Sweet Sweden!

The train this morning from Copenhagen to Stockholm was about 5 hours, most of which I slept through. :) We estimate that about 15% of this trip is spent on trains. But that's cool, because the views from the trains are spectacular! Not to mention train time means down time. We can journal, I can blog, we play card games, sleep, snack, etc. Its great!

we have had perfect weather the whole trip so far, however it is a bit chilly here in Stockholm. It is a harbor town in the north, so I suppose that should be expected. Not to worry, we both have very nice jackets we bought from REI for the trip! Windbreakers with a little insulation through the chest, inner pockets for maps and things, and hoods. Plus they compact very well without wrinkling. Today, I was very grateful for my jacket.

We checked into our hostel. The City Hostel is only a 10 minute walk from the central train station. We are in a 10 bed mixed dorm (co-ed) BUT we are the only 2 guests!! Haha, that's a first! A huge room to ourselves!

After check in we went to the Vasa museum. The Vasa was a warship in 1628. On its maiden voyage it went 1500 meters from the harbor, then capsized. In 1961 (333 years later) it was brought back from the depths, and completely salvaged. They towed it to the harbor and built a museum around it!! So you walk in the building andc are instatntly met with this TITAN of a ship. 95% of what you see today is all ORIGINAL!

The museum is a total of 5 stories, each with a unique view of the massive vessel. And each floor full of treasures salvaged from inside the ship. It was the craziest/largest thing I had seen in a musuem! It was gorgeous. You can tell that the building was especially built around it too, which makes it even better.

We only got to spend a little over an hour there because they were closing, but we got to visit each level and at least get our money's worth. Speaking of which we are on a new currency, again. From Danish Kroner we are now spending Swedish Kroner. Scandanavian countries all have their own currencies, instead of using the Euro like most other countries. Its sort of cute though, because the exchange is about 9 Swedish Kroner equals 1 Euro.

After Vasa, we decided to forego the tram back and walked along the harbor to the island where the old town & royal palace are. The palace is massive!! I loved it! We window shopped through old town, and stopped for hot chocolate before walking the couple of miles back to our hostel.

Now we're enjoying our big empty dorm and chilling. Tomorrow we are going to Uppsala to see a castle! (And hopefully eat some meatballs)

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Aarhus and Den Gamble By

Today we took a 3.5 hour train to northern Denmark to a city called Aarhus. There we discovered the wonderful village of Den Gamble By, or 'The Old Town'.

This village has been a work in progress for decades. Teams of people have worked to bring 1600-1700s buildings to Den Gamble By from all over Denmark. They then reconstruct anything that is in ruins and the end product is a huge recreation town!

It was legitimately like stepping back in time. From the second you walk in, you feel like you are walking through history. The first building we went in was a house from the 1700s, complete with an actress dressed in costume, working in the kitchen over a wood burning stove. Out back were live chickens, and in the living room, a bird cage with 2 finches. It was picturesque to say the least.

Moving on we went from building to building discovering what shops would have existed back then. There was everything from a tailor, shoe maker, gold smith, gardener, hat maker, merchant, baker and so much more!!

We had lunch at the cafe. Heather had a traditional Danish lunch of meatballs, red cabbage and pickles. I had a polish sausage. We shared a piece of cake for dessert that had an amazing carmelized coconut icing. Yumm! Not to mention, we finally found Mountian Dew!! So we were very happy with lunch.

From there we continued our tour through time. It was great to be there in the low season. We could wander in and out of buildings and rarely ran into other visitors. Although, in the high season the entire town is bustling with actors/actresses in costumes.

We found the stables with 3 of the largest horses I have ever seen! We named one of them Brutus. He was at least 5'5 at the shoulder. With his head raised he towered over me. He was friendly though. Heather got a great size-comparison pic of him.

My favorite two buildings were the Mintmaker Manor and the Mayor's Manor. Both were extensive in decoration and detail. To imagine houses that big in the late 1600s is crazy!! They were bigger than some mansions I have seen! And of course, very elegant.

Near the back of the town they have a 1920s section of buildings and a 1970s section. Both are minimal and were sort of boring comparitively. They are also working on rebuilding an entire street corner from 1909, set to open next year.

Heather and I mainly enjoyed the old part of 'old town'. There is something surreal about sitting in a house that is over 300 years old and wondering what the original owners were like.

We spent almost 5 hours at Den Gamble By! Afterwards we took the train back (totally worth the 7 hours roundtrip).

Now we're going to bed early so we're well rested for Sweden tomorrow! Denmark is lovely, and I can't wait to come back later this week!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Copenhagen, Day 1

we had about 7 stops between Hamburg and Copenhagen, one of them our train simply drove onto a ferry and told us to get off and come back when we were done crossing! So totally unexpected we spent 45 minutes on deck feeling the sea breeze and counting jellyfish...ummm don't go swimming in the Baltic Sea! O_o

We got into Copenhagen about 13:00, and found our hostel with no issue!! Its really nice! The reception area doubles as a bar, there is a large lounge area, pool table, foozeball, and board games all in the lobby. Free wi-fi and free laptop/iPad rentals to HI members. (Hostelling International, which we are members of).

We found our room easily and the hostel is very clean and inviting. We are in a 4 bed, but its a bit cramped. But usually the 4 beds cost extra, so its a good price. Technically we may be alone, but haven't gone back into the room since 14:00.

We put our packs away, made our beds and went to walk around Copenhagen. The map we have is really great and marks a walking patch of the city to see the main sites! We followed the route and found the infamous Little Mermaid statue (which Heather is overjoyed with). Then we walked around this big park/fortress area.

We even found the royal palace (by mistake), and apparently there was some big to-do happening today. There were news camera and lines of people. We saw the changing of the guard and moved on.

The city is really great and everyone is very nice! We ate at a small resteraunt on the way back to the hostel. I had amazing nachos and Heather had "the best mushroom pasta dish of her life" (her words).

