Friday, September 30, 2011

Nuremberg (Nurnberg)

Before I update about anything, I first have to say that all hostels should have soap in the washroom... Urgh... Not all of them do and it grosses me out. Also, a hand towel or paper towels or a blow dryer, something so that I'm not wiping my wet (but not necessarily clean) hands on my definitely dirty pants.

We made it to Nuremberg ("Nurnberg" in German) early this morning but not without some challenges, primarily trying to buy a ticket for the subway. We couldn't find a ticket machine anywhere and were quickly becoming frustrated (another train station, another city and a subway ride away from where we were staying). Thankfully there were a couple of guys beside us speaking English so I asked, "Do you have any idea how to buy a ticket for the underground because I have no idea...?" lol. One of the guys has been living here for two years for work (from the USA) and his friend was visiting him. The first guy was so extremely helpful I could have hugged him! He led us downstairs to find a ticket machine and when we didn't find one (He said, "They do things differently in Nuremburg" and shook his head... lol). He told us to stay put and left us with his buddy as he bounded up the stairs to find a ticket machine for us. Once he found one he returned to us and showed us how to use it. He was so incredibly helpful and we are truly grateful for his time!

We made it to our hostel, after asking directions from a man in the park with his son/grandson, before noon and ended up having to wait until after 1pm for the reception lady to show up - which was frustrating as we wanted to find a doctor and whatnot this afternoon. She eventually showed up and we checked in. Our room is pretty basic but at least it's off a busy road instead of like Munich (even though Jeff and I would both go back if we could find somewhere to stay! We should have looked... Oh well.). And did I mention that a bunch of guys were walking down the street in leider hosen this morning drinking beer before 9am? Happy Oktoberfest! I wish I could wear my drindl all the time, lol.

We headed off to find a doctor right away and found one close by (we found five of them actually, all in the same place). Jeff got some antibiotics and we promptly filled the prescription - he took his first one before we even left the pharmacist's counter (what's really funny is that she offered him a glass of water to take his pill and she brought him water with gas... lol "How are you supposed to swallow a pill with that?" after he already had some. We still don't understand, or like, the carbonated water, it's definitey not refreshing for us.)

On the way back we stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things, knowing we'd be back later anyway to figure out dinner.

Then we went for a walk to the Messe, even though we didn't know what Messe was (and "messe" was written all around us!). We later learned that it means "fair" and that there is a huge fair trade park near us. We walked hoping we would see something but after seeing nothing and making it back home and then googling it, we realized it all had ended... Oh well; I'm not sure how neat it would have been anyway as it seemed very commercial.

We headed back to the supermarket and picked up some t.v. dinners, pasta and broccoli for Jeff and spinach and potato for me. Both were half decent for a microwave dinner; we were hungry and probably would have eaten anything.

We're now watching Nurnberg's local news (in German) on a t.v. in the 'sitting room'... It's a couple of tables with a few chairs. The kitchen across from us was disappointing as we thought we'd be able to use the oven or one of the hot plates for dinner but with no plates or bowls or pots or pans it's really not possible; that's why it was t.v. dinners for us tonight.

Tomorrow morning we plan to go to the Exhibit of Fascination and Horror; it's about the Nazi rallies here in Nurnberg. It should be an interesting and yet sad exhibit. Then we'll head to our other hostel (which we're hoping is infinately better than this one). We couldn't get Fri-Sun at that one so we had to break it up, which isn't all that bad since we're closer to the exhibit here and closer to everything else, including the train station, there.

Hopefully it'll be early to bed so we're up to see the exhibit before we have to check out at noon (it's a 2km walk or so, so it'll take some time).

Until next time, have a happy weekend!

Amanda

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Oktoberfest day two

We got up this morning to a breakfast, that we didn't realize,costs €4.50 per person (not the slightest bit cheap and they barely had anything to offer! Such a rip off). I ate regularly and Jeff had a bun. It was only afterward that we realized there was a cost, whoops. No one had said anything and everything was in German and I just forgot to ask. Afterward though, I asked if we could pay €5 in total instead of €9 because Jeff didn't have anything but a bun and a little butter, not even remotely close to €4.50 (you could have bought half of their spread or more for €4.50!! Urgh). Anyway, I asked for a favour because Jeff is so sick and one of the girls made a big stink about it, that I had "booked" breakfast for two people (not true, you don't "book" anything) and so we were supposed to pay the full amount. Long story short, I only paid €5 for us both, which is still a ripoff but better than €9.

Then we headed off to the doctor's office and found he was out of the office so we were given directions to another place. We saw a nice German man who prescribed the same stuff Jeff is already taking (we only found out at the pharmacy afterward) but told him to take more and that things should improve by tomorrow, if not, to another doctor we go.

After all that we headed off to Oktoberfest because no matter how sick, Jeff was going to have at least one beer (7 months of anticipation will do that). We went into a different hall than yesterday and easily found a seat. (Jeff read later in the day that, that hall is where the official keg tapping happens to kick off Oktoberfest and the first mug goes to the Bavarian prime minister. I think it's also the second largest hall too.) The area was reserved but only at 4pm, so we had lots of time as it was just after noon. We each ordered a beer and enjoyed the music and festive atmosphere, then decided to get something to eat. Now, let me tell you, reading a German menu is very difficult! We had no idea what anything was, okay, that's not true, I did recognize apple strudel... But everything else was unrecognizable. Eventually we just pointed to what someone else was having and got one of that, lol. However, the mashed potatoes we thought we were getting turned out to be a "potato ball" which was kind of like mashed potatoes but much stickier... I would have preferred mashed. Along with our potato ball I got a huge leg of duck and a quarter chicken AND some bread soup! Jeff had the soup and a little taste of everything else. I have to say, this was the best German meal I've had so far. Who knew I would like duck? lol

Once we finished our meal we headed off to another festhall, this one was enjoyable too. We shared a beer because by this point I was pretty much "beer-ed" out... (I was full) and Jeff had to be careful with how much he had. The hall was festive with lots of people singing and swaying, standing on their seats and dancing along to familiar songs. It was fun to watch and to participate with "Ein Prosit" whenever it started, which seemed often.

Not only are the beers different at each place but the theme (I think.... One was crossbow hunting) too. Our servers all wore differenf outfits as well at each place and they were quite different from each other.

Once we finished our beer, I picked up a chocolate covered banana on our walk home. It was good :)

We headed out again a short while later to get our train tickets for tomorrow, we even navigated the automatic ticket machine! We picked the cheap train at the fixed time of 9:06am (a little early for us as we'll arrive early to the next place and again won't be able to check in, unless by chance they have a room ready). On our way back from the station I wanted to see how much a blouse and drindl would cost and as soon as I tried one on I had to have it! lol. I just looked so darn cute and very German! It was about half the price than at home which made it that much more enticing; I can pull it out every year at Oktoberfest at home and say I got it in Munich! :). Jeff looked at the leider hosen but it was quite expensive and he couldn't bring himself to get it, but he sure encouraged me to get mine (I must've looked good! lol).

Here's a drindl that is very similar to mine; my blouse comes off the shoulder which I think is a little younger look :)
http://lederhosen4u.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/07.194223552_std.JPG (copying and pasting the link works)

On our way home we picked up some dinner, I got sausage and potato salad and Jeff got half a small chicken.

I immediately put on my blouse and drindl and got Jeff to go for a walk around the fest area with me. It was super busy since it was the end of the day! The festhalls close at 10pm (very unlike home where they close around 1am, I think) so the evenings here are packed. We didn't even try to get into one of the halls so we just walked past all the rides and food and games. It was pretty to see it all lit up, which is why I wanted to go when the sun went down.

I think Jeff and I went at the perfect time for Oktoberfest, in the middle of the week and in the middle of the day as we had no trouble finding seats. It would have been nice to sit with some other people who spoke English though, oh well!

We've packed up our things in preparation for tomorrow's early morning. Jeff is already asleep and has been for a little while (it's 9:30pm) as he was pretty tuckered out.

I'm nearly ready to hit the hay too, maybe read for a bit first.

I'm glad we got to enjoy Oktoberfest the best we could with Jeff being sick, we'd definitely come back for it...we've got high expectations for home now! :)

We're off to Nuremberg tomorrow so I'll update from there!

Much love,

Amanda xoxo

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Oktoberfest!

"Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit.
"Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit."

(German drinking song sung often at Oktoberfest, approximately every 15 minutes, lol and I've read that there really is no good translation but this one seems to be the closest...)

"A toast, a toast, a cozy place!
A toast, a toast, a cozy place!"

We made it to Munich around 12:15pm after a three hour train ride from Heidelberg. We met a nice American couple who have been living in Germany for a couple of years with their young kids because the husband is in then U.S. Armed Forces and has been stationed here. They love it and aren't looking forward to going back to the USA next year.

Thankfully our hostel wasn't far from the train station so it only took us minutes to get there and check in, although we had to leave our bags in the lobby area because our room wasn't ready (which we're getting used to and are getting more comfortable with since we can, at the very least, lock our bags).

We stopped at a pharmacy to get some more stuff for Jeff, he's stil not well which is so hard, especially at Oktoberfest... If you know Jeff, you know he likes beer.

We're within walking distance of the festhalls, maybe seven minutes but instead of following a map you can follow one of the MANY, MANY people dressed in either drindls (for women) or leider hosen (for men). Admittedly, I'm a little jealous and want to be dressed up too, but they're not cheap and I'll have to lug it around for 5 more weeks... Not convinced though... I may have to get one since we celebrate it at home too... Urgh! Can't decide!!

Anyway, we made it to the huge park area that is all set up like a giant fair, with rides and games and food stands everywhere (a lot of pretzels...). We picked a huge festhall to go into and found a seat immediately. It isn't as busy (and yet very busy) around noon on a weekday, most of the tables had notes though, saying they were reserved for 3pm, so we knew we had until then. A lady brought me a litre of beer (a litre!) and I happily took lots of pictures, lol. Jeff didn't have anything but watched me. Every now and again, "Ein Prosit" was sung which was entertaining - lots of people standing and clinking glasses in toasts.

