Welcome back to our blog.
Today we leave for Ireland, Dublin to be exact, with a stop over in Montreal.
It is raining in Orangeville and it's not really that warm. But the forecast for Dublin is 20 and sunny! Definately looking forward to that. Internet will be fewer and farther between this trip so dont get too addicted to following us around. When we do post though it will be a good dose to tide you over till next time. We have last minute errands to run before we are off so bye for now and next time it'll be from the UK!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Sunday, June 1, 2008
the day julia mounted all the things that manny scouted out
friday night was the night we had been waiting for. so excited to see manny! he met us at the train station and our adventure had begun. our first night we feasted on guacamole and pizza (not so german we know..) and were all invited to a birthday party on the beach. in typical movie beach party fashion, there was bbq, a bon fire, and lots of new friends. an lovely evening run brought us to the train station just in time to catch the last train home.
to our satisfaction we were able to do laundry for next to nothing at mannys rez and then set out on our personally guided tour of rostock clean and happy. manny brought us to an awesome park where there was fun jungle gyms and slides to play on and wooden horses, dragons and snails to mount. we then went into old town and went into a church, go figure. a stop into the apothecary for allergy pills for erica and then a stop at a bakery for a sweet treat brought us to a square where there were more statues, namely a naked man with a trident, for julia to mount. the walk back to mannys was through a beautiful park with these magnificent bushes with huge bunches of purple flowers. our next gourmet manny meal was stir fry, mmmmmmm! that night we went to a street party to listen to live local bands, watch street performers eat fire and not get into and trouble for drinking in public.
up again bright and early in anticipation for high ropes courses. we met up with lots of mannys new friends and all made the journey to klettwerwald to have the time of our lives swinging through trees like tarzan. a short two hours later our time was up so we all went to the (nude...tee hee hee) beach to soak in the rays. dont worry mom, we stayed clothed. a silly photo shoot and lots of splashing later we made the sad decision to pack up and leave our new friends for our final feast a la manny. we had pasta and meat sauce. sooooooo goooooood! winding down from a huge day of excitement we chatted the night away discussing good horror movies (an oxymoron we know) and packing up for the continuation of our journey.
we would also like to mention that for lunches while we stayed in rostock we had the best sandwiches of life. they actually made others jealous. thank-you so much manny for it all.
these last few days are dedicated to becca.
to our satisfaction we were able to do laundry for next to nothing at mannys rez and then set out on our personally guided tour of rostock clean and happy. manny brought us to an awesome park where there was fun jungle gyms and slides to play on and wooden horses, dragons and snails to mount. we then went into old town and went into a church, go figure. a stop into the apothecary for allergy pills for erica and then a stop at a bakery for a sweet treat brought us to a square where there were more statues, namely a naked man with a trident, for julia to mount. the walk back to mannys was through a beautiful park with these magnificent bushes with huge bunches of purple flowers. our next gourmet manny meal was stir fry, mmmmmmm! that night we went to a street party to listen to live local bands, watch street performers eat fire and not get into and trouble for drinking in public.
up again bright and early in anticipation for high ropes courses. we met up with lots of mannys new friends and all made the journey to klettwerwald to have the time of our lives swinging through trees like tarzan. a short two hours later our time was up so we all went to the (nude...tee hee hee) beach to soak in the rays. dont worry mom, we stayed clothed. a silly photo shoot and lots of splashing later we made the sad decision to pack up and leave our new friends for our final feast a la manny. we had pasta and meat sauce. sooooooo goooooood! winding down from a huge day of excitement we chatted the night away discussing good horror movies (an oxymoron we know) and packing up for the continuation of our journey.
we would also like to mention that for lunches while we stayed in rostock we had the best sandwiches of life. they actually made others jealous. thank-you so much manny for it all.
these last few days are dedicated to becca.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
the day julia mounted farm animals
we arrived in rome in the evening and finally had an easy time finding our hostle. we met our roommate, his name was enrique and he was from mexico, and we invited him to go to dinner with us. (a bad move on our part because after that we unofficially became his tour guides of rome) we went out for pasta at i buoni amici then returned to our hostel to enjoy some wine and play cards on the terrace.