Fully sated we made it back to the hostel and rented a few netbooks for playing on, had a couple of happy hour 1/2 price beers and about to turn in early. We plan on going to Aarhus to discover a viking city!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Hamburg Dungeon and Hamlen

Yesterday after I met up with Heather we went to the Hambourg Dungeon, which is sort of a haunted house/ sort of a history lesson.

Essentially you go room to room and live actors recreate the horrible times of Hamburg's history. There was a room that shook and made you feel like you were going down an elevator to the 'depths of hell' at the beginning. From there we went through performances about the plague, pirates, the Inquisition, the great Hamburg fires, torture chamber, a mirror room, a 'haunted' boat ride and finally a free-fall ride which is supposed to be like the hangman's noose. Overall it was really fun, even if the entire hour and a half was in German! They offered English tours, but only Fri-Sat at 10am. Which we didn't know until we got there at about 11ish. Oh well! People dressed as ghost/zombies and yelling in German made it all the more scary! We found out they have one in London which includes recreations of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper...we are definately going there we tour the UK in a few years!!!

After the dungeon we made the trek to Hamlen, home of the pied-piper. For those who don't know the tale, in 1284 Hamlen was overrun by rats. In an effort to get rid of the infestation the town hired a piper who was said to have the ability to lure the rats away with his flute. He played his flute and all of the rats followed him out of town. But the town did not pay the piper as promised so on June 26th 1284, he played his flute and lured 130 children as young as age 4 out of their houses while everyone else was at church. The children followed the piper out of town and into the mountains and were never seen again. Only 2 children returned, because they had been held up. One was mute and the other blind and neither could tell what had happened.

Through the summer months everyday at noon the town puts on a parade with a man dressed as the piper and 130 children dressed as rats. Even though we didn't get to see the play, the image of the pied piper is everywhere! We really enjoyed Hamlen. Its a really small,quite town. Its perfect for a day trip to just walk around and hang out.

We got back to our hell-hostel last night. I had Heather escort me to the frat party to collect my things, then we went back to her dorm. We just shared the twin size bunk last night. Even though it wasn't the most comfortable night's sleep, it was better than the shinanigans in my room!!

We got up with the sun this morning and are currently on our way to Copenhagen, Denmark!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

10 Things I Couldnt Trek Without

In case our journey inspires your own backpacking adventure, here are the ten items I couldn't live without on this trip. (Note: pretty much all of these things were in my daypack when the airline lost our luggage! So its a tested list) In no particular order:

1) Global Cell Phone by Telestial.com. ($89) this phone is good all over Europe and has a Sim card that came with $10 airtime. Its $0.29/min to call out/receive a call. Its the cheapest rate we found for a pre-paid. Also, its free for us to receive texts and there is a toll free number for people to call us at. (Free for you, cheap for us!) Most US cell phones won't work abroad, or if they do you will get charged a hefty fee. With this service we can have a phone with great rates. Its super easy to add money to it and we can use the phone anytime in the future that we travel abroad.

2) Sony 10.1 Digital Camera by Sony ($175) What would a trek to Europe be without photos!? I love the Sony Cybershot because its user friendly and has plenty of settings to capture the best pictures. (Ex. Landscape mode, beach mode, portrait , etc) Loaded with 8gb of memory and an extra battery, I'm ready for another month!

3) Filtered water bottle by Brita ($10) best $10 we could have spent! This water bottle is made of durable plastic and has a built in filter. Not all Europe water is clean and crisp like Switzerland. For the questionable places the filter comes in handy! Its also great for filling with tap water while on the go. It has a convienient carrying handle and lasts up to 2 months before you need to replace the filter. Plus the bottle is pretty well insulated for cold water all day long.

4) Passport wallet by Target ($10) I love my passport wallet! No, I don't wear it around my neck....but I could with its detatchable neck strap! It has a slot for passport, credit cards, train pass/currency and even a change pocket that zips! Its small and easily fits anywhere in my day pack.

5) International Translator by Ectaco ($99) When visiting 14 countries in one trip it would be impossible to tote around dictionaries or phrase books. This sleek translator offers over 27 languages in the palm of your hand! It has a removabled micro-SD card that you can load with any language you want (offered free through Ectaco). On the way to a new country I simply load the new language and we're ready to go. It offers useful phrases for a number of sitations, translating from English > foreign language OR foreign language>English! It has saved us a few times. And the AAA batteries last a long time/are easily replaced

6) Journal & Pen ($5) Even though I blog, I am still keeping a personal journal throughout the trip. Its much more detailed and a wonderful souvenir to remember our journey for years to come. I am simply using a $0.99 composition notebook, but Heather has more of a covered journal with latch. I like to keep little reminders along the way, so I brought scissors and glue. My journal doubles as a scrapbook! Its a great way to remember every detail of your trip to share when you get home.

7) Europe by Eurail 2011 by LaVerne Ferguson-Kosinski ($20) Where would we be without our guide book!? We bought this book in February after long debates over which guide book was best. We couldn't be happier. It offers information on every country we are visiting including popular train routes, tourist office locations, hotel reccomendations, day trips, sight seeing and so much more. We use it every day!! Not to mention we created a rating system for each city we visit and have recorded our ratings in our book. It currently looks like we've had it for years! Its small and light enough that it doesn't weigh my daypack down too much.

8) Illinois Backpack by The North Face ($120) This backpack is great as a day pack because it has lots of pockets and organizing options. The front pouch has a cell phone pocket, pen pockets, key clip, and 2 other pockets great for holding maps and trainschedules. The main pocket has lots of capacity with straps on the outside to condense your load. There is a water bottle pocket on each side great for water, sunglasses, camera etc. (I leave my camera in this pocket but have it attached by a clip so its not easily removable by would-by thieves.) There is also an iPod pocket on the outside with a hole for headphones to feed through. It is also equipped with a reinforced back for easy carry and a hip strap to distribute weight. I love this thing!

