Munich & Dachau

Monday, 9/10/07

What a day! We decided to sleep in a bit today, so we got up around 8:45. We had to go ahead and pack our things and "check out" by 10. We took our bigger backpack to luggage storage in the dungeon (apparently every hostel has one), ate our breakfast, and headed out. We started by seeing a bit of Munich. Our hostel is very near to the location of Oktoberfest. Although it doesn't start for another week or so, the preparations are well under way. They set up these HUGE tents, which are amazing. They literally construct these every year. Most of them look like true buildings from the front with walls, balconies, windows, but the sides and top are a very thick visquene. Since they were still constructing many of these tents when we went by, we were able to see how they put them together. Basically, they bring in the pieces and tons of extra 2x4s and screw it all together. A lot of them even had porches and one even brought in huge pine trees that they wedged down into the porch! I couldn't believe the work that goes into putting on Oktoberfest.

Next, we made our way to the center of town, Merienplatz. I'm sure it's usually very lively and beautiful, but we hit it at the wrong time. Because it was Sunday, almost all of the shops were closed...except, of course, American chains such as McDonalds and Starbucks. The beautiful building in the center of town with a working cuckoo clock was being worked on so it was covered in scaffolding and plastic. We were able to find gilato (ice cream) for 1€! It was so delicious!

Our final plans of the day was to go to Dachau and see the concentration camp memorial. We hopped on a train after purchasing brats in the train station and were to Dachau in less than 10 minutes. We decided to walk from the train station to the memorial...bad idea. It took us over an hour to get to it! By the time we got there, it was after 4 and the Museum closed at 5. We were able to see 1/2 of the museum. It was such an eye opening experience. I couldn't believe the amount of violence and evil that occurred there. It was so sad to walk through the very building where people were tortured to the point of death. I was so saddened by the stories of killings, hangings, gas chambers, and starvation. Some of these prisoners were literally worked to death. I'm very glad we went to the memorial. It is a reminder of what evil people are capable of. I still don't know how these things could be carried out with no remorse or guilt. Terribly sad.

We have arrived back in Munich and are waiting for 11:45 to leave on the overnight train to Venice. We walked around looking for anyone who sold Dr. Pepper...we are both having major withdrawals! A person we met in the hostel said that he had seen Dr. Pepper all over Munich but we can't find one for the life of us! Now we are sitting in the lobby of the hostel as it is much more comfortable than the train station...and much warmer! We will probably head to the train station by 9:30. I would like to go back to Coffee Fellows for WiFi connection and we really want another brat from the train station!

Salzburg!

It rains...a lot...in Germany. It was raining when we got here and it is still raining. Luckily, we brought ponchos. They have been quite useful!

I have been told before that the Germans are very kind and it is so true! On our train ride to Fussen, a girl close to our age sat across the isle from us and began chatting with us. We weren't sure which platform to go to when we switched trains so she found the conductor and asked for us. The conductor did not speak much English so we would not have known without her help! She also gave us some tips on where to find the best food and beer. = ) When we got back to Munich that evening, we took the S Bahn to our train stop but weren't quite sure where to go from there. As we stood in the train station looking at our directions, a couple stopped and asked if we needed help. We showed them our directions and they told us how to get there. We got a little confused in the process, but we found the hostel nevertheless.

This hostel is different from all the others we have stayed. There were 14 people in our room and only one bathroom. The bathroom is all lumped together so if someone is brushing their teeth, you have to wait for them to finish before you can shower. Luckily, Wendy and I were able to "take over" the bathroom for about 45 minutes yesterday. Our roommates weren't so happy, but we were showered, dressed, and ready to go when we exited. The breakfast here is good; cereal, toast, yogurt, bagels, coffee, liverwerst (blech!), and the nastiest juice Wendy has ever tasted...but she kept drinking it. The milk for the cereal was room temperature, which kind of made me want to barf. But hey, it's free food!

We were finally able to do laundry when we got here. They had a small washer and dryer downstairs. They wanted to charge 5 € for one load...but you paid that when you got the detergent. We lucky souls found 3 detergent tablets by the washers and just went for it. Free wash!

Yesterday, we took the 10:30 train to Salzburg. I think I slept almost the entire 1 1/2 there. Once we got there, it was raining (of course). We went to the information desk and purchased our sound of music tour tickets. We then walked about 10 minutes to the bus stop. Once there, we saw a large crowd of people leaving a sound of music tour bus just laughing and having a grand ole time. We thought it must be our bus...but no. We were on a different bus...and had a different tour guide...and there were only 12 people on our bus...for a reason. Our tour guide would talk, then stop and say, "uh, where was I?" We would have to remind him, and then half the time he would say, "Oh, I got off track. Forget that last part." He would also answer his cell phone in the middle of talking. He was horrible! Then the bus driver didn't know where he was going so the guide would have to tell him where to turn in the middle of his "stories." We were on that bus for 4 hours...and it seemed like an eternity. We made 3 stops, one about 30 minutes away from Salzburg. The guide wanted us to go to his friends boat and take a ride and eat apple streudle (sp?) for a mere 11€ extra...we declined. Some people on the bus were suckered into it while the rest of us he made out to be fun haters. While others got on the boat, we walked the town and saw the church where the Von Trapp wedding occured. By this time, we were so tired of our annoying tour guide, we just wanted to jump on one of the busses with the happy people and try to blend. If that didn't work, a cliff would suffice. We were so happy when the tour ended. We walked around Salzburg and went to the Abbey where Maria lived. It is a beautiful town! Much easier to enjoy when you do not have an irritating, almost offensive, tour guide. Oh, did I mention he kept telling us he was badly paid and then asked for tips at the end? Obviously, we skipped out on that contribution.

While walking Salzburg, we kept trying to find a place that sold brautwursts. The one we had the day before was so good! We couldn't find a single place that sold them! We thought for sure they would be sold on every street corner in this area. We are still craving a brautwurst. We hoped to get one back in Munich at the train station.

We headed back to Munich at 8:12 pm. The train went maybe 10 miles, then stopped at a station and told us all to get off. Another train had derailed up ahead and we were to wait for a bus to pick us up and take us to the next station. We were so tired that we just wanted to get back to the hostel and sleep. One hour later, the bus arrived and took us on a 45 minute excursion. We got to the train station, hopped on, and had another 1 1/2 hour ride. By the time we got back, we were about to fall asleep standing. We got back to the hostel after midnight...our original time would have been 10:30. And still...no brautwurst. Maybe today!

While we waited for the bus, I fell asleep on a bench. A man we had been visiting with took it upon himself to video me sleeping with his cellphone. He showed it to me after words and said he would put it on YouTube. He said he would name it "First night in Germany." What a charming fellow.

Today we will go to Dachau and tour the concentration camp. Later we will come back to Munich and see a bit of the town. We leave at 11:45 on an overnight train to Venice...I hope this one goes better than the last!

I hope everyone is doing well. I can't believe it has been 9 days already. I may not be able to post in Venice, but should be able to in Rome.

Last of Paris & First of Germany

Yesterday in Paris was so amazing, again. We had very few plans, just areas we might want to see. We had a very leisurely day. After leaving the café where I sent the last blogs, we walked down Saint Antione near our hostel and found a coat shop. It was much cooler in Paris than we had expected so we thought it might be a good idea to get a heavy jacket. Our roommate from New Zealand, Amber (when she said it, it sounded like ah-m-ba) informed us it was quite cold in Germany. We each bought a short trench style jacket (very stylish in Paris) for 25€. We went on to Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. We also went to Moulin Rouge just to see the outside, and quickly vacated the area...it was a little scary!

Next, we saw the Sacré Couer, which translates in English to the Sacred Heart Church. It was on a hilltop on the less touristy Northern part of Paris. We had to walk up a gazillion stairs (that's a rough estimate) to get there. Definitely less than the Eiffel Tower, but it seemed like more because our leg muscles were so sore from all the stairs and walking we've been doing.

On our way down from the church, we decided to take a leisurely stroll around the area. What we found was the most beautiful area with corner cafés and side-by-side houses covered in ivy and flowers. The streets were all cobblestone and would only fit one lane of traffic at a time. We walked around for close to an hour just looking at the houses. We stopped at a corner café to purchase a crepe, which we had yet to experience. We shared a chocolaté crepe for 4.50€. It was to die for...and entirely to small. We meandered on to a small church and had a look around. We found a small "gift" shop where I purchased a key chain and bracelet for quite cheap.