as usual we got out day started early and off we went, mexican in tow, to the vatican city. we made stops along the way to see some churches, fountains and other sights of interest. oh man was rome hot! the arrival at st peters basilica only brought relief from walking but not from the heat, we still had to wait in line for a while to get into the basilica all the while waiting in the sun. it was worth it though! first we climbed the over 500 stairs of the cupola to get a spectacular view of the city. our descent brought us into the heart of the basilica and we made our way around (counterclockwise julia is told by erica is the proper way to do it) admiring all there is to see, most notably being michelangelos pieta. the walk back to our hostel was supposed to be as sight filled as our journey earlier but the heat had gotten to us so we opted for gelato and the pantheon as must sees and then just went home. that night we met our new roommate tymon, he was from australia. we enjoyed the evening chatting with him and some dumb americans.
the next day was just as hot so we kept the walking to a minimum, which for us is still a lot. we had breakfast in a park that had a neat view of the colosseum. acting on a tip we had recieved from an experienced traveller, we went to the palentine first and bought a combo ticket for it and the colosseum so we didnt have to wait in line at all! the palentine was beautiful, it was a huge area of ruins that you could wander through and imagine how massive and excellent the buildings once were. next came the colosseum and boy was it a sight to see. ah to be an ancient roman and see the gladiators in action.
GERMANY!
the overnight train brought us into munich at an ungodly hour (6:30 am). nothing seemed to open until 10am so we wandered around finding the sights we wanted to see and planned out our route for our very short visit to munich. a climb up the south tower of petersirche (a church of course) gave us a panoramic view of the city and a perfect way to restart our day. next over to spielzburgmuseum, a toy and teddybear museum, and then into the heart of marienplatz where we got to watch the glockenspiel in action. we then made our way to the deutches museum, where we spent most of our day. we saw demonstrations on glass blowing, got a tour of the history of the camera, and saw an electrifying demonstration on electricity! what a shocker! our walk back across the city brought us back through marienplatz and past the glockenspeil, where it was chiming again. (it only goes off at 11am, 12pm, and 5pm) on the walks along the way from place to place julia found a heard of cattle and a pig to mount.
another overnight train brought us into berlin. one of the awesomest places weve been. due to lack of time in the city combined with a forecasted temperature of 31 and so many sights to see, we agreed that berlin was the place to try a bus tour of the city. good move! the tour began and ended right at the train station, how lucky for us. on way to the first of five stops we drove through tiergarten, (one third of berlin is green!) past the zoo and into one of the cities many places to get rid of money fast, shopping. none of that for us though so we cruised on through to stop two. here we got off and had a look at the crazy architecture of the sony centre at potsdamer platz. there also brought us our first look at sections of the berlin wall and lego land berlin. hopping on the bus again to stop 3, checkpoint charlie. off again to see a large stretch of uninterupted wall and checkpoint charlie which is the third checkpoint to get through from east to the west side of berlin. (alfa, bravo, charlie) hop on to alexanderplatz where the is a huge fountain (stop 4), hop off to get good pics of berliner dom, fernsehturm and scheunenviertel. hop on to brandenburger tor (fifth stop) and hop off to explore the memorial to the murdered jews of europe, a monument of 2711 concrete pillars that are all different heights and at different angles. with not much time left we went over to the parliment building called reichstag where we were able to go inside and climb into the dome and do one of our favourite things, get a birds eye view of the city. hop on for the last time to get back to the train station where we were oh so very excited to finally make the journey to see manny!
as usual we got out day started early and off we went, mexican in tow, to the vatican city. we made stops along the way to see some churches, fountains and other sights of interest. oh man was rome hot! the arrival at st peters basilica only brought relief from walking but not from the heat, we still had to wait in line for a while to get into the basilica all the while waiting in the sun. it was worth it though! first we climbed the over 500 stairs of the cupola to get a spectacular view of the city. our descent brought us into the heart of the basilica and we made our way around (counterclockwise julia is told by erica is the proper way to do it) admiring all there is to see, most notably being michelangelos pieta. the walk back to our hostel was supposed to be as sight filled as our journey earlier but the heat had gotten to us so we opted for gelato and the pantheon as must sees and then just went home. that night we met our new roommate tymon, he was from australia. we enjoyed the evening chatting with him and some dumb americans.
the next day was just as hot so we kept the walking to a minimum, which for us is still a lot. we had breakfast in a park that had a neat view of the colosseum. acting on a tip we had recieved from an experienced traveller, we went to the palentine first and bought a combo ticket for it and the colosseum so we didnt have to wait in line at all! the palentine was beautiful, it was a huge area of ruins that you could wander through and imagine how massive and excellent the buildings once were. next came the colosseum and boy was it a sight to see. ah to be an ancient roman and see the gladiators in action.