9) Converter by Travelmate ($20) This converter offers a variety of outlet options. I used to have the kind that was 5-7 pieces and you had to plug in each bit for whatever outlet you needed. The Travelmate converter is internationally capeable with all of the plugs you may need in one small converter. It has built in surge protection and is very easy to use/stow. Most European trains have a plug at your seat so I always carry my converter with my phone charger and camera charger.

10) 60L pack by Osprey ($450) It is so important to get the right pack for you. Mine is a 60L by Osprey, from REI. It came with a custom hip strap which was heated then formed to my waist at the time of purchase. It has plenty of room, a bottom pocket for sleeping bag/pillow, a detatchable top pocket for odds and ends or use as a day pack, side pockets and a front pocket perfect for flip flops. When buying a pack you need to go to the store and be fitted. You have to find the one that is most comfortable for you. Your pack's max weight should be no more than 15% of your body weight. And should generally be only about 3/4 full. (Lots of room for souvenirs). I've toted this pack around for 2 weeks and its nothing! Even on the days when we are trekking around cities with our packs, it hasn't been a problem. Its all in the sizing!

This trip has been amazing so far, and we still have a month left! With all these gizmos and gadgets everything has been easy sailing. The less time we spend stressing over the small things, the more time we have to enjoy the view!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Hamburg Sucks

So Hamburg is off to a crappy start. We got in last night about 7:30, which is probably the earliest we've gotten to any of our hostels! We checked in and the lady is like "You know you are in seperate rooms right?" And I replied "umm, no...."

Apparently even though we booked 2 beds for 2 nights this place just puts you in ANY 2 beds. This is the same booking procedure we have used the whole trip and we are always in the same room, most of the time sharing the same bunk. So right off the bat I was pissed.

Then we went to my room (we are also on seperate floors!) And there was luggage and things everywhere. Its a 9 bed room, 3 bunks, 2 beds put together as a double, and an extra cot. Unlike any of the other hostels we've stayed at, this place doesn't assign your actually bed. So I took the only available bed which was a top bunk.

We went to Heather's room and found out not only did hers have TWO open beds, one person had checked in yesterday and leaves when we do, and they were travelling alone. So umm, why did they not get 301 and I get to stay in 513 with Heather??

We went to ask reception if I could switch to 513 since there was still an extra bunk. But the girl simply said "No we're full" and didn't even offer to look in the computer or anything!

We ended up staying in last night and just sat in the lobby for a while. We went to bed about 12:30a which is early for this trip. And planned to meet in the lobby at 10:00am (sleeping in!).

When I got to my room there was no one there, so I went to sleep easily. Then about 2am 4 loud, drunk girls came in. They were stumbling around in the dark and tripping over stuff. The one in the bunk next to me (the headboards touch) found my head in the dark and exclaimed "I found a bunny!" Then I shoved her and she screamed, followed by promptly passing out.

Back to sleep. Then at 4am someones phone started ringing. It rang for a good 15 minutes before I heard a guy answer it. He then started shouting obscenities and ran out of the room. Probably 20 minutes later he returned with 3 drunk guys, one of which was being drug on his back and was completely passed out.

The 4 of them drug the one guy over to the corner and he started throwing up on the floor, and himself. Another guy threw up in the bathroom. They loudly discussed whether the passed out guy was breathing or if he had alcohol poisioning...I suspect he did...

They finally shut up about 5ish. Then back to sleep. At 8am I awoke to the sound of one of the guys peeing on the floor by his bed. He simply sat up, dropped his pants and peed on the floor. He then passed out, sprawled across his bed, with his pants around his ankles. His junk in full view.

At this point I said "Screw it" and got up and got ready. I had my towel hanging up to dry from my shower last night, but I didn't want them to use it today for "clean up" so I hid it before leaving the room.

When I got out of the room I noticed there is a trail of vomit all the way down the hall and to the elevator.

I went to reception and told them about my night and begged to switch rooms. To which she said "oh wow, that is not right! But we're full."

So I have just beeing waiting around the lobby until Heather comes down at 10. Meanwhile I'll be looking for another place to stay, even if we loose what we already paid for tonight.

Welcome to Hamburg!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Infamous Amsterdam

** "Coffee" in this post is used in place of other mood altering drugs which are LEGAL in the Netherlands for those 18+

What can I say? Amsterdam is pretty great! We got off the train and found our hostel (which was situated right around the red light district and all of the night life). This hostel was great because we got a double room for what we usually pay for a dorm! Plus they had a cat named Simba, who we loved on lots. (We miss our babies!)

After checking in we decided to do the canal tour. It was an hour long and sort of dull. Probably not worth the 10 euro/person but it was relaxing at least. I like canal tours!

From there we wandered around checking out the infamous Amsterdam coffee shops. For two people who don't know anything about "coffee" everything was overwhelming. All sorts of 'coffee'!!!

With our complete inexperience on the subject we settled for chocolate 'coffee' muffins, called Space Cake, from Freeworld Coffee Shop. After our muffins we sat and had a beer at a bar on the street, and did some people watching.

The smell of 'coffee' fills the streets and everyone around us was smoking. It was surreal to be in a place where it is legal and widely accepted. The dispensing of 'coffee' in Amsterdam has regulations like that of alcohol. You must be 18+ to buy it and can only smoke in public at approved areas. (Bars and coffee shops). Every store has a variety of moking devices, papers and 'coffee' products. Such as beer, candy, energy drinks, baked goods and more! We even saw seed shops, where you can get everything you need to grow your own. It was really interesting.

My muffin made me giggly, and H just got sleepy. So it was a completely lame experience, but I guess 'coffee' just isn't that exciting to begin with. I personally don't see the attraction.

We went back to our hostel and slept. Woke up this morning and went to Alkmaar ro see the famous cheese market. Come to find out, the last one of the season was the first week of September. (Our guide book said it was the last week) so that was a bust.

We still visited the cheese museum and learned how cheese is made. Then we went to a local cheese shop and bought some cheese and crackers for lunch. The cheese was great! We had one that was sort of like sharp cheddar, then other was softer and had herbs in it.

