Makarska, Island Hvar

I am not really sure what I have and have not written about but...we finished our stay in Dubrovnik by partying with this hilarious couple from Australia that were in the room next door. Matt and I ended up breaking two of their plastic chairs just by sitting in them. Our guest house in Dubrovnik was so beautiful. We were kind of ready to leave though becasuse although it is a beautiful city there isnćt much to do. We took a bus to Makarska and spent Saturday there. Mom and Dads will freak, but we just waited until we got off teh bus in Makarska before finding a place to stay. We had noticed that at every bus station there are always little old people wanting to seel you a room for the night we just chose that option. She was kind of weird but still nice, she tried to jack us out of 20 kuna (only about 4 bucks but still) for ˝taxes˝but matt said no...Makarska was a nice little city although besides the beach and little funny shops along the way there was not much to do. Matt bought a pair or white beach pants and he is anal about them, wears themj all the time, he is now Euro and very metro sexual. We moved on to Island Hvar the next day, after hearing glroious reviews of this island we couldnćt wait. Well if it were so great do you think i would be wasting time in an internet cafe? It sucks. We canćt figure it out...did we just hit Croatia at a dry time since tourist season is over? We reallz didnćt have that high of expectations but there is nothing to do. Even in Dubrovnik and here, we resorted to exploring the nearby islands in the hope there would be something interesting to see. In Dubrovnik, we went tothe island of Lokrum and here there are wild peacocks that come up to us, we went to the nude beach!! OMG gasp everyone at the same time yes we went to a nude beach let me tell you the people at nude beaches really just should not be nude. We hiked around the mountain that surrounded the island and climbed up to a fort, here we could see old Dubrovnik, into Montengro and out tothe ocean. It was lovely. There were kind of interesting things there, but today we decided to try for an island becasue THERE ARE NO BEACHES IN HVAR TOWN. It is so messed up, but once we got there we were like what the hell and it was terrible, all we did was play gin rummy for like 3 hours to kill time until we could come back here. The weather is ok, but today it sucked. I am not trying to whine my head off but we are both ready to move on to Oktoberfest and Austria. All there is to do is eat at expensive reataurants. Thex donćt really have hiking or mountain biking or things they do in mountain towns in USA. We do have a nice guesthouse here that was very cheap, and it has a full kitchen so we went to the grocery store to cut down on food expenses. We think we might try to go the town of Stari Grad tomorrow, becasue so far Hvar Town has nothing to offer. Even the stores are poopy, they onlz cater to tourists, it was like that in Dubrovnik, I donćt watn a hamburger or stupid shirst that say I went to Croatia I would like authentic clothing and foods and such, it is just silly. I think they just might not be used to tourism or something. Everyone said Hvar is so great and Rijeka isnćt even in my book as a tourist destination but there is more shops and things to do there it seems...I dunno! Oh well, not to be a downer just thatćs the way it is!! I do think I got a little tan though so thatćs good. Oh and I donćt think there will be pics up any time soon, they just donćt have that capability here. I threw a temper tantrum in Dubrvnik as a result of this. Well more exploring this weird islan (the rocks on the beach are razor sharp like coral) and then back to Rijeka via an overnight ferry come Thursday night. Update later...love to all!

Rijeka down to Dubrovnik

We traveled on a boat from Rijeka to Split. Jasna was kind enough to drop us off, I m in love with her, she is so beautiful, she looks like a model! Anyway on boad the ship we just slept in a little couchette they are just little cots, it was a four person room but we had to to ourselves. The boat is huge, Matt says cruise ships would dwarf it though. We bought a bottle of wine for about 4 bucks on shore and drank it on the boat. It moved fairly slowly, I think it takes about 8 or 10 hrs to get to split so after we drank the bottle and talked we went to sleep. The boat boarded at eight and docked at Split at about 6AM. Then we hopped on a bus bound for Dubrovnik. This takes about 5 hrs and is nauseting. The boat is fine, but Crotian terrin is very rocky so we just bounced around and felt like barfing. Once in Dubrovnik, we got ripped off by a cab driver and found our hostel. You have to walk up SO MANYSTEPS EVERWHERE It is the city of rocks, cats and steps. nyway our hostel is more like a hotel, it is so nice, beautiful view, not close to many things but it is peaceful. We went to the new part of town this day, grocery shopped and tried to find the beach. Of course we got lost and did eventully find the beach, this is after we pretty much scaled cliffs and bouldered around Croatia. It is kind of hard to find the beach, and it is really rocky so itćs not like easy to lay on. The water is such a beaitufl color though. Matt jumped off a 50 foot cliff, it was so huge and I was nervous but he did it. The water is kind of cold. He says it was fun and the water was kind of cold, but it is really clear and jumping was worth it! We canćt ever find a stupid place to eat around here, it is impossible! Yesterday we went into the old city, Grad, and it is very beautiful. We walked Dubrovnikćs old wlls, and since it appears I will never get pics up you should just google dubrovnik and the old city it is insane. The town is built on a cliff so you see the sea right next to it. The city is reallz expensive though. The weater was insane yesterday, pretty uch a torential downpour and lightning and then it stopped and so we went to the banje beach then it stormed again like cats and dogs so we went to a cafe and then we blogged and hung out with this croatian guy and ate hamburgers. That is a really abrdged version of what we did but no matter what I write i could never explain the colors of the sea or the rocks or anything. Tody we have to to run some errands but we are attempting the beach today, possibly the island of Lokrum tomorrow and then we are heading to Makarska or Split Sat and Island Hvar until this thursday. Hopefully the weaterh will be nice. Not sure when wećll blog again! Love to all, wish you could see the beauty of Hvratska too!

Well we traveled again all day this made us realiye we canot do this anymotre. We went down from Switzerland and just barely made it to the train to Venice. Well actually of all hte things people told us about europe i wish some one would have told us how to work the damn eurail pass. You have to get it validated before boarding the train, PLUS you have to buy some stuipd reservation ticket. so we were planning on boarding a train before noon and didnćt get on a train until 2. All you need to know is that we waited in lines, we were frusterated, hungry, we wainted ona bench for an hour and a half, well yes it really sucked. ?lus i hate the milan train station more than any place in europe. it is dirty and if you have to pee you muhst pay the US equilivlant of $1.50 which is bullshit so i just ran onto parked trains and peed htere and ran off.oh well. so long train ride to venice. barelz made it to the train in trieste. we literally jumped off the train, ran to the next train and seconds after we boarded the train to Trieste it started moving. Lucky! We made it to Trieste too late to continue on our waz to Rijeka so we stazed in alocal hotel for the night, got up earlz to catch the bus to Rijeka at 8:30am. When we arrived in Rijeka just after lunch Erica immediately recognized Zvonimir as he approached us on the sidewalk. He was soooo happz to see us, he kissed her once on each cheek and me (Matt is writing now) too. A little weird, but I didnt have much of a choice. We rode the bus back to his house and met his wife Sofia. Sofia is small, extremelz motherlz and adorable. She was soooooo nice and loved to cook for us. She throw food in front of us from everz direction. Some good some bad, but it was quiete an expereince just trzing each tzpe of meal. Their family is veagan, so no meat. Thez also donćt drink alcohol, we wanmted to buy them a bottle of wine but no go. Thez want us to learn the Croatian language but it is extremelz hard. We know how to saz Good Day, Dobra Don, Thank you, Hvala and some other stuff that I donćt want to trz to spell.except jesty that means eat and sofia always says this. theey call matt matae it is funny sometimes it is really hard though it took us like 20 minutues just to communjicate that we saw fog on the ocean (more). The view from their window is absoulutelz phenominal. Thez look over the manz small clay roofed houses that lead down to the Adriatic Sea. Its nice. After food we went on a walk, took a nap, ate some more, did some laundry and crashed fairlz earlz. Next daz we started our journez down to south Croatia!

The day of travel from hell. Ericaćs version. We woke up from Milano and traveled all daz...our train broke down in Switzerland and so we were kind of stuck and behind schedule...anzwaz basicallz we wound up in Bellinzano, Switzerland and it was just so beautiful. If you can can imagine a place more beautiful than Coloraodo it is here. Anyway the plan was to go to Lake Como but since the train broke down we decided to maybe stay in Bellinzano. But Matt and Pa Pa are mountain men and wanted to go expploring. So this meant we speant about 2.5 hours in teh car driving through the mountains of Switz, oops that is the Swiss Alps. Anyway I wanted to get the hell of out of the car and see things but we just kept dribin and kdriving to nowhere! Finally we came to a place, it as called Lugano, I think Pa PA had this scheme in hismind the whole time, it was quite beautiful,. it was lakes and mountains and just really breathakging. So pretty. We had dinner and walked around and it was just too pretty to describe. No matzter what I wriote on here I will never be able to describe the things I have seen or how breautiful they are. It would be impossible. Even the pictures donćt do it justice. Anyway all yopui need to know is that we spent way too much time in the car and I will go back to Switzerland some day becasue it was gorgeos. I should say that MAtt doesnćt see it as a waste of a day, he ios very advenzturous and wnatned to go exploring up in the nmoountains. Oh and our condo was so beautiful. Wecould look right out over the mountains. We had spahgehtti. The end. I wish we could have spent more time there. Sorrb about the spelling we are driniking right now this guy in a cafe in Dubrovnik just gave us a shot of some shit from a tree i reallxy donćt know but whatever sorrzt!

We are in Rijeka

I know itćs been a few daya since you have heard from us so we wanted to let you know we are ok. We are on a computer with Zvonimir. We got to Rijeka last night and are leaving tonight on a ship for Spli, Croatia. We are sleeping on the ship, will take a bus to Dubrovnik from there and arrive in Dubrovnik around noon our time. Sometime in the next couple of dazs I will sit down and write more but wećre here and ok. It is really different, espeiciallz the food they eat! They are very hospitable. More later. Love to all! Erica and Matt

Milano!!

Sitting here on a crappy computer. Our first impression of Milan was not too hot. We flew in from Amsterdam on our Easy Jet flight, and the plane was wierd b.c you pick your own seats and you have to pay for the food on the flight. But we didnàt buy any. BTW the keyboards are really different here so excuse me if I mess up. OK I guess you can pick your seats on Southwest Matt corrected me. Anyway we flew in To Milano and we immediately got onto a bus that reeked of awful BO and it was terible. The bus ride lasted about an hour to get us from Malpensa Airport to Milan, and it took us to the train station which is really ghetto. Then we got on the tram (after getting lost again, thatàs what we do here) and came to the area where Nee Ne and Pa Pa had their hotel. We didnàt want to stray too far even though in hindsight we should have. The area we are staying at is not cute. There is graffiti everywehre and trash and bars on the windows and shops and everything closes really early. We got into Milan about 1.30 and we waited and waited AND WAITED for the gparents who didnàt get here until after 8!! We got something to eat and wandered aroudn and found that the langauge barrier in this part of town is particularily strong. No one understood us and luckily Matt knows some spanish becasue otherwise itàs too hard to know what each otehr are sayign. I wonàt bore you all with the waiting part but know that it hapenend for abo0ut 5 hours. Then when they finally got here all hell broke lose becasue, well, matt and i are unprepaired. We initally werenàt going to even stop here but since the gparents are we decided to, and so we didnàt have a hostel or hotel for the night and were just plannong on sneaking into their room and crashingo n the floor. Well they were too smart and figured out we were staying here and we ended up getting a cot and paying a little extra for the room but I paid for their dinner so hopefulyl that helps out somewhat. Anyway then we got some pizza. I tell you the food here has been simply amazing. We have had paninis, the bread is so fresh and crunchy, then there is speck which is like a salty dried ham, and just lots of cheese and ham and wine and pizza and pasta and wine and ravioli and wine. We most of the time can read the menu but sometimes just wing it. Iàm really surprised how many people donàt speak English. But thatàs ok. So we had pizza that night, it had that awesome speck on it and brie cheese and we had wine with that as well. Then we came home and crashed. I will get pics up someday, but the bathroom is funny becasue it has smoethign that you wash your butt with after you poop. Anyway we were just glad to sleep somewhere that didntà smell like pot. This morning we woke up and screwed ourselves becasue we were supposed to be on the 930 tour of the Duomo and the last supper but we missed it. Today the trams and trains are all on strike, so we had to take a taxi or walk, although they started again this afternoon. We went downtown and figured out we missed it, and spent the day wandering Milan, getting lost, which is just what we do. We went to some really cool and creepy churches, they are 1000s of years old and they even have people buried in the walls. We also went to the Duomo. OMG it was huge and amazing and looks like those crystal castle things you can buildi donàt know if you know what i am talking about but itàs awesome. It is the third largest church in the world and it was build by some guy (we foret who) who built it for the virgin mary in the hopes she would grant this guy that built it a male heir. You get harrassed more in Milano more than in the otehr places we have been, this man from Senegal gave us "free" bracelets, actually he tied them to our wrists, literally accosted us, made us give him donations, then these stupid idiots thought we would like to have piegeons all over us and so tehy put these seeds, no they SHOVE the seeds in your hand and the piegeons flock to you and i was like screaming and "Gross gross i hate them!" we ahve funny pictures OK ABOUT THE PICTURES EVERY COMPUTER HERE IS STONE AGE AND DOESNTà HAVE A PLACE FOR ME TO PUT IN MY MEMORY STICK SO I AHVE TO GO BUY A USB CORD IàM SORRY HOPEFULLY I WILL HAVE THEM BY MONDAY OR TUESDAY IN DUBROVNIK FINGERS CROSSED. That is also prob the next time we will blog. Anyway I hated Milan at fist bc of the ghetto graffitti and it was ugly where we are staying but when you go downtownit is quite beautiful. The thing is, they donàt really take care of the buildings as they should, like restoring them or putting up flowers, so it just looks bad, but downtown looks nice although there are still over 1.5 million people herer wichi is still too many. The Italians seem friendlier (with the exception of the hotel staff) and that is nice, they are also louder and I think they woudl rather shop than eat...all very skinny. I like haering them talk much better than the Dutch. Also weird things are the bathrooms. You have to hold down the handle for the water to go down and one time I had to pee in a hole I just had to squat. And I coudnàt figure out the sink, becasue you turn it on by using your foot on a pedal. Also the lights in ITaly are weird, they are on the outside of the door and they are like these square buttons. Oh yes we called our Croatain friends at an internet point and they are expecting us on Saturday, it was really funny talking to them, the language barrier here amuses me more than frusterates me. Anyway the crappy thing is that even though PAPA tried to negotiate with the tour people they didnàt care and we didnàt get to see the last supper. But we did also see some nice parks and the place where they play soccer in Milan. And everyone but me bought some Euro glasses. You should see Nee Nee and Pa Pa itàs really funny Pops looks metro sexual. haha. We also had some gelato yesterday and some today that was like iced cappachion and it was sooooo good. And also I should mention that I bought a pair of Italian boots for £19 which is about $24 and they are cute! And Kelsey will think I am an idiot but in AMsterdam I bought some skinny jeans! And a soft sweater. Iàve been depriving myself of crap in the USA so I could buy more crap here and make nee nee and pa pa take it back. They have really outdone themselves taking care of us, and itàs so much fun traveling with them. So everyone clap twice for Nee Nee and Pa Pa. Do it now. Oh and Matt got something for Collin and in Amsterdam I got something for my mom but we are gonig to ahve to smuggle it back and no itàs not pot and Matt wants to say he bought some socks in A'Town. Tomorrow, Friday, we got to Lake Como all day, and a little town in Switzerland I forget itàs name. Itàs only an hour from here. Saturday Matt and I split off from the grandparetns once again and make our way to Rijeka. It will take most of the day. We will then head down to the bottom of the coast, starting in Dubrovnik, to make our way up the coast, and hopefulyl along the way Iàll come across a cord to get the pics up! Sorry! Ciao from Italia for now, itàs 830 here and weàre goign to bed!! WORST THING ABOUT MILANO: Too many people, graffiti everywhere, trash and crap of big city life BEST THING ABOUT THE MILANO: Best weather EVER, the food and the shopping, the buildings. WE LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!! M & E

pics

sorry forgot to say that pics will be up (hopefully) tomorrow when we get to Milan b/c they give us free internet here at the hostel but they don't give us access to the towers so i can't plug in my USB cord!! love to all
Matt and ERica

Amsterdam

It took us five hours to travel from Brugge, Belgium to Amsterdam, Netherlands. We oftentimes do not really know where we are going and ask people a lot. IT's not so hard when it's in French becase Erica can read it sometiems but the Dutch is really hard. All the words are like , well for example our hostel is on Vossiusstraat and another street is Nieuwendijk so it's just hard to read it or understand. Anyway the train ride was interesting, I think that both the Belgian and Holland countryside are not paticularily glorious looking...there are fields like KS but it's much more lush and green and more trees. There are cows. And the windmills are not like the ones in the books they look like KS wind turbines (Garret!) so yeah. Anyway when we got off the train we wanted to walk to our hostel which took 30 or 45 min and that was kind of a bad idea becasue the packs are pretty heavy but we saw a lot of things. We were just pretty blown away and were looking everywhere. There are SO MANY PEOPLE everywhere and we prob each had about10 near death experiences being run over by a bike or car or even a vespa. There are so many people riding bikes, both here and in Brugge, but here there are bike lanes and they are red and people will ring their little bell at you if you're in the way but you still might get hit. Yesterrday we rented our own bikes to blend in and get around faster but they basically scream tourist so the blending in part wasn't successful. Our hostel is crazy, there is a bar downstairs and it smells like pot. We sleep in a 14 person dorm there are people from all over the world here but mostly England. Most of them travel alone. LAst night and the night before we played games and hung out with an Irish guy (Aidan) a British guy (Ben) and a French/Spanish guy (Adrien). They were fun to hang around and it was embarrassing how knowledgable theywere of our politics and we don't know anything about theirs. They were cool and very smart. We spend out days meandering the canals, literally getting lost in the city, and seeing a few landmarks. We went to the Van Gogh museum yesterday, I think it was good but honestly we were both sad that Starry Night wasn't there! Oh well. I loved Anne Frank Huis (that's the Dutch) it was very moving and powerful and I coudn't belive I actualyl got to see the real secret annex. Oh we also went to the red light district twice, don't worry parentals it was in broad daylight. There really are hookers standing in all the windows and holy shit they are ugly and gross. Some are ok looking but a lot arefat and just yucky. And I only got yelled at once for taking a picture but see I am practicing my "hip shots"and got a few good ones (one of a really nasty one) and 2 videos too. I told Matt that if I were God and I choseto strike a place down it would be the red light district. Just pot shops and porno shops and hookers everywhere and there are people of all ages there like even really old men! it's weird. It is fairly expensive to do anything, so the last three meals we have gone to supermarkets (hard as hell to find) and gotten a few odds and ends to eat. We just get bread and cheese and a baguette and make do. We sent postcards to some of you and picked up a few presents too...We've met lots of interesting people but it's true that nobody thinks highly of Americans which I find annoying since they wear Nike nad Levi's and Justing Timberlake and American bands are played EVERYWHERE even rap like Nelly!and American brands. Tonight we are going to bed early b/c we have to get up at 6AM (or 11 PM your time) to catch a tram and then a train and then a plane to Milano where we will re-meet Nee NEe and Pops. Oh and if you guys don't get cards from us from Amsterdam it's becasue we were about 80% sure we were sticking the postcards in mailboxes. They are weird looking and I'm just not even sure that's what it was, so yeah. BEST THING ABOUT AMSTERDAM: The Anne Frank Huis, the crazy hookers and people here you'd never meet anywhere else WORST THING ABOUT AMSTERDAM: too many really unfriendly people, the crappy weather (we haven't had one sunny day yet!) I think we are both ready for the beach :)

Brugge continued...

After the canal ride we passed out early becasue the time differnce is so great and we were exhasusted. We got some wine and looked out over the city over our room. Matt had his own room. And in the morning we got up and went straight to the "lace place" as Nee NEe called it, they make lace there and it was ok to go to, even Nee NEe said it was a bust. We did manage to watch a lady making lace on the street and i took a video of it, but I'm an idiot and I deleted it from my camera. We then went to a chocolate place becasue Belgium is famous for it's lace, chocolate and beer. Then Matt and I climbed the stairs to the Belfry Tower, pics up later, but it is really huge, 366 steps to the top, and very tiny winding staircase. From here we could view the city from a birds eye view. Then we went and had some belgian waffles (very good and light and crisp) and then went on a brewery tour. We saw how some belgian beer was made and then we got a pint of it for ourselves. I've never seen Nee NEe drink before so that was fun. We also saw Michalenglo's "Madonna and Child"which was really cool and in the chocolate place they had carved an exact replica out of white chocolate! Then we ate at a cute place and MAtt and I decided to try Flemish Stew. It was kind of like beef soup not that different. We then went home and Pa Pa watched golf in French and we went to bed. The only thing I didn't like was the walls were sothin so I could hear this baby crying for literally hours all night it sucked but that's ok. The next monring we got up and WALKED to the train station, it takes quite a while but we like doing it. BEST THING ABOUT BRUGGE: it's quaintness and quietness and the architecture
WORST THING ABOUT BRUGGE: people are not friendly (stinkin French) oh and Europe in general sucks b/c you have to pay to drink water or pee but oh well bye!

Brugge, Belgium

Brugge was a lovely city, full of canals and flowers hanging from the windows. We took a canal ride with NEe Nee and Pa Pa, of course after getting lost from the train station. We didn't sleep a wink on the plane and my neck is still sore! Once in Brussels we got lost immediately finally found our wayto the train to Brugge and once there we got lost again. Finally we found our hotel by way of a cab. Anyway the canal ride was beautiful. Overall, the weather in Belgium and in The Netherlands is not nice. It has been cloudy every day and has rained the last two. It is quite chilly, I alwasy have at least two layers on and pants and socks. The town is very quiet and I have been able to practice my French, but some people speak Dutch as well. There aren't many young people. More later...check back in about 7 hours

We're in Amsterdam

Hey all...it's about 5:00 Am there and its 1PM here...anyway people have been inquiring about the blog and I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything just yet. Matt and I are going to eat some lunch here at the hostel (we bought salami, brie cheese and a baguette) and then wonder around Amsterdam before we leave tomorrow. Tonight we were planning on finally sitting down and updating you all on what we have beendoing, plus I will upload my photos and videos! So check back later this afternoon. I'm guessing we'lll blog and post around 8 or 9 PM our time, so early to late afternoon in the states. Sorry it's taken so long but we're ok! Love to all (Erica and Matt)

Itinerary

Hello all! We are still in KS but are trying this thing out. We are flying into Brussels and immediately will get on a train to Brugge, Belgium to meet up with Erica's grandparents, Nee Nee and Pa Pa. We'll try to pop into an internet cafe as soon as we get somewhere in Brugge. Stay tuned!