Back in the USA - last blog

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone who read this, it was really nice knowing that people back home cared about what we were doing and all. I know I really got behind on blogging, I haven't done it for a month, but that's how it goes I guess! I didn't even make it through blogging about even half of our adventures, but I'm sure you will hear about them at some point. Being back in the United States is strange, but the culture shock isn't as bad as either of us anticipated. It is nice to have a warm bed, three meals a day and hot showers, not to mention a fresh change of clothes every now and then. But traveling was the most educational, insane, amazing, kick ass and ass kicking thing I have ever done in my life. It is the biggest goal I have ever accomplished, nothing can compare to that experience. And for all the nay-sayers out there that think we should have followed the status quo and gotten jobs straight out of college, I say "Life is short. Plus, you wouldn't understand, it's a backpacker thing." Here is a final list of conquered cities:
Brugge, Belgium
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Milan, Italy
Bellinzano, Switzerland
Lugano, Switzerland
Trieste, Italy
Rijeka, Croatia
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Lokrum Island, Croatia
Makarska, CroatiaI
sland Hvar, Croatia
Split, Croatia
Munich, Germany
Dachau, Germany
Nurnberg, Germany
Cheb, Czech Republik
Prague, Czech Republik
Ćešky Krumlov, Czech Republik
Vienna, Austria
Salzburg, Austria
Florence, Italy
Rome, Italy
Pisa, Italy
Cinque Terre, Italy
Cres Island, Croatia
Ljbluljana, Slovenia
Venice, Italy
Brussels, Belgium

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year....

NEXT STOP: SOUTH AMERICA!!! (to be continued....)

Dachau

I forgot to do the best and worst of Munich. BEST: The lighthearted atmosphere WORST: The prices!!! Too many €€€!!
OK on to Dachau...we spent half a day here. It was the first concentration camp ever constructed and served as a model for the rest of the camps. What can be said about this place? It is terribly hanting. I cannot say it was a great expereince, but it is something I think everyone should see. The gate the prisoners walked through states "Work will set you free" There is the large open space where the roll call was held every morning, there were abotu 35 bunks they lived in in terrible conditions, but these were torn down after liberation. They rebuilt a few to show how they would look. Dachau mainly housed political prisoners and Cathoilc priests. While it was not a death camp like Auschwitz, the primary function was for labor so many people worked to death. Around 40,000 people died here. There was a building used for manufacturing tools and this place has been turned into a museum where you can read about what happend at Dachau and watch a short film. Behind this building is another buliding, this one was where the experiements and torture were carried out. There is a hanging pole, an execution wall and inside are cells where the prisoners could stand only, it is terrible. this place was left intact and was occupied for a short time by the US military at the end of the war, but they didnt touch anything. The cells are terribly dark small and cold. They had some picturse and documents about the terrible experiments that were performed here. Dachau was a large training base for the SS. The building is used by the German government today, but it is not included on the concentration camp tour. Some of the grounds had to be recreated becasue in the anger and sadness that followed the war much of it was torn down (mainly just the bunkers). There was a section of land outside of the camp where the crematorim was. Although Dachau had a gas chamber constructed towards the end of the war, it was never used. They did expand their crematorium through the war and were able to burn about 20 bodies at once. Sometimes they would jsut hang people above the entrance to the oven so it could be done quickly. At the end of the war, the coal had run out and the bodies were just piled in massive piles around the crematorium. The American soliders saw this and before they did anything they brought the people of the city of Dachau to come niside and bear witness to what had happened. The citiyens of the city had been lead to belive this was more or less and reform type camp, where the prisoners had been learning how to behave better or something. Tehn the soldiers had to dig two mass graves, each holding about 1,500 bodies. These graves lie in a peaceful area just behind the crematorium, in addition there are more execution walls in this grassy area as well as graves for the ashes from the crematorium. We had an audio guided tour so we knew what was going on most of the time, and we got through everything but we stayed until close and you really could have erad everything it would have taken an entire day. It was a terrible testimony to what happened during the Holocaust. It is strange to think it happend not long ago. It puts you in an incredibly somber mood, you really dont know quite how to act after that experience. I am so glad we did it though and so glad that Germany has taken so many steps to showcase the horrors as a way to make up for what happened, rather than destory the camps in an attempt to cover up mistakes made by Hitler. It is illegal to read Mein Kampf, and if you get drunk and feel like saying heil hitler to a cop, you will get clubbed and taken to jail. The people are still a bit sensitive about the whole thign and are aware that the world has a certain perception of them still becasue of all that happened.

Munich

I know I wrote a bit about Munich, but I wanted to finish up. We went on the bike tour and learned so much about the city, it was jsut lovely. The architecture is really quite nice and the history is fasnicating. Munich was started as a salt trading town by monks and later more and more people settled there. It was hit quite hard by several plagues. The Glockenspiel in the Marienplatz is a huge attraction that dates back to the 14th century, basically it is a huge clock with little dancing people in it and everything in the clock has a meaning. Munich is the capital of Bavaira. Bavaria is like Beer Land. The people there have a very light hearted and carefree spirit, they love their beer and celebrations. I particularily liked Germany becasue the trains were always on time, the Germans English was great, the people were the friendliest we have encountered, and everything was quite clean. Munich was horribly expensive but there were no beggars, I didnt feel in danger at any time, and the subways were incredibly clean. I thought the city fantastic and would like to return again someday becasue I didnt feel Id seen everything. We went to the infamous Hofbrauhaus, which is now a toursty place(another reason I really liked Germany, I didnt feel it was entirely a tourist trap, the city kept its own beat regardless of tourists) the Hofbrauhaus also was the site of Hitlers first rallies. It is a giant beer hall and its really hot. After Oktorfest it wasnt as cool, but it was still really neat. We went to the Chinese beer garden in the Englisch Garden on our bike tour, and went to the Hofbrauhaus (our second time) with the tour group that night. Munch of present day Munich has been rebuilt becasue it was demolished during WWII. But it si fantastic and the weather was surprisinlgy quite nice. The Englischer Garden is much larger than Central Park and much more beautiful and clean, it even has a nudist section and we saw naked people playing frisbee. The food wasnt phenominal but we had to try the sausages and saurkraut for the experience. All in all I really enjoyed my time in Munich and wish I could have stayed a day or two longer.

Things I will never take for granted again

This is a list of things I have come to appreciate over the course of the last few months...
NEVER AGAIN WILL I TAKE FOR GRANTED:
-hot showers!!
-the dryer
-knowing what stuff means
-central heating
-the cheap cost of living in KS
-the freedoms i have
-free internet in libraries
-never paying to pee
-free refills at restaurants
-free chips at restaurants
-free water at restaurants
-the dishwasher
-the garbage disposal
-my perfectly straight teeth
-my privacy
-the smiling customer service in the states (for the most part!)
-my MUSIC!
-seeing and talking to family-friends every day
-in general, the abudance of opportunities i have as an american

Things I do not miss while abroad:
-expensive wine
-the pizza and pasta
-my cell phone (dont know how i will deal with it when im back)
-noisy TV all the time
-rush hour traffic
-the celebrity gossip
-drama amongst friends

I do miss KU but not going to school and working simultaneously, I really miss my family-friends and familiar food (esp now that we are living in a communist convent, haha). It is really werid not knowing what movies are out or have come out or what is gonig on in the news, I really have no clue, I am kind of tired of wearing the same crap day in and out becasue it is annoying to wash and rewash but I look at my possesions differently. I have way too many clothes. I do miss wearing different outfits but the fact is there is not reason for me to have all the crap I have. I have lived almost 3 months without 99 percent of my bullshit and am just fine. The funny thing is that changing your lifestyle has different effects on different people. I do realize now how little I can live on and how much excess we cloud our lives with. However, I dont know if I am just a creature of habit, an American pig, or most likely both, but I miss some unnecessary comforts I didnt think I would, namely the hot showers and the dryer...and people eat quite simply here. I have mixed feelings on this also. Yesterday we had lunch and everyone is like "Oh I am fine with just bread and cheese" Matt and I are like "Ah! WE need salami or something!" Teh Croats told us that we eat a lot, they dont understand becasue we are skinny. Well I look at it and think, ok , you really can get by on cheese, bread and soem fruit, you really can simplyfy your life and cut out the crap and streamline it and all that good stuff...but I like the richness of food and the colors of my clothing, I dont nkow what that means, maybe I am a glutton or materialistic, but I love beef tips and fried chicken and baking high caloric desserts...I love food and all kinds of it, I dont see how you can not! Last night I dreamt of food, so did Matt. He dreamt of breakfast and I dreamt I ate these two dishes of food, and they were so delcicious in my dreams, there was even a cheesecake! I know I am not covering any travels but just my thoughts. OK going to wrap this one up now I am hogging the computer, Im going to go read my Dance Europe Magazine that cost me 13 dollars....Matt is drawing a vulcher.