GERMANY!
the overnight train brought us into munich at an ungodly hour (6:30 am). nothing seemed to open until 10am so we wandered around finding the sights we wanted to see and planned out our route for our very short visit to munich. a climb up the south tower of petersirche (a church of course) gave us a panoramic view of the city and a perfect way to restart our day. next over to spielzburgmuseum, a toy and teddybear museum, and then into the heart of marienplatz where we got to watch the glockenspiel in action. we then made our way to the deutches museum, where we spent most of our day. we saw demonstrations on glass blowing, got a tour of the history of the camera, and saw an electrifying demonstration on electricity! what a shocker! our walk back across the city brought us back through marienplatz and past the glockenspeil, where it was chiming again. (it only goes off at 11am, 12pm, and 5pm) on the walks along the way from place to place julia found a heard of cattle and a pig to mount.
another overnight train brought us into berlin. one of the awesomest places weve been. due to lack of time in the city combined with a forecasted temperature of 31 and so many sights to see, we agreed that berlin was the place to try a bus tour of the city. good move! the tour began and ended right at the train station, how lucky for us. on way to the first of five stops we drove through tiergarten, (one third of berlin is green!) past the zoo and into one of the cities many places to get rid of money fast, shopping. none of that for us though so we cruised on through to stop two. here we got off and had a look at the crazy architecture of the sony centre at potsdamer platz. there also brought us our first look at sections of the berlin wall and lego land berlin. hopping on the bus again to stop 3, checkpoint charlie. off again to see a large stretch of uninterupted wall and checkpoint charlie which is the third checkpoint to get through from east to the west side of berlin. (alfa, bravo, charlie) hop on to alexanderplatz where the is a huge fountain (stop 4), hop off to get good pics of berliner dom, fernsehturm and scheunenviertel. hop on to brandenburger tor (fifth stop) and hop off to explore the memorial to the murdered jews of europe, a monument of 2711 concrete pillars that are all different heights and at different angles. with not much time left we went over to the parliment building called reichstag where we were able to go inside and climb into the dome and do one of our favourite things, get a birds eye view of the city. hop on for the last time to get back to the train station where we were oh so very excited to finally make the journey to see manny!
Monday, May 26, 2008
the day julia mounted three stacked italian stallions
venice - we started off with a ride in a vaporetti down the grand canal (not a gondola, but the venetian equivelant to a city bus - aka the affordable way to do it). we got off at san marco, and then went on a tour of the ducale palace (doge's palace), and wandered san marco square, stopping for the best gelato we've had so far! it started raining so we b-lined it back to our hostel for dinner. later we wandered the town a bit, and pondered life beside one of the side canals. the next day was spent exploring the rialto, a market centered around the rialto bridge. mostly julia was looking for a bday gift for erin!! happy birthday erin!!! after finding the perfect gift and a backpacking smurf we set out to find the jewish ghetto. unfortunaly it was saturday so the synagogue and many of the shops were closed. but we did get bissli (julia's most favourite kosher snack). we had some time to kill before our train, so we decided to walk back to san marco and go into the basillica.
florence - we arrived at night, and not for the first time (and probably not the last), we got lost. luckily this time a nice australian couple found us, lead us to their hotel, and sent us in the right direction with a free map!!! (we get REALLY excited about free maps these days) when we got to our room we discovered the tv had MTV IN ENGLISH! and we were glued. the next day we started early, and had planned on spending the entire day at the uffizi gallery (which we were under the impression was the italian equivilant of the louvre). in reality, we waited in line twice as long as we were actually inside, and then we were left wondering what to do with the rest of our day....and where david was!!?? (michelangelo's that is). we went back to the hostel to google him and discovered he was down the street at the gallerie dell academia (we knew he was big...but he's BIG.) we ended our day by hiking up the piazzale michelangelo (a hill that overlooks the city) for sunset. on our walk back to the hostel we stumbled upon a concert taking place in a piazza, so stopped to listen for a bit (with gelato in hand of course). wine to follow. the next day was spent sightseeing, in hopes of going into the free monuments. we saw the synagogue of florence, s. croce, s. lorenzo, the duomo (FREE ENTRY!!), santa maria novella, and the palazzo medici riccardi. on the journey between sights, we discovered a stack of three rocking horses, that julia climbed on top of. fun was had by all.
