Pictures!!!

Follow the links below to see all of my pictures from Europe!! Organized by week. :) ENJOY!

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6 (Part 1)
Week 6 (Part 2)

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Last Day!

We woke up at the crack of 9:30. Haha! We got to sleep an extra hour because today is daylight savings time in Europe! Score!

We ate breakfast then called Delta to change our flight. They changed our flight to where we had two layovers instead of one. So we had them switch it to a flight that goes from Athens to New York, then to Dallas. So now we have a 4 hour layover in NYC! Oh the possibilities.

We booked an extra night since now we don't have to be at the airport at 3:00am. Our hotel is super nice. Not only did they keep us in the same room, but they are charging the super cheap rate that we booked online! Yay!

We started packing up our stuff to get a bit organized. Then finally headed out about noon. We went to the Plaka again and got some last minute souvenirs.

We stopped by the temple of Olympic Zeus and got pics. Then we went to the Olympic arena. It was where the first modern Olympics were held in the 1800s. Not to be confused with the 2004 Olympic area of Athens.

From there we went to Syntagma square. There were no protests today, thank goodness. We saw Parliment and the guards.

Then somehow ended up in the Plaka...again. Its one of the best parts of Athens! Not to mention to get there we passed the most popular cat hang out. :P

We stopped and played with the swarm of kitties. One we named Moustache. He would follow us down the street and hopped into Heather's lap and started purring and kneading her leg. :) cats can totally sense Cat Lovers. Its precious.

We stopped at Antica for dinner. It was a tiny resteraunt next to ancient Agora. It was such a good way to end our trip!! We had meatballs and sauce for an appetizer, which were so good. Then for dinner I had the best pizza I have ever tasted! It was so good I sort of cried...but I'm not ashamed. That pizza was like magic! Heather had a plate of pork gyros, which were also delicious. Such a good send off dinner!

We got back to our hotel and are finishing our final journal entries, packing up, and watching Greek-dubbed Spongebob.

Its surreal that we are going home tomorrow! Where has the time gone?! I have such mixed feelings. It will be really great to get back to our own place with the kitties. But on the other hand...to leave Europe....its really hard. We have spent 12% of the year here!

Not to mention, I have really enjoyed blogging about the trip! I will update with pics when we get home. Then who knows...maybe we will blog again on our next great adventure! Until then...

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

3 Islands in One Day!

We got up super early (6:30) and caught a one-day cruise tour! We took a bus to the harbor then got on a tiny cruise ship with a bunch of other tour groups.

It took a little over an hour and a half to get to our first island, Hydra. We were met by 13 cats on the dock!! I love how many cats are running around Greece! Its even more crazy that they were all over an island!

We only had an hour or so at each island. So we walked along the coast on a cat hunting tour. In a little over an hour we saw 37 different cats on Hydra! Including super cute kittens. One was all alone and shivering, but Heather took her up to where there was some food. After that she tried to follow Heather! We named her Pippi Longstocking.

The water in Greece is so beautiful. Shades of blues and greens like I have never seen! We went down to a little beach area...or a swimming pier. It was so gorgeous! But it was super windy and there were whitecaps everywhere and lots of sea spray.

We grabbed some delicious panninis on the way back to our boat. Petted all of the harbor cats goodbye and sailed for Poros.

The ride to Poros was super rough. Heather was getting sea sick so we kept moving to different levels on the boat to try and make her feel better. I rubbed her back while she took a nap before we docked.

We got to Poros and it is super small! We only had about an hour so we ate some ice cream. Because Heather decided it would settle her tummy...and it did! We sat on the harbor and enjoyed our treats before walking around a bit. We made it back to the boat just in time to leave!

Lunch was included in the tour price. We had Greek salad, pork, rice and potatos. I didn't like it that much because the sauce they put on it. But for dessert we had really good cake with honey! So it made up for it.

Heather was a bit sick again (it was a ridiculously rough sea today!!) So we laid down and napped between islands.

Our last island was Aegina. It was the biggest of the three and we had an hour and 40 minutes to explore. All I have wanted for the last two weeks was to play on a beach. We have been thwarted numerous times...but today I got my wish!

Just beside the harbor was a small sandy beach area!! I couldn't kick my shoes off and roll my pants up quick enough! It was a little chilly to swim, so we just waded around and played in the shallows. I love beaches! Especially super clear water like on Aegina!!

We wanted to build a sandcastle...but this is Greece!! So we decided it was better to build a sand Parthenon. :) It was awesome.

There was an archaeological site that looked cool, but it was closed. So we walked around it and ended up finding a really pretty secret beach!

We enjoyed the sunset from there before heading back to our boat.

Back on board we were entertained by a folk dance show. They did 7 types of traditional Greek dances, in Greek garb. It was really fun!!

We made it back to Athens about 19:30 and went back to our hotel. We decided to stay in and relax. Ordered room service, watched MTV and just having a wonderful romantic evening.

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

I <3 Athens!!

This morning we had the best breakfast of the trip. Bread/ toast (not a lot of places offered a toaster!), homemade jams, fruits, yogurt, eggs, crispy bacon, cereals (with actual cereal bowls!), frapps, juice...and cakes!! They had a cremé cake and banana cream pie and some other devilish delights. It was delicious!

We got ready and headed out to see ancient Athens. Since its a free-admission day everything was pretty busy. But it was worth the money we saved!

We started at the Acropolis. We wandered around the ruins and ancient theatre then climbed the hill to the Parthenon!! Atop of one of the highest points in Athens lays the infamous Parthenon which dates back to 4th century BC.

Its massive! And the amount of original columns and marble structures is mind blowing. It was truly a sight to see.

We also saw the temple of Athena Nike, which still has some of its original sculptures in tact!

We have noticed a large number of stray cats and dogs in Greece. But who would of thought we would find them way up at the Parthenon!? We found a family of 4 cats. Which we named: Zeus, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. I made friends with Athena and wanted to take her home. (Haha, just what we need...a 5th cat!?! Ummm, no)

After descending the hill we discovered the ruins of ancient Agora. Walking through ruins from a civilization that thrived in 4th century B.C. is a humbling experience.

Must have been a day for animals, because we found two tortoises out for a stroll in the grass! Heather of course got pics with both of them. You can take the girl out of Petsmart, but you can't take the Petsmart out of the girl. ;)

We then explored the shops around the Plaka area of Athens. All the while stopping in to different monuments/ruins here and there...because they were free!! Heather bought herself a cool copper replica of Athena's helmet. 

We ate dinner at a place called Estia. We had vine leaf rolls for an appetizer. They are minced pork with rice and seasonings, wrapped in a vine leaf and covered in a cheese fondue. So delicious!! I was tearing those up!! Who knew I'd like something Greek?? Heather had traditional Greek chicken souvlaki and I had a burger. Which we weren't entirely sure was beef...I suspect veal. But alas, it was yummy. (Sorry Bambi!) We splurged and had dessert too! We split a white hot chocolate and a crepé with Nutella and strawberries. Best dinner ever.

After dinner we booked it to the New Acropolis Museum, which houses most of the sculptures from the Parthenon. We were hearded like cattle to get in. They were open late tonight for the holiday, and it was swamped!!

The museum was voted best in the world...and I can tell why. Its is three stories and there is a path laid out on the map for the best tour. There are glass floors where you can see the current work on excavations below, galleries of sculptures...then there is the Parthenon. Sort of.

The top floor has metal columns laid out to-scale like the Parthenon, with all of the sculptures on display as they used to be on the actual building. It was very innovative! You could really get a feel for how gorgeous the original building was!!

We ended up spending three hours in the museum and left when they were closing. We swung by the temple of Olympic Zeus, then back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we are going on a day cruise around some of the gorgeous islands!! We get to see Hydra, Poros, and Aegina! I'm stoked. Hopefully we can finally play on the beach!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Patra, Greece

Woke up and took our sweet time getting to breakfast. It was really good! Breads, cereals, yogurt, fruits, eggs, bacon & sausages! I missed real breakfast!

As expected, the view from our room is even more gorgeous in the day. We checked out and left our packs at the hotel then went to play in Patra.

Well turns out, there's really not a lot going on there! We wanted to see the ancient acropolis. So we followed the walking directions from our Eurail book which lead us up a flight of 197 steep stairs. We found the ruins at the top of the hill...but they were closed! So we climbed the 197 steps back down.

Then we went and found St. Nicholas' church. But after 6 weeks in Europe viewing some of the most goregous cathedrals in the world....you get jaded.

Finally we decided to go the beach. We are in Greece afterall! I had looked up the nearest beach last night and it said it was only 2km away. So we set out to find it.

Well we walked for almost an hour and ended up back at the south harbor where our ferry docked last night! We asked a taxi driver about the beach and he looked like we were crazy. Apparenlty it was still about 8km away.... so I probably saw 12km online and thought it was only 2km. Oops!

We went back to the hotel with absolutely nothing accomplished. We hung out for a couple of hours and tried to find a day trip to Olympia from Athens. It doesn't look like we'll get to go. :( Everything was full or not running because of the work on the rail system.

Speaking of work on the rail system, our trip to Athens was... interesting! We had to take a bus from Patra to Kioto. That was about an hour and a half. Then took a train from Kioto to Ano Liossia. Then finally switched to the train to Athens. Mind you all of the stops were in Greek characters. So it was a really stressful trip.

We finally got to Athens and planned to walk to our hotel. Except all of the streets are obviously in Greek, and even though I wrote the directions with the Greek names...we couldn't figure it out. We ended up taking a taxi. Except HE didn't know where our hotel was....even though I gave him the address. He ended up driving in circles before finding it, then charged us €10! I was pissed. Ugh! No more taxis!!

