Kelley's Travels

2008-11-20T04:39:00.000-08:00

I am still in Australia, and still staying with my friend. I was originally intending to only stay a few days with Matthew before heading North or South to continue exploring Eastern Australia, however i haven't made it too far. I am having a blast with Matt, and with my dwindling money supply and being spoiled with crazy luxuries like cars, my own bathroom, bed, and laundry facilities, i just cannot be convinced to leave!!
In reality it is just having a great friend who is willing to let me crash at his house for 3 weeks and laugh and play with me which is keeping me here! We have been quite busy the last 1.5 weeks. As i mentioned Matthew is a dance instructor and is currently trying to open his own studio, so was not working when i first got here but was waiting for approval by council to allow him to start building. On my 4th day here he got the approval that he has been waiting for 3 months to get and now he is a ball of energy and work. I am really excited for him, but i was really enjoying my own personal tour guide who had nothing to do but entertain me!!
He is still doing quite well balancing finding things for me to do and taking me around with work, so i am really in no place to complain.
We have been on some fun adventures, heading out to the Hunter Valley, which is wine country about 2 hours outside of Sydney. We went wine tasting on Sunday this weekend, taking the whole day to drive out and enjoy the beautiful country side, and then explore some of the wineries they have here. The first few i was sorely disappointed, but then we struck pay dirt with a few. We were trying to discover what Matthew liked in wine, and he would always laugh at me because i would always try the same things and then go for the most expensive red they were sampling on the list. Of course i kept falling for the $50 - $70 bottles and Matthew would just shake his head. His favorite was a $13.50 bottle of white! I was making him crazy as well trying to explain all of my "expansive" wine knowledge.... i may be exaggerating slightly on how much i really know.... but I guess i miss pretending to be a wine expert to all the tourists who fell upon Summerhill.

Matthew also took me salsa dancing over the weekend with 2 of his dance instructor friends. Now if you would like to talk about being intimidated... please, go to a Salsa bar, where everyone is either professional salsa dancer, or old creepy men with shirts unbuttoned to their belly-buttons. (and they say some women show to much cleavage, i never want to see hairy old man cleavage again!) I had receive 2 lessons at this point of my professional salsa dancing career. The first included about 10 minutes learning the basic step, and being yelled at because i always try to dance on the balls of my feet. I am convinced i look better being bouncy, maybe if i just bounce up and down of my feet people will think i am a pro..... Matthew disagrees.. So i have less than 40 minutes of salsa under my belt and after watching people eat up the dance floor, was quite content to suck on one beer all night and crawl under the table and cry. Unfortunately that was not permitted. I danced one salsa dance, then crawled under the table and cried! After the dance instructors all got up and started dancing. I realized that they all waited for me to go first because after i saw what they could do, i did not feel like dancing any more. My jumbled shuffling feet remained glued to the floor.
We eventually moved to another bar when no one could take the Latino version of N'Sync and other 90's music any longer, where i danced the night away. And by dancing i simply mean jumped up and down and shook my hips now and then. Matthew and his dancer friends dance differently... but i could at least blend in with the rest of the crowd who don't know the difference between their left foot and their right.
I haven't seem much of the local wildlife save a bunch of spiders and lots of different types of birds. The strangest thing is watching parrots, and parakeets, and cockatoos fly around wild. I keep waiting for one of the parrots to say hello to me, but they never do! Maybe they don't understand my North American accent.

I am also working for my keep here. I have been helping Matt paint and clean his new studio, which is where i have come across the majority of the spiders. Mostly just daddy long legs, but a few others i have either attacked with long handle brooms or long hosed vacuums. Anything within to close of a proximity and my squealing alights Matthew or his friend Mark to spider killing attention. The best part of one of my days beyond the spider patrol by the boys, was when in their attempt to paint the wall of the stairs, and without a proper ladder to stand on the stairs the boys devised a multitude of ways to stupidly stack or lean the ladders against things. In my last attempt to help, Mark was holding one ladder, and i had to hold the paint bucket as Matthew scoured the other and didn't have a free hand to hold the can. When the ladders collapsed because of the stupidity of the boys, fortunately it fell against the stairs landing, but not before smashing my paint can held arm and pouring 90% of the paint down my hair, face and shirt. Thank God it was a water based paint otherwise i would have been scalping the two boys for my new hair! Needless to say i was done helping for the day and started cleaning up instead after giving myself a full bath in the smallest sink imaginable. The boys were too afraid to come near me after that!

One of the best things we have done so far was last night Matthew and I got dressed up in full fancy-shmancy gear and went to the Sydney Opera House and went to see a symphony. There was the full orchestra, a choir, and 3 opera singers. 2 of the opera singers i could have done without, only one of them i really enjoyed, but the orchestra and the choir were both amazing! I am such an old fart but that stuff absolutely amazes me. Almost as great as the symphony was during the intermission, we were in some really great seats (thank you Matthew!!) which opened up onto a bar that overlooked the whole harbor, bridge and Luna park ( a famous amusement park) which were all lit up. It was an absolutely gorgeous view of the inky black water with a few boat lights on it, and a close up view of Northern Sydney.

In total i think you can tell i am having a great time here. I really enjoy Sydney and could only ask for a bit of sun because i am drastically loosing any tan that i had gained! I know all Australians would curse me (as they have had a 6 year drought) but i don't want any more rain! Give me Sun! (Don't worry Father i have been wearing 30 sunscreen everyday!)

The Land of OZ

2008-11-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

I am in Australia, and having a really great time. I have only been here for 2 days so far, but am staying with my friend Matthew, who i went to high school with. He picked me up bright and early on Saturday morning and showed me a bit of the city. The first day was actually spent mostly doing my laundy as i regret to say it had been about a month (EW!!) since most things had seen a washing machine. Now not to harp to harshly on my cleanliness, I have become a great bathroom washer of clothing in sinks with hotel bars of soap that I scam. But whites always seem to become a bit grey, and they just don't get rid of that musty back-packers smell. With the humidity in Thialand also things never seemed to fully dry, unless i racked the airconditioning up to sub-zero temperatures. So Matthew was a little overwhelmed at my 3 months on the road, worn-out and slightly smelly clothes, and insisted that i shower, and at my refusal to burn my clothes, we washed them in hot hot water, and they even went in a dryer!!! Let me tell you how much i love dryers. They are the best thing in the whole entire world, and my next big love is dryer sheets. Yes i know that they are bad for the enviornment or something, and are loaded with chemicals, but they are chemicals that make my clothes feel and smell WONDERFUL!
But washing my clothes is not all i have done in Australia. Matthew lives outside of Sydney, or in Sydeny... i am not sure which it is. I think Sydney is another Vancouver or Phoenix where the city had grown into other cities so you don't know where th boundries lie. But iether way i am in or around the capital city. We have checked out Manley Beach and Bondi beach, I met Matthews best friend, another dancer and went to a club that has 5 rooms which all play different music, but the inside looks like Ranchmans ( a cowboy bar in Calgary). Matthew has started to try and teach me to dance, as he is a dance instructor and is curretnly opening his own studio. I am not very good, and tend to get dizzy! I have learned that one day when i grow up and can drive a car without hitting other cars that i want to get a motorcycle. Matthew has one and after gearing me up in leathers and helmets i have decided i look good as a biker babe and should invest in one of these two wheeled machines. But as i said since i tend to run into things, i still would like a big steel metal cage around me!
Tomorrow we are going to head into the city and check out the opera house and the botanical gardens and whatever else there is to see. I have ridden over the Sydney Harbor bridge via motorcycle and seen the opera house from afar, but want to get closer!
I am hoping to check out a bit more of the country and see what wild animals i can run into so we're looking into going camping one weekend!
That is really all for now. The last computer wouldn't let me upload the pictures that i had promised so i will try to get onto that soon!
Love from down under!

Loas and Southern Thailand

2008-11-09T19:01:00.000-08:00

The river kyaking day ended up to be kyaking in rapids. Tonnes of fun however quite the adventure was getting there and back in itself. The kyaking trip in Loas, was stated to be a hour public bus ride out of the city of Vientiane. Now typically when one thinks of bus, they think, well a bus. Even in Africa my bus expereinces, while always interesting (and fillled with the blasted red dirt) were always in some form of bus transportation. This was my first non-bus bus. Instead the public transporation comes in the form of a pick up truck, with two bench seats along the back, and a open canopy to store all the luggage on the top. No goats on the top of this bus, but a cooler full of chicks twittering away was stored up on the canopy. And of course after 5 - 6 people are crammed on each bench seat the drives stop and pick up people to stand on the back of the truck and hold on to handles off the canopy.
So this was a bit of a surprise, and the next surprise came when after 1 hour, and multiple stops at each town the we drove through to ensure that there were no other people in the village who could be crammed into the "bus", we were nowhere near the city we were headed to. After 2 hours dad and I became certain the we were off to the wrong city, and as the bus driver, or anyone on the bus did not speak english, scared and frustrated glances were passed back and forth between dad and i in each passing town. Finally after 2.5 hours, we were dropped off at the side of the road and pointed to a bridge.
We found the kyak place, and although our guide was mostly there to ensure we made it through the class 3 rapids, (only instruction was if you fall out, don't swim, you'll get stuck in the whirlpools... just wait until your out of the rapids and get back in the boat.) The journey was uquite nice and serene. Dad and I enjoyed the scenery, and made it through the rapids without falling out of the boat, or losing control!! (same cannot be said for our guide, HA!) It was a really fun time on the water.
The next adventure came on our return to the city. After some lunch we were informed that we would be taken via tractor (..... really tractor??) back to the city, and then driven again by bus that isnt a bus, back to Vientiane. However instead of said tractor, our guide walked us out into the center of a small local village, and left us at a shop. He said the bus would come, to just wait, as he left for home on his scooter. Dad and i were glared down by the local men who were crowded around a table infront of the shop. It was at this point that Dad adopted my word of "sketchy"!! We were in the middle of no where and were feeling quite vunerable. I was about 2 more minutes away from hoofing it back through the jungle to get back to the eco-house where we had lunch, and insisting on a real bus with air conditioning, when the non-bus bus came. It was another 2.5 hours home, but it was an adventure!

