Looking Back.

So, having finally finished my blog, two months after coming home, I decided to do a little top three list. 

TOP THREE COUNTRIES:

- Germany

- Italy    

- Ireland 

TOP THREE CITIES:

- Paris
- Berlin
- London

TOP THREE MEALS:

- Domi's parents' restaurant
- Irish stew
- Napolian pizza

TOP THREE ATTRACTIONS:

- Gaudi's Cathedral
- the Vatican
- the Salvi Harp factory

TOP THREE HIKES:
- Glendolough in Ireland
- midnight hike in Norway
- Sunset hike on Santorini

TOP THREE MUSICAL PEEFORMANCES:
- Wicked
- Classical group in Prague
- The military tattoo in Scotland

TOP THREE OTHER PERFORMANCES:
- the play in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
- comedy show in Berlin
- magic/comedy tour/show in Bath

TOP THREE TOURS:
- historical tour of Berlin
- Connemara bus tour
- Paris Walking tour

With so many positive memories, let's not forget the less enjoyable ones, which really just enhance the good ones.

BOTTOM THREE OVERALL:

- the tour of Potsdam
- the comedy show in Paris
- spending my last day in Paris in the airport

Wow. So many incredible memories in only four months. Traveling Europe was an amazingly remarkable experience and I do intend to go back. After all, this was traveling Europe for the FIRST time.

Thank you so much to each and every person who made this trip possible and for helping make it an experience that will forever remain one if the best experiences of my life. Thank you to all who read my blog, whether you toughed out the entire collection of ramblings or just stopped by occasionally for one or two. Thank you everybody and I wish you all the very best!  Goodbye for now.

The End is Near

FERRY TO IRELAND (Cherbourg to Rosslare):
• met a bunch of new people on our way to Ireland:
- on the train from Paris to Cherbourg we ran into a guy, Ezra, who we had actually met earlier at our Berlin hostel!
- met two brothers from San Fransico, a couple from Oregon, and two girls from Boston.
• hung out with everybody for the sixteen hour ferry ride, had some drinks, played Banagrams, watched the sunset. All in all had a good time.

DUBLIN:
• were going to go to Cork, but the group we met were all heading to Dublin, so we decided to tag along. Gaiety in numbers, afterall.
• for once spontaneity actually worked in our favour and we were able to stay at a really nice hostel, even though we hadn't made any reservations!
• went for a walking tour and learned a little about Irish history
• went to a pub and listened to some great Irish music: one guy on acoustic guitar, one guy on banjo.
• took tour of the Guiness factory.
• went on a pub crawl
• saw the Book of Kells
• walked through the Reading Room which is a very old, incredibly beautiful library (apparently the library in Harry Potter was modeled after it).


KILLARNEY:
• took a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry; very beautiful, very green; had a old funny tour guide who drove us around, and then sang us a few songs at the end of the tour, including Tura Lura (an Irish lullaby) and then some Katy Perry.
• saw a sheep herding show which apparently is one of the top tourist attractions in Ireland
• had Bacon & Cabbage and Irish Stew (the best stew I've ever had!) and Bailey's Cheesecake (best cheesecake I've ever had!) for lunch
• met our new friends from Oregon on this tour as well as a girl from Prince George
• made a lovely dinner with them and then went for drinks (a few too many for me) and went to listen to some music at a pub. Met two Irish guys at that pub and couldn't understand a word they said.


GALWAY:
• did a bus tour around Connemara which is the rainiest part of Ireland. Apparently this region gets more rain annually than the Amazon, and the longest period on record that it has gone consecutively without rain was twelve days.
• drove through incredible valleys beside rolling green hills
• witnessed some great Irish humour:
1) a statue of a man sitting and thinking, looking important, whose plaque says:

This is Connemara

built in 1999

for no apparent reason.

2) The sign pointing to this statue says "late 20th century antiquity."
3) There's another stone statue, simpler than the first but rather large in size (it's just a big stone triangle) which says:

In 1897

on this very spot

nothing happened

• Visited the Kylemore Abbey along with the church and Victorian Gardens there. Got rained on, but we had our ponchos, so all was well. And stylish, might I add. The Abbey was perfect. A gorgeous stone castle-looking building which sat on the edge of a lake.
• just barely caught our train that was going to Dublin


DALKEY (near Dublin):
• stayed with the couple from Oregon (Max and Julia) who were renting a condo there. The brothers from San Fransico were also staying with them.
• went for a hike in Glendolough with all of them up along a beautiful ridge that looks over lakes and valleys.
• went out for drinks at Finnegan's Pub, and realized that in the opposite corner The Edge (the guitarist from U2) was also enjoying a drink with a friend. Crazy!
• relaxed in a park while waiting for our train
• saw a double rainbow after walking up to a lookout and then felt and saw the fog literally engulf us as we sat on a rock wall.
• had delicious tuna melts for dinner, and homemade cheesecake for dessert
• AND HERE IT IS. For those who were just dying of suspense about what could have possibly happened to my foot, I will tell you. And for those who forgot all about my foot, then this counts a reminder.

WARNING: it's really not at all exciting.

On the way to the train station the next day, I went to step onto the sidewalk, missed, and fell over. No cries for help as I went. No attempts to grab onto something to lessen the fall. Nothing. I was standing one second, and the next I was lying on the ground with one huge bag on my back, one small, heavy bag on my front. This resulted in the inability to get up and I felt a little bit like an overturned turtle. Needless to say I started laughing. Then Annalea started laughing, and so couldn't help me up. It's a good thing Max and Julia were there to help me up, otherwise we probably would have been there all day. I limped the rest of the way to the train.


BELFAST:
• we decided the first thing we would try in Belfast was the medical care in the emergency room.
• I was very impressed by the Irish hospital. If you ever injure yourself while in Ireland, I would recommend doing so in Belfast, especially if you're staying at Paddy's Hostel, which is about two blocks away. Despite the sign in the waiting room saying "approximate waiting time: 3.5 hours" I only had to wait maybe half an hour before the nurse came and got me. He did an assessment, said that I had strained a tendon and then sent me to the X-ray room, just to be sure I didn't crack or break anything. I only had to wait about twenty minutes for that and then another maybe twenty mintues for the results. After that, the nurse saw me again, gave me some pain medication, some crutches (for free!) and then sent me on my way. Just lovely.
• the next day I heeded the nurses advice and stayed in bed icing and elevating my foot for the majority of the day. That evening Annalea and I walked, or hobbled in my case, to the botanic gardens for the Belfast Taste and Music Fest. This is, as the name blatantly states, a festival in which you listen to live music, while going around to different stands of about twenty different gourmet chefs from whom you buy samples of the four or five different dishes they are serving. It was expensive, but was the most varied gourmet dishes I've ever had.
• did a tour of the Giants of Causeway which is this amazing rock formation beside the sea. It's the result of lava which formed into what looks like big building blocks.


EDINBURGH:
• did a day trip to the beautiful town of St. Andrew's (outside of Edinburgh) which is known for its golf. Or possibly where golf started, I can't remember.
• saw the military Tattoo which is an incredible, huge performance of pipe bands and marching bands. And we had perfect seats. When we went to buy our tickets, there was someone who was trying to get rid of two premium located tickets because she wasn't able to go. Also it turned out that all the regular seats were full. So we bought the tickets for half of their original cost and sat directly in front of the VIP section. You could not get better seats other than the VIP seats in which sat generals and other fancy, very important looking personnel. It was so amazing! After the performance, a very sweet couple who was sitting in the VIP section asked us where we were from and then gave us their program (which would have cost $14 in the giftshop).


MANCHESTER:
• decided on a whim to go Manchester not knowing what there was to see exactly. It was only after we asked someone for directions at the train station did we hear that there were riots in town. So, we stayed at the hostel that night and left the following morning. Then, that following day, I found out on the news that Manchester had been one of the two cities with the most violence that had taken place the night before. So once again, spontaneity didn't really work out in our favour, but at least we were safe, which is all that counts.


YORK:
• We stayed in a gorgeous hostel, which used to be a manor of a lord in the 1800's.
• went for tea at Betty's Tea Room, a famous English tea shop and spent a couple hours simply chatting over delicious tea and cake.
• went to Yorkminster Abbey which is huge and incredibly gorgeous; went to the Evensong there and then wandered around the beautiful structure taking in the intricate architecture.
• did an evening ghost tour since York is apparently the most haunted city in the world, according to our tour guide.
• did a historic walking tour
• walked around the walls which surround the city
• did a day trip to Thirsk, a lovely little village outside York, and sat by a river to draw.
• took a 1:00am bus to Bath


BATH:
• went for delicious fish and chips
• walked around and explored the city for awhile.
• went on a very funny comedy tour which also incorporated some impressive magic tricks
• did a day trip to Avebury to see stone circles which are similar to Stonehenge (also near Bath) but way less expensive when taking a bus.
• did a tour of the Roman baths (what Bath is famous for). We also had a glass of gross-tasting warm bath water. It's supposed to have a bunch of health benefits because it comes from a natural spring. So I guess in a way, it was the first Buckleys:
"it tastes awful, but it works."


LONDON:
• did a bus tour around downtown London including Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben
• took a boat tour along the River Thames and went under Tower Bridge and London Bridge.
• saw an incredible play in the Globe Theatre which is the theatre (replica of the original) where Shakespeare's plays were performed. We stood in the standing room section where peasants and commoners would have stood. It was easy to imagine what it might have been like to be an audience member back then. It was so amazing.
• saw Wicked in the Apollo Theatre which was incredible. It was really interesting watching the Globe performance and then this one in the same day. It was fascinating to see where professional theatre essentially started and then to see how far it's come today.
• saw the changing of the horse guard which was rather, well, uneventful.
• saw the changing of the guard and the marching bands that went with it (far more interesting than the horse guard) which marched to Buckingham Palace.
- did another bus tour and then went out for delicious pizza with the couple we were staying with.


PARIS:
• climbed the Eiffel Tower, or rather the first two floors and then took the elevator because we weren't allowed to climb the whole thing.
• saw the Arc de Triomphe and then essentially got kicked out (I didn't know that was possible) from the area because there was what looked like a military ceremony about to start. A rather public place for a private ceremony if I do say so myself.
- wandered around Paris for a bit and simply enjoyed its beauty.

And here's where Annalea and I split ways. I dropped her off at the bus station and waved goodbye as she drove off to Belgium for the next portion of her adventure: nannying three girls.

THE FINAL STRETCH:
I headed back into Paris for the remaining forty-eight hours that I would be there before catching my flight to Amsterdam and then back to Canada. First I went and bought my ticket for the airport shuttle, then some souvenirs, then I went and found the location of a comedy show that I wanted to go to that evening. Next on my agenda was the Louvre Art Gallery, which I wandered around in for an hour. After that, I went to look for an ice-cream shop that Annalea and I had heard about and found out that it was closed for the month. Went and bought groceries and then went to the comedy show which, unfortunately was not very funny. If fact it wasn't even kind of funny. Pity. Although it might have had something to do with going by myself which put a bit of a damper on things in the first place.

Then I went back to my hostel, which I hadn't been back to since Annalea and I had checked out that morning (I had to check out as well, since I would be changing rooms that night). I realized as I stepped in the door, since I hadn't been there all day, that I had yet to check in to my new room. The following thought was one of panic as I also realized that I was completely out of money, and that my debit/credit card didn't work with their machine. After weighing all the options I could think of at the time, as well as trying to think of some way to get money and coming up with nothing, I decided to go to the airport.

I caught the shuttle half an hour later and went and slept on a fairly comfortable chair with my pack as a fairly comfortable pillow in front of one of the closed check-in areas. At one point a security guard came along and asked to see my ticket, but didn't look close enough to see that my flight was still thirty-six hours away. My original plan for the day was to go sit on the hill by Sacre Coeur and draw and read. However, since my arrival at the airport was earlier than planned, I sat, read, and drew in the airport terminal. Not quite the same, but at least no one tried to sell me Paris memorabilia like those outside Sacre Coeur. So, there's that.


HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN, JIGGEDY, JIG:
Despite time seemingly standing still during those hours, the morning eventually crept up. And with the morning, my check-in, and with my check-in my flight to Amsterdam, and with my flight to Amsterdam, my flight home. Coming through the doors of baggage claim out to the greeting area, I was met by my mother. I definitely loved traveling/backpacking, but I did feel ready to be back in Canada. Therefore, feeling the warm embrace of my teary-eyed mother after having been in an airport or on a plane for previous 48 hours was the best welcome I could have ever hoped for. As a certain lady with red shoes once said, "there's no place like home."

A Tale of Eighteen Cities

Well.  Nothing like a strained tendon in one's foot to allow for some catching up on a blog.  But I'll get that to that later. 

Holy Kershmoly! Talk about falling behind!  Sheesh.  Ok. Well, for my sake, as well as yours, I will not be giving a very detailed account of the past month and a bit, so you can breathe your sigh of relief now.  Instead, I am going to try to give the bare minimum highlights.  However, I do tend to ramble, so we shall see how well this will actually work out.



BERLIN:
• did a tour of the street art around Berlin; very interesting, and got some insights into the challenges and life of street artists.
• did a historical tour of Berlin including Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, the site of Hitler's bunker, and the Brandenburg Gate.  This was by far the best tour I have ever been on.  The tour guide, Sylvia, was incredibly animated and brought the history and stories alive in such a way that I often felt like I wanted to take a picture of what she was talking about, then realized of course that the things weren't actually there.  Incredible.
• watched a hilarious improv comedy show that reminded me a little of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" Very well done and very entertaining.
• did a tour of Potsdam which is a place full of palaces and  such buildings.  Very beautiful and intricate architecture, but unfortunately we had a tour guide who was less than enjoyable.  "Terrible Tour Terry" we called him.  He was old, bitter, and insulted us throughout the day.  We were the only two on the tour and it was also about a nine hour tour.  But now every tour, no matter what the quality, seems great in comparison, so that's good.
• took a tour of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Very powerful and sobering experience.  Hard stuff to hear about, but so important to remember so that nothing like it ever happens again.


PRAGUE:
• didn't see very much--we were only there for the night, but we did catch a fantastic concert which was held in a grand stairwell of the National Museum.  It was a little string group and a piano.  They played some Vivaldi, Mozart, and Brahmes, among others.  It was so perfect.
  

VIENNA:
• Did a bus tour of the main historical sites.  
• tried to go to the National Art Gallery, and accidentally went to some Art Academy instead, which turned out to be very very beautiful as well.  (It's always nice happening upon interesting things.) 
•  went to the actual National Art Gallery, which was very beautiful. 
• went to the Sigmund Freud museum which is held in his old apartment/psychiatry office.  Very interesting.
• had to battle a crazy wind and rain storm upon leaving the art gallery and then went and had a Vienna hotdog because Vienna is spelled Wien in German therefore the origin of  "wieners."  However, the hotdog vendor was a little more than suggestive in putting the hotdog in the bun, which was rather uncalled for if I do say so myself.  
• went to a beautiful concert which involved a small orchestra, two opera singers, and two ballet dancers.  It was so lovely. And they played the Viennese Waltz, which was great.


KLAGENFURT:
• stayed at the apartment of the brother of a friend of ours. 
• toured around the lake and surrounding area which was spectacular.  The sun was shining and the water sparkling and the mountains surrounding the entire area reminded me of home.

 
MUNICH:
• did a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp, which was apparently the one that all the following concentration camps were modeled after.  Again, very powerful.
• tried to catch a tour of the historical sites in Munich but missed it.  Instead, we happened upon the celebrations for the announcement of the host of the 2018 Winter Olympics, of which Munich was a candidate.  It was very crowded, but very exciting. Sadly for Munich, South Korea won.  
• met a guy at our hostel who was from Calagry.  We all got along really well, and so went and had a picnic by the river.
• We wanted to see the  Neuschwanstein Castle just outside of Munich, which is what the Disney castle is based on.  Chris, the guy from Calgary, had just been to that area and so showed us to the town where he had stayed which looked over to the castle.  We went and laid by and swam in the lake there and then made our way up to the castle.  It was all really beautiful.  


LUCERNE:
• made a little stopover here on the way to Interlaken.  
• very pretty city, went for drinks beside the river and then took a train to a little town near Lucerne where my great grandfather hailed from.  We even saw the house where he used to live.  Very cool.  Also in that little town, Eschenbach, restaurants don't open until 6:00pm, as we found out, so if you ever find yourself there at around 4:30pm and are perhaps a little hungry, the only apparent option is a drink at the pub.


INTERLAKEN:
• went up the gondola of one the mountains there.
• went for fondue in order to get the real Swiss experience.  Wanted râclette, but they didn't have it:(
• had hoped to do some hang-gliding or sky-diving, since Interlaken is known for its thrill-seeking activities, but it was too expensive.  Backpacking on a budget doesn't really allow for $300-fifteen-minute experiences.


LAUSANNE:
• decided on a whim to go to Lausanne, without booking anything first.  
• saw the train station, found out the city was hosting a big jazz festival as well as a big gymnastics competition, and therefore no room in the entire city for three cheap travelers (Chris was still with us at this point). So we left.  So much for spontaneity. 


LYON:
• stayed in a cheap hotel (extra cheap since there were three of us splitting the cost)
• didn't do anything.  It seemed like a nice city though.  We got some take-out pizza which was good, but they gave us spring rolls instead of the chicken wings which we had ordered. Oh well.  They were good spring rolls at least.


MARSEILLE:
• a beautiful coastal town in Southern France.  It was exactly what I pictured when I thought of Southern France: palm trees, beaches, pink/golden sun, white rocky outcroppings off the shore, a few hills in the distance.  Amazing.
• went with a group of people we met from the hostel and tried to find a beach that had been recommended to some of the people we were with.
• didn't find it. Swam in a little harbour instead.  Ominous clouds came around, but it was still warm.
• tried again to find the beach. Success!  It was a lovely little cove among the white rocky hills, sheltered from the intense wind, and accompanied by the incredible blue water.  The weather was much better.  Blue skies, hot sun.  Laid on the soft white sand and got sunburnt.
• took a day trip to Italy.  Yup.  A day trip.  Fourteen hours of training altogether for one hour at the Salvi harp factory.  Surprisingly, it was worth it.  The factory was fascinating, the guide was vey sweet and he let me try out one of their harps.  Now this was not just any ordinary harp.  This was an exquisite, gold faced (real gold), Salvi orchestral harp that cost $60, 000!  Needless to say, I was a little intimidated and also incredibly surprised and therefore could barely remember any of my pieces.  Still an amazing experience, though.


AIX-EN-PROVENCE:
• found out that I'd left my camera in Marseille 
• walked around most of the day trying to find a phone card to organize picking up my camera 
• went to pick it up, accidentally took a train going the opposite direction
• had to wait three hours for the next train back to Aix-en-Provence in a lovely little town
• sat at a nice café there and relaxed 
• finally got back to Aix then took a train to Marseille
• picked up my camera
• went for crêpes topped with fruit and sorbet once we got back to Aix which were incredibly delicious


BARCELONA:
• walked down the bustling merchant street of Las Ramblas and bought a great hair clip, which I later lost on the way to a train.
• did an evening walking tour and learned a little bit about the Catalan culture and how Barcelona is actually in Catalonia, not Spain. 
• saw Gaudi's Cathedral and was blown away by the intricacies of the architecture.  It is by far the most amazing cathedral I have ever seen.  I also really liked the reasons behind  Gaudi's ideas, such as the numerous grand pillars representing trees in a forest.  He also used a vast amount of natural light which was really beautiful.  Apparently he was very inspired by nature.  The Cathedral is not actually finished yet, and they are still building it according to Gaudi's plans that he left for them.  It's expected to be done in 2020.
• saw some more of Gaudi's works in a beautiful park
• walked down to the water and along the beach as the sun was setting.  


BORDEAUX:
• thought we would have longer here, but due to train schedules we only had the evening.
• stayed in a cheap hotel, and went for dinner at a lovely little Italian restaurant downtown. 
• walked along the river.
• caught a 6:00am train to go to Normandy


CAEN:
• stayed in a cheap hotel (was cheaper than the hostels)
• went high heel shopping, didn't buy anything
• walked around Caen's château 
• went for a day trip up to Juno beach which is where my grandpa came up on just a few days after D-Day.  It was crazy to imagine what it would have been like disembarking the boats on D-Day.  Such a deadly task.  I couldn't help but think of Saving Private Ryan and the opening scene where the soldiers are getting off the boat and are mowed down as they tried to make their way up the beach.  Did a tour of the grounds and learned about that deadly day.


VIMY:
• did a tour of the trenches.  Crazy to think of what the conditions would have been like back then.
• walked to the memorial which is massive and beautiful.  It stands on the top of the ridge which is what the Canadians captured.  Apparently, one of the German commanders once said that if Vimy Ridge was ever captured, it would mean the end of the war.  Sure enough, shortly after the ridge was taken, the war was declared over. 
• the memorial has thousands of names of soldiers who were never found, including my Great-Grandpa, whose name we saw and sat beside.  He was a Corporal who fought in the disastrous battle of the Somme. 


BRUSSELS:
• turns out the Belgians are very friendly.  We asked for help from someone at the train station and she went above and beyond to make sure we knew where we were going and to ensure we would be ok.  
• checked into a cheap hotel (no room at the hostel) which was very nice
• went out with two people, Vlad and Shireen, from Australia who we met at the hotel
• Vlad  wanted to go to a gay bar, so we started there, then met some Belgians and went to a Belgian bar for some Belgian beer (and absinthe later on).  Definitely an interesting night.


BRUGES:
• did a day trip from Brussels 
• despite Bruges being notorious for its rain, the weather was actually spectacular: sunshine and blue skies!
• walked around the beautiful cobblestone streets which were occupied by tourists, horse-drawn carriages, and locals.
• bought some Belgian waffles (incredible!) 
• tried some Belgian chocolates (best truffles ever)
• took in a free harp concert 
• sat in the main square by a fountain and ate baguette for dinner


PARIS:
• had some ice cream by the river as the sun was setting 
• did some walking tours of the main sites: Notre Dame, the Left Bank, the Opera  House, Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, etc.  Very good tours; were tip-based tours and were all done by born and raised Parisians
• had some delicious breads and pastries which I will miss greatly when I leave Europe.


Well that will be all for now.  You will have to wait for the next batch of blogs which will be all about UK adventures (and also about my foot injury) so stay tuned!

Stockholm, Kopenhagen, Hamburg

We only had an afternoon to look around Stockholm.  However, we did our best to get the most out of it given our limited time.  Although we didn't see much, I still really liked Stockholm; it was a really beautiful city.  So all we saw was a street performer doing a dance with a glass globe, then the Palace, then we walked around the Old Town of Stockholm and went for dinner there.  And that was all.  We had to leave the next morning to get to Kopenhagen. 

We arrived in Kopenhagen late afternoon and then headed into town that night to take part in the Midsummer/Summer Solstice festivities.  We sat by one of the beautiful waterways with a crowd of people and watched as a stack of floating wood was set aflame.  As it burned out a couple of hours later, people broke out singing a song in unison.  I can't quite remember exactly the purpose of this, but I think the idea is welcoming in the light of the longest day of the year. It was a really lovely atmosphere. 

The next day, we witnessed the changing of the guard outside of Parliament.  Actually, on the way to the Parliament buildings, we ended up walking alongside the group of soldiers who were also on their way there.  However, while we walked on the sidewalk, they walked in one of the traffic lanes--they even stopped at the red lights and everything.  After that, we went to the Royal Museum (Denmark is still under a monarchy) and learnt about the Danish Royal family.  Following that we went for lunch beside the Gefion Fountain then visited the museum of Danish Resistance against Nazi Occupation.  This was the first war museum that I've been to in while in Europe and it was really powerful.  Such hard history, and yet so important to remember.  That afternoon we took a boat tour along Kopenhagn's waterways, which was a lovely ride, then went up the Round Tower, and then we went up the four-hundred steps of the tower of Vor Freslers Kirke.  This was an interesting tower and unique from the other towers we've climbed.  You see, most towers have a platform at the top from which one can feel safe while looking over a city.  Now this tower did have such a platform, but in addition, it continued going up beyond the platform.  It spiraled up and up until the spiral just wound into itself.  I squeezed myself up to the top, where the spiral stairs curved into the peaked roof.  It was really windy, but I was able to get a really great view of the city.  Later on, we went and saw Water for Elephants in the theatre.  I really enjoyed it.  I read the book awhile ago, and the movie turned out to be exactly how I had pictured it would be.  It's always nice when that happens.  Rare, but very nice. 

The next day was our last day, so we dropped our bags at the train station, then went to see the National Museum for the morning.  It housed many viking-related artifacts which were all very interesting.  The last thing we saw was Denmark's National Gallery which had some incredible works from numerous Danish artists, as well as others.  However, since we're not very good at time mangagement, we only had twenty minutes to look around before our train was going to leave.  Remarkably, we managed to catch the train, but only because we ran most of the way there.

From Kopenhagen, we went to Hamburg, where we stayed with a friend of ours who had done an exchange to Nelson last year.  We took a bus tour of the city with her the following day, ate a hamburger since it seemed appropriate, then took a train from there to Berlin.

Rudesheim, Köln, then way up to Norway

The Long Way Up:

From Rüdesheim, we took a river boat up to Koblenz.  The river wound its way around the green hills and past the small villages.  Old castles overlooked the small houses.  It was a really beautiful ride.

Once we got to Koblenz, we took a train up to Köln (Cologne), where we met a friend.  We stayed with her the night, and then went for breakfast with her before going to see the Gothic Cathedral in Köln, which turned out to be partly under construction because apparently bird poop is corrosive.

After that we boarded the first of six trains for our thirty-three hour journey up to Norway.  On our last train, we actually had to take a bus part of the way because the day before a train had burnt while going through a tunnel.  We were heading for Arna (about ten minutes from Bergen) where my friend, Lauren, is doing a rotary exchange.  We spent the next four days with her, laughing and taking in the Norwegian countryside.

Some eating, some hiking, and lots of laughing:

Upon our arrival, we ate a 1:30am dinner with her host family.

The next day we went into town, looked around at some of the shopping centres, and the only thing we ended up buying was a huge bag of candy.

The next morning we hiked a mountain (had to work off that candy somehow) and ended up taking the bike route.  It was threatening rain, so no bikes came along.  We had to run some of the way back down in order to catch our train and apparently running downhill makes Annalea laugh uncontrollably.  This created decent entertainment for Lauren and me.

That night we ate an amazing meal with Lauren, her host family, her host family's son and his family.  As we all sat around the table, they all began to converse in Norwegian.  I found this very interesting because despite my knowledge of the Norwegian language being nonexistent, I still wasn't entirely lost.  Through the universal language of hand motions, facial expressions, and tones of voice, I could follow the mood of the conversation, even if I didn't know what they were talking about.  When I stopped focusing on the individual words, I almost felt like I was in an English-speaking home.

So, after the delicious feast of two differently seasoned fish, some potatoes, a broccoli/cauliflower dish, a dessert of canned plums and sugared red currants with vanilla cream sauce, we all sat and chatted for awhile.  Soon after we had tea and coffee accompanied by homemade heart-shaped waffles with butter, jam, a sweet cheese, or sugared red currant berries.  Soooo good!

The following day we slept in until noon. This was a splendid novelty after a month and a half of getting up early for either sightseeing or  train connections.  We spent the afternoon back in Bergen, hoping to do some clothing shopping that would be successful, ie. actually buying some clothing items.  However, despite trying on some shirts, which was more progress then the previous shopping attempt, we didn't buy anything.  Well, that's not true.  We did buy a bucket of ice cream and shared it between us, and since it was kind of rainy outside, we ate it inside, huddled on a couch in the corner of the mall courtyard, still decked out in our rain jackets.  But, really, who needs clothes when you can buy chocolate brownie ice cream with caramel swirls instead?

There are strange things done in the midnight sun...and stranger things done under Norwegian street lamps:

Later that night, we all went for a hike at 10:00pm with the sun still up.  By the time we reached the top around 11:00pm, the sun was just setting.  It was pretty cloudy, though, so we didn't see a bright sunset like the one we had witnessed the night before.  Instead, we were engulfed by thin clouds and mist while we looked out to the surrounding mountains, whose tops were also blanketed in cloud.  It was very cool, almost mystical, a little bit eerie, and reminded me of something from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  We ate some chocolate at the top (kind of failed there on the healthy part of hiking) then headed back down.  It was pretty dark by that point, but still only looked like dusk despite it being 11:30pm.  Once we reached the road, we stopped under a street light because our sleep-deprived, sugar-pumped minds decided it was a great idea to dance in the quiet street and try to pull off the worst, most ridiculous kind of dancing we could think of...and record it of course.  So, several "music videos" later, after laughing our abs to the point of pain, we continued walking back to Lauren's.

Sun, Sadie, and setting off for Stockholm:

We packed our bags the next morning and also cleaned up the mess we made of Lauren's room.  It still baffles me how Annalea and I manage to completely cover people's floor space with our stuff when we stay two days or longer.  At least we clean it up when we leave, I suppose, which then helps that person appreciate cleanliness to a whole new level, so we are really doing them a favor when we spread out.

Wow, that was just a slight diversion.  Ok, so back to whatever I was talking about before.  Oh, right, that morning.  Ok.  So after cleaning up, we went and laid in the sun!  After three half sunny, half rainy (still beautiful) days, we saw and felt the warm sun.  This called for bathing suits, towels, and laying on the lawn to try to soak up the rays.

Later that day, while on Skype with our mom, we found out some sad news.  Our cat Sadie, who had been sick for the past two months was doing very badly.  Annalea and I sat at the screen while my mom held Sadie in her arms.  Through falling tears we said our goodbyes, and although we couldn't be by her side, we were with her as she breathed her last labored breath.  Death is a strange thing.  In one moment, something that was living was no longer.  I realized as she left, that she wouldn't be there when I get home.  I won't walk in my front door and have her greet me with familiar meows like she always used to do.  I will never hear her purr again, or feel her warmth, or see her beautiful green eyes.  She is just gone. Tears fell down my cheeks as I watched her body heave for breath in her last moments.  Words stopped in my throat.  Something I loved so dear was leaving and there was nothing I could do to stop it.  I knew that day would come eventually, but part of me naïvely wished that she would last forever.  But, even the best things in life must pass.  I was glad that I had spent a lot of time with her before I left.  I was glad her suffering was short.  I was glad I had the privilege of having her in so much of my life.  Still, it was hard to say goodbye.      

A couple hours later, we parted ways with Lauren and then boarded a train to get to Stockholm.

Familiar Friend

So I thought I already posted this, but I didn't, so let's pretend I posted it on June 16, ok?

Last year we had a wonderful German student named Domi come and stay with us. Before she left we said that we'd come and visit her one day. Well that day was Monday (June 13). She met us at the train station in the small, beautiful town of Bad König and drove us to her house. Her family owns a hotel (the only hotel in Bad König!) and a restaurant, and they let us stay in one of hotel rooms. The time we were there also happened to be the same time that the fair was in town. Domi was waitressing at one of the restaurants there so she took us along to check it out. Before her shift started we all went on a ride called XXL. It was crazy. It was kind of like a gravitron, but it swung back and forth eventually reaching a height of 45 metres! It was so much fun! Then Domi went to work, so Annalea and I went on one more ride, bought a couple souvenirs, then headed back to the hotel. Once we got there, Domi's mom invited us to eat dinner in the restaurant. We happily obliged and were first served an asparagus mousse with caramelized sugar on top of it. We also were given bread, like most restaurants do, but instead of the standard olive oil and balsamic vinegar to accompany it, they served homemade honey butter and tomato butter. Then we both had an asparagus soup. For the entrée I had wiener schnitzel with fried potatoes and mushrooms, and Annalea had a slice of pork and dumplings (apparantly a very German dish). For dessert, they brought a slice of a pastry with cherries and cranberries with ice-cream on the side. Around the edge of the plate, in chocolate drizzle, was written "Wonderful to have you here Marlies.":) Everything was unbelievably delicious!

The next day, Domi took us into Michelstadt (the next town over) to look around there. We walked down some of the old streets and then went to a little cake and ice cream shop. Apparently, this place won the world pastry championship for the best cake and ice cream in Europe. So, of course we tried both the cake and the ice cream. I had chocolate and rhubarb ice cream, Annalea had vanilla and cherry, and we shared a piece of raspberry chocolate cake. It was all very delicious. After that, we all went to a health spa/swimming pool and hot tub where Annalea and I each got a massage. It was so relaxing and a perfect remedy to aching back muscles from carrying heavy packs.

After that, we all went for dinner back at the restaurant. It was once again incredibly delicious. We were first given a very flavourful meatball. It was small, but so delicious; Annalea claimed it to be the best meatball she's ever had. Then we had bread with honey butter and tomato butter. I had an asparagus soup again, and Annalea tried the pumpkin soup. For the main course I had an amazing bacon dumpling with fried mushrooms, all sitting in a creamy mushroom sauce. Annalea had some marinated beef with mashed potatoes and gravy. For dessert, we had some refreshing orange sorbet with caramelized sugar on top of it. Everything was amazing!

I couldn't really get over how incredibly generous it was of them to give us all this delicious food, which her dad cooks himself, as well as let us stay in their beautiful hotel all at no charge!  It felt very strange (and very nice:) ) to be so spoiled after a month and a half of backpacking.

The next day we had to head off, so we said goodbye to Domi and her family, then took the train to Rüdesheim.

Familiar Stranger

In order to get to Frankfurt, we had to take a train, then a bus, and then another train.  On our way there, we went through the countryside of Switzerland which was so beautiful.  The mountains rose high on either side of the road, and small waterfalls cascaded off their steep rock faces.  We wound our way through the valleys and were kept company by the quiet villages spread throughout the hillsides.

We arrived in the bustling Basel (in Switzerland) train station with an hour to wait before our next train.  We were told that we didn't need a reservation, but the train turned out to be packed.  There were a few empty seats, but they were all reserved.  So we walked up and down the aisle several times searching for empty seats while trying to avoid hitting people in the face with our obnoxious backpacks. We ended up taking two reserved seats. However, since they were reserved, Annalea ended up getting bumped from her seat. Thankfully I got to keep my seat, so we ended sharing. She sat on my lap with our bags beneath our feet.  It was a very cozy situation and we tried our best not to squish the guy beside us. We eventually we sat in more spacious seats after after a family of four got off.

Around 10:00pm we arrived in Marburg, Germany.  We hadn't originally planned on going there, but after meeting the three boys in Rome who were studying there, it became part of our itinerary.  You see, before we parted ways with them in Rome, we found out that they were living in Marburg, near Frankfurt.  Two of them were leaving in a couple days, but one of them, Grayson, was staying there another week or so.  We realized that we could be in Germany around that time so Grayson therefore invited us to come stay with him.   This would mean free accommodation,  as well as being able to hang out with him again.  So we took him up on his offer and headed for Marburg. Now, in case you're thinking that this was a very naïve move, staying with a guy we'd just met in his cozy dorm room, then know this: we both felt that he was a trustworthy guy, who was very down to earth and grounded. If either of us has felt even a tinge of uneasiness on the situation, then obviously we wouldn't have gone.  So, once we arrived in Marburg, Grayson met us at the train station and walked us to his dorm.  

The next day, we went to visit a park in Kassel (about an hour from Marburg on train).  We walked up about 530 steps to get to Hercules Castle, then walked around the park to see some waterfalls, some ruins and another castle.  Everything was vibrant green and incredibly lush.  That night we went out for drinks and I had a shot of Jäger for the first time (not bad...), as well as some German beer.  The next day we packed up and made our way to our friend's house in Bad König (also near Frankfurt).