I am alive but ouch. The medicine is helping but I am not 100%. Mandi has been generous walking even slower because we do not know when I have an overtaking urge to make a dash to the toilet to pay 10 Kroner. Layering clothes does not help this either but it keeps me warm and I am not a Mexi-cicle. And someone please explain to me how I can go to 3rd world countries and not get this and come to Scandinavia and the bottom falls out!
The hostel has been nice but I think Mandi and I have been spoiled because the last two hostels we had no roommates. For example, yesterday morning when our roommate mother decide to prepare for the day before 8 am, as Mandi said, she had to unzip every suitcase she and her daughter brought from Germany (4 to be exact). And I thought I packed a lot. Well at least they were done with their morning dance when Mandi and I got up. Breakfast was interesting I am not so adventures right now but Mandi did try the Herring and her facial expression was nothing. I ask if it was good she said not good or bad but no need to try again. When she makes it back for the summer I am sure she will try it again. Since we did not get the Bergen card we were on our own and I am glad we did not spend the money since I have been so ill. The scenery has been beautiful and I will try to get them up tonight but later. The train to the top of the mountain was fun and beautiful and I am happy Mandi decided to not try to walk because there was ice all the way up the mountain.
I want to thank everyone for their prayers and supportive emails. We will be back online Nov 2-3. =o) And someone please explain to me how I can go to 3rd world contries and this doesn't happen and then I go to Scandinavia and the bottom falls out?
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
There's this saying...
In Wyoming we say that we have 4 seasons - Winter, Still Winter, Almost Winter and Road Construction. Turns out the Norwegians say that they have 2 Winters - one is green and one is white! He he he - according to our very nice Canadian hostel worker's boyfriend, it has snowed quite deep further north of here because he had gone skiing a few days ago. In other words, time for us to head back south! I did try the pickled herring in the tomato sauce today - turns out it's not all that bad, but not OMG amazing either. All in all, I'll just say yay for trying it and go back to the other yummies of breakfast. They do offer sweet pickles for breakfast, along with a bunch of other (we'd say) non-breakfast foods... but I really like it!
Today we took the Floibanen Funicular from the city center (behind Bryggen) up Mount Floyen. The trip took about 10 mins and at the top we were about 302 meters above sea level. The view was incredible and we'll get the pix up whenever Ana feels like doing all that jazz. She was feeling better today, praise God, and while she didn't seem to enjoy the icyness, she did enjoy the views (I think). The stairs and stuff were very icy and all I could think was "The bosses (Dave, Dave and Don) would sooo not approve of this." (Ahhh, college.) We then got some coffee and a really good strawberry pie thing before coming back to the hostel. We will be heading out of here tomorrow to head to Amsterdam (and spend a lot more time on the lovely trains of Europe) and will be taking a free tour of the city there. Frankly, I think that we'll both be happy getting back to where we can use one currency for multiple countries - going between the Euro, Norwegian Kronor, Swedish Kronor, Hungarian Forint, Bulgarian Lev and whatever they use in Serbia has been a pain in the arse!
Oh yes, and at this time I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to those who got me my long johns, hat, converter, towel and sleep sheet. You know who you are and thanks to you I have not frozen and my electronics continue to work! I promise that I have not forgotten my loved ones back home... and you'll understand more of that when you see the pictures of all the things that I didn't buy you!! (He he he - well can ya blame me? I'd have to carry it all thru Europe! So instead, we've been taking pictures of all the things we aren't getting anyone. Aren't we sweet?!?)
I keep saying - and I do mean this - I would like to come back here in the summer with more money so that I could enjoy more of the out-doorsy stuff to do. This place is just awesome. It also looks like in the summer the fish market is bigger and more along the lines of what we were expecting, so that would be something nice too. The only complaint I have about the hostel is that the showers have a limit on how hot you can get them... so when you want the water to be almost scalding-you hot, you have to settle for just warm-bordering-on-hot. We'll have to see how the hostel in Amsterdam is. We have vauge notions of where we will be in November... all we know for sure is that we'll be in Romania at the end of it and Berlin before Romania. Getting back to the trains... that was something else that I wanted to tell you all - giving up my car FREAKING SUCKS!!!!! Now the trains are good because if I were driving through Europe we'd get in a wreak because I'd be wanting to sightsee instead of drive, and it's probably good that we're not driving in the cities either but damn, it would be nice to be able to get somewhere on my time schedule instead of someone else's. For a gas pedal happy control freak, this has been a very huge adjustment. Good juju in the long run, I'm sure, but UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH - I will tell you that if I get a chance to drive on the autobahn, I'm taking it - no if's, ands or buts about it!!
Now then, I think that's all I wanted to update everyone on - don't worry, I'm sure Ana will be posting later to give you her view on the day / trip so far. I'm gonna enjoy another fairly warm shower before we jump back on the trains for 2 days... paying to go to the bathroom has been an interesting change, too... we are no longer in Kansas, Toto. : )
Today we took the Floibanen Funicular from the city center (behind Bryggen) up Mount Floyen. The trip took about 10 mins and at the top we were about 302 meters above sea level. The view was incredible and we'll get the pix up whenever Ana feels like doing all that jazz. She was feeling better today, praise God, and while she didn't seem to enjoy the icyness, she did enjoy the views (I think). The stairs and stuff were very icy and all I could think was "The bosses (Dave, Dave and Don) would sooo not approve of this." (Ahhh, college.) We then got some coffee and a really good strawberry pie thing before coming back to the hostel. We will be heading out of here tomorrow to head to Amsterdam (and spend a lot more time on the lovely trains of Europe) and will be taking a free tour of the city there. Frankly, I think that we'll both be happy getting back to where we can use one currency for multiple countries - going between the Euro, Norwegian Kronor, Swedish Kronor, Hungarian Forint, Bulgarian Lev and whatever they use in Serbia has been a pain in the arse!
Oh yes, and at this time I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to those who got me my long johns, hat, converter, towel and sleep sheet. You know who you are and thanks to you I have not frozen and my electronics continue to work! I promise that I have not forgotten my loved ones back home... and you'll understand more of that when you see the pictures of all the things that I didn't buy you!! (He he he - well can ya blame me? I'd have to carry it all thru Europe! So instead, we've been taking pictures of all the things we aren't getting anyone. Aren't we sweet?!?)
I keep saying - and I do mean this - I would like to come back here in the summer with more money so that I could enjoy more of the out-doorsy stuff to do. This place is just awesome. It also looks like in the summer the fish market is bigger and more along the lines of what we were expecting, so that would be something nice too. The only complaint I have about the hostel is that the showers have a limit on how hot you can get them... so when you want the water to be almost scalding-you hot, you have to settle for just warm-bordering-on-hot. We'll have to see how the hostel in Amsterdam is. We have vauge notions of where we will be in November... all we know for sure is that we'll be in Romania at the end of it and Berlin before Romania. Getting back to the trains... that was something else that I wanted to tell you all - giving up my car FREAKING SUCKS!!!!! Now the trains are good because if I were driving through Europe we'd get in a wreak because I'd be wanting to sightsee instead of drive, and it's probably good that we're not driving in the cities either but damn, it would be nice to be able to get somewhere on my time schedule instead of someone else's. For a gas pedal happy control freak, this has been a very huge adjustment. Good juju in the long run, I'm sure, but UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH - I will tell you that if I get a chance to drive on the autobahn, I'm taking it - no if's, ands or buts about it!!
Now then, I think that's all I wanted to update everyone on - don't worry, I'm sure Ana will be posting later to give you her view on the day / trip so far. I'm gonna enjoy another fairly warm shower before we jump back on the trains for 2 days... paying to go to the bathroom has been an interesting change, too... we are no longer in Kansas, Toto. : )
Monday, October 29, 2012
Bergen, Bryggen and buses
Hello to all and welcome to the rehash of our first day in Bergen! So this AM our hostel-mates (a mother and daughter who took both top bunks, so we have both bottom bunks and I've hit my head about 4 times already) woke us up before 8am with all of their preparing for the day. How do I know it was before 8? Because that's when our alarm was set for! We had breakfast and something that I ate gave me a horrible sinus headache so I got the Excedrine out only to realize that I'm crazy short on my bestest painkillers - no bueno but we still solidered on. We figured out the bus in that it takes 27 Norwegian Kronor to get anywhere, we found the stop for the pharmacy (Apotek in Norweigen) and got some medicine for Ana. We were able to get back on another bus again and we guessed where we were supposed to get off for downtown (or the city center as they call it around here)... but we guessed right so WOO HOO for us! We found the fishmarket which is below the trourist info center. It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but there were plenty of lobsters, crabs, fishes of all varieties and people to make you a plate of something. We ended up having lunch there and Ana had a salmon filet with veggies, potato salad (very heavy on the mayo), a salad consisting only of lettuce and some bread. I had a hot smoked salmon sammich that the lady made for me subway-style and had the option of whale meat... but declined... figured that would jack up the price of the sammich. It was VERY tasty and pretty pricy, so that was our splurge of this trip. We also walked around the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bryggen (the Wharf) - it has had it's share of fires, but the foundations have been there since the 11th century. There were a lot of cute shops and things, and while Ana rested, I continued on to walk around Haakon's Hall (the 13th century Royal Ceremonial hall) and Rosenkrantz Tower (16th century). So we got to see a lot of old stuff, and also some new stuff because that's where all the touristy things are and we found all kinds of bars, restaurants, shops, etc. We then decided to get back to the hostel because it gets dark here around 4:30 - 5. We ended up getting on the bus back at the same stop where we got in - turns out that was a mistake because we ended up riding the bus the wrong direction until the end of the line at which point the driver asked us where we were going and laughed at us when we said "Montana" (yeah, the hostel is Bergen Montana hostel... makes me giggle) and said we had gone the wrong direction. We laughed and told him that we'd been enjoying the view! When we got to our stop, Ana told him that he finally was rid of us and that made him smile. The good part of all this is that now we know where to get back on the bus from downtown to go the correct direction! So all's well.
I told Ana that it's possible that tomorrrow I will want to hike the trails that are right behind our hostel and take us up the mountain that we're on (the whole place is either on a mountainside or right on the water - Norway is wicked awesome like that) and she has told me to have fun with that and to wear her orange jacket so that she could see me on the trail, because otherwise I'll blend in too much. He he - it's true. When we get separated it's harder for her to find me because I look all European. I did notice a lot of people here are really pale... and yes, it took me this long - I'm not the most observant person ever, so sue me. I definitly want to come back here during the summer and with a lot more money so that I could take some of the scenic trains and fjord tours that they have.
We were disappointed to learn that in order to get into any of the churches around here, you have to pay. They do offer the Bergen card which gets you discounts or into things for free (also allows you to use the buses for free too) but we determined that it would not be worth it for us because we don't really do much in the way of museums. We both seem to like to walk around the place more than we like to contemplate history in museums. I do have to say, it's hard to take Ana seriously when she's wearing her sock monkey hat... and I saw a guy the other day with a smurf hat and now I so want one!! He he. The medicine seems to be helping her out but please keep her in your prayers - she really doesn't like the cold, and we haven't even run into any real snow yet.
So that's pretty much it for the rehash of today - I left out the trip to the grocery store... but that's pretty much the same everywhere except we have less selection and have to guess at what we're buying since, you know, it's all in Norwegian. Who says we're not adventurous?!? Tomorrow I'm gonna try the pickled herring that I wasn't brave enough to try this morning - yeah, they have it for breakfast!! And you can have it just normal or in tomato or mustard sauce... this is gonna be interesting.
I told Ana that it's possible that tomorrrow I will want to hike the trails that are right behind our hostel and take us up the mountain that we're on (the whole place is either on a mountainside or right on the water - Norway is wicked awesome like that) and she has told me to have fun with that and to wear her orange jacket so that she could see me on the trail, because otherwise I'll blend in too much. He he - it's true. When we get separated it's harder for her to find me because I look all European. I did notice a lot of people here are really pale... and yes, it took me this long - I'm not the most observant person ever, so sue me. I definitly want to come back here during the summer and with a lot more money so that I could take some of the scenic trains and fjord tours that they have.
We were disappointed to learn that in order to get into any of the churches around here, you have to pay. They do offer the Bergen card which gets you discounts or into things for free (also allows you to use the buses for free too) but we determined that it would not be worth it for us because we don't really do much in the way of museums. We both seem to like to walk around the place more than we like to contemplate history in museums. I do have to say, it's hard to take Ana seriously when she's wearing her sock monkey hat... and I saw a guy the other day with a smurf hat and now I so want one!! He he. The medicine seems to be helping her out but please keep her in your prayers - she really doesn't like the cold, and we haven't even run into any real snow yet.
So that's pretty much it for the rehash of today - I left out the trip to the grocery store... but that's pretty much the same everywhere except we have less selection and have to guess at what we're buying since, you know, it's all in Norwegian. Who says we're not adventurous?!? Tomorrow I'm gonna try the pickled herring that I wasn't brave enough to try this morning - yeah, they have it for breakfast!! And you can have it just normal or in tomato or mustard sauce... this is gonna be interesting.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Well we did not sleep on a bench...
At one point last night I thought Mandi had lost her mind, then I realized she was serious! After going to Helsinki on a short but very nice cruse we had made plans to hit our next Scandinavian country of Norway. Gratefully my knee is better but I am feeling my age because sad to say I have caught some kind of stomach bug and have visited every toilet from Helsinki to Norway. Initially we both thought I was a wienie because of the cold and I was shivering for about 3 hours before Mandi suggested to take a hot shower and that helped with some Sangria (good for anything). The next day Mandi the champ that she is went to Helsinki on her own but said it got to cold to stay out and came back early. We then took a bus to the train station rather than walk because I am still not 100% and jumped on a train to Oslo, Norway. When we arrive in Oslo at eight Mandi says your train is the next day at 8:11 and we can stay in the station. A long pause goes thru my head while I figure out what she just said then she says she had stayed the night in an airport before (with a very sweet smile on her face) sigh. Then I look on the website for Oslo station and it closes at 1:00 am and reopens at 4:00 am. Priceline saved the day and we got a quite expensive hotel but very nice hotel located at the station. Mandi slept like a baby, very cute for the girl willing to sleep on a bench for the night. Sorry but I AM to old to play like sleeping on a bench is OK. =0) We then got up early and had an amazing breakfast included in our fee and took the final train to Bergen. Beautiful so far but it began to sleet when we arrived so the next few days will be fun.
Now to take a few steps back for our stay in Stockholm. We both had a magnificent time just wondering around our little island, I learned from Mandi Stockholm is on 14 islands, and took beautiful pictures of trees and the surrounding buildings. The next day I think Mandi forgot I am old or forgot she was not a machine (thanks Mo, I cannot tell her because of my short legs I cannot keep up because apparently you do=o)). We left the hostel for an hour walk at nine to get to our free walking tour at ten and we arrived on time and walked for another hour and one half and learned about Stockholm's modern mecca. Fine, we had lunch and walked to Old Town and waited for the next tour for Old Town at seven because we did not want to walk back to the hostel and walk back again (why we did not take the train, I will never know). So we walked, walked, had a couple coffees, walked the tour at seven for another hour and one half and then walked back to the hostel. Are we crazy? The answer is Yes. We did not have to leave the hostel till noon the next day Praise God but then guess what? We had to walk to where the cruse was casting off from. Guess where it was? Past were Old Town is and onto another island. I had already started feeling sick the night before but my knee was better so there was really no reason to say anything. So in conclusion, my memory of Stockholm will be tired, ache, poppy but really beautiful city.
Now I will hand the computer over to machine like friend.... Mandi
LOL - Ana really thinks that I am part cyborg... but that's what my family does - we walk and walk and walk and eventually at the end of the day we realize that we are BEAT!!! And I do forget that Ana is older than me because she doesn't look it! So anyway, after this Mom and Ana can comiserate that I walked both of their legs off. I don't know if it's lack of experience or a foolish belief that nothing can really go wrong or just the fact that I'm 10 feet tall and bulletproof but I certainally have a different view than Ana. She's the careful one... I was even able too sleep thru Serbia, so apparently nothing rattles me. I am grateful for the room in Oslo - the art was weird (you'll see when the pix are up) but they had the best blankets and pillows that we've enjoyed on this trip so far, and breakfast was a definite winner! (For those who are wondering, the airport was Chicago O'Hare when I was in college.)
Helsinki was on the chilly side (-1 C), and my body was definitly feeling the effects of the walking through Stockholm, so I didn't spend as long there as I otherwise would have. I did find some beautiful churches and took lots of pictures until my camera died... then I found a couple parks but the best part was when I was making my way back to the boat via the touristy shopping places. There was a man with a violin and he played "Ave Maria" on the street. It was crazy beautiful and it felt like such a blessing. It also was a bit of a prod from the big guy as I have been very lax in my prayers lately (other than my now customary "Please God let the train be late / be on time / not need reservations / accept the rail pass..."). The Oslo thing was a judgement call because I was making the plans alone (due to evil stomach bug) and they didn't have a night train from Oslo to Bergen - now I know not to make those kind of jugement calls without consulting my travel companion. (sheepish grin) The good news is alls well that ends well and we had a beautiful trip here. Seriously, Norway has some of the best scenery so far... and that goes for the Norwegian guys too... perhaps I have a thing for Vikings. : )
So now we are back on track and planning on figuring out the next parts of our journey and checking Scandinavia off the list. I think that I would like to come back here in the summer to really enjoy all the hiking and other outdoorsy things to do... Ana has told me that under no circumstances are we going white water rafting... spoilsport. ; p It's not even like I suggested that!
Now to take a few steps back for our stay in Stockholm. We both had a magnificent time just wondering around our little island, I learned from Mandi Stockholm is on 14 islands, and took beautiful pictures of trees and the surrounding buildings. The next day I think Mandi forgot I am old or forgot she was not a machine (thanks Mo, I cannot tell her because of my short legs I cannot keep up because apparently you do=o)). We left the hostel for an hour walk at nine to get to our free walking tour at ten and we arrived on time and walked for another hour and one half and learned about Stockholm's modern mecca. Fine, we had lunch and walked to Old Town and waited for the next tour for Old Town at seven because we did not want to walk back to the hostel and walk back again (why we did not take the train, I will never know). So we walked, walked, had a couple coffees, walked the tour at seven for another hour and one half and then walked back to the hostel. Are we crazy? The answer is Yes. We did not have to leave the hostel till noon the next day Praise God but then guess what? We had to walk to where the cruse was casting off from. Guess where it was? Past were Old Town is and onto another island. I had already started feeling sick the night before but my knee was better so there was really no reason to say anything. So in conclusion, my memory of Stockholm will be tired, ache, poppy but really beautiful city.
Now I will hand the computer over to machine like friend.... Mandi
LOL - Ana really thinks that I am part cyborg... but that's what my family does - we walk and walk and walk and eventually at the end of the day we realize that we are BEAT!!! And I do forget that Ana is older than me because she doesn't look it! So anyway, after this Mom and Ana can comiserate that I walked both of their legs off. I don't know if it's lack of experience or a foolish belief that nothing can really go wrong or just the fact that I'm 10 feet tall and bulletproof but I certainally have a different view than Ana. She's the careful one... I was even able too sleep thru Serbia, so apparently nothing rattles me. I am grateful for the room in Oslo - the art was weird (you'll see when the pix are up) but they had the best blankets and pillows that we've enjoyed on this trip so far, and breakfast was a definite winner! (For those who are wondering, the airport was Chicago O'Hare when I was in college.)
Helsinki was on the chilly side (-1 C), and my body was definitly feeling the effects of the walking through Stockholm, so I didn't spend as long there as I otherwise would have. I did find some beautiful churches and took lots of pictures until my camera died... then I found a couple parks but the best part was when I was making my way back to the boat via the touristy shopping places. There was a man with a violin and he played "Ave Maria" on the street. It was crazy beautiful and it felt like such a blessing. It also was a bit of a prod from the big guy as I have been very lax in my prayers lately (other than my now customary "Please God let the train be late / be on time / not need reservations / accept the rail pass..."). The Oslo thing was a judgement call because I was making the plans alone (due to evil stomach bug) and they didn't have a night train from Oslo to Bergen - now I know not to make those kind of jugement calls without consulting my travel companion. (sheepish grin) The good news is alls well that ends well and we had a beautiful trip here. Seriously, Norway has some of the best scenery so far... and that goes for the Norwegian guys too... perhaps I have a thing for Vikings. : )
So now we are back on track and planning on figuring out the next parts of our journey and checking Scandinavia off the list. I think that I would like to come back here in the summer to really enjoy all the hiking and other outdoorsy things to do... Ana has told me that under no circumstances are we going white water rafting... spoilsport. ; p It's not even like I suggested that!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
I didn't know...
This evening it is me (Ana) adding to the blog. Mandi noted this morning but then we were starving and we went on the search for food. Very Yummy salmon and pasta. I will add pictures later:0).
OK, I know I am the brunette of the pair and the older one but I am still learning. Hopefully I will continue to learn until the day I go home to see Jesus.
I did not know:
Little Asia girls snore (who weigh less than 100 pounds wet),
Red skinny jean could be warn by a guy who is strait,
Wearing two sets of Long Johns is weird. :/ (Mandi and a man from NY thought it was hilarious),
Europeans love to talk about American politics,
It is OK to strip down to your skives on night trains (not recommened) yuck (don't want to see that again, actually Mandi got that privilege I only saw a very hairy elbow, praise God!),
Trains could go on ferries,
It does not snow in Sweden till December and
that we could have so much fun in such a short time.
I am very grateful Mandi is my travel buddy we are both laid back and when one is stressing the other is fine and vice versa.
The trip from Sofia was very long and gratefully we will be taking shorter trains now. It is amazing the difference between the southern region of Europe and the northern. I enjoy them both because of the history but I also enjoy hearing English and Spanish. I have actually started to teach Mandi some Spanish to prepare her for when we are in the Spain. She is a quick learner and love to talk about food. We do miss the Mexican food back home but we will be prepaid to chow down when we set food on American soil.
Today, we recovered then ate and walked around Stockholm, BEAUTIFUL. It is fall here and all the trees are changing color and there are an amazing number of parks here. Everyone loves to walk. We will get to to 2 free tours of Stockholm then we will be off to Finland. The hostel is nice but very conservative with water and light. This morning Mandi had to learn first that the shower is on a push button timer and if you do not move around enough the lights will turn off. He he he She told me about the water but forgot to tell me about the timer so I was drying off in the dark. Perfect setting for of my brothers horror stories. But if you move enough the light will turn back on. It is time for dinner and a good nights rest for another walking day.
Lots of love from Stockholm,
OK, I know I am the brunette of the pair and the older one but I am still learning. Hopefully I will continue to learn until the day I go home to see Jesus.
I did not know:
Little Asia girls snore (who weigh less than 100 pounds wet),
Red skinny jean could be warn by a guy who is strait,
Wearing two sets of Long Johns is weird. :/ (Mandi and a man from NY thought it was hilarious),
Europeans love to talk about American politics,
It is OK to strip down to your skives on night trains (not recommened) yuck (don't want to see that again, actually Mandi got that privilege I only saw a very hairy elbow, praise God!),
Trains could go on ferries,
It does not snow in Sweden till December and
that we could have so much fun in such a short time.
I am very grateful Mandi is my travel buddy we are both laid back and when one is stressing the other is fine and vice versa.
The trip from Sofia was very long and gratefully we will be taking shorter trains now. It is amazing the difference between the southern region of Europe and the northern. I enjoy them both because of the history but I also enjoy hearing English and Spanish. I have actually started to teach Mandi some Spanish to prepare her for when we are in the Spain. She is a quick learner and love to talk about food. We do miss the Mexican food back home but we will be prepaid to chow down when we set food on American soil.
Today, we recovered then ate and walked around Stockholm, BEAUTIFUL. It is fall here and all the trees are changing color and there are an amazing number of parks here. Everyone loves to walk. We will get to to 2 free tours of Stockholm then we will be off to Finland. The hostel is nice but very conservative with water and light. This morning Mandi had to learn first that the shower is on a push button timer and if you do not move around enough the lights will turn off. He he he She told me about the water but forgot to tell me about the timer so I was drying off in the dark. Perfect setting for of my brothers horror stories. But if you move enough the light will turn back on. It is time for dinner and a good nights rest for another walking day.
Lots of love from Stockholm,
We made it to the land of....
IKEA!!!! He he he - so our adventures leading to Stokholm were many and varied. First we hopped a train from Sofia, Bulgaria to Bucharest, Romania. No biggie, nothing really went wrong except as we were sitting at a station, Ana noticed that the train had disconnected right in front of our car and we FREAKED OUT thinking that we were on the wrong part of the train and that it would go to Bucharest without us, so we grabbed all our stuff (heavy, heavy bags) and rushed to the other train. There was a woman on the train who then shook her head at us said Bucharest and pointed back to the car we were originally on. Feeling very foolish we took our stuff back to where we were. I'm sure the guy watching all this in the station got a kick out of it. So we made it to Bucharest and got on the night train to Budapest. We hadn't made any reservations on that train so we were not in a sleeper car, so we spent the night trying to sleep in seats that really were not made for sleeping and the lights in the car never went off, all night. So by the time we pulled in to Budapest - an hour later than we thought - we had missed our connection. We talked to the ticket office and they gave us an itinerary that had us leaving Budapest at 8 pm. So we were stuck in the station (because no one wants to sightsee with 20 - 50 lbs of stuff on their back) from 11 am - 8 pm. The people watching was fun and for lunch I did have a great gyro, so it wasn't a total loss. The train to Berlin was also a night train, but this time we got a sleeper car. We didn't think that we would meet a very friendly old Hungarian man who told us he was a chiropractor and tried to help Ana with her knee... I say tried because the next morning it was swollen and worse than before. He was very insistant in hoping that she would come back and he could fix it for her. We also met a guy from LA on the train, and he told us many fun stories of the "party hostels" that he had been in - frankly, we're glad we have missed those! But we did get a good night of sleep which was very needed as Mandi was getting a little bitchy!!!! We made it to Berlin without any mishaps, got on the train to Copenhagen, ended up sitting in some people's assigned seats, so we seat jumped about 3 times until we were finally settled. In Copenhagen we met a nice German man who was also on his way to Sweden, although not as far as Stockholm and wanted to converse on the train. Unfortunatly, I was not in the mood for small talk, I just wanted to relax, so we didn't go sit with him. Turned out to be a good thing because we needed reservations on that train as well, and didn't have any! Thankfully the nice man on the train sold us some reservations, then the nice lady who came on the train after him told us that the seats behind us - in a glass enclosure - were free. So we sat there and people would come by on the way to the bathroom and kinda stare at us and then move along. So I got silly and said it was a good thing that they put the gabby Americans in their own enclosure and they were probably thinking "Don't tap the glass, you'll scare the Americans!" We grabbed a quick nap around 11 pm, were off the train by 11:45 and on our way to the hostel once we figured out where southwest was! (Seriously, never go to Europe without a compass!) I would like to say THANK YOU to all the nice train employees who take pity on stupid Americans who are still trying to figure out the rail system!!! BUT - we didn't end up in Serbia!
So we are here for about 3 days, today will probably consist of a walk around the area, foodage at some point and hopefully launderizing for me! No snow yet, but Ana is still afraid of the cold... he he he - silly Texan! My one complaint about the hostel - the shower is one of those push the button things and the button does not say on for as long as I would like!!! But the good thing is that I'm finally clean!!! I had to laugh because I have a progression of the hair.. first day it's clean, nothing is done - second day in goes the headband, third day on it's bandanna on the head time! I think we've gotten some funny looks for that, too. Ana thinks it's because they either think she's a gypsy or some kind of blue flower gang. I think she's being silly, but what do I know?
All in all, this has been an amazing trip so far, and we both feel like we're trying to cram in as much as we can before we go home, which is funny because we're not going home soon, but we feel like it's been so much fun that it must be ending soon. Does that make any sense?! Probably not. Ana tells me that since I have blonde hair and green eyes, I totally fit in here with the other Europeans, I think she's looking forward to Spain and Italy where I'll be the obvious tourist! He he.
Trying to put down some thoughts on the trip so far and it's hard. I love the train traveling but I really don't want to do another marathon of 2 days crossing all of Europe. I like checking out the hostels, but I really don't like finding and booking them. Meeting people has been fun, Ana is the queen of small talk - I think it's a southern thing - and watching her is very interesting and fun. Walking the cobblestone streets and seeing all the people out in the parks in Sofia was as crazy as dodging the bikers in Copenhagen. I like that all of Europe has different "flavors" if you will and different tones to each city. There have been people trying to get into political debates with us, which we have (so far) politely declined to get into. Theresa was right - they love American politics over here and a lot of them like Obama... although the hostel guy today said that he's beeen dissapointed in Obama recently. Asked if we saw the debate and we were like, "No, we were on a train all of yesterday." Craziness! Dealing with all the currency changes has been interesting, too. We know some countries use the Euro, but so far we've only really been through Germany. Denmark, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Sweden all use their own currency. So it has been interesting dealing with that. We are planing on hitting up Finland and Norway in the next few days and hopefully getting our tour of Amsterdam after that and then heading toward Romaia again to stay with Ana's friend. This of course is all tenative as we really are keeping things as open as possible.
This just in... we may be taking a cruise to Helsinki!!! That's all from me, a word from Ana after we get something to EAT!!!!
So we are here for about 3 days, today will probably consist of a walk around the area, foodage at some point and hopefully launderizing for me! No snow yet, but Ana is still afraid of the cold... he he he - silly Texan! My one complaint about the hostel - the shower is one of those push the button things and the button does not say on for as long as I would like!!! But the good thing is that I'm finally clean!!! I had to laugh because I have a progression of the hair.. first day it's clean, nothing is done - second day in goes the headband, third day on it's bandanna on the head time! I think we've gotten some funny looks for that, too. Ana thinks it's because they either think she's a gypsy or some kind of blue flower gang. I think she's being silly, but what do I know?
All in all, this has been an amazing trip so far, and we both feel like we're trying to cram in as much as we can before we go home, which is funny because we're not going home soon, but we feel like it's been so much fun that it must be ending soon. Does that make any sense?! Probably not. Ana tells me that since I have blonde hair and green eyes, I totally fit in here with the other Europeans, I think she's looking forward to Spain and Italy where I'll be the obvious tourist! He he.
Trying to put down some thoughts on the trip so far and it's hard. I love the train traveling but I really don't want to do another marathon of 2 days crossing all of Europe. I like checking out the hostels, but I really don't like finding and booking them. Meeting people has been fun, Ana is the queen of small talk - I think it's a southern thing - and watching her is very interesting and fun. Walking the cobblestone streets and seeing all the people out in the parks in Sofia was as crazy as dodging the bikers in Copenhagen. I like that all of Europe has different "flavors" if you will and different tones to each city. There have been people trying to get into political debates with us, which we have (so far) politely declined to get into. Theresa was right - they love American politics over here and a lot of them like Obama... although the hostel guy today said that he's beeen dissapointed in Obama recently. Asked if we saw the debate and we were like, "No, we were on a train all of yesterday." Craziness! Dealing with all the currency changes has been interesting, too. We know some countries use the Euro, but so far we've only really been through Germany. Denmark, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Sweden all use their own currency. So it has been interesting dealing with that. We are planing on hitting up Finland and Norway in the next few days and hopefully getting our tour of Amsterdam after that and then heading toward Romaia again to stay with Ana's friend. This of course is all tenative as we really are keeping things as open as possible.
This just in... we may be taking a cruise to Helsinki!!! That's all from me, a word from Ana after we get something to EAT!!!!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
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