The next morning we were off to Phuket to enjoy some beach time and a bit of relaxation. As both Jamie and Cindy were sounding a little stressed at home, we decided it would be a great idea to get everyone to Phuket for a last minute family vacation. Dad and i were informed of a fantastic website called wotif, (www.wotif.com) which gives great deals on hotels all over the world. We got a 4 star hotel for about $50/night!! The place was lovely with golden sand in a small bay. Lapiz blue waters, and beautiful tropical gardens surrounded the area. We each had small little bungalows which faced out towards the ocean. My favourite part though, beyond the crashing of the waves rolling up on shore, was the pool. Now usually when there is an beach and the ocean to be had, i could care less about pools. But unfortuantly the golden sand beach quickly gave way to a old rocky coral bed. The pool more than made up for the not so fun ocean swimming. It was huge and rolled around the hotel gardens with lots of waterfalls, and flowers dipping into the water. It felt as though you had wandered into a small oasis. In a shallow section of the kiddie pool there were big elpehant statues in the water which when turned on spurted water out of the elephant trunks to make a shallow water park. A swim up bar enticed you to drink pina coladas out of coconuts, or my favourite the banana daquiris! It was a great place for some R&R. I was really excited to have Jamie and Cindy come down as well. We stayed off Patong Beach for a few days, mostly just relaxing and doing some shopping at the markets in town. Dad and Cindy always could manage to find a Irish pub somewhere in the towns that we went to do grab a Guiness, and Jamie fell in love with the local beer Singha.
After Patong we headed north to Kohlak. Kohlak was the big hub-bub where many of the really swank hotels and resorts were before the tsunami, however as it was farther north without any protection from other land, it was hit quite hard, and the everthing the layed on the beach was completely destroyed. The town is doing quite well in its rebuilding process, but it is smaller now, and i actually hope it stays the same, and it is quite and beautiful in comparison to Patong.
We stayed again at a wonderful hotel thanks to that website for a great deal. This hotel was even better in the sense that although didn't have all the amenitites the other hotel had, (they are still rebuilding) the rooms were glorious, everything was brand new, and the beach rocked my world. Golden sand beach that stretches out a couple miles on each side, rolling blue ocean, and we could wander past the surf stil not past our chests into the water and not a rock to be found! It was great. I love the ocean, but dad kept having to go back and jump in the pool to cool off as the ocean was not cold enough! The ocean was probably a good 80 degrees F or 25 degrees C!! It was fantastic!
We managed to also do another elephant ride, bamboo raft trip, with cindy and Jamie as well as visiting a turtle conservation farm, seeing wild snakes sleeping in trees, more shopping and massages and pedicures, fishing and snorkeling, visited the police boat tsunami memorial, and watched 3 fanstastic sunsets!
After a what seemed like a very brief stay in Southern Thailand, we headed back to Bangkok to each go our seperate ways.
I had such a fantastic time traveling with my dad, and was very happy that Cindy and Jamie came to join us for the last bit. This trip has been a great experience and i am so glad that i have had the chance to see my family and expereince so many things with them!

Northern Thialand

2008-10-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

After our exciting elephant treking and bamboo rafting we had a day off in Chaing Mia. Dad found a tuk tuk driver to take us around town. We started going to 2 more wats, and then went and saw all the different factory's along the Golden Mile. This is a big stretch of road that has all the traditional skills showcased for tourists to come and visit, to see how each traditional item is made, and then purchase it! We went and saw the Thia silk factory, umbrella making and painting, teak wood carving, and jewlery factories. Halfway through the day, I was getting food grumpy ( a phenomenon when i don't eat i range from being pleasantly straving, to weepingly desperate to enraged cow) I politely demanded we find food.... NOW. So the tuk tuk driver took us to the closest hole in the wall, which served heaping plates of food for a dollar per plate. It was the best Thia food i have had yet!!! Dad got Pad Thia, which is his favorite local dish, i discovered Ginger fried anything is amazing! You could serve me ginger fried big toe and i would eat it! It was the most fantastic meal i have ever had and it cost us $5 us dollars for 2 plates of food, 2 drinks, a big bottle of water and icecream!!
After our factory day ( i must say we did pretty good... i desperately wanted a teak dining room table for chirstmas but dad said no..... the chairs were each about 30-40 lbs... solid wood) we went back to Wat Chedi Luang, where they offered Monk Chat. This is where novice Monks come and talk with the public about anythign they want to talk about. Buddhism, Thai culture, Monk life, temples, etc. This not only educates the public, but also allows the novices to practice their english!
Dad and i sat down and talked to a Novice who was 22 years old, and had been practicing for 10 years. We talked about a lot of different things, and i really wish Dad and I had a recording of it, because mostly i got a gerneral overview of the topics. But it was really interesting to talk to him and learn about the Monk life and a bit about the Buddhist beliefs. He was as equally interested in our lives, cultures, and was bit confused as to how i was living in a different country than my father. We kept it simple just saying i had been going to school up there, but is shows you how different our cultures can be. Some of these countries are smaller than some US states, or Canadian provinces, and few ever leave their country, either from a lack of means, or just as it is not the culture to do so.

THe next day we had planned a tour to take us up to Chaing Ria, and the Golden Triangle. For those who were oblivious like me to what the Golden Triangle is, it is the border of Thialand, Burma and Loas. This is where a lot of the Opium from the 1970's importing during the Vietnam war and so on came from. Think American Gangster with Denzel Washington....
Anyways, not that i really wanted to mess with anything poppy related. Most of the Southeast Asian countries have big signs to let you know that drug trafficing is punishable by death, and the death penalty WILL be used!... Okay no poppies and dumping out my tylenol bottle. However i thought it would be interesting to see/learn about that history. What dad and i were painfully unaware of is that we had somehow ended up on a market tour, where they trick you into thinking that you are going to see a whole bunch of really cool sights and do some adventure things, hotsprings and long boat trips in to Burma and Laos, local Thai food lunch, drive to the most northern part of thialand and then go through the jungle to the long neck people's village..... ummm no. Instead the hotsprings, were hotsprings fountains which was the size of a pond you might put in your backyard, with a big Market, next was the long boat into the different countries, well you go 3 minutes up river and look at a casino on the river bank, OH your in Burma! THen backtrack 6 minutes down the river, and go to a.... Market, and Oh your in Loas. Then they take you to the most northern part of Thailand, where there is a big touristy gate saying "Most Northern Part of Thialand" and surrounding it is.... yes you guessed it a market. Oh i forgot to mention the lovely thia style lunch, well the resturant is called "A Buffet for Tourist Groups" No explanation necessary.. except the food sucked!
THe only really interesting thing was the local village, which unfortunately was not a local village, but a tourist stand set up for the villagers to sell their goods, and also to be "viewed" almost like animals at the zoo. I was completely uninmpressed by our tourguide as he would just walk up to each person talk about them, finger them or move them around never seeming to actually acknowledge them. They were lovely people though and although i wasn't able to talk to them due to language barrier, i made a friend with lady from the "big ear tribe" ( i dont know the real name of each tribe or village due to lame tour guide) but this is where they stick big rings in their ears and stretch their earlobes, similar to what some people do today. This lady's ear was streched with a ring big enough you could maybe fit a banana through!
All in all it wasn't quite what we had anticipated but we got to see different things such a beautiful jungles, traditional Loation "medicine" such as tiger penis, gecko, cobra, and scorpion whiskey! Um ew, i'll just be sick thank you very much.
The next day was really exciting where Dad and I went ripsailing through the jungle tree tops. This is where you are up in the canopies of the trees hooked onto cable lines in a harnass and "sail" from tree top to tree top. There were 17 cables lines, 2 sky bridges, nd 3 abisailing, where you go vertically down the tree via a rope. The longest cable was 120 meters, and the highest abisail was probably about 75 m up! It was such a fun day and dadand i had a blast! We were a bit nervous at first, and you just hold on to your harness as if somehow you are controlling wether that keeps you from falling, but by the end we were throughing ourselves off the platforms and "flying" (flapping our arms and kicking our feet) through the air. Dad and i raced down the last abisail together.
Our last Day in Chaing Mia was spent in a Thai cooking class where we learned to cook Pad Thia, curry dishes, different soups and appetiezers. They took us to the market in the morning so we could learn aout the different herbs, vegetables, fruits and spices to use. Half way through the class we had a break and dad decided to go for a 15 minute, 3 dollar hair cut. I giggled on the couch the whole time while this lady shaved dads head. He now looks like a military man!
We are now i Vientiane, Laos.. it is a little quiter than we first anticipated, but tomorrow we are going either kyaking or white river rafting, we're not sure which, they say kyak, but then show you a picture of white river rafting. Either way should be another great adventure.
Finally found a computer with a USB so look back for some pictures of previous trips!

Bangkok and Chaing Mai

2008-10-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

I met my Dad in Bangkok after leaving Egypt. He had been here a day already and had some things arranged for us, including a swanky hotel. SCORE!!
The day before while doing his own exploring he met Toy, a tuk-tuk driver (3 wheeled scooter with a covered canopy and bench seat in the back) Toy took us to some of the Temples or Wats. We first saw the Golden Buddha which is 5.5 tonnes of solid gold! The temples are all beautifully decorated with golded spires that ride op the roof lines like waves, and the front facades are decorated with intricately carved wood, gold paint, bright reds and deep sapphire blues, and have inlaid pieces of glass or tile to reflect the sun and make the whole place sparkle. Inside the Wats are the golden Buddhas which sit serenly in the back, often eyes downcast as if to look at all the offerings of lotus flowers, incense, glasses of brandy, and candles burning at its feet. Other smaller golden buddhas often surround the larger one. All of the temples have golden buddhas, some have many many many almost littering the temple grounds. They are not all solid gold, but a bronze or some alloy statue which worshipers (correct word??) will come and they can purchase a piece of gold lief to stick onto the statue. When they are all covered with enough gold they will be laqured and finished. The money will be used towards the temples or the monks.
After the Golden buddha we saw the Happy Buddha in China town. The happy buddha is happy i think because he is fat! Happy buddha is the typical round belly buddha that most think of. He is a Chinese version and there is a local Thia joke saying he is fat because the Chinese eat so much while the Thia are poor and devout! I like the fat Buddha, i like eating... ALOT!

After the temples we went to a canal river boat trip where we rode down the river that runs throuough the city. We saw a snake show where they whipped Cobras around as if they were play toys, and i came to find a whole new respect for the King Cobra which is the size of a python, but a freaking Cobra!!! Um please do not ever let me see one of those outside of a cage!

We saw the reclining Buddha (which we discovered later represents Buddha when he dies) and a million other buddhas (or so it seemed)
The second Bangkok day rocked! We went to Tiger Temple which is a Buddhist sancuary for animals. It has all sorts of boars, cattle, horses, and deer that have made their way into this sanctuary one way or another. In 1999 the first tiger cub was brought here and there are at least 12 there now.
My dad and I got to go up to full grown tigers and sit with them and have our pictures taken, and then go and play with 7 month old tiget cubs. It was not as exciting as walking with the Lions in Africa, but it defintely gave me respect about how much bigger tigers are than lions! The 7 month old tiger cubs were the same size if not bigger than the 14 month male lion cubs!
We also visited the Death Bridge cemetery which WWII buffs (you know who you are!) should know that was a bridge that linked Thailand to ship arms when the Japanese army was occupying Thialand. They used prisoners of war to build the bridge and treated them no better than the Nazi's to the Jews. POW's were worked to death and brutally treated.