We are staying at the Lotus Hotel. Its a 31 room 4-star 'boutique' hotel. Its family run and super nice. Its supposed to run €200/ night but through Booking.com I got it for €209 total for THREE nights. :) I love that website!!

We ordered room service for dinner while looking over the Athens tour options that reception gave us upon check-in. Room service was super cheap! €14 for both of our dinners and no extra service charges! I had the best Ceasar salad ever. Heather had a club sandwich.

H wasn't feeling too hot because she had taken a Dramamine on the bus earlier, on an empty stomach. I wanted to help her feel better so I went to the mini-mart next to the hotel and got her some Sprite. That seemed to do the trick! She is finally sleeping.

I'm chilling and watching MTV. Its funny what you end up watching in foreign countries, because its the only English channel.

Guess I should sleep! We're going to the Acropolis/ Parthenon tomorrow!! Its a national holiday here so all of the museums and national monuments have free entry! w00t!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Accomplishments!

Today I was bored and calculated how far we had traveled in the last six weeks.

Visited 14 countries, 40 cities, and the sovereign state of Vatican City.

Approximate distance walked on a dily basis, 3.5 miles (5.6 km). Total of 150 miles (241 km) on foot.

Total distance covered....

Counting air travel: 21, 416 miles (34,467 km)
Just travel in Europe: 13,055 miles (21,011 km)

13,055 miles is the same as driving from San Francisco, CA to New York City, NY 5 times. FIVE TIMES!!

I think those are some pretty awesome stats. :)

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Stuck in Bari/ Longest Ferry Ride Ever

We got up this morning. Checked out of the hostel, skipped "snackfast". We caught the Metro, then an early train to Caserta. Then had an hour between connections. Then a 3 hour train to Bari.

Once in Bari we took the bus to what we thought would be the harbor. 40 minutes later we were told we were on the wrong bus. We were on #20 and we wanted #20/ ... so we had to get off and wait for the #20 going back to the station. We waited for 30 minutes and got back on the same bus we started on, but it was now going to other way.

Got back to the station waited another 30 minutes for the #20/ to the harbor. Took that bus and got to the harbor 15 minutes later.

Got off the bus and went to the port terminal, about a 10 minute walk. Found out it was the wrong side of the port. Walked 15 minutes to the right building. Waited in line for a while then booked our tickets for the ferry.

Turns out due to a 3 day strike the daily 20:00 ferry wasn't leaving til 23:30!!!! So it was only 15:30 and we had nothing to do. We asked about luggage storage while we waited for 6 hours until we boarded. Turns out they were back at the first building! Ugh!!

Once we finally stored our packs we had about 5.5 hours until we had to be back. We decided to explore Bari, with no information and no map. We found a castle and went through it. It was being restored so you could only go through two rooms for €1,50. We were bored so it was worth it.

Then we ate some dinner at a small café. Bari is a port town, but not really touristy being on the east side of Italy. We had a wonderful dinner, beer, and gelato for €16!! It was awesome.

By this time it was only 18:15. We walked around found a pretty church and a park. We sat around and played 20 questions for a long time before going back to the harbor.

We still waited an hour before getting our packs. Then we sat around and waited some more until we could board.

We had to go through a security screening before boarding which caused some stir seeing as Heather has a pocket knife, dagger and sword. I also have a pocket knife. So that was a huge to-do. It was rather funny trying to communicate that the blades were souvenirs.

We FINALLY got on board at around 21:50. Our Eurail pass only got us free deck passage. If we wanted to stay in a recliner seat or a cbin it was very costly. The recliner seats were €50/ person! However, deck passage meant we could only sit on the deck chairs or in the lounge for the duration of the journey (which was supposed to ne 15.5 hours) Luckily, the guy checking our tickets just gave us two recliner chairs.

We were supposed to leave at 23:30, but we didn't embark until about 1:00! I slept most of the night, Heather apparently. Didn't get to sleep for a while.

I slept in, which was impressive since we were in airplane-type chairs! Woke up at about 9:00 and went out on deck. Spent some time exploring the ferry, then came back to wake H up about 11.

We did a lot of sitting around. Played some cards. Heather played Gameboy. I took a shower (thank goodness they had a shower!) Ate lunch about 13:00. Sat around more. Took a nap.

Then FINALLY we got to Patra, Greece at 18:30!! 21 hours on a freaking ferry!! So boring! Ironically, the company was 'SuperFast Ferries' LOL

So here we are in Patra! We are staying at a super swanky hotel, because things are super cheap in Greece right now. We have a great balcony overlooking the sea! It should be gorgeous in the morning.

Tomorrow we are going to explore Patra then head to Athens!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Capri

We got up early to do laundry. The laundry room opened at 8:00 so we started our load then went to breakfast. If we thought Florence breakfast was bad...Naples was ridiculous. You got one 5oz drink and 1 croissant filled with jam. If you want another drink it cost €1, no telling how much another pastry would cost!

The washer took an hour and 20 minutes and the dryer took over an hour (because the first cycle didn't dry our clothes!) The rooms have a lock out period from 10:00 -14:00 for cleaning but by the time we were done with laundry it was about 10:45. We snuck back in our room to drop off our clothes and hang the ones that were still damp.

We ate sandwiches from the Metro vending machines again. It was much more filling than our snackfast. We got to the train station and exchanged our tickets for tomorrow for an earlier time. The ones we booked originally would not have given us enough time to get to our ferry. Luckily they exchanged them with no issues.

With our chores done, we headed to Capri! It was overcast but not cold. So we had high hopes. We got to the harbor at about 12:40 but we were told the next ferry left two hours later. Or we could take the really slow ferry that also takes cars and it was leaving in 20 minutes. We opted for the slow one and ran to 3 different ticket counters until we found the right company. We bought out tickets at 12:58 and departed at 13:00!

Our ferry was pretty empty, as to be expected on a weekday afternoon in late October. We sat up top to enjoy the view, but it started raining almost immediately after departing! We still sat outside, we just chilled under a overhang for the rest of the ride.

By the time we got to Capri it was pouring down rain. Luckily, it still wasn't cold out. I pulled on my poncho and Heather put on her jacket and we set off to see what Capri had to offer. We browsed souvenir shops and tasted homemade Limoncello, along with chocolate candies with Limoncello centers (so good!) Then we found a little business that does boat tours around the island, including the 3 famous grottos. We booked two tickets and went to enjoy some homemade gelato while we waited for our departure.

We came back when it was time to depart but they decided to cancel the tour due to rough seas and the weather. We got a refund, but then had absolutely no plans. We asked the tourist office what there was to do in the rain and he reccomended the villas on the other side of the island. However, they closed in an hour. We decided to save our money and went to a rocky beach area next to the harbor.

I at least got to touch the water! Which, despite the rain, was really warm. Perfect swimming water!! All I wanted to do was swim on the beach of Capri!! >:(

As if Mother Nature were laughing at us, the rain picked up and it started to thunder and lightening. We opted to head back to Naples, completely defeated. So we only spent 2 hours on Capri, doing absolutely nothing except getting soaking wet. :(

We got back to Naples and the storm had followed us. We walked back to the train station, only stopping once for a donut. I have been craving donuts for about a week! We found a little café selling donuts from a display case on the street. For a typical glazed donut here it is usually €1,50! Highway robbery! But this café had enormous donuts and they were only €0,60! It was the single best donut I have ever eaten. It was so good that after having a bite of mine, Heather went back and got her own! Those donuts were easily the best part of the whole day.

We got to the station and asked the tourist office for a resteraunt reccomendation. She pointed out a pizzeria on the map, which was back where we had just come from. So we went back out in the rain and went to find it. We didn't make it to the one she reccomended because we were hungry, wet and grumpy.

We ate at Pizzeria D'Angelo instead. Heather had spaghetti carbonara, which was completely different than what you get in the states. I had a thick pasta with bolganase. The sauce had carrots, basil, and onions in with the pork. But I was very hungry and didn't care to be picky. I ate it all! We got a pizza to-go for lunch tomorrow. It is divided up in quadrants with olives, mushrooms, proscutto, and artichokes. Hopefully it will be good cold!

The rain finally stopped by the time we got to the hostel. They don't offer a kitchen, but the reception guy let us keep our pizza in the staff fridge. He's such a sweet guy!

We packed up our stuff and now its time for bed! Tomorrow will be an extremely long travel day. We start with an 8:02 train to Caserta, 10:02 train to Bari. Spend 5 hours in Bari, then take the 15 hour ferry to Patra, Greece.

The one good thing about going to Greece while there is political turmoil, is that hotels are way cheap!! Our hotel in Patra is a 5 star facility and only cost €85 for the night. :) at that rate we may stay somewhere nice in Athens for the final leg of our epic journey!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Napoli & Pompei

We got to Napoli this morning after a nice train ride through the Italian country side. Time flies on the trains because there is always something beautiful to see.

We went to our hostel, which is about a 15 minute trip on the metro. Its on the outskirts of town, but it has spectacular views of Naples since it is up on a hill. We left our packs and went out to explore.

We took the Metro to the station then caught a regional train to Pompei. The train took 40 minutes, which I spent napping. Despite the robust Italian family sitting near us and arguing most of the way.

The ruins of Pompei cost €11, but there is SO much to seee! Pompei used to be an important city in the ancient days. But in 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvious erupted and encased the entire city in over 15 feet of ash & lava. The inhabitants were petrified under the ash before the lava destroyed the town. The entire city is amazingly preserved with original buildings, items, art & more. There are even corpses of the victims, perfectly preserved in ash. Almost like mummies, but instead they look like sculptures.