From Alkmaar we took 4 trains to get to Hamburg, where we are now. (And so far it sucks. But that is for another post!)

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Brussels

Got to our hostel late again. We are always the last in/first out. Oh well, if the other people in our dorm expect silence they probably shouldn't stay in a 24 hour hostel. We both had top bunks last night! It was fun.

This morning we had a simple hostel breakfast then spent about 1.5 hours using the free wi-fi to figure out our next few days. We are going to Amsterdam today and planned on spending the next 2 nights there, but it was really expensive. So instead we will stay in Amsterdam tonight then do two nights in Hamburg, Germany.

Finally situated, we wandered into Brussels to explore. We found the Grand Place which is noted as the most beautiful town square in Europe. It was extremely gorgeous with its old buildings and towering spire of town hall, but I don't know about most beautiful.

We continued on to go pay our respects to the most famous peeing boy, Manneken Pis. On the way we came across a place called Waffle Factory so we decided to see what all the hullaballoo about Belgium waffles is....well what can I say? It was the best thing to ever grace my mouth!!! Oh my gosh! It was like funnel cake, but better. We got the traditional waffle dusted in powdered sugar and it was to die for. We gobbled up our treats by the time we walked to Manneken Pis.

We took all the neccesary tourist pics with the fountain then grabbed a couple of beers at a bar across the corner. It was called, Poechenellekelder. Which is Flemish for....something...probably. They offered 142 types of beer, mostly brewed in Belgium. Most Belgium beers average 6% alcohol by volume! Some up into the teens!! There were beers that were 15% alcohol by volume! Wowza. We each tried two. First round was the Bink Blanche and the Leffe Blanche. Next round was 2 Hoegaardens (which we tried last night at the hostel bar and loved). Belgium beer is all its said to be, just like the waffles!

On our way back to the train station we 'accidentaly' crossed paths with Waffle Factory again. This time we split a strawberry & cream waffle and we made friends with the owner. :) He enjoyed that we came back to his shop out of all the other waffle shops on that street.

Made it to the station and sent out a postcard, then got to the platform just in time to miss our train. We waited an hour and now are en route to Amsterdam!!

We are staying in the infamous redlight district tonight and tomorrow we go to Alkmaar for the cheese market/auction! Alkmaar is the last thing we had to do on a specific date, so even though we have an itenerary for the next month...we havw all the freedom in the world to change it too! It feels good to travel on a whim.

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Luxembourg

Even though its the smallest country I know, Luxembourg is not to be missed. The country is a little smaller than the state of Rhode Island, but it is simply quaint. We visited Luxembourg City (the capitol city). Its only a couple of hours outside of Paris, and makes for a good day trip.

The train station is about a 20 minute walk from the center of town. We got a map from the tourist office (always our first stop!) And went to find wi-fi. There was a really nice open square with lots of resteraunts and wi-fi where we spent an hour enjoying people-watching and catching up online.

From there we went to the Bock Casements, which are the remains of a medieval fortress that once kept Luxembourg safe. It was used for cannons, weapons, and soilders (up to 50 cannons and 1200+ soldiers). The main casement area is roughly 110m long and 7m wide (the whole casements cover about 1100 sq. meters)

In WWII it and the other casements in the city served as a bomb shelter for up to 35,000 people.  Nowadays, it is essentially an underground tunnel system that we got to run around and play in! There were tunnels, caves, lookouts and soooo mannnny spiral stair cases. It was a complete maze! Some stair cases just led to dead ends, some tunnels ended in bricked off passages and overall it was really confusing and just awesome!

There is a well that is 154 ft deep and legend has it a mermaid lives in the bottom. Although we didn't see her, it was still really cool. The portholes had a wonderful view of the city and we narrowly escaped through the (even more) underground secret passage (which was used in case the main bridge was destroyed in battle).

Overall it was pretty interesting and down a couple of dark dead end stone passages, I caught orbs on my camera! Ghost Hunters much!? It was a good use of our time in Luxembourg.

After the casements we grabbed sandwiches from Subway (yeah, Subway!). I made up a new sandwich, instead of my usual two choices. Heather was very proud, that way even though it was Subway it counts as something new. :) the Subway also had an orange soda called Miranda! It was delicious.

The only thing I missed in Luxembourg was a postcard! We totally forgot to buy one on our way out! It is the only country I don't have one from. Sad day!

From Luxembourg we headed to Brussels, and here we be!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Paris in a Day

"We arrived in Paris one year ago, it was the turn of the century and..." Wait, sorry wrong story! We arrived in Paris two evenings ago. But first we stopped in Frankfurt, Germany. We had a couple of hours to kill so we left the station and wandered around until we found an interesting place for dinner. It was an Australian bar/grill called Kakadu. When I say Australian, I mean it! Heather had kangaroo for dinner!! I went for the Frankenfurter braut (yay Rocky Horror!). I tried the kangaroo too, it was pretty good! I will never see a kangaroo in the same way...

We arrived in Paris just before reception closed at our hostel. It was a 440 bed hostel (biggest in France!) It had a cafeteria area and tv lounge on the main floor, bar/ dance club, laundry room, lockers, and movie theatre in the basement and 10 floors of dorms!! As usual, we arrived and everyone in our room was asleep. We rumaged around in the dark and found our beds, got changed and went to sleep. Heather always sleeps on the top bunk, but I think its harder to dress your bed that way. I'm good on the bottom bunk :)

In the morning we got ready, had breakfast (hostel breakfast: cereal, deli slices and bread), did a load of laundry and headed out to tour the city. We started our site seeing tour in Montmarte. Its just north of central Paris and is home to my favorite place! As soon as we got off the Metro I started singing 'Complait de la Butte' and as we rounded a corner to the Sacre Couer a street performer was playing that song on the accordian! I tipped her for her obvious great taste in music. The Sacre Couer was as beautiful as I remembered. The view of Paris from atop the infamous steps is stunning. We sat and ate some snacks, taking in the view, then it was off to my favorite destination!!