That same day after a 12 hour excursion we flew up North to escape Bangkok and are now in Chaing Mai. Just like everyone i talked to about Thailand, if coming here, GET OUT OF BANGKOK. It is gross and dirty and busy... the North already after 2 days rocks!
Yesterday we went on a Trek. The day started with an Elephant trek where we rode elephants quite literally through the jungle. Everything was lush and green and full of spiderwebs that i somehow found myself covered in! EW! Fortunatley they were all abandoned.
After elephants we visited a local village where we saw a young girl weaving scarves. This paticular village is a real village. (not the tourist trap villages you got to where everyone pretends to be remote and then go into their "hut" and watch cable tv and make dinner with running water and gas stoves) Although they had electricity, 80% of the pop never goes to school, they speak their own dialect, are married at 13-14 and if their spouse dies never can remarry. It was really interesting to see.
After we hiked through rice paddys and more jungle (where i saw a spider the size of a softball--> OMG) to a beautiful waterfall.
The coolest thing for me was we finished with a bamboo raft ride down the river. I was expecting sitting on a boat and chilling out, nope, bamboo rafts are about 3 feet across and 30 feet long, held together by pieces of bicycle tires. They are manned by a driver at the front with a big piece of bamboo who pushed you off things on each side of the river, or pushed the pole down to the bottom. Because you are floating on a few pieces of bamboo when ever you go over the rapids the water splashes up all over you, but it doesn't matter because you are already soaking wet as the water comes up between the bamboo pieces. I wasn't aware that i was going to get wet, so tired in vain at first to perch myself up as best as possible. All the local guides laughed at my attempts to stay dry and within 30 seconds of the experience i realized why. There was nothing i could do but get wet and have fun. So i did.
I wasn't too concerned because i thought everyone else would be wet too..... wrong. They told my dad to pole at the back of the raft, so he stood up the whole time, dry and clean. No river mud all over him. The other people in our group were lame and didn't want to get wet so tried to stand or crouch the whole 25 minutes. They were wet, but not soaked from the waist down like me! LLAAME!!
All in all it was a great trip. We have had some wonderful Thia food, and are hoping to learn to cook some food in the next few days!
Having lots of fun exploring Thailand!
Will keep in touch!
LOVE!!!

SHEESHA

2008-10-23T04:52:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who are virgins to the world of sheesha, my parents and i have become addicted. There were two sections to our trip, one was Cairo and our great tour guide Eman. The next was everything after Cairo and our tour guide named Adel (not A-del, like a girls name but Add- del) Adel was.... well interesting. But he is for later. To connect these two parts of our trip was Sheesha! A flavored tobacco, with no nicotine, that is placed inside of a sheesha pipe, that looks like a giant bong, and you smoke it through a pipe. It was hilarious, and so much fun.

Our first night in Cairo I was introduced to Sheesha, my clean lungs had a fit and i coughed and sputtered much to the amusement and delight of the staff (and my parents). We even found beer at our favorite spot Christos's (Beer in a Muslim country is hard to come by!) By the end of the trip Brian was smoking Sheesha and blowing it out his nose, his lips never leaving the pipe. Apparently this is how the "pros" smoke said one man (however many locals laughed at this technique!) And I could inhale and everything without coughing!

After we left Eman, whom we came to appreciate even more after Adel, we headed out to Luxor, to get on our Nile cruising boat. These boats look like they should have a big waterwheel on the back of them. They are a big long rectangle. We were a little disappointed to learn that as we arrived so early (730 am) we would not be able to check into our rooms until 930-10:00. We were kindly requested to sit in the lounge for the next 2-3 hours. I was an unhappy camper as to arrive in Luxor at 730am we had to leave our hotel at 330am!! Instead of sitting in the lounge we found the pool upstairs and crashed on lounge chairs, bags beside us like homeless people!

Cruising the Nile is a lot of fun. You wake up every morning and instead of a beautiful new view outside your window, you look into some one else's. It is actually quite humorous as when you dock, the boats dock 5 across, so whoever's boat is on the outside, you have to walk through the lobbies of 4 other boats to reach land! It was really amusing. We always got to dock right at the port so i never got to go wandering through others boats....
The Nile is amazing. It is incredible how wide it is! I am used to rivers like the Elbow, widest part is really not that big (from what i really see or pay attention to) The Nile is Huge!! No crocodiles much to my disappointment, due to a dam. What really amazed me is how lush and green everything is beside the Nile. The Sahara desert rises up behind about 5km after the riverbed, but surrounding the Nile is a beautiful oasis that stretches down the rivers side.

We spent more time visiting temples, and tombs, museums, and sheesha cafes. It was such a wonderful time. It was awe inspiring to see technology and knowledge that was so advanced in a civilization that is over 5000 years old. They had hinges at least 3500 years old that quite literally looked as though it had been purchased at home depot! Where did this knowledge go! We went to perfume, papyrus paper, oriental carpets, and cotton factories. Yes Egyptian Cotton. You can buy 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets for the mere price of 400USD!!! Right. Unfortunately could not convince the parents to shell out! What the heck do you need 1000 threads per square inch below you anyways?? I am quite content with my 150, everyday layman's cotton thank you very much!

Now i must share with you our guide Adel. Although the man had a good heart, really tried to make sure everything on the tour was taken care of, he was the worst guide ever! Firstly he informed us that we was going to name our group Isis, for the god of love, beauty and music. Okay i thought, kind of lame that he is naming us, but i thought it was just a cute-sy tourism thing. No... wrong. Let me introduce you to the "clapper". The most annoying toy invented. Parents of young children i will take you on about this. Envision what looks like a cheap Chinese toy hand on a stick. There are two plastic sides of the hand, and when you shake it, it claps. Doesn't sound so bad? Imagine attached to this toy is the arm of a man who has a incessant clapping tick. The moment he steps off the tour bus, he feels the overriding urge to "clap". So he claps and claps and claps, waving the damn toy around as if without it, we would scatter and loose ourselves in the abyss of ...... the temple?? In addition to the OCD clapping, he also calls out ISIS..... Isis, come here please. Isis... Iiiisiiissss! Closer, closer please. Come closer. When we are all surrounding him, and he is explaining, he unconsciously taps the clapper against his leg causing it to... CLAP!
Within 15 minutes of our first tour with him i had my own overriding urges. One: to inform him that i was a person, not a lost puppy. Two: DESTROY THE CLAPPER! Come to find out everyone on the tour was also plotting their own demise of the clapper. We briefly discussed a coup, but realized he had all the tickets to the temples, and we would not be able to enter with out him.
Adel was a very nice man, but just wasn't meant to be a tour guide. However we took what we got from him, supplemented ourselves with a lot of books, and had vicious discussions between Brian and I about which god was on the wall, or which flower was being represented on one of the pillars. Fortunately we had Sheesha to bring us back together each evening.

Egypt

2008-10-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

I am limited on time, so this may have to be a quick blog... will update again.. soon?

There isn't much else to say about the Greek Islands. I had a great time with my friend Nancy, and really hope to visit her next summer at her home in Chicago. I am having a more diffucult time trying to persuade her to come to Canada and visit me in Kelowna, or Calgary or where ever the heck i will be living in 9 months. The only other adventure was the almost pickpocketing! We were on the train back to Athens when some jerk-a-ma-holic next to me decided it would be a good idea to try and open my purse and have a free for all with my belongings. Fortunately i noticed the 5 finger discount happening and yelled at him on the train. After perfuse denial, he and his friend made a quick exit at the next stop. I am lucky that i caught him, and he didn't make off with anything! That had me quite riled up, i was ready to tear some heads off once i got over the initial shock, but i have had a good 10 days to get over it!!

The next stop was Egypt where i flew into Cairo and met my Mom and Brain at a beautiful hotel just across the street from the pyramids!! How can you be disappointed in that. They were sitting by the pool waiting for me to meet them. The hotel is called the Mena House Oberi, and has been there since the 1800's!!! They have done alot of updating, but you definatly get the old time feeling and it is very Egyptian. It was so beautiful and i really didn't mind the pampering they provided me with. You couldn't stand in the reception lounge for more than 45 seconds before about 2 or 3 people are rushing you to see what they can do for you. The economy relies very very heavily on the tourism industry, so they actually have their own police force for tourism and antiquities!!! The roads in Cairo are somethign to be seen. It is the definition of organized chaos, only the only form of organization is only apparent to the locals. People swerve around one another, a series of quick honks or beeps, and the flashing of headlights the only signal that you are planning to swerve into oncoming traffic, or between two cars on a one lane road!! It is facinating to watch, with a slight cry from your own mortality as you sqeeze between a bus, a dump truck and then blast through a group of people trying to cross the road, entering the chaotic highway with a hand stuck out to signal their crossing and hoping that someone will not hit them.
On my way to the hotel to meet my family i kept watching these people standing in the middle of the highway, one arm stuck out, and hoping that i didn't have to postpone my trip to help some poor soul who had been flattened on the highway. I just kept saying ABC's, airway, breathing, circulation....
We have seen and done so much here in Egypt. We had the most fantastic guide in Cairo, a lady who is raising 3 children, has her degree in archeology, and was currently trying to be a mom, tourguide, wife, and write her masters thesis on Egypology. She used to work down at one of the pyramids translating hyroglyphics!!! She was a master!
We visited the steps pyramid, the 3 great pyramids, the museum, the citadel, the Mohummad Ali Mosque (not to be confused with the boxer!), the Cairo Musuem, and saw so many absolutely amazing things!! Eman (pronounced Ee- maun) was so thorough in her descriptions and pointed out so many incredible things on the carvings in some of the tombs we saw. We were amazed to see 5000 year old hedgehogs carved into the walls! The artists even had humor and she would show us some of the ironies or humor that was carved onto the wall. We learned alot about the history and the culture of the ancient egyptians.
We even got to go into the Cheyops pyramid, or the pyramid designed byt Kufu! It was completely amazing. You have to climb up this tunnel which is only abotut 4 ft tall, and you are going up this long, dark tunnel that has no air, and no end in sight. Finally you reach a small room, only to have to go up another slanting, short tunnel. There is only one way in and out of the pyramid so you are trying to sqeeze yourself up against the wall when you are already scruched down, so it is not the place for anyone with claustrophobia! Finally you reach this room that is pitch dark besides the one light that they have placed in the room. It is made of black granite, and the only thing that was found after the tomb robbers was a granite sarcophagus, which the pyramid would have had to be built around. You can hear yourself breath the musty air in the place as it is all surrounded by granite. It literally smells like "old". It was amazing. Brian and I were bad children and as we were in the tomb by ourselves for about 5 minutes jumped in and layed in the sarcophagus! Eerie!