The ruins of Pompei are open to the public to explore. You have to remember, this is an entire city! When we go in they offer a map, so you don't get lost. We opted to just free roam, as we usually do.

Street, after street, after street of amazingly preserved buildings. It was gorgeous! There is an entire ampitheatre, bath house, brothel, and multiple temples among the best kept buildings.

It was really fun to get to roam around the city at our leisure. There were tons of group tours but they didn't seem to do much of the side streets. They just did a tour of the main roads. Some of our favorite places ended up being way off the beaten path!

We took 4.5 hours to walk the city!  by the end of our exploration we were beat and hungry. We stopped by the cafeteria (which is in the forum! Haha) and bought some dinner. They were closing so the guy gave us about €26 worth of food for only €14!! We got a pizza and a half, fruit cup, fries, and a soda! Score!

We made our way back to the station and made the long journey back to the hostel. Walking back to our hostel we found a family of stray cats! There were even some kittens. :) automatically adds to the hostel's "cool score".

We're in a 4 bed female with only one roommate. The hostel is a HI hostel, so its very nice. The only thing is they only have 2 showers for our entire floor! So we showered tonight to beat the morning rush.

Tomorrow we are going to the romantic island of Capri! I'm so excited!!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Vatican City aka The Pope's House

Woke up feeling slightly rested. The hall bathroom proved to be noisier than expected. Ugh! And our bed was so uncomfortable. Took my Aleve first thing this morning!

The hotel breakfast matched everything else. A bit of a let down. It was just bread and cereal, which would be acceptable at a hostel...but this is a hotel! I'm spoiled and want hot foods for breakfast to give me fuel for a long day!

We had 11:30 tickets to the Vatican so we left about 10:15. Good thing too, the Metro was crazy busy because it is Saturday. Luckily we planned for this and we still made it to the Vtican with time to spare! We couldn't help but feel bad for the hundreds of people in line when we got there. We just cut in front of all of them with our online tickets!

If you have never been to the Vatican museum, it's size is comparable to that of the Louvre in Paris. If you have never been to the Louvre...then just imagine a really, really big museum!! There are SOOO many galleries!! From sculptures to paintings, the Vatican museum has a bit of everything! It was extremely impressive. You start in a court yard, then go into a hall of marble busts & sculptures. From there you go into a room of statues. Then up a set of stairs to rooms of sculptures. Through another courtyard of raman baths & statues. Then a gallery of granite sculptures of animals. Then 2 more rooms of sculptures. Then a round room with huge sculptures of granite and bronze. Then through another long hallway with paintings covering walls & ceiling. Then another staircase to a section of Egyptian art & mummies. From there you go on an outside passage to another 5 galleries of painted walls & ceilings. Up a staircase to 6 rooms of Roman vases. Then down some stairs, through 2 more halls...and now you arrive at the Sistine Chapel.

Let me say, if you see Michelangelo's work sometime in your life (which I hope you do)...don't see David before the Sistine Chapel! It puts the massive painting to shame. Michelangelo was firstly a sculpture, that is for sure. The Sistine Chapel is beautiful, but it does not ellicit the admiration that David does. Also, you are being moved around like heards of cattle in the tight space...so that loses some effect too. Of course it is still a Holy place so you aren't allowed to talk, although everyone is. And they don't allow pictures....but somehow I have some that magically appeared on my camera! After all of the other art you spent 3.5 hours looking at prior to the Sistine Chapel....it is truly hard to take it all in for the infamous piece of art that it is. It was sad!

After the Sistine Chapel, there were still 3 galleries before the exit!! What an incredible collection!

When we left there was a ridiculously long line to get in. We are so happy that we bought in advance!!

We walked over to the actual Vatican and toyed with the idea of a tour. However, the line to get in there wrapped 2/3 of the way around the plaza!! I took a video of it, it takes 45 seconds to scroll the entire line!! Heck no.

We instead headed back to the other side of the city to sxee if the Colliseum was open today. No such luck. Today the sign read "Closed due to technical issues" haha! Not sure what that means. Oh well. While we were hanging out around the Colliseum we met a stray kitty!! She came right up to us and rolled over for belly pets. She didn't have fleas or look sickly, so we indulged her. Makes us a little less home sick, I think. We sure do miss our babies!!

We had dinner by the Colliseum at Cafe 183. I had some tortillini with cream and ham, and Heather had a mushroom pasta. Delicious!!

After dinner we went souvenir shopping and Heather found a wonderful Roman short sword for her weaponry collection!! Its simply gorgeous. She is beyond ecstatic with it.

With all of our money spent, we headed back to the hotel early. We stopped by the internet cafe to look up some info we need for Greece then settled in for the night.

Rome is simply amazing!! There is so much history and so many reminders of the ancient world!! This is easily one of the top cities we've seen.

Tomorrow we leave for Naples! Which means Pompei & Capri. :)

Safe Travels,

- Kit & Heather

When In Rome

We got to Rome early this afternoon. Immediately we were in awe. There were ruins all along side the train tracks and ruins visible everywhere outside of the train station!

Our hotel is across the street from the station, but that's all it has going for it. It's the Hotel Marsala, and it is possibly the most run down hotel we've ever stayed in. Our room is on the fourth floor, right next to the shared bathroom. We booked a room ensuite, but for the guests who don't have a bathroom in their room...they use the one outside our door. All night. Our bathroom looks the same as it did probably 40 years ago. The toilet tank is on the wall near the ceiling and it takes 10 minutes (of really annoying dripping sounds) for it to fill back up after you flush. The bath/shower looks like it should be in a retirement home. It is a sit down basin with a hand sprayer. No curtain, so you have to try very hard not to soak the bathroom when you bathe. The sink only has hot water sometimes. The bed is essentially springs and a sheet. Its too big for the room so you have to climb over the bed to get back and forth from the bathroom. There is a cabinet/closet but the door is falling off of its hinges. The tv works great though. And we have a phone...which doesn't even ring reception. Our front door is paper thin, as are the walls. We could hear someones cell phone ringing two rooms down...and our room doesn't connect to anyone else's!! All in all its a really funny situation. But,its clean and its safe. So that's all we care about.

After checking in we bought a map and went on a Roman adventure. Maybe we are crazy, or maybe we were just excited...because we saw A LOT today!!

We started at the Culture & Heritage National Monument. Its the most massive building I have ever seen. Its pretty much all granite and done in ancient Roman style. Its really awesome.

Then we walked along the ruins of the Roman Forum. Best quote, "There are so many ruins! I don't know where to look!" That was Heather's reaction as soon as we came upon the forum.

At the end of the street we walked around the Colliseum. Unfortunately, it was closed today. I guess it has been closed for two days, but no one seems to know why. There was simply a sign that said "The colliseum is closed due to reasons outside one's control" We overheard someone saying it was due to rain over the last few days. It makes sense that if it were wet and lots of people walked around it would worsen the condition.

So heavy hearted we went back to the national monument and wandered around. Then it was off to the Pantheon. Which is REALLY big!! Wow! We walked around inside and enjoyed its ancient wonders.

Next stop was Trevi fountain. The infamous fountain for good luck. We each threw in a coin. The fountain is incredible!! There were so many people there though, we didn't stay long.

We went over to the Spanish steps and tooks pics. We didn't climb them, because there were (once again) too many people. Its ok, my knee was not interested in climbing anyway.

After all of the walking around we stopped for dinner. Every resteraunt offers a menu out front so you can decide if you want to eat there. Anytime we look over a menu Heather asks "Is there something you'd eat?" To which I always reply "Are we still in Italy!?" I mean pizza + pasta are my specialties!!

We finished dinner and made the long trek back to our hotel. We watched some CNN, (HURRAY FOR BRINGING THE TROOPS HOME!!). Then we were too tired to even journal for the day!!

At least I blogged...but now it is time to PASS OUT!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...

Woke up early, to the dismay of our roommates. We were at breakfast as they opened. Ate and made a 7:33 bus to the station.

Headed to Bologna first. The train was about an hour, since it was a regional train. But that means it was less expensive, so we weren't in a hurry. We spent the train trip catching up in our journals, as we so often do. My journal for this trip is a 70 sheet composition notebook. I write front & back, so 140 pages....but I'll be lucky to make it to the end of the trip!! I think I only have about 30 pages left!

We got to Bologna and it was raining. Of course. I didn't even think to grab my poncho this morning, so I had to improvise. I put my back pack on under my jacket and zipped it up so I looked like a hunchback. It wasn't comfortable, but it kept everything dry.

Our book didn't have too much to say about Bologna. We followed the walking directions to the fountain of Neptune...but it really wasn't that great. The fountain of Neptune in Vienna or Florence are both much better. However, this fountain had mermaids who shot water from their nipples. It was a peculiar sight!! But I guess if there are peeing boy fountains...a lactating mermaid isn't too far off.

We were going to go to another square that is supposed to be cool, but we didn't have time. So essentially we walked 30 minutes in one direction, just to turn around and walk 30 back to the station.

Our train to Verona was fairly quick. It took another hour. We got off in Verona and realized we had no information about the city! Its not in our book and we didn't look up directions to anything. We bought a tourist map from the station, which had all of the essentials marked on it.

Once again, it was raining. It wasn't nearly as bad as Bologna though. We walked to the center of town and were shocked to find a massive Roman arena! Who knew!?

We stopped for lunch at a self-service resteraunt. It was really nerve racking because each item cost a different amount and all of the signs were in Italian. I was so worried I was going to end up spending €20, that I only got a small bowl of noodles and tomoato sauce. Heather had the same, plus a mushroom tort. Then we got to the cashier and my card didn't work! We forgot to stop by an ATM and were out of cash. Luckily they ran it a second time and it worked fine. I stressed over nothing, all in all our lunch was €11. Cha-ching!