We then decided to go to Samaritine, a less expensive shopping area. We mainly walked around but we also found an H&M (often modeled in Cosmo and Glamour magazines). I got the most Parisian scarf there!

We had to pack up our things that morning and leave them in the basement of the hostel (we called it the dungeon). We headed back to get it and stopped at yet another store and purchased some jewelry. On our way to the train station, we stopped by the Eiffel Tower for one more glimpse of the light show before heading to Germany.

The overnight train was an experience and a half! First, we were in a room of three beds and the third lady was older and spoke no English. The rooms were so tiny you had to step out of the room or onto a bed to allow someone to pass. The beds were one on top of the other and there was a ladder hooked to the side for climbing to the 2nd and 3rd bed. The other woman kept trying to ask me something and I couldn't understand her. She finally got frustrated and went into the hall. When she began climbing the ladder to the top bed I finally figured out what she wanted. She wanted to trade beds with me since mine was on the bottom. Being the kind soul I am, I complied...that was my first mistake!

The shower was in the very back of the car (which was in the very back of the train). You had to brace yourself against the wall to keep from crumpling to the shower floor in a soapy, naked heap. I wondered where the "I've fallen and can't get up" button was. Apparently, it's never been enough of an issue.

I finally made my way to my top bed around midnight only to find I get very sick in the top of a hot train car with no window to see out. I spent most of the night sitting on the steps at the front of the car watching the lights go by. Believe it or not, it was quite fun. I spent quite a bit of time talking to the 1st class car worker, Givani. He was Italian and spoke 6 languages. Then an elderly English woman who was also battling with motion sickness sat and visited for awhile. Next, a Frenchman name Zohae (he had to show me his passport) sat and visited while he waited to use he shower. Did I mention he did not speak English? He would say one word such as "Direction" and I would name off where we've been and where we are going. He wanted so badly to visit that he pulled out his calendar, which had the days of the week in both French and English. He would say the French version and I would repeat, and I would say the English version and he would repeat. I have to say, he was much better at English than I was at French. I finally went to bed around 3:30am and slept about 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

We missed our stop at Augsbergh, apparently they do not announce the stops. We went on to Munich and left our larger packs in a locker at the train station. We jumped right back on a train and headed to Fussen to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. The castle was amazing, but the walk to the castle was steep and took about 40 minutes. Back in Fussen, we wondered the streets and found rostbrautwerst (spelling?) for 2.30 € each. We jumped right on that! It was the first meat we had since the spaghetti in London! It was so delicious! We already decided we need to have more brautwurst while we are here! Oh, and I forgot to mention...it's FREEZING here! My 1 pair of pants that I purchased in London will definitely be worn daily!

As I type, we are on a train back to Munich. We will check into our hostel and try to find a place to do laundry. We are both getting pretty smelly.

Auf Weidersehen!

(Goodbye!)

A few pictures

A few pictures

Wi-Fi...FINALLY!!!!

We have been deprived of wi-fi in Paris. I have still been blogging, just unable to send them. We were walking down a street this morning and saw a café with Wi-Fi in the window. We entered and the owner speaks very good English and said we only need to buy something and can stay as long as we would like. Jackpot! I purchased a coffe with cream for 2.20€ and Wendy got the Cappuccino for 2.50€. They are tiny...and bitter...but it's worth being connected to the rest of the world. You have a lot of reading ahead of you!

The Best of Paris

What an amazing day!!!!

Our first stop was the Louvre. I had no idea how huge it was! We came in on the backside and it took forever to walk to the front! The line wasn't too bad and we got in pretty quickly. We walked around completely amazed at all of the art, paintings, and sculptures. We made our way past the first two floors and were close to the Mona Lisa when an alarm sounded and they asked everyone to leave. We litterally power walked to the Mona Lisa so we could see it before we had to leave. Once we got there, the alarm quit sounding and we were able to stay. I was surprised that we were able to take pictures throughout the entire museum...including of the Mona Lisa! We walked around for about 3 hours and maybe saw an eighth of it. We were worn out and hungry, so we set out a blanket on the front lawn and had another cheese and bread sandwich.

Our next stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was free, which made it even better. It was very beautiful! The tall ceilings and huge stained glass windows were beautiful!

We headed to the train station to pick up our overnight tickets for tomorrow, then headed to the Eiffel Tower. As it came into sight, we had to pinch ourselves to be sure that it was real! It was so amazing. We actually WALKED up to the second floor...668 stairs. After already walking around London, we were very sore...and even more so after the 668 stairs. But hey! We saved about 4€! The only way to get to the very top was by elevator, and we were okay with that! The view was AMAZING! We came down by elevator, and made our way to the lawn where we spread out our blanket and spent hours just looking at the tower. It was breathtaking. We had another picnic supper of peanut butter crackers and apples. Around 9, the light show on the tower began. It looked like the whole thing was sparkling!

Tomorrow will be a leisurly day of simply strolling the streets of Paris. Tomorrow night, we take an overnight train to Fussen.

Headed to Paris

Last night, we went to bed around 10:30 London time. We knew we would be heading to Paris this morning so we showered last night and turned in somewhat early. I was awoken around 11:00 to banging on the front downstairs door. The windows are very thin so street and foot traffic can easily be heard. But the banging sounded like it was right next to my ear. My bed is on the front wall on the second floor, right above the door. The entire wall shook! Then I heard a woman screaming "open the bloody door!" She kept banging and hollering for several minutes until the owner ran downstairs. A few moments later, the police showed up in one of their fancy police vans, and took the woman away.

This morning, we got up around 7:30 and got ready for the day. We had done most of our packing last night so it didn't take long. We ate the provided breakfast of cereal and toast, and went on our way. We had to walk close to a mile to get to the Baker Street Underground. The only line running today was the Jubilee Line and it would take us to Waterloo. Now, yesterday was very crowded on the tube...but that was nothing compared to today. Imagine all the peoples of London trying to commute to work on ONE tube line..I had faces close enough to me that I could count their nose hairs. Luckily, we were only 4 stops away from Waterloo. Once off at Waterloo, we went to purchase Eurostar tickets for the ride to Paris. As we checked out, my card was denied. I called the credit card fraud prevention to verify that I am in Europe and they said the denial was not on their end. So we had to try to find an ATM. The first one was broken down so we went to the other end of the station and found an ATM. Then back down to get the ticketes. By that time, it was 9:55 and the train was leaving at 10:10. We hurridly purchased the tickets and went through check-in and security. We made it to the platform to find our coach was on the far end. The woman said "hurry to the end, but if the train starts moving, just jump in." To us, that meant run! We took off, heavy packs and all. Halfway to our coach, we were stopped but an elderely gent who told us we had time, just walk. He was right, and here we sit. There is not much contryside to see. Mainly just trees. This might be a good time to take a nap!

We arrived safely at Paris...It's beautiful! Our hostel is much bigger than the last. We are in a smaller room (much like a dorm) that hold 3 people. Our roommate is from New Zeland. She is very interesting!

After checking in, we took the metro to the Arc De Triomphe. Pictures do it no justice. It's enormous! There is a "turn about" around it that is 8 lanes wide. You have to go through an underground walking tunnel to get to it. We opted out of climbing to the top for price reasons, but it was still quite amazing from the bottom!

Once back to the hostel, we asked where we could find a grocery store. The lady at the counter was very confused. I continued explaining, " food, grocery, supermarket." Ah! Supermarket! She told us it was across the street from the Bastille Metro. So back on the metro we went, and hopped off at Bastille. There was definitely no supermarket across from the metro. Because the French generally do not like Americans, especially English speaking Americans, we weren't sure where to go from there. We found a little newspaper stand and decided it would be rude to ask directions without purchasing something. Luckily, they had postcards for .20€ each. I bought five and said "hello, do you speak English" in French (one of the few phrases I know in French). The man said no, so I didn't continue. But he began waving his hands as if to say, "but go ahead and try." I asked again (in a lapse of memory) where the grocery store was. Blank stare. Oh, yes, the Supermarket. That he understood. He took off speaking French quickly and pointing his hands. We figured out we should go down the adjacent street and look on the left. After quite a walk, we came upon a fruit stand. We both bought apples and again, asked where the super market was. This man was very funny. He kept saying "Speak-uh Fran-say." Then he said "Soo-pear" and looked at me to repeat, so I did. Then he said "Mar-sha." I repeated. He said very happily, "Wee, Soo-pear Mar-sha! Speak-uh Fran-say." Then gave us directions in French. We walked a little farther and finally found the Super Marché. We purchased bread, cheese, chips, and cookies for around 5.25€. We wanted to buy ham, but it was about 5€ for two slices...that's close to $7 US! We opted out on the meat.

Tomorrow we will visit the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower!

Eventful day 2

What a day...both good and bad. I'll give you the bad first. We had some time left on the hop-on hop-off busses and decided to take one to the London Tower this morning. We planned to tour the inside. We "hopped off" only to find that I had left my tripod on the bus. As the bus drove by, a woman was waving it at me saying "you forgot your thingey." So we took off running hoping we would be able to catch them at a stop light. We ran a few blocks until we couldn't see them anymore. We went back and waited for the next bus hoping that they would leave it with one of the attendants at the on/off locations. The bus driver radioed to the other busses to ask if the tripod had been turned in, but it hadn't. We rode through until the route ended and it still had not been turned in. I guess the woman figured out that the "thingey" was a tripod and decided to keep it for herself. Europe - 1; us - 0

The tour ended in Picadilly Circus which is quite a ways away from the London Tower and our hostel. We walked around a little longer and even found a China town. After eating the smallest ice cream I've seen (and i it was about $3 US), we decided to try to get back on the bus and make our way back to the tower. The attendant told us the "Gold" line would take us right to the tower. We hopped on and after about 45 minutes, we still were not there. We finally asked the guide how long it would be and he said, "oh, another hour." We explained to him that we had been told we would go straight there and he said we had been "misinformed." We apparently should have gotten on the "Green" line. By that time, we could not catch the green line and by the time the gold line got there, the Tower would be closed. So, we decided to hop of the next stop and just make our way back towards the hostel. We found an underground station and hopped on the tube...just in time for rush hour traffic. We were literally sandwiched...I have never been so crowded in all of my life...and at every stop, more people piled in. Luckily, no one around me had bad breath or smelly arm pits.

We got to Earl's Court Station only to find that the next tube we needed to take was not running due to a union strike...and Earl's Court is further away than our original location of Picadilly Circus. So our options were to pay even more money and jump on a bus that we hoped would take us there, or walk. I nice "civil police man" helped us with directions to walk back and warned us of the long walk. We had already walked quite a ways, but we thought we would just try it. On our way, we walked past Kennsington Palace. Almost the entire length of the front rod iron fence was covered in flowers, photos, poems, and posters in remembrance of Princess Diana's death 10 years ago.

We continued walking for what seemed like 20 miles...but was closer to 5. At one point I stopped to take a picture of a garden and house and stepped into the parallel parking area. A man driving a Mercedes honked at me as if I was in his way and Wendy looked at the car and said, "she's not even in the road." The next sound we heard was screeching tires and the man rolled down his window and said, "what did you say?" We both ignored him and he drove away...then we almost fell over laughing. I told Wend that she needed to be sure there were witnesses before she yelled at a passer-by again...just in case. :-)

Now, the best part of our day was definitely our tour of Westminster Abbey. It was breath taking! I was slightly creaped out that we were literally walking on tombs, but I was amazing nonetheless. I can't even explain the intricate detail carved in the stone walls, floors, and ceiling. My neck ached by the time we left from looking up. Once we entered the Nave, there was a stand that would hold hundreds of tea candles. A not on the stand invited you to say a prayer for your family, friends, and country and light a candle. How could we resist? In fact...we came back and lit another one, just because we can. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures, but take my word for it, it was magnificent!

We also walked around St. Paul's Cathedral. It, too, was beautiful. Riding in the tour bus, we were able to learn little tid-bits about the area that we would not have known otherwise. Such as, there is a Texas Embassy with the flag flying and all. But, it's a steak house. It is there because it was the location that the documents were signed to give Texas independence from England.

All in all, we still had a great day. We have been laughing the whole time I wrote this blog just thinking about how our day went. What a crazy day!

Well, tomorrow we will head to Paris! We are very excited...but unsure of how we will get to Waterloo station because of the strike. I guess we will worry about that tomorrow.

Cheerio!

London - Day 1

Well, folks. We have officially tackled London. Here's what's
happened thus far:

After getting to bed after 1:30 London Time, despite being completely
exhausted, I could not sleep. I have what seems to be a cold and
could not breath out of my nose. I woke up every 15-30 minutes
gasping for air. The provided pillow was a little flat so I had to
prop myself up with my neck pillow and bed roll to keep from drowning.
All of this had to be done very quietly so as not to wake my
"roommates."

The hostel is quite nice and safe. You have to have a key card to
enter the stairwell to the hostel, and also into the rooms. It has a
little pub downstairs that also serves as the lounge for the hostel.
That is where I am sitting right now. I'm surrounded by some people
who are very intently watching a "football" game (soccer). It's very
relaxed and there is no smoking, which makes it even nicer.

This morning, we awoke about 8:30-9 and showered and headed on our
way. My entire body felt fatigued and I wasn't sure how far I would
make it...Until I walked out the door around 10:30 am. We were in
LONDON! We meandered along the streets and tried to soak it all in.
Wendy said it right when she said we were experiencing "sensory
overload." We walked through Hyde Park and picked a perfect piece of
grass to sit and eat our breakfast of crackers and peanut butter. We
dipped our feet in the water monument for Princes Diana, walked around
Oxford Street, and listed to "propaganda" on speakers corner. Around
2 we hopped on a double decker tour and saw pretty much everything
else London has to offer: Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Tower
Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big
Ben, Picadilly Circus (adequately named...it was a circus of people!),
and much more. We also took our ride in the Eye of London.

It is very hard to get used to the cars driving on the wrong side of
the road. Apparently, I'm not the only one who gets confused. If you
are about to cross an intersection, you can look down and there is an
arrow with either "look left" or "look right." Quite helpful!

I got a picture with one of the guards by Westminster Abbey...He
looked at the camera and with his Brittish accent and absolutely no
expression said "cheese." I laughed for 10 minutes.

I hope all of you are doing well. Hopefully you will hear from me tomorrow.

Day 1 - London

Yesterday marked my 24th birthday and one week until our trip. I
spent the day packing my backpack and cleaning. Believe it or not, I
actually enjoyed it. It felt so good to get the packing taken care
of. In the back of my mind, I worried about how heavy the pack would
be and if everything would fit. After packing everything (except for
my tooth brush...I will probably use it between now and then), I
weighed the backpack and day pack. Together, they are exactly 25
pounds. I was shooting for less than 30 so that will work!

I was quite happy with my birthday presents yesterday! Most of it was
money for the trip, but I also got a travel tripod, a quick release
attachment for the tripod, and another 8 GB memory card for my camera.
I now have the capacity to store around 6,500 pictures, and I
wouldn't be surprised if I take that many. My creative senses will be
on overdrive!

Last night, Keith and I watched "The Sound of Music." I thought I had
better brush up since we will be visiting Salzburg. It is such a
great movie!

After watching the movie last night and seeing the beauty of the
surroundings and architecture, I couldn't help but be gleeful. This
morning in church we sang "Thank you, Lord" and our music leader,
Tony, invited us to say a prayer of thanksgiving to God. I realized
that I have been so busy preparing for the trip that I haven't stopped
to thank God for this amazing opportunity. His hand has been so
obviously directed us in every step of the planning:
-Wendy and I have opposite "busy times" at work. It worked out that
there was a little over a two week gap between the end of the Yard
Dawgz season and the first event in our recruiting year.
-When we finally decided to go this year, Wendy was a little nervous
to ask off of work for such a long time. Her procrastination about
drove me crazy. While I waited on her, the original flight I had
wanted completely booked. She finally swore to me she would ask off,
and when she finally did, that night we found a flight that left out
of OKC and flew into London and out of Zurich for $1,000 cheaper per
person than before.
-Our husbands are letting us go!
-We have the means to go thanks to saving up for quite some time and
the generousity of friends and family for graduation and birthdas.

I am so thankful to God for how he has prepared us for this trip.
People are always telling us how brave we are for "going it alone."
So many family members, co-workers, and friends are worried about us
two girls backpacking across foreign countries. My standard response
is to tell them we are smart girls and will be careful and we won't
"walk down a dark alley in the middle of the night to ask a guy with a
knife where a bathroom is." All humor aside, I ask that you turn your
worries over to God. He has led us and directed us thus far and I
know that will not stop when we get on that plane. Ask Him for health
and safety for us, and that we have the time of our lives.

Europe or Bust!

I wrote this yesterday throughout the day but was unable to connect until now. Enjoy!

We are finally taking off! The process was a little frantic, to say the least. First of all, I was supposed to bring a splitter for my pda headphone jack so Wendy could listen with me. I completely forgot, so we made a quick run to Walmart last night to pick one up. No problem, right? Then we were packing our last minute odds and ends when Wendy held up the splitter and started laughing. I think her exact words were, "I don't have any headphones." I looked at her with a "you're kidding, right?" look on my face...but she wasn't. So we decided we would pick some up on th way to the airport if we had time. We went to bed around 11:30, although we had both said we would be in bed early.

Three AM came quite early today. After showering and quizzing each other for the 37th time about having everything we needed, we made our way to the airport. We decided to hold off on the headphones until we got to Chicago. Once at the airport, I have to admit...there were some tears. Seventeen days is the longest I have been away from Keith since we started dating over 5 years ago. No matter how excited I am to do go to Europe, I will still miss him very much. Poor Wendy and Kyle will not see each other for 21 days! Kyle will be in Burns Flat doing driving training for the NPD Academy for the week after Wendy and I return.

Once checked in and through security (where I was scolded for not having my sunscreen in a plastic bag), we made our first international call. We had to confirm our reservations with the hostel in London. The chap on the end of the line was quite chipper and hummed as he confirmed our reservations. Of course, it was almost noon in London. He gave me directions to the hostel (which we already have), but due to his absolutely perfect English accent, I only caught a few words such as "tube" and "Bakerloo Line."

Well, we are now in Chicago about to board our flight. By 4:30 CST we will be in London! Yipee!!!

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I was unable to send this in Chicago...almost missed our flight trying to! We are safe in London and turning in for the night. It is 1:30 am here...7:3Opm in ok! But we are very tired. More to come tomorrow.

One Week Away

Yesterday marked my 24th birthday and one week until our trip. I spent the day packing my backpack and cleaning. It felt so good to get the packing taken care of. In the back of my mind, I worried about how heavy the pack would be and if everything would fit. After packing everything (except for my tooth brush...I will probably use it between now and then), I weighed the backpack and day pack. Together, they are exactly 25 pounds. I was shooting for less than 30 so that will work!

I was quite happy with my birthday presents yesterday! Most of it was money for the trip, but I also got a travel tripod, a quick release attachment for the tripod, and another 8 GB memory card for my camera. I now have the capacity to store around 6,500 pictures, and I wouldn't be surprised if I take that many. My creative senses will be on overdrive!

Last night, Keith and I watched "The Sound of Music." I thought I had better brush up since we will be visiting Salzburg. It is such a great movie!

After watching the movie last night and seeing the beauty of the surroundings and architecture, I couldn't help but be gleeful. This morning in church we sang "Thank you, Lord" and our music leader, Tony, invited us to say a prayer of thanksgiving to God. I realized that I have been so busy preparing for the trip that I haven't stopped to thank God for this amazing opportunity. His hand has been so obviously directing us in every step of the planning:
-Wendy and I have opposite "busy times" at work. It worked out that there was a little over a two week gap between the end of the Yard Dawgz season and the first event in our recruiting year.
-When we finally decided to go this year, Wendy was a little nervous to ask off of work for such a long time. Her procrastination about drove me crazy. While I waited on her, the original flight I had wanted completely booked. She finally swore to me she would ask off, and when she finally did, that night we found a flight for $1,000 cheaper per person than before.
-Our husbands are letting us go!
-We have the means to go thanks to saving up for quite some time and the generosity of friends and family for graduation and birthdays.

I am so thankful to God for how he has prepared us for this trip. People are always telling us how brave we are for "going it alone." So many family members, co-workers, and friends are worried about us two girls backpacking across foreign countries. My standard response is to tell them we are smart girls and will be careful and we won't "walk down a dark alley in the middle of the night to ask a guy with a knife where a bathroom is." All humor aside, I ask that you turn your worries over to God. He has led us and directed us thus far and I know that will not stop when we get on that plane. Ask Him for health and safety for us...and that we have the time of our lives!

Cinque Terre

It took months for me to figure out how to pronounce this quaint area that consists of five viliages off the West coast of Italy. Cink tear, Cink tear-uh, CinkQ tear-uh...I had no clue. Turns out, I was way off (Swammy...Swommy...Sampsonite!). It is pronounced Cheen Kway Ter Ray (thank you washingtonpost.com). Good to know, folks.

The more I researched this area, the more I fell in love with it. It is absolutely beautiful! The colorfull buildings are set on a hillside that drops into the ocean. There are very few roads but mostly narrow walkways between the tall villas (if you can call them that). After falling in love with the pictures, we decided instead of making Cinque Terre a day trip, we would stay the night there. I began looking for accommodations and found that it is a lot harder than most places. Hostelworld.com was of little help. This area has very few hotels and hostels but instead, bed and breakfasts. Most of these are actually a room that is rented out of an Italian household. I've heard before that if you contact one place and they do not have accommodations, they will refer you to "cousin Tony." And that they do. I have probably corresponded with over 30 people about a place to stay. Each one regretfully informs me that there is no vacancy but I can "contact _______ and ask refer my name _______. Maybe discount?" (Their broken English is quite amusing) I have finally struck gold in a few places. One hostel, one B&B (traditional), and one travel agent with several places to offer. Progress!

We now think we might want to stay for two nights, but by doing this will have to cut out another stop. How do you say, "We will skip _______(insert any place in Europe)." Right now, it looks like Heidelberg is on the chopping block. We both want to see it, but think we mmight rather spend an extra night in Cinque Terre. This may all depend on whether there are accommodations for an extra night in Cinque Terre.

So I will await another email using broken English telling me "this is my web for check the room" and requesting my surname.

PS-This is also a test for using my pda and compact keyboard for posting. If you are reading this, it must have worked!

Hostels and Route

Wendy came over last night to work on some final planning for our trip. It was so good to see her! We accomplished a lot but still have a lot to do. We were very excited when we made reservations for our hostel in London. We are staying at the Journeys Paddington which is very central to Buckingham Palace, Waterloo station, The London Eye, etc. It's a new hostel and it's cheap. Our first hiccup was realized after we made the reservation. Because we made the reservation using a debit card, we are required to call ahead and confirm our reservation by 1200 hours the day of check in. Luckily, due to the time change (they are 6 hours ahead of us), we will be able to call before heading to the airport to confirm.

We also decided on a hostel for Paris: the Auberge International Jeunes. We are supposed to fax our reservation but I have sent an email asking about the possibility of emailing our reservation. If I haven't heard from them by tomorrow, I guess I will be making an international fax. Good thing I already have an international calling card!

There are a few things we are try to nail down with the itinerary. We can't decide whether we want to make Heidelberg a day trip and continue on to Munich that evening, or spend the night in Heidelberg and day trip to Fussen on the way to Munich. We are leaning towards the second scenario. We found a cute hostel in Heidleberg that was fairly inexpensive but has no air conditioning...You win some, you lose some.

Our next steps are to finalize route, decide on hostels, and make reservations. Hopefully by the end of this week, all of those things will have happened.

While reading up on Rome in a guidebook, I found an amazing site that we must go see. The Mamertine Prison is where the apostles Paul and Peter were held before there execution. It will be so amazing to walk on the same floors that Biblical characters once did.

Okay, I'll stop day dreaming and end this post.

The Mamertine Prison

The Planning Phase

I decided to start this blog so everyone can keep up with Wendy and I as we travel through Europe. Hopefully, I'll be able to update it every few days with our new location, adventures, pictures, etc.

I checked the mySpace counter and we are 25 days from lift off. I am so excited! I've started to get nervous, but not in a bad way. I'm more nervous about finishing all the last minute planning and packing. Wendy is comming to Weatherford on Tuesday night to finish up the planning. We have chosen our route, but still need to finalize what we want to do in each location as well as where we plan to stay. We will go ahead and make reservations for the first few nights in London and possibly Paris. We don't want to be tied down to a specific itinerary but don't want to show up and there be "no room in the inn."

Side note: Keith seriously cracks me up. He asked me yesterday where we will take showers. I was a little confused as to why he was asking but told him that we would take showers in the hostels. He acted surprised that they would have showers and said "I thought they were like caves or grass huts or something and you'd sleep on the floor." I laughed for 20 minutes. He was just kidding, of course, but it was still funny. He really didn't know what the hostels would be like so I had to tell him all about them.

Anywho, keep checking this blog and I'll keep you updated on the who, what, when, and wheres of the trip. I grant you permission to live vicariously through this blog. :-)