We have done and seen so much. Been in places that are over 5000 years old, seen paint and art in forgotten tombs that has survived for 3000 years, still beautiful in its colors and astounding in the definition and beauty that has been given to the carvings! I have loved this time here and will write much much more about my adventures, but have to go. Leave tomorrow to meet my dad in Thialand! Very exciting!
Only 6 more weeks. Am already sad to leave!
Love you

Greece

2008-10-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Started in my Greece adventure in Athens. The first day was dedicated to having clean clothes, things could have grown legs and walked away i think. I did my second official "real" wash,in a washer and dryer.... in 2 months! Please do not assume that my clothes have only been washed twice, i have done lots of sink and shower washing, but it just isn't the same. The washer and dryer is the best invention ever. I don't care what you think, it was!! Forget TV and internet, WASHER AND DRYER!! I don't think i have ever been so happy as when i was folding my clean clothes. Not even when i saw the Mona Lisa!
The next day was possibly less exciting then clean clothes, but definitely more educational!(just joking) I joined onto a tour that walked me through Athens. We saw so much that it is really impossible to tell you everything, but as a list we saw: Changing of the gaurd (halarious!!), parliment building, the ampitheater which was build for the first official olympics in 188osomething, the rich guy who build a bunch of stuff free for Athens house, the temple of Zeues ruins (incredible!!!), the Acropolis, amazing rock hill that apparently one of the important scholars was tried and condemmed to death on, yummy resturant in crazy flea marked, icky icky meat marked (to be called meat market not only for the dead animal carcasses, but also for the jeering cat-calls of the butchers), a whole bunch of other places and other ruins!
On the tour there was 3 Aussies, one other Canadian, and an American. One girl who was also my roommate was on her last day of a 3 month trip, and had just spent a month in the Greek Islands, so as this is where i was going next, was sharing tonnes of information with me. The American girl and I also hit it off, she was on her first day of a 4 month trip, and was trying to soak up as much info from other traveller as she could. She also was headed to the Greek Islands the next day, and by the end of the tour, we decided we would go together.

The next day we met VERY early at the ferry station, and boarded an 8 hour ferry to Santorini. This Island is exactly what you think, when you think of Greece. Stark white buidling, with smooth rounded edges, bright blue shutters and doors, contrast sharply with the perfect clean white buidlings, but are perfectly matched to the sky and ocean that surrounds the little crecent moon shaped island. White churches with dome roofs painted the same brillian blue, have little 3 tiered bell towers that are the perfect overlook to the sea, and bright orange and red sunsets. Outside of the stucco heaven cheery towns, the land lies in sharp contrast with dead dusty hills, and rocky cliffs. Little green bushes grow up, as if trying to escape the dusty ground, but then bow back down, and scatter their vines along the dirt. On closer inspection you realize they are actually grape plants, and rather than be given long stalks and string fences to grow and spread out along, they are little clusters on the ground.
Donkeys march up and down the high steep hill which leads down to the old port. They are clad with colorful blankets under simple saddles and have bridles decorated with beads, tassles, and bells so you hear them as they clamber back the back streets in the evening and early morning to and from work.
The ocean is a brilliant sparkling royal blue and they have black, red and white sand beaches depending on where you venture to on the Island. Nancy (the amerian girl i am travelling with) and I rented ATV's yesterday and cruised along the island visiting a bunch of beaches and towns, before heading up to Oia, to watch the sunset over the ocean. This is the town where every picture that you have ever seen of the sun setting over a blue domed white church is taken. Ever single postcard in the city is taken from this town!
Today we hiked down the side of the cliff to the old port, where you can take a ferry out to a volcano which is just next to the island. However the wind was so strong today, all the ferries were closed. So we jumped on a bell clad donkey and had them hike us back up the hill. I had the crazy donkey who refused to let any other donkey pass him, so weaved back and forth up the trail like a drunk driver. Any donkey who tried to pass was immediatly kicked at or bitten. Not the donkey one wants when on a big cliff! But i made it up alive unscathed! I cannot say the same for any donkey who came near us.
Tomorrow we are going to head off to Mikynos, another Greek Island. After a few days there i am going to leave Europe and try my luck in Egypt.
To all of those who have sent Emails, thank you so much! I love them. I am sorry i am so bad at getting back to you, but i will try very soon! Thank you thank you.
Hope all are well! Missing you!

Venice (not to be confused with Vienna!!)

2008-10-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

After my adventures in Napels, I headed up to Venice. As the title of this blog states, DO NOT confuse with Vienna. When I went to book my reservation on the train, I went to the ticket desk and kindly asked for a ticket to Vienna. Now in defence of my blondeness, Venice in Italian is called Veinza, sounds suspiciously close to the Austrian counrty! So the ticket guy promtly looked up the information and informed me that the train was full for today but could get me on a sleeper train. A sleeper train!?? But i am in the same country?? As i was throughouly confused and concerened as i had to get to get to my hostel or pay a fine, i looked at his computer as if to will it to magically find me a spot on the train, when i read Wein, Wein is the Austrian name of Vienna (for some reason in North America we have changed all the names of the cities in each country and insist on confusing the locals when we call them by our name. Its like someone deciding San Fransisco should be called Wonderland, and insisting on that is its real name!? Why are we so wierd!) Realizing my blonde blunder i quickly informed the man of my confusion and assured him that i really wanted to go to Venice, in Italy. He found me quite amuzing and laughed with me at my stupidity! I insist that he laughed WITH me, and not at me. He may have laughed a little harder than me though...

Either way i was lucky the train was full to Vienna, so i could go to Venice, and not accidently end up in the Austrian city. I arrived in Venice and immediatly found the city to be beautiful, bustling, and touristy! Just what i like! Filled with shops that are brimming with Venician Masks, i felt like i had fell into the 1800's and should be preparing for a masqureade ball! They were lovely with fans of feathers, shimmering with glitter, and lined with ornate cord or lace. The canals stretch out before you with twisting grace, snaking through the city and bridges with thick marble banisters arch over them, so boats and gondolas may pass beneath.
The city is filled with people wandering through, bustling about, or marching over the unfortuante tourist who has stopped on the wrong side to snap a photograph. Even though the roads and pathways are without cars or scooters, you still stay to the right, as if driving, otherwise risk being run-over by an agressive buisnessman in a hurry, and a scowl!

The hostel I was staying at rocked as it offered cooked dinners of pasta everynight at 8:30. As i was patiently starving, i met a girl from Belgium who has also just arrived, and had not been impressed by the slew of 19year old americans who were showing they could drink just as well as....., well , an alcoholic. As the wine bottles became emptier, the volume became louder. Annemere, the Belgian girl and i struck up a quite conversation and waited for dinner. We decided over shoveling pesto pasta into our mouths as if afraid the american girls would spot us and steal our food, we decided that we would wander the canals and streets of Venice the next day.
And that is what we did. Venice is a perfect city to get lost in! It is pointless having a map, because the roads and addresses don't make anysense unless you are on a boat. So you just wander the streets and when you come to a dead end, which is where the path ends at a door, or a dock, you turn around and try again. Eventually all paths lead to major squares, and even when you have seen the major squares and are trying to go somewhere else, you end up back at the major squares. It is only until you are trying to find your way home, that you discover a whole other side to Venice, that you didn't see, and at the end, didn't care to see because you just wanted to sit down, or eat! Have i mentioned yet that all i did in Italy was eat. And when i was not eating i was thinking about eating. Even when i was eating I was thinking about what i wanted to eat next, or how my current meal compared to a previous one...
We wandered all day, found our way back to the hostel, bought some wine (i also bought some pastries!!) and ate dinner, chatted with another 2 Canadains who joined us, and rested our tired feet.

Annemere left the next day, and i was taking a train out to Milan where i was to fly out the Greece, but first i went down to Murano, one of the Venician Islands where they make all the pretty glass. It was really fun to wander the island, but i soon realized that all of the island was dedicated to touristy glass shops. I found a demonstration where they were making a vase and blowing the glass, and then another artist, took the bit of molten glass that was left from the original mans vase, and pulled (and i really mean pulled) a horse out of the glass by using some mega sized tweezers and a clamp. Within 3 minutes he had made a horse, and the other man took about 20 minutes to melt, roll, pull and blow a vase. It was all pretty crazy!
I controlled my impulse purchase desire and only 2 pieces! Yey me, then i made it back to Venice, and forgot my control and bought a bloody Venician mask that is delicate so i have to carry it around in a seperate bag, and keep blowing up the first plastic bag that it is wrapped in so the art and feathers dont get all squished. Damn impulse buying!
I made it safely to Milan, where i stayed only a few hours before i flew out to Greece!

PS Went to Capri, It was Beautiful!!

Napels

2008-09-26T12:38:00.000-07:00

So Napels, or Napoli, is gross. It is a dirty, ugly city. I haven't really given it a fair chance, but from what i have seen i am completely unimpressed. It is also quite high in crime as it is the home to the Italian Mafia. Who hoo. It was pointed out to me by a Brazilian guy that all the people here dress like the actors and actresses on the Sapranos. It is quite funny, because he was absolutly right! If you are not wearing Gucci, don't bother to come out. You will not be welcomed; especially not in this city. However on the flip side the hostel that i am staying at ROCKS... but i cannot just hang out here all day.
So rather than spend any more time than i have to in this city, today i went down to Pompei, the city that was destroyed during a volcanic eruption in 74 AD. It was really cool to see some of the places. The strangest being an actual brothel house where slaves were used as prostitutes, and you can actually see some of the remaining frescos (paintings) on the walls that display all the erotic postitions to use!! Then there were the strange plaster casts of people who had died in the city, who had not escaped and were covered in ash. When their bodies decomposed the ash hardened into rock around them, and in the 18th century, someone had the idea to pour plaster into the rock and make plaster casts of the people. You can see them in their final moments. There was a pregnant lady who died with her hands covering her nose and mouth, and a dog who died as it was trying to escape, but still had the chain around its neck. It was all very strange.
But as i had seen a lot of similar ruins at Orisica Antica outside of Rome, I ducked out early, and headed down to Sorrento, which is a beautiful city perched on cliffs above the sea on the Almafi Coast.

The place is in stark contrast to Naples. It is beautiful and quaint, of course a little touristy in spots, but filled with gardens and flowers, beautiful buildings, and of course the Mediteranean Ocean.
The whole city sits above the sea on huge cliffs, that when you stand on the ledge you can peer down and see the water sparkling teal and green and blue on the sand below you. It is perfectly clear so you can see the sparkling shells of clams that have washed up with the tide. It is so amazing. Bogenvilla grows over the sides of the cliffs in some places, and little tourist cafes and resturants with big yellow and white striped umbrelllas protect you from the sun as you look over the whole coast. As you can tell i totally fell in love!
Tomorrow i am going to try and explore an Island or two. Possibly the island of Capri, or possibly a smaller island that will be less touristy.
You are totally up to date again
Love!

