunch, we looked at shops on the way back to our camping. We are sitting in lawn chairs watching the canal and staring at the mountains and the blue sky with wispy clouds. We bought gifts for our brothers. We have Jodie left and then we're done Christmas shopping. I really want to buy a call cap with the Swiss cross on it and I think Jere wants one too. We'll be cool looking together. This is starting to get super random so I'll stop writing.



8:15pm

We just had dinner at a place called Bebbies. WE had cheese fondue with bread and also wienerschnitzel. The meals came with salads. We also ended up ordering chocolate fondue. On our way to dinner, we stopped at a booth for information about para sailing and rafting. There is a package we can buy for both that costs 255 FR which is basically like $250 per person. I think we're going to do it! We're only here right now and who knows, we may never come back here. So total it would be around $500 for the experience of a lifetime - because we're in Switzerland. The only problem Jere just realized was that we mailed his tennis shoes home. I'm sure we can figure something out though. Right now we are in a huge square where people have gathered to watch Holland play soccer. The game is Russia V. Holland, so naturally people here would vote for Holland. There is a huge screen and the game will start any minute.



11:13pm

We left the game early and came back to shower. We wanted to get laundry done but it's getting late and we are tired! We bought some chocolate on the way back and the one I picked is really good. White chocolate with strawberry pieces :)



Good Night.

6/20/08 Friday ~ Travel Journal

Budapest, Hungary

9:46am

We are at the train station trying to make reservations for a night train tonight. This time with beds! Our hope for the day is to visit a spa that the man who rented our room to us told us about. Apparently it's very cheap and it's unisex. Jere came over from the line earlier and said that the reservations are not made in the computer - they're hand written...it's so strange to think that people still work that way. Last night Jere reminded me that this area used to be under Soviet rule and it's weird but I had already been feeling like there was that air about the town. Maybe just something I got from the movies. There was just something distinctly different there in Eastern Europe than Western Europe.

2:01pm

We just spent the last two hours in the "spa". Really it was just a cold swimming area and a warm one. There was also a dry sauna. Jere sat in the same spot where there were bubbles that started periodically. When the bubbles in his area would stop, bubbles and jet streams would start in the ring around the area he was in and the current would push people around. I laid in the sun, swam and visited the sauna. Now we're going to walk around and look at some stuff before we head to the train. (code for "I have no idea what we're going to do and we're bored") We leave at 6:05pm and arrive in Zurich, Switzerland at 6am.

2:30pm

Right now we're on an island in the Danube river. We're in a park watching a dancing fountain with music. It's been a very peaceful day and continues on as we sit in the shade listening to the music mix with the sounds of the water flowing.

4:21pm

We are in the train station ready to go. Unfortunately our train doesn't leave for two more hours. For the first time on this trip we're both regretting deciding to come here. Budapest seems nice but it's definitely not a place we enjoyed much. In hindsight we would liked to stay in Venice another day. But that's hindsight we won't focus on it. We couldn't find any postcards so this section of our journal will be void of pictures until I develop some. (we'll see if that happens)

10:30pm

We are on the night train to Zurich and are sharing a coachette with a guy from Sydney Australia named Shawn. he is so interesting! We've been talking since before our train left at 6:05pm. I love meeting new people. This is the most exciting part - not knowing who you'll meet if you don't go. If we hadn't taken this night train he would never have existed to us.

6/19/08 Thursday ~ Travel Journal

Budapest, Hungary

7:56 am

We're sitting in Gyekenyes, Hungary just over the border. Border patrol stopped u in Slovenia and Croatia too so now we have stamps in three new countries! Last night's sleep was REALLY rough. I think we'll go for the beds instead of reclining seats on the night train from Budapest to Switzerland. I really want to get a hotel room and just crash for a while. We'll see what happens when we get to Budapest. Last night we sat with two girls - Julie and Brittany. They're from Vancouver Island in Canada. They got off the train at 4am in Zagreb, Croatia. They were just going to sit in the station until business opened up. Scary! It is so amazing how different all the cultures we've experienced are. We were woken up three times by border patrol and more than five times by the conductor checking our tickets! Each time, the border patrol guys were very different. We're riding through a thick forest right now, I wonder what the rest of Hungary looks like.

8:21am

I was joking around with Jere about how I couldn't understand what he was saying (like 10 times) so I told hm I would call him "the Hungarian". Then I decided that "the Hungarian" sounded like a hit man name (assasanist - is that a made up word?) and proceeded to speak very loudly saying "The Hungarian" (with my hands cupped to make a megaphone) He informed me that customs is sitting three seats away...Whoops, probably shouldn't make them think I am making fun of their culture.

6:25pm

So I just slept for five hours! We arrived in Budapest around 12:30pm (1.5 hours late according to our ticket) The whole morning we were exhausted from not really sleeping last night and slept fitfully till we got off the train. As we were leaving the train, a man approached us asking if we had accommodations and I felt like I was trying to tell him we did but for some reason I couldn't. (we didn't have accommodations). We stepped off to the side and spoke with him. He was offering a room for 35 EU. The situation seemed very similar to the couple in the Cinque Terre and so we asked him if we could look at the room. he just said he couldn't do that without knowing if we would stay (because the room was a ways away from the train station) He was going to send us by ourselves to the room where upon his wife would meet us but as we were walking and she wasn't answering her phone, he decided to come with us. We took a bus and a tram, then walked a little. We arrived at a building, walked inside and straight ahead was an old iron elevator shaft. It seemed like it was straight out of the movie "The Saint" when he was in Russia (but the one in the movie was wooden) We got in and went to the fourth floor. Apparently the man - Sandor and his wife Anna live here too and just rent out a few rooms. At the train station it seemed like they had five rooms for rent but I counted only three. I know they have a son but not sure if he lives here or not. Our room is huge...Well it has tall ceilings so maybe that's why it feels so big. There is a free standing closet/dresser, a love seat, TV, full bed, two chaise lounges and a table between them. There is a huge window as tall as the ceiling which has been open since we laid down. I can hear the cars driving by and occasionally people. I love the sound of a busy city. During my nap I woke up a few times and glanced at the clock on the wall. each time it said 2:40pm and in my mind I always thought "okay some where around 2:30pm". Not until I am sitting here awake did I realize that it's broken. It is now 6:46pm and the only we've had to eat today is the circular Italian granola bars we bought yesterday.

9:12pm

It's so hard to believe that it's Thursday. This whole trip it's been like we know the date but not really the day. We have a little over a week left on our month long adventure.

We just got back from dinner at a little restaurant on a side street. The smell of food drew us there and it was really good! Jere had Hungarian Pork Stew with Rotzi (Hungarian specialty) and I had a stuffed chicken breast with feta inside. We had fried mushrooms with tartar sauce before our meal. Everything was really good! We're just going to hang in our room and watch Germany and Portugal play in the Euro games.

6/18/08 Wednesday ~ Travel Journal

I haven't done a post from our travel journal in a while! We still have over a week and a half left!

Venice, Italy

8:49 am

We're on the train to Venice! Tonight we'll sleep on a night train headed to Budapest, Hungary. We're very excited :) This morning we woke up at 6:30am but I was seriously awake about every hour through the night making sure we wouldn't miss our train @ 8:30am.

1:50pm

We're in Venice and just finished eating lunch. It's everything we thought it would be. From small alleyways to canals and bridges. For lunch, we had a starter plate of cheese followed by lasagna for Jere and pizza for me. (the pizza consisted of olives, cheese, tomatoes, peppers and salami) We bought water taxi passes so we can explore the whole town.

6:12pm

We spent a couple of hours shopping on and around the Rialto bridge. I saw a very nice bracelet in a window so we went in and bought it. A lot of the shops on and around the bridge sell Murano Glass including vases, sculptures, figurines, jewelery, trinkets and many other things I'm sure. Jere read in the "Let's Go" book about a woman who has been making leather bound journals for over 30 years here. We went to the shop and looked around and he ended up getting a grayish green leather bound large journal with regular paper. It is SO nice! It cost 65 EURO and was well worth it. We stopped into another jewelery shop and I picked out a square glass ring with an adjustable band. It's a white silvery hue with a cream colored swirl in the center. The ring is so pretty and large too. I plan to wear it on any finger on my right hand :) The girl n the next shop we stopped in was so nice! She and her father owned it and it's called "Veronica". I love Murano Glass, it's my favorite now. Anyways, we picked out some gifts for the women in our families. We'll hand them out at Christmas. The girl who owned the shop was actually 33 years old and so cute! She ad a nose ring and was just a tiny little thing. She makes me want to go ahead and get a nose ring. I've thought about it before but I'm too chicken. After picking up those things, we went back to the shop where we bought the journal. We got dad a gift for Christmas there. Now we just need something for Jodie, Jamie and L.J.

We've been riding our water taxi around just taking it all in. Venice is a beautiful city and I would definitely come back - If only to buy more jewelery!!! We've been enjoying our last town in Italy a lot although Jere's been suffering from a bug bite that swelled up his pinkie finger. It's been very painful for him but hopefully we can find some Ibuprofen.

8:55pm

We're waiting for our train to Budapest, Hungary. It leaves at 9:40pm. I am pretty nervous as to whether the "reclining seats" we have will indeed be RECLINING. It could make for an interesting night. As we were leaving Venice we stopped off to pick up some post cards and also walked over to a little shop selling more glass ware. I found the bubble glass rings that I really like for 4 EUROS each! The ones I had seen at the Rialto bridge were each 10-20EUROS! I bought three. Jere found a little glass squid he liked and it's his only glass from Murano.

This is our tentative schedule. As you can see it's very official as it is written on a postcard sack.

I took this photo of a girl's shoes on the water taxi. Her and her boyfriend were from Latvia and every time I would look at the pictures I had taken to, this would come up and I was a little nervous that he would see it and freak out. They were sitting right next to us. At the time I thought they were so cute...and while I still think that, I am realizing I was probably deprived since I only had my flip flops and sneakers.

6/17/08 Tuesday ~ Travel Journal

I am apologizing ahead of time for how RANDOM this journal entry was! Sorry!