florence - we arrived at night, and not for the first time (and probably not the last), we got lost. luckily this time a nice australian couple found us, lead us to their hotel, and sent us in the right direction with a free map!!! (we get REALLY excited about free maps these days) when we got to our room we discovered the tv had MTV IN ENGLISH! and we were glued. the next day we started early, and had planned on spending the entire day at the uffizi gallery (which we were under the impression was the italian equivilant of the louvre). in reality, we waited in line twice as long as we were actually inside, and then we were left wondering what to do with the rest of our day....and where david was!!?? (michelangelo's that is). we went back to the hostel to google him and discovered he was down the street at the gallerie dell academia (we knew he was big...but he's BIG.) we ended our day by hiking up the piazzale michelangelo (a hill that overlooks the city) for sunset. on our walk back to the hostel we stumbled upon a concert taking place in a piazza, so stopped to listen for a bit (with gelato in hand of course). wine to follow. the next day was spent sightseeing, in hopes of going into the free monuments. we saw the synagogue of florence, s. croce, s. lorenzo, the duomo (FREE ENTRY!!), santa maria novella, and the palazzo medici riccardi. on the journey between sights, we discovered a stack of three rocking horses, that julia climbed on top of. fun was had by all.
Friday, May 23, 2008
the day julia did not mount a train
luckily all we did in nice was lie on the beach, lie on the beach, and lie on the beach...because it balanced out the stress of the sncf train strike. upon arriving and attempting to book our next train reservation, we were informed there would be a strike beginning thursday (the day we wanted to leave). we had an interesting time finding our hostel, it was actually a hotel, no let me clarify, an airport hotel (so far away from the train station) but we made it! so yeah, we went to the beach, and then the next day we went to the beach. the beaches in nice are rock beaches...so instead of just being lobsters we were rock lobsters (ha, ha, ha)
the plan was supposed to be to take an early train into ventimille, italy, because of the strike, and in ventimille we would get on the overnight train to venice. (originally it was to leave directly from nice). but they cancelled the first train, and they loaded us onto a bus, after sitting around for 3 hours with no information. we did meet some fellow canadians who made the wait more enjoyable.
this was our 'vacation' part of our vacation...now we are back to walking around all day sight seeing...making the gelato more justifiable.
the plan was supposed to be to take an early train into ventimille, italy, because of the strike, and in ventimille we would get on the overnight train to venice. (originally it was to leave directly from nice). but they cancelled the first train, and they loaded us onto a bus, after sitting around for 3 hours with no information. we did meet some fellow canadians who made the wait more enjoyable.
this was our 'vacation' part of our vacation...now we are back to walking around all day sight seeing...making the gelato more justifiable.
Monday, May 19, 2008
the day julia mounted three wee horses
we had another excellent sleep on the overnight train...this time from san sebastian to barcelona. what made it super special was on the way to the station, it started POURING rain, so that by the time we got there, we were nice and soaked. so that made things enjoyable. the train was late getting in, about an hour. the day started off a tad lame...by 5pm all we had accomplished was booking our next hostel, and treating ourselves to laundrymat laundry! oh and we also ate croissants. but then we decided to go out tonight and explore, which really redeemed barcelona for us. we ate chocolate and drank sangria from a carton (that cost 1 euro i might add), wandered to the beach, and some parks where julia found and mounted three wee horses. and then back to the hostel for some sleepys. the end.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
the day julia mount urgull
sleeper train brought us into spain early in the morning. check in wasnt till noon so was explored the town till then. we saw a cathedral, checked out the beach and did a walk around mount urgull. this was our first hostel with a kitchen so we went grocery shopping for our meals and once again got to escape the sandwich curse for a few days. we met the people in our hostel (marci, wendy and nicole were from oregon but studying in spain) and (colin and jennifer were from australia) played cards and then went out on the town.
the next day we climbed mount urgull (hence the title of this post) missed our siesta, julia swam in the ocean and then we did more exploring and a lot of picture taking. the scenery is great. we met up with a couple (sarah and patrick) that we met in our room on the sleeper train and invited them for dinner and we had fajitas.
check out was at 11 am but they let us keep our bags at the hostel so we just bummed around town and the beach for the day till the train at 11pm. we both took a dip and not thinking about it, it washed off our sunscreen and then unfortunately we took our siesta on the beach and erica is now a lobster.
the next day we climbed mount urgull (hence the title of this post) missed our siesta, julia swam in the ocean and then we did more exploring and a lot of picture taking. the scenery is great. we met up with a couple (sarah and patrick) that we met in our room on the sleeper train and invited them for dinner and we had fajitas.
check out was at 11 am but they let us keep our bags at the hostel so we just bummed around town and the beach for the day till the train at 11pm. we both took a dip and not thinking about it, it washed off our sunscreen and then unfortunately we took our siesta on the beach and erica is now a lobster.
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