Rome

2008-09-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Alright well i will update you on my Rome experience. Firstly I LOVED IT!!! Everyone must go to Rome, preferably now! It is so amazing and incredible. There is so much to see and do, and it can all be so varied.

As i said my first day was spent walking around the Colosseum, and the Roman Forum. The forum was basically like the downtown of Ancient Rome. So now it is all the ruins of temples, churches, buidlings and the colosseum. I went into the Colosseum first and learned all about the history of the place, that it was the first stable structure built for hosting gladiator games. It held 80,000 people and had 80 entrances, and 4 levels. It took 11 years to build, and was completely covered in marble, which in the 15th century was removed, and brought to Vatican city and was used in the Basillica. So that is why it is only the brick outline that it is now, and why it is so much more in disrepair.
I wont bore you with ALL of the details, dont worry. But it was very interesting. I wrote home to the parents, saying it was ironic that all i wanted to do was get out of school and never have to 'learn' agian. And now all i want to do when i am here is research and learn about everything i am going to and doing! Hmmm... sadly i think i see more school in my future. Being in so many foreign countries, where i am the only one that doesn't speak a second language is making me feel very ignorant!! Spanish Class here i come!

After my first day of ruins exploration i decided the next day should be spent combing the city for more touristy sights, as i walked up to Vatican City. I started with the Trevi fountain, however was extremely disappointed to discover that it was not turned on, and the fountain was drained. I decided i would take some quick pictures and try to come back another day, however as i was waiting to get a picture through the throng of people surrounding the fountain I became totally enthralled with a woman who walked past me. She had bright Fire-Engine Red hair cut in a short bob, with a full fringe of bangs. However in perfect striking contrast to the red, she had a large streak of silber gry coursing down the left side of her part! Through her bangs, and then pinned back similar to a skunk stripe. Finding this hairstyle absolutely facinating i decided I must have her picture. So i spent the next 10 minutes stalking her, trying to get her within my camera lens without making it completely obvious of my intentions to papparazi her. As i mangaged to click her into my memory card, low and behold, the water turned on in the fountain.
I hung out a bit longer while the fountain filled and then grabbed my two coins, and threw them into the fountain. One to ensure my return to Rome, and the other to wish on.

The next place I happened upon in my travels was the Pantheon. Now i thought the Colosseum was amazingly old, well it was completed in 80 AD. The Pantheon was built in 27 BC!!! It is now a Catholic shrine, or something. However i am pretty sure there were no Catholics before Jesus.... so like everything else in Rome, the church has taken it over and converted it! ha ha, i guess when in Rome!

After that i finally made it to the Basillica. I checked out where all your Catholic tithing dollars go, in gold statues, and marble floors, and ornate statues! And decided to skip the Vatican as the line was around a few block corners... The Basillica is beautiful though, Do not get me wrong! Just amazingly ornate!

The next day was spent in Orsica Antica, a 1,800 year old city that is in ruins. It is similar to Pompei, however rather than being destroyed by a volcanoe, it was a port city that was basically forgotten and abandoned when the Roman Empire fell, and the coast receded. It was really amazing, but like everything else, seeing as i am not an archeologist, at the end of the day it is just a bunch of old rocks to me. I really cannot imagine what the city looked like, or how the buildings really were. Some stores sell little books that have pictures of the ruins, and then will place picures overtop that show how the ruins are incorporated into the previous structures. Those are defintely helpful, however there tends to be a seperate book for each ruin location, seeing as there are tonnes in Rome, i just cant justify buying 30 books to tote around with me on my adventures through the city. So again more research to do at a later date.

My last day in Rome i attempted Vatican City and the museum again. I decided to go early to try and beat out the majority of the crowd and the lines. My plan could not have worked better. Not necessarily for the time that i arrived, but for the day that i chose. It was a Wednesday, and every Wednesday the Pope makes a public speech in St. Peters Square in front of the Basillica! So as i arrived i noticed huge lines to get into St. Peters Square, realizing the date, i was not interested in fighting my way through to try and get a ticket to watch the Pope speak, so headed directly over to the Vatican, and walked straight in the doors! Fanstastic. I walked through there, and was relieved to find unlike some places that i have been, not EVERY picture was exactly the same, just painted by a different artist. I cannot tell you how many baby Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and a baby John pictures that i have seen! All exactly the same!! Fearing the same from the Vatican i was pleasantly surprised, and ever excited at one point to see a Salvador Dahli picture! Go the Catholic Church for branching out!! I am definatly still a 12 year old girl at heart. I found about a million scultpures of different people, gods, ect, and was not overly interested, however when I found the animal sculpture room (yes a whole room dedicated to marble busts of animals) i was super excited and looked at EVERY one. I was totally facinated by the person who decided to sculpt a giant lobster!! So i am convinced that i have not matured beyone a little girl who loves horseys!!
The Sistene Chapel was of course the finishing piece of the museum. It was truely amazing, however a lot smaller than i anticipated. It is hard to describe how amazing Michelangelo and Rapheal are. They did some amazing things in the Vatican musuems!

After the Vatican i headed to Piazza di Popolo, and the Spanish Steps. I walked up them and counted 134 steps. Then i walked back down, I think that is all you do with the Spanish steps.. ha ha. I had met two American boys the night before who decided that we were all going to go to the Cappucian crypt. This was the creepiest thing ever. It is 4 rooms that have been decorated (quite elegantly i must admit) with human bones. The don't allow pictures, so i cannot share with you the beautiful horror of the place, but there is one room where the whole thing is decorated with femur bones piled on one another, and then human sculls. The ceiling is decorated with rib bones and vertabrea, in a surprisingly ornate design... EW!
The creepeist part was at the end where there were 3 little children complete skeletons and a sign saying
'What you are, we once were. What we are, you will be.' Umm thanks for that. Since i didnt want that to be the last 'tourist thing' i did in Rome, I discovered a beautiful church, which the whole inside had been decorated and carved by Michelangelo. It was so beautiful and so ornate in everything that it washed away the facinating horror of the crypts.
Most of my early evenings were spent at a lovely bakery acorss the street who's soul intent i think was to lure me into obesity. Every day i would go and get 2 pasteries, and a coffee. One pastery to eat, one to go. I made friends with the server there, and after my second visit, i got extra cream puffs sneaked into my to go bag. Yum.
So to the parents who worry that i am not eating enough, problem solved. Italy is fattening me up!

Florence, Pisa and Rome

2008-09-22T11:01:00.004-07:00

I am currently in Rome, having a whirlwind Italy trip. Florence was an interesting exprience. I went out my first night there with the owner of the hostel. His name is Mario, and as i was checking in he informed me thata bunch of people were going out to dinner, at a really nice resturant with cheap prices, did i want to go? Thinking this may be a good way to meet people i agreed. However when dinner time rolled around (which was 930pm) It ended up being only him and I, the other guests had cancelled as they had travelled all day and were tired. So we went out for dinner and a whirlwind night. Apparently this man is quite rich, explains that he really hates it when he gets fake friends, and girls who only date him for his money; however really likes you to know how much money that he has. Apparently well connected throughout spanish history, and something something grandpa left him the buisness.... It was a strange night as he paraded throughout the city meeting people he knew in a flurry of cheek kissing and hugs, walking us into clubs where everyone was dressed to the nines, lines outside glaring at him. Ha ha i think i must have looked like his kid, he is 40 years old (a little young to be my father, but not by too much) and everywhere we went, everyone was all dressed up, men in suit jackets and pointy shoes, girls looking like prada queens! He is even dressed up in a nice jacket, button down shirt and of course the pointy shoes. I however was not.... in the least! I was unaware of the fashionable evening so was dressed in my traveling garb, t shirt, black jacket (same one you see me wearing in EVERY picture) jeans, runners, and messy ponytail. I tried to dress up by putting some earings on.... wow! However in the long run I felt better about my outfit so as not to confuse anyone about me being the baby of a cradle robber! ha ha, no trophey barbi doll for me thank you!
The next day i escaped town and headed to Pisa, I wandered throughout the town (getting quite lost at times) but managed to see the whole town. Once there I was starving and found a cure little resturant in some alley way and ate the most fantastic ravioli i have ever had!! It had some miraculous truffle sauce on it, which was to die for. This is my second truffle sauce, the first being on a filet mignon steak that i had on my fancy italian night. I have only ever alighted truffle to the chocolate, but this stuff is amazing. Where do i get truffle and how do i make yummy sauce out of it!?
Spent some time up at the tower and looking at the Duomo (every Italian city has one) but refused to take a 'holding up the tower picture'. Maybe this will be a choice i regret later, but watching all the people take the same picture over and over aagin, i just couldn't fall into the massive trap. I chilled out on the grass and soaked up some Italian sun before heading back to Florence and the hostel. Pisa is only about a 1.5 train ride from Florence so it was just a day trip.

I am now in Rome, headed here after my Pisa day. I am staying at a nice hostel that is really quite local to everything which is wonderful as it allows me to walk to everything! My first day was spent at the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and looking at all the ancient ruins! It is so crazy to be walking in the Colosseum which is almost 2000 years old! Very surreal.
Must go though. Put up some new picutres, will continue tomorrow, however i am getting alot of DIRTY looks cause i am hogging one of two computers.
LOVE ALL

Italy

2008-09-19T11:06:00.001-07:00

I am now in Italy, and almost caught you all up on my travels so far.
I started out for 2 nights in Milan. Same thing i got in late and just crashed at the hostel. Yesterday i walked around and saw the sights. I dislike Milan. It is wickedly expensive, and there are a few sights to see, and then you feel like you should shower and get the heck out of there. I went to Il Duomo, which is this HUGE gothic catherdral. It is totally insane the outside of this thing. You go in and it looks like almost every other cathedral, and you don't realize that it is really any bigger than anything else. I wandered down the famous shopping streets, but i have no idea what they are called. Fell in and out of love with Italian shoes. They are often SOO beautiful, but the price makes on want to vomit. I however did find a pair of Jimmy Choo's which is like the GOD of womens shoes. I even touched them. I am not sure if I am allowed to. Ithink that you have to have a bankroll of at least 1million dollars to even look at them. But i picked them up!!!! then i turned them over. And then i put them down and ran very quickly away. Thew were 700 euros... which is about $1000. I briefly debated sleeping in bus stations, and begging for food and hand outs, however i don't know if people would take pity on me when i have shoes made by gods hands on my feet! As i actually considered the possiblity of buying them, i removed myself from the store.
I also tried my first Italian Gelato. It is different than the 'Italian Gelato' in places like France and Germany. It is also VERY yummy! May have a new obsession to add to my sweet tooth list.