Entry

Florence, Italy


12:05pm
We arrived in Florence around 4:30pm yesterday. We navigated the bus system and made it to our camping. It's right on the side of a hill and has beautiful views. Everyone at check in was really nice and the camping is really great. Once we got to the tent area we were standing around trying to figure out where to pitch our tent and this girl from up the hill yells out something like "Trying to pitch your tent?" Her name is Maggie and his name is Caleb.


We tried to set our tent up next to theirs but the spot wasn't big enough. We moved on down the hill. (this was the view from our spot!)

After setting up out tent we took our food and sat with them in their campsite. They are such a fun couple! Maggie is so cute. Caleb was quiet at first but warmed up after an hour or so. They're from Melbourne, Australia. They want to get married but have heard a lot of negative things from people. She was asking me all about our wedding and what my dress looked like and Caleb just sat there and laughed and smiled at her. You can tell he adores her. She is so outgoing and bubbly and he's more reserved and quiet. They were both great to talk to and we hung out with them from 6pm-12am. We walked up to the piazza above the campground and watched the sunset over the city.


I just love their accents. What he is saying in this clip is that he read that 65% of Americans believe that Willie the groundskeeper from "The Simpsons". Just thinking about that is hilarious to me. Pardon my loud laughing. Isn't Maggie so cute??

Click Here if you can't see this video!

Maggie bartered with a purse seller - he was selling a bag she liked for 15EU and she ended up getting it for 3EU! They don't have a lot of money but they have fun and just live life! They were heading out this morning and we chatted for a couple hours before they left. The black hole effect seemed to take over though and we couldn't stop talking! Finally we all hugged for the third time and we sent them on their way. They are headed to Sienna, Italy. They're from Australia but are working odd jobs in the UK. They're only 21 and 23 and they decided to quit their jobs and travel for a bit so they're staying in Italy for a month. We told them about flickr because the laptop they have is about to die and all the pictures they took are on it.


Maggie wants to get married on 10/10/10 - It would be an awesome thing to go to their wedding! We LOVED hanging with them and felt an instant connection.


Oh yeah...She has eczema! Hers is all over her hands right now. It's gotten worse from working in bars and restaurants and it was all over her palms. I've never met anyone with it like I used to have.


We're sitting in the post office waiting for our turn to send a package home. our packs already feel lighter! We only have 12 days left. I am excited to see Jodie and everyone when we get home. Today is Jodie's birthday - he's 21 years old.


Florence seems like a really nice town We love how the streets are lined with the big stones instead of the smaller cobblestones as in Rome. The smaller ones are harder to walk on. The view from the piazza Michelangelo above our camp is awesome and the people have been really nice so far!


4:50pm
Today we've just been walking around Florence. We're a little burned on seeing the sites. There is a lot to see here and we're going to see a movie instead. Actually we saw this movie two weeks before we left on this trip. We're going to see Iron Man at 5:30pm. After the post office earlier, we went to a little sandwich shop that Caleb and Maggie suggested. It was VERY good.

I got a goat cheese and dried tomato and Jere got a prosciutto and garlic cheese sauce. We both got a second sandwich because we didn't have breakfast. They were all great. Walking through town there are landmarks at every corner, it seems. Duomo, Santo Spirito, Santa Croce, Medici Chapel and on and on. We were told by a guy on the start of our trip that Florence is a nasty dirty city and it hasn't been like that at all!

We went to see the David statue and saw the replica in a square on our way there but there was a long line at the actual David statue and Jere had a headache.

He's been suffering with sinus, sniffle headache stuff on this whole trip...He saw that there was a cinema in town so we're sitting here waiting for it to open. On the way here, we stopped for some gelato and it was SO good! I got lemon with mixed berry and Jere got creme caramel. Oh yeah - we made reservations for the train to Venice tomorrow. Somehow it was more expensive than the night train we also made reservations for! 30EU (to Venice) and 10EU (for the night train to Budapest)

Later on...
We were sitting outside the theatre when a man with white hair and light blue eyes came over and asked a couple of women next to us if they would be in Italy when voting came around in the USA. they were going to be back in the US by November and he asked us too. He asked where we were from and when Jere said "Kansas" the man said "KANSAS?!" He is from Topeka! he went to Topeka high (53'), Washburn for undergrad and KU for law school. His name is Al Hicks and he is retired here in Florence. Now that is just crazy! It's nice to chat with someone who knows our home :) He knows a guy named Larry Waters from Topeka but apparently it's not my cousin-in-law's relative (her last name was Waters).


This is a video of the theater...It was a real gem. My cinematography is also a gem.
Click Here to see this video if it doesn't work...I really need to figure this out!


8:30pm
We are out of the movie and sitting down to dinner at Restaurant Michelangelo. We just climbed back up a hill side of stairs that we took earlier to go into town. it actually wasn't as bad as it would have been at the beginning of our trip. I was winded at the end but my legs don't hurt. While in the movie there was an intermission and we chatted with a mother and her two kids who are living in Florence for two months. Her husband is a computer programmer and works in Delphi (not sure what that is...computer language of some sort) He owns his own business. We would love to do that!