ok so. the big dump is here

7/10/07: travel day!

We got up in time for one more awesome 4 euro breakfast before getting on the bus, which is good considering how long the day ahead would be. As we have come to expect, an easy, pleasant ride on the bus, though because of watching scrubs on the bus I now want to watch the show from the beginning. We got to our intermediate stop, St Johann, early, and the hostel there used to give us this big breakfast,but laws have changed, so we get no breakfast but still have to stop for an hour,and it was raining. We got to Venice around 6pm, got some food at the store a the campsite, and made dinner. Drank 2 24oz italian beers and a bottle of fizzy pink wine along with our crostinis, salami, and cheese. Yum. We even were able to drink wine without a screwtop, thanks to the swiss army knife Brett got in Lautrbrunnen!

7/11/07- Venice


We set the alarm to get up in time for the 9am shuttle into Venice, but when we heard the rain on the roof at 7:45, we decided to sleep in. Happily, when we woke up jus after 10, it had stopped raining. We missed the 11 am shuttle by 6 min, which was a bummer because the noon bus was really packed. It took about 30 min to get into Venice proper, and when we got there a girl from our Busabout bus the day before attached herself to us, so we had a tagalong. Venice is an incredibly charming city when you get away from the main tourist areas like Piazza San Marco. We didn't even bother with a map, just navigated by signs pointing out major sights. It's quite fun to wander around in the little teeny streets and look in all the shop windows at all the masks and stuff. There are no cars in Venice proper, and they think that bicycles are for children, so it's very quiet inside the city, no fucking mopeds. It's all very pedestrianized. There are tons of little bridges over small canals, plus the huge Rialto bridge, which is just swarmed with tourists. We got a little frustrated trying to get back to the shuttle, because we kept hitting alleys that dead-ended at the grand canal. However, I made good use of our map and found our way back. Got some great pictures, to be uploaded probably in Munich.

when we got back we bought 4 more huge Italian beers, two bottles of wine, and food for dinner. We played drinking blackjack, ate blue cheese, talked with the busabout driver, and then went to the campsite bar with the Bad-luck couple. Had to retreat to the cabin when the mosquitoes started eating me alive. Good thing, too, because I had a vicious headache in the morning.

7/12/07- Venice
Today we slept in and decided not to go into Venice proper. I just coudn't justify the 4€ and the crowds. Plus the canals reek. We went to the campsite pool and lounged around for 4 hours, did laundry, and I got to talk to my dad for 45min, though I did get eaten alive from the knees down again. Went to bed early after finally trying the a/c and finding that it in fact works.

7/13/07-crazy insane travel day

Well, the short bus ride to Ancona was nice, with some lovely ocean views following a surprisingly long stretch of cornfields. Brett surprised me with ice cream while we were waiting for the ferry in Ancona- said I looked cute and cute girls get ice cream. He's so sweet.

Being on this trip makes me wonder why so few Americans travel in Europe. Tons of Aussies do, though, and Kiwis and Canadians a good bit as well. I wrote a whole bunch in my journal about this, but it would take a long time to type.

I wrote a whole crapload in my journal on the ferry, but suffice to say it was uncomfortable and interminable, followed by 6 hours of waiting in Split, where we apparently chose to sit in 'homeless people central' by the looks of things.

7/14/07-Split
We were supposed to be belowdecks on the boat, but we got upgraded to a top deck cabin, with our own bathroom and shower. It's the traditional trick shower you find on all boats, but it's ours!

The boat is a fairly large boat with an entirely Croatian crew, and the provided lunches are really big and good. Soup, some sort of salad, meat and veggies. Fruit for dessert. After lunch we got under way, and Brett and I went up to the top deck to sunbathe. It's quite hot up there, but occasionally a breeze popped up to cool us off. Then we stopped along the coast, and we all jumped off the boat into the Adriatic! I'm rather proud to have been the second person to leap from the railings, and the first girl to do so by a hefty 6 or 7 person margin. I rock. The water was perfectly clear, and a perfect balance of warm enough to wallow in but cool enough to be refreshing. We treaded (trod?) water for 30min, then hopped back on the boat to laze in the sun for a few more hours.

The coastal views are fantastic. They're unassuming, but its all spectacular white cliffs, mountains all befurred with pine trees and shrubs, like a chia pet gone horribly awry. All along the ridges, there are lines of white-walled houses with red roofs and arched collonade facades. The contrast of the deep blue ocean and the olive, tan, and white of the coastline is quite arresting.

We pulled into Makarska, our stop for the night, and after a fun struggle with our recalcitrant shower (aka sink, since it's one of those boat showers where the faucet is the shower head and the entire bathroom is the stall) Brett and I set off for beers. Dinner at the same place we had beer with the combined groups from both busabout boats. It was ok, but not especially impressive. They did have cherry brandy though which was pretty good. Then we got gelato for the equivalent of $1. I guess I paid in dignity, though. I didn't want to just assume that the gelato guy spoke english, so I asked him, and he said, in perfect english, "no, I only speak Croatian." Jerkass.