As i disliked Milan i left today and am in Florence. I like this place a whole lot more. Spent half a day here walking around, and am going to Pisa tomorrow. I think i am getting Europed out. I just like beaches, and cant wait to head to Egypt. However after Pisa is Rome... so i am thinking that will be pretty amazing. Maybe get me back on track!!

IBIZA

2008-09-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

So i took an overnight ferry to Ibiza, left at 9:45 at night, and got into Sant Antoni at 7am.... ick! You could pay a whole bunch of money and get a cabin to sleep, but really that takes the adventure out of it. The floor is really much more exciting. Especially playing the game was is sticky on my leg! The seats were said to be 'reclining', well they were less comfortable than any airplane seat i have ever been in, and i don't know if you could call what they did reclining. SO the floor it was. Scratchy carpet is awsome. That way you can know everyone who are pansy's and got a cabin, because they dont have rashes on thier arms! ha ha, but dont get me wrong it was awsome!.....
I got to Ibiza and found my hotel, yes i said hotel. NOT a hostel. And i wasn't splurging, they just dont have hostels there, and hotels are dirt cheap! Who hoo,,, i had my own bed, bathroom, shower, and even a tv. Only english channel was BBC news so i got to hear all about the big Bank disaster over and over and over! I spent 2 full days soaking up the sun in Ibiza on the beach and loved every single moment of it. On monday night i went to Privlege, which claims to be the largest club in the world (they know better than to use the embarrasing term of disco!). The place is an old airplane hanger which they have converted, it has a pool, 3 possible rooms that they can set up or take down, and holds 10,000 people! It was crazy!!
I will not bore those who don't know tiesto or care about how amazing it was with the details, but it was AWESOME!!!!! Totally incredible. He started spinning at 2am (it is a different world there) and finished at 7am! The only downfall were that drinks were 13 euros or $20 each. So i had one, realized the price, and did not have any other drinks for the evening. Water started out at 8 euros at the beginning of the night for a 250ml bottle and then went up to 15 euros after 3 am. BASTARDS.... so i was slightly parched when i got home. They also denied me my camera inside, so no pictures. I double curse them!
I got back to the hotel at 730am, packed slept for 15 minutes, and went and got on the ferry. Sleep 2 on the ferry floor! If i had planned ahead i would have worn a bathing suit. Always industrious, the Spanish wear bathing suits on the ferry and tan on the decks as they provide lawn chairs and what not. I was slightly exausted and feared i would pass out on one side for the full 10 hour ferry and fry myself. So i sansed the outside sleep and resorted back to the scratchy sticky floor!
It was a once in a life time expereince. I went to Tiesto in Ibiza!!!!!!!

Barcelona

2008-09-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

Alright, so it has been a while since i have been at this... sometimes it is really hard to find a computer!!

So I made it to Marsielles and spent a day and a half there. It was kind of a rough and tumble city. Kind dirty and gritzy. Had some really cool sights. My favorite two being this huge fountain with all of these plants and flowers around it! The other was this big fort wall thing that was near the end of the city right by the ocean. Thats right i saw ocean!!!! My first official sighting since getting here. There isn't much to be said for the city otherwise.

I made it to Spain and barcelona which i was really excited about! Finally made it to Spain! I was staying about a 5 minute walk to Plaza Catalunya, where La Ramblas starts! All around me were all the Gaudi modernistic buildings! I was excited to go to Spain as Spanish is the only language i know a few words of. Nothing spectacular, but if you need someone to count to 10 i am your girl. I will even pretend to have a Spanish accent!!
However in Barcelona, they speak Catalyunian, which is almost like French. Blast the damn french!! So i was screwed again. I got in late the first day so i just crashed at the hostel.
The next day i wandered down La Ramblas. Saw all thetypical sights there. The statue people that get all dressed up in all sorts of crazy things, and will only move when you pay them. However these ones moved alot more, trying to coral people over to pay them and take pictures with them. And if someone took a picture, they usually tried to guilt them into tipping. So needless to say i kept my camera tucked tightly away!
Now i thought i saw EVERYTHING being sold on the streets of Africa, however, i found something new. The Africans may have been upsurped by the Spanish. In Spain they have Pet Kiosks. Think of those little booths that you see in most malls. Now pack it full of bunnies, turtles, gerbils, fish, birds, chickens, baby ducks and chicks, full roosters, pigons, and ferrets! I wasn't tempted until saw the little ferret faces staring out at me. All the cages were disgusting and overcroweded with the animals. And it was one of those kiosks that at night they just put the cages on the shelves, and close it up for the night. It was so horrible. Everytime i walked past i was debating how i could save all of the animals! how many i figured i could get in my purse and pockets!
After i reached Port Vell, where there is a big statue of Christopher Columbus pointing out to the ocean. He is supposed to be pointing to America, but instead he is pointing to Asia... oops! I jumped on one of those on off buses which took me to all of the important sights, saw alot of the modernistic buildings, the cathedral which has been being built since early in the 1900's, and is still under construction. Basically just checked of my tourist traps.
My roomies were two Brazilian girls and i suckered them into taking me out that evening. We went to a big fountain, light and music show, (think the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but on a smaller scale and to classical music rather than Celine Dion!) After 10 minutes we got the point and headed down to a 'tavern'. Now i have learned that words in Spain refering to drinking spots are very different than North America.
For example, Tavern (Spain )= Pub
Pub = Lounge with a dance floor
Disco = VERY fancy Club
So we went to a tavern, which was actually pretty funny. It was called the Black Sheep, and looked like this normal house doorway that you entered. And then you walked through a cave, and came out in this really strange pub. I felt like i should have been a pirate, or a pirates wench. It was all made out of stone and wooden floors which whenever anything was spilled they just threw sawdust on. All the tables were scarred and the wooden benches looked like they might crumble away with too much weight. We stood in line (yes line) for about 15 minutes to get up to order our drink, and shared a pitcher of sangria. That basically ended our night. As we were finishing the pitcher, debating on a second, two boys came up and decided that engangement rings, husbands, and un-interest werent quite enough to turn them away, so we left.
They left early the next day, and it was my mission, as i had found out the Tiesto (big DJ) was going to be in Ibiza (island off the coast of spain), to get there. It took me most of the day, but i got the ferry tickets and the concert tickets. I was slightly beside myself with excitement!
Later that evening i met up with a guy Manu, who i had met in Munich, and when Carter last minute bailed on me, called him up to show me around the town.
He showed me all of his favorite spots, we went for an awesome and super cheap dinner (each of us had an appetizer, entree, and shared a bottle of wine for 25 euros!!) I was ready to go to bed, but he wanted to go to a pub (remember NICE lounge with dancing). The place was beautiful. Had 2 levels, one being just a chill place to sit and have a couple drinks, then the downstairs had a live DJ (who sucked) and lots of seating area, and then a dance floor. Then outside was a deck with a bar, dance floor, seating area, then a beach area where you could walk out onto the sand and grab a seat on the beach overlooking the ocean. It was crazy!!
We stayed and danced for a while as Manu wanted to go to the 'disco' after, even though the dj sucked i was starting to get my second wind. But this magical thing happens to Spanish men at about 3am, they get slimy. Manu, was no exception. So that magically ended our night as well. I had been forwarned, and even talked to a few people about this magical hour. It is like a cinderella effect.
I was supposed to leave the next day, but as my ferry didn't leave until late that night i had an extra day in Barcelona. I stored my bag at the hostel and spent the day at the beach. LOVELY! Finally letting some sun touching those hidden spots so i can stop looking like a Canadian, blend in with the locals a little bit by not being so trasnparent.
That summed up my time in Barcelona. It is a beautiful city and has a really fun energy. I sansed alot of the local food as it looks like cous cous with this massive prawn thing in it, but the head isn't removed so you have these little beedy black eyes and antenna all sticking out of your food. GROSS!

Vienna Prauge, Munich Paris

2008-09-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

Alright to catch you up on my whirlwind trip, firstly all the pictures from my last update were from Budapest. I don´t have a USB access so you currently cannot see any more pictures.
After i played in the Vienna symphony, i was so good that i immediatly retired as i realized i will never best that performance. So i am sorry to all of you who were interested in seeing my triangular skills... you should have come traveling!! After that the next day Cindy and i only had a half day before we shot off to Munich, so we went and tried to see the training of the Lipenzon (that is the pheonetic spelling) Stallions, I was kind of disappointed cause there was a lot of walking horses in a circle and not a whole heck of alot of lunging or jumping or stadning on thier back legs.... but i think Cindy was happy with it! We did more chocolate and sat in a nice bakery that allowed us to watch them prepare everything. After that there was only enough time to run back to the hotel grab our stuff and head off toPrague.
We arrived late, and I convinced Cindy to stay in a hostel, we were in the apartment suite though which wasnt bad, no air conditioning much to our chagrin but big window tha opened and let in lots of air and lots of HUGE Daddy Long Legs...i sqealed and stayed on the bed and had mild panic attacks while cindy played spider hunter under the bed! Prauge is BEAUTIFUL!!!! We were supposed to meet up with a friend i had made in Rotterdam, but i could never get a hold of him so we did our own walking tour the first day doing the classic meander. We found lots of great s tuff though and tried some Czek beer which we had both heard lots about. We drank Pilsner Urquell, niether of us was a big fan. The next day were tried Budvar the original budwiesier. It was better, but i would still rather have a Kokanee, or even better a german beer! We took some walking tours while we were there, and it is a beautiful city with lots of history. Really croweded in a lot of the high touristy areas. We were typically walking about 12 - 13 hours a day so it made for long days that for the most part flew by.
Cindy reawoke my appetite so she got to deal with me going on sugar highs and lows, and my grumpiness when i got too hungry. At some points i think i was a bit desperate for food and was ready to steal things out of peoples hands as they walked by. See what happens when you remind me how yummy food is!
After our adventures in Prauge we caught a train to Munich. We only had a half day there so i tried to remember as much as i could about the tour i went on, i took Cindy on an impromptu tour, telling her what little i could recall and not mix up with all of the other cities.
We were hungry (imagine that) so went to Cafe Glockenspiel which is on the 5th floor of a building directly across from the Glockenspiel, so we got to watch it do its spiely thing at 5pm while we had dinner. It was another whirlwind day, running around town to check out the marienplatz and englisher garten, rezidens, and talking about Hitler and the golden line and everything else. We stopped for a beer before heading home for bed and got a Becks, it was disgusting. Best to go back to Hofbroug, what we had at dinner, a real Bavarian beer.

