Well, this is our final blog since we're home now, albeit a week early. I was behind in blogging because basically we were on the go since May 30th and had no time for computers or e-mails. We were mostly concerned with finding a place to stay each night as vagabonds while we made our way from Munich, through Venice, Rome, Florence and up to Zurich in four days. Our free time ceased greatly due to some unfortunate circumstances.
I will preface the beginning of this by saying that I had an absolutely amazing time over in Europe and the Lord stretched me in 16 days more than I have been stretched in a long time. And I definitely welcomed it. It was hard essentially being alone and having to figure out problem after problem overseas with limited resources. But God in His goodness showed us mercy by providing something incredibly good after things that were incredibly bad would happen. I sat back and reflected a few times like, "What did I do wrong that all of these things keep happening? Did you not want me to go on this trip God? Because never for a minute did I have any uneasiness about going on it, and even though I didn't map out a daily intinerary for each city, I did plan enough to where we would be totally okay for the 25 days we were supposed to be in Europe. Rooms, trains, finances, etc. But then things beyond my control happened to us that I had to learn to surrender and be okay with and even though I was incredibly disappointed, take from the situation what I could and know that there was a reason for everything. Through being obedient to God and trusting in Him, I was still able to have an amazing time filled with new friends, experiences, memories, and growth that, if I focused on everything that went wrong and let that ruin my trip, I would have completely missed out on. All I can do now is appreciate the time over there that I had been given and appreciate being home. And thank God that I deliberately made every effort to be fully present over there and not dwell on America or missing family or whatever. That even though I may have had my cards cancelled and money frozen, I was going through it in Munich. Or even though Haagen Dazs charged me $3000 dollars and still hasn't credited me the money back, at least it was in Belgium. Or even though we found out we had to come home very early and get up to Zurich in 48 hours from Venice and Rome, at least it was happening in Italy and I got to spend the 21 hours on the train throughout Italy looking out the window at the Italian hillsides and vineyards and Tuscan countrysides and read, write, reflect, and see things I'd never seen before.
At the end of long and exhausting days of travel and power-sightseeing, we would make sure to end the night with a long, leisurely meal and people watch, savor the food, and enjoy the feeling of being immersed in a totally different culture. We tried to stay away from tourist places and just slip into European life unnoticed, and sometimes it worked. When menus were in a totally different language, sometimes we'd dance around it with our waiter, or sometimes we'd just choose something and not really know what we were getting. But we were never disappointed. :)
What I learned from this whirlwind trip of 7 countries, 10 cities, 5,000 trains (or so it seemed) and over 60 hours riding on trains, is that I want to take a step back from my own life and love much, celebrate often, live simply and enjoy life abundantly. I think I have been moving too fast trying to grasp something of substance selfishly, that has been present in my life all along. I noticed how hard people work for their families and friends, but then spend equal time with their families and friends being enveloped in relationship with one another. And they enjoy the good things in life that God has given us. Leisurely breakfasts on the weekends, long dinners in the evenings, bike riding everywhere, walking instead of driving and looking eachother in the eye and greeting one another (and strangers) on the streets. Everyone seems a lot less stressed out, and that's what I want for my life, because really, what does rushing through life gain anyone? It's about leading a balanced life and investing in relationships with eachother.
So yes, several unfortunate things beyond our control happened to us that led us to have to come home early. And while there were many more things I would have liked to see and do, I learned enough and gained enough and experienced enough to last me a very long time... and to fuel my desire to plan my next big adventure. Nothing can ever stop me from traveling. Not even night trains to Budapest with scary drunk men, or $3000 charges from Haagen Dazs. I miss Europe already. :)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
European experiences so far...:)
1. There are more H&M´s on the street corners than Starbucks!
2. We´re learning to carry a lot of change with us as public toilets cost anywhere from .50 to 1€...!
3. Bottled water here is so cheap! a 70 ounce bottle is like 1€. It would totally be like´$6 at home. Probably because no one really drinks tap water..
4. Table water automatically comes with bubbles... and most bottled water is fizzy
5. Tableside entertainment in Munich usually comes with mime acts who come and ask you for a tip afterwards... :)
6. We´re not sure if we´ve spent more time on trains or in hotels this trip... probably trains :)
7. I personally think that maneuvering through the language barrier is much more enjoyable than speaking English all the time... :)
8. We´ve memorized the numbers on our calling cards already... and I´m not sure if that´s a good thing... :)
9. Movie theatres in Germany are amazing!! We saw Indiana Jones today to get out of the heat for awhile and it was hands down the best theatre I´ve ever been in. They even had assigned seats and it was only 4€ to see a movie!
10. We´ve pretty much accepted the fact that we´re going to be lost at least once per city for anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours... and we´re learning to be OK with that. :) When else can you see backside neighborhoods and random alleys selling cheap shoes and full pigs?
11. Information desks and maps are becomming our best friends... :)
Things we´re done on this trip so far:
1. Visit a town we´ve never heard of (Mechelen!)
2. Pretend to understand the language... (ja? ok ok... nein... ich spreche nicht Deutsch...)
3. Stop and smell the flowers
4. Listen to the music of real German oompah bands with lively Irishmen
5. Make a lot of friends
6. Watch the sun set at 150 miles per hour
7.... wake up in another country than we fell asleep in :)
8. Fall in love with the country
9. Developed an intense love for nutella and pretzels :)
10. Had German and Japanese roommates at the same time
11. Rode bikes through the amazing Austrian mountain and countryside with new friends
12. Learned to develop an appreciation for eye masks and ear plugs... :)
Needless to say, this trip continues to be such a great experience for me. Sometimes hard, sometimes discouraging and tiring, but nevertheless amazing. I feel like foreign travel is kind of like having your first child. You think you´re prepared until you arrive and realize you really have no clue what you´re doing, and you freak out for a little bit, and then you have to learn along the way. By yourself, from other people and through asking for help if you have to. Because it is then that you discover the things you can only find from trying and enduring. Even with every frustration, problem and overwhelming moment that makes me wonder "what did I get myself into..." I realize that I wouldn´t ever trade this for anything, and I fall in love all over again. Travel is my passion.
2. We´re learning to carry a lot of change with us as public toilets cost anywhere from .50 to 1€...!
3. Bottled water here is so cheap! a 70 ounce bottle is like 1€. It would totally be like´$6 at home. Probably because no one really drinks tap water..
4. Table water automatically comes with bubbles... and most bottled water is fizzy
5. Tableside entertainment in Munich usually comes with mime acts who come and ask you for a tip afterwards... :)
6. We´re not sure if we´ve spent more time on trains or in hotels this trip... probably trains :)
7. I personally think that maneuvering through the language barrier is much more enjoyable than speaking English all the time... :)
8. We´ve memorized the numbers on our calling cards already... and I´m not sure if that´s a good thing... :)
9. Movie theatres in Germany are amazing!! We saw Indiana Jones today to get out of the heat for awhile and it was hands down the best theatre I´ve ever been in. They even had assigned seats and it was only 4€ to see a movie!
10. We´ve pretty much accepted the fact that we´re going to be lost at least once per city for anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours... and we´re learning to be OK with that. :) When else can you see backside neighborhoods and random alleys selling cheap shoes and full pigs?
11. Information desks and maps are becomming our best friends... :)
Things we´re done on this trip so far:
1. Visit a town we´ve never heard of (Mechelen!)
2. Pretend to understand the language... (ja? ok ok... nein... ich spreche nicht Deutsch...)
3. Stop and smell the flowers
4. Listen to the music of real German oompah bands with lively Irishmen
5. Make a lot of friends
6. Watch the sun set at 150 miles per hour
7.... wake up in another country than we fell asleep in :)
8. Fall in love with the country
9. Developed an intense love for nutella and pretzels :)
10. Had German and Japanese roommates at the same time
11. Rode bikes through the amazing Austrian mountain and countryside with new friends
12. Learned to develop an appreciation for eye masks and ear plugs... :)
Needless to say, this trip continues to be such a great experience for me. Sometimes hard, sometimes discouraging and tiring, but nevertheless amazing. I feel like foreign travel is kind of like having your first child. You think you´re prepared until you arrive and realize you really have no clue what you´re doing, and you freak out for a little bit, and then you have to learn along the way. By yourself, from other people and through asking for help if you have to. Because it is then that you discover the things you can only find from trying and enduring. Even with every frustration, problem and overwhelming moment that makes me wonder "what did I get myself into..." I realize that I wouldn´t ever trade this for anything, and I fall in love all over again. Travel is my passion.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
There´s nothing like the smell of cows when biking through an Austrian village... :)
Well we´ve been in Munich for two days now and let me just say, day two was significantly better than day one. Yesterday when we arrived in Munich, we discovered that our credit cards were not working when we went to pay for our hotel-- and we couldn´t get any cash out from the atm machines either. So we were literally stranded with no money. Thankfully I brought an emergency credit card for this kind of situation, but it was not something that I wanted to use very frequently, if ever. So then we tried calling our banks but were on hold for nearly an hour and it used all of our calling card minutes. So here we are, in Munich after a long day on the trains, without money or calling cards. We were both tired and frustrated and getting a little homesick, not to mention the fact that we had just checked into our first hostel of the trip and weren´t sure how we felt sharing a room with four random girls, when we´ve had a room to ourselves the entire time. So we were definitely not happy. And we got lost. Again. Getting lost has been something we´ve pretty much gotten used to on this trip... :) I´m learning to embrace it.
After we got in our room and dropped our bags off, we were able to get a hold of Lexie´s boyfriend who put money on our calling card and we were able to get a hold of our banks finally, who gave us access to our money again (apparently they didn´t record that we were going to be in Amsterdam so they thought it was a fraudulent charge...), and things started looking up. We even had an amazing dinner in the Marienplatz which is the main square of Munich, and had our favorite Rädler and sat for a couple hours people watching and resting. We even met the girls in our room and they were really nice, so everything here wasn´t so bad after all. We were starting to get adjusted to the city... :)
Then, this morning was probably the best day we´ve had on this entire trip! We woke up and met a group of people at the train station to take a two hour train ride to a little town on the Germany/Austrian boarder called Fussen and spent the day hiking and biking and swimming at the base of the Tyrols and went inside the Neuschwanstein castle that was the inspiration of Walt Disney´s Disneyland castle. It was amazing! It was warm and sunny and beautiful and I had so many "oh my gosh, am I really doing this right now..." moments. Like completely in awe of Creation. I don´t think I´ve ever been in a more beautiful place in my entire life yet, and I realized then, that that is why I travel. Those moments are why I endure frustrations, push through money issues and language barriers, and step outside myself and learn and be humbled, and why I will never, ever stop planning my next trip and my next adventure. We were biking through neighborhoods of little local Germans, pastures of cows, trails by rivers and roads throughout the mountain base. And everything in the world seemed to stop, like the entire area was ours. It was simply amazing. We all just sat on the train ride back in awe of what an awesome day it was, and we met some really cool people on the trip also. It was an experience I will definitely recommend to anyone going to Munich!
Tomorrow we´re going to be lazy and explore the city a little more, and then we´re going to take a night train to Venice tomorrow night and get there in the morning. So it will be nice to get into a new country again! Hopefully there I´ll be able to upload some more pictures, because at this hostel there is no way to. All I can say is that I am looking forward to the experience of real Italian food, coffee and gelato.... ahhh Italy... :)
(Hey this is Lexie, I really am here! :) Pretty much want to live in the Neuschwanstein castle...!)
-Megan and Lexie
(I´m trying to get Lexie to blog on here!! But she hasn´t done it yet...)
:)
After we got in our room and dropped our bags off, we were able to get a hold of Lexie´s boyfriend who put money on our calling card and we were able to get a hold of our banks finally, who gave us access to our money again (apparently they didn´t record that we were going to be in Amsterdam so they thought it was a fraudulent charge...), and things started looking up. We even had an amazing dinner in the Marienplatz which is the main square of Munich, and had our favorite Rädler and sat for a couple hours people watching and resting. We even met the girls in our room and they were really nice, so everything here wasn´t so bad after all. We were starting to get adjusted to the city... :)
Then, this morning was probably the best day we´ve had on this entire trip! We woke up and met a group of people at the train station to take a two hour train ride to a little town on the Germany/Austrian boarder called Fussen and spent the day hiking and biking and swimming at the base of the Tyrols and went inside the Neuschwanstein castle that was the inspiration of Walt Disney´s Disneyland castle. It was amazing! It was warm and sunny and beautiful and I had so many "oh my gosh, am I really doing this right now..." moments. Like completely in awe of Creation. I don´t think I´ve ever been in a more beautiful place in my entire life yet, and I realized then, that that is why I travel. Those moments are why I endure frustrations, push through money issues and language barriers, and step outside myself and learn and be humbled, and why I will never, ever stop planning my next trip and my next adventure. We were biking through neighborhoods of little local Germans, pastures of cows, trails by rivers and roads throughout the mountain base. And everything in the world seemed to stop, like the entire area was ours. It was simply amazing. We all just sat on the train ride back in awe of what an awesome day it was, and we met some really cool people on the trip also. It was an experience I will definitely recommend to anyone going to Munich!
Tomorrow we´re going to be lazy and explore the city a little more, and then we´re going to take a night train to Venice tomorrow night and get there in the morning. So it will be nice to get into a new country again! Hopefully there I´ll be able to upload some more pictures, because at this hostel there is no way to. All I can say is that I am looking forward to the experience of real Italian food, coffee and gelato.... ahhh Italy... :)
(Hey this is Lexie, I really am here! :) Pretty much want to live in the Neuschwanstein castle...!)
-Megan and Lexie
(I´m trying to get Lexie to blog on here!! But she hasn´t done it yet...)
:)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Schneeballs, Radler and Christmas in May...
Rothenberg has by far, been my favorite place that we´ve been on this trip. Amsterdam was gorgeous but not gonna lie, probably won´t stay there again anytime in the near future. It was great as a midpoint between London and Germany since neither of us had any desire to go back to France, but it´s not been my favorite.
When we left Amsterdam it was cold and rainy on our last day, and when we arrived in Rothenberg after traveling all day, it was warm and sunny. It´s been about 80 degrees since we´ve been here and we´ve definitely been loving that. :) This morning we finally got to sleep in because every day we´ve had to either be up for breakfast, catch and early train, or we just hadn´t adjusted to the time zone difference and woke up early. So finally we slept like 12 hours and got up lazily at 9:30. So good. Today we had to take care of some business, so we mailed packages and letters, got the information for our next train to Munich, and made some reservations we needed to make. We also did laundry and let me tell you, that was probably the best 2 hours we´ve wasted on this trip. Clean clothes are priceless! Especially when we´ve been on long, dirty train rides and probably haven´t been smelling so great... :) So now we are clean and very happy.
We´ve also had some of the best food here in Rothenberg that we´ve had this entire trip, which is making us look forward to Italy even more! Rothenberg is famous for these little pastries called "schneeballs" which are the leftover scraps from pies and cookies rolled into little balls and dusted with powdered sugar or drizzled with chocolate. They are like the serious Rothenberg staple apparently, as every shop sells them. I´m pretty sure its just for the tourists, as they aren´t very good... but, now we can say we had the infamous Rothenberg schneeballs. :) We also discovered a new beer that we love called "Radler," which is pilsner and sprite. It´s so good!! It´s really easy to drink quickly, so we have to be careful with that, lol. We also had this coffee drink called icedkaffe, which is iced coffee, vanilla and espresso ice cream. Seriously the best coffee drink I´ve ever had in my life, so I´m hoping they have that in Italy because we got it at an italian cafe. Germany has been good to us so far... :) Tonight we´re taking the nightwatchman´s tour, which is a great tour of the entire city at night, around the walls of Rothenberg led by the famous "nightwatchman." Everyone here says its the must-see attraction of Rothenberg, so we´re doing it. Time for a pretzel and some Radler soon... :)
Seriously though, this trip has been such a blessing. I didn´t realize how great of a time it came at, and it´s really given Lexie and I a chance to just be present over here, learn, be challenged, laugh about dumb things, meet people, and enjoy cultures totally opposite of American culture and be adaptable to that. That means long lunches, greeting people on the street, respecting the houses we stay in, and definitely not rushing everywhere. It´s not all about us over here, as many Americans forget. Simply speaking a little of the language (which thankfully I do over here) has allowed us to maintain positive relationships with the German people we meet.
As I step back and just sort of reflect on life over here, I am humbled by how content people are and how simple they live. It is so interesting to watch life go by in the little towns and villages we come upon, and humbles me at how big this world actually is and how people can be happy without having much except family and love. How being "wealthy" doesn´t consist of big houses, fancy cars and lots of posessions, but on how hard people work on their land and live a balanced life cultivating relationships around them. Americans are so dependent upon convenience and being rushed and trying to live for some sort of big purpose, that we let life slip past us so fast and we totally miss it. People here aren´t on their cell phones constantly, talk to other people around them more, and greet you when you walk down the street. It´s almost like people are a team over here with mutual respect for one another. I am really amazed at the simplicity over here and how God, who loves me so much and has a plan for my life, is the same God who loves them just as much and has a plan for each invidual´s lives, big or small. I´m realizing that maybe God´s purpose for us here isn´t to do something big, but to just simply be, and help and love people the way Jesus did, and take a step back from ourselves and grow that way. Nothing big, nothing substantial in the world´s eyes, but huge in God´s. Needless to say I am very blessed to be here, to be where I´m at in my life and to have the relationships in my life that I do. I want to come home from this with a different perspective than I left with.
Side note: I´ve read the book " The Shack" on this trip, and let me tell you, it´s changed my life. I highly, highly recommend it.
Side note again: I have seen more Americans here in Rothenberg than anywhere else in Europe! That, and Japanese tourists and Japanese tourist buses. So weird.
When we left Amsterdam it was cold and rainy on our last day, and when we arrived in Rothenberg after traveling all day, it was warm and sunny. It´s been about 80 degrees since we´ve been here and we´ve definitely been loving that. :) This morning we finally got to sleep in because every day we´ve had to either be up for breakfast, catch and early train, or we just hadn´t adjusted to the time zone difference and woke up early. So finally we slept like 12 hours and got up lazily at 9:30. So good. Today we had to take care of some business, so we mailed packages and letters, got the information for our next train to Munich, and made some reservations we needed to make. We also did laundry and let me tell you, that was probably the best 2 hours we´ve wasted on this trip. Clean clothes are priceless! Especially when we´ve been on long, dirty train rides and probably haven´t been smelling so great... :) So now we are clean and very happy.
We´ve also had some of the best food here in Rothenberg that we´ve had this entire trip, which is making us look forward to Italy even more! Rothenberg is famous for these little pastries called "schneeballs" which are the leftover scraps from pies and cookies rolled into little balls and dusted with powdered sugar or drizzled with chocolate. They are like the serious Rothenberg staple apparently, as every shop sells them. I´m pretty sure its just for the tourists, as they aren´t very good... but, now we can say we had the infamous Rothenberg schneeballs. :) We also discovered a new beer that we love called "Radler," which is pilsner and sprite. It´s so good!! It´s really easy to drink quickly, so we have to be careful with that, lol. We also had this coffee drink called icedkaffe, which is iced coffee, vanilla and espresso ice cream. Seriously the best coffee drink I´ve ever had in my life, so I´m hoping they have that in Italy because we got it at an italian cafe. Germany has been good to us so far... :) Tonight we´re taking the nightwatchman´s tour, which is a great tour of the entire city at night, around the walls of Rothenberg led by the famous "nightwatchman." Everyone here says its the must-see attraction of Rothenberg, so we´re doing it. Time for a pretzel and some Radler soon... :)
Seriously though, this trip has been such a blessing. I didn´t realize how great of a time it came at, and it´s really given Lexie and I a chance to just be present over here, learn, be challenged, laugh about dumb things, meet people, and enjoy cultures totally opposite of American culture and be adaptable to that. That means long lunches, greeting people on the street, respecting the houses we stay in, and definitely not rushing everywhere. It´s not all about us over here, as many Americans forget. Simply speaking a little of the language (which thankfully I do over here) has allowed us to maintain positive relationships with the German people we meet.
As I step back and just sort of reflect on life over here, I am humbled by how content people are and how simple they live. It is so interesting to watch life go by in the little towns and villages we come upon, and humbles me at how big this world actually is and how people can be happy without having much except family and love. How being "wealthy" doesn´t consist of big houses, fancy cars and lots of posessions, but on how hard people work on their land and live a balanced life cultivating relationships around them. Americans are so dependent upon convenience and being rushed and trying to live for some sort of big purpose, that we let life slip past us so fast and we totally miss it. People here aren´t on their cell phones constantly, talk to other people around them more, and greet you when you walk down the street. It´s almost like people are a team over here with mutual respect for one another. I am really amazed at the simplicity over here and how God, who loves me so much and has a plan for my life, is the same God who loves them just as much and has a plan for each invidual´s lives, big or small. I´m realizing that maybe God´s purpose for us here isn´t to do something big, but to just simply be, and help and love people the way Jesus did, and take a step back from ourselves and grow that way. Nothing big, nothing substantial in the world´s eyes, but huge in God´s. Needless to say I am very blessed to be here, to be where I´m at in my life and to have the relationships in my life that I do. I want to come home from this with a different perspective than I left with.
Side note: I´ve read the book " The Shack" on this trip, and let me tell you, it´s changed my life. I highly, highly recommend it.
Side note again: I have seen more Americans here in Rothenberg than anywhere else in Europe! That, and Japanese tourists and Japanese tourist buses. So weird.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Christmas Village Germany... aka Rothenberg ob der Tauber
So we´re pretty much in the most amazing town ever right now... it´s called Rothenberg ob der Tauber in Germany, and it is the last remaining walled city in Germany that survived World War 2... which means it´s the quintessential Bavarian German experience. :) Cobblestone streets, flowers in windows, horses and carriages as the primary mode of transport, and friendly people saying hello from their windows and balconies. After a 7 hour train ride from Amsterdam on a rainy morning and enduring hurdles like trams breaking down, no sleep and loud German teenage girls for 2 hours of the trip, I was SO ready to be here... and the trek definitely paid off. We´re off now to have some schneeballs and kaffe, so I´ll write more later. It´s too nice and sunny outside to be on the computer! :)
Sunday, May 25, 2008
oh Amsterdam...
So we're spending our last day in Amsterdam today... and sadly it's been cold and rainy. I guess we couldn't hope to be so lucky to have sunshine every day... :) But we're kind of okay with that. It was nice to wake up this morning and just have it be kind of a cozy, relazxing day. We wanted to see the Anne Frank House, but had no real plans after that. We woke up to an absolutely beautiful breakfast at our B&B, with meats, cheeses, warm homemade croissants, coffee, orange juice, home made yogurt, etc. I guess the guy who runs the B&B used to be the food and beverage manager of the Hilton and has his own restaurant here in A'dam. Needless to say it was a wonderful way to wake up in a cold and rainy morning. It felt just like a Sunday morning at home... :)
Yesterday we took the day to just wander around (and get lost occasionally) in the city. We're staying in the residential area of Amsterdam which is actually really nice because we're not in the heart of the bustle of downtown. It's about a 15 minute train ride into the city center, and we really don't mind it. We see a lot of families riding bikes together, people walking their dogs, etc. instead of all the crazy Americans partying downtown. I would definitely recommend this to people because we've really been able to appreciate Amsterdam and it's beauty rather than staying in the center which is somewhat off-putting. It's been really interesting too, to see how subtle the coffeeshops are that serve marijuana. They're really unassuming and set up just like American coffee shops, with menus of different kinds, etc. It's a lot less "wild" than I pictured it and I've actually really loved it here. I grew up in private school so the smell of marijuana everywhere took some getting used to... :)
The B&B that we're staying at is literally someone's own house, so that took some getting used to as well, because I'm used to hotel stays and even small inns, etc. but not being in someone's actual home. It felt for a little bit like we were invading, but then we met some other guests and really came to appreciate the place. It's owned by two men (I think they are boyfriends...) who have amazing taste and it's so well-decorated inside. They really take care of us there, so we will absolutely recommend it to people. It's just really getting into the European culture. Rick Steves would be proud that we've stayed at "back door" places and people-watched, really experiencing the culture rather than being trapped in the droves of tourists.
We've also come to appreciate why Europeans dislike the stereotypical American person, because we've come across some really embarassing ones. Very loud, rude and self-centered people that literally made Lexie and I cringe and want to apologize on behalf of our culture. But everyone has their faults. We're just trying to blend in as much as we can and hopefully give Americans a better name. :) Trying to understand Dutch has been hard because we literally don't know anything in Dutch, but the Dutch people are incredibly friendly and easygoing, and they attempt to speak English with us whenever we can. We've had some interesting dialogues. We've had to be careful here because we've definitely been hit on by some creepy men who asked us way too many personal details and have had to make up quite a few lies... so don't worry, we're being safe. :) The Dutch commercials here are also hilarious. That, or Lexie and I are too easily entertained... :)
We leave tomorrow morning (early) for Rothenberg which I'm so excited for! We have limited internet access here, but we're hoping there will be more available there. Then on Wednesday we head over to Munich- yeah! Today I think for the rest of the day we're going to take it easy and go to sleep early to be ready for our early train.
I've posted some pictures on Facebook so you should check them out!
Bye for now. :)
-Megan
Yesterday we took the day to just wander around (and get lost occasionally) in the city. We're staying in the residential area of Amsterdam which is actually really nice because we're not in the heart of the bustle of downtown. It's about a 15 minute train ride into the city center, and we really don't mind it. We see a lot of families riding bikes together, people walking their dogs, etc. instead of all the crazy Americans partying downtown. I would definitely recommend this to people because we've really been able to appreciate Amsterdam and it's beauty rather than staying in the center which is somewhat off-putting. It's been really interesting too, to see how subtle the coffeeshops are that serve marijuana. They're really unassuming and set up just like American coffee shops, with menus of different kinds, etc. It's a lot less "wild" than I pictured it and I've actually really loved it here. I grew up in private school so the smell of marijuana everywhere took some getting used to... :)
The B&B that we're staying at is literally someone's own house, so that took some getting used to as well, because I'm used to hotel stays and even small inns, etc. but not being in someone's actual home. It felt for a little bit like we were invading, but then we met some other guests and really came to appreciate the place. It's owned by two men (I think they are boyfriends...) who have amazing taste and it's so well-decorated inside. They really take care of us there, so we will absolutely recommend it to people. It's just really getting into the European culture. Rick Steves would be proud that we've stayed at "back door" places and people-watched, really experiencing the culture rather than being trapped in the droves of tourists.
We've also come to appreciate why Europeans dislike the stereotypical American person, because we've come across some really embarassing ones. Very loud, rude and self-centered people that literally made Lexie and I cringe and want to apologize on behalf of our culture. But everyone has their faults. We're just trying to blend in as much as we can and hopefully give Americans a better name. :) Trying to understand Dutch has been hard because we literally don't know anything in Dutch, but the Dutch people are incredibly friendly and easygoing, and they attempt to speak English with us whenever we can. We've had some interesting dialogues. We've had to be careful here because we've definitely been hit on by some creepy men who asked us way too many personal details and have had to make up quite a few lies... so don't worry, we're being safe. :) The Dutch commercials here are also hilarious. That, or Lexie and I are too easily entertained... :)
We leave tomorrow morning (early) for Rothenberg which I'm so excited for! We have limited internet access here, but we're hoping there will be more available there. Then on Wednesday we head over to Munich- yeah! Today I think for the rest of the day we're going to take it easy and go to sleep early to be ready for our early train.
I've posted some pictures on Facebook so you should check them out!
Bye for now. :)
-Megan
Friday, May 23, 2008
Everyone has a bad day on their trip... I'm pretty sure this was ours
So as I'm being timed here at our internet station at the Hilton in Amsterdam (thanks dad, you have no idea how much this meant to us today!), I will write quickly about our day from hell. Let's hope this was our one token bad day and nothing else bad happens!
4am: Wake up from London after 5 hours of sleep (because we saw Wicked the night before- surreal in London!)
4:30am: Walk 3 miles to the train station to catch our 6am train. Step in a pile of vomit on the side of the road at the same time.
5:00am: Stand in a queue of 20 people to get morning coffee.
6:00am: Train departs- baby screams the entire time on the train
9:00am: Arrive in Belgium. Have traditional Belgian waffles at a Haagen Daaz restaurant and get charged 1440.00 EUR instead of 14.40 EUR TWICE, to have the guy promise me that it was cancelled both times.
10:15am: Train to Amsterdam is cancelled. Have to wait for train an hour later
11:00am: Get re-routed and dropped off at a train station in the middle of nowhere, which looks similar to a prison in Russia. Literally in the middle of nowhere. PTL two sets of guys-- American and British-- took us under their wings and we made friends with them the rest of the way as we all headed to Amsterdam together. That was awesome.
2:30pm: Finally arrive to Amsterdam. Realize that the directions to our hotel were wrong so we got lost.
3:00pm: Got online at the train station to discover that the Haagen Daaz charge HAD gone through and now my bank account is negative $3000. Freak out and cry.
4:15pm: Arrive at our (amazing) hotel and call Wamu to plead with them to fix this error, only to be told that nothing can be done until Tuesday when the credit should post. Then I can file a dispute which will then take 5-7 business days to process. So pretty much I'm in Amsterdam and I have about $600 to my name. Cry some more to my dad, who is in Disneyworld and can't do anything for me.
5:00pm: Remember that God is good and He will be with me through this and I will, at some point, get this all figured out.
5:15pm: Get the number for Haagen Daaz corporate to talk to them about this, and then go to some sightseeing in the beautiful city of Amsterdam... :)
And heck yes our room looks right over the canals!
I'm good now. Things will work out. :)
4am: Wake up from London after 5 hours of sleep (because we saw Wicked the night before- surreal in London!)
4:30am: Walk 3 miles to the train station to catch our 6am train. Step in a pile of vomit on the side of the road at the same time.
5:00am: Stand in a queue of 20 people to get morning coffee.
6:00am: Train departs- baby screams the entire time on the train
9:00am: Arrive in Belgium. Have traditional Belgian waffles at a Haagen Daaz restaurant and get charged 1440.00 EUR instead of 14.40 EUR TWICE, to have the guy promise me that it was cancelled both times.
10:15am: Train to Amsterdam is cancelled. Have to wait for train an hour later
11:00am: Get re-routed and dropped off at a train station in the middle of nowhere, which looks similar to a prison in Russia. Literally in the middle of nowhere. PTL two sets of guys-- American and British-- took us under their wings and we made friends with them the rest of the way as we all headed to Amsterdam together. That was awesome.
2:30pm: Finally arrive to Amsterdam. Realize that the directions to our hotel were wrong so we got lost.
3:00pm: Got online at the train station to discover that the Haagen Daaz charge HAD gone through and now my bank account is negative $3000. Freak out and cry.
4:15pm: Arrive at our (amazing) hotel and call Wamu to plead with them to fix this error, only to be told that nothing can be done until Tuesday when the credit should post. Then I can file a dispute which will then take 5-7 business days to process. So pretty much I'm in Amsterdam and I have about $600 to my name. Cry some more to my dad, who is in Disneyworld and can't do anything for me.
5:00pm: Remember that God is good and He will be with me through this and I will, at some point, get this all figured out.
5:15pm: Get the number for Haagen Daaz corporate to talk to them about this, and then go to some sightseeing in the beautiful city of Amsterdam... :)
And heck yes our room looks right over the canals!
I'm good now. Things will work out. :)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Lessons learned...:)
We're headed off to Belgium and Amsterdam tomorrow which is going to be great I think. London has been so bustling and busy that it's kind of been a whirlwind trip. But still so good because for the most part we haven't seen anything twice between the two of us. It's making us realize that for a good trip here you really need at least a week! But we have definitely been having a blast and the weather has been amazing which is so rare here! Bright, warm, sunny weather... we've even been able to wear our sundresses which we didn't think we'd get to break out until Italy.. :)
We visited Notting Hill yesterday which was really cute, and then today we went to the National Gallery and saw some amazing paintings from Rembrant, DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Monet, Degas and my personal favorite, Renior. I haven't seen a Renior painting up close before, so that was particularly great for me. Seeing his actual brushstrokes and fingermarks.... so cool. :) Being here makes me really humbled at how little history we actually experience in the states. It makes me look forward to Rome and Venice even more now. :)
Lessons learned so far:
1) Don't be an idiot! I left a bag full of things I'd purchased at H&M behind at a Starbucks in one of the shady districts of London, and thankfully God was gracious and a barista picked it up instead of someone off the street. That would not have been cool... £40 later!
2) I really love the National Gallery. And it's free. Even better!
3) English breakfasts are good enough to last you all day without having to eat lunch... so we've been saving a ton of money on food!
4) H&M is probably the best store ever invented. period.
We're off to see Wicked tonight which I'm looking forward to! Lexie's seen it 2 times already, but not in London :) Other than that, things have been awesome and we're looking forward to Amsterdam tomorrow.
-Megan
We visited Notting Hill yesterday which was really cute, and then today we went to the National Gallery and saw some amazing paintings from Rembrant, DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Monet, Degas and my personal favorite, Renior. I haven't seen a Renior painting up close before, so that was particularly great for me. Seeing his actual brushstrokes and fingermarks.... so cool. :) Being here makes me really humbled at how little history we actually experience in the states. It makes me look forward to Rome and Venice even more now. :)
Lessons learned so far:
1) Don't be an idiot! I left a bag full of things I'd purchased at H&M behind at a Starbucks in one of the shady districts of London, and thankfully God was gracious and a barista picked it up instead of someone off the street. That would not have been cool... £40 later!
2) I really love the National Gallery. And it's free. Even better!
3) English breakfasts are good enough to last you all day without having to eat lunch... so we've been saving a ton of money on food!
4) H&M is probably the best store ever invented. period.
We're off to see Wicked tonight which I'm looking forward to! Lexie's seen it 2 times already, but not in London :) Other than that, things have been awesome and we're looking forward to Amsterdam tomorrow.
-Megan
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
People up late and 8,000 stairs
So we survived our first night... sort of. :) When we checked into our B&B they put us on the top floor, which I was like, "Cool, I'm always on the ground, I like views..." yeah not so much. We look out at the top of another building, but to get to our top floor, we have to walk about 10 flights of stairs and I think it's considered like the 7th level? I don't know, I lost count at about stair 100. :) But it's totally cute though. Like someone's own personal home, and our room has a lot of charm. Such a great deal for London just at £50! That's incredibly rare.
Lexie and I are doing a good job at sharing food every day and we're proud at our budgeting skills. We've been riding the tube everywhere because we got a 3 day unlimited travelcard which was good, and besides spending money on that we have been walking everywhere and seeing things that are free. It's really surprising how many free things there are in London, which is awesome. I think our pictures alone are our best souveneirs so far for sure.
This morning we had a really nice English breakfast for free, and it was so fun waking up to smell breakfast cooking early in the morning. Especially after our neighbors on the floor woke us up at 3am from getting back from the bars being totally drunk and loud, and the walls were paper thin. So we were not happy and didn't fall asleep for a long time after that. I think we're just going to have to get used to that from now on though since we'll be staying in a lot of hostels.
We also discovered a cute little organic grocery store called Marks & Spencer that are all over, and basically just filled with take-away items and fruit/vegetables to make small lunches or have picnics with, so that's what we did last night-- got some fruit, cheese, bread and bottled water and had a really cute meal for dinner and spent only £3.50. If we can keep that up the rest of the trip we'll be good... :)
okay that's it for now! It's 9am and we're off to some museums and Notting Hill!! That's what I'm excited for... and Lexie is excited for the Globe Theatre (go figure!) ;) which we're going to today also.
okay bye!
Megan and Lexie
Lexie and I are doing a good job at sharing food every day and we're proud at our budgeting skills. We've been riding the tube everywhere because we got a 3 day unlimited travelcard which was good, and besides spending money on that we have been walking everywhere and seeing things that are free. It's really surprising how many free things there are in London, which is awesome. I think our pictures alone are our best souveneirs so far for sure.
This morning we had a really nice English breakfast for free, and it was so fun waking up to smell breakfast cooking early in the morning. Especially after our neighbors on the floor woke us up at 3am from getting back from the bars being totally drunk and loud, and the walls were paper thin. So we were not happy and didn't fall asleep for a long time after that. I think we're just going to have to get used to that from now on though since we'll be staying in a lot of hostels.
We also discovered a cute little organic grocery store called Marks & Spencer that are all over, and basically just filled with take-away items and fruit/vegetables to make small lunches or have picnics with, so that's what we did last night-- got some fruit, cheese, bread and bottled water and had a really cute meal for dinner and spent only £3.50. If we can keep that up the rest of the trip we'll be good... :)
okay that's it for now! It's 9am and we're off to some museums and Notting Hill!! That's what I'm excited for... and Lexie is excited for the Globe Theatre (go figure!) ;) which we're going to today also.
okay bye!
Megan and Lexie
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
First days and such...
So after about 14 hours of travel, four in -flight movies and a lot of turbulence, we made it to London at 6am this morning (Tuesday)! And Andrew, if you're reading this, after 14 hours of plane rides together we already have your entire wedding planned out. And this is just day one of the trip... ;)
We also had a scary thing happen on the plane, demonstrating the faithfulness and goodness of God, but that story is for another time. :) We were definitely praising Him for his work though!
Besides that though I figured out that I haven't actually slept since Saturday night because I couldn't sleep Sunday night and we had to be up by 4am that day... and I can't sleep on planes. So I think it's going on about 50 hours of no sleep and counting for me... because apparently Rick Steves says the best way to fight jet lag is to take a "pinch me I'm in Europe walk" when you arrive and drink a lot of orange juice, but I think that's a bunch of crap. But even so, we took his advice and aren't letting ourselves sleep until at least five o'clock tonight... which means I have to tack another four hours onto that lack of sleep tally... :) But, who cares! We're in London! And so incredibly happy to be here. Seriously, we've been here for about 8 hours already and have done a ton of stuff. We went to Buckingham palace, had breakfast at a cute Starbucks in Bloomsbury where our B&B is, went to Westminster Abbey, walked all along Picadilly and Regent St., went to St. James park (beautiful!) and saw Big Ben, Parliament, etc. and ridden about 500 tubes already. We're pretty excited about how buff our legs are going to be at the end of this trip. :)
It's been beautiful weather here already and we're so happy it's not raining today. We're heading out to the British Museum soon to force ourselves to stay awake until 5, when we can crash after dinner! Other than that, we're both just totally excited to be here and can't really believe it's a reality.
Three things I've observed so far about London:
#1) The people smell really good
#2) The signs on the concrete telling you to "look right" or "look left" for traffic were written for people like me who nearly get run over by the cars who don't stop for pedestrians.
#3) And you have to learn to walk really fast over here... :)
We also had a scary thing happen on the plane, demonstrating the faithfulness and goodness of God, but that story is for another time. :) We were definitely praising Him for his work though!
Besides that though I figured out that I haven't actually slept since Saturday night because I couldn't sleep Sunday night and we had to be up by 4am that day... and I can't sleep on planes. So I think it's going on about 50 hours of no sleep and counting for me... because apparently Rick Steves says the best way to fight jet lag is to take a "pinch me I'm in Europe walk" when you arrive and drink a lot of orange juice, but I think that's a bunch of crap. But even so, we took his advice and aren't letting ourselves sleep until at least five o'clock tonight... which means I have to tack another four hours onto that lack of sleep tally... :) But, who cares! We're in London! And so incredibly happy to be here. Seriously, we've been here for about 8 hours already and have done a ton of stuff. We went to Buckingham palace, had breakfast at a cute Starbucks in Bloomsbury where our B&B is, went to Westminster Abbey, walked all along Picadilly and Regent St., went to St. James park (beautiful!) and saw Big Ben, Parliament, etc. and ridden about 500 tubes already. We're pretty excited about how buff our legs are going to be at the end of this trip. :)
It's been beautiful weather here already and we're so happy it's not raining today. We're heading out to the British Museum soon to force ourselves to stay awake until 5, when we can crash after dinner! Other than that, we're both just totally excited to be here and can't really believe it's a reality.
Three things I've observed so far about London:
#1) The people smell really good
#2) The signs on the concrete telling you to "look right" or "look left" for traffic were written for people like me who nearly get run over by the cars who don't stop for pedestrians.
#3) And you have to learn to walk really fast over here... :)
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