There were soooooo many people in the festhall, a sea of people! I can't imagine what it would look like at night time (we'll wander around tomorrow night as Jeff is resting tonight).

It took me an hour to drink my beer and then I wobbled through the fair ground taking pictures while munching on a pretzel. By the time we got home I had felt the full effect of my German beer... Note to self, I need more than an hour for a litre of beer... I crashed and had an afternoon nap.

We headed to the grocery store and picked up a few things, but not many as we don't have a fridge or kitchen area here which is really frustrating, especially since we have paid a small fortune for this room (we don't even have a small lamp or anything so it's super bright until we go to bed - maybe we've been spoiled at other places?). Then we grabbed some dinner from a place down our road, we got pasta.

Jeff's now reading a magazine and I'm trying to decide if I should get a drindl...

We'll hit the hay early tonight so we have lots of time to explore tomorrow, although I don't know how well we'll sleep as we're on a loud and busy road, not to mention the many sirens (ambulance - not good) and drunk people making a ruccus outside. I may need to pull out the earplugs!

Anyway, we've made it here and have a whole day ahead of us tomorrow to wander through the festhalls and maybe even get a seat (at least until 3pm).

Until then, alvederzane!

Last night in Heidelberg

I just have to say that last night was great and exactly why we enjoy hostels with a community kitchen; food brings people together! We sat around with a few others (two Germans and one other Canadian) and laughed nearly the entire time. One of the German men (young guy) was helping me with the languge... Once I hit 10+ words he said I know spoke German... lol. The Canadian guy (from Vancouver area) told a story which involved scaring raccoons with a hockey stick that really made me laugh. We had a really enjoy able evening laughing at pronunciations, cars (German man is buying Toyota next time because they meet the same standard as German cars. He doesn't understand the VW beetle but I explained the average person driving one at home was a woman in her forties, he thought that was funny).

Anyway hilarious night and I'm glad we were here to enjoy it :)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Last day in Heidelberg

We were up and out the door this morning after breakfast to find the laundry place. It took about 20 miniutes walking to get there only for us to realize it was €7.50 (more than 10 bucks!) for a wash and dry that would take at least two hours... Urgh... Such a huge pain... But we really had no other options and I wanted a break from washing in the sink (and Jeff hadn't done laundry in about two weeks!). We put our stuff in and got it going with the help of the lady running the place - it sure was busy so that must be the cost of doing laundry here. We wandered down some street and killed about 40 minutes before making it back, thankfully there were only 9 minutes to go. Our walk was calm and slow, just taking in the sight and sounds of this little piece of Germany. We're beginning to notice chain stores and other things since we've been here for awhile. The laundry lady offered to put our stuff in the dryer for us as it would be awhile, so we took off to the old town where we were yesterday.

We visited the Student Prison where Heidelberg University (the oldest in Germany) had "autonomous jurisdiction over students for its first five hundred years (500 years!!!). Beginning in 1886, however, this right to render judgements against students was curtailed. Since then, the university's jurisdiction has been limited to internal disciplinary matters.

Depending on the seriousnss of student's offense, imprisonment could last from two days to four weeks. Students were, in theory, still permitted to attend lectures during confinement. Yet life in the prison was considered fairly comfortable, with students making use of their jail time - if at all - to cut classes or immortalise themselves on the walls and ceilings via paintings and poems.

We take great care to preserve for future generations this legacy graffiti, which bears unique witness to the times and a very special kind of prison life." University of Heidelberg visitor information

It was neat! Nearly every square inch of three floors and four rooms were covered in graffiti. I wish I could have understood what all the writing said! There were a lot of silhouttes done and drawings... The oldest date I could find was from 1880. The place was dark and gloomy but the graffiti really made it a unique. Some of the offenses that could get you there included public drunkeness or obnoxiousness, harrassing the police, etc. Jeff read somewhere that at some point students considered it an achievement or honour or credit to spend a night in the student prison, even if they only got bread and water the first two nights (and then afterward whatever they wanted, including beer! Not too shabby really. They could even rent blankets or pillows or bring their own.)

After the student prison we went to this gorgeous lecture hall, the Great Hall. It used to be used as an actual lecture hall with desks and seats for students but is now used for ceremonial events such as the annual celebration (of the univerisity I presume), inagural and farewell lectures and graduation ceremonies. It was quite the room done in "neo-Renaissance style" (whatever that is!).

We stopped in a grassy area we found (there aren't many) for a break before heading out to find some lunch. I had a brautwurst sausage and fries and Jeff had a subway sub; I think it is sitting in his belly so far which is good! We stopped at a pharmacy and got some herbal stuff for his stomach and so far no scary gurgling noises.

We picked up our laundry after getting some souvenirs and then hopped on the bus back home. We've got our shoes off and are taking a break. We'll have to pop downstairs to the supermarket to figure out dinner; all I need is a vegetable to go with my leftovers :)

Tomorrow we've got a three hour train ride to Munich to explore Oktoberfest, and everyone we meet who has gone says it is nuts and that a litre of beer is nearly $14! So, who knows how this will go, at the very least we'll wander around where we can and if we can find a seat somewhere, bonus!

Hope you're having a good morning,

Chat soon,

Amanda

P.S. It's a little hard to believe that we arrived to Europe three weeks ago today. We sure have been busy and have been doing and seeing lots, without getting caught up in the "just do it because we're here" (i.e. Stuff we don't really care to see). Still five whole weeks to go, which is awesome and lots more planned!

We'll be in Munich from Sept 28-29
Then Nuremberg from Sept 30 - Oct 2,
Then Prague from Oct 3-6,
Then Cesky Krumlov from Oct 7-9
And then we'll book for Austria and Italy!

So much more excitement to come :)

Monday, September 26, 2011

Adventures in Heidelberg

So, to recap last night. Jeff and I walked over to the train station in hopes that we would find some food there as most places around us were closed. Lucky for us we found a small grocery store in the station which was super convenient! Jeff got some peppermint tea and rice crackers for his belly (what a sad dinner) and I picked up a questionable frozen dinner... lol. It had red cabbage (that I don't usually like but did this time), some small piece of meat and these dough balls that could have been potato... I'm not sure. Overall it was edible, that's it.

Our hostel here is great. There is a fully stocked big kitchen with cutlery, pots, pans, mugs, hot plates, microwave, toaster, kettle... You name it! This is the place we've been waiting for and it's too bad we're only going to be here a few nights. Oh well, Oktkberfest is calling - by the way, Jeff said I have to start prcticing drinking beer because we just can't sit at a table at Oktoberfest and he may not be able to do it... Great... Urgh... At least I can drink a beer really slowly!

Anyway, we've got lots planned for the day so time to have some breakfast (provided by the hostel!); Poor Jeff is back to his rice cakes and tea this morning, hopefully it helps.

...

After breakfast we headed out to Marktplatz (Market square); we took the bus as it would be a fair walk to get there and then all the walking we had planned. We dressed in shorts and t-shirt, if you can believe it, as it was going up to 24 degrees, although everyone else out and about was dressed pretty warm - we must have stood out! It didn't matter though because as soon as it warmed up we sure were glad we had dressed cool :)

The streets in the old town are gorgeous, very picturesque with the many colours and shapes of the buildings along cobblestone roads. It was very pretty and a nice walk as we wandered around. We decided to visit the Schloss, or the castle, before it got too hot outside and I'm glad we went when we did! It was a very steep walk uphill on cobblestone which had us panting and sweating by the time we got to the top. Now, there was a lift of some sort that we could have paid to take us up there but I figured we are master climbers now so it shouldn't be a big deal... Jeff didn't agree, lol He's still pretty tuckered out from being sick, we're hoping today is the last day of not feeling so well. He has been improving - it would be great if he could have a beer at Oktoberfest in a couple of days.

Anyway, on our way up there was a lady dragging her bicycle up some stairs and I gave her a hand because it was packed with stuff. Lucky for us she was the guided tour coordinator and brought us into the castle and on a guided tour free of charge as her guests! That was very kind of her seeing as I only helped her up a few sets of stairs. Before we went on our tour we got to see this wine barrel that can hold up to 220,000 litres of wine! It was huge! We learned that commoners back in the day paid their taxes in wine if they didn't have money and so the wine in this barrel was pretty awful because everything all got mixed together. This wine was served to those in the banquet hall by a pump during events and was used to pay the servants (eventually there were spices and other things to help the wine taste better). That was pretty neat.

Our tour lasted an hour and we were taken through different areas of the castle, including a very "hygenic" double toilet that was outside the building (very ritzy for the times!), the banquet hall (which has since been rennovated and is rented out for special events... For 450 guests at about $14,000 for the night!), and a number of other rooms. We also got to see the dry moat and a room where the people played board games. Now, I couldn't tell you who lived there or the political history, even though I just learned about it (reminds me of school), but I won't forget the posh toilet... lol. I do remember that parts of the castle were gothic style and other parts renaissance but that's about it... Oh! And one guy who lived there was only in power for three years because he ate way too much when food was plenty and he ended up weighing over 400 pounds at five feet tall! I remember those details... lol

After touring through the castle we went to find the castle gardens but couldn't find them and by then we had made it back down the hill; neither of us was keen on making our way back up it, so we headed to the market square for a break. I found some pizza and Jeff munched on some terrible crackers, rice cakes and water (ewwwww). We're hoping he can try a little protein tonight as he's practically running on empty (he's having a nap right now).

We wandered through the shopping district, which looks the same as all the other towns we've been in, and found the old bridge to take a picture, then we hopped on the bus for home.

Jeff's resting and I'm going to read for a bit (I found a second hand English novel from a bookstore!). We'll head down to the supermarket to pick up some items for dinner later.