7/15/07- Croatia
Got up in perfect time for breakfast, where Brett tried the spreadable meat paste, which smelled like cat food but apparently tasted pretty good. When we stopped for a swim break I once again proved how hard I rock by being the only girl to jump from the very top deck of the boat. We swam for a long time in water that so clear that you could see the bottom many many feet below us, then went to Mljet, where we traipsed to the national park (90kuna each! Pricey park!) where we ditched the group and swam in the huge saltwater lake for a couple hours. Walking in the park involved a thick, intense scent of pine resin, and the sawing insects so loud it seemed like saws. These insects were so loud that as we sailed you could hear them from the islands, way out where we were in the channels. When we came back to the boat we got lost 8 boats deep, because ours had moved to another stack. They don't dock in separate slips here, they just dock 8 boats right alongside each other and you hop through all of them to get to your particular boat.

We learned some Croatian, after which time they started bringing us free Croatian snacks. We had pizza and lasagna for dinner, a few beers, then tried to go to sleep. Between the insane heat of our room and the raucous Aussie party on deck, that proved a bit difficult.

7/16/07- Croatia

happy birthday to Josh!! I tried to figure out how to call, but I couldn't figure it out, so I emailed. The loud drunk people from last night left a huge mess on the upper deck, and the poor crew guy had to clean it up.

This Croatia cruise is like a vacation within a vacation! It's the best gift I've ever gotten. Tonight Brett tried to order an amaretto and the crew guy told him it was a woman's drink and gave him slivovic instead!

We docked in Dubrovnik tonight, and instead of wedging ourselves into a packed bus with everyone else, we walked to the Old City. It wasn't very far but it was swelteringly hot. Really really hot. Unbelievably hot. W walked around in the old town for a while, and while it's really crowded with tourist shops and stuff, I've been told the coral jewelry in Korcula, where we are staying tomorrow night, is awesome, so I'm holding out. After fortifying ourselves with some really good ice cream (mine was cinnamon and , tasted like a churro) we braved walking the old city walls. If anything, it was hotter on the walls than down in the city streets. My only consolation was that every single person was just drenched with sweat, just like me. The views were pretty sweet, though, especially of the town. After the walls, we walked past the boat and to the supermarket and then back to the boat. I sluiced off with a cold shower, then we spent the rest of the night drinking on the boat, playing cards, chatting with the crew, and chatting with other passengers as they passed through.

7/17/07- Croatia

today we woke up in the nick of time for breakfast, and as we stopped for our swim break, just as the engine cut, we saw a billowing cloud of toilet paper, and, I assume, sewage, bloom out the side of the boat. Apparently they "accidentally" jettisoned the tanks. Eeew. We made them move before we got into the water.

Bought some earrings in Korcula, after a stop in Tristenek, a teeny tiny fishing village. The captain's dinner was quite good, especially the spaghetti carbonara, and the whole fish has inspired Brett and now he wants to cook whole fish. We drank on the boat, then a big group of us went for late night pizza. The pizza here is seriously some of the tastiest pizza I've had anywhere.

7/18/07- Croatia

I fell down the stairs last night, and managed to give myself a truly spectacular bruise on my ass. Luckily it's high enough that a) it doesn't hurt to sit, and b)I can show it off. Our swim break was several hours long, so we hopped in and out of the water several times, then cruised into Hvar. It was hotter than satan's panties again, but we still walked around, had fucking amazing nutella ice cream, then went back to the boat to try to cool off. We had a picnic with the group tonight, where Brett's swiss army knife was in high demand. We had salami, a local goat cheese, and bread and calimocho. Why does it seem like I've described that meal before? Hmmmm.

We passed on $20 cocktails to chill on the boat, then during the dance mix of that traditional zorba the greek song, Julan and the chef lady start clapping and yelling, and all of a sudden we're doing a circle dance like we did at Petru's wedding, where the old man told Brett that you knew it was a good dance if the women's breasts were jiggling.
When we went to bed it was so hot in the room that I just soaked the front of my shirt with water, and got up several times during the night to repeat. Brett ended up getting up in the middle of the night to take a cold shower. It did actually seem to keep us a bit cooler.