After lunch Heather navigated our way to Juliet's house!! Its just on side street with a beautiful portico entry with a stone placard that says "The house of Capulet, whence came Juliet" (or something like that, its in Italian) Through the portico you find thousands of names written on the brick walls with whatever color or medium people had at the time. Names and dates of lovers, fans, or simply visitors.

The portico opens into a small square atrium with Juliet's balcony on the right and a bronze statue of Juliet in the middle. Supposedly, if you touch her breast it will bring you good luck. So obviously I did just that.

After we enjoyed the atrium we went up stairs to the Juliet Club. Its a group of women who write back to all the people who send letters to Juliet. They operate out of a small room that overlooks Juliet's atrium. It was set up just like the movie "Letters to Juliet". I sat at Juliet's desk and wrote her a letter myself. :) There are binders and binders filled with some of the letters that have been written over the years. The oldest ones were from 15 years ago! It was a very cool place to visit.

We then decided it was only fair to go see Romeo's house. Unlike Juliet's his is down a narrow ally and has no decoration or tourist hoards around it. It is a simple stone walled house with a balcony. The door on the balcony was overgrown with ivy and some of the wall showed where doors had been plastered over. Poor Romeo, no one visits his home.

We wanted to visit Juliet's tomb but half way there we realized it cost money to go in, and you wouldn't see anything outside. So instead we bought some post cards and sent them out.

We took a leisurely stroll back to the station, since the sun had finally come out. We found a part of what seemed to be a medieval wall on the outskirts of the main city center.

Heather had an authentic Italian canoli while we waited for our train. She says its unlike any canoli she has ever had before. She thouroughly enjoyed it.

Our train back to Bologna was a commuter train so it took 2 hours. Luckily it wasn't busy at all though. We played dots, tic-tac-toe and hangman to pass the time.

Back in Bologna we walked around and found a resteraunt for dinner. We split a pork chop (since Bologna is famous for their meats) and I had tortellini (which was hand made) in a bolganase sauce. Heather had cheese filled pasta in a butter & sage sauce. All of it was delicious!! I had never had hand made pasta...it certainly makes a difference.

We took our final train back to Florence and now we are heading back to the hostel for our last night. We leave in the morning for our tour of southern Italy, starting in Rome!

We have covered a ridiculous amout of ground since we arrived a month ago!! We only have 11 days left in Europe, but still have a lot to see. Can't wait to see the wonders of Rome!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

The Day of David

Slept in today! (Until 8:45!) Ate breakfast and set out to explore the wonders of Florence.

We started at the station because we needed to book some tickets, but the line was super long so we decided to wait. We walked to Duomo near the center of old town.

Duomo and all of its splendor is...astonishing!! Its so massive and there is simply so much to look at!! We walked around it and every sight was so gorgeous! The building is magnificent! We could have gone to the top of the dome, but we wanted to spend our money elsewhere today. I don't think you could fully appreciate each detail of Duomo if you had a lifetime. (Probably why we visited it other times throughout our walking tour!)

We then walked to the Academic Gallery. The line (as to be expected) was wrapped down one side of the building. I held a spot in line while Heather went to investigate pricing. She came back with two tickets for the next entry time! Score! So then we only waited about 10 minutes instead of 3 hours.

We viewed some beautiful art and sculptures, but nothing can compare to Michelangelo's Davis. Standing at 17 feet, he holds the attention of the main gallery. There are no words to describe such a masterpiece. Davis is the most detailed sculpture I have ever laid eyes on. Heather tried to snap a photo, but the gaurd caught us and yelled "No photo!!" (However the picture is of the lady's hand...but David is fully visible in the background)

We sat and enjoyed his many splendor. And of course, sneeking photos from every angle. Everytime you look at him you notice another minute detail that you hadn't seen before. It is truly awe-inspiring. We spent almost 2 hours at the museum with maybe an hour and fifteen minutes in front of David alone.

With rumbly tummies we left and found a small café that had handed out flyers while we were in line. We each had a pizza (yes, I know I eat pizza everyday! I'm a conissuer, what can I say!?) Heather had a mushroom and ham pizza and I tried the 4 meat pizza. It had ham, salami, hot dogs and bologna. And it was awesome!

With food in our stomachs we went back to Duomo and walked around a little bit. Then we visited  Palazzo Vecchio and Galleria Degli Uffizi. There was a gorgeous fountain of Neptune and lots of sculptures. Of course, it is where David originally stood. Now there is a smaller replica (made of granite instead of marble) in his place. It was sad to overhear people talk about the statue and think it was the real one. He's probably 5 feet shorter than the real one!

We enjoyed gelato (as per the treaty) as we took in the sights of Florence. What an amazing city!! We wandered around in the old town a little more before heading back to the station to book the previously mentioned tickets.

After getting our trips booked for the next couple of days (which ended up being much cheaper than expected!) we adventured to Piazzale Michelangelo. Turns out it is a wonderful view of the city from on top of a hill! Not to mention the third David is there. This one is made of bronze. We spent a while taking pics of the city at night and listening to street performers play. I bought a gorgeous necklace and Heather bought a minature David. :) We split a Peroni then grabbed a bus back to town.

Ate some dinner at McDonald's, because we still have buy one get one coupons. (Its cheaper than eating anywhere else!!) Then went back to the hostel.

Florence is a wonderful city! Its my 2nd favorite Italian city that we have seen, after Venice. Even the bus rides have offered spectacular view. Florence should be a must for any Italy itenerary!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Venice & Romance

Woke up early this morning to have breakfast before heading out. Well that was a joke! Our breakfast from the hostel was corn flakes in mugs (no bowls), white bread (no toaster) and weird jelly flavors from plastic containers. Oh and orange juice from a machine that makes it from powder. It was terrible!! I had a couple of helpings to get slightly full. Oh well, not everything can be perfect.

We took the first train to Venice to spend the day in one of Italy's most romantic cities. The train ride was nice, we spent the whole time napping. Haha

As soon as you exit the train station in Venice you find a canal, gondolas, canal taxis and a hoard of tourists. The thing about Italy is, it never really has a down season. Its always full of tourists and most of them are really dim-witted.

We got a map from the tourist office. We paid €2 for it, but we needed it. To try and navigate Venice without a map...is like being Lewis and Clark when the navigated the Louisiana Purchase. Its really outrageous. All of the streets have about 3 different names and a street name will change sides of the street, even if you are walking straight. Not to mention if you try to "follow the water" you'll get all sorts of turned around. There are hundreds of canals in Venice and they are just as confusing as the streets.

Heather was Sacagewea and led our expedition to Piazza San Marco, which is where the good stuff is. Its mainly an open square surrounded by a giant cathedral, a bell tower, a huge museum, and a palace. Its truly a sight to see. Not to mention there are hundreds of pigeons more than willing to help you finish that biscotti.

We had lunch at Bierreria Pedavena, a small resteraunt behind the square. I had the 4 cheese pizza and Heather had lasagne. We're in Italy....you guess how the food was. ;P

After lunch we wandered along the harbor on a mission. We were looking for a particular shirt for a particular set of twins we know. But we couldn't find it in the color we needed! We stopped at EVERY souvenir stand to check...that's about 1 souvenir stand every 25 feet.

We gave up and decided to explore more of the city. We got a little confused but ended up finding a Gondolier who was looking for a fare. He even cut us a deal! We only paid €60 for 30 minutes, for our own gondola! Usually its like €80 for a gondola and they fill it up with whoever walks by and wants to split the bill. So we ended up taking a super romantic gondola around some quite canals, away from the tourist hubs. And Anthonio, our Gondolier, even pointed out historical buildings along the way. He was very sweet.

With a new lease on the day we went back the way we came to figure out where we were. With some luck we found the shirt we were looking for!! We also tried on many carnivale masks, which was really fun. They are hand made in Venice and are so beautiful.

When we were cutting back through Piazza San Marco I lost Heather in a throng of tour groups. I stood in one place and frantically looked in all directions til I found her. She came strolling up and handed me a beautiful red rose, which she had bought from a street vendor. It was such a spontaneous, romantic surprise!! :) I loved it.

We meandered through the city, window shopping as we went. Venice is simply beautiful. There are no cars (as far as we could tell there may not be any at all! They have a water bus system, and everyone else walks!) so its quit. The canals offer a serene atmosphere everywhere you turn. Everything about today was gorgeous.

We got to the train station early. We sat on the steps and watched the canal boats and gondolas. I made a vase for my rose out of an empty plastic bottle and some napkins. And we simply took in the city, as the sun set.

Now we're on our way back to the hostel. We are exploring Florence tomorrow, so we don't have to get up super early! Should be a nice, relaxing evening.

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

The Gelato Treaty of 2011

We got up at 6:00 to catch a 6:30 bus to the station, to catch a 7:28 train. I'm telling you, not being within walking distance to the train station is killing me! Not only does it take almost 25 minutes to get to the station, the buses are never on time here and round trip costs €2,80 which adds up! Not to mention all the trains in Italy require reservations. Which means we spend about €20 a day (per person!) to go on any day trips!! Our daily budget is only €60...so yeah. €20 to eat/see attractions/buy souvenirs/ etc. Italy is too freaking expensive!! Because of this and the fact we left the hostel before breakfast hours, for breakfast we had a banana and split a granola bar.

It took a train change in Pisa and about 3 hours train time to get to Genova from Florence. Its a beautiful harbor city, stretching along the coast and up the surrounding hills.

We didn't have any directions to the aquarium, other than knowing it was in the harbor area. So we just winged it and walked toward the smell of ocean. Sure enough we found the harbor!

I stopped and had a little personal pizza at a café. It was alfredo pizza and it was delicious! My first Italian pizza!

We found the aquarium and coughed up the outrageous €19/ person for tickets. (So much for today's budget!) It is built along a long dock right in the center of the harbor. The building is rather oddly shaped from the outside, but once you get in you realize the odd compartments outside are huge fish tanks inside!

The aquarium is the 2nd largest in Europe and I think 9th largest in the world (by gallons). They had sea cows (manatees), sharks, dolphins, seals, penguins, a sea turtle, and the general array of fish. They even had a 'Finding Nemo' tank!

It was really cool to see sea cows and dolphins in an aquarium! I love manatees, I love them even more by their other name "sea cow". :)

You can only walk one way through the aquarium and there were absolutely no benches! Personally, when I go to an aquarium I like to sit and watch the tanks. Its peaceful and beautiful. Here you sort of felt forced room to room by the flow of traffic and the distinct route you had to follow.

We got to see the dolphins get fed and do a couple of tricks. Then we watched the sharks get fed squid and fish. After that we left. It really isn't that BIG of an aquarium...they just have big tanks. Totally NOT worth €19/ person.

We went back to the café I had visited earlier so Heather could get some pizza too. And I had a second piece. She tried the olive pizza and I had a cheese piece with fresh tomato sauce. They were very good for a cheap price!

It was while we were sitting on the harbor eating our lunch that we reached the Gelato Treaty of 2011. Everytime I have pizza, Heather can have gelato or vice versa. Knowing we will each indulge in our favorite Italian snacks on a semi-regular basis over the next week, made this the best agreement. To mark the passing of our treaty Heather had chocolate chip gelato.

We got back to the train station by wandering around. However we thought our train was at 17:28, but it wasn't until 17:48! So we sat around for an hour til it arrived.

Due to some sort of issue with one of the passenger cars (the one we were booked on) the train official told us to go to another car but sit in the same seat numbers. We followed directions but there were already people in our seats. We told them we had a reservation and the gentleman got up, apologized, and went to another car. The woman, however, very rudely refused to move! I'm not entirely sure she even had a seat reservation to begin with! So I sat in the one seat and Heather had to stand in the hall...getting shoved around ever few minutes by passers by and the food cart. I wasn't going to have that, since I had napped the first train and she hadn't. I switched her and spent the next hour sitting in the hall glaring angerly at the rude woman. (And she knew it too, she kept nervously playing with her hair and side glancing at me) when she finally got off we took our rightful seats for the rest of the trip.

This is NOT the first rude person we have encountered. We have been in Italy for only two days and most of the people we have dealt with have not been very friendly. From people at the train station, to people at our hostel, to people just shoving you on the bus... it has not been a welcoming environment. Perhaps I am jaded by the bright eyed, eager to help, smiling faces of Scandanavians or something. But even the French and German were more friendly than this! I never thought we'd have ill-will from Italians. Who knew?

Made it back to the station in time to use our BOGO McDonald's coupon. Yeah that's how we roll! Then grabbed the last bus back to the villa.

Allbeit an expensive day, it was fun. Tomorrow will be glorious, since we are going to Venice!!!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Italy!

We got to Florence this morning at 6:20. It took about 30 minutes to figure out the bus system and where to get a ticket. We got on our bus...going the wrong direction! So it took 45 minutes to get to our stop...instead of 15. Oops!

Our hostel gate is right at the bus stop, then its a 0.3 mile walk to the actual hostel. It is an actual villa! Situated in the woods, overlooking a vineyard...it is the picturesque Italian villa! I'm so excited to stay here for 5 days!

We couldn't check in yet, but they allowed us to stow our packs. So then it was back to the train station for our first Italian day trip! Today we went to Pisa!

They really aren't kidding, that tower is leaning!! Forget every picture, movie, illistration, etc. until you are standing in front of it, its hard to comprehend the angle of the tower! Its really crazy.

We paid the €15/ person to climb the 300+ stairs to the top. It was awesome! As you go up the spiral staircase you feel the gravity change on the side that's leaning. Once on top its an adreniline rush to look over the leaning side and see where you would land if it finally toppled.

We spent time laying in the grass beside the tower and taking lots of silly tourist pictures. You truly look photo shopped into them! The tower is stunning.

We also went into Pisa Cathedral, whose architecture and beauty match that of the tower. The entire square is gorgeous and we had absolutely lovely weather today!

After Pisa we headed back to Florence for dinner. Real Italian dinner!! Our hostel serves dinner for cheap each night. Tonight it was homemade lasagna, chicken breast, roast potatos, salad and bread. :) Good meal to end a long day!

We have a VERY early morning tomorrow so looks like we'll be turning in early tonight. Off to Genova to see the 2nd largest aquarium in Europe! They have close to 1 million gallons!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

The Hills are Alive....

Salzburg, Austria is known for 2 things. 1) It was the birthplace and home town of Wolfgang Amedeaus Mozart 2) It is where 'The Sound of Music' happened and where it was filmed.

We arrived in Salzburg on Friday afternoon. We checked in at YoHo Hostel and went on a Mozart adventure. For €12 per person you got tickets to both Mozart's birthplace & childhood home and his home in the later years (before he moved to Vienna). Overall the two museums were sort of lame. The best parts were seeing his original piano and violin that he began playing from the age of 5. The rest was mostly sheet music and letters he had written, which would have been awesome...except they were all copies!! I mean if ever there was a place to dispay Mozart's original sheet music, shouldn't it be at his house!? C'est la vie.

After the tours we rested a little bit back at the hostel. We had come across a Swedish candy shop and indulged in Swedish fish and other gummi delights. My stomach was not happy with that choice. Once I felt a little better we walked around old town and found a tiny local bar where we ate dinner.

Nestled away off the beaten path and at the base of the massive fortress that overlooks Salzburg, we found St. Paul Stub'n. Its a university bar/grill. It probably only had 15 tables (max) and most were reserved for the 'regulars'. We ate at the bar, which doesn't bother me. I had a baked potato with sour cream and chicken breast. Heather had a traditional Austrian dish of pork in beer sauce, cabbage and a bread dumpling. She really enjoyed it!

Even though it was only about 20:00 on a Friday night, everything was closed!! So we had no choice but to go back and hang out at the hostel.

We chilled in the common room and some girls put on 'Mystic River'. Our hostel had 2 flat screens with dvd players and a video library! (They also had a Wii! And daily showings of 'The Sound of Music' LOL) we ended up watching the movie before heading up to bed.

We got up and checked out yesterday morning. We left our packs in the hostel lockers then went to play at Hohensalzburg Fortress. It sits atop a large hill overlooking the city, very menacingly. It's a large castle and used to be the home of the Arch Bishop of Salzburg. The construction began in the early 1000s and the fortress that is there today wasn't finished until the 1800s.

We took an audio tour through parts of the castle, explored the 3 museums and wandered around taking in the views. The fortress is reached by a tram that climbs about an 80 degree hill! It was sort of scary on the way back down.

We left Salzburg and headed to Munich for dinner. Our love for the Höfbrahaus remains strong! The 2 hour train trip (completely out of the way) was so worth it!!

Heather was emmensely impressed that we got off the train and I took us to Höfbrauhaus without hesitation, all from memory. :)

We had dinner a couple of beers. It was super busy since it was Saturday night, but not nearly as crazy as it was during Oktoberfest. The food and beer are just as delicious though!! I think we impressed a couple of local Bavarians when we ordered the stein instead of the .5L glass. :P

We bought a Höfbrauhaus shirt to remember our favorite beer hall and vowed to return in the future. We bid Germany adieu for the last time and took a night train to Florence.

The night train was an experience! We were in a 6 bed cabin which was no bigger than the 6 seat cabin we have sat in on other trains. There are 2 triple bunks, and enough room between to BARELY walk through. The bunks aren't tall enough to sit up in, so you have to either lay down or sit completey hunched over. We had an American couple from North Carolina in our cabin that were probably 50-something. They thought they had booked a private and were not happy to find they had the 2 top bunks! We had a middle and a bottom. I was on middle, which seemed to be the most uncomfortable of all. There was one other woman on the bottom of the other bunk.

Trying to sleep was a joke. What is ironic is that I am narcoleptic when it comes to trains! I usualy sleep on 90% of our train rides no matter what the sitting position or duration. However, when laying in a bed on the train...I couldn't sleep! I maybe got 5 hours total, with a lot of tossing and turning. We were grateful to arrive in Florence!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

An Imperial Palace, a hedge maze, and a zoo

We got to Vienna yesterday afternoon, and after a little geographical confusion we found Pension Schönbrunn, our hotel. Our room is almost like a little suite. We have a double bed, closet area, nice bathroom, flatscreen tv, mini-bar, couch, table and chairs. It's very spacious.

After checking in Heather had a headache so I made her rest for a while I caught up in my travel journal. When she was feeling better we bundled up and headed out in the cold, rainy weather to explore the city.

We were only a few S-Bahn stops away from the center of the city. Our Eurail book didn't really outline too many sights/attractions other than the usual array of old buildings. We found a beautiful church, the opera house and some other buildings which looked like they were probably governmant buildings now.

We were very hungry (and a bit soggy by this point) and Heather wanted Chinese food. We found a place called Asian Palace by the opera house. We were out front looking at the menu when (who we presumed to be the owner) a lady came out and said "Two?" And we told her we hadn't decided yet. But in a super cute German/Asian accent she said "Ok, two. You eat here!" And led us inside...so we ate there. Haha

Heather had noodle soup with pork and I tried the chicken fried rice. I don't even like Chinese food! We were reviewing the menu to see if there was anything I would eat when our friend decided for us. So I ordered something safe. I was so hungry that I ate about half of it! Vegatables and all. It was sustinance, but I definately did not enjoy it. Heather loved hers, of course. So it was worth it to me. :)

After dinner we walked around a bit more til we were thouroughly frozen and wet. We were heading to our S-bahn when we spotted a small shop with what seemed to be the delicious treats we had eaten in Røskilde! Except these were atop an ice cream cone. Sure enough, same whipped creamy center! YUM! It made my Chinese dinner not so crappy.

Got back to our hotel and thawed in a hot shower. Then we watched 'Spider-Man' on tv with German dubbing. It was hilarious.

Today we decided to tour the Schloß Schönbrunn, which we found completely by accident. It is a palace that is 5 minutes from our hotel. We saw ads as we got off the subway, but there was no information in our guide book. We looked it up online and its the #1 Viennese attraction! No idea why its not even mentioned in the book!

It was €16,50 per person for a combined ticket which included a palace tour, garden access, hedge maze access, and viewing terrace access. We started with the tour of the palace. It was a self-paced audio tour covering 40 of the rooms on the main floor. FOURTY rooms on ONE floor!! Alltogether the palace probably had over 150 rooms (at least). The 40 we covered were the main Imperial apartments of the past Emperors and Empresses of Austria. (They don't have Emporers anymore in Austria. The last one was in 1918) Schloß Schönbrunn was the summer residence of the Imperial family of Austria for more than 200 years. Some of its noteable residents over the years included: Franz Stephan, Franz Joseph, Maria-Theresa and her 16 children (including Marie Antoinette), Napolean lived there for a bit, and many others.

The tour was very informative! We even walked through the room where, 5 year old, Mozart performed his first concert for Empress Maria Theresa! It was gorgeous, of course. Everything was decorated with the original decor and furnishings, so naturally we could not take any pictures.

After the tour we strolled along the expanse of gardens that extend behind the palace and to either side. The rows and rows of trees, hedges, flowers and other foilage were gorgeous with fall colors. Not to mention the huge fountains and sculptures that decorated the paths as well. There were black squirrels everywhere which were super friendly. If you squatted down and put your hand out they came right up to you and sniffed your fingers. One even let me pet it! We thought maybe that one squirrel was friendly, but throughout the day we saw lots of other visitors making friends with the fluffy little critters. It was crazy!

When we had finished our romantic tour, we took on the hedge maze. I had never played in a hedge maze before! It was just like in the movies! Hedges about 6 feet high, aligned to create a super fun maze! There were dead ends and wrong turns everywhere. It probably took a good 20 minutes to make our way to the middle to climb the viewing platform. From the platform you could see the whole maze and watch people get lost. Some other visitors were shouting directions to people below. It was very fun! They offered 2 exits, the short exit was a straight path out...or the long exit, which just meant you came out the way you came in. We took the long way. You would think it would be easy to get out once you had found the middle...but it wasn't! We had a great time!

There was another maze that was a spiral, but it was made from a type of tree and they had shed a lot of leaves already. So it was very simple to navigate. We did it anyway though. After that we played in the playground area which had fun house mirrors, musical mechanisms, a lever-operated  bulldozer/crane thingy, and a funny bird contraption that you sat in and it flapped its wings by springs and ropes. Fun for kids and adults!

The last thing on our ticket was a trip to the top of Gloriette viewing terrace. Gloriette is situated on a hill behing the palace and offered amazing views of the gardens, palace and all of Vienna!! It was a very nice panoramic view. Even if we did have to hike another steep hill. (These hills are killing me!) The views were spectacular.

We were going to leave from there, since we had covered everything included on our ticket. But they had a zoo. It is the world's oldest zoo and used to be a private zoo to the Imperial family!!! (Can I please have a private zoo??) And we weren't planning on going because 1) It cost €14/ person and 2) we just went to the zoo in Berlin. BUT Schönbrunn had a baby giant panda AND koala bears! So we ended up in the zoo. We only had 2 hours before they closed so we saw everything important. The giant pandas were much more photogenic than Bao Bao in Berlin. Then there were 2 Koalas who were also very photogenic. And how often do you see koalas in zoos? (We are well aware they are probably in lots of zoos...but they weren't at Berlin and they aren't in Dallas or Denver) We also saw seals, penguins, tigers, lions, a goat in a tree (that was a new one), bison, and Heather's favorite...the red pandas. We spent at least 20 minutes watching the red pandas. The one in Denver is always asleep on a rock and you never see it very well. These two were climbing trees and roaming all over the place!! Heather was ecstatic.

We also found the enclosure for the Spectacled Bear!! Let me digress for a second to explain the importance of this find. In 2007 we went to San Antonio for our one year anniversary. We visited the San Antonio zoo (the first zoo we ever went to together!). They had a grizzly bear who was super cute and we named Stan. Then they had a cage for a Spectacled Bear, which neither of us had ever heard of. We waited for over half an hour to get a glimpse of this rare bear, but it never came out of it's house. So there were a series of pictures taken of me pretending to be the Spectacled Bear. It has forever been an inside joke and comes up anytime we see bears at the zoo. We have since visited probably 5 other zoos all over the place and have NEVER seen a zoo with a Spectacled Bear...until yesterday.

I was so flipping excited!! It had a huge enclosure with lots and lots of trees and foilage and play things. And we looked, and looked, and looked, and looked...but no freaking bear!!!! It was hiding or put away or something!! I was PISSED. So my epic quest to see a real life Spectacled Bear continues. It has now become something like a myth to us. Someday....

We left the zoo and headed back to our hotel (which was about a 10 minute walk), but got distracted by Italian food. Heather had a spaghetti and mushroom dish with a white sauce we had never tasted before. It was lighter than alfredo and had a sort of buttery taste to it. The English translation on the menu said "high salsa" but it had no salsa relation whatsoever. I had a salami pizza which was about the size of a medium pizza in the states...I ate it all. What can I say...I LOVE pizza!! (I think I have had pizza at least once from every country <3)

When we got back to our hotel we watched 'Juno' on tv, once again dubbed in German. And hung around for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow we are going to Salzburg, Austria. Its where 'Sound of Music' was filmed and it was also the home of Mozart! Not to mention it is a very short train ride to Munich....Hofbrauhaus for dinner!? Methinks so!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Once Upon A Time...in Prague

We arrived in Prague on Monday night and found our hostel 3 minutes from the station. We stayed at Rosemary's Hostel Apartments. It was cool because they had turned an old apartment building into dorms. So our "apartment" had a bathroom in the hall, full kitchen, a main room with 3 bunks, a loft with a double bed, and our room with 3 more bunks. It was very spacious for there being 14 beds!!

Yesterday we woke up, got a map from the front desk and went on an adventure. Prague isn't in our Eurail guide book, so we had no information about what to do or see. We used the map for 5 minutes to get us to Old Town, then we really didn't use it the rest of the day.

Everything we heard about Prague was true. The cobble stone streets and lined with rows of 17th century buildings that look the same as they probably did when they were built. The Old Town square offers gorgeous views of Tyn Church and the clock tower, along with an arcade of shops and resteraunts.

We stopped and had lunch in the town sqaure. We sat outside and had wonderful views of all sides of the square. We caught the astronomical clock's chimes at noon and watched the 12 Apostales move in and out of the mechanical tower. Then a gaurd on top of the tower plays a beautiful tune on the trumpet, which we decided may be the anthem or something. They played it every hour after the chimes stopped.

From the square we headed toward Charles bridge. We found a small dessert place called 'Bon Bon' and had a cup of Czech hot chocolate. Czech hot chocolate is just that...hot chocolate. It was essentially a cup of fondue!!! We had a mix of milk & white chocolate and its served in a cup with a spoon! Yummy!!

We strolled along Charles bridge, checking out the paintings on sale by artists along the way. The bridge offers wonderful views of the city and is lined with medieval statues made of stone.

At the end of the bridge you find yourself in the midst of streets you have only seen in fairy tales. Everything is perfectly picturesque. A ways up the street you find St. Nick's cathedral.

From there we walked up the hill to Prague castle. The castle and cathedral are situated on a hill overlooking the city below. The views are spectacular and the castle & cathedral are simply breath taking. We would have liked to tour the castle, however we were running low on money. So instead we simply walked around the grounds and some of the gardens. I don't think we missed too much. The only way out of the castle grounds in back down the hill.

When we reached the bottom we realized the maze that we wanted to see was on the TOP of the hill further up than the castle!! So we turned around and trekked up again. It was a very steep hill and I was not very happy.

At the top of the hill, past the castle, there is a very large park. We walked about 1/2 a mile through the park, up some extremely steep paths and stairs and finally reach Petřín Tower atop Petřín Hill. We were expecting a hedge maze, but come to find out it was a mirror maze, like in a fun house. Since we had hiked all the way up we decided to enjoy it, except we were 14 ckk short of the admission!! Ugh. By then it had started sprinkling so we said "Screw it" and rested a bit before trekking back down. At least we got to enjoy the pretty woods and views from above Prague!

Once we reached the city again it was dark out. The streets become even more beautiful when lit at night. The Charles bridge is even more romantic, and the town square is simply perfect. We enjoyed some drinks in the square then headed back to our hostel around 21:00.

We definately fell in love with Prague and spent the money to prove it! Heather got a dagger for her collection at home, I got a t-shirt, we each got our patches and we bought some souvenirs for friends back home. I really hope we get to return to Prague at some point in our future travels!!

Until then we will have our memories, pictures and souvenirs. :)

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

The Berlin Zoo

Today we went to the zoo. Not just any zoo, the Berlin Zoo!! Known as the most diverse zoo in the world, Berlin boasts an impressive 17,000+ animals including over 2500 species!!

This is the day I have been looking forward to for a VERY long time! But first, our morning in short. Woke up to sloppy roommates alarm at 7:00. And sure enough she got in the shower and was STILL in there when we got up at 8:15!! Good thing we showered yesterday! We were packing up when she came out. We made small pleasantries, found out she's Canadian. We have our packs very organized and easy to unpack/pack within a couple of minutes, keeping everything within easy access. She started picking up piles of clothes and shoving them into her pack, without rhyme nor reason. I think we figured out why there was stuff everywhere!

It was raining when we crossed the courtyard for breakfast, so no bunnies today. :( our breakfast was totally worth the €5 we paid. They had eggs, sausage, toast, jam, cereal and juices. Twas a good start to the day!

Finally we were off to the zoo! Those who know us are aware of our love for zoos and animals in general, so please imagine our excitement to go to one of the best zoos in the world!!

We got the zoo/aquarium duo ticket which was only €15/ person! It was raining most of the day, but not pouring. And it wasn't cold or windy, so it was comfortable.

Just entering the zoo you notice differences. The enclosures are very large and mostly open, with little or no bars. Most use the moat method to keep the animals in their designated areas. The first animals you see are Alpaca Llamas, which was really random.

From there we discovered a whole house of types of chickens and pigeons (in a zoo!?!), then off to the gorgeous primate house. The enclosures offer indoor/outdoor space for the animals to roam freely between the two. Most of the primates were inside, avoiding the rain so we got some great pics!

All in all the zoo portion took about 4 hours to discover. Along the way we saw animals we had never seen in real life, including: a giant panda, an aardvark, bush babies, spring hare, wallaby, sloth bear, Asiatic black bear, Fennick fox, King penguins, jaguarundi, rock hopper penguins, and more!

I cannot describe the cuteness of a panda in person. OMG!! Wow! It may be the only time in my life that I get to see one of those adorable bears in real life, and I'm so happy I did!

Also, the Berlin Zoo is a happening place for "Zoo Borns"!! Seriously! Every other enclosure had a new born animal from this year or at least one that was less than 3 years old!! We saw a baby orangutan, hippos, rhino, deer, llama, monkeys, seals, zebra, a litter of capybara and more!! It was precious!!

Other favorites included the very nice Okapi enclosure, housing 3 of my favorite animals! We saw their pack (7 total) of white wolves (which Heather was stoked about!) The gorillias were spinning in circles and doing flips on their ropes in their area! The ferry penguins were in an enclosure where they were easily pettable (though we refrained), and were swimming laps in a group of 10 or more. The polar bears were out sunbathing...in the rain. (Rest in piece, Knut. Wish we had gotten to see you!!) The lion and tiger were roaring at eachother. The hippos were swimming very gracefully around their pool (which has a underwater viewing area for visitors)

There was an amazing nocturnal exhibit that had low lighting for the animals' comfort, but still enough to see them very clearly. So we got to see the Aye-Aye!! Usually you can just see their shadow at the exhibit in Denver. Heather also saw her first live Armidillo! They also had random nocturnal animals like hedgehogs and gerbils. Haha!!

All of the animals were super active and seemed happy. I hate going to zoos with bars and the animals look depressed and just lie around. All of the Berlin animals were having a great time in the rain!

After seeing all of the mammals we went in the aquarium and found out there were more surprises to behold! The aquarium houses many beautiful fresh and salt water fish. They have a handfull of sharks, eels, rays, cichlids, jellyfish, sea horses, puffers and even an octopus!! Their tanks were very pretty with plenty of view points to see all of the fish.

The 2nd floor of the aquarium building houses the reptiles. Once again, they had huge beautiful enclosures with lots of species cohabitating. Most reptile enclosures I have seen anywhere else have one of each species in cookie-cutter glass terrariums. Not here! There were 3-5 of each species in the exhibits. It was really nifty! In the crocodile exhibit a smaller croc was being overrun by turtles! When I say overun...I mean there was a turtle sitting on the back of the croc! It was funny.

Once we finished exploring everything we headed back to the station and caught a ride to Prague, Czech Republic. So here we are in Prague, one of the few cities that saw little/no damage during either World War. It's old town is supposed to be breath taking! We'll find out tomorrow! Until then we'll just keep chatting about that super cute panda!!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Historical Berlin

Berlin. What is there to say!? What an incredible city, what an incredible history! Everything in Berlin is full of decades of conflict and brilliant history. When we arrived in the city we took the S-Bahn to our hostel and you could tell the visual difference between places in East Berlin versus West Berlin. It was an interesting trip!

We stayed at the PLUS Hostel Berlin, which was one of the best hostels we have stayed at. It was very modern inside, yet it was in a building that had survived 2 World Wars in East Berlin! They had a swimming pool, sauna, laundry, resteraunt/bar, lounge, and courtyard. Our favorite part was the courtyard, where they had bunnies!! There were just free roaming domesticated bunnies all over the place! Some baby bunnies too!! We had a field day running around the courtyard scooping up baby bunnies and cuddling them. It was precious!

When we got to our room it was a 4 bed, with ensuite bathroom! At first we thought we had 2 other roommates, but after further examination we only had one VERY messy roommate. She had clothes piled on the floor, desk and window ledge. Her things were EVERYWHERE in the bathroom and there were maps, empty bottles, and trash under her bed and around the floor!! It was by far the messiest room we've stayed at...and we have stayed in 12 bed co-ed rooms! Judging by her mess, we decided to shower before she got back....in case she was an hour-long shower type of person.

After getting freshened up we headed out to see Berlin. Our first stop was the infamous Brandenburg Gate. I choked up, standing in front of it absorbing the history. People were waving flags and singing songs about peace and Amnesty International was there! It was really powerful.

We detoured and saw the Reichstag. Which is the seat of the German federal government. Then we enjoyed parts of the "English Garden" which is essentially a giant park. It was very romantic at sunset. We took pictures of Victory Tower and headed over to see the wall.

The remains of the wall only stretch a couple of blocks, but they are a powerful reminder of Germany's rich history. All throughout the city there is a brick path where the wall once stood. And its marked on all the city maps too. We even found a spot by Check Point Charlie that had East & West painted on either side of the brick line. Its a simple reminder of the past and a pleasant outlook to the future.

I made a game of finding as many Berlin bears as I could. I'm not entirely sure of heir signifigance, but there and bear statues throughout the city painted in different ways, all with the same pose. I think I found 5 of them? But I found a postcard with about 20 of them!

We found a small Italian place called Resteraunt Edoni, attached to a hotel around the corner from the infamous Checkpoint Charlie. It was real Italian too! The waiter (possible owner) was Italian, but spoke German. We managed to point at things on the menu to order. We took a great picture of me, the American, wearing a Norway shirt, drinking German beer at an Italian resteraunt. If that's not culture, I don't know what is!

After dinner we made our way back to our hostel and spent an absurd amount of time doing a load of laundry. Seems that we had forgotten to wash some things a couple of days ago when we did laundry! We didn't finish until about 1:30.

When we got back to the room our roommate was asleep, and had actually picked up the room ( a very tiny bit).

We went to bed and prepared for a wonderful day at the Berlin Zoo!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Vikings!

What started out as a cold, rainy morning turned out to be a very fun sunny day!! We took a morning commuter train from Copenhagen to Roskilde. Like I said, it was very rainy outside! And of course, we had left our ponchos at the hostel. So I bought one of those super cheap plastic ones to go over my backpack so it wouldn't get our important stuff wet.

We found the tourist office in no time and got a very nice guide and map to the city. From there we breifly stopped to observe the cathedral, though the rain and wind prevented us from fully enjoying it. Then it was just a short walk to our main destination, The Viking Ship Museum!!

Ticket price for students was only 50 dkk (or about 7 euro). The first building didn't seem that impressive on sight, but we had plenty to discover! The museum houses 5 viking ships which were discovered at the mouth of Roskilde fjord, sunken on the sea floor. In viking days the ships had been a barrier to block the fjord from attack. In the 50s a team excavated the site thinking there was one ship, what they found were the reminants of FIVE!

The museum recovered all of the wreckage and rebuilt each boat with what had been preserved on the sea floor. (Which is not a lot, perhaps the most any boat had left was 25%). Then they used modern day technology to draw what the full boats would have looked like. They used those models to recreate the boats, paying attention to even the finest details! They used the same type of trees, the same type of tools, they even used wood with the same wood grain patterning. All in all they have about 8 recreated ships in the museum harbor.

Out of all of these viking ships, The Sea Stallion was the largest. After the recreation of this ship was finished, they gathered a crew of 65 men & woman to test it out! They spent a month and a half in 2007 in the viking ship sailing from Roskilde, Denmark to Dublin, Ireland!!! Then 10 months later they sailed it back to Roskilde. Today it rests in the harbor and is open to visitors to climb on board and imagine their own viking adventures!

We got to watch a movie about the incrdible journey of the Sea Stallion, as well as a video about the origins of the five ships. We saw each ships remains, with information about their uses width, length, weight, etc.

Then we moved on to a room with 2 half-recreations full of viking supplies to give you an idea of what the ships looked like when they were used. PLUS, they had viking costumes for you to try on!! So obviously we dressed like vikings and played on the ships for a while. :) other activities included two viking board games and learning to write your name in ancient runes.

The museum was really great! They even had an area with tables to each lunch, a cafe, an impressive viking gift shop, and in the high season you could have even sailed around the harbor on one of the viking ships! It was super fun.

By the time we left it was sunny outside. Still very, very windy...but at least it wasn't raining! We went back and enjoyed the cathedral, walked around the old palace's gardens and wandered through the shopping area.