Volunteer Program

I will write and catch up later becasue I am over a month behind, but to answer questions about what we are doing with the volunteer program...it is on the island of Cres, which is outside of Rijeka in Croatia. It is a small island and in the summertime is usually overflowing with tourists, but as it is November there are literally about 30 people in the town of Beli, and the volunteer program is situated just outside of Beli. So its really really dead. We are part of the Eko Center volunteer program, you can get details at essentialcroatia.com but basically we do random things to help the center run smoothly. Show guests the exhibition, yesterday we picked olives at a grove and we also spent part of the day restoring a wall on the trail. The place is set way back and it runs like a small communist colony. This is a great experience becasue then you realize why communism is a lovely idea but really really shitty. It is one persons job to cook, one to clean the toilets and the rest do the "labour" for the day like restoring teh walls or whatever. What is annoying about this is that we really have no say as to what we eat, and nothing is yours, everyone works for the good of the whole. We are sleeping in a dorm and it is freezing the worst conditins i have ever slept in becasue there is no heat in any of the buildings and the room is literally about 50 degrees. WE both have about 5 really thick blanekts on, taking a shower is totally miserable. The days arent too bad when the sun is out though. The first day we were here was All Saints Day which is a national holiday in Croatia, so we didnt work. Instead we took a 5 hour long hike around the island, it was tiring but very lovely. We read poems along the way and took in nature. We also explored this crazy deep cave along teh way..there were bats inside and everything. That part was really cool. The bulding is divided into three parts...the sleeping and showering quarters that are so damn cold i spend as little time there as possible, and the exhibition area with all the information about griffon vultures, then the place iam now which serves as a communal gathering space, also has a kitchen and a small stove we put wood into to prevent getting hypothermia. They have little odds and ends to eat for our meals but in my opinion it is quite meager...food is expensive though. Everyone here except Matt and I are vegetarians so we have been eating really random things and meatless meals with soy that other people fix...it has been an experience. As of tomorrow we will be the only two volunteers left...this weekend were joined by Dan from England, Sofie from France and a group of three twety smoethings from Croatia. There is a 19 year old girl running the program as well and a few advosr types taht pop in occasionally. In the back of the eko center are the vultures, huge ass birds that are quite scary to look at. The goal of the center is to promote the rehabilition of the birds as they are essentail to Croatias envoronment...like many species they are endangered. To protect them we have to do all sorts of random crap, restoring teh walls is for the sheep, the sheep are the food of the vultures, picking olives just seemed like free labor to me, but apparently teh trade off is that the olive oil that reslults from the olives we picked goes back to the eko centar for cooking, but not all of it of course. Personally, since we had 6 college educated individuals on board this weekend, i thought that building walls and picking olives seemed to not utlize us to our full potential, but what the hell do i know. IT is a nice little community with its definate flaws but thats just how it goes I guess...the Croatians were a nice enough group but they kept inviting me to their pity parties, and I always respectfully declined. There are times, especially here at the centar, that everyone is just rambling on in Croatian and we dont know what is going on and they dont bother to fill us in, its frusterating. There is also a little puppy here and it is very cute but such a little shit, it constantly bites your leg and is freaking out like satan. Right now it sounds like it is possessed next to me. I hope this short summary lets you guys know what we are doing...today we had our "day off" and slept for 11 hours, no joke, we are both just exhausted from traveling and ready to come home. Packing and unpacking and wearing the same stuff is just getting old. And unfortuanlty I find that I am not as excited about seeing new things becasue you get to a point where its just information overload and you start shutting down. IT has been quite the experience though. We came here Wed and will leave next Sunday morning, I will probably lose my head by then but the nature around is very beautiful. We went on a boat two days ago and spotted the birds in their natural habitat, tomorrow they are droppoing matt and i off at some random location for 8 hours to observe the birds actions in the wild and write it down. This would be much more pleasant if the weather was just a bit warmer...oh well. We have both burned through a few books, I just finished one about 14th century Florence and he is reading Huckleberry Finn!! There are lots of funny stories and other things to tell but I will tell them later on I guess. You should know that yesterday we were picking olives fro this old croatian man and he was asking us a few questions about oursleves so i told him about me being croatian and the last name is babić and so he started calling me ms. babić. Then Matt farted and i started cracking up and he says "Ms Babić, what is so funny?" And i jsut told them all that Matt had gas. Poor guy.

I heart Bavaria

bavaria is amazing. Not only are the germans really really nice but the culture is just so fantastic...laid back, a little bit alcoholic but ther architecuter of munich was so lovely, the weather was perfect and the city nice, so clean, the trams and trains amazing. Germany and Austria have such excellent train systems, always on time and so clean! I really had no expectations of Germany and this worked out for my benefit becasue I really like it so much, i feel like i must go back to germany some day...every place so quaint. I want to go back and see Dresden, Berlin, Frankfurt and back to Munich, the first place I really felt like I didn't have enough time to spend there. We decided to go on a bike tour that day, even though it was a national german holiday and nothing was open...we went on a free bike tour that relied on tips, we had a funny but obnoxious tour guide from ireland. the bike tour was fantastic. we saw so many wonderful things and leanred so much, the weiredest thing is the nazi history that previals throughout germany, you can see that they have really tried to make up for some of their horrendous past...but munich was where hitler started his first political rebellions and where a lot of stuff happened, and a lot of it at the hofbrau house. more later....in florence now

bitten by the bed bug

well guys, the hostels have caught up with me, and i have officially been attacked by bed bugs. i think it may have happened in salzburg, which is weird becasue it was a really nice little pension we stayed in...i think i may have to email them. i woke up this morning from the train and had the welts all over me, except i noticed a few before we boarded the train so i think it happened before then. so gross i know, and matt doesn't even have them...so that is sick. the weather in florence is lovely although the town really isn't...overtouristed...i am at the point where if i see one more church i will vomit, also getting really sick of repaacking unpacking just feeling gross and dirry, it has taken six weeks but i am at that point. not really homesick although i do miss you all but just sick of being wihtout things and wearing literally the same shirt each day...oh well guess i have to go buy some italian clothes...hhaa will try to blog later if you have facebook the pics are up there!

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest was a blast. When we first entered the gournds, we were surpised that it looked much like a carnival, rides and games galore, except the whole place smelled fantastic, like cinamon and nuts and baked goods. There are tons of little stores selling German hearts with writing on them, it's so neat! Everyone there dresses in the traditional German way, with the trousers and dresses and all, and even teh kids are drinking! There are so many beer tents, excet they are actually huge wooden houses constructed just for Oktoberfest, inside there is a giant oompah band playing in the center of the tent, there are tons of reserved tables and such and there are seats outside. We were loking all around and we finally found a tent we could get into - The Paulaner tent...we sat next to some guys and were busy chatting away with them, they were German and very very nice. Ifound that the Germans have dfinately been the nicest people we have met thus far...anyway they were really nice and fun to chat with, we started with a liter of beer each, itwas very expensive, almost 8 euro for a beer which is over 10 dollars...anyway we got there around 3 and stayed until the tents closed around 11 but i only had 2 liters, still al ot. We learned how to "prost" that is cheers in German, also sang the German drinking songs, had the MOST DELICOUIS CHICKEN BREAST EVER i guess it is traditional german cuisine, sooooo good! So salty and fatty...mmm...and the experience was just surreal. The German kids dont act out of control and it is not as bad as you would think, I felt perfectly safe and everyone was there to have a good time and celebrate life, not to drink to their deaths. Although there was one lady that got carried away on a stretcher but Ithink she was having chest pains, who knows. The day was beautiful, the weather perfect and we had made some new friends....except this one German guy who kept talking crap in the states, then the conversation completely flipped once he realized we weren't morongs, he admitetd tha the lovedt h staets, had been there 15 tiems and could like to move there one day...so strange.next thingwe knew it was getting late and the tents were closeing so we started to leave, on the way things got mixed up and kate ended up getting separeted from us, this was bad news so we were freaking out and couldn't find her, we waited by the subway and she came and all was well, we went back to fabiola's to crash. We were in the subway and kate and i were talking, a german kid heard me talking and starting flirting with us, then he asked me "Where from? UK?" i said "no, the US" and with that he said |"bah" and ran away, i was so annoyed...then we got into a deep conversation about life outside the dorms before passing out late in the evening in munich, it was all in all a great day, despite the ignorant american-haters!

Blame Canada

Ladies and gentelmen, let me introduce you to the newest bad word, the A-word...AMERICAN! AMERICA! There I said it. It is time for me to go on a blogging tangent...not describing people or places or things but feelings, feelings deep inside that get hurt...by CANADIANS. MY NEW LEAST FAVORITE PEOPLE ON EARTH. NEVER EVER EVER AM I GOING TO THAT F'ING COUNTRY. Not only do they put Canadian flags on their backpacks so that everyone knows they are definately NOT to be confused with their American brothers (identical accent, hence the confusion) they consistantly deny us. When a fellow traveler meets you, generally the first topic is "Where are you from?" Sometimes people guess, only on the accetn, and group together Canada and the USA. But they will say, "Are you CAnadian? .....American?" with a voice that gradually gets softer. After Isay American they sigh relief, saying that so many times when they have asked a Canadian if they were American, the Canadian was highly offended. When someone has made that mistkae with me Ihave never had a sharp reaction, but the Canadians will be like "Hell no I'm no American, no way!" Becasue we must have leprasy or something. Last night I heard a guy with a water bottle that had a Candadian flag on it misusing the "A word" and there have been other incidents....at the concentration camp Matt and Ivisited, he overheard a few teenage girls in front of him chatting away "Yeah, and then this guy in the subway like totally flipped me off becasue Ithink he like thought Iwas like American and I'm like no way i'm canadian!" gag me with a stars and stripes spoon. So I have become close minded like them and have decided to deny my nothern brothers and never support their economy...hahahaha

And while Iam discussing anti-American sentiments, it hasn't been bad in a while, but man it gets so old. I told Matt Ihaven't figured out how to deal with it yet, we agreed that people who want to start something aren't even worth our time, but man it is irritating. What is so confusing to me about this is that eveyrhwere we go, American clothes, American music, pop culture, politics, everything, so it is so widely publicised and embraced, like everyone has adapted and adopted our culture yet they act like they hate us or that we suck. This is just really confusing to me. i think it is several things, one is if they are only halfway literate they cant tell the different between me and my government...they automatically associate me with what they see on TV. I also think it is the media and that they think we are like what they see on TV, becasue they watch all of our shows and that is all they know, and Ialso think they may be jealous becasue we have a lot more opportutnies than they do. I think our work ethic and mindset is just different...it seems to me that weare taught that the sky is the limit and it is easy to start or own your own business....but here it is not so easy, some countries haven't even been out from communism's rule for 20 years yet...Ithought that coming to Europe might make me detest the US for things like everyone being so wasteful and driving big cars and whatever, and maybe i have learned that people here utalize smaller space and live much simpler than we do, yes they do, but Idon't think that it makes them better. I feel very fortunate to have grown up in the states and am very proud of my country. Do i agree with all of the politics right now? Of course not. But name me one government in this world that is not corrupt and I will move there today. Point is that we are not so bad....really. I love the states and have not found one place that Icould honeslty say "I'mchanging my citizenship and moving here!" Europe has so many wonderful things about it, like the art, the history, the archteicture, the pizza, the beer, the wine, and all of the crazy foods and different cultures, but let me tell you that that have CRAPPY coffee and salads and wierd hamburgers and i will tell you my biggest beefs with europe:you have to PAY TO PEE AND PAY FOR WATER EVERYWHERE. Water at a restauarant is more expensive that wine or beer. It is just insane, nobody lends you a free helpilng hand anywhere and you dont realize how much you have it tell you don't have it over here...yesterday we went gorcery shopping. Not only was it 1 euro just to use the shopping cart, you have to bag your own groceries (this is everywhere) and you have to buy the bag. Wow. Where is Dillons when Ineed it? So that is always interesting, but so this means that when people say Europe is so much cooler or so much better or whatever it is not, it is just different. That is what we are learning. You cannot compare Wichita with Lawrence even, because they are different. You cannot compare apples to oranges, same thing, anyway Ilove learning new things and traveling is so insane and amazing and all those things, but really when it comes down to it, they've got nothing on us. And if you have facebook, pics are up now and a few videos. Ipicked up a USB cord from a really nice Austrailian guy whose camera was stolen so Ican do it whenever Iwant now...Iwill when Ihave the time. Right now we are in Vienna (and nothe biggest fans...) and going to listen to the Vienna Boys Choir tomorrow at Mass!

Beginning of Munich

I forgot to add that in Rijeka, we sat and visited with some of Jasna's friends. We told her we wanetd to hang out with them but the majority of them made other plans becasue we were in town...and they were afraid and embarrased to speak English. It is really weird to me that everyone here speaks English and that people are usually kind of embarassed if they dont speak it, I did not realize how mcuh of an international language it really is and that everyone is taught it in school. It makes me feel stupid. Anyway JAsna is freinds with this girl from work and her husband and they have two kids, the husband spoke fluent english so we could converse, the wife didn't know what we were saying. It was nice though, we sat and had turkish coffee and soem dessert and hung out with her friends, everyone over there smokes like a FIEND and drinks coffee like it is their job...i think jasna smokes 5 cigs while we were there for an hour and when we eat in rijeka sofia serves us white coffee then black coffee, it is just a lot of coffee. I told Jasna about my impression of Europeans and I made her do it for a picture, soemoen sitting at a cafe with a cigarrette saying "You stupid American tourists!" but it is with an accent anyway it is funny, like the "You people make my ass twitch" from French Kiss. You really have to keep a sense of humor while traveling, unless you have backpacked I think most of you reading this may have a slight misconception of what it is like, I would like to clarify that it is not glamorous, fun or romantic, it is a crazy adventure and exciting and the most insane and cool and challenging thing I have ever done, but believe me sometimes it sucks and sometimes all I want is to quit moving around and have a shower, but it is totally worth it. And people are assholes to you to, but sometimes really really nice. Anyway THE BEST THING ABOUT RIJEKA: family, seeing all the family THE WORST THING ABOUT RIJEKA: It is really industrial looking, with lots of oil rigs Anyway I shall write about our first day in Munich and sign off because we have to go eat soem Czech goulash, dumplings! and climb a castle. Anyway when we first got to Munich I was incredibly tired and crabby we had only had about 5 hours of sleep. We wre lost in the S-Bahn and U-Bahn train station, but at least it is incredibly clean. The weirdest thing about the subways around europe is that they dont even check to see that you have paid. Not like in NYC or Chicago where you have to slide something into a slot, no they just trust that you have paid! So weird. So we finally found our stuipd way to the Studeenstaadt station, way up in Northern munich. We were going here for our first couchsurfing experience. Oh no! Couchsurfing! It was great. Well not at first, becasue we couldn't fine the girl and we only had one picture to go by, we had made arrangments online but had no phone numbers exchangd, so we waited for half an hour and it was FREEZING it is much colder over here tha in the states, we can see our breath. So we are dying and finally we are about to get back on the train to go to my friend Kate's in Nurenberg when a little voice says "Matt?" we see it is Fabiola!! She takes us right to her room, we stayed in her student dorm, all she has is a bathroom, a stove and one room with her bed, we slept on air mattress on her floor. It is the student dorms for the university, she is incredibly smart and stuying law in German, even though she is from Brasil! She is fluent in Portugese, German and English. It was insane. She was very generous to us and just let us have the key to come and go whenever we pleased since she was stuying and writing some paper on penal law in German all week. We ate some breakfast at her little student breakfast area for really cheap, ran some errands and took a nap on her floor while she wrote her paper. My friend Kate came into town and we went downtown to meet her, we saw teh Glokenspiel (google it, very cool) it is enormous and really neat...Kate came into town and we all had some lunch together before making plans to head to Oktoberfest...ok I will prob blog more tom night because we have free internet in oru hostel in Vienna! Ciao for now!

Last bit of Croatia

Hello my friends! Writing from český krumlov, a city we have fallen in love with. I should first say that we have decided to slow down our trip a bit, it seems within this last week we were tripping over our own feet and moving far too fast. So, upon arrival in this lovely city, we decided to stay not one night, but three, and push Venice back behind our volunteer program. this will give us more time in cities so we aren§t as rushed, and more time in Rome, becaue we think we will need it. First of all, I should talk about our appearances...we have not lost any weight that I know of, but Matt has not shaved since Milan, this would be almost a month ago, and he has somewhat of a beard if you want to call it that haha...he is looking very scruffy and his hair is getting longer. I, on the other hand, have not had a hair cut in 6 months and my natrual color is cmoing back in so it is very light...but in about 2 hours I am going to get it all done at some little Czech salon, we wil see how this one goes...so slowing down is good! The last part of Rijeka was Jasna taking us to a mall so Matt could get new jeans, she also took us to a lovely castle that overlooks Rijeka. It had been stormy and cold but it managed to warm up quite a bit. That might we had pizza and went to a club. In the club, tehy play all the American tunes as they do in bars back in Lawrence. Everyhere in teh shops tehy play these tunes as well. The next day Jasna took us to Opatija, a small town next to Rijkea with colorful houses and a weird concrete beach, we had some gelato and then later some coffee or wine...itwas nice...geting colder though. And she used to party in this town but says it is now taken over by the retirees. She also took us to her favorite spot for coffee, a lovely cafe=bar that overlooked the sea in Rijeka and the only soccer field by the ocean in Europe. This weekend we really bonded with Jasna and she said she felt like she had known us forever and we felt the same, it is really nice having family over here becasue it is like a home base to have and they treast us so warmly...they packed us lunchse again for our trip to Germany...we slept on a night train and it was very noisy and not good sleep but oh well..ok Germany later we have to finish our laundry and book a hostel in Vienna! Bye for now!

In Praha with no Time to Blog

Hey everyone...we are in Prague and were going to take some time to blog but it seems the internet cafe we are in is closing ¨down in 3 minutes so sorry...but we are alive. I guess the only thing I can tell you in this short time is that we are heading to a small town in the Czech Republik tomorrow called český Krumlov and after that to Vienna, Austria. český krumlov is where the movie hostel was filmed BTW. After Vienna on to Salzburg. Germany was fantastic...ok more later, really will try, but as you can tell we are just having too good of a time to sit down and blog every day so sorry i cant find the exclamation point +ěšččřřžýááííéů§ bye

Rijeka once more, plus Opatija

Upon arrival in Rijeka, we literally just got off the boat and we felt someone poke Matt with an umbrella, it was Zvonimir! He somehow always knows when we are arriving, it was really creepy. The wather was crappy and we had bad sleep so even though we ate on the boat of course Sofie had food waiting for us...she just loves to cook! It is cray, jedi jedi! No that is not something from star wars it sounds like YEDI YEDI This is common for her to say "Jedi, Mate Jedi Yosh!" She is saying, "Eat, Matt, Eat More!" It is hilarous. We took a nap after telling them of our tralves, then ventured down town with Zvonimir. When we came back Jasna was home, we ate dinner, we had stuffed cabbage, it had soy in it and was interesting...and then we watched the storms, they were ferocius, coming in off the sea, but beautiful to watch. We could not go out so we stayed in and Matt and I taught the family how to play spoons, talk about something awesome...Zvonimir was afraid to play becasue he could not understand Matt at first because of the way he explained the rules...but then Zvonimir LOVED SPOONS. If you guys remmeber it is a very simple game but fun to play. Jasna loved it too, then we played the Croatian game Jamb whichis much like Yahtzee. It was a really fun night. They have no microwave, garbage disposal, small trash can, no TV upstairs and it is kind of nice. All the food is homemade and organic, I probably wrote this before but it still blows me away. Sophie makes some things that I just love and somethings that are jujst so different and hard to eat, oh the worst was the salt fish that Jasna loves. They are little silver fish with little tiny bones that you EAT abbey is freaking out i am sure, she eats them straight out of hte can, and matt and i said ok we have to try them, it was so awful! Oh my god they were so disgusting, but we did it! So sick. I have pictures, they laught becauese I take pictures of their food all the time. Besides the salt fish we also ate spaghetti, except the spaghetti consisted of tuna fish and tomatoe sauce...and she has made some wonderful desserts! OK more later tomorrow!

Last Days on Island Hvar

We finally made it to the beach Wednesday of last week on Island Hvar, we went to Island Parmezana, just about 34 minutes from Hvar, removing ourselves farther from civiliazation...anway it was much lovlier than the other island and the weather was great for a good three hours. Matt and I got lovelz Mediterranean tans this day, yes you should be jealous! We laid out and went into hte ocean even though it was very cold, once you get in it is great but still very chilly. If thie sun is out you just cannot do it! After this we went back and did kind of nothing...made some chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. The next day we went to the city of Stari Grad, on the other side of the island, it was supposed to be much better and more youthful than Hvar Town. It was mujch like the other city though, in fact we ended up playing even more gin rummy and doing nothing in a little cafe. It was cold. We ran into a girl our age from California, she said we hit the island about 3 or 4 weeks too late, that all the life had drained out of hte island becasue it was not warm anymore. The thing is, even with all the life and people, we cannont afford to eat out at the fancy places and whatever, we saw the club that Paris Hitlon (gag me) went to , called CArpe Denim, it was soooo expensive and not even that cool. I just would not recommend this place for the backpacker types or the people who like easy going places...it seemed a good place for people with a lot of money and boring...Stari Grad was not exciting but at least something different to do. the next day we came back to Stari Grad to catch yet another overnight ferry to Rijeka to see the family again, and the boat was so much worse than last time, the wather in Croatia has been quite turbelent, the jugo, or south wind, has been driving a ton of storms all up and down the coast. It was stormy at sea and I wish I had some dramamine...I never travel by boat and I did about 20 times in 12 days so it was just a new thing, but this boat ride was awful! Rocking back and forth, doors slamming open and closed because of hte motion of the boat, I literally felt sick, tried ti sleep, it was terrible! It took 2 hours to get from STari Grad to Split, we spent about one hour in Split for a dinner break and get off the damn boat, and I saw there was a little restaurant called Babic, so we busted our butts to get there, it was nothing special, it was just a litle fast food joint but we still got some crappy pizza and got back on the boat for a rocky road back to Rijeka!! We played MORE cards and drank a bottle of wine...oh my I almost forgot about on Stari Grad, we did poke our noses into some odd churches and cobblestone streets which were quite quaint and charming, and Matt felt like he had to talk to the locals :) This resulted in us trying all of this terrible I mean TERRIBLE homemade alcohol, Matt tried shots of schnapps and other crap, ugh it was so bad, I said Matt now you have tried too much you must buy SOMETHING so he bought this bottle of wine, and as I sit here he is sharing a glass with the girl we are couchsurfing with and they cannont drink it anymore because it is terrible. It was a good experience and really funny and interesting becasue they let us into their house to try some wine and other bad liquors, but we couldnt understnad each other at all and the wine literally was like really old vinegar, we just acted kind of like we liked it, terrible!! But really funny. Island Hvar ended up being a dissapointment because it had been built up to be something awesome and really wasnt...but oh well maybe just going at a different time would be better, who knows? Ah well! BEST THING ABOUT ISLAND HVAR: The day at Palmezana, the mediterranean tan WORST THING: Dont even want to go there

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!