We've got some more things planned for tomorrow before packing up and heading to Munich :)

Hope you're having a good morning :)

Amanda

...

We picked up dinner from the grocery store below us (I don't think I mentioned that our hostel is big because it's part of an old factory building so we use the cargo elevator to go down four floors when we're feeling lazy); Jeff had Uncle Ben's instant rice with tuna and I made some gnocci with beef boulioun cubes and a red pepper... A German man staying in the hostel laughed at my cooking ability and how I cut my pepper, at least I managed to feed myself!

We then booked a few hostels into October so we have a plan for the coming week or so, which is comforting :)

Time to hit the hay before more exploring tomorrow (the student prison!)

Night!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Heidelberg

We arrived to Heidelberg! And for those who don't know, Heidelberg makes us smile because a small town back home where some of Jeff's friends are from goes by the same name. We've actually noticed a lot of towns here that are the same as home... Waterloo, Hanover, Neustadt, Heidelberg, Baden, Hamburg and others. We must have gotten a lot of our town names from Germany! Neat.

Our train ride was fast and easy, even with a layover and we found our hostel very quickly. We arrived too early though so we left our luggage and went for a walk. Poor Jeff is still hurting and we're running on a couple of nights of terrible sleep. Hopefully Jeff is feeling better by tomorrow as there is a lot we'd like to do here.

It's about 3:30pm here and I'm in the hostel lounge listening to a couple of men sing at the top of their lungs outside in the courtyard, three floors down, which is carrying very far (and although was slightly amusing at first is becoming more and more annoying). Oh - a brief momnt of silence!

Jeff is hopefully having a nap upstairs. Our hostel is nice; it's big! There are lots of rooms, many dorm style but Jeff and I have our own, which we like.

I'm going to do a little research regarding what we're going to do after Oktoberfest and then maybe get some gelato - it's pretty hot outside!

Chat soon,

Me xo

Okay, really soon. I went for a leisurely stroll on my own with a two-scoop cone of gelato (so delicious); it took about an hour to tour around and I took my time. I found where we can do laundry, although it's kind of far; You have to pay to have it washed and dried (€7) and pay an extra €1 if you want it folded. It's not cheap but it saves us from sitting around and waiting... And come to think of it, I think it's our only option.

I found a McDonalds on my walk (of course, they're everywhere) but I also found a number of porches too, not something you see all the time back home. Jeff and I've seen a Lambourgini too. Pretty spiffy cars if you ask me. But my toyota corolla is classic... :)

I enjoyed the architecture along my walk and the peacefulness of being out and about with no pressure to be anywhere.

Jeff's just awake now (5pm) so we'll see how he's feeling and take it easy tonight. I'm not sure if he'll be up for eating much for dinner and seeing as it's Sunday our options are pretty limited as most places are closed. Tomorrow morning the supermarket downstairs will open up and we'll be able to pick up some belly-friendly items.

At least the man outside has stopped yell-singing... :)

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Getting lost

Today was pretty uneventful but still enjoyable. I didn't get up and out the door (on my own as Jeff took the day to recuperate) until after lunch time. I went for a couple hour walk where I got rather lost... I knew where town was so I knew I could get back, but being on the road I thought I was, that wasn't happening. I walked through a nice but rather hilly park with a number of different trails, I ended up finding an old Romanian Orthodox church and this old building with a large crucifix in it... I couldn't tell you what it was.

Along my walk I found Baden-Baden's beautiful rose garden; it had gorgeous flowers and pretty statues and shrubbery. I literally stopped and smelled the roses. The whole garden smelt wonderful. Getting lost is sometimes the best thing :) As it was hot and sunny out I continued along on my walk in the shade. The weather is very much like spring or fall at home, cool in the mornings and evenings and warm in the afternoons.

I read this afternoon when I got back and took care of Jeff. We both talked to our families via skype (very neat to hear those familiar voices from so far away). We grabbed some dinner from the place down the road from us, a doner pizza; Jeff is currently seriously doubting that choice... Too late now (as his stomach growls as loud as thunder - no joke!).

Time to hit the hay now that we're all packed and ready to hit the road tomorrow.

I'll update from Heidelberg!

Traveling reality; some perspective

It has to be said that traveling like we are doing is not easy. Although we have done some great things and have made some funny memories, not every moment or even every day is great. It's tiring (although not worth stopping) and our systems, physically, emotionally, and mentally pay the price sometimes. Poor Jeff had a rough night with severe chills and possibly a fever, not to mention digestive issues... not fun when so far from home and you're sharing a bathroom with two other rooms (AND the toilet paper appears to be running out, so I guess we have to go get more? Not easy in th middle of the night... I was about to start counting sheets of kleenex in case I had to pee).

It's nearly 11am and Jeff's finally getting some quality sleep. I'm hungry but don't want to get up in case of waking him... What we do for love, eh?

Overall, our trip has been excellent but it just has to be said that it's not easy and although my blogs are mostly about the fun stuff, the other side exists too (like flooding the bathroom after taking a shower...urgh).

We haven't had the opportunity to talk with other travelers for nearly a week! Hopefully we find another youthful hostel like the one in Lisbon so we can meet some other people...or even just hear some English!

I'm not sure what our day is going to look like, it'll depend on how Jeff's feeling.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Hot springs

For some reason (and we're not going to try and guess why) our internet is working in our room right now, miraculously. Hopefully it holds out while I write my update and edit last night's... It took me 40 minutes to write it all yesterday with no editing time! lol

We slept in this morning, which was great as we have been tired out from our one-night travels. The sun in our room is super bright so I'm glad I brought a sleep mask. I think we have one of the largest rooms in this hostel/apartment...it's nice to have so much room. I've been able to lay out all of my wet (washed) clothes!

We headed to the supermarket before having breakfast as we needed some cutlery... Eating yogurt and spreading peanut butter with makeshift utensils only lasts so long. We also wanted to find some cups but no matter where we went today we couldn't find any. Jeff cut up two empty water tetra packs as makeshift cups - we drank wine out of them...we're classy. lol

We picked up a couple of soft pretzel sticks at the grocery store too as they had just been made fresh... So salty and delicious. We saw others doing the same and since my motto this trip has worked for us so far, we followed it ("If in doubt, do what the locals do." This has worked in so many situations! Crossing the street, what type of beer to buy, where to get out of a bus/train station...) .

I wandered through the shopping district and picked up a sweater from H&M (funny because I've never bought something from there at home) and then we had our lunch back in our room before packing up our swimsuit for the hot spring.

It wan't a far walk at all, which is always a bonus. There are two places to choose from; we chose the one that is not nude... I just can't bring myself to be naked in front of other people... It's just not in me, lol. So we picked the bathing suit one. We bought two hours and got a third hour free because we had some discount card our hostel owner gave us when we arrived (we paid tax for being here because of some poor infrastructure or something regarding tourists in this town...? The owners of these places get taxed something like $5.00 for every guest they have per day here! Ridiculous! But the lady gave us a deal and Jeff is just a "day" guest... lol).

Anyway, we got changed and showered before entering the pool area, where we spent our afternoon. There were a number of different pools that had different temperatures ranging from your hot-tub temps to rather chilly! They even had pools outside, which was great. Because this place was a spa, everything was made to be therapeutic; the jets, the bubbles, the temperatures, the current in the water (so much fun!), the aroma sauna (hot and HUMID sauna using scent... We didn't stay long as it was tough to breathe) and even heaters to lie under after the pool to dry off (we kind of felt like french fries being kept warm while our burger was being made... lol). Even though it took us an hour or so to really relax, it was a pretty neat experience and our aching bodies got to recuperate! lol

We dressed and changed for a nice dinner afterward. We went to a bistro and ate well. I'm not even sure what meat I had... Neck of something...pork I think... lol and Jeff had pork hauk. We had some salad, sour kraut and potatoes (I even liked the kraut! It's so much better here than at home) and the potatoes were delicious.

Jeff is passed out beside me, a day of relaxing must have really tuckered him out :). Tomorrow we are going on a 3km walk on a stretch of land that is 350 years old that has many, many different species of flora. It should be pretty and since we haven't done much walking on this trip so far it'll be good to get in a few kms... (Ha! Throw in a few hundred stairs and that's a BASIC day! lol)

Time for bed for me. Hope you have a great weekend!
Maybe we'll luck out tomorrow and we'll have internet again!

Much love, Amanda (and Jeff!)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Update from Baden-Baden

We're sitting in an Internet cafe in Baden-Baden because our ipad isn't picking up the wifi network where we're staying (which is so frustrating!!) so it's going to be a quick update from the last few days.

Monday, September 19th
- Took boat from Koln to Bad Honningen down the Rhine River (after having to talk to two different people because the first person had no idea what we were trying to do and it freaked us out).
- School kids on the boat were going for their once a year trip and they were causing quite the noise.
- The trip was very slow moving (I don't know what I was expecting but this was super slow).
- It was a cloudy and cold day so not much time spent outside.
- There really wasn't much to see for the first four hours (and four hours without much to see is pretty long) but the next two were prettier.
- We realized after reading in our book that the other half of our trip (that we had originally planned but cancelled because it would have been too long on the boat) is supposed to be the best part... go figure. At least we saw some castles.
- Jeff thankfully had a sudoku to do to pass the time; I took pictures.
- We're not sure if it was worth it but it was an experience. A funny part was when I ordered "One beer" and Jeff said what kind he wanted and the server showed up with "One Beck" beer (awful stuff) AND Jeff's beer... lol We drank both but will be mindful next time when ordering!
- Arrived to Bad Honningen around 4pm. The boat landing was at a campground with trailers which was kind of neat.
- We found our guesthouse (after going to the wrong one first, even though it had the same name!).
- The owner was very kind, even though we had to mangle through Germanglish... We've definitely noticed a difference in Germany compared to the other countries regarding English; there just isn't that much! I'm slowly becoming a little more comfortable with it.
- Our room was adorable - definitely better than a hostel. We had nicely folded towels on our bed, candies, and face wipes. There was tea and coffee for us to use and breakfast the next morning was yummy. The owner even went out of his way to make breakfast for us at 7:15am instead of his usual 8:30am because we had to be on the boat again at 8:05am. He also sent us along with a little bag of water, candies, crackers, an apple and a carrot. :)
- Bad Honningen was a cute little town. We stopped for groceries that made up our dinner (cup of soups, 79 cent sausage, tortilla chips, salsa and beer... we're going to get scurvy). It was pretty funny.
- We hungout in our room that night and watched the Koln hockey game on t.v. One of the announcers sounded like he had an American accent but was speaking German, it was a little distracting and entertaining.

Tuesday, September 20th
- We were up at 6:45am to have breakfast and make our way back to the boat to finish our journey down the Rhine to Koblenz.
- It was a very cool morning.
- We took a different boat than the day before, it was smaller and had much fewer people. We were only on it for 2.5 hours.
- There were more castles and pretty scenery; I was constantly going to the top of the ship to take pictures. I think I got some good ones!

- Note: Germany is AWESOME for street signs! Once we arrived to Koblenz we were able to find our hotel without problem
- Even though we arrived three hours early we were able to drop off our bags to wander around until our room was ready.
- Walked through shopping district, outside malls and stores ("TK Maxx"... Not TJ.. lol).
- Visited the Deutsches Eck or the German Corner where the two big rivers (Rhine and Mosel) meet.
- Had lunch along the Rhine (packed sandwiches that we had made the night before).
- Our room was questionable at best. It was dark, old, smelled funny, the floor and my sheets were stained... I wasn't impressed and I'm pretty tolerant of questionable places; we both wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.
- We really don't like doing the one night stays, it takes too much work and travel time to arrive and leave so fast - we barely get a chance to see anything but because of the Rhine trip we did it... three days in a row - No more!
- We have also found that not having internet is the biggest pain! You don't realize how much you rely on it until it's gone.
- We checked out and took the train from Koblenz to Baden-Baden (lots more castles to see along the way by train which was great) where we are now and spent the afternoon wandering around, getting more familiar with our surroundings as we'll be here for three nights. We'll be heading to the hot springs tomorrow which should be very relaxing; we're both looking forward to it.

Some Random thoughts-notes:
- Waited to get train to Cologne (Koln) and met someone with Canadian luggage tags so stopped to chat; unfortunately her tags were misleading as she lives in Seattle! Not fair to pretend to be Canadian!
- Saw a monk outside the Koln catherdral (in brown robe and sandals!) on a cell phone, with a backpack and luggage... funny.
- McDonalds is everywhere (and I tried the Snickers McFlurry... Not as good as I had hoped). Subway and Burger King also appear to be popular in Europe.
- I have already taken more than 1500 pictures (more than 4GB of memory... ) lol
- Bought apple juice, it was fizzy... uncool.
- There always seems to be sirens going - ambulance, fire, police, I don't know... but there is always noise. Bells toll too!
- Found the cheapest beer for 62 cents.
- Ordered (another) doner for dinner (that's four now I think) and the guy asked, "Chicken or the cow?".
- Trains are efficient if expensive (at least in Germany they seem to cost more). There is first and second class and if you don't reserve your seat you can get booted out of where you're sitting to find somewhere else to go if the seat owners show up. This happened to us.
- All the women here appear to wear scarves; I must pick myself up a new one as the one I've got with me is getting a lot of use!
- Cars seem to be on roads that really aren't roads - we are constantly looking for vehicles.
- There are bike lanes in most places we have visited - either identified by a picture of a bike or just a change in the ground brick colour.
- I have reinjured my old Karate injury on my foot... not fun, trying to stretch it out.
- Our ability to adapt to each place so quickly is quite amazing... I'm proud of us.
- I very much dislike doing my laundry in the sink (especially pants).

Will update sometime soon. Jeff wants on!

XOXOXO

Germany

I know it has been a couple of days since I have posted but without internet in two places it makes it hard.
I'm not going to update at this moment as I'm in the lounge area of a hotel we stayed at in Koblenz... One I would like to promptly leave after breakfast (we're heading to Baden-Baden this morning) so I'll update about the last couple of days later :)

Monday, September 19, 2011

Cologne (Koln), Germany

Made it to our fourth country! And since we are able to use our ipad, I have punctuation again! lol

We found another cheap place to eat last night, thankfully not far from our hotel as it was pouring rain, and then we watched CSI (nothing like a liittle culture! lol. I can barely watch the show it makes me cringe).

We were up and to the train station for our 10:35am ride to Cologne, Germany. We took a super fast train, one that can reach speeds up to 300 km/hr!! I'm not sure we reached that speed but I do know that we were really booting it along the country side!

One of the neat features (and very different from home, ask anyone who has had a rough time at the border) of Europe is that you don't have to do anything to travel from one country to the next. We have no idea when we actually left Belgium and entered Germany, all we knew is that one of the stops we made was German :)

Once we arrived to Cologne we navigated our directions to find the hostel. It was so close to the train station which was awesome! No getting lost for us today! Success! Now, on the way to the hostel there was one heck of a magnificant site... The Dom. Oh my goodness, it is one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen in my life. It is a huge (HUGE) cathedral that shoots up into the sky so far you have to crane your neck to even conceive of seeing the top spires. It is one of the largest Gothic buildings ever built. It's so eerie and creepy and beautiful all at the same time. I can't even put into words the size of this thing and what it's like to stand there infront of it. We didn't just stand in front of it of course, we headed inside and enjoyed the vastness of this catherdral. The ceilings must have been at least 100-150 feet high and the archways and detail... And the stained glass. Wow. It was something to see.

I probably could have stood inside or outside all day just looking at it; it takes my breath away.

Now, speaking of taking my breath away... Jeff and I discovered the meaning of "Belfry" today. Belfry, a bell tower or a steeple that houses bells. Had we known that before following (and paying - although we got the student rate) the sign that said, "This way to the Belfry" we probably would not have climbed the 530+ steps (EACH WAY on a narrow winding staircase!) all the way to the top!! We were huffing and puffing something awful as we climbed. About halfway up (or what I thought was halfway and wasn't) I thought I was going to die... Me and a number of other people (including Jeff) who were crazy enough to climb all the way up! lol. It was sooo far and we were soaked with sweat by the time we got to the bells... And then had to keep climbing to get as high as you can go (any fantasy you may have or have had about living in a castle tower...let me tell you, a bungalow can be just as nice). After we cooled down with the fresh air up there, it was beautiful. We could seen for miles and miles and had the best view of Cologne. We questioned whether it was worth it as we practically ran down all the spairalling stairs (me yelling, "I'm not seeing Venice on crutches!) and getting dizzy, but since it's been a few hours and we have seen the cathedral on our way to dinner... Yes, it was worth it (even if all of the clean clothes I was wearing today now need to be washed by hand because they're smelly).

We also spent time this afternoon booking hostels for the next places we'll be going to. It was feeling pretty unnerving as everything we were looking at was booked but with some maneuvering of places and dates we managed to make something work.

We're taking a Rhine river cruise tomorrow to Bad Honningen, then staying the night there; we'll get up early and get the next boat that will take us to Koblenz. There was a hostel in a fortress we had planned to stay in but it was all booked so we're only staying in town for one njght, then we are off to Baden-Baden for a few days where I hear there are some hot springs and then to Heidelberg for a few days before heading to Munich for Oktoberfest. It's going to be a busy week! It's hard planning for one night in places but because of this boat cruise we have to... We don't want to spend €63 for one night when we'll only be there after 4pm and leaving around 7am - it's not cheap! But we will to make this work.

Anyway, we just got back from dinner - schnitzel, fries and a salad! It was pretty good and was a good price. We nearly left the restaurant after a man ushered us in and we took a look at the prices but then he showed us the deal. We may be tourists but we're backpackers too and that means budget concsious :)

We're tired from climbing somewhere around 1200 steps today (or more) so we're going to put our feet up and relax. I'm not sure when I'll update as we'll be on the boat but maybe there will be internet the place tomorrow. We'll see.

Chat soon!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Brussels Adventure

Hello hello,

What a day that Jeff and I had today.

We started out with breakfast in our room before getting a map of the town centre from the front desk at the hotel.

Lucky for us, we werent far from the centre and a number of sites we wanted to see.

We headed out and the first thing we came across was a number of young guys running some event; one was a quiz about Brussels and the other was this giant basketball game (the basketball was half the size of me). Jeff and I were intrigued and did both, laughing at my poor basketball performance and our lack of Brussels knowledge (the guys humoured us and we all had a laugh). Apparently there were a number of sites set up through Brussels you could visit and once you had visited them all there was free food and drink. We thought that was neat but kept going to see the things on our list.

We then came across a street that had been closed down, music playing, food cooking and people handing out free struff. We are still not sure what that was about but it had something to do with the citys public transit system... the trains; trams and buses (we think). They were celebrating 10 years of something. We had a hot chocolate but it failed miserably in comparison with the one from Bruges yesterday.

Then we kept walking and found another festival, a folk festival. It reminded us of Oktoberfest back home, with booths set up with food and beer, tables set out for people to sit, music; people dressed in costume, etc. It was pretty wild and thoroughly enjoyable. I was having a ball :) The folk fest is just this weekend which is awesome because we got to participate. Jeff had a beer and sausage and I had an empanada.

We then visited the National Bank museum, the Royal Palace, the little boy peeing (google it... lol something to do with the nature of Brussels), a gorgeous and EXTREMELY old catherdral and then we bumped into another market/festival thing with tents set up and food being sold everywhere. They even brought sod in to cover the rough brick ground for people to lay on, as if in a park, lol

It was pretty amazing that everywhere we went today there was some big event going on. It did mean there were a lot of people, tourists and locals but it just added to the festive city. We sure lucked out today.

We bought way too expensive train tickets for tomorrow morning when we head to Cologne, Germany instead of taking the bus; we learned our lesson. Its just all so confusing.

Anyway, our bodies ache and we are hungry so its time to go find food; which may be difficult as its Sunday and most places appear closed... great.

Have a great rest of your weekend; you will hear from us in Germany.

:)

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Day trip to Bruges (Belgium)

Hello hello,

Before I start anything I have to say that I forgot to mention something we did yesterday, something incredibly important and the true reason I wanted to visit Belgium... (have you guessed yet?); CHOCOLATE.

We went for a walk while our clothes were in the wash and came across our first Chocolatier, so of course I bought a bag, lol. And let me tell you, it was the best chocolate ever. Even Jeff, who doesnt have much of a sweet tooth, was mmmmmm-ing it. We sat and tasted the variety of chocolates in the laundrymat. The bag didnt last long but that was okay because we knew we would find more.

So, last night I left off saying that Jeff and I were going to relax, and thats exactly what we did. We found an English channel on our t.v. in our room that played some movie with Denzel Washington (everything I have seen him in has been pretty good so it was fun to watch). We were ready for sleep by 11pm, knowing we would be getting up early to leave town the next day.

We made our own breakfast in our hotel room, bread with peanut butter and some yogurt, and then headed off to the train station (after leaving our room key at the front desk... apparently thats how it works here; I dont get it, but oh well, lol). The sation isnt far from where we are staying, which is nice and the ticket to Bruges wasnt as costly as we thought it might be.

The ride was pretty uneventful but we did get to see more of the country. There are more detatched homes here, very different than other places we have seen so far and the houses are really cute.

We arrived to Bruges, after about an hour and fifteen minute ride, without a map (the one in our book was definitely not sufficient) and so just started walking. Within minutes we were snippy with each other; Im sure the cool air and misty grey weather didnt help the fact that we didnt have a clue where we were or where to go.

We eventually found a free standing town map and headed toward the centre of town, or the centrum.

One of the things we noticed during our walk, and we noticed this in Brussels as well, drivers dont seem to notice pedestrians or cross walks... at all. I think we are invisible because the number of close calls Ive seen is incredible.

Anyway, the centre of Bruges was just as our travel book said, beautiful, even on an ugly day. There were canals where people took boat tours, horse and buggy tours, and many walking tours in all sorts of different languages.

Jeff and I wandered around on our own for the most part, just exploring what we came across, such as huge churches. At one of them, I lighted a candle for my cousin Dan who had been on my mind.

There was one site in Bruges however that Jeff really wanted to see, a church with a vile of the supposed blood of Jesus. Now, finding this place was like a mad scavenger hunt that nearly turned nightmarish. I kid you not, the street names changed every 200 feet and since we didnt have a map in our hands it became extremely frustrating. In the end though, we found it and it was pretty neat. Along the way we had stopped for a hot chocolate to share in the smallest cup ever and that cost more than a Tim Hortons small... but it was the BEST hot chocolate we have ever had. It was like drinking warm liquid milk chocolate... I cant even explain how creamy and delicious it was; even Jeff was utterly impressed.

Now, since we were in a very touristy area in Belgium, chocolate was a major theme and there were chocolatiers EVERYWHERE. I swear, every block had at least three different places to get chocolate, so of course I picked some more up. Jeff and I have contemplated trying to bring some home but we cant see how we would carry it for another six weeks and between the postage and the chocolate we could probably find it at home for the same price (sorry family).

We stopped in the afternoon before heading home at a little cafe for a snack; Jeff had a beer and I had a piece of warm apple pie with whipped cream; It was delicious of course :)

Once we made it back home we decided to grab the same chicken sandwich we had from the place the night before and once again, it was really good (there is some spicy sauce they put on it that makes it delicious; Jeff and I picked up a bottle of similar looking stuff from the grocery store to take home with us).

The thing I noticed tonight, that I had suspected last night on the way to the supermarket, was the sex workers on the side of the street close to our hotel. We have walked by this corner a number of times and I have watched as they talked to men in vehicles driving by. There must have been six girls in that area. Jeff then suggested that we may not be staying in the best area... The constant sound of sirens may have confirmed that for me. I think we are fine; I feel for the girls though - it definitely does not have the glamourous feel like in Amsterdam, where it seems more fantasy than reality... this is definitely a reality for these women (and I absolutely know it is for the girls in Holland too).

Anyway, we are staying in town tomorrow as there are a few things we would like to see; I guess we will see how it goes :)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Brussels (Belgium)

(Please note: Im using a very stange keyboard so my punctuation may be different than usual... For example, I cant find the apostrophe key and I cant figure out how to use the exclamation point... not to mention that a number of letters are not where they usually are, which means this is taking a long time and is very irritating... lol)

After another lovely breakfast on our boat hostel, with the same Canadian couple, we packed up our bags (not hard to do when your room is so small) and headed off to the train station. Im glad we checked out where our platform was yesterday so that it was pretty easy today. Our trip was to take two and a half hours but due to engine trouble it took approximately 30 minutes longer. The train was comfortable though and I had the nicest chat with an elderly man across the row who has travelled the world. The number of places he has been is amazing. He is probably in his 70s and is currently on a four month journey with his wife. They are from Australia (most people we tend to meet are Australian) and they just got into Amsterdam after exploring some of the desert states and a journey from west to east coast Canada. He had lots of ideas for our trip and said we had planned a great one. He even said that one of his top five experiences from ALL his travels is Cinque Terre or Five Villages in Italy; one of the places we are heading(exclamation point). Needless to say he was a very interesting man to talk to and it helped the time go by.

Once we arrived to Brussels Central Station we had to get another train to the North station... as easy as it sounds, and in retrospect it was pretty easy; the idea of changing trains in a place where not all trains stop at every station and nothing is in English, is a little daunting... but, I just asked someone and we were good to go. Getting off the train and following some shoddy directions to the hotel is something quite different. Jeff and I are quickly learning that we are not fans of big cities and prefer the smaller ones. We picked a direction and followed it until our major travelling pet-peeve hit the ceiling... I dont know if we are super organized or what back home, but street signs at every corner just makes sense to me, not every few corners or on the side of some building in some alley way. Not helpful(exclamation point).

We stopped in some large business building and a very kind women pulled out a map (because our map didnt have our location on it... go figure) and got us going in the right direction. We were only minutes away from the hotel but without knowing that we could have been on Mars.

Our hotel is a little dirty but it is substantially bigger (and yet not all that big) than our boat hostel room; the bathroom itself is larger than our boat hostel room; what does THAT tell you? I could put the tips of both of my middle fingers on each wall in that room(exlamation point).

We quickly showered and grabbed all the dirty laundry that had been accumulating for a few days and headed out to the local laundrymat. It wasnt easy to figure out or cheap either. We had to ask someone for help. So far, Belgium has very little English and although this is hard sometimes, we do feel very lucky that English is our native language because of its usage worldwide.

We managed to get our laundry washed AND dried (although some of my things look a little smaller but Im too afraid to try them on right now) and also pick up some groceries for our breakfast and lunch tomorrow as we plan to take the train to Bruges; it is supposed to be a beautiful Medieval town, even though touristy.

We just got back from a super cheap dinner at some little Lebonese cafe beside our hotel and are now about to relax.

This blog has taken me way too long to write so Im going to stop here.

Until next time, thanks for reading(exclamation point).

(P.S. If I were to write the above sentence using the keyboard as I usually would, it would look like this:

Until next ti,e; thqnks for reqding9exlq,qtion point0:

... lol)

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Last day in Amsterdam

Seven hours ago, Jeff and I were just heading out after a delicious breakfast and some good company - fellow Canadians from B.C., one of which had just been in Lagos like us and could relate to our experiences :)

After breakfast we headed to the train station to figure out how to purchase tickets to get to Brussels tomorrow. Thankfully there was a 'train info' kiosk with helpful people. Unfortunately the train station is more confusing than the airport, with so many different types of trains, and terminals and ticket types. We walked through the station to find out where we're supposed to go tomorrow... Hopefully it works out!

After navigating the station we headed to the grocery store to pick up our lunch items, which consisted of: ciabatta buns, half-priced meat (Jeff couldn't get over the fact that the buns cost more than the meat, lol), oranges and water. We had planned to go on a free walking tour but by the time we got through the grocery store we had lost track of time and missed it... Oh well! It turned out to be for the best anyway because just down the road we found a second-hand and souvenir market. I picked up a bag that says Amsterdam on it and a Red Light District magnet and Jeff picked up a funny t-shirt and a pair of fake (and super cheap) Ray ban sunglasses... Because Jeff has to stay stylish! (lol not at all, his other ones broke a bit so he needed new... But he had noticed all the Ray bans in Portugal!)

Once we had finished perusing through the small market we stopped for our picnic lunch in a cute little square. A number of other people had stopped with the same idea. We've noticed quite a few other tourists doing the same thing, we're all trying to stay as close to our budget as possible! We eat better this way too.

After lunch we walked and walked and walked... Until we had to pee. We paid for a cheap beer to use a washroom (and then promptly on our walk back passed a public urinal... Urgh... It was only for men though so I'm glad we stopped!). We walked past the zoo and up and down all sorts of streets. It was fun just to explore the sights and sounds together. Amsterdam really is a beautiful city and it was nice to see it in a relaxed way.

There was an electronics store we checked out to see if they had a charger for my ereader but we weren't successful. We'll have to keep looking or I'll have to go without.

Then we headed back to the grocey store to pick up dinner items (grapes, ceasar salad, meatballs, pasta, beer and rose whine - which is still a little strong for me).

We're back at our place, with sore feet... We estimated that we were on our feet walking 6.5 hours today. This is the most walking we've ever done and there is so much more to do! lol. Better get our feet up and rested.

Time to enjoy some microwaved dinner and strong wine... With a side of grapes and chocolate, sitting on a boat and enjoying a beautiful evening. Tomorrow is another adventure.

A heavy heart

It's with a heavy heart that I post this morning in remembrance of a much loved and missed family member who we lost last year. No matter where in the world our family might be, and we've always been all over the place back home, we've always been a close family.

Remembrance

Remembrance is a golden chain,
death tries to break,
but all in vain.
To have, to love and then to part,
is the greatest sorrow of one's heart.
The years may wipe out many things,
but some they wipe out never;
Like memories of those happy times,
when we were all together.
- unknown

Love and miss you Dan and I'm very much thinking about my family today.

With love and huge hugs and kisses,
Amanda

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Amstdam: Day two

We headed out this morning for the walk to Anne Frank's House; it took about half an hour or so without getting lost. Even though it was spitting rain and a little windy, we kept going. Once we got there we realized why our guidebook said to go either first thing in the morning or later in the day/evening, the lineup was huge! There were a number of school groups and people who had purchased tickets online in advance which added to our wait, overall though it wasn't that bad and it was absolutely worth it.

We watched a number of videos about Anne Frank and her family who went into hiding in Amsterdam once Jewish people were being arrested and sent to concentration camps during World War ||. There were many excerpts from her diary, photos, and even the posters she had in her room in the "Secret Annex" where eight people hid in until betrayed and then arrested. It was very emotional to walk through the rooms she lived in, where she feared for her life and wrote about the injutices taken against her Jewish community. I choked up a few times, especially when I read that her diary was the voice of 1.5 million children who were killed in concentration camps. It was a very unique and humbling experience to witness this home and the devestating history it has been a part of. Anne was killed in a concentration camp one month before the Jewish people were liberated - only her father survived out of he family of four. It was heartbreaking to watch a video of him speak about reading his daughter's diary; To paraphrase; 'In conclusion, I guess that parents don't ever really know thier children'. How sad that he learned the depth and wisdom of such a talented, articulate and smart young girl after it was too late. If you haven't read "A diary of a young girl", I encourage you to do so.

After our tour through Anne Frank's house we decided it was time to get something for lunch. I had read that pancakes are pretty popular so we stopped at a restaurant called the "Pancake Bakery" on our way home. If you can believe it, one of their traditional pancakes is bacon and banana! So, seeing as that would satisfy Jeff's savoury side and my sweet tooth, we ordered one to share. Jeff immediately said he would make it at home, it was so delicious.

We then cruised through the street taking pictures of the beautiful city, with all of it's canals, houseboats and gorgeous architechture. We spent some time this afternoon planning our next part of our trip. We booked a place in Brussels for Friday through Sunday before heading into Germany; I think we're figuring it out :) At least we know where we're going the day after tomorrow!

We went for dinner at another Chinese place - €8.50 for all you can eat buffet. There wasn't a lot to choose from but we definitely got our bang for our buck. We're going to head to the supermarket tomorrow to pick up some healthier options.

After dinner we perused the Red Light District. Now, I was expecting lots of adult novelty shops and bars and seedy looking places, and I really wasn't disappointed... But it was the peepshows and all the rest of it that caught me a little off-guard! lol. The strangest part for me is walking past window after window of girls surrounded by red light and a red curtain, posing in pervocative ways, in skimpy outfits, winking at you, trying to get your attention and selling their "wares". I felt awkward looking at them so I just smiled politely and kept going... lol A girl we met in line for the Anne Frank House had heard that someone offered one of the girls the same amount of money for their services just to get an interview, but was refused... I wonder what that's about. We also checked out the Erotic Museum which had a ton of pieces of artwork, ranging from video, paint, sketches, figurines, models... You name it. There were a number of levels and themes, it was pretty neat!

Anyway, the Red Light District is a neat place with lots to see, if you're not squeamish about sex and eroticism; if you're even slightly embarrassed this place may be too much! lol

It's midnight here and it's been another long, busy and enjoyable day on our adventure.

Until next time.
XXX OOO

Amsterdam! (The Netherlands/Holland)

Quick update:

- We were up early yesterday to get breakfast before our flight, but because we ate so much the night before we weren't quite ready to eat... So, we packed a couple of ziplock bags full of food for the airport; it was only after that a sign said we couldn't do that, oh well!
- Our flight was uneventful and thankfully our luggage arrived without delay (waiting for your luggage is the hardest part for me out of the whole trip!). Most of the signs in the airport were in English, so we may be in luck! Dutch does not look like an easy language.
- We met a young Canadian guy in the train ticket line who was travelling on his own for a bit. He shared some of his horror stories with us (having to sleep 2 nights in the Rome airport because his flight was cancelled due to a strike!) Thankfully, Jeff and I haven't run into any major issues.
- We made it to our hostel (which is on a boat!) and the rooms are...well... "teeny-tiny" is an understatement. We can't sit up in our bed without bashing our head and there's barely enough room for us both to stand. I'm sitting on the floor as I write this. We've been questioning this decision to save money... Breakfast was excellent this morning, best so far, so that is slightly making up for our tuna-canned sized room.
- Yesterday afternoon after we arrived was pretty miserable for us; Jeff wasn't feeling so hot and we wandered for hours, never really feeling like we knew where we were. Needless to say it was a quiet walk. Eventually we headed out again after an afternoon break to find a bank to pay for our stay. We also found the China district which has lots of pretty cheap dinner prices. We ate in a place called "Eat Mode" and it was fine. We'll find another place tonight and for lunch, we'll return to the supermarket we found.
- After awhile, we finally found the Red Light District... Oh man... I don't even know where to begin! lol The smell of pot hung outside every coffeeshop, "XXX" was everywhere, girls stood in windows in skimpy wear trying to get business (it's a little awkward when they point at you and flaunt their stuff!), there are peepshows, and all sorts of other stuff I just don't think I'll talk about on here... lol. It's a totally different world.

Since our rooms are tiny, with thin walls, we could hear every noise all night and people stomp around and yell as if it's their own home! Come on people, some of us are trying to sleep! lol. And on bunkbeds at that! I'm on top and it wasn't easy to get down in the middle of the night to pee (not to mention that the bathrooms smell TERRIBLE).

Anyway... We've had breakfast and are about to head out, hopefully to Anne Frank's house. It's pretty far but I think we'll risk it.

Then, we'll go out tonight.

And then, we'll have to start thinking about where we're going to head next.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Faro: dinner

Okay, so it's been a couple of hours and I just had to update about dinner. So, we headed out around 7:45pm to find something to eat and we didn't leave empty handed, we had a map! We walked and although weren't lost, couldn't find somewhere to eat. It was the total opposite of Lagos! Where there were dozens of options in Lagos we struggled to fine ONE place here in Faro! lol. It came down to a small looking place called Mr. Frango that said 'take-away' (aka take-out). It wasn't much to look at from the street; we were expecting to navigate a take-out order, but it turned out to be a small restaurant too, and a cute one at that! We ended up with a mixed meat meal with rice and fries made for two that left us both stuffed... That's after we attempted to order the plate of the day and learned that they had only made enough for lunch... Oh well!

It turned out to be pretty funny and we got a ton of food for a really good price. I'm glad we took the chance to check out the place.

And to top the night off, we got to meet someone's kitty (he had a collar on) who was curled up on a ledge who was as cute as a button and really enjoyed getting his head scratched... lol. Small moments :)

Time to pack for tomorrow. Night night (or good afternoon for you!)

Faro

But of course, last night is first...

So, Jeff and I decided that after nearly a week without pizza (can you imagine? lol) we thought we'd try out Luigi's pizza; the pizzaria next to where we ate our fancy dinner in Lagos. Luigi was a young guy, with big thick black glasses who works on his own in a little tiny shop, where he makes pizzas to order. We ordered a mushroom and ham pizza and with a touch of fresh oregano and some olive oil.... Mmmmm. We took it to go and sat outside by a large fountain to devour it, and that's exactly what we did. It was so delicious. Jeff told me to stop "mmmm-ing" after every bite but I couldn't help it! I would absolutely get that pizza at home over our "regular" order.

We then wandered through the centre of town and stopped for dessert and to people watch; Jeff had a beer (lol) and I had a sweet rice dish. Yum. We were tired out and so were fine to head back to our place afterward.

Jeff spent spent half an hour trying to figure out how to watch t.v. on our ipad and after he finally followed my suggestion, it worked... Go figure. We ended up watching an episode of Seinfeld, just like being at home.

We were up at a decent time this morning to pack our bags, clean up our room, have breakfast, say goodbye and thank you to Angela and then head to the bus station. On the way to purchase tickets a very familiar red and white flag caught my eye on someone's bag and my immediate vocal reaction was, "Ah! Fellow Canadians!". This couple was travelling through Portugal on a vacation. Their son lives near us which was pretty neat. I always find meeting other Canadians fun.

Our bus ride to Faro would have taken less than an hour had we driven directly there from Lagos, but the trip took two because we made approximately six stops to pick people up and drop them off. The trip was fine other than my stomach not feeling so hot; I felt a Iittle nauseous... It could have been the continual 'speed up to slow down' driving, something I don't think I have fully recovered from, from my childhood.

Once we arrived we got a taxi because it was way too far to walk. We checked in and unpacked in our hotel room. What a difference from a hostel! I'm not really sure which I prefer better... The private bathroom and shower is nice but there are no cooking facilities and no 'hostel feel' to meet others, however there is a bar downstairs, we could hang out there for a bit.

We headed off down the road to find a grocery store and picked up lunch; turkey slices, buns, juice, chips, chocolate bar, beer and oranges. Excellent. We're all about saving money where we can. We'll go out for dinner tonight somewhere.

After inhaling our lunch, we did the full body susnscreen routine (probably for the last time this trip) and headed to the pool for the rest of the afternoon (3:15-5:45pm). The sun was HOT and the pool was gorgeous, much warmer than the ocean, that's for sure, but no waves.

We're now showered (after the longest shower ever! Every 20 seconds it was, "Ahhhh too hot!!!" then "Ahhhh too cold!!) and the clothes I washed in the tub before lunch are hanging and are nearly dry, it's now time to head out for dinner.

Tonight will probably be pretty low key as we have to be up early tomorrow to head to the airport.

Interesting fact: it's been about 29 degrees average this week where we've been... Do you know what the high will be in Amsterdam tomorrow? 17!!! Seventeen!! Yeesh. Better pull out the pants and long sleeved shirt to adjust!

Update once we're in The Netherlands!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Last day in Lagos

We had the fortunate chance of meeting a really nice couple from Belgium this morning who gave us some great tips for our visit there in a week or so! I love meeting fellow travellers :)

Breakfast was good; I'll miss Angela's homemade mixed red berry jam.

We headed off to the bus station to inquire about our trip to Faro tomorrow. There are many departure times so we can pick the one that works best for us. Taking the bus means a slightly longer trip than the train but is less $; not a problem for us as it fits right in with our schedule. Walking back to the bus station where we arrived just days ago was really far! The adrenaline and raw nerves must have moved us from the station, through the town, and up to our hostel... Or else it could have been sheer will and determination (I wouldn't let getting lost beat me... lol). It'll be a bit of a trek tomorrow morning but obviously nothing we can't handle - although the bottoms of my feet are pretty rough from getting cut up on sharp sand and too much friction between my toes with my flipflops. I'll have to do some damage control tonight.

We headed back to Meia Praia but didn't stay long, it was really windy and a bit cool so we left. We wandered around the local marina and then eventually settled to have our lunch picnic style outside the old city walls (kind of looks like an old castle). We shared half a pork sausage sandwich, bananas and granola bars. Then we headed off to find another beach as the sun got really hot. The first one was down a ton of uneven and completely rocky stairs and when we got to the bottom we realized there really wasn't enough room for us. The beach was small, secluded and gorgeous; I guess it was too much for us to ask for it twice in Lagos. So, we climbed back up all the stairs (surprised? I was out of breath by the top... lol)

We made it to another beach and carved out some space for ourselves. It was hot in the sun and the water was nearly ice cold - but that didn't stop us from cooling off, we just didn't stay in long. What I've noticed most so far at the beach, aside from the gorgeous view, is the seemingly small or complete lack of bathing attire for women... Some of it isn't even worth putting on! lol. Now, I'm not surprised by this but have definitely noticed the difference from here and home. :)

On the way back home we stopped for a small gelado and Jeff had a beer; a nice way to cool off after a hot day.

Now that we are showered and the last of our wet clothes are on the line, it's time to repack our things in preparation for tomorrow's departure to Faro.

All that's left for tonight is dinner!

Happy hour

There are lots of neat things about staying in a hostel; usually you meet interesting people from all over the world, you fall asleep to sounds local to the place you're staying (no quiet hotel rooms for us!) and you can be in an interesting part of town. One of the downsides of staying in a hostel with a shared kitchen is waiting to use it...late (for us) and when hungry! We didn't eat until close to 9pm which was way too late for me! lol. We had pasta with sausage and zucchini. Jeff bought himself some hot sauce from thr grocery store to give it a kick; anyone who knows Jeff really well will know that nearly every meal, except breakfast, includes hot sauce... lol Okay, that's not entirely true, he did put hot sauce on his eggs today!

After dinner we headed out on the town, which was hopping with people. Street performers were out trying to make a living (singing, playing instruments, dressed in costumes... The one that creeps Jeff and I out the most is this guy that wears all gold and has his faced painted gold too, who stands exceptionally still, like a statue! For whatever reason, it's a little eerie! He rarely moves but to shake someone's hand or something... Maybe for a euro?) The restaurants either became bars or scooted out of the way to make room for the bars. There were so many of them, just like the restaurants, and they all try to entice you with their Happy Hour deal, or with pretty girls standing on the streets trying to convince you that their bar is the best. lol

We found a "Canadian" bar and had a drink.... The only two people in there, facing a couple of Canadian hockey jerseys and the oldest Bauer sticks I have ever seen! Then we decided to move on. We raced across the busy town square to a bar called the Three Monkeys that looked fun. I think it is run by a group of Australian friends. We had a couple of drinks there with their Happy Hour promotion and decided to head back. On the way home there was a lady selling made-to-order crepes outside of a restaurant. I stopped Jeff so I could have one.... Chocolate and banana. It was yummy.

We headed straight to bed once we got home.

Today is our last full day in Lagos, so we've got to figure out what we want to do... Possibly check out some sites around town and then finish it off at another beach.

It's time now though to get up, have breakfast and start the day!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Another gorgeous day!

But first, last night...

Around 8pm or so we decided it was "proper" Portugese time to head out for dinner. What a huge difference the time makes! Between 5:30pm and 6:30pm, when we would usually eat dinner, the numerous cafes and restaurants were practically empty, but by 8pm and on, PACKED! It was sooooo busy! There were people everywhere! It was nice that all the restaurants had their menus on display so we could check them out but by the 12th one (or more!) we still weren't committed to any of them. Now, this is where some restaurants make their business; they send servers into the street with menus, stopping people as they go by... (keep in mind that they are all competing for your business so they aren't afraid to say hello!) That's what happened to us. We were taken up a narrow street where many tables were set up outside a restaurant. It was super cute and not cheap, but since we hadn't spent much that day we thought a nice dinner out would be nice. Jeff ordered the spicy prawns (I admittedly had a hard time pulling the head off of one to eat it) and rice and I had fried codfish (one of Portugal's main fish) with potatoes and onions. It was delicious. We had a really nice evening together after dinner, wandering the square where many vendors displayed their (counterfit) wares. If you wanted a fake Chanel purse, this is where you could go.

We spent an hour or so back in our room watching comedy acts on youtube before going to bed... A little Robin Williams just cracks me up.

Now, today. We went back to the supermarket this morning to pick up a few more things (we both agreed that we needed a vegetable to go with our out-of-the-package pasta dinner that was planned for tonight); we also picked up some granola bars and some fried perogie looking things that had seafood in them (we had for lunch).

The only thing I wanted to do today was go on a Grotto tour (google "Grotto in Lagos, Portugal" and I'm sure you'll see where we were this morning). Jeff and I hopped on a fishermam's boat who took us out. We were lucky to have a boat to ourselves instead of sharing with a bunch of others (and yes we wore life jackets). It was spectacular! I must have taken 100 pictures in half an hour because it was so beautiful. Our guide pointed out all the beaches (including the one we were at yesterday, which was neat to see from the water!) as well as some neat shapes the rock resembled, such as the titantic and an elephant!

Once were back on land and had finished gushing about how awesome the grotto was, we headed to the beach, Meia Praia. We didn't have to walk far to find a spot (7km of space will do that). We spent the day laying in the sun and then swimming in the ocean. Jeff and I acted like giddy 12-year-olds while we splashed and crashed in all of the waves. We had a ball! I only freaked out once when a big fish got a little too close for my liking... Jeff proceeded to pinch me, saying it was the fish... Not funny. (lol)

We got lots of sun and found lots of sand in unwanted body parts once we showered back at home.

Speaking of the shower, I did some wash while I was in there... A big huge thank you to the women I lived with in Ghana for teaching me how to wash my clothes by hand! lol

It's nearly 8pm and so time for dinner! We're going to make it ourselves to save some $$$ (and for the experience here) and so that we can go out for a snack later (gelado, here I come).

OH! Before I forget, we chatted with each of our families via skype today and it was super neat to hear those familiar voices. Thanks mom, dad, ma and pops for your support and enthusiasm! It was so nice to chat like that :)

We're off to make dinner and then talk about how we'd like to spend our last day in Lagos (I just learned it's pronounced "Lagosh" - go figure).

Love from us.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Beach day!

What an awesome day today!!

We got up around 8:30am or so after a restful sleep; It was pretty quiet after the kids outside went to bed! I read for awhile on my ereader which was great, but for some reason today it isn't working and we can't quite figure out why; our best bet is the battery but I don't think the charger thing I have will work (I've never charged it from a wall before, just my mac.... Urgh...). That has been the only downside of the day...

Angela (our landlady) made us breakfast which consisted of an egg omlette, fresh squeezed orange juice (so yummy!) and two pieces of toast each with homemade jam! It was quite delicious. She has been super accomodating and very friendly with us, and we're managing with the language barrier.

Afterward, Jeff and I found the closest supermarket and bought some groceries this morning! We picked up some bananas, yop yogurt, chips and juice boxes. The grocery store is quite similar to ours except they sell beer and liquor in the store with everything else... And their price tags are electronic (how handy for price changes!).

Then we unloaded at our place and prepared to head to the beach. Now, one of the main reasons I wanted to come to Portugal, and Lagos in particular, was for the beaches... Specifically the picture on my first post of Lagos. It took some reading (map and travel book) to locate all the beaches. The main one that is 7km long and is the closest is called "Meia Praia" (praia = beach). We figured we'd go to that one eventually so I wanted to pick another one.... Preferrably the one that I have had on my screen saver for months and months (but I didn't know what is was called... Makes it hard to find! Guess what... That's exactly where we ended up!! So check out my first post for a picture - "Eurotrip 2011"). Our europe book said that Praia Donna Ana was the most picturesque, so of course that's where I wanted to go today, aside from the fact that it is also said to be crowded because it isn't very big and it also happened to be the farthest from us. We decided we'd try the trek regardless.