We had to ask for directions because it wasn't marked on the map, but as soon as I had a visual of the red windmill I went run-walking down the street, dragging H behind me. Yes, the Moulin Rouge is awesome in real life. I took a few pictures (or 20) and we sat and admired the view for a while. When I first came to Paris I was 15 and with a school group, so the Moulin Rouge was NOT on our tour. But this time I even went inside!! (To the box office area, not the stage area) Then my amazing wifey took me to the official Moulin Rouge boutique!! I looked around for about 30 minutes until I decided on a red coffee mug with the famous windmill logo on it. (OMG I want coffee now!)

From the Moulin Rouge we left Montmarte and went to the catacombes deep below the city streets. I had never been, and nothing could have prepared me for the emensity of the crypts! The catacombes are gorgeous/eerie and enourmous. There are bones stacked floor to ceiling, room after room, corridor after corridor. We couldn't find a figure of how many corpses there are but we over heard a man saying it was over a million. No matter how many there are, its insane. I'd never touched a human skull before, but if I continue with Forensic Anthropology I will be doing it for a living!! Heather and I, of course, we looking at skull ridges, bone size, type of bone, etc. A very anthropological-scientific approach. The catacombes are so big that we walked straight through at an average pace and it took 50 minutes!

From the crypts we went to Notre Dame to take pictures, play with gargoyles, ring the bells, fall in love with a Gypsy princess...the usual. From there it was on to L'Opera! Made famous by 'The Phantom of the Opera' the actual opera house is just stunning. We missed the last tour of the day so we walked the perimeter and admired all of the sculptures and what not. Continuing on our ridiculous site-seeing extravaganza we went to the Champs-Elysses. Starting from the Obelisque we tried to snap shots of the Louvre but it was closed for the night. So we bought some crepes (sugar/butter for me, Nutella and banana for H) and began our  meandering.

We purused shops here and there, then while walking out of the Disney store we heard screaming from across the street. Come to find out, the French premiere of 'Abduction' was taking place at the movie theatre on the other side of the street! We darted over to join the screaming tweens and sure enough, about 15 minutes later Taylor Lautner himself arrived and went strolling down the red carpet!! We took some great pictures, seeing as we were maybe 20 yards away!! Heather was overly excited because she had never seen a celebrity in real life before. I'm glad coincidence put us in the right spot at the right time! Heather was giddy the rest of the night. Taylor is just as adorable (if not more so) in person!

We finished our celebrity tour of the Champs-Elysee at the Arc de Triomphe. By this time it was lit up and we sat on a bench admiring it from outside the scariest traffic circle I know. After our feet were rested we found a Metro stop and went to our final site...Le Tour de Eiffel. The tower is one of the most beautiful monuments at night. I re-created my "falling off the tower" picture from last trip! And we sat and watched the tour sparkle on the hour. What a wonderful way to end our whirl-wind tour. (Can I please note that we did everything on our site-seeing tour in eight hours!!! Most people take 3 days for all of these sites. It was exhausting!)

We got back to our hostel and passed out! What a great day in gay Paris!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Bears, Chocolate and Beer!

Yesterday we left the hostel and headed on a walking tour of Bern. With our handy map we visited Bern's bear garden first! The bears weren't out yet so we watched the keepers and listened to the bears throw themselves againt their cage doors. When the keepers let them our into the enclosures the cubs came barreling out at full speed with momma close behind. The male had his own enclosure and he came out and immediately started eating all the apples he could find from his variety of foods. We ended up spending much longer watching the bears than we meant to!

Next stop was the clock tower, which was lack-luster from what our guide book described. We walked through the old town passing the parliment building and fountains galore. Then headed to Zurich.

In Zurich we had to go on a hot chocolate treasure hunt for this tiny cafe Sam Brown went to on "Sam Brown Europe". It supposedly had amazing hot chocolate, the best in Switzerland! So we grabbed a city map from the tourist office circled the street we needed and started the expedition.

Luckily the city's main street was closed for a bicycle festival! So it made our walking time super quick. We took a few side streets and back allies then tucked away in a corner was Chocolatier Shober. We order 2 of their classic hot chocolates with cream. They were GREAT! BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER. We both were making those little "yummy" noises the whole time! Totally worth the hunt!

From Zurich we spent 4 hours on a train to Munich. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Munich because all of the hostels were booked for Oktoberfest. It was ok though, because our hotel was very nice! We tried to go to Oktoberfest, but silly us...it was the weekend. All of the beer tents were booked up. So we settled for the next best thing, the beer hall of Hofbrauhaus! (Also a Sam Brown reccomendation) the beer hall can hold 3500 people and esentially is set up like Hogwarts' main hall. Long wooden tables and benches, where you slide in anywhere there is room. We each ordered a stein of beer (1.5 litres!), Heather had the Radler (lemonade beer) and I had the Weiss Radler (white lemonade). We also had some typical German foods: brautwurst, potato salad, bavarian pretzels, and strudel!

We made some Spanish friends at the table next to us, they named Other Bunny "Joseph" and took a picture with him. Then some nice Polish guys sat next to us, who didn't speak a lick of English. We got along fine though and had lots of toasts and laughs and an overall good time. We got pictures with them too. As far as we could tell they were on a man-cation. They both had wedding rings on, but no wives to be found (but possibly they were married to each other?). I taught the guy next to me to spell my name and he taught me his (which I have since forgotten). We joined in the beer hall singing and table banging. And it was just an amazing experience!!

After we were thouroughly buzzed we went back to our hotel and slept the best sleep of the trip. We didn't get up until 9:00 today!!!! We showered and got to the station by noon. We had some lunch and booked tickets to Paris. We sat outside Starbucks for a while and used their wi-fi, and now we're on the train to Frankfurt. Final destination, Paris. (And yes I did make that joke on purpose)

Safe Travels!
- Kit & Heather

Swiss Alps

This morning we got up early (its a common theme) and had breakfast at our hostel. We're staying at the Youth Hostel Bern which is part of Hostels International. HI offers affordable, reliable hostels almost everwhere in the world. Our hostel has over 200 rooms!!! And lots of ammenities including free lockers, breakfast, a laundry room, pool, and key card for the front door and your room.

We're staying in a 6 bed female dorm, with two other girls. The breakfast this morning we buffet style with cereal, oatmeals, toasts and fresh jam. 'Twas delicious!

After a filling breakfast we went to Interlaken and caught a few trains til we reached Jungfrau- Top of Europe. It took about 2 hours from Interlaken to climb up the mountain on 3 different trains! Jungfrau is 11,333 ft and is the tallest peak in Europe and the highest train station. It cost 140 SCF (Swiss Franc) per person to go to the summit.

Once at Jungfrau we got to explore an ice palace with cool scenes cut out of a glacier in the side of the mountain!! That alone was worth the fee, but there was more. We also go to go out on the plateau and take pictures of the Swiss Alps, play a little in the snow and simply enjoy the breath taking view from 11,333 ft!!! Past the plateau we went to the Sphinx observatory which was another 108m up. It was so amazing! They even had a "snow fun" center. It had snow tubing, sleding, and more! That part cost extra so we didn't go.

The view from Jungfrau was simply amazing. I've been on top on many mountains, but the Alps are just sheer awe-inspiring. It was an amazing journey.

After our day atop Europe's highest peak we took the trains back down the mountain into Interlaken. We walked around and found a resteraunt that we both agreed on called "Des Alps". Heather had a potato dish with mushrooms, bacon, and Swiss cheese. It looked like stir fry. I had a sausage dinner with two sausage links warpped in Swiss cheese and bacon with fries on the side. We also each had a local beer. Everything was delicious!! I'm so glad to have tried some Swiss cuisine! We were going to try dessert but our waitress took 30 minutes just to bring out the bill. So we paid and left.

We came across a chocolate shop and each of us had a truffle for dessert. I tried the Bailey's truffle and Heather had the honey one. Both were covered in Swiss chocolate and both hit the spot. Nothing better than Swiss cheese and chocolate!

Today we decided on our souveniers! We had been debating what to do because we don't want to haul a lot with us, but we want something to remember each country. I came up with the idea of buying a patch to put on our back pack from each country we visit! This way over the years they will be covered in memories. And patches don't take up room or weight for us to lug around. The only bad thing is we didn't get patchs from Spain! Perhaps we will order some online. Luckily we will be back in France before we leave! Heather got a Bern patch with the bear of the Bern flag and I got the Swiss flag!

We are on the train back to Bern now. We are going to do laundry and shower tonight then do a walking tour of the city tomorrow before departing for Germany for Oktoberfest!

So far Switzerland is definately our favorite country. Everyone here is so nice and everyone we have encountered has spoken perfect English. Switzerland doesn't actually have one national language, they have four! German, French, Italian and Romansch. Most Swiss can speak all 4 PLUS English! Its very impressive. It did however make for a fun day, listening to cashiers or train workers switch in and out of each language flawlessly.

Tomorrow night at this time we'll be in Munich!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Safety First

It occured to us yesterday that we should have a plan in case we get seperated. Some trains in Europe split cars and each car heads a different way. If you're not careful you could end up at the wrong destination simply by being on the wrobg car.

Although we try our best to get where we're going we needed a back-up plan in case we became seperated. Here are our safety rules:

1) Always carry your day pack! If for any reason we seperate you HAVE to keep your day pack with you. Even if you go to the restroom at the train station, or stop by a cafe on the platform. We survived with only our day packs for almost 3 days, so it can be done. We each have our passport wallets with Eurail passes, money, train timetables, map of Europe, and credit card in our day packs. I have our European cell phone, so Heather has the phone number written down...should we get seperated.

2) If seperated on a train, we meet in Bern. In the event that one of us gets seperated on a train (say the food car decides to redirect to a different city) then we will meet in Bern. Its a central location and only has one train station. We will meet at platform #1.

3) If seperated in a city, meet at our hostel/hotel. This assures we each know where to meet up in case we get lost in the throngs of people!

With these plans laid out if, for whatever reason, we became seperated we would know exactly what to do. The odds of being seperated are small, but if it did happen and we didn't have plans it could be more terrifying than it should be.

One of the first times my family went to Six Flags when I was a kid my mom took me to the Lost Child station and said "If you ever get lost you find someone in a Six Flags shirt and you come to this building. I will meet you here" I always thought she was overprotective, until one time my mom had to pick me up from the Lost Child station. ;) All I'm saying is Safety First can prove for a stressfree trip!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Lyon & Vienne

Well our attempts to handwash our clothes didn't work out so well, seeing as they were all still damp this morning. Oh well, guess they will have to air dry. At least they are clean and smell pleasent.

We check out first thing this morning and caught the Metro to Lyon's second train station. From there we took a trip to Vienne, a city that dates back to ancient Roman times around first century BD!

We had a very French breakfast at the cafe by the train station. Heather had quiche and I had a delicious crouqe monsuier, a traditional French ham and cheese sandwich. From there we headed to the tourist center, but first we got distracted by the post office. We sent out post cards to Lorrie & Bill, The Purcell family and Erin & Chelsea may even get one from Other Bunny. ;)

When we found the tourist office it was situated in a gorgeous park with 100 year old trees that seemed to stretch forever. The tourist office gave us a map of the city and told us to follow the brass Elm tree emblems that lined the streets. It made it very easy to navigate the city and see everything that we needed to see. Plus I made a game of it, I would step on each emblem and declare "a tree!" So we knew we were on the right path.

Our first stop was at the church of Saint Pierre, which was constructed from 5th -6th century AD. Making it one of the oldest churches in France!

Past that was Saint-Maurice cathedral which was erected between the 11th and 16th century AD. It was huge! I love all of the cathedrals of Europe. They just don't build buildings this grand anymore.

Continuing on the route of trees, we found Augustus and Livia temple. This temple dates back to 20 -10 BC. It is essentially perfectly preserved and in the middle of town! There are modern buildings on all sides, then positioned in the center is this beautiful ancient wonder. It was a surreal site for sure.

Trekking along we discovered Saint-Andre le Bas church and cloister, then we crossed the Rhone river to play at the Archaeological site of Saint Romain en Gal Vienne. This site is a neighborhood of ancient Vienne. They have uncovered houses, stores, workshops, warehouses, public baths and roads. There is so much to explore! This ancient neighborhood covers probably 2 square miles (if not more) and you get to wonder freely for only 4 euro/person! We paid our dues and walked around for about 2 hours.

Once we finished at Saint Romain we went back towards the central part of town and checked out their enourmous ampitheatre which can seat 13,000 people!!! Its massive size reminds me of Red Rocks in Colorado.

Our final ancient find was that of Cybele's archaeological garden. It contains the remins of the old Gallo-Roman town, including the archways from a portico that was past of the forum.

After we had finished the 3.5km "Heritage Trail" we headed back to the station. Had a quick snack then caught a train back to Lyon. From Lyon we exchanged euro to Swiss Francs and caught a train to Bern via Geneva.

Currently on that train, and soooo excited for Switzerland!! We're going to an ice palace at the highest train station in the Alps, Jungfrau!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Travel Day

This morning we checked out of our hostel around 8:00am, from there we caught the Metro to Barcelona-Sants train station (estachio). We got on the 9:00 train to Figures, then switched to the train to Montpellier. When we arrived at Montpellier we suddenly switched into French mode! Heather and I each took French for 3 years in high school, but suddenly we crossed into France and we are getting along great!

We have only talked to the train attendants, information attendants, cashiers, etc en Francais. We reserved seats on our next two trains from Montpellier, then sat down for a refreshing Orangina.

We took the commuter train to Marseille and finally had 2 hours to stretch our legs. Got a couple of Metro tickets and hit the city center. We had our daypacks and backpacks, but still hiked 1.5 miles toward the beach and up 126 stairs to get a view of the city from Ft. Nicholas. We enjoyed the sea breeze for a bit then turned around and trekked back to the station.

We are on our final train for the evening, heading for Lyon. We are simply stopping over in Lyon for the night. Tomorrow we are going to Switzerland!

I forgot how much I love France. :) Its the only European country I had been to prior to this trip! And although today was mostly just travel, and tonight we are stopping over....we will be back in France later in our journey. We can't wait to visit Paris together! We have both been seperately, but nothing says romance like a date on the Eiffel Tower with your wife!

UPDATE: we wandered around Lyon til we found our hotel. Its only 15 minutes from the train station on foot. Apparently reception closed at 19:00, and we got here at 22:45!! They had text me the code to get in the building and a code for a safe. Come to find out they left our key in a safe by the reception area. So we got into our room and its actually an economy apartment! We have a kitchen, table area, desk, bookshelf, closet, tv and double bed. Plus we have a patio. Only thing is, the laundry room is closed and without the receptionist we can't get wi-fi and we need to look up train schedules for tomorrow. :( (I blog in advance and post when I find wi-fi)

Heather is happy though because there is an awesome bathtub, and she got to take a hot bath. She is very excited to smell nice. I did a load of laundry in the sink with our Tide packets. Then used rope from my pack to create a clothesline on the patio. I'm so handy!

Now we're watching Bones in French! They all sound super silly in French. Good luck translating those anatomy and forensics terms.

Its extremely nice just to lie around. We won't have too much down time the entire trip, so I will enjoy what I can get.

Au revior pour ce moment!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather 

Tarragona

This morning we woke up early and took a train to Tarragona. Its a city once inhabited by the Roman empire. It still has a huge stone wall encompassing its "old town" and people live within its wall! We visited the cathedral, which was gorgeous (like most ancient cathedrals). We only paid a couple of euro a piece because the main cathedral part was closed for construction, however the chapels still open for viewing were awesome. The tour even had an audio device which told you about each section. We looked around the shops for a while and found Spanish Kinderballs!! Kinderballs are these chocolate balls which have a toy inside! They don't sell them in the states, because kids like to choke. And no, its not the same as a Nestle Wonderball. :P

After our snack we adventered around town for a bite to eat. Heather had some pizza which she claims "didn't taste like any pizza I have ever had!" She loved it! I, however, bought a salmi sandwich only to find it was saturated with tomatos. Yucky! Oh well.

We got to play around the Roman forum, or what's left of it. We speelunked through caves, tunnels, chambers, and floor after floor of ancient Roman stones, sculpture, and architecture. My favorite was the view from the 6th floor. The Mediteranean is so gorgous!!

Following our adventure through the ancient playground, we visited the National Museum of Archaeology. It was 4 floors full of Roman artifacts. Heather looked like she was in heaven, being an anthropologist/archeologist and all that.

Finally we went to the ampitheatre on the coast. This was the least impressive of the ruins. Although all Roman ampitheatres are mind-blowing (how did they move those stones!?), this one was well ruin-ed. It was fun to play around, but hardly worth the 3 euro a piece. Especially after seeing everything else Tarragona had to offer.

We made it back to the hostel about 18:00 and found out our packs had (finally) arrived!!! Everything is in its place and we are super grateful to have our stuff back!

We each ate a Fruit Roll-Up out of joy (yeah, we packed 4 boxes.) Then galivanted around Barcelona to see some famous Gaudi works of art. Our first stop was Sagrada Familia. Its an enormous church deisgn by the artist. They broke ground in 1909 and even after Gaudi died in 1926, they still worked on it. 102 years later and its still not done, giving it the nick-name "The Unfinished Church". It was amazing! I can't describe its crazy archetecture. You should probably just look it up online, or plan a trip to Barcelona to see it yourself! :P

We also saw Gaudi's Casa Batllo, or house of bones. It is simply a house on a main thoroughfair where Gaudi was contracted to decorate the interior of a gentlemans home. The man loved it so much he told Gaudi to re-do the outside as well. Now its an eye-sore next to fancy shops along the Passage de Garcia. We loved it! The outside structures look like bones and its so colorful! The roof looks like a dragon and the whole thing is mind blowing.

We came back to the hostel after our tiring day and spent entirely way to long re-packing our back packs for tomorrow. Mainly because we spent 2 hours bantering with each other and laughing to the point of crying out of exhaustion. It was fun!! Now we're all showered, our packs are ready, and we depart for France tomorrow!!

Even though we have only been here 3 days it seems like a week. We have averaged 3-5 miles on foot each day! At this rate we will be slim & fit when we return to the states. :) Hurray European workout!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Barcelona!

Today has been gorgeous. Its beautiful weather outside, we checked in to a really great hostel, and the airline is paying us 100 euro per person/day for still not knowing where our packs are!!

Suddenly, I'm not too worried. We spent the day in downtown Barcelona. Walking along the La Rambla and around the Gothic Quarter. We also spent time around Catalunya.

With our new budget we each got a new outfit and some basic toiletries. I also got a backpack to tote our new treasures in. We honestly have no idea when we'll be getting our luggage! So perhaps we will have 200 euro to buy clothing tomorrow as well. ;)

Tonight we are going to take the Metro back to our hostel, sleep a little, then get up early to adventure to Tarragona.

The Metro systems is Madrid & Barcelona have been amazing! Simple to navigate and pretty cheap. They also have lots of convienent stops throughout the city.

We must be doing something right to blend in, we have been stopped and mistaken for locals at least 6 times!! Tourists have stopped us and asked for directions or which train goes where! Its awesome to blend in :) Even though we have been doing our fair share of map reading and asking directions too. 

Overall its been a great day!! Tomorrow should be fun to experience the walled city of Tarragona!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Good Thing We Took French in School!

All those times people in Texas told me "Why are you taking French? You should learn Spanish!" May have been right. But they were only right today. Because when we're in France, it'll be a breeze.

This morning we got up and showered, then put our dirty clothes back on. Alas, we still don't have our packs. But I guess we'll be wearing dirties for most of the trip, joys of backpacking.

We had breakfast at the hotel, which the online booking told us was included. Unfortunately, (language barrier #1) it wasn't. So although Heather ate her cost, I did not. I'm not a big breakfast person to begin with. Alas, we paid 27 euro at check out. Womp-womp.

Then we continued to the train station, where we ran around trying to figure out where our platform was. The departure boards only showed 1 train leaving at 10:30 and it did not seem to be going to Barcelona. We finally found a gentleman who spoke enough English to point us to a platform. We realized quickly we were in the wrong place when the train had 4 cars, and we were booked on car 8. We found a woman who spoke English and she told us we were at the entirely wrong train station! She was very nice though, and seemed genuinely concerned that we missed our train.

Now we took the Metro across town to the correct station and are waiting at the ticket office to get a new ticket. I hope they still have some spots open on the next train (which departs in an hour)

We knew there would be a learning curve to this. I just hope we got it all out of our system in Madrid! :P

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Off to a Bumpy Start

First leg of the flight was a blast! KLM is a great airline, with lots of entertainment and food. Lots of food!! The 8.5 hours direct flight went by swimmingly. Arrived in Amsterdam, printed our boarding passes, rushed through customs, and headed out to our final destination of Madrid.

That's where things went wrong. When we got to Madrid we joined the rest of our flight at the baggage claim. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 45 minutes. Nothing. Finally a worker called over the loud system for our flight to go to the lost & found claim window. So for a reason still unknown to us, NONE of the baggage from our flight made it to Madrid!!! Everyone was really pissed, because the airline couldn't even tell us WHERE our baggage was! Not to mention everyone was left without clothes & such!! We were in an especially tough situation because we are hostelling, and don't have 100% set plans. Yet, the airline required an address to send our packs to. After 5 hours of waiting around the airport, we finally just booked a hotel for the night near the main train station. Called home and had H's mom track our stuff down, then booked a hostel for the next two nights in Barcelona to have a semi-permenant address. Here's to hoping we get our stuff tomorrow!! We only have the clothes on our backs, our money & cards, passports & train passes, phones and cameras. So I suppose, it really could be worse.

After finally straightening stuff out with the airline we wandered around the heart of Madrid for the last 5 hours. Which truly brightened up our crappy day!! What a fun city! We wandered aimlessly on/off the Metro and found our way to the Opera, the Crystal Palace and we even managed to find the infamous Chocolatier!!

We stopped and had hot chocolate and churros! :) Sam Brown was not lying, you could set a spoon on top of the chocolate and watch it sink...very...very...slowly. Heather was in heaven! It tasted like dark chocolate and hazelnut, and the churros were splendid!!

Currently, we're on the Metro heading back to our hotel. Finally time to get some shut eye. (Remember, its 11pm here....so its 4pm at home) A 7 hour time difference, a total of 10 hours in the air, and forever fretting over our bags has wiped me out!

Tomorrow morning we are having breakfast at the hotel then off to Barcelona!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We have a couple more hours in the states, then its off to Madrid!! I'm so excited, I don't think either of us slept a lot last night. (Which should make sleeping on the plane a breeze)

Alright, so theoretically... most of our hostels have wi-fi. So I will be updating as much as possible. I also have our FB page set up to auto-post from this blog. If you always want to keep up with our posts you should sign up by email on the left of the page.

I cannot believe this is happening! 5 years of dreaming, and 2 years of planning...and here we are. AND I'm feeling MUCH better!!! Hurray!!! I was going to be so pissed if I was still sick when we left.

First stop...Amsterdam. (Silly layover) THEN Madrid!!!!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit