the end.

Istanbul was brilliant. It's only fault that it took 20 minutes to take five steps. At first, that was really really intimating. absolutely, everyone wanted to talk to me. apple tea? turkish tea? buy carpet? they just wanted to sit around and talk and talk and drink tea and sell me carpets and then ask me to go out with them that evening. so between 3 and 5 i'd go back to the hostel worn out and complain to the turkish bartender who would laugh at me. but man, the city was gorgeous! and so different from the rest of europe. the architecture, the people. quite the welcome change because i gradually traveled through europe so things gradually shifted, which meant that i didnt notice as much. haga sofia and the blue mosque were monsterous. so much huger and architecturally different than the churches like notre dame. and the grand bazaar was crazy. everyone calling for you, trying to get you in there shop. there would be a strip of vendors like where you from? want to buy a carpet? let me help you spend your money. i'd ignore all of them. and the guy on the corner of the strip would be like it's crazy, isnt it. i'd agree. and then he'd ask me to look at his shop. i'd walk away. everything in that bazaar was so overpriced and they knew you were a tourist, so they'd have a completely different set of prices. although, bargaining was entirely reasonable. but there was so much to look at! the stuff they were selling, the people, the vendors, the buildings. one day, i walked to the top of a hill. and decided on the way back, i didnt want to go down the main strip and went down the side of the hill. the real people lived there. twisty, turny, wiendy streets. a few antique shops where i tried to buy a camera, but since i stink at bargaining, i couldnt do it. oh, i wanted that vintage camera though. it was the kind that was medium-format and you looked down to see the view finder, instead of holding it up to your eye. no one really called to me either to come into their store too. they just gave me a funny look like you're not a turk, what are you doing here? At the spice market was fabulous. the colors, smells, people. one guy saw me taking photos and told me to take photos of his shop. at first i resisted, because i dont like getting stuck. but turns out the shop sold perfumes in these pretty glass bottles as well as spices and tea. so there was a lot to look at, and i got some yummy apple tea. i decided taht instead of taking a train (honestly, i was tired of them) to greece, i decided to take a bus to a ferry in an attempt to island hop. the hostel travel agency booked me a bus to a town where i would need to find the shorter bus ride to cesme on the coast, and the booked me a ferry to chios, where i'd have to figure out where i was going from there. on the first bus, i met two peace corp vollenteers who worked in uganda where they didnt feel as if they were really helping the people. more that the government was using the money mroe than them. i slept most of the way, where i woke up at about midnight and the bus was on a ferry. the three of us werent really sure how that happened, but were glad for the break because while the bus stopped and it seemed to be possible to get off and use the restroom, we werent really sure. and definately didnt want the bus to leave us. i arrived at my stop in the pouring rain and talked to three people to find the correct place to buy a ticket to cesme. when i got on the bus, another girl was there and the busdriver told me to sit by her even though the bus was completely empty. odd. i slept most the way. the guy kept asking me where i wanted to be dropped off in cesme (or at least i think so) in turkish. of course, i had no idea. i just kept saying 'ferry'. luckily, the girl next to me knew a bit of english and was from cesme so she arranged for me to be dropped off close to the port. without her, i'd be rather lost. the day was beautiful... until it rained. so i ducked into a resteraunt where i was imediatly served tea. turkish hospitality. and ate a huge dinner that took me an hour and a half to finish. i was going to island hop, but when i talked to a travel agent, they told me that i would have to go to athens, and then take another ferry. i figured that was silly and wouldnt save me any on money, so i booked just the ferry to athens. on the ferry out of cesme, i met a lebanese-american woman who went to lebanon every year, and hated to fly, so she took a lot of boats and trains, and she talked and talked and talked. she wanted to go to santorini with me, but it was 30 euros one way, so i declined the offer and told her to have fun. by taking the night bus and the night ferry, i actually saved money on accomodation, but definately smelled worse for it. and since i got into athens real early in the morning and couldnt actually check in until 1pm, i continued to smell. but i saw the acropolis and the theater of dinosis and the acient agora. the ancient agora was definately my favorite since it was a huge space where you could just wander through out the ruins. it was rather unbelievable that they were so old. the acropolis was covered in scaffolding. i met three guys from seattle at the hostel(one was an industrial designer, one worked for starbucks) and we attempted to go to the port because they liked water and were under the impression they could swim. we got off a metro stop early and decided to walk. but we didnt know how long the walk would be. the beaches were disgusting. but two of the guys decided to go swimming. of course they forgot their suits. and so after they got out, proceeded to strip down and throw their boxers out. after a while, we realized that the port was real real real far away, and decided to take a cab. the cab was so cheap! but the cabbie misunderstood us and took us NOT to the port but rather one stop away from the hostel. that night, i met a guy named sam. and i told him i liked him already since my cat was named sam. my last night in athens, i stayed up really late so i wouldnt miss my flight. really though, i just slept for an hour and then woke up again. it was a bit painful. at the metro station, i met a family from virginia who were very enthusiastic that i knew where i was going - i was just following the signs that said 'airport'. they were nice and the wife jsut talked and talked and talked the whole way there, which was about an hour. i figure that she was in need of female company since she was with her husband and son. at the london airport, my flight was delayed three hours, so i missed my flight at jfk to columbus. british airlines rebooked my ticket and bought me a hotel to stay in. very posh in comparison to the hostels. double beds. tv in english. shower that i didnt have to wear flip flops in. and food that i couldnt afford otherwise. it was fantastic. and now i'm back in ohio.

zywiec

It took forever to get to Zywiec. My first train was late, so I ran around Katowice looking for the correct one. I found the right platform and there was a train leaving, so I assumed that was the one I wanted... I almost went to Prague. My actually train though kept stopping for 30 minutes at a time for whatever reason. I got to the town later than expected. But I got there, thinking "what now". I was in a city I knew absolutely nothing about and wasnt sure what I was doing there in the first place. I went left. Bought a map. Found a sign for the town center. It was almost a km away, but I didnt know how to take buses at all, so I walked. There was a gigantic park and some older buildings. One had a museum. The cathedral in town was built in the 1500s, but the outside wasnt too exciting. I went in and everything was gold-gilted with lots of statues. It also smelt like old people. I eventually reached the town square and saw the town hall which is an amazingly pink building. Honestly, i think that is a little bit of an odd color for a town hall. pink doesnt bring to mind prestige or anything like that. I started heading to the library since i wasnt sure where excatly I was starting, and figured that the library would have research about its residents. I found the tourist information office first. A polish woman pointed out a few cemetaries that i could visit, but told me the best way would be to go to the cemetaries office which was near the cathedral so i wouldnt be wandering so much. I couldnt find the office, and went back. So she called for me and it seems that the offices were closed for the day. just my luck. but i gave her my email so that she could call on another day for me. she said that she wanted to "help solve the mystery". but what mystery was it, i wasn't sure. she also said that i should get more information on my family. i'm actuallly not too sure if there is any more information on my family. but i headed to the further cemetary. there was a funeral going on. even though i had visited a cemetary in warsaw on all soul's day, i forgot how cemetaries in poland worked. the cemetaries are not grassy fields in which you only have to avoid the headstones. but rather, the graves are raised, so you have to avoid all the marble. and they are very very close together. and this cemetary just so happened to be on a hill so with the rain and the mud, it was slippery and dirty. and naturally, there were candles and flowers everywhere from last week's holiday. needless to say, i did not find my great great grandparents graves. before catching my train, i gave in and had a cheeseburger. i'm not sure why, but poles dont believe in grilling burgers and hot dogs, they nuke them. the woman in the resteraunt found it a novelty that i was american. although, she kept asking if i spoke italian, so i'm not sure she exactly understood.

warsaw is like cleveland

so not too too much more happened in prague. i extended my stay since i liked the people there. and the 7 germans bought weapons so that they could become even more scarier. switchblades, brass knuckles, a wand thing, masks that covered their whole faces except the eyes. the other people in my room didnt like it either. after prague, i went to olomouc, czech republic for a few days based upon the recomendations of a guy i met in amsterdam. it was really nice except that i got sick. i didnt do too much except go eat with an aussie a lot. i also tried cherry beer. and i think that beer cannot be beer with fruit in it (sorry jess). it was gross. the couple that ran the hostel were really friendly and were in absolute love with their city. and the hostel felt like a home. so, naturally, i feel rather bad that i didnt do anything except eat a little bit.

warsaw is cool because it really reminds me of cleveland. well, actuallly the park by my aunt dorothy's that is a bit raised from street level and has a lot of trees and a playground that i used to play in. but the trees shed yellow leaves in the fall and there are heaps of trees, but no low branches to run into. warsaw is like that. although with in about seven seconds of being intown, i went the wrong way on the bus and ended up at the airport. so i took a taxi since i didnt even know where the buses parked. the taxi driver didnt speak any english. but after he dropped me off, i was about to go the wrong way to get to the entrance (it was in the back of the building), and he stopped me from getting lost again. poles are friendly. the second day that i was in town, i decided to walk to the polish poster museum. bad idea. i should never again attempt to walk to a place that is nearly off my map. i didnt make it and took the bus that i should have taken there, home. i also noticed that many many many places were closed that day. i had absolutely no idea why. when i got off the bus, i was hungry from all the walking. so i stopped at the only place open, a bar and had tea and made new friends from all over the world. americans, canadians, albanians, british... one woman worked at the us embassay and absolutely loved me. she claimed that because of me, there is hope in america's future. which, actually, i seem to be getting a lot. havent quite figured out why though... i also learned that it was all saints day and the next was all souls day. which were the days that all the poles dont go to work and light candles on family members graves and remember them. so the next day, on my way to the poster museum, i happened to stop at a cemetary. and people were still doing it. in front of the cemetary, there were vendors selling candles and flowers. and inside the cemetary, there were little old ladies in their sunday best. and so many candles! with all the candles, you kind of feel bad for the ones with only a handful of candles on their graves. the polish poster museum was a little disappointing though because the exhibit was on japanese designers. which is all and good, but i was really excited to see polish designs. oh well.

in krakow, i ran into a guy that i had met in berlin. i walked in, and was like, HEY! I KNOW YOU! apparently, after berlin, he came to krakow, and never left... it's been two weeks. i slept in though this morning and just barely made breakfast. i started to talking to some irish blokes, they seemed nice and asked if i wanted to go "girl carting"... which i eventually figured out that i misunderstood and they were going go carting. sounds more pleasant than girl carting for sure. so i agreed, only to learn that it was a stag party. so there were 20 irish blokes and myself. definiatley fun, just a wee bit intimidating. i was the "young lass". and i couldnt touch the pedals of the go cart, which was annoying because the silly thing kept going out of control for me around the curves.

The tailbone is creepy

prague is amazing.


think about that.


it is so beautiful. because czech got over taken before ww2 got too far in, it is very untouched. i went to an 11th century church. there werent as many people in it as notre dame, so the environment wasnt as crazy with people and it seemed airier. i made the mistake of wanting to go up to the top. which i didnt realize how much of a pain it would be. 287 spiral staircase steps. and the night before i went out and tried shots of czech vodka which tastes like christmas. but all the one-way spiraling was out of control. in the staircase, it was two-way and at one point, you hit a dark spot, where you are trying to feel your way up and around without falling down or knocking someone else over. but the view at the top... wow. just wow. coming back down definately wasnt as bad as up. i got wicked lost that day too, which is always good. but there is some sweet people in this hostel. not to say there hasnt been before here, but i'm staying longer since prague is awesome. i went to kutna hora too where the bone church is. it was a lot like the monestary in rome, except here they disinfected the bones first, making them real white-washed. also i think the bones are that of black plague victims instead of monks. the cleaness of the bones was kind of crazy though becuase it disattaches you from thinking that the bones were once humans. like you could be looking at plastic molds or something. most people there thing that it is a little weird, but i rather think bones are really cool. except the tailbone... that bone is just plain creepy. the way it curves and has those holes in it.. yuck. there was this chandelier that was made up of all the bones in the human body, but i wonder if they included the ear bones too. those are really small. i dont even know what an ear bone looks like. the train back took 2 hours instead of an hour and seemed rather local, they didnt even check my ticket! i just pretended i was czech, not sure if it really worked or not though. we went to the market the other day, it was ok. i need a scarf, and didnt really find any orange ones i wanted (need to be orange). and the canadian was psyched about a punk rock concert, so thats where we went last night. the first band played american covers of songs, lost of ac/dc. when they started we were like, what is going on here! i'm not really into punk, but it was good. i'm staying another two nights before i go to olomouc, czech. and then to warsaw poland. there is an old polish-austrailian guy staying at the hostel and he taught me how to say hello. "Chest" that's how it sounds like anyways. he gave me good tips on travelining in poland and said in zyweic, they would be helpful in looking up family. it's also pronounced differently than any of us think, but i cant remember exactly how. and then we had to talk politics. great. and apparently, austrailia has some wild animals. like house cats taht are huge from living in the wild, and boar hunters that go out with dogs and knives and kill huge 150kg boars for fun, and big eagles of prey, and 8 of the top 10 most poisonious snakes. one of the guys here hunts boars. he just has these real crazy stories about it, but i dont think i ever want to get around a boar since apparently if you are hurt and cant move and are alone, they will start to eat you. that doesnt seem like a very pleasant way to die, if you ask me.

i have 7 new german roomates... they have begun smoking like crazy in my room. i really dont like my clean clothes to smell like smoke. needless to say, not in the best mood about it.

wicked cold

i left berlin early and went to leipzig. which just so happens to be where johannes sebastian bach lived and worked. so i saw his grave and everything- which i wasnt expecting. just happened upon on the first day. it was really nice to see a german town taht isnt all new buildings. i met three american girls at the hostel. one was lear ning german in berlin and the other two were teaching english in germany. they me t in college. but what was cool (besides their sharing the mini-keg they bought) is taht they had this weird fluiditly between german and english. even the girl still learning german. i k now people do it, but it isnt too often that americans do it. the german woman who worked the front desk, was cool and told us that we needed to travel while we were young and that we should see all parts of countries. the big cities and small cities and villages.

but right now, after a crazy train ride, i'm in prague. i got off in dresden too earl y and was at the other train station, and not the main one. so i had to wait two hours to catch the next train. i would have explored dresden in the meantime, but i (of course) didnt have any map. so the lacek of knowledge as to where i was, prohibitied me. and my pants ripped. which is just plain annoying. at any rate, prague isnt as cold as germany. germany was wickeed cold. i had to buy leggings and some more long sleeved shirts. which i proceeded to wear all at once and was still cold. i think i definately need a scarf. everyone say s that poland the the coldest. i now understand why women weear leggings, boots and leg warmers! i kind of want leg warmers now, i wont lie. also, chunky chunky sweaters.

thor & willy wonka

so it has been four dazs in Berlin. It does get better and better each daz though. I still think that it is too new for all the historz though. I've seen almost all of the sights: Bradenburg Tor, Reishang Parliment, Jewish Musuem, German historz museum, Checkpoint Charlie, Jewish Memorial, Contemporarz art musuem i cant remember the name of, east side gallerz, tv tower, berliner dom, whilhem-kaiser church... The comeporarz art museum was one of the best Ive been to. i went with an argentian girl, who enjozed it heaps, so i think i had to go slower than i normallz would, so i liked it a lot. the east berlin gallerz is the remaining portion of the berlin wall with famous graffiti bits of political outcrz. it was amazing to think that this huge wall surounded the entire citz at one time. it was also a little disappointing since people had tagged and wrote all over it. i know that it is a wall of grafiti, but its historz. and honestlz, i dont care about peoples 2002 european trips. what is a lot disappointing about berlin especiallz in visiting whilhelm-kaiser church and checkpoint charlie is that because berlin had to rebuild, around these verz historical sights, it is heavilz commericalized. its a little disppointing. here is history: now buy something. the wilhelm-kaiser church was prettz amazing though since it was so heavilz bombed in the war. inside, there are these beautiful mosaics in gold. I think that I am rather historied out. It's reallz good though to see the perspective in things that isnt the US perspective.



Last night, I found a photobooth! We were on the waz to a club and i spied it. i asked the guzs that i knew if thez would join, but none were game. but the aussie i hadnt met was. his name was patrick and is from sydney, austrailia. that is all i know about him. but the strip is really good. veronica, persuaded the guzs to join in the booth with us later. so we have a real squeezed one. the club was sopossed to be "amazing". it was real far away, and we got lost a bit. it was in an old water plant that may also be moonlighting as a jail. it definately had potential. too bad they only played house and techno music. where is dj-nerdery when you need it? verionica saw a kiwi she knew who was with a guy from iceland. icelander? icelandic? his name was thor. the kiwi loved it, he thought it was the most masculine name ever. the name reminded me of a cartoon from the 80s. at the time, thundercats, but that is wrong. thor told me i could call him thundercats if i wanted to though. the kiwi informed me that berlin is the best place for house and techno music. it's just so hard to dance to! there was this one girl who was eating it up though. she kept dancing and dancing and dancing.

And today I did laundry. a german man who looked like willy wonka basically set up the machines for me. he told me that "germans are helpful people". but he confused me on the the spinning thing and the dryer. i didnt understand the spinny thing explanation where he asked me if i understood english. so he kinda was like willy wonka with that split personality thing going on. maybe theres also a back room that he can put his hat on half a manican (because he wore one like willy wonka)

i can't understand you

i rented a bike. it was awesome! i dont think that i really did it right though. because if you can do it wrong, i sure can. i rode down pedestrian only ways, didnt understand bike lanes. oh, and i hit another biker and got jeered by the tourist crowd passing. great. but other than that, it was fabulous. the bike didnt have a basket though. i got rediculously lost on that as well. its not such a bad thing though, i rather like getting lost. i saw a few museums including the sjidickmuseum-I cant spell it- and the anne frank museum. the one i cant spell was pretty good. they had a huge exhibit on warhol. the anne frank one was a little disappointing though. i was hoping that the apartment would still ahve all the furniture and everything... it didnt. and it was packed of people. i guess it would be better if i hadnt read the book a bajillion times before. but mostly in amsterdam, i just wandered. the last night i was there, i went out. the girls i was with decided to go to the red light district and coming back the girl leading-who had only been there for a day- took us back from east to west and then south. oh well though.

the train to berlin cost so much money-100 euros. on the train, a guy asked in german if he could sit besides me and i thought that maybe he asked if anyone was sitting there. i said no. he left and then i realized what was going on. i'm not quite psyched about berlin yet. everything is so new. and i recognize that berlin was rediculously bombed out during ww2, but still... so very new. i think i need to find the residential part, but i have a sinking suspicion that i've been walking through that bit. i tried to wander today, and did. i saw the parlimentary building, berlin dom, the tv tower, and the national history museum. at the national history museum, i kept being told things about my bag. at first, i had it on like a backpack and they told me that i couldnt do that. so then i had it normally, and for somereason, she told me that i had to carry it in my hand. at least i am presuming that they told me this through hand motions. they didnt speak english as regularly as in amsterdam. i am rather looking forward to going to the bahaus. but i think that i might try to cut out of here early and go to dresden or something. some city rather on the way to prague, but im not sure which one yet.

a bike with a basket in front, please

so... the tour is over! and i have a whole bunch of timmmmmeeeee to write a proper entry (that, and I'm behind oodles)

slavenia.... wow, i can hardly remember what happened there. we walked up a really big hill to see some castle that wasnt very cool since it was built in 1905. but after slevenia, was budapest. i was able to go to buda with the group to take photos and see the gorgeous view of pest. it was rather disappointing that the church with the neat roof tiles was underconstruction. they were all multi colored. but on the lookout, shan and i tried to go to the second level of the thing. it rather looked like a castle, but not because it was more like a wall with lookouts and windows. but we tried to go to the second level and there were turnstiles there, so we jumped them and got yelled at in hungarian. we, of course, just looked at the guy blankly. they were also shooting a movie there in buda, so we couldnt walk directly behind the shot. in pest, i wanted a day to myself to buy some jeans and some alone time - a huge tour is not a good place to want alone time. but instead, i met up with some of the guys and we went shopping. they bought more than i did and we had to wait for simon to get his hair cut while the other two were looking at trashy magazines. that night, we went on a cruise down the river with hungarian food. golash soup and and stuffed cabbage type thing. soo soo good. vienna was the next stop. gorgeous. i tried sactre-tarte (taht is so not right, but it is really famous choclate cake). it was very rich. and cindy (the tour manager), came with us and told us about the turkish baths. where they was you completely clean and you get massages. and on the cealing are little pricks of light. needless to say, i'm excited to go to istanbul. after the cake, the girls wanted to go shopping. becasue, that is waht girls do. so instead, i waited for them and was talking to other tour people and got distracted by assessories since i lost my favorite red beaded necklace in slovenia. and i lost everyone when i got back. so instead, i roamed and took photos. in vienna, they have basically free bikes. where it only cost 2 euro for a tourist to use it their entire stay and residents can use for free if they only ride for under an hour. i've noticed that most cities have a deal like this. on the plane, i read about ti. to encourage residents not to drive cars and use public transportation and stay heathy. i think that it is rather good. we had a pretty posh hotel that night too. but the next day we headed into the mountains! ...where we mountain biked... after a night of going out. it wasnt the most fun. you don't feel quite awake and i remembered taht i didn't like hills after a incident in pennsylvania. i took the short cut and walked my bike up. and your butt hurts so so much afterwards. oy. but the ride down was fabulous. we rode through pastures of cows and little farms and just cute austrian countryside. there was paragliding that day too, but i didnt go. instead, i watched my first rugby match. australia v. britton. they lost. i didnt really understand what was going on either. white water rafting was amazing!! i had never gone before, so it was real good taht the water was too high to get mad white water. i also picked a raft with all boys so the guide had us do all these silly exercises. like standing up on the side of the raft. flipping the boat back over. swimming like a salmon. we were the only boat that did those things and we were the pirates because we overtook other boats. muahahaha. however, after that, i was sore. real sore. and not only sore but also bruised to no end. my thighs have all these little black spots and one big one that is about 2" x 6" that looks suspisciously like it may have come from an oar when someone piled upon me. there was a dog pile in the raft as well as lifting people out of the water just generally. that night, we went to oktoberfest. it was nuts. record high numbers of people attended. and you just start standing on tables and meeting people already at those tables because there is no way one big group can get their own. lots and lots of germans. and many of them had their traditional clothes on, leiderhosen and all. after oktoberfest, we went to st. goar in the rhine valley. it was boring. we did a wine tasting in a cellar that looked to be eons old, and it probably was. there was one red, three whites and a ice wine. the red was ok. the first white was good. but everything else was way way too sweet. on the way back to the crummy hotel, we passed a halloween shop. some people stopped in and one woman the enxt morning swore that she had been hexed by a witch. she is also rather crazy normally. so it was no surprise that she was the one makeing these outlandish remarks. she also told me straight in the face taht she doesnt like americans, so we arent on the best of terms. after germany is amsterdam! where i am right now. during the drive, it was interesting to see the farmland. most was for livestock. and there were no fenses! everything was seperated by little channels of water and the occasional gated bridge. we stopped in a little village where we rode girly bikes! i was really hoping for a little basket, but that was a no-go. we rode to a dijk and a windmill and it was fun for the girls. the boys thought less so. we also watched a wooden shoe be made and learned how they make cheese. the chessy samples were so very good. amsterdam has been fab so far. the first night we toured the red light district. it just makes you feel awkward and there are rumors that most of it will be closed down in a year or two. that night, we went out. i met some guys that were aussies too. hoping for someone dutch, but i get more aussies. anyways, he took a contiki a few years ago but rathers like backpacking. so i'm hoping that i will too. and we agreed taht the tour is a sort of manufactured experience of a city. you dont really get to see the city for what it is, just the touristy things. the full day, we went to the post office. oh, that was quite the trip. none of us had any idea as to how to fill out the forms to get them sent and they dont take credit there! however, the boxes are orange polka-dotted. we went to the van gogh museum and the heineken experience. van gogh was nice, there were a lot of famous pieces there. the sketches were quite my favorite though. especiallty that of his figures. today, everyone left, and it is just me. i checked into my hostel. and because i'm cheap, am in a real big room. with mostly boys, i am assuming this because it smells like boys. great. so i think when i go to other hostels to ask for smaller rooms, less chance of boys maybe? but i've just been wandering around today, taking it easy. i think that tomarrow i shall rent a bike. bikes here are awesome! for one they are girly, and i like that. but there are so many options on these bikes. mothers have wheelbarrow-esque attachements int he front that their kids can sit in. there are also small seats behind the handlebars for kids. and there was an absolutely adorable older couple taht the guy was pedeling and they converted the luggage rack in back inot another seat that his wife was sitting sidesaddle in. cute. cute.

Lou-bee-ana, rhymes with banana

soooo... internet is at times awful hard to get to.

after the gorgeous swiss alps we went to cannes, france and monaco. in cannes, i mostlz lazed on the beautiful beach and got burnt. we had dinner at a monaco resteraunt which was absolutelz fabulous. followed bz a visit to the famous monte carlo casino. where everzthing was overpriced and all the guzs who tried to gamble lost monez.

italz... we saw the leaning tower of pisa. most amusing were the tourists who were trzing to hold up the tower in the zard and the african men running awaz with their fake designer bags. florence was amaying. we went out to a night club our first night which wasnt filled with anzone besides our group and another contiki group. we saw how thez made leather in the citz. and manz girls bought things. i was going incognito in mz sunnies. rome.... the vatican line was hugelz loooong. cindz, our tour manager, taught us a trick to get in faster, so we onlz waited an hour. haha. an hour is long enough! the vatican was nice. everzthing going on in it was rather overwhelming. but we saw the sistene chapel. followed bz the colleseum. and i made the guzs i was with see this chapel taht the monk bones were decoration in it. thez were like what in the world are we doing here while i was like COOL! venice was beautiful. we saw the onlz place where thetz still make lace and hand blown glass. a group of us got lost (because thats apparentlz how zou see venice). we ended up on the other side of the citz at the train station! we eventuallz met up with some of the group again and i split off with the guzs again. unfortunetlz it was mz turn to shout some beers and we ordere ˝grande˝ beer, which means 1 liter beer. greeeat.

todaz we are in sleveina and it is absolutelz gorgeous. i tried octopus! and it was zummz! but i need to email james.... and sorrz about the tzpos, again, foreign kezboards blow.

The land down under

first, iäm going to appologiye for the spelling mistakes. swiss kezboards are verz screwz and iäm trzing to save monez bz not figuring them out.

mz tour is fullll of aussies. Ozz-ies, thats the pronucitation since i havent got anz sort of accent and am apparentlz sazing it wrong, i was taught the correct waz to saz it. there are mostlz aussies, me and another american, a japanese, a korean, and two new zelanders. lots of accents and everzon is super nice.

paris was beautiful+++ we had a night tour of the citz in its wonderful lights and our busdriver braved the arh d triumph so we could experience going around it. he kept cutting off everzone including biczclist and motobikes. its was awesome. the eiffel tower was beautful in its lights. the next daz we went up to the top and saw the whole wonderufl citz. a few of the aussies and i went to the catacombs which run under the citz. it was quite scarz at first because zou go down this spiral staircase into the depths of the earth and zou wonder how zou will ever get out. so when we rreached the bones, thez were sooo organiyed+. thez were organiyed with tzpes with teh sculls running along to make it verz lineated.there wer also these french quotes and with mz verz limitied french, i translated bits and pieces of them. since most of the bones were from the revolustion, the quotes had to deal with the poingancz of death for a catuse thez believed in. we then saw the ever lovelz notre dame. both these things wwere so breathtaking, it was unreal. it was funnz that while in there, some random people started to notice mz angles of mz photographs and copied them. we walked around a bit before meating the group, and saw the louve, and just the citz in general. we tried snails+++ which, are surprisinglz good. zou just have to get over how thez look. that night we went to a french can-can. with wonderful food and bottles of wine, followed bz a pub. i reallz wish we had gotten another daz in the citz, because i feel as if there is so much to see! there was a church sucre something that i wanted to see, but it was a little too far awaz from the main area.

todaz, we are in lucerne, switzerland. and are stazing at the top of this mountain. with the gorgeous view of the swiss alps. i took a walk areound one of the peaks, i was so excited, and saw goats! thez just looked at me like what do zou want? and then walked a waz. its quaint. and the cows!!!! thez have cow bells on to find thim in the mountains.

as for the tour, i wish that more things were included. but oh, well, i shall have a lot of aussie friends at the end!

London

i'm in lodon. the connecting flight was a mess. i almost missed it and my baggage difinately did. i had to wait a few hours for it to come on the next flgiht. wasn't too bad since it took an hour to get through customs! my hostel is pretty nice. i'm in a room of girls and have only met one from vancouver. tomorrow i meet my tour group. i have to figure out how to get there. i'm pretty good with the underground but not the busses.

what ive noticed about london:
girls have very cute shoes
red phonebooths come in twos
some english accents are hard to understand
guards with points on their heads can smile in photos
there is a weird juxtoposition between the way old buildings and the way new ones
there is lots of things to take photos of
the signage is easier to follow than in the states. and all the advertisments are prettier.
british airways is a nice plane to go on. but not in the middle seat.
roads are all cock-eyed, but as long as you follow the thames, its all good
iranis dont like bush (like that is a big surprise)
there always seems to be a long line going everywhere
the city encourages its residents not to drive cars
no taxis are yellow, but some are pink

California

California was quite grand. We stayed with my Aunt JoAnn, Fred, and Sophie in Scotts Valley. Tuesday, we went to Santa Cruz and saw Natural Bridges. It was real gorgeous on that beach! There were seagulls and pelicans on this rock formation that had a tunnel in it. My aunt said that pelicans aren't usually around but at the time we went, there are squid close to the shore, and that's why the pelicans were in the bay a whole bunch. The rocks on the far side of the beach had these funky patterns like someone painted on them. On the way to the Santa Cruz County Fair, we stoped at Capitola. The birds were even more out in force. THe ocean was covered in them. Good thing none of us got pooped on, that would have sucked. I liked the animals at the fiar the best... espeically the cows. There were some very stubborn goats and baby pigs too My dad was way into the history part of the fair. Santa Cruz had a lot of apple orchards way back when. San Francisco on WEds was awesome. I got a day to myself. I went through Hayes Valley, The Castro (where I got these awesome coasters you can write on), and the Haight. I was really hoping for some warm spiced wine at the hookah joint, but no one was around to serve me. disappointing. I met up with my parents around Fisherman's warf. There were some swimmers out there in the bay! The day was windy, cold, and cloudy.San Jose on Thurs was kind of boring. WE went to this crazy "Mystery House" where this lady in the early turn of the century was apparently crazy and her house shows it. there were 40 bedrooms and bunches of rooms had windows into other rooms so sometimes it seemed as if you were outside, when you were inside. Rediculous amounts of "easy rider" stairs that turned to go one flight. Stairs and Doors that led no where. James had heard of this crazy house, which was surprising. We went back to the Santa Cruz beach and boardwalk where I photoboothed. The last full day in California we went to Montery Bay. The aquarium was awesome. Sea otters are so cute and jelly fish are grotesquely fastenating. While my parents went bike riding, I hung out on a beach and observed crabs and sealions off the pier. That beach was really really beautiful. And the day was warm.

I'm going to try to keep this updated in Europe, so everyone can be happy. hopfully with photos, but I'm going to take mostly film, so who knows.

The trick.

I'm not sure which one is worse... having a teal wall at the house or the fact my dad has a shirt that matches that wall.

So I figured out how to upload pictures onto a pc. the trick? connecting the camera to the computer. Perhaps though, I will upgrade my flickr account to store the photos from my trip. I think I'll wait though and see how many digis I take. And I promise to try to keep undating this.

My final drawing for my figure drawing class. Definately my best yet. Of course the crop isn't exactly right because the scanner wasn't big enough, but oh well. On a fabulous note, my harddrive killed itself. Hopefully, it won't be too too expensive.

A week left

So about Monday is when i realized that everything for school is due by the end of next week. I am permenantly at my computer. This friday is my bug book. Next thurs is my music crap and motion. Dad keeps telling me I have to plan San Francisco... now. That's in a month. I don't have time now.

Jessica spotted the red wagon the other day too. this time, it was in front of CVS.

Red Wagon

A red wagon with milk bottles and watercans in Clifton... how does this not make sense?

My birthday is Sept 10

So I'm still thinking about stuff for the apartment. And I have always loved these egglings. Wild Strawberry and Lavender being my favorite.


And these coasters just rock.

And in case anyone was wondering... my birthday is Sept 10.

Still working on a hostel in Athens. Bed bugs freak me out!

My apartment is rediculously hot this week. Sso perhaps I shall loose some weight from all the sweating I'm doing just sitting here!

Radiator

The radiator in my bedrom.

I had to register my trip with school the other day. It was quite silly, but since I'm getting credit for it, I had to do it. Fill some forms, agree to abide by the Student Code of Conduct. I'm not even sure what is on that any more. Moral of the story is that I can't get myself kicked out of Europe or I don't get credit.

I'm fo' sure going to Europe!

Today, I bought plane tickets! I am going to LONDON on Sept 17th! I get to London on Sept 18th at 7:40am. I fly back from Athens, Greece on Nov 23rd. I also got a Mediterranian Phrase Book and a Polish one. The only language I won't be very good at is German. There were no inexpensive German books it seemed.

I still need to get a plane ticket from Poland to Istanbul and hostels for Istanbul and Athens. But I'm for sure going!!

Travel Quarter

My trip (so far)

Sept 10-15, Santa Cruz, California

Sept 16-18, London

Sept 18-Oct 11, Contiki Tours: European Vista
Countries Visiting:
London, France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Austria,
Germany, Netherlands
http://us.contiki.com/tours/124-european-vista

Oct 11-13, Amsterdam

Oct 13-20, Berlin

Oct 21-26, Prague

Oct 26-27, Gdansk, Poland

Oct 28-Nov 2 , Warsaw, Poland

Nov 3-8, Krakow, Poland

Nov 8-10, Zywiec, Poland


Ok, so I still need to plan the rest... but here's what I'm thinking:

Nov 11-18, Istanbul

Nov 18-24, Athens, Greece

Postcrossing

So Recently, I discovered postcrossing.com. I'm so excited to send postcards all over the world! I'm sending 5 (the max you can do at a time) to: Finland, Morocco, China, Turkey, and Lithuania. Some people on the sign collect specific types of postcards, maps, scenes, etc. All I really want is a good story. I've always liked postcards that say something. A little glimpse into someone's life. When I was younger, old postcards gave me that glimpse that I collected then. I have some new ideas to make postcards, but first I should get some homework done!

Traveling

So since I don't have a co-op this coming fall quarter, I'm thinking of taking a travel quarter. I want to take a tour then travel alone for the remaining time. My first choice for a tour is the European Contrasts with Contiki tours. I would get to see London, France, Italy, Greece, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. There are also a whole bunch more tours that do pretty much the same thing if I can't get into that one. I bought an Eastern Europe book (that hopefully, I'll get today). So that I can plan the rest of my trip. Berlin, Poland, Hungary. It would be sweet to get to Sweden and Finland and such, but they seem kind of far... but I'm real excited, I'm just hopeing that I have enough money. I might have to dipp into my savings for this.

Phototime

My real cute living room. Sam loves the rug. He runs real fast and slides on it. Sometimes, when I'm gone all day, I come back finding the rug all bunched up in a corner.


The view of the living room and dining room. It's a real big open space.


The dining room looks so sad since I don't have chairs or a rug. The one chair I do have is on loan from James.


This lamp is super sweet. When you pull it, it gets lower


My kitchen


These things my mom bought and insisted I had to have. I'm not really sure what they are


Fantastical salt and pepper shakers from chinatown.


So I like orange bedrooms. It may be my favorite room in the apartment. And is always way cooler than the rest since I don't have a/c.




watermellon-esque bathroom. In the afternoon mad amounts of light comes through the window making it seem super bright.

So there ya go.... Apartment Photos!

Iced tea time

My Jenna sent me tea from Germany. But it's too hot for hot tea. So I learned how to make it iced! (The glass seemed appropriate.) It seems to have a little too much sugar in it though, even for me, so it must be a lot! So next time, I'll put in less sugar.

heaping tbsp. orange pekoe or black whole-leaf tea
8 c. high-quality water
1 c. sugar
lemon slices or mint sprigs for garnish (optional)

Place the sugar and half the water in a 2-quart serving jug and stir to dissolve the sugar, then chill.
Bring the remaining water to boil in a nonreactive pot.
Remove the water from the heat as soon as it boils and add the tea.
Cover and steep for 5 to 8 minutes.
Strain the hot tea into the sugared water.
Add lemon slices or mint sprigs if desired, or place them in serving glasses as a garnish.
Fill serving glasses with ice and pour the tea in them to serve.


Nikki and I are famous by the way.

We made it onto photobooth.net. In that photobooth craziness in nyc, we went to Bushwick Country Club and have a posting.

Now that we are back in the Nati, we will become famous for adding to the Ohio ones. The comet and movie theater here we come!

Moved in!

So I'm finished moving in. I still really really need dining room chairs though. last weekend, I had to draw on the floor, which made my tummy hurt after a while. (not to mention that my drawing wasn't as fab as I had hoped) Sam seems to love it. So much space to run around and he's a cute little window kitty. My little buddy.

Live

the sofa before


the sofa after... super cute!


This is the chair that will be done next. To coordinate with the sofa, of course. Looks like my living room is all set to be green, which will look nice with the green astro-turfed picnicy dining room.

Photobooth Friday

Some of my favs.

We did just about THE ULTIMATE Photobooth Friday on Friday. We compilied a listing of all the Manhattan photobooths we knew of and set off. American trash didn't have a photobooth there any more, nor did Fat Black Pussycat. 7B and Crocodile Lounge photobooth's are digital now. And Manhattan Mall's photobooth was broken. Seems like a lot, but we hit up LIC, Lakeside Lounge, and Otto's Shrunken Head with origional photobooths. Coney Island also had a blake/white one and color. For the whole weekend, we have TWENTY strips. Brooklyn is on Tuesday.