My Adventures Began Yesterday

Took a night train to Bruges, Belgium. Have you been there, know anything about it? Oh, you saw a movie with Collin Farrel? Ahh, yes, that movie is the reason we traveled to Bruges. Meghan fell in love with the movie and FORCED us to go there. She tied us up, put bandanas in our mouths, and refused to let us say any differently. Okay, not really. The entire time we are walking around the town, Meghs is asking herself, 'oh! is this where....happened. I think it is" and "oh! this must be where they ran through the....take a picture of me please!" haha. Good times. We climbed up the Bellfry (that was in the movie, yes), except there were barricades on the windows and plexiglass around the bells. Hmm, i wonder if the window barricades were there BEFORE the movie? Ate our first REAL, delicious dinner. Oh my. The hostel we stayed in had a restaurant, bar AND club (three different areas). AND if you ate in the restaurant, you received a free sampler of beer (wheat, ch...

Took a fast train from Germany to France. Had previously booked a hostel so we just had to find our way to it. Hopped on the metro. But wait, halfway to our stop, the train stops and someone tells us we have to leave because the train can go no further. BUT theres a bus to catch upstairs. Okaaayyy. After walking around for 5 minutes we find the bus stop (essentially directly in front of us), and ride the bus for 20 minutes, get out and just start walking in the general direction we suspect to find our hostel. We turn the corner, and BAM! There she is: The Eiffel Tower, lit up and beautiful. We find a map of the city and make our way to our hostel. There we find a sign that tells us about the Eiffel Tower light show at 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, and 11pm. Voila! We know what we are doing for the evening. :) We grab our cameras and head towards the World Famous Tower. Ahhhhh! It's silly, to feel such excitement and joy at a structure the french people do not even enjoy. But I did....

Germany...LOVED germany. We were lucky enough to stay with Meghan's sister's german college friend who spent one year studying in Canada (yay us). Thanks Julia! After taking a train from Switzerland into Germany, we were exhausted. Made it to Julia's apartment and she starts making us spaghetti. BUT not just any spaghetti, oh no. She adds SPICE. and Uses healthy guten free pasta. De-LISH. PB&J can only cut it for so long. But you do start to appreciate the little things. (spice and free toilets!) After using the internet, we crashed. Did a free walking tour of Munich. Learned a lot about the city (such as the fact that before WWII, the people of munich took detailed accounts of all the buildings/structures, so that after the war - they knew they would be bombed - they could rebuild munich as it was). Wonderful. The church that beer built, hitler's history, memorials in the city, the clock tower/plague, etc. Explored Munich on our own afterwards. Home, made som...

Switzland.... Beau. I am moving here. Its official. I alreadz told amber that we are going in 6 months and she said shed buy the ticket for the day after she walks across the stage. The alps, the snow, the lakes, rivers, people. All beautiful. The cars STOPPED before we even decided to cross the road. In Bern - we spent the day walking up a little hill that took us a few hours. Took a ton of photos at the top, with the view of the city on one side and the view of the alps on the other. The next day, we took a train to Luzern, then took a 2.5 hr BOAT across Lake Luzern to BRUNNEN. Ahhh....much better than what we see on the ships. Okay. In a way. Alaska IS beautiful. But my goodness. This was so peaceful and beautiful and i keep using the same words but the peace i felt (and a little bit chilly)....magnificent. Then train to Zurich and on to Munchen. Train activity: mainly playing cards....oh my i am additcted to Extreme crayz 8s. Its a great game. Honest. You should try it...

Walked to the bus stop for 20 minutes in the POURING rain, the first time we have been rained on....then rode the bus to Dublin for 3 hours, freeyzng, and all three having to pee...what a fun ride, let me tell you. Rome....Italy...Colloseum...Thomas and Kendra doing their own thing...Roman Forum...Fontana di Trevi...Palayyo Montecitorro...TempleßAdrigano...Patheon...Vatican (met a youth pastor from MN, and a Priest from NJ)...Tombs of the Popes...Caste Sant Angelo...etc. etc. etc. Lots of old buildings that i took pictures of and will most likely have no idea what they are when my parents ask. The one thing i cannot get over is how well built and detailed these buildings are and how LONG it must have taken. I mean, buildings todaz last two years before thez start falling apart. These have lasted centuries and are being destroyed bz air-noise pollution-modern days doing. Booo Meghs and I went to an Irish Pub with Karaoke....i know...i know...but we werent ready to leave Ireland! Got...

Wow - So much to catch you up on. First off, I am in Germany and the ys and zs are switched on the keyboard so please dont make fun of my typing if i mess up... I know i am going to have trouble remembering the details because even though it was only 10 days ago, it feels like 6 months. After hearing beautiful comments about the scenery, we took a bus from Cork to Galway and ended up booking a tour through the hostel where we were staying (for only 20 euro!). We met the tour at 10am, hopped on the larger tour bus who had a wee man driving\commenting. Okay...i simply do not know where to begin. This has been the best day of our entire trip. We drove through the Burren - essentially a limestone landscape, home to over 70 percent of Irelands native flora (according to the brochure). It was beautiful and made more so by the stories and history told by the Tour Guide (TG). Next memorable stop was at a FAIRY FORT! Yes! You read correctly, a fairy fort. A prehistoric ring fort or ancient ...

What a wonderful Irish Day! We slept in till 9ish, did an hour of internet, walked to the information centre, discovered that BLarney was only 8 km away and asked for directions. Wrote down the directions that would take us a back road, avoiding the made thoroughway. Vague instructions indeed. The three of us started walking. After about 10 minutes, we had a mental breakdown/yelling match/tears/I just dont understand you session. It was due, me thinks, two weeks together... After the yelling and tears, there were many group hugs and on we went... So the directions we received from the Info lady = not good. We asked an older irish woman and afer a "Lord Love Ya" for walking to blarney she gave us directions which took us up a hill. Asked a old irish man for directions at the top of the hill and finally a pharmacy where they directed us back to the main road...hmm Decided to just take a bus bc we were not sure what time Blarney Castle closed. But the bus was late so we d...