Backpacking Europe

DAY ONE:
After a decent sleep at the airport and being awakened at 5 am by security because we weren't asthetically pleasing sprawled on the floor we caught our flight to Copenhagen. This was the worst check in experience ever it was so stupid and took an hour to move through the line. But the flight was good and we got here in one piece. Kasper and Alexandra picked us up at the airport and brough us to Martin's apartment. It is beautiful, I would be extatic if we could find one similar in Toronto. Kasper dropped us off at Stroget and we wandered for hours we had QUITE the culture shock at how expensive it is here. I tried to warn Mike but he wouldn't hear it. From there we wandered from Vestboro and the botanical gardens and somehow managed to walk all the way home despite being warned to bus because of the distance we ae going to be pro walkers in Toronto. Now Mike is napping and I'm waiting to go get groceries and to see MArtin who works until 8or9. We will probably go to Christiana tomorrow and see the round tower and hopefully at night we can go see Nyhavn. I think we've scrapped Tivoli from our timeline but we'll see I foresee alot more walking in our stay here.

DAY TWO:

DAY THREE:

DAY ONE:

When arriving in Amsterdam we got a map and decided that we could walk to our hostel that was a nightmare with our huge bags it took about an hour but I think we orked off all the weight we put on at Judy's. That night we went for dinner and walked around somemore.

DAY TWO:

We woke up really early to go see te Anne Frank house. of course we walked which was kinda far but we walked a heck of alot in Amsterdam. The house was really nea tho we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. After that we walked along the Damrak and saw the Unversity of Amsterdam. Then we went to the Heineken Experience where you go on a really lame but fun tou and get 3 "free" not free when you pay admission! Then we had a nap and at around 8ish walked down to the red light district. It was kinda dissapointing I thought it woulda been a bit more glamorous than it was. We were offered Coke and Extacy for the romantics by some man on the street. We had also planned to see a sex show but srapped that hen we heard it was 35€ each.

DAY THREE:

Sleep in day! After checking out of our hotel we went down the Damrak to the sex museum. It was what it was mostly porn, the gimmick was it is Sex throughout history. Then we had lunch and wandered down to the redlight district for a daytime perspective, still the same... AFter that we went on a canal tour it was neat to see fro the water and it is a very pretty town. After killing some time wandering we ate dinner and got our things from the hostel. We settled in to our last airport sleep over EVER!!!

Keyboard is very complicated will update ASAP

DAY ONE: BOOISHOT
After a long night in the airport we made our way to Charleroi just outside Brussels. It took us a bit to figure out where and how to catch the train and 2-3 hours later we managed to find our way to Judy and Jeff's. We ate and drank well, they like their beer here! After sitting and talking until about 11PM Mike and I hit the hay. We're staying in this gorgeous old house which is incredibly creepy at night but so beautiful during the day.

DAY TWO:BOOISHOT
Sleep in day!!! Once we dragged our lazy asses out of our comfy bed, Scott took us in to Antwerpen for the day. Heaven forbid we chip in to pay to cover our cost for keeping us Judy ensured we try the #1 Frittures (french fries) very good with mayo. After lunch we went on a horse buggy around the old town it is very different from all the other countries we've been to. After that we just wandered around by the harbour. Then we had an ice cream and tried to take Scott for a beer but again under strict orders fro, Judy we were not allowed too. We've decided when we get home we'll send a bouquet that way she can't pay for it herself!!! When we got home we had a HUGE spread of mussels fries and some steak in a beer sauce. All of it was very good even the mussels which I was skeptical of. We also had Champagne to celebrate the engagement which was very sweet. I think I'd stay here until it's time to go home if we could. Again we sat and talked and drank until well after 11.

DAY THREE:BOOISHOT
This morning we woke up ealy to go to the market with Jeff and Judy. It was so COOL!!! I pet bunnies and chickies. Oh and I forgot they have 9 chickens here and I've been collecting eggs!!!!!!! I've also decided I want to live on a farm I don't think pictures justify this place. At the market we wandered and picked up stuff for their garden here, as well as fresh croissants for lunch. Tonight we're having a huge wood BBQ with shrimp, scallops, and an assortment of meat, like I said we are ridiculously spoiled. Shes even made lunch for the train tommorrow and given us some money for treats. I think it'll be another evening of drinking and eating, when I come home we'll try her bugles and goat cheese its SOOOO addictive and tasty. Tomorrow we leave for Brugges after 1 and then off to Amsterdam, I may not update everything until I get home or to Copenhagen...

DAY FOUR: BRUGGES

After sadly saying goodbye to Judy and Scott we caught our train and made our way to Brugges. It is a beautiful city but unfortunately weather did not want to agee with us. When we left it was nice and sunny but by the time we caught a canal cruise it was pouring. Despite the rain we managed to see alot of Brugge. At around 9 o'clock we made out way back to our hostel to get umbrellas and found that all 6 other boys in our room were in bed. Apparently it isnøt so much of a bar town as we were led to believe.

DAY FIVE: BRUGGES

In the morning we tried to rent bikes. We made it to the town square and Miks chain broke. We had to walk all the way back to the hostel to get a refund and hoof it back to town to see as much as we could before catching a train to Amsterdam. It was fairly easy to get to Amsterdam without anydifficulty (arrived around 5ish).

Rome

DAY ONE: July 9
So after a long night in the airport where I managed to break my lock we actually got alot of sleep. I felt quite safe and secure about my things. We found a quiet sport and made a little nest over our things. We arrived in Rome very easily. There is no customs that we had to go through. You just walk down a hallway that says if you have something to declare or not and your free to wander Rome. We arrived around 1 in the afternoon and immediately had issues with the language gap when asking for directions to our hostel... We finally found it and lazed around. All the travelling is really catching up to us and we needed some sleep time. We made our way downtown around 5 to find some food and all I wanted was a burger. All there is is PIZZA. Andrew would love it here. We found HArd Rock and sat for some all american food. After that I did my first shopping of the trip it was so great to find stuff I liked at a decent price, and it means clean clothes for 2 days!!! We finally accidently found the colleseum and I am so excited to go tour it. The way the town is built around the ruins is incredible.

DAY TWO: July 10
Today we went to Pompeii. It was HUGE I don't think I ever percieved how large it was. Even though we had 4 hours to muck about we still didnàt see everthing. We did see the highlights and I have over 100 pictures. We saw first hand all the pervy Italian boys hitting on 14 year old girls at our restuarant and it was halarious, the are absolutely shameless. After our long day, we caught the bus at 730am which meant leaving our hotel at like 620am and got home well after 7pm.

DAY THREE: July 11
Today we saw the Colloseo, Palatine Hill and the Pantheon. It was a busy day of walking around. All the ruins are so indiscribeable I have so many pictures, I have no idea how I'm going to scrapbook them. We ate a very affordable lunch right in front of the Colleseo, the waiter thought I was crazy when I asked how much drinks were instead of just ordering but we've learnt our lesson. While wandering around we found a market kinda like the fork but outside and I bought a Prada knock off thats beautiful. I talked her down from 35 € to 25€ I tried to pretend I only had 20 but she didnàt buy it and I reaklly wanted the purse before we leave. I remember not taking a deal for sunglasses in San Fran and regret it. Tonight we'll take it easy and the plan for tomorrow is to see the Vatican, I hope its coldand rainy because I have to cover my legs and arms... Today we had sun showers which was nice compared to the heat weàve had for the last week, its very draining especially when your walking around so much.

DAY FOUR: July 12
Today we saw the Vatican and St. Peters it was beautiful but the lines were ridiculous. It absolutely disgusted me with its commercialism. We wandered around and saw the Spanish Steps and several different squares and monuments. That night we had a crappy sleep in the airport before we headed to Booishot for some much needed TLC.

DAY 5: July 5
We arrived in Barcelona and I was exhausted. To our surprise there were hundreds camped out on the floor at Stansted apparently this is common practice over here while catching an early flight. We took an hour shuttle from Girona to Barcelona and tracked down our hostel which was rather out of the way. Its a really nice place but at the very end of a metro route. After settling in we took off for food. We found a local place and encountered my very first HUGE culture shock. NO ONE spoke a word of english they actually had to show us what we could eat. I was so worried that we were going to get over charged but it was a very reasonable meal. From there we went to La Ramblas which is like a huge pedestrian street. We wandered around and around and finally made our way to the Ocean it was FAR but it was gorgeous. After walking around we came back to the hostel and I crashed it was a very long and hot day.

DAY 6: July 6
We got up decently early and ate our breakfast (bought from a local grocery for cheap). Then we had our beach day. It was so nice there is a very deceitful breeze wwhich hides how warm it really is. I swam in the Ocean for my first time and saw a little jellyfish. After I saw the jellyfish I was more apprehensive of swimming. We stayed on the shore line and let the waves toss us around and then layed on the beach. I got a lot more sun than intended but didn´t realize it til much later on. From the beach we had baguette lunch and headed to FC Barcelona, the soccer stadium. It was a neat stadium but a boring museum which Mike dragged out. It was so hot and I was so hungry so we went and found a patio on La Ramblas to eat. Out of impulse we sat and ordered Cokes big mistake, Cokes every where else are like 1 euro but here they were 7.50 the same price as our meals. I thought Mike was going to have a heart attack. they were very delicious Cokes in my opinion and a very essential learning experience for us. After supper we wandered to the Vila Olympic which is gorgeous. Possibly one of the most beautiful areas we´ve seen in BArcelona. Finally we headed home in search of a phone but it was very uneventful.

DAY 7: July 7
Today we looked at La Pedrera (Casa Mila) and Casa Battlo. We sprung for the tour of Battlo and it was incredible. There aren´t words to describe. From there we went to Sagrada Familia and wandered little shops. Tonight we plan on going swimming again, in hopes that its cooler in the later day. We also had our first McDonalds of the trip. Considering we´re a week in I think thats pretty impressive.

DAY 8: July 8
Today is our last day in Barcelona. We conquered Parc Guell which is a park filled with Gaudi's work. It was very impressive. He is a genius. After climbing the tall hill which even had exteriour escalators we decided to hit the beach for a final time before we leave. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed it very much. Barcelona was so relaxing and beautiful. I would definately go back and probably explore more of Spain. Last night our hostel roomates (from Texas) warned us against pickpockets in Rome and that the last few days while they were there it was more than 40°. We're off to our second overnight adventure and hopefully it goes better and I actually sleep.