Bright and early the next day we caught a train to Paris. I think i was officially beat by this part of the trip. I slept almost the whole way on the train. Cindy and I awoke at the beginning of the trip, we HAD to sit in first class as there were no seats left in second class (darn!) and when we woke the food fairy had brought us a little treat. Chocolate crossiants were good, but the yogurt which was surprise sour grapefruit and the raw salmon and eggs were all yucky! When we got to Paris we were officially stuck in the Paris Airport Station for i would say an hour. They make all of these tricky little signs so you cant escape. And when you ask for help on information desk says go upstairs, and then when you can´t find the thing you want upstairs, they say you have to go downstairs. The french are sneaky! I was hungry again so was ready to rip some heads off, but Cindy stayed cool and we finally escaped.
We went to the Arc de Truimph since i missed it before, Cindy fed me a few times, and then we went to bed.
Cindy left the next morning back to Arizona, I had to go down to Marsiells as i could not find a train our of France to get into Spain for 5 more days. I thought i would try my luck closer to the border!

2008-09-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hello,

So i am in Prauge. Another wonderful city. I have been to a bunch of places. Don't even know where to start. Budapest is HUGE!! Huge huge huge. I met up with Cindy and we explored the city by one of the on-off bus tours. It was perfect because i would have never been able to walk the city as i have usually been doing. We saw most of the sites and then went on a boat cruise in the evening. Cindy has found some trilogy of chocolate places that we have to eat at, one being in Budapest, the others in Vienna and Paris. So the second day of our whirlwind week we went to Gundel, and ate a chocolate crepe. It was quite good, a wonderful way to jump into the chocolate trilogy. We also checked out one of the Roman baths or spas. It is 9 pools that are all heated by a underwater pool that is about 77 degrees calcium's and they cool it to the different pools. One of the pools has 2 semi circles in the center, and the outside circle has a jet system that actually will push you around the inner circle as it creates this crazy current. It was like a wild water ride in the middle of this huge spa, where creepy old men and women who are way to scantally clad are positioning themselves over big jets that blow water up their shorts..... right. I guess i should just be happy they are wearing bathing suits!
Next stop was Vienna which has encouraged me to learn German so I can live in this city. It is SOOOOO beautiful. Like Paris but better! So i am learning German and moving to Vienna. We did another bus tour and visited a castle. Went to another chocolate place where we had the original Sacher Torte (chocolate cake). That evening we went to a concert/ orchestra with a live musicians (Kira there was an oboist!!) and there were opera singers and ballet dancers, who came out and performed on occasion. I was picked out of the crowd for one of the songs to come on stage and play the triangle. It was slightly more than embarrassing to be ON stage, clanging on a triangle, but i can officially say that i have played in an orchestra in Vienna!

Well i am sorry this is so short i am being kicked off the computer. I will be back and keep truing to up load more photos!
lots of love

Holland

2008-08-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

So I am back in Holland, aka the Netherlands, however this time i am in Amsterdam and love it. The city is beautiful and so much better in comparison to Rotterdam, never to to Rotterdam there is no point! However Amsterdam is filled with the beautiful canals, brick buildings, and unfriendly but tolerant people! ha ha, The Dutch aren't really fond of the toursits, but accept and tolerate everything else. It is a fun city to visit, there is litterally everything to do. I am traveling with a Frech Canadain i met on my last night in Belgium. I found a South Africian and a American who were traveling together and went to a pub with them. It was a pub with over 2056 beers available! While we were heading down there a French Canadian boy came along and as we were talking he decided to come to Amsterdam with me the next day. So we are here now. I am actually having a really good time with him. His name is Eric, and he is really nice, a bit eclectic but we are having a fun time and it is nice to have some company. The hostel here is totally ridiculous, however it works and we are really here to sleep, so it really doesn't matter too much. They have free internet, and state that toast and juice is a REALLY GREAT breakfast, but it is free too....
Today we went on a free tour with a crazy tour guide, but learned A LOT about the history of the city, all about the drugs, church, miracles, royal family, prostitution, money and tolerance. It was actually really interesting. The guide was a guy who is a student studying psychology with a minor in addiction to drugs and alcohol, so he was really interesting and had a different spin on things. Also he was from Boston who came to study here, and fell in love with the city and ideals here.
I think that i almost be sold on the city too, i love the liberal and tolerant ideals of this city, but it could have to do with the fact that the tour guild was so passionate about everything here, and i have a one sided perspective on things.
It is beautiful and very romantic here, i am planning my honeymoon to my imaginary fiance throughout Europe. Most people here think that i am making a mistake coming here before my wedding, so i just tell them that i am scoping out the scene for my honeymoon. It is kind of fun to be pretend engaged. Fun new stories all the time, however sometimes i cant remember who i have told what to... i think i need to develop a linear story.
I have two more nights here before i have to leave, my next stop is in Budapest with Cindy, however i have 2 days to figure out how to get there, it is going to take me over 20 hours by train so i am trying to figure out where i am going to go to break it up a bit. BACK TO GERMANY!
Hope everyone is well. Will try to update and send some pictures soon!

Belgium

2008-08-25T11:23:00.000-07:00

Belguim is a pretty city, very small so it is great to walk around. Definatly don't need more than a day or two here though, you would run out of things to do. The town sauare or what-ever it is called is beautiful with georgous neo-gothic steeples, and 15th century buildings accented in gold and filled with high priced shops and cafes. The buildings here are beautifully decorated; windows with tall arches and outlined in stone, stone balconies trimmed with latice worked iron. Statues, gargoyles and cherubs fitted in every available gap, and more latice work or beautiful stone trim everywhere else. There is so much work in one square foot of building side it is mind boggling.
I have tried a belgian waffle, and am going to work on the beer situation tonight. So that just leaves chocolate for tomorrow, then off to Amsterdam!!!

My only complaint about this city is the men. They are disgusting and not easily refused. I learned this last night when i went wandering after i arrived just around my neighborhood. The prelude to the creepy men is I found an open air concert that was just setting up so grabbed some side walk to wait to see what they were playing. For a while I watched a eclectic group of people dancing to techno music being played from the cocktails tent. A thirty-something man dressed to the nines, a preteen girl, and a late 50's early 60's woman was dancing away in the square. It was three of the most random people givin' her on the sidewalk. And i never thought i would see the day when a woman who was too old to be my mother was raving to some techno music. The 30something man was mastering the "ball" technique but she was right along side of him actually probably showing him up in style, (it may have been that she had the keen sense not to hold the imaginary ball which he kept trying to pass to her)
Finally the concert started and i got halfway through the first song to realize that it was Horrible. A strange mix of a DJ scratching, a french rapper, who was half rapping Eminem style, then switching to an almost old school Backstreet (think no diggidy) slow ballad style rap. Just to throw into the already interesting vibe, the band (with an electric keyboard which did 80's style music plus a keyboard saxaphone) played a strange 50's jive meets Latino music. It was the most random combination of music, which i hated, but the crowd loved. I tried to give it a chance but by the second song i realized it wasn't going to get better. Possibly only worse.

So onto the creepy men. Thank GOD for my imaginary fiance! The men here will actually stop their cars in the middle of the street and come and try and pick you up. Getting out of their cars and holding up traffic. They are not deterred by the fact that I speak english and they do not. Because they have learned the important phrase of "we go!" and then point in which ever direction it is that they want to take you. I say NO... point to the ring and then walk away. Some, when they find you on the street, will follow you like a lost puppy looking for some scrap of attention before they pounce with "We go?" So i have now learend that in Belgium never answer a nod or a smile or a Bonjour, never make eye contact and ignore all forms of attempted communication. In total be a complete bitch and they will just follow you like a lost puppy until some other unsuspecting female makes one of these fatal mistakes.
Parents who are worried do not worry. This only happened when i was walking through town. Never too close to the hostel. Lots of people in the vicinity. And my new found method of bitchiness works well.
My new theory is to just start muttering to myself and talking in a made up language (double dutch anyone) and act crazy. Or just turn around and start screaming and waving my arms. This should scare the poor puppy away.
I will keep you posted on my crazy lady attempts!
So in total Brussels is cool. Supposedly has a good nightlife, but limited supply in the daytime. Females dont come alone unless you are prepared to become horrendously rude, or have no problem acting insane. I feel that i will put my psych nursing into play and try and adopt my best schizophrenic with auditory and visual hallucinations tomorrow. Hopefully my next post will not come from the local mental care facility!
Love you.

Berlin and Munich

2008-08-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

I am currently in my last day in Munic. Again I have fallen in love with another country, and although i want to live in Paris, I think i could spend about a month in Germany just exploring the land and learning about the history. Bavaria is where Munich is and it is so gorgeous. Everything here is green and lush. Also i am sure that Bavaria is where all the corn in the world is grown. Whenever i am traveling on the trains in the country side all i see is corn row after corn row, or beautiful forests where you can just imagine a fox running out, or princess and dukes riding through on horseback persuing some animal on a hunt. It definatly has an old world feel to it. I loved Berlin, but didnt get to spend enough time there. There were so many places that i wanted to go after i left, but the city was alot of fun to walk around.
I have spent 4 nights in Munich, and the city is alot easier to walk around in. Although i walked everywhere in Berlin, it is all spread out and filled with poured concrete buildings after the distruction in WWII. Munich is a city that lost 60% of the city to air raid bombings, however rather than destroying the history of the city, they rebuilt everything back to what it once was. So one feels like they are in a place like Paris with the building being hundereds of years old, when most are only around 60 years old but look like they were from the 18th century.
I went to a beer garden, discovered why they are actually gardens, went paddle boating on a big lake, discovered the city on a free walking tour, walked from one side of the city to the other because i took a wrong turn and ended up walking in the wrong direction for 40 minutes, visited Neuchenswehan (i totally made up that spelling) where the big castel which Disney modeled their castel after, saw the Glockenspiel, and went to Dachau the first concentration camp from WWII. I actually did Dachau, the university, and the Olympic site all today. I was quite traumatized after the Dachau today, the things humans can inflict on one another is just mind boggling.
I love Germany, I don't know if I have mentioned that yet. SOO Much to see and do and learn
I also ate some real Bavarian food. And more importantly drank Bavarian beer. Who is coming with me to go to Oktoberfest?????? I am coming back!
Tomorrow i am back tracking and heading up to Belgium to eat belgium waffles and belgium chocolate..... i may find a new favorite place!
I am still waiting for some of you to email me. Dont make me start to beg!
LOVE

Germany and Pictures... finally

2008-08-19T04:57:00.001-07:00

I am still in Berlin and heading to Münich tomorrow! Who hoo. I finallz found a computer with a usb port so PICTURES!!!! YEY.
Hope all are well. Thanks to those select few who emailed I LOVE YOU. The rest of you suck, but i love you anyways. Keep me company. I'll write again soon. Scroll back down through my other posts as i will add pictures to those ones and you can see what i am talking about.