7/19/07- Croatia

woke up sweaty with the sun blazing into the cabin at 7:15, had bre kasta

, and found out one of the passengers had been arrested last night because an ATM ate his card and he yelled and screamed and broke some advertising or something. He got a 9000 kuna fine - that's like $1800!!
When we had our swim break in Bol, the current was so strong that I was a little concerned about getting back to the ladder! Brett and I got some cool burst shots of us jumping off the boat, though. It was a long, hot day with no hint of breeze to keep me from melting at all. When we got into Omis, we walked around in the heat anyway, but man. We walked up this huge tower on the towering shoulder of the mountains that jut up just past the coast, a journey full of steep, high, slippery Croatian stone, and so steep at the top that you had to climb a ladder up the last bit. Oh, and the stone here is the stone they used to build the white house. Went to a place called Barboli's for excellent pizza and beers, then went to bed early, since our room wasn't too unbearably hot.

7/20/07- Croatia

aside from 4 drunk Frenchmen who jumped into the harbor singing, yelling, and giggling like dolphins, best night of sleep so far. In fact, wonder of wonders, there was a breeze this morning! About half our boat went rafting this morning, so we didn't get underway until 1 or 2. My massive bruise continues to evolve and get uglier. When we got into Split we had to say goodbye to Colin, the Tazzie we met on board, because he had a ferry that night back to Ancona and then another to Greece - 40 hours of ferries there. Also we had to say goodbye to Liz and Dan, the only other Americans on board, because they had a flight back to Michigan. Sad. We had dinner and drinks with most of the group, including flaming shots in a god-sent air-conditioned bar.

7/21/07- Croatia

I got up and slept out on deck three separate times last night. I think it was my worst night of sleep yet. Then we left the boat to take up residence in the same park where we waited for the cruise to start, only this time we were waiting for checkin at our hotel. The room was quite nice, and blessedly air-conditioned, so mostly we hid out in there, took a nap, venturing out only for food and to act on our decision to slash Nice to 1 night and extend our stay in Lauterbrunnen to 7 nights. Happily, I received emails back both from the hostel in Nice where we were canceling and Camping Jungfrau, confirming our respective cancellations and bookings, including that they had managed, as requested, to switch our many-layered booking in Lauterbrunnen to one private room the whole stay. yay!!! I'm really excited about spending lots of time there again. I snagged an abandoned copy of The Memory Keeper's Daughter from the boat, having finished the Margaret Atwood and Jose Saramago books, and am already halfway through it. It's really good.

7/22/07-Insane crazy travel day(s)
The one bad thing about this pension is the lack of hot water in which to shower. Yipes! Checked out as late as possible, and have been drifting about ever since, killing time in Diocletian's Palace, which is the really cool retirement palace of Roman emporer Diocletian, who holds the record as emporer who killed and harrassed the most christians. He was poisoned, along with. is wife and children, about 5 years after moving in. Now, the palace is a working ruin, with tourist shops, sighs, pensions, restaurants, bars, and residences inside its walls. I was decared UNESCO protected i n he early 19070's, which is quite early. Our ferry leaves at 10pm, so we'll probably go down to go through customs around 6. Last time we were able to snag a table and seats because we were so early, and besides, we'll be waiting no matter where we aer. The only good thing is that we dropped off our big bags in lockers storage last night, so we've just had day backs to carry around in the heat today.

We got our passports stamped again! Yay! Got on the ferry after two huge beers in plastic bottles. We played rummy to 1000 points, then settled down to sleep. I wish we had drunk a whole lot of beer the first time, because we both slept for about 6 hours.

7/23/07- more travel day
Got off the ferry just fine around 9 am, then hung out in the port authority building eating crackers and cheese and playing rummy. When we were finally done waiting there and at the train station, our cheerful blue bus pulled up and Harriet was squealing and waving hello wildly.

The bus was PACKED and this group of four Aussie girls refused to give up the rows that each girl had to herself. Bitches. Luckily someone else was nice and moved so that we could get seats.

At the campground we got all checked in, worked out Harriet booking our Lauterbrunnen to Munich sector, since, having traveled it once the system won't let us do it online ourselves, and then we went to the supermarket to get food, beer, and wine. It was an early night, cuz we were beat.