We were not disappointed, even after we thought that it may be too far to walk to... It was the most gorgeous place I think I have ever seen. We were surrounded by huge cliffs all around us (the grotto?) and the water, although cold and salty, was so much fun! The beach took my breath away the instant I saw it and I was nearly giddy with excitement! We climbed down a ton of stairs (surprised?) and Jeff suggested we walk to the end of the beach, hoping we would find some space for ourselves. What we found was well worth the hot walk along the sand; it was a small cove away from the main beach with a few small groups of people. We carved out some room for ourselves to settle for the afternoon. It was super hot so we were in and out of the water lots. The waves were huge and the undertow was a little strong but the waves kept throwing us back to shore; we weren't 20 feet from dry land at any given time (we were staying safe!).

We lazed around in this little piece of paradise all afternoon, moving from the shade to the sun as it moved. By 4pm we decided we were salty enough and should get something to eat. We walked back to town for a chocolate milkshake, water and croissant (split for 2) as our late lunch as we'll be getting dinner in a few hours.

We're now showered and having a drink in our room, listening to some music and commenting on our day... Jeff "Did you notice how many people had Ray Bans?" lol

We'll head out to dinner in awhile but for now, more relaxing in our cool room :)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Hello from Lagos part 2

So, Jeff nd I decided to wander to the city centre to look around; it was only a five minute walk. Lagos is a very touristy spot so there are lots of vendors selling their wares; we aren't interested in any of them, so instead we went from one cafe/retaurant to the next looking at their menus and prices. After a half dozen or so we picked the cheapest and went there. Not nly did we each get a big bun with sausage (Jeff compared it to a panzerotti without the cheese or sauce) and a jug of sangria (which definitely was too much for us to drink) we witnessed twp women get into a fight! Long story short, the two didn't know each other and disageed about something, then one woman threw her drink at the other and then the other one slapped her! Dinner and a show! Admittedly, I was a little nervous when the lady who slapped the other came to talk to us about it.... I played dumb and unaware....

We're back in our room and it's early, which means we're not sure what to do with ourselves as there isn't really a balcony here... We've decided we're going to rearrange our schedule to eat later in the evening (7-7:30pm) so as to not run into this problem. Most Portugese don't even eat until after 8 or 9pm!

What a day it has been. Time to put our feet up.

Hello from Lagos!

Well hello hello from a tired and hot couple of travellers!

What a morning we had today! We were up for breakfast and ready to head out the door for 9:30am after getting to sleep around midnight because we spent nearly 2.5 hours chatting with a super cute couple of sisters from Australia. We had quite the conversation that ranged from what snow is like to our love of Harry Potter. It was reallyenjoyable.

Although Jeff and I had a heck of a time trying to find the Metro stop (subway) after leaving the hostel it did help me practice my Portugese! "Desculpe, bon dia... Metro? Izquierda? Brigada!" (Excuse me, good day... Metro? Left? Thank you!) Jeff was impressed... lol

Anyway, navigating the ticket machine was a little painful because we couldn't figure out why it was so expensive, needless to say we asked someone and she was really helpful....even though 2 minutes later we were getting laughed at by others because we didn't know how to get the gate to the subway to open with our ticket! We eventually figured it out. Two subway lines later and we were in a toally different area of town and arrived having no idea where the bus station was. We wandered for a bit, which was a little uncomfortable (because we had absolutely no idea where we were going) then asked some guy in a booth and found it. I have no problem with asking for directions!! And just as we arrived our bus was about to leave, it was perfect timing!!

Three and a half hours later and we made it to Lagos... Without a map and with shoddy directions at best. We wandered aimlessly with our heavy bags up and down hills, asked a number of people for directions or where to get a map and got nothing... We ended up bumping into a couple who were also losg and they gave us their map because they were using something else. The map was our saving grace or we probably never would have found he guesthouse.... Or worse, we would have had to pay for a cab!! lol. We found it.

It's very different from our last place, much more private and probably not good for meeting people but it's srill nice and the owner seems very kind; she does't speak English but does speak some Spanish and some French, so the three of us are managing!

Anyway, I'm freshly showered (after being disgustingly sweaty) and waiting for Jeff to finish his shower, then we'll probably go look for food as we have't really eaten since breakfast and it's near 4pm here.

We survived getting here, which wasn't an easy task but with a sense of humour, a little patience and most importantly an empty bladder, we can do anything!!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Day 2, Part 2: Uphill

So, Jeff and I decided to go for a ´hike´ through town to find this specific church and can you guess what happened? We got lost... sort of. We found a church it just wasn´t the one we were looking for or in the area we thought we were in. We weren´t far off though because we found the church we were orginally looking for on the way back to our hostel but to cough up another six euro to wander around, not today.

By the way, I have to mention that the church we did end up going to had a terrace... 137 steps up... I swear that we were walking uphill in ALL directions, ALL day!! Do you have any idea how many hills there are in Lisbon? The city is actually divided into 7 areas based on large hills but the numerous smaller ones are countless... My legs are going to ache something awful tomorrow; I better start popping my aleve now.

During our exploration of the city (because there really is no other way to explore it than when you´re moderately lost...) we were approached by a man with outstretched hands trying to sell us hash! (Some extra part of marijuana or something... I don´t really know) It wasn´t even the first time someone has offered us on the street, it´s been about 3 or 4 times since yesterday! I threw my hands up and said ´no!´ Thanks ´Just Say No´ ads! lol

As we look to pack up our things for our journey south tomorrow, I must mention that our hostel has been great; a very clean, help-yourself atmosphere, secure, and comfortable... I would definitely come back here.

Right now, the patio (and possibly a cold beer) is calling my name and after all these hours of walking today I could really use a good ´sit´.

I´ll update from Lagos!!

Day 2

Hello!

We ended up spending last night at the hostel with other travelers; a couple of Australians, an Austrian, and two people from France. We sure did laugh a lot with the Australian guys - those two have got stories to tell! We stayed out until 9:30pm or so before heading to our room as it got pretty cool on the patio with a strong breeze. We reviewed our Rough Guides ´Europe on a Budget´ book for Lisbon and picked out a couple of things to do.

We spent a few hours this morning touring around Castle of St. Jorge. We managed to get in for half the regular price because I had my International Youth Card and Jeff used his student card (BONUS! We´ll definitely be pulling those out as often as we can). The castle was pretty neat with all the turrets and walkways. It was also very hot! It was kind of like being in an easy-bake oven but with a lot of stairs. At one point Jeff had us climb down a steep staircase of 149 stairs just to turn around and climb back up again! Needless to say we were sweaty and if I won´t be sad if I don´t see another staircase again for awhile... too bad all of Lisbon is made up of hills! lol

We´re becoming a bit more familiar with our surroundings and have a number or graffiti landmarks to let us know we´re on the right track. There´s a lot of graffiti and although some of it is cute it does distract a bit from the beautiful old buildings (even the decrepit looking ones).

On our way back to our hostel for lunch we stopped at a store across the way and pointed to what we wanted and paid... I´m getting a tiny bit better with my Portugese; I can now say, ´Quanto e´... (how much?) and ´Brigada´ (thank you). It isn´t much of anything but it´s polite. We ended up with two deep fried something-or-others that tasted pretty good! One had some type of fish in it and the other was a mystery meat to us. Jeff also had half a bag of chips... a great diet we´ve had so far! lol Tonight we´re having dinner that the hostel puts on. We should have had it last night but we couldn´t wait until 9pm to eat but we´ll manage tonight!

Jeff and I may check out a nearby church this afternoon and locate the bus stop as tomorrow morning we´ll be heading off to Lagos. It´s kind of hard to believe we´re already leaving our first place! It´s also hard to believe how much can become unpacked in a day and a half... now to repack it. Good thing it´s only a backpack´s worth of stuff.

The weather is hot and absolutely gorgeous so I´m going to go enjoy it! Ciao!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Ola from Portugal!

We made it! Albeit not without some jetlag...

Thanks to Jeff´s parents for getting us to the airport nice and early! It only took 10 minutes (MAX) to check in, drop baggage, go through security and find our gate... there were no lines and what can we say, we wanted to get going! :) The only thing slowing us down was Jeff getting a full body (naked!) scan because his belt set off the sensors, lol

We each had a drink at the bar across from our gate (beer and mojito) and waited patiently as the hours ticked by.

Fortunately, we got a two-seater spot on the plane (a quite tight plane that is 3 by 3 by 3 for seating until the back!) so we had a little space and some privacy. It was about a 6.5 hour flight and it didn´t feel very long after I took 2 gravols after dinner... I was out. Jeff on the other hand wasn´t and has been pretty jet lagged today.

Going through the airport was easy and after a quick stop at the Tourism desk, we found our bus and hopped on. We got off at our designated stop (huge thanks to Jeff for figuring it all out!) and then found our next bus, or tram as it were, that took us farther on. Now, when the directions say, take the first stop after the tram has stopped climbing, with no street names, it´s a little unnerving but we found it! Without a word of a lie, we didn´t get lost once.

We found our hostel which really is nice! Our room opens up to the patio and beer is cheap (Jeff´s impressed). We had a nap for a few hours before heading out to explore the city. We walked for a few hours, navigating the map and becoming more familiar with our surroundings. It was a hot walk on cobblestone and in the sun!

I´ve got to say, the architecture here is gorgeous, old, rustic, some of it rundown, but still beautiful. I´ve already got some great shots. The only problem is that it all looks the same from street to street so we really had to pay attention and use any landmarks we could find!

We stopped for dinner, well, I stopped for dinner and Jeff watched me eat - he doesn´t have his appetite yet. We paid WAY too much for a meal not worth half of it but it was part of the experience (there you go mom, not cheaping out! lol) but we probably will try not to do that again. It was like schnitzel with fries.

We´ve just navigated our way back to the hostel without getting lost (and trust me, it´d be all to easy to get lost!) and we´re beginning to wind down from a long day of excitement, heat, and travel.

We´ve got some things planned tomorrow, to see the Castle de S. Jorge (St. Jorge´s Castle...?) which isn´t far at all, an easy walk.

Now to relax on the patio with Jeffrey to take in the view, and what a view it is!!

I´ll be back soon with more updates as we encounter them :)