So the first 2 pictures are a monument in the center of Berlin for the Holocost Victims, a dedication to the 6 million Jews who were murdered, and the thousands of hadicapped, mentally challenged, blacks, gypsis, and anyone else who was persecuted and murdered during WWII.
Then me sitting in a random buildings entrance, the Berlin Wall (well one of that Gates) and then the view from my room.

Netherlands to Germany

2008-08-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

So i decided to go to Rotterdam when i could find no where else that had acommodations when i dedided to leave Paris. So i went to Rotterdam. Stayed in a really nice hostel and met some really cool people. However Rotterdam SUCKS!!! There is nothing to do in the city and nothing to see as it was bombed flat during WWII... so my whole day was spent desperatly seeking a internet cafe so i could get the hell out of there. I discovered later that night what one does in Rotterdam, Drink and Dance. It has a good night scene with lots of pubs and clubs. So i went out with a big slew of people i met at the hostel. One being a Canadian (actually Calgarian) who he and I flew to London on the same plane, spent the same amount of time in London, and then randomly met in Rotterdam. It is a small world. I danced the night away with my new found friends of 2 Italians, 1 Spanish, 1 Czech Republic, 1 Polish, and the Canadian. All who spoke varying levels of Englsih so there was a lot of miming during the night. It was really funny.
We all left the next day and I came to Berlin. It is a whole days travel by train so my first day was really today.
I did the general meandering and walked all over. It is crazy how much ground one can cover when totally occupied by the sights. I saw where the Berlin wall once stood and visited the monument dedicated to the 6 million Jews that were killed. I also visited the German History Museum which was really interesting talking about the whole German history from about 800AD.
The biggest challenge I am finding for myself is to find food. I am a little intimidated to go into a resturant or cafe and try to figure out what gzwölkaügmsäa is on the menu..... I am sure that some have English menus as well, but i feel ónce i go in and ask i have dedicated myself to the cafe and sometimes the menu items consist of a whole lot of animal parts i am not interested in eating!
I found a grocery store this evening not far from my hostel so tomorrow should be a little less hungry!
I must say i have been recieving almost NO emails..... umm you are not all recieving personal emails unless you email me.... this is my means of mass communication. PLEASE email... I only have myself to talk to out here, and it gets a little one sided.

Part 2

2008-08-16T02:03:00.000-07:00

i have to do this in stages because my time keeps cutting in and out on the computer.

After the Versaille palace we went to the gardens. Garden is an understatement. It is like a provincial park that is immaculately groomed! Square trees, not a weed in sight, huge beautiful fountains with Victorian sculptures everywhere.
I was also introduced to the best Orange Juice ever... something that i have heard Ben raving about for months and now i finally understand!
We spent the whole day there and that evening we went to the Eifle Tower. It was all lit up in blue, and filled with lights that would randomly go off and cause the tower to sparkle! I wanted to go to the top, but the lift to the very top was closed, so we decided to come back the next day.

Ben had to do some errands on Thursday so i went to the Louvre and explored the inside. I saw all the things i was supposed to, Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, and the Victory statue which was probably one of my favorites. However there was so much more there... you could definatly spend a couple of days there if you wanted to.

That night we tried the Eifle tower again, however it was raining and we arrived about 15 minutes after they closed. So i didn't get to go to the top, and i guess i will just have to come back!

Yesterday i decided to come to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The reason i chose Rotterdam is that no where else has room to accomadate me! Ha ha so as soon as i am done here i am going to go explore. There is supposed to be a great night life here. I really like the hostel I am staying at as it is really easy to meet people at night. There is a nice bar and some pool tables and last night i made friends with Sheamus, an Irish lad, and Patrick who wants to show me around when i get to Prague!
I'll keep you all posted. Keep sending emails because i love to get them!

Part 1

2008-08-16T01:32:00.000-07:00

okay for those of you who are not sure if i am alive, I am... just have not had access to a computer for a little while. But i am back! The short story is i went to Paris!! And i LOVED IT! I may have to learn French and move there! I fell in love with the Parisian Lifestyle; sans smoking though. But how can you pass up rich food, wine, cheese, and pasteries GALORE.... Of course if anyone knows a personal trainer with a bootcamp marshal intensity i will also need to bring them to Paris with me because i will get ridiculously obese!

I arrived in Paris on Monday night, the majority of Monday was devoted to getting to Paris, and sucking up to my friend Ben, who was meeting me at the airport. There was a slight miscommunication and he came to get me from the airport at 930am.... and then came again with much persistance to get me at 930pm.
I also met another interesting customs person, who i wasn't sure was going to let me into the country when i told him i didn't speak French. He told me i had to say one thing in French before he would let me in. I laughed... he didn't. So then i was racking my brain for something from Grade 8 French..... ummmm Je' mapel Kelley! (it is probably good i didnt have to spell it though!) After that Access was granted to France and Paris!

The next day Ben took me around Paris we did a walking tour and i discovered that i was in Love. I saw Notre Dame, Hotel de Ville, Champs Elysees, the Louvre, Hotel Invalids, the Eifle tower from a distance, and Sooo much more!

Wednesdsay we went to Versailles. It is so increadible there. It was really interesting to see the things that I learned in Jr. High social studies. I remember looking at pictures of the Hall of Mirrors, and learning about Louis the XIV building it. I saw the Kings and Queens room (they had different bedrooms, Salons and receiving rooms) and the bed whih 19 royal children were born. The room where Marie Antointe escaped through a secret door during the revolution. They should take you to Paris when they teach you these things.. i think i would have been more interested to actually see them and see how amazing and beautiful these places really are!

Being Spoiled in London

2008-08-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

So things are continuing to go well. I am in my 4th day in London.
Yesterday was a little bit interesting. I had about an hour where i was very frustrated however after excepting my fate, and plugging in my ipod to some chipper music i was good to go again.
Yesterday it rained... and rained.. and rained. And i don't have an umbrella, however, they do sell them for about £2 in every store you pass, however after watching about 50 people purchace umbrellas and then open them, and they collapsed, inverted, or slid back down when you exhaled i decided i was to be wet. Fortuantley i also had decided to wear a hat that day so i really was oblivious to the rain until a double decker bus drove by and soked my right side. They make quite the splash let me tell you. Did i mention that i was lost in the hell that is Bloomsbury at this time as well.... oh well let me tell you!
I decided that yesterday was to be Museum day since the weather called for rain. However everyone and their brother also had my decision as well. So they were very croweded and truthfully quite boring. Maybe i am not as big as an art lover as i first thought... wait no, i am, i just didn't know how many more paintings i could see of jesus on the cross, or the virgin mother and the baby jesus, or the 3 kings and so on an so forth. I am almost positive that 99.9% of the National Gallery is Jesus pictures. Which are great and good, but i just go a wee bit tired of the same old thing. However i did finally find Renior, and Picasso, and Da Vinci, Monet and Manet... so that was AWSOME.
However after i visited the British Museum i seemed to have lost my way on the roads and wandered up and down the roads for over an hour. It is less fun meandering in the rain, and i prefer the meander because when I have a set place I amtrying to find, I get lost. When i meander i have no where i am trying to go.
Last night I also got to go to the play Wicked, which was Wicked! It was a great play and i loved every minute of it. Today i am continued to be spoiled as i am staying in a beautiful hotel (thank you Daddy and Cindy) and had a bath and a shower this morning! WHOO HOO! So i am feeling refreshed and clean and i can wake up tomorrow morning when I want to, not because the girl next to me has a plasic bag that appparently she is required to crumple at 7 am.
So i am off to explore more of London. I was hoping to go to Stonehenge but apparently that is a full day trip and quite expensive, and i didn't jump on that one quick enough. Although in the long run stonehenge may have been cooler, i am really happy with my bubble bath in London today!

First Offical Day in London

2008-08-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

Small victories make me really happy.
First Victory of the day was buying a soup and a piece of bread for 3 pounds and eating it for 3 meals! The second victory was aptly navigating the bus, train, and interwinding roads as i wandered throughout London.
I have also learned that it is probably a good thing that i am traveling alone because i know i would make others crazy. I meander through the streets as i try and find some building or monument that i saw down the street or across the river, and on my assumed path there i will wander at random up and down streets, allyways and hidden pathways that i find and look interesting. So it takes me a bit longer to find what i am looking for, but in the same time i tend to find something new and interesting to look at.
Today i found St. Pauls Cathedral, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Trafalger Square, Big Ben and the Parliment building, and lots of quaint little parks to eat and rest in. I had no idea where i was going when i found any of these things. Just spied something interesting through the trees or around a building and thought i would check it out. It has been an awsome day, and althogh i am not sure if i am travelling the way one "should" or is supposed to, i am having way to much fun wandering around the city.
Tomorrow i think i have a game plan though. We'll see how it works out

London!

2008-08-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

I have made it to London. Landed this morning and made my way with only slight difficulty through customs and to my hostel. My first challenge was the customs lady who wasn't convinced that she wanted to let me enter the country. She was unimpressed that I was travelling alone, and no one was meeting me in the UK, and my next scheduled departure date was not until 2 months away from a different country. However she let me through after a good stern look, and a grimace.
The next challenge i overcame was navigating myself up and down the narrow corridors and ridiculously steep skinny stairs with a 35lbs bag on my back. I tend to feel like i will either fall backwards and just sit on the stairs, or the bag is going to ride me like a sled face-first down the stairs.
I am reminded of that Ghannaian markets as i travelled through the streets as I tried to find the hostel. The streets are lined with African yams (not to be mistaken with orange yams, but big brown trunk -like tubers), okra, hot peppers and chunks of meat. However here is like a up scale Ghana market with all these splays of food in window shops, rather than on a wooden shack baking in the sun. The meat is kind of similar to as i watched full and half pig carcasses being thrown around. But rather than baking in the sun with the flies feasting on a wooden table as in Africa, these London pigs were being unloaded from a refrigerated truck into a metal shopping cart. Just dead headless pigs in a shopping cart. I found the butcher shop a few more minutes down the street.
The exact same smells on these streets though, that smoked fishy, curry, hot pepper smell. Dani and Carolan you know exactly what i am talking about.

I am already in love with Europe though. I love looking left at a Gothic spear of a cathedral pierces the sky above the old brick buildings, or looking right and seeing a domed arch from a church or university hovering beyond the top a pub. It is so wonderful. I spent my later afternoon after a much needed nap hanging out in a church courtyard sitting on a sarcophagus while i revelled at the beauty of the old building.
I am going to love this country!

New to Blogging

2008-07-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I am hoping to try and use this while i am traveling to update everyone on my journeys and experiences! I am not sure how well i will do at this but could be fun!
I leave in 6 days, and am slowly getting prepared and a wee bit nervous, but also VERY excited!
So i hope that you enjoy the stories and my adventures. All I can say is that i hope there is no RED DIRT.