7/24/07- Rome
We got up early today to get a head start on Rome. We got into the city after successfully navigating both the bus and metro system, something that always makes me feel very self-sufficient. The Colosseum is really RIGHT THERE when you come out of the metro station, and we got there right around 8:30, so while it was hot and crowded, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. The Colosseum is really massive and impressive, but whether it's having seen too many pictures of it or too many digital reproductions, I mostly left with the impression that it was big and old.
On the way to the Pantheon, we made a wrong turn and stumbled into the ruins of the Roman Forum. It was incredible. Just a big valley, maybe 2 football fields wide and 3-4 long, with foundations, toppled walls, columns, and monuments scattered about, punctuated by incongruously standing sets of 6 columns and a bit of roof, or a piece of a carving, or a nearly intact temple. Very surreal, and I found it almost as affecting, and in much the same way, as Stonehege was.
Then we went through another victory arch (I think this one was Titus'), checked out the Caesar monument, which is the very clear basis for Caesar's Palace in Vegas, and went to the Pantheon.
It sucks that the Pantheon has been taken over and Christianized, but it's still a pretty powerful place, and the dome is dizzying optically, with the hole in the center to steady you. Supposedly it's there so that the rain can wash the temple clean, but I don't know if nowadays they cover the hole in bad weather.
After that we tried to go see the Trevi Fountain, but it was being cleaned, so it was dry and had men with scrub-brooms scrambling about inside. It looked a bit like I imagine those cleaner fish in whales' mouths might look. Our luck must have completely run out by then, because our last stop of the day was the Spanish steps, which were totally pointless and totally disappointing.
Then we made our way back through public transportation, which included an interesting scene on the bus. Some asshole Italian brought a massive group of teenagers on the bus, so it was totally crammed, and there were two backpackers loaded down with gear, front and back. Incidentally, this is my worst nightmare, carrying full day and real pack, on bus or metro, it's totally packed and you're completely huge and unwieldy, AND it's about 1000°. Awful. Anyway, the girl catches a guy with his hand in her front pack, yells something Aussie-ish like "OI!" and at the next stop he and his 4 accomplices get off, one of whom shoves the guy backpacker, knocking him back into some old man who'd been glaring at me, I think for daring to hang on using the same bar as him. The old guy shoves the backpacker, who tries to explain what happened. Then the old guy's wife shoves the backpacker, and then the old couple gets off at the next stop. Fucking Italy, man. Directly after this, Brett and I wen to the grocery, and though we literally had half our groceries on the belt, some bitch swoops in and plops her stuff down in front of ours on the belt.
In the afternoon we drank a lot, splashed around in the pool a bit, and on the 3rd try I finally got in touch with my mom, chatted for a while, and figured out which saint medallion to get grandma at the Vatican tomorrow.

7/25/07-Rome

we got up early again to take the 8am shuttle to the Vatican, which was a bit of an oversold kerfuffle, but we got there, and that's what matters. The line for the Sistine Chapel was super long, so we started at St. Peter's Basilica. The obelisk outside is from Heliopolis in Egypt, too. St. Peter's Basilica is MASSIVE. Watching girls get turned away for inapropriate dress, I was very glad to ahve ilstened to advice, because I wore long capris, and brought a T-shirt to pull over my tank top, and I was fine. The basilica is a perfect example of the ridiculous opulence and wealth of the Catholic church. I don't understand how people can be spiritually moved by it, but hey.

We got in line for the Sistine chapel, but after maybe 2 minutes we admitted to each other that we weren't THAT interested in the first place, much less to wait 4 hours for something that I at least am in large part seeing so people don't give me shit for skipping the Sistine chapel. Besides, I was grouchy because the Pope is supposed to come out and wave on Wednesdays, but he's on holiday, so I missed it. He looks like the emperor from Star Wars anyway. The old Pope was probaly just as much of a dick as this one, but at least he LOOKED nice and benevolent.

Turns out, it took us over 5 minutes to VERY briskly walk past the rest of the line for the chapel, so good call on our part. That's at least a half mile! We lounged at the pool, and are just relaxing until we leave for Florence tomorrow. Maybe Florence and Cinque Terre will change my opinion, but so far, I am not a fan of Italy. I wouldn't come back here again for vacation. Spain is still my favorite country by far.

7/26/07-travel day to Florence
Not much to say about today, except that we traveled on a quite full coach to florence with one of the dreaded 1 1/2 hour useless stops in Orvieto. The campsite was okay, but their store was terrible and the kitchen facilities even worse. Brett walked really far in the heat to get us food. We were only in Florence for like 18 hours, so there's not much to say about it.

7/27/07-travel day to Cinque Terre
Hopped on the bus for a 4 hour bus ride to Cinque Terre, though it was actually only 2 hours or so, since we spent close to 2 hours in Pisa. It was a long stop, but it was really cool to see the famous leaning tower. I always thought it was alone but there are some really cool buildings nearby it as well.

We got on the correct local train from La Spezia, where we were dropped off, to Riomaggiore, the village we staed in. We also overheard some dumb Aussie girls talking about how they can't wait to go home so that they can wear high heels. Wow.

Our hostel is quite nice, with free laundry, kitchen, ensuite bathroom, and only 5 beds in the room. We met Nina and Allen, two extremely nice Canadians, and, strangely enough, our other roommate went to RB.

They all came later, though. We just dropped off our stuff and took the train to Monterossa, the farthest of the 5 villages, and hiked the Lover's Lane trail back to Riomaggiore. Whoever named it Lover's Lane had a lofty idea of love, because you have to really love each other to still be exchanging sappy sentiments after 12km of foot-high stairs and grueling heat. My entire back, most of my front, and the entirety of the back of my shorts were soaked. Yum. Still, it was a gorgeous hike with stunning coastal views that reminded me of the northern california coast. You hiked through vineyards and people's backyard gardens full of basil and tomatoes and squash and such. Very nice. Cooked dinner and drank a bunch while chatting politics, language, and Chinese-Taiwanese relations with the Canadians.

7/28/07-Cinque Terre
Didn't do much today, just walked around Riomaggiore, ate gelati, and hung out. Cooked again, and hung out with the Canadians, went to bed early.

7/29/07-travel day to Nice
Got up in plenty of time for the train to La Spezia, despite some dumb girls who tried to tell me that the train timetable said certain trains were the only ones running on Sundays. In fact, the timetable said which trains were extra on Sundays, ie in addition to the regular trains scheduled. But then, these girls have 8-bedroom houses at home and got their 5-month trip entirely paid for as 18th birthday presents. So.

We got to Nice just fine, and it's been interesting just how comfortable I feel being back in France, even if it's just for a night. I guess it makes ssense, but even Brett said he felt really comfortable. And! We were getting settled ino our dorm when something really cool happened. We had both taken top bunks (mine in the narrow edge of the roof slant. I literally had a maximum of 3feet clearance on the tall side, with less than a foot on the short side), and there was one bunk that looked sort of made, but also sort of rumpled. The cleaning lady came in and demanded in french who was there, and I responded that I didn't know, but that I didn't think anyone was. Then she asked me something too fast for me to catch, so I asked her to slow down. She had asked when we arrived, so I told her 5 minutes ago. It was so cool, because not only did she not automatically switch to english when she heard me speak, but I carried out a useful conversation that I had no opportunity to rehearse! I felt very accomplished.
We got canned pasta, canned pears and peaches, and hot pockets for dinner, along with two bottles of local rose. Speaking of wine, I now have ammunition against anyone who gives me shit about putting ice in my wine, because I saw a group of 6 or 7 french people calmly putting ice in their wine. Voila! Instant justification.

After a quick shower (also cold, since otherwise the shower tried to scald me occasionally), we went to bed.

7/30/07-Travel day
Well, the day started so-so, and had it's ups and downs all day long. We began with a guy still drunk from last night running to catch the bus as his friend ran up and down the aisle screaming at the driver to stop and pick him up. They got him on board, but he was still so out of it that he couldn't even find his passport. Less than 5 minutes later, the driver rolled into the bumper of a car at a stop sign, so we had to stop and exchange info, etc.

Luckily, shortly afterward, we stopped in Eze for the only onus stop I've really enjoyed so far. We took a tour of the Fragonard perfume factory, tested some perfumes, and Brett got me this awesome perfume (real parfum, not eau de toilett) that smells a lot like strawberries. He also got one for himself that is awesome, a mandarin spicy scent. Yum. Mine's called 'juste un baiser' or 'just a kiss' and his is called 'diamant.' I told him that I'd turn him into an effeminate frenchman yet.
However, things took a turn for the worse several hours later, when the bus broke down on the freeway. We only narrowly avoided being towed and ticketed by the incredibly over-zealous Italian police. I think they're just mad that they have pansy-ish fuschia stripes on their pants. Anyway, thanks to a passenger who spoke Italian, 200€ to get us off the road, and a fortuitously passing empty Contiki bus, we were on our way again after oly 2-3 hours on the side of the road. When I say passing I mean that the bus was about 200 km away when we called. But at least we are back on the road, and should be only about 3 hours late getting in.

Sigh. Anyway, yesterday was 8 weeks away, with only 5 more to go. We also found out Kudra is staying with Ann for the rest of the summer because the backyard is getting done! That's super incredibly awesome! I'm really excited to see what it looks like when it's all finished!

eeeps - Radio Silence alert!!

Ok so internet is super expensive here in Italy and I'm going to Croatia for a week, so this is a heads up for radio silence and lack of updating for at least a week. I am not dead or injured or anything, just not quite able to get to internet, I'd bet, in Croatia.

Today we woke up and it was raining. Rar. We went out anyway to Hugendubel, the bookstore that has an english-language section, and got some new books. I convinced Brett to read A Prayer for Owen Meany, one of my favorite John Irving novels, and also to get Bel Canto (Ann Patchett) which is also fantastic. I'm so excited that he's really starting to enjoy reading, because I have so many many recommendations for books he should read! I bought a collection of Margaret Atwood's writing, and a collection of David Sedaris pieces to read in Croatia after I finish the last few pages of Harry Potter 1 in french. Someone today thought that I was reading the new one. As if the new one would be this short!!

It rained alllllll dayyyyyyyy today, a steady rain that good southern californians like us just can't quite believe in, even when we're out in it getting soaked. We were going to go to Hofbrauhaus, but it's farrrrr so we hung around and read for some hours and ate pizza at the corner pizza place which is actually pretty good.

Given the weather, I'm happy to be leaving for Venice tomorrow morning!

7/8 - Munich

Today we went on the free walking tour offered by the hostel, after a really fantastic 4Euro all-you-can-eat breakfast at the hostel. This place is pretty damn nice, aside from the creepy guy in the bunk below me.

The tour wasn't as nice as the tour in Paris, but it was still informational, and we saw most of the big sights of Munich, including the disappointing glockenspiel. We also went to Frauenkirche, which has a funny story about the devil getting mad because of people weaseling out of a contract with him, and he stamped his foot and supposedly until WWII destroyed everything there was a huge hoofprint in the church, but now it's just a human footprint.

The Surfer Wave in the Englischer Garten is really cool, if a little disappointing to a san diegan, but still kinda cool. There was also an annoying girl from San Diego claiming that we have bars with surf waves in them. Maybe I'm just uninformed, but my impression is that she was just treating urban legend like fact when talking to people who by all indications will never go to San Diego and therefore find out that she was mistaken.

Lots of naked, sunbathing germans showing off 50 years of a good bavarian diet. Yum.

The Englischer Gartens are huggggge, 1 mile wide by 5 miles long. It's really quite immense. But they're very nice, with huge chestnut trees and a river and large lawns that you aren't supposed to walk across even though there are people lying all over them.

Brett and I enjoyed some currywurst, sauerkraut, and another ginormous pretzel together, along with some large glasses of Weissbeer. About halfway through our second liter, though, it started pouring, so Brett gave me his raincoat and we hustled the very long distance back to the hostel without a map in the rain. Yay. It was an adventure, for sure.

Went to bed fairly early, but then a billion people came in and decided that since they hadn't bothered to make their beds earlier and since everyone in the room was already asleep that that was a good time to make their beds, have conversations, turn lights on and off, get on and off the bunks, take showers, comb their hair while staring contemplatively out the window, etc. Grr.

7/7 - Travel Day

Talked to my mom today after trying to call her and dad yesterday and getting nobody. Luckily I got to talk to Shannon for a while until her phone cut out the second time... given that the first minute of a call costs 60 cents, I decided it was time to give up. It was a phone call abyss.

the Lauterbrunnen to Munich bus ride is super short but they drag it out by stopping in Lucerne and Liechtenstein for no reason. But I did get my passport stamped in Liechtenstein, which is cool.

In Munich, we got checked in, then went out to the Paulaner Garten for a liter of beer and truly massive pretzel with sweet mustard. YUmmmm.

It's weird being in a country, finally, that I have absolutely no familiarity or facility with. It's a bit stressful. Plus, there are a lot more Americans in Munich, so far, than in any other place so far, including Dublin.

7/6 - Lauterbrunnen

Today we didn't do much, just spent hours doing laundry and went for a walk towards Stechelberg. That's it....

7/5 - Lauterbrunnen

Today we got up really really early for the train up to Junfraujoch - the Top of Europe. Home of the highest altitude train station, restaurant, post office, and bathroom in Europe. It was storming, so you couldn't see much but blowing snow. It was also -7.8 degrees celsius with 48km/hr winds. And we went outside. Don't ask me why. There was also a cool ice palace carved into the glacier, and you could actually see the glacier. It was really cool.

The train ride itself was really cool, with amazing views of the Lauterbrunnen valley, which has 72 waterfalls, one of which is Staubbach falls, a 300 meter waterfall (the tallest in Europe) and which was RIGHT NEXT TO our campsite. There's also Trummelbach falls, which is a glacial waterfall with tunnels where you can see it falling through the glacier, but we'll see that next time through.

Hung out, then went to the Bomb Shelter, which is the campsite bar. It really is a bomb shelter, they just converted it to a bar/club where all the Contiki people go to drink and negotiate sleeping arrangements. Lots of Aussie music, which Adam will agree sucks. Seriously, all these Aussies singing loudly along with a Queen song that I'm certain has never been played in the states.

Also, they have a fun shot of a little bottle of red bull liqueur where you unscrew the cap, lick it, stick it on your forehead, bang the bottle on the bar while yelling PROOOOOOOSSSSSST!!! then take the bottle in your teeth, drink it without hands, then take the cap off your head and try to spit it into a target. If you make it, you get a free one.

7/4 - Travel Day

On our country's birthday we traveled from Paris to Lauterbrunnen. A bit anticlimactic, given that everyone else was partying at home.

Only really exciting thing that happened on the ride was that at the service stop there was a big line for the bathroom (of course). So when a stall opened up, I went right for it, only to discover that it was A SQUAT TOILET!!! I turned right back around and went out to Brett and said, "fuck that, I'm not using a squat toilet!!" only to discover that that was the ONLY toilet in the bathroom like that. arg.

When we got to Lauterbrunnen I was just stunnnnned by how beautiful it is here! The campsite is gorgeous, and a really nice place to stay. Plus the lady dumped a handful of swiss chocolate in my hand when I checked in. My kind of place.

pictureeeeees

Liz jumping for joy
Originally uploaded by brettgunit

okay kids I know I suck recently but here's a TON of pictures to make up for it.

Bordeaux, Paris, Lauterbrunnen, and some from first day in Munich. Updates in full soon. Enjoy!

remember: www.flickr.com/photos/brettgphoto

7/3 - Paris

Today I woke up and it was raining. Really raining, not San Diego raining. We decided, therefore, not to go to Notre Dame and take pictures, but to go to the Musee D'Orsay, which I think I would really enjoy because my favorite type of art is Impressionism, and that's what the Musee D'Orsay is all about. Unfortunately, we were well and truly SOAKED by the time we got to the museum, only to find a truly massive line. We decided to head back to the hostel and hope that we got there before lockout. It was really pouring, and we barely managed to get into our room 10 minutes before lockout, with her grouchy "well, you can't stay in there!" ringing in our ears. We changed out of our wet clothes and got snacks and went to try to occupy ourselves until we could get back in our room. Later we got some soup and bread, then saw some clearish sky and went to make sure we know how to get to our hostel tomorrow morning, discovering that there was an internet cafe right next to it.

I checked the weather for the next 10 days or so in each place we're going and the outlook is not good. It's supposed to be at least cloudy and at least have a chance of rain in Lauterbrunnen, Munich and Venice. Blech.

7/2 - Paris

Woke up this morning at 8am feeling like crap. Not nauseous or headachy, just tiiiiired. Brett had to drag me out of bed to go to our 11am free walking tour that started on Ile-de-la-Cite. I'm really glad we did, because the guide was really great, and it was the only wholly good group experience we've had so far. The tour was 3 1/2 hours of walking, so we were pretty tired when it was over, so we got groceries and made ravioli and green beens with diced tomatoes. The kitchen really sucks at this hostel, in that there are no saucepans, only gigantic pots, one "sharp" knife which is tiny and not at all sharp, no towels, no cooking utensils, and in the "clean" utensil area there was a butter knife with old peanut butter all over it so I had to wash everything we used because I didn't trust it. And then once I washed it it stayed wet because there were no towels. Sigh. Our food was really good, though.

While I'm on this subject, let me list the things that are awful about 3 Ducks Hostel. First of all, there's only one key per room, so apparently you get the key from reception when you come in (and by the way, reception is A BAR) and then if you're the last person in your room to leave you lock the door and give the key back to reception. Very annoying. There is also a lockout that is not disclosed when you reserve your rooms every day from noon to 4 pm supposedly for cleaning, which completely sucks. In addition, the bathrooms consist of 3 outdoor toilet stalls and two outdoor shower stalls. They're enclosed, but still. They're in the courtyard where everyone congregates, like the common area, so if you go in you have to maneuver around people to get there. There are a couple bathrooms upstairs, but when I tried to use one during lockout today the cleaning lady who was sitting chatting on the steps gave me a ration of shit in french about how those bathrooms were only for the people upstairs. The thing is, when we got back today, a guy was pulling the wreckage of the wall between one toilet and one shower, so there's in fact only 2 toilets and 1 shower for everyone downstairs, one of which broke later in the evening. Anyway. She yells at me in french, grabs my hand and leads (drags) me to one of the downstairs bathrooms, opens the door, and points and says "THIS is where YOU go." I was super pissed. And it's not over. Also there are cracks and drafts in the door so you can't shut sound out, and the bar and patio where everyone hangs out is literally - I swear literally - less than 10 feet from the doors of the rooms.

It's supposed to be one of the best hostels in Europe, but in fact it's so bad that we wanted to switch hostels until we discovered the no refund policy. Luckily we leave early tomorrow morning.

ANYWAY. After lunch we went out to the Louvre, where we saw the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, and some super cool greek sculptures before they closed and we had to leave. Then we walked down the Champs Elyseesm which is much longer than I realized and very very crowded, to the Arc de Triomphe. Place Charles de Gaulle, which surrounds the Arc itself, is this huge crazy roundabout where there's an accident every 6 minutes. They don't even let pedestrians cross it, they just built a tunnel under it so you can walk around under the arc, which is truly massive. It really looms over the champs elysees, even over the trees lining it and the inexplicable grandstands that are being erected at the moment. It's rather intimidating, not very celebratory. We were exhausted from all the walking, so we didn't go up for the view, but went back to the hostel, got some snacks, and then tried to occupy ourselves until bedtime. It was so loud when we finally went to bed that we couldn't really sleep, so we didn't exactly sleep well.

7/1 - Travel Day!

We didn't have to get up too early for our bus today, since it's the second stop on this leg for Busabout - we just needed to be ready by 11:30 for the bus. We had a guide that we've had before, so the trip was nice, with hardly anybody on the bus. Brett and I once again each had a row to ourselves.

We got stuck in some truly horrendous traffic at a checkpoint 40 km from Paris, but hardly any traffic coming in, so we were only an hour late. Brett and I had researched our metro needs to get to our hostel before we left, so we found our metro station and our hostel and were all checked in by 11:30.

As we drove into the city we passed the famous rose window at Notre Dame, and I swear I've never been so affected by something famous in person in my life. I was so excited!! Then we saw a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower! It was just getting dark as we came in around 10:30 or 11, and the Eiffel tower is all lit up starting at 8pm every night, and every hour for 10 minutes it GLITTERS. Yes folks, it glitters. and it just so happened that right as we passed between buildings and could see it, it GLITTERED!! I'm normally a skeptic about gasps of awe, but I must admit one escaped my mouth in unison with everyone else's.

The first thing we did once we were checked in was buy 3 Heineken tallboys and 2 bottles of pink wine with twist tops and marched over to the Eiffel Tower, a longer walk from the hostel than advertised. It started glittering for the midnight glitter when we were about 5 minutes away, but we got there at the base in plenty of time to gape at it for quite some time before it stopped. It was truly amazing. I thought Notre Dame affected me, but the Eiffel Tower just froze me in place. I knew it was big but it's impossibly huge and enormous and crazy in person. My favorite thing was staring at the glittering lights until I could shut my eyes and see the tower in after-images on my eyelids. There was also this crazy optical illusion when you look at just the bottom level where it seems like the lights are all speeding up.

It was midnight and really cold and windy, and I was just wearing capris and a tank top, so we tried to hide from the wind and the men selling light-up eiffel towers but it was impossible so while we waited for the 1 am glitter I drank to keep warm. It seemed to work because by the time 1am rolled around I wasn't nearly so cold! At 1am they turn off the other lights on the tower and it's only lit by the glittering ones, which is really cool.

After that Brett and I stumbled back after getting a bit lost and needing to ask for directions in french.

6/30 - Bordeaux

Our last day in Bordeaux we followed our tradition here and didn't do much, got up at noon, did laundry (the dry cycle only took 15 min!!), and wandered around. Tried to find ice cream in the evening, but despite its ubiquitousness the rest of the time, we couldn't find any shops. Lame.

It's been nice not to share a room or a bathroom with anybody, but it would have been nice to have a common room or a kitchen. Also, there was seriously a drunken French party across the way, and drunken french men were yelling about Napoli at 1 in the morning. This, after someone called reception on us the first night for talking in normal voices in our room.

7/3 - Paris

Don't have much time on this infernal kiosk, but Paris amazing when it isn't raining and awful when it is.

Don't ever stay at the 3 Ducks. We tried to switch hostels, but no availability.

I'll update more some other day.

Today Kudra turned 4 and we weren't there for it. :(

6/29 - Bordeaux

Got up at noon today, something I haven't done pretty much since middle school maybe? Then we took a really long walk to go to this recommended bakery down near the Place de la Victoire (apparently you aren't a European city if you don't have a Victory Square). I got a beignet avec chocolat, but to my delight and surprise, when they said 'beignet' they meant 'best donut of your life', and when they said 'chocolat' they meant 'nutellla'!! Brett's was raspberry. Mine was soooooooo good. Then we had kebab. I was still a lil too full from my donut extravaganza to finish mine, but they were very good, and cheaaap! Then we found out that international postage in France is .85 each, which sucks because it was cheaper in San Sebastian but we forgot to send our SS postcards from there so we have 15 postcards to send. Even worse, the machine only takes coins. At least the Euro has 1 and 2 Euro coins.... But they really kind of demand exact change in France, and give you nasty looks if you don't have it.

Also, on every receipt they have the conversion to Francs. They've been on the Euro for something like 5 years and still? They did it to pesos or whatever it was in Spain, too.

Later we went on another walk to the Miroir d'eau, which is this really large, flat, shallow pool that fills up with water that reflects the sky and the buildings nearby. Then after like 10 min, it drains, and about 5 min after that it blows fine mist all over itself like a smoke machine was going off. Then it stops and 5 min later it starts filling up again. So cool. It's also a bit like a kiddy pool on summer nights and weekends, because the beach is 45 min away in Arcachon, so lots of kids and dogs and even adults wander around in it since it's only like an inch high.

Drank a bunch of pink wine then went back for more kebab, and they brought us, I swear, the best tea ever - for free! I went up and told them (in french) that I spoke french really badly but I wanted to know what was in the tea because it was amazing. They kind of snickered when I said my french was bad, like 'yeah we know' but they were really nice and explained everything to me. Apparently it's just loose leaf green tea with mint leaves and sugar. I bet they muddle the mint leaves though.