We stumbled upon a chocolate shop with many types of truffles and treats. Heather bought a chocolate which looked like an oversized gumdrop, encased in dark chocolate with coconut on top. Not knowing what it was filled with, she bit into it tentatively. Come to find out it was full of super light marshmallow cream!! So I immediately went back and bought one for myself. The Danish treat is known as a Hjemmelavede flødeboller...but we just called it yummy.

After our adventures in Röskilde we returned to Copenhagen and had dinner at the hostel. We had their spaghetti bolgnase with a local beer. It was very good!

We realized it was early and we had nothing to do, so we located the nearest movie theatre. The Palads cinema is AWESOME! The outside was brightly colored and provided posters of movies now playing, much like in the states.

The inside was gorgeous!! The building obviously used to be something else, because it had marble pillars and a beautiful staircase with high ceilings all decorated with marble, granite, and detailed wood carvings. The crowd was that of a typical Saturday evening at 18:45. They had automatic ticket machines, and the box office stations. The lobby also had two very large window displays for upcoming movies. There was one for Winnie-the-Pooh which releases here later this month. The display had 5ft tall stuffed characters, large posters, a bee hive in a tree and other adorable decocrations! It was impressive.

We proceeded to the box office and bought two for the Ryan Gosling film, 'Drive' (which was being presented in English with Danish subtitles). The cashier asked where we wanted to sit and showed us the seating chart of the auditorium. We picked our seats and got our tickets. We then explored the snack shop. They had a concession stand that we are used to, but it only had popcorn and drink. The snack shop was like a convienent store! They had aisles of candy, chips, ICEE machines, coffee machines, mix & match candy by the kg, a variety of fountain drinks and bottled beverages. It was insane! We decided to save our money and headed downstairs to the 'Pixar Lounge'. The lounge had about 20 theatre seats on a platform with a projector playing trailers for upcoming films! You could just sit and watch trailers if you wanted to! The lounge was also decorated with life-sized cutouts of Pixar characters! I got a picture with Mr Fredrickson. :)

There were other movie scenes painted on the walls and posters for upcoming movies. Including a poster for 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' which would NEVER be displayed in the states. The girl was topless and Daniel Craig behind her, his arms around her waist. Scandlous! Haha

We finally made it upstairs where our theatre was and admired the bar area which is also decorated in quotes and posters. We were finally allowed to seat and found our seats easily since they were pre-assigned.

The movie was really good and it was weird to watch a 'foreign' film but speak the language. I know from experience that some things and lost in translation when you watch a subtitled film, so it was interesting to listen to the other people's reactions.

After the film we stopepd by 7-Eleven and got a can of Carlsberg Elephant beer. We suspected it might be a lighter version of the beer we had with dinner, but really it was darker. Nevertheless it was enjoyable. The thing about Scandanavia is, beer is available EVERYWHERE. Apparently you only have to be 16 to buy anything under 12% alcohol by volume, and 18 to buy anything more than 12%. Plus, they don't really have open-container laws. People drink on the trains, buses, walking down the street, while bicycling, and anywhere else they please. It felt really ilelgal to be walked down the street drinking a can of beer!!

We made it back to our hostel and got packed up. We are sharing with 2 nice Italian girls who were just hanging out in the room when we got in. When we settled down for bed, they kindly left to continue their conversation some other place! Very thoughtful. Well time to sleep, early train to Berlin tomorrow!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Oslo, Norway

Continuing our tour of Scandanavia we went to Oslo, Norway. The train from Stockholm was almost 7 hours! We sat in the "pet car" which is a 6 seat compartment especially for travellers with pets. We obviously didn't have any four-legged friends with us, but it was a full train.

We met a cat named Dennis and a chihuaha named Mike Tyson, who were both very friendly...oh and so were there owners. We also met a woman named Astrid who travels around the world for a fashion clothing company. She had been to India, Thailand, and Australia, plus various places in Europe. She was on the train the entire trip and gave us lots of pointers for Oslo and other areas we are going to visit. Like most Scandanavians she spoke English, so we had a wonderful time getting to know each other.

From the station we found our hotel and got checked in, then it was off to explore Oslo. We walked about 30 minutes to the Vingeland sculpture park, which in one word was breathtaking. The park is home to 193 granite and bronze sculptures all by Gustav Vigeland, including 'The Monolith' which is the world's largest granite structure. Most of the sculptures are of men, woman and children in various poses or portraying various actions. None of the sculptures repeat and all of them are detailed so masterfully it is hard to pick a favorite. The park also offers a wonderful view of Oslo from on top a large hill. It was really gorgeous to see the tree lined paths with their Autum colors. One of the most beautiful Autum scenes I have ever seen.

From the park we went back toward the center of the city and found a TGI Friday's! We decided to eat there for dinner. Something about eating at an American resteraunt in a very foreign place is comforting. Not to mention, who could pass up TGIF's potato skins!? Dinner was delicious, as to be expected. The resteraunt looks like any you would find in the USA, plays American music and provides an English menu. It wasn't until you listened to the language being spoken around you, that you realized you were in Norway.

After dinner we returned to the hotel for an early night. We simply hung out and did nothing! It was very relaxing. We stay at a hotel about once a week, as a present from H's folks. It is super nice to have a private room with attached private bath! Its also nice to sleep in the same bed. Since it was a hotel I decided to forego pajamas (every night is another use and we don't get to do laundry too often).

Well as well as I slept, I woke up with a rash covering 75% of my upepr body! Its super itchy but is nothing more than an irritant, probably to whatever the sheets were washed in. I took a hot shower and some allergy medicine to soothe the itch. Heather didn't notice anything on her earlier, but she has some rashy patches too. No worries, with our first aid kit we're covered. Should clear up by tomorrow.

We went out and found a souvenir shop to buy our patches and postcards from. I also bought a cool Norway shirt, because as Heather says "who has a shirt from Norway!?!". She bought a cute little viking ship to add to her world travels cabinet at home. :)

Now we are currently on a train back to Sweden, which then connects to a train back to Copenhagen. We get another day in lovely, Denmark!

Monday marks the 1/2 way point of our journey! Wow! We will be celebrating in Berlin!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Swedish Experience

On Wednesday we took a train to the northern Swedish city of Uppsala, which has the earliest recorded history in the country. Uppsala today boasts a lot of oldest/largest locations throughout the city. We visited a handful of them on our self-made walking tour.

First we visited Uppsala Cathedral which is the largest church in Scandanavia. We walked through the inside and admired its 16th century design. It was pretty, but ever since we saw Sagrada Familia in Barcelona we have been jaded toward churches. Nothing could quite beat the emense and gorgeous Sagrada Familia.

From there we went across the street to part of Uppsala University called the Gustavianum museum, which is the largest university museum in Sweden. The museum has 4 main collections, throughout 4 stories of the museum.

We started at the top in the anatomical theatre, which was once used for disections as part of the medical curriculum in the 1600s. The anatomical theatre is in a tower portion of the building and has about 5 tiers of standing room for viewers to was the disection being performed below. The stairs to the tiers are extremely steep as to give each tier a good view of the disection table. Another part of the anatomy collection included plaster cast faces of the deceased persons who had been disected there, and a menagerie of various animals in jars of phermaldohyde which had been disected and preserved for study.

The next floor was a viking burial exhibit. The vikings of that area used to bury people in long boats with everything the deceased would need in the after life. One of these boat graves was so elaborate it included: 3 shields, swords, axes, armor, games, food, pots, pans, a goblet, pillows and a mattress, 2 horses, 2 cows, a couple of cats and dogs, a goat, an owl, and of course...the viking. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a great burial to me!

The next exhibit included the Augsburg Art Cabinet, and all of its trinkets and mysteries plus a history of Uppsala University. The art cabinet is the only one of its kind left today. It is a massive cabinet with doors on all four sides which reveal drawers, cabinets, and other compartments. In the compartments there are over 1000 items! The art cabinet was made to represent the world through items collected from around the globe. It was like a very complex time capsule of sorts. Crowned with coral and decorated with ivory, gems, marble, it was gorgeous!

The final exhibit was a collection of mummies and other items collected from Egypt. Most mummy collections seem the same, but even Heather was impressed with this vast exhibit. Egyptian collections are always mind-blowing to me. To try and comprehend that the items you are viewing are so incredibly old, is surreal.

After the museum we walked through the exhibit hall of the Uppsala University library (largest University library in Sweden). This library has over 5 millions books including one-of-a-kind prints of the Silver Bible, sheet music of Mozart, maps, and some ancient scrolls from the Torrah. 

Our next adventure was up to the Uppsala castle, which has been rebuilt and remodeled over the decades and now looks very modern and lack-luster.

By this time we were hungry for lunch. Of course, we wanted some Swedish Meatballs. So we trekked 3 miles to the nearest IKEA to eat at the cafe. IKEA is also Swedish in origin, so it seemed fitting. Not to mention they have cheap, delicious food! We each had a plate of meatballs, potatos and jam. The jam was delicious with the meatballs! Suddenly I understand cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. Before leaving IKEA we each bought a bag of Swedish fish! These delicious candies are made by Malaco here and the only place you can get "Swedish Fish" is IKEA! Otherwise you find them in other various shapes and forms. They were even more delicious thank the ones in the states, which I didn't think was possible!

Instead of making the 3 mile hike back we took the bus to the station then headed back to Stockholm. Once back at our hostel we did laundry (nothing better than a pack full of clean clothes!) and had dinner. We had gone to the supermarket and each bought a frozen meal and train snacks. Then we bought 8 baby potatos which Heather boiled and we ate with butter abd salt. Delicious!!

Overall, Stockholm was great. I really love Scandanavia!!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather