Easy Berlin

Just settled into the most efficient space on the planet: an EasyHotel cubby hole equipped with huge bed taking up half of the cubby, Philips TV that doesn't work without a 7EUR remote and chip, and a tiny bathroom whose door functions as both the bathroom door and the shower door. I'll have to take a video later- it's thrillingly efficient and mildly reminiscent of a few of my college closet-bedrooms.

We're in Berlin for three nights then off to Frankfurt Wednesday morning to catch our plane home. We secured a reservation for the train to Frankfurt so all that's left to do now is enjoy the city. It was pretty easy to populate our list of things to do: Museum of Things, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenberg Gate and Reichstag, Bauhaus Archive, Pergamon Museum and maybe the Zeiss Planetarium. We'll sneak in a lunch at KaDeWe, the continent's largest department store if our feet don't give up on us!

Unicorn Attack

After soaking up the lessons of the Museum of Communism, Chris and I ventured out into Prague's streets in search of food. (The McDonald's right next to the museum was of course out of the question.) We dipped into a bistro and enjoyed some very cheap Pilsner-Urquell, chicken with peaches, three discs of fried camembert with cranberry sauce, numerous baked and sliced potatoes and a serious mound of spinach. The food alone was enough to satisfy us but a special treat had yet to present itself.

I heard the rumblings of a song, far far away as if I was only imagining or having a flashback. No, it couldn't be. I strained to hear, cocked my head in the direction of the music and completely missed what Chris was saying. The beginning notes became louder, yet still hardly audible. Louder and louder and YES! It was the theme song from Robot Unicorn Attack, playing in a random, relatively nice-mannered bistro in Prague. For those of you who haven't heard it, I highly recommend a Google search. Fabulous! Thank you Prague!

We then of course went to see the Astronomical clock, the Charles Bridge and wander about the old medieval part of town...pale in comparison! ;)

Anyone can comment now!

Der, sorry for all the inconvenience. I have altered our blog settings so that anyone may post without signing up for a google account. That was my bad- didn't read the not-so-fine print, so to speak.

Comment away! We're like Tinkerbell- your claps (aka comments) will help bring us home.

T-Minus 7 days

Today amongst the rain and white sky, we visited the Eggenberg brewery here in Cesky Krumlov. For about 15 USD total (310 CHK) we received a tour of the facilities, two beers per person on draft and four bottled beers to take home. They are heavy, so we are doing the responsible thing and drinking all four tonight.

Our favorite of the draft beers was an unpasteurized, unfiltered "yeast" beer (which had the perfect head and I photographed, of course). We also enjoyed a dark beer brewed with carmelized and roasted hops. It might be my (Jess) favorite beer so far- as in so far in my life!

Tonight we are curling up in our cozy Krumlov House private double with new books. I scored "The Ecology of Commerce" and Chris found "The Greatest Show on Earth." (I am eager to work for Interface in Atlanta, if anyone has any connections?) We were very impressed with the English books available! Perhaps another expat... Tomorrow we're off to Prague for three days then to Berlin for our final three. Then home sweet -familiar, cozy yet horribly hot- home. Cannot wait.

Massive Upload

Hello dear followers. You might notice three new slideshows up (or folders in Picasa, however you want to view them). Most of the Munich photos and videos are from the BMW Museum. It was too sexy to restrain my camera.

Now we're settled in at our guesthouse in Cesky Krumlov. It's by far the absolute coziest place we've stayed so far. We are incredibly tempted to just stay here until we fly home. Today we spent a total of $26 USD on two delicious sandwiches, two bus tickets and one serious dinner (as the photos will attest) with two beers. Twenty-six dollars!! We're paying 35 EUR a night to stay in this little lap of luxury...it's nuts. AND there's a teeny tiny black and white cat about the place. How perfect is that?

Enough with words- off to the photos! *And don't forget that to view video, you'll need to click on the picture slideshows or the row of pictures up top. It'll take you to our Picasa Web albums.

Love you Wien

Forty-seven days later and like it or not, we're still traveling. We have nine days left before our flight home and believe me, we're counting the days. 

We now in Vienna and heading to Cesky Krumlov tomorrow. The internet has been a bit sparse the past week or so. In the absence, we visited Mayrhofen, Austria and Munich, Germany. In Mayrhofen, we visited a pretty cool dairy and just a few more peaks within the Alps *yawn! ;). We watched the first game of the World Cup in the English Garden in Munich, after a day full of BMW museum. (Don't worry Dad, I have a TON of photos and videos for you!). I never drank this much beer in my life. Even got heckled for only a liter of beer. 

In Vienna, we soaked up as much of the Leopold Museum as we could muster. The museum has the largest collection of Schiele's works, some Klimt and a good helping of early Secession art. *drool. Today we biked around the city and survived unscathed, un-honked at and relatively financially intact. Gorgeous city, one we would both enjoy living in. Austria remains our favorite country. Plans for the rest of the day include food from a market and some serious laziness in our quiet, Soviet-era apartment complex. We have to go stock up on fussball-watching goodies! Our google account is maxed out with photos and we've purchased 20 additional Gigs so look for more photos tomorrow night! 

Best things in life are free

As you'll see in the latest photos, we headed up to SeefelderJoch yesterday- first by tram then by cable car to the top. At the peak, we tried desperately not to fall off the face of the mountain. There was one point where this was actually a bit of a challenge! We enjoyed the view, the snow and the free rides up the mountain!

In other news, the music in the camp bathroom here is all the best of 80's soft rock! Loving it.

Bitte Shuze!

We are loving Austria. Yesterday Chris and I joked about splicing a video together that showed five seconds on a cable car with Austrians then five seconds on the metro in Paris. It would be a wonderful way to show how incredibly warm, carefree and genuine people are here in Austria.

The other day we took note of interesting fish in a stream by Olympia Sportszentrium... We later fed squirrels, walked around Lake Wildsee and got engaged. After this full day, we enjoyed dinner at Camp Alpin, like always. As we looked at the menu, the head managess of the Camp told the other lady working there how to say, "we have fresh fish" in English, a message she delivered perfectly. After eating about 68,294 pounds of ham on this trip, we jumped at it.

To our surprise, out came two foot-long fish from head to tail- the same fish we had seen in the stream earlier in the day. They were perfect. The head lady then let us know that not only were they fresh, they were caught in the stream on the camp property. It doesn't get much better than that. The perfect close to a perfect day.

In Seefeld...

So after the squirrels were ALL OVER Chris, as you'll see in the gazillion photos I took between freaking out, we found the perfect engagement ring at a family-run jewelry store here in Seefeld, Austria. We're not big on hype or formalities but when we saw the right ring, it was a simple decision. Now we've uploaded all the photos, one of the ring of course, and we're going to go enjoy dinner! Only 19 more days to go before we're home sweet home. I'll try not to blind you all with my mad bling at the airport ;)

Prego, Mr. Ed

So, one of us just ate horse, and horse tartar at that. But wait, I get ahead of myself. We arrived in fair Verona via first class trains that were woefully short. From the station, we headed the wrong way up some heavily trafficked streets and crossed nearly a thousand crosswalks amongst the traffic circles. Narrowly escaping, we reoriented and found our way to B&B Divina. Perfectly content, we lazed about while the heat of the afternoon passed.

Thoroughly rested, we walked around the core of the old Roman settlement, trying to take sensible pictures when really, all we wanted to do was take a thousand pictures of everything. It's one of the most beautiful, genuine and romantic cities we have visited. For all of you who have asked, Verona, Verona, Verona is the one we would recommend you visit. Just touristy enough to find services but not spurred to the frenzy of a tourist's pace or budget. Perfecto.

After a leisurely walk, some drooling over window displays and two jaunts into 13th Century Catholic churches, we had stayed away from our dinner recommendation as long as we could stand. With a two course offering for 15 euro, why not get two courses? Well, any normal human would be perfectly satisfied with the first course of hearty, fresh pasta- that's why! But we haven't learned that lesson just yet. So after some perfect pasta, it was time for the second courses. And that's when the horse tartar arrived.

It was as if someone had been making hamburger patties to grill and forgotten one on Chris' plate. Mmm. Brave soul dug in best he could, savoring the capers it came with and the potatoes. In this case, the pasta dish saved Chris from having to eat the entire mound of horse meat. He said it tasted pretty much like any other meat. Instead of having a sauce, like many beef tartars of yester-dinner, this horse tartar had little to no seasoning. I couldn't really sympathize with him as I devoured the most delectable veal and mushroom combination ever to share a plate.

All in all, the peach/mango and coconut gelato on the walk back filled any room left in our stomachs and we will be sure to think twice before ordering two courses again, especially if one is horse.

A Few Notes

Some things I may have failed to mention:
* In Barcelona, we had very delicious Chinese food with a perfect Japanese dessert. 
* When people say they speak a little English, you can bet they speak much more English than you speak of their language. 
* People only speak a little English in small-town Germany, Barcelona and non-tourist-route Italy. In Holland and Belgium, you're pretty much square. Even if you speak French in France, you'll never be good enough. 
* Fondue in Switzerland is heavenly but G&M's in Charleston is comparable.
* Music in most places we've been so far has been English, and primarily from the US. We've heard more Queen here than I ever dreamed to hope for in one lifetime. We even heard Dolly Parton in Cochem, Germany. 
* We have only seen fountain soda here in Florence. It's on draft, so to speak. Otherwise, it's bottled.
* We have enjoyed conversations with Jonas in Amsterdam, Matt from Vancouver, Peggy and James from Tampa, Anthony and his boyfriend from Australia, a man and his son from India and Fred and Natalie from Raleigh. We also received tips on Florence today from British travelers and a couple from Florida. Insert small world cliche here.
* The Simpons in Italian is still fabulous. We enjoyed that little slice of familiar entertainment while in Parma.
* Hulu isn't available outside of the US! Not even Canada! Once again Canada gets the shaft.
* Gelato is as good as all the tourists gush.

Risotto, be mine forever.

Backlog from yesterday, 28 May 2010
What a great day in Parma! This small city has been a treat and a wonderful introduction to Italy. It's small enough to walk through and not too much traffic that you sincerely fear for your life while crossing streets. Our goal for the day was to eat as much as was comfortable and we defintely succeeded. With a morning cappucino and heavenly pastry, we were ready to explore the baptistery and the Museuo Disocesano di Parma. The hour and a half of gazing at remarkable 12th century frescos left us completely famished (ha!), and we indulged in some pistachio and strawberry gelato. Culinarily satisfied, we walked about the streets where Romans once tromped and traded. We discovered a small, cozy bookstore full of beautiful collectible books, from Pinochio to antique Taschen hardbacks. Let the drooling commense!

Not able to buy books, we set out for more food! Chris ordered a first course of risotto and a second course of insalata with procuitto. I ordered a first course of arribiata spagetti and a caprese for the second course. Just one course would have been a more prudent choice! Chris scored the best dish of the day award with his risotto. Served on a flat plate, the risotto was a creamy circle of goodness dashed with the freshest ground pepper and local parmesian cheese. My spagetti revealed what spagetti is supposed to taste like- fresh pasta complimented with just enough tomato and olive oil to make you lick your lips with every bite. Ready for a nap but a long way from the hotel, we sat a while longer and enjoyed an espresso in the tiniest of cups.

Something unusual also happened today- I felt like shopping. This has only happened about 10 days in my whole life so we capitalized on it while it lasted. We had our eyes peeled for a good pair of jeans or a purple top (which seems to be the pentultimate of cool right now). I should add the caveat that I am awkward enough with salespeople who speak English so the prospect of an Italian boutique was daunting. With Chris' encouragement, we went into a shop that had a shirt I liked in the window. After two failures of jeans- not knowing my European size or even how to say numbers in Italian- I tried on the top in the window while Chris chatted with the congenial shopkeeper. Prego! An attractive pattern, a flattering cut plus one mastercard and we were on our way, shopping bag in tow. We have now purchased exactly two things that are not Dune paperbacks, food or survival related! Don't worry- gift purchases will surely come later in the trip when we have fewer kilometers to travel.

Later 28 May, after dinner at Leon d'Oro
We just enjoyed one of the best meals, worthy of celebration. It began with a house red wine that tingled on our tongues. It was followed by ossobucco for Chris and risotto with red cabbage for me. Chris' ossobucco rested in a nest of yellow risotto, in an quantity impossible to finish. We slowly made our way through the hearty dishes and after over an hour, finally surrendered. A dessert tray had been rolled closer and we knew better than destroy ourselves on the main courses.

A decision was in order: which of the many delicious desserts would we chose? Chris saw one nestled amongst the others. It was cakey, tripled-layered, folded in on themselves. The outer layer was a vibrant red, soaked in liquor. Cozy inside were two layers: one of chocolate and another of custard. Beside it, a heafty dollop of creme with coffee bean peppered throughout. Decadent, amazing and fulfilling. We finished the dinner of indulgence with a shot of distilleria- grappa from chardonnay. Stout, flavorful and subtle, it warmed and enlivened us just enough for us to haul ourselves up three flights to our room.

And now.. Deep Thoughts

We are now two days into the second half of the trip, and we've thrown out our plans left and right- skipping Paris because of the crap weather, hop-scotching through France to get to Spain, adding a stay in Lauterbrunnen for three nights, going to Parma instead of Milan, adding more hotel breaks than expected...so many changes have been completely the right thing to do but taxing in their own way. Despite the excitement of travel, we are missing our friends and our family. I remind myself that this is a rare trip and that every day is a different lifestyle- one I won't likely have again. There are foods and experiences to be had here that are of a place and time we must grasp while we can.  Carpe Diem!

On another note, inside the glacial-falls of the Trummelbach river, it dawned on me that the current rate of the melting of glaciers isn't something to brush off as a natural process, as well as the carelessness of such a claim. The power of the water was humbling and intimidating but just a glimpse of the strength of unbridled earth.

The Saint of Parma

Backlog from 27 May 2010
We've made it! Country #7! By now hopping on and off trains is old hat. Today we took six different trains between Lauterbrunnen, Switz. and Parma, Italy. Once we read it was the birthplace of delicious prosciutto and parmesan, coming here was a no-brainer.

Upon arriving in town, we found the train station in a state of reconstruction. Once we finally found the exit, we headed out in the direction we thought was correct. None of the scant steet signs revealed we were on the right path so I asked a crossing guard who was helping a ton of little kids get out of school. A safe bet, right? As a cigarette hung from his lips, he spoke a great deal of Italian- of which we caught that there was a stop light involved in the opposite direction we were heading. Already he had been more helpful than every person in France put together, but he wasn't done yet. Thinking we spoke French, he began asking parents if they spoke French! What had we gotten into?

One father spoke French, and I attempted to communicate but I'm sure it was just a bunch of deer-in-headlights and head nodding. I handed him our notes, which we had scrawled a completely inadequate map onto. He recognized the hotel name and asked if we were on foot, and we said "Oui..Dah..Si." He gestured to his car and pointed here and there for where we would fit. His adorable son sat in the front with Chris looking completely mellow, as if strangers from strange lands often rode beside him. Amazed already that he was giving us a ride, he then used his cell phone to call and verify the location. Lots of Italian later, we were on our way! Within two blocks, we were delivered right to the door of Leon D'oro. We thanked him profusely in Italian, French and English as he held up traffic for us.

The door to the hotel had a sign on it. Italian, of course. But with the door locked, we hoped if we just stood around, eventually something would happen. Our driving friend hadn't left yet and called the hotel again for us. Presto! We were let in and the rest is history.

People come here to jump off of things.

From Monday, May 24: Today we woke up to the deceiving peacefulness of Camping Eicholz in Bern, Switzerland. Last night, we were completely surrounded by children of all ages with a different idea of personal space and private property than we Americans are engrained with. Having had troubles with our tent, we were nervous about anything stronger than a stiff wind, let alone a football or tumbling child. We huddled inside listening to our audiobook and willed the sun to set. Around 10pm, it finally was dark enough to mellow out the children, and we were safe for the next few hours... 
At 8am, we awoke with a start and said to each other, "We've gotta get out of here [before the children wake up]." We hiked back to the tramstop, managed to ride the tram without paying for the 3.80CHF tickets (ouch!), and hopped onto the first train to Interlocken. From there, we took a Jungfraubahn train to gorgeously situated Lauterbrunnen. I thanked my lucky stars that Chris has such a knack for chosing the most amazing camping locations. We had camp set up by 11am and set off to find some rosti! Hotel Oberland hooked us up with the amazing potato dish with local swiss cheese and other tasty morsels on top. 


We took the cable car and then a tram up to Winteregg. The hike back was beautiful but brutal on our legs. We're still recovering! (But found that fondue and ice cream help.)

Feast to Famine

Besides a few letters in their name, Bern and Barcelona have very little in common. From sandy to green, Spanish to Swiss German, cheap to eeeexpensive and ocean to glaciers, we traveled pretty far yesterday. With a gorgeous river along the campgrounds and packed parks all throughout town, we have had a rejuvenating day in Bern. Tomorrow, we're off to Camp Jungfrau in the Alps and hope to hike up to the tallest peak in Europe. Sike! We'll take a rather expensive but oh-so-worth it funicular to the peak.

Little update: The tent worked like usual last night with it's little repair and my head is on the mend! We're also enjoying Speaker for the Dead on audiobook and Chris breezed through Dune and is onto the Prelude already...You'd think traveling would slow the lad down but you'd be wrong.

Today in Barcelona

After a lovely chat with Fred & Natalie from Raleigh, NC over croissants and coffee at Casa de Billy, we head out to find a solution to our previously mentioned tent problem. After four outdoor equipment shops, we ducked into a hobby store, full of trains and fake grass. They had metal tubing and a saint working there who used a Vermeer caliper to measure our tent pole, find an appropriate tube AND cut it down for us. SAINT! His picture is among the slideshow. He even let Chris put some elbow grease into it. That problem somewhat solved, we sought a Menu del Dia. I enjoyed some delicious gazpacho and Chris had a significant quantity of roasted asparagus. That was just the first course. We had ham-stuffed pork loin as a second course and crema Catalan and chocolate cake. With the beers, it was 21 euro- all included. A good end to a successful morning.

In the afternoon, we trekked up to the train station and hoped to secure transport to Bern for tomorrow. Haha- how silly we are to think any train through France might be anything but a huge hassle. "Not possible," is the phrase train ticket sellers tend to use... but we figured it out and we'll be on our way to Bern tomorrow.

We then hopped into the metro system and via vernicular, went up to the Castel. The best thing about that was the random stray cats and the view. (Wouldn't recommend it- plenty of views elsewhere.)We made our way back down the mount and visited Mies van de Rohe's Pavilion. We sat in the chairs, regardless of signage in multiple languages not to. With sore feets, we made our way back to the casa and are planning out what comes next!

A Few Notes

In Barcelona, the music in nearly every restaurant is from the 80's or early 90's. In Germany, purple seems incredibly popular. In Gent, we should have drank more and eaten more of Amadeus' spare ribs. France hates Eurail passes, their holders and makes it difficult to like traveling through France. There are windmills in every country we have yet traveled through, as well as community gardens along the train tracks. Australians travel really far and sometimes stop in Dubai on their way back from Europe. There is magic in Belgium's waffles. Holland's mayonnaise makes me want to move there, and we are now eating mayo on everything. There are Chevrolet and Ford dealerships in downtown Barcelona.

After the tent broke, but before the head wound.

In an effort not to worry our mothers, as we so often tend to do, it's only now that I am updating you, dear readers, of our latest of interesting developments-tent breakage and head wounds! Our last night at Tossa de Mar, the front pole of the tent decided to break. It's an ultralight tent, made with heated aluminum, yada yada which equals "fragile." So, miniature emergency rolls of duct tape saved the night, while Chris applied some of his boyscout-taught knotting techniques to stabilize our new construction. We were ridiculous relieved as the sun went down and our tent remained standing. More later on what we hope to do with the tent-home we had planned for the remaining five weeks of our trip.

So, the head wound. As I, Jess, was preparing to get into the shower here in Barcelona, I was throwing laundry around, trying to multi-task and not paying enough attention to potentially lethal open windows... As I stood up from fussing about, my head contacted the bottom corner of the window. After actually yalping, "OW!," I said some incredibly unladylike things. Meanwhile, I determined that stitches were probably unlikely but the adrenaline made me shaky, so I fled to the room and enlisted Chris' help. Tall as he is, he quickly determined I would 1) Survive and 2) Not need stitches or even emergency duct tape on my head. Unpleasant and the opposite of fun but just another trial of the trip.

All's well that ends well! And now for something totally different...

The Fruits of Spain

After the onslaught of cold weather that was the beginning of our trip, we eagerly raced, or rather slowly took slow trains over a period of days, towards Spain. We assumed Spain to be an oasis of warmth, a land without clouds or windchill.  We had some serious luck in this regard. As we rolled into Spain (our train being so delayed that they recruited a bus to take us instead), the clouds literally parted and the temperature was nearly 80. Though Spain is not always magically perfect for weather, it turns out that the very day we arrived, the weather cleared, and it remains sunny all week.

Tossa de Mar was a vacation within our vacation. The ocean was a crystal clear turquoise, dwarfed by cliffs that shot straight up from the beach and lined with scrubby succulents and pines. Our campsite was situated at the top of one such cliff, and had a view over the railing all the way to the beach. On the downside, our campsite was also at the bottom of a hill. The bathrooms were on the top of the hill. The bus stop was on top of the hill on top of the previous hill. When we left this morning, to finally depart after three nights of relaxing by the ocean, we strapped on our backpacks and hiked about fifteen minutes up to the bus stop - at about a 45-degree incline, we definitely got our exercise from Tossa, but I suppose it's good preparation for the Alps.

We have now settled into Barcelona, arriving at the luxurious yet comfortable guesthouse Casa de Billy (yes, you read that correctly, an expat I believe). Thrilled to be sleeping in a bed again and spoiled by a location incredibly central to the city, we are plotting our approach to the city tomorrow.

As usual, we are targeting food and sights - Barcelona is loaded with both. The deal in Spain for food is that most restaurants have what is called Menu del Dia (Menu of the Day). It's a ridiculous steal at around 10 Euros per person, for a 3 course lunch (yes lunch), with wine included.  Everywhere does it, it's a national custom (almost a law). After a massive lunch, it may be time for a siesta - most places don't even start serving dinner until 9 PM, so we have a large amount of time to fill up.

Somewhere after siesta, we will seek out what Mark Bittman refers to as the best sandwich he's ever had, the flauta d’ibéric d.o. jabugo - at CafeViena - made from what many say is the world's best salt-cured ham (jabugo).

I suppose Jess will inform you about the architecture of Barcelona, I mainly just ramble on about food. Stay tuned for more coherent and structured posts from her, while I slip into a jabugo y cerveza fueled coma.

(Did she mention the pancakes with bacon cooked into them in Delft? Wow.)

¡Perfection!

It turns out that some places in the world are nearly perfect. We have found one of those places, but we´re not the first. Chris first caught a glimpse of our current campsite on Times´ top 20¨. We´re Number 5, and the featured image is probably the campsite next to ours, if not ours exactly. When we´re not pinching ourselves, we´re enjoying the perfect temperature, ridiculous view and the most beautiful pitchers of sangria on the planet. Will write more about Tossa de Mar later on, when we´re not at an internet terminal typing on a Spanish keyboard¿

Where are we?

So, on our way to Spain, we've stopped in Tours, Poitiers, Limoges and now Toulouse. In Tours, we stayed the night. In Poitiers, we were intrigued yet didn't make it much farther than the train station. 600m up with 20lb packs, I don't think so. Had a nice stay and walk around Limoges- which was sadly and largely closed due to previously mentioned and loathed national holiday. So now we're in sweet, gritty, real Toulouse. More manageable than Paris, more urban than Tours and more relevant than Poitiers. So far, we're enjoying Toulouse for tonight and Saturday night. After discovering that camping was pretty far out of town, we hunkered down in a relatively nice place just a stones' throw from le gare (train station). At 6:45am on Sunday, we'll be catching a train to Barcelona and then connecting to somewhere else in Spain- so the proximity will be greatly appreciated! For now, I'm just uploading the latest photos and seein' if the ol' paternals are signed onto Skype. The never-ending game of cat and mouse with wifi and 6hrs time difference... One day! For now, we are happily full of mussels and frites, kir and cassis so  bon soiree and please do one thing for me- enjoy your water pressure and soft toilet paper!! I'll live vicariously. ;)

Like Pamplona...

The avalanche of the unexpected continues. After the decision to chuck Brugge and head to Bayeux, we didn't know where we should go next. Even though we could have made the Hotel de Bayeux our second home, it was 60E a night and time to find a new destination. But where?? Further into uncharted French territory? Or bite the long-train bullet and head to Spain?? With two hours to checkout and free wifi, we feverishly researched possibilities. Okay, we'll head to Paris and catch the night train to Barcelona, followed by a train to Valencia. We'd be enjoying the gorgeous Spain weather by noon. HA! If only things had gone as planned.
Upon arriving in the incredibly packed Paris station, we headed toward information to book a bed on the next night train. "Not possible," she says. Not tonight. Not tomorrow night. Not Friday night, Saturday night...shall I go on? Turns out, lucky for us, it's a holiday and EVERY HUMAN in ALL of France has their butt in a train seat. Anywhere we asked, Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastian- every train was booked. Well, we decided, this information person was not giving us the information we wanted. So we headed out in the direction of another large train station and another info station. We found one, slightly reminiscent of British customs detention (gulp), but were helped find a way out of Paris. Said train had no reservations, so it was first come-first seated on the train. We waited and waited like lemmings for the platform to be announced as a crowd grew behind us. Within seconds of the platform number popping up, the entire massive hoard that had gathered moved like a wave, some running and some pulling Heismans in order to get a seat. It was ..like Pamplona... As I write, we are on a train not to anywhere near Spain but to Tours, France. It's in the general direction of Spain from Paris and most importantly- NOT PARIS. If we've learned one thing about ourselves as travellers, it's that we prefer smaller cities. Sorry Paris...maybe later when we're down with schedules and dropping some mad money...and it's July.

Update: Writing now from a wonderful hotel, Hotel Ronsard, in Tours. The city is full of youth, traditional architecture, and we couldn't have felt safer as we navigated her 11pm streets. Thank you Tours!

Cloud 9

Card returned, cash in tow and wonderful hotel to rest our heads already secured for tonight. Thinking of skipping Paris and it's 1 degree low for Thursday. How about Spain instead?? Like retired New Jersians heading to Florida- we're off to Spain on Thursday! In the meantime, D-Day beaches and the Bayeux Tapestry. Very excited to see both! They were on our list of too-far to go but now we're HERE and the sun is shining. Thanking our lucky stars!

So far in Bayeux...

So, still Monday but now we are in Bayeux, France- famous for THE tapestry of tapestries and the beaches that hold the memories of so many who fought for and liberated Europe in WWII. When we arrived, the wind was fierce and the streets were deserted. We found an atm, which ate Chris's card. The first hostel we went to was full. Since it was kind of shady anyway, we weren't too upset and found a wonderful hotel instead - Hotel le Bayeux! We love it already. This is our first room to ourselves, with walls! electricity! free water! free towels! free linens! It's heaven. Tomorrow we'll tackle the bank- hope they speak a bit of English and hope we can get the card returned. We'll play it by ear! Lots of back up plastics and every finger crossed.
Tomorrow we'll visit the tapestry and some beaches. Most likely, we'll stay here another night tomorrow and visit Mont St Michel on Wednesday.. but you never know how the wind might blow..

Best laid plans o' Gent...

Little did we know when we arrived in Gent that nothing would be as expected. First, the tram system was only running a loop with one stop at the heart of town- a heart in the process of being torn up and reconstructed. Luckily, we had already 86'ed the out-of-town camping idea and decided to stay indoors at De Draeke youth hostel not too far from the center of the city. Armed with a map from the wonderfully helpful tourist info station, Chris navigated to the hostel. After dropping off our things, we explored Saint Bavo's Cathedral, built over four centuries. Appropriately, we then made our way to the closest drinking establishment. 

With the help of a Use-it map, we discovered the hole-in-the-wall-along-the-water Dreupelkot and enjoyed traditional, pear and lemon jenever with a friendly local. Traditional jenever is not wholly unlike a nice sipping whiskey or tequila, and was strong enough to embolden up to chat with a local couple. Toward the end of our pleasant conversation, our friendly local moved us to consider changing our travel plans to include a trip out to Normandy. "As Americans, you must go," he beseeched us. "You MuST." He would be surprised to find out that we would be on a train to Normandy within 24 hours! But I am getting ahead...

After our jenever, we enjoyed ridiculously delicious and bottomless spare ribs at Amadeus- recommended by said friendly local and a few guidebooks. Trying to find the restaurant, we passed an American girl with her hand up to her mouth, blabbing something like "there was just a huge bucket of ribs- disGUSTING!" and we knew we were on the right path. It was a perfect meal and added part two of our trifecta of enjoyment for the evening: jenever, ribs and beer. Post-ribs, we needed some Belgian beer. We went to the Waterhouse on the Beerside for some local brews on tap. Jess discovered she enjoyed Rodenbach and a rather large Chimay. Chris preferred his Westmalle over the Gandavum. Satisfied and sleepy, we headed back to the hostel. 

In the morning, we knew we had to seek different lodging since the hostel was booked for Monday night. With our packs, we made our way to a different hostel but thought, Why not go to Normandy now? With that in mind, we headed to the top of the belfry, grabbed a great view and sought out some waffles before we made our leave. With a belly full of amazingly delicious waffles and coffee with heavy whipping cream, we were off!

Ode to Delft

Dearest Delft,
Thank you for a wonderful impression of Holland. After the youth of Utrecht and the tourists of Amsterdam, you were exactly what we were hoping to find in the Netherlands. Your birds are by far the most interesting we have seen- including what seemed to be a flock of parrots in the city camp and a Jurassic escapee on top of one of your apartment buildings. Even though your weather was cold and rainy, we had a delightful visit, including one of the best cups of coffee ever to pass our lips and a ridiculously delicious bacon and mushroom quiche.

Fondly and forever yours,
Chris and Jess

Webmaster request...

If the slideshows on the right become too much, make the page slow to load, etc- just let me know! I'll take some of the old ones down. All of them can be viewed through Picasa web by clicking on the photo or the banner at the top. (Plus videos are there too!)

thx.

Goodnight Amsterdam!

So, we've visited the NEMO science center, the Hermitage Museum, Amsterdam Tulip Museum, Allard Pierson Museum, the Van Gogh Museum and taken a boat tour of the canals. I'd say we had two days well-spent in Amsterdam and with none of the naughty bits. (We both felt like the city was oozing with tourists and that the museums were as cliche-touristy as we were willing to do). We have enjoyed the urbanity of the city, the warmth of sleeping indoors and the easy-to-find delicious treats (the FOOD, come on ;) but we're ready to get back to the beautiful countryside that the Netherlands has to offer. Ask me if I still think that tomorrow night- when it's supposed to be down in the single digits (Celsius)! If all else fails, our next campsite in Delft has the cutest bungalows on the planet so any tiny excuse to stay in one won't slip by us!

What up Holland?

One night ahead of planned, we popped over to the Netherlands. We realized that the trip from Koln (Cologne) to Amsterdam would be about four hours, and to be there by noon would require some serious AM work and logistics... So, why not go to the Netherlands early?? Chris is a genious!

We are at hostel Strowis in Ultrecht, enjoying a nice complimentary cup of coffee just 30 sweet minutes from Amsterdam, where we'll meet up with Nate and Miriam and speak a lot, (read: a lot!), of English. It was becoming a little bit of a challenge in Germany with no German under our hats. I would recommend learning the little things before jumping into a country. But the food was fabulous, the people were pleasant and direct. The Rhine was beautiful and not all that unlike the Appalachians. (Except for the multiple thousands years' history and very intriguing castles.)

So, since the last post, we've been to Oberwesel, Cochem and Cologne. Oberwesel was tiny and had a great campsite. The bathrooms were so nice I took a picture! Cochem was very neat and we hiked up the back of a castle mount in order to explore Berg Reichstag. Remodeled in the 1800's, it was more of a working home that rich people had left very cool stuff behind in. The witches tower had an interesting story: if a woman was suspected to be a witch, she was thrown off the tower. If she survived, she was clearly a witch- and was burned. Hard times for the ladies.

Cologne was big and took some patience to figure out the transit system. At the camp, we enjoyed some spargel and a pretty fancy dinner considering our budget. It was nice to have a rest from street food and kebabs!

So now we're off to Amsterdam! Don't look mom ;) (And more photos later, we have lots to share once we get set up).

Chillin' by the Rhine

And after a breeze through customs, we were in Germany! Internet connections might be sparce, so we'll upload when we can dear readers. We have just spent two nights in Mainz, Germany, which is about a ten minute train ride from Frankfurt to the west. The ride was dotted with small plots of land divided into even smaller plots in what looked like community gardens. 

In Mainz, we walked until our feet couldn't take it anymore and saw much of the very old, yet vibrant city.  A 10th century cathedral called St Martins provided our first touristy adventure. With a multitude of side rooms and alters from nearly every century, it was a treat. 

We walked all over the city, discovering things as we got lost amongst its whindy-patterned streets.  Chagall designed most of the windows in a cathedral called St. Stephens which we stumbled upon after picking up some remarkably delicious sandwiches. The church left much to be desired, but it was a neat discovery. The Gutenberg Museum was a huge treat. We saw two original Gutenberg bibles, with some letters hand-painted with red ink. They were extraordinary and unbelievably old. The museum also held a number of books from the pre-printing press era, as in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Yeah, books from the Middle Ages. Imagine that! Hand-painted letters and all. 

Another great spot was the Martinsdom- Martin's Cathedral, whose construction began in the 900s AD. They had clearly had a few years to collect some very interesting altars. Outside of the Dom was a wonderful market where we picked up some apples and enjoyed people watching. 

So far we're well within budget and enjoyed camping for our first two nights. Let's hope it keeps up!

Now we're in Oberwesel! It's tiny but great. Medieval towers, centuries of history, and of course, biergartens! Beer outside next to the Rhine makes for a pretty nice afternoon.

More soon!

After a week of serious planning...

We'll attempt something like this: we fly into Frankfurt, Germany then take a train to Mainz, to Oberwesel, then Cochem, a day trip through Trier on our way to Koln (Cologne), then Amsterdam, Der Haag (The Hague), Gent, Brugge, sweet Paris, where we'll catch a night train to San Sebastian. After that, off to Barcelona, Carcassone, Grenoble, Geneva (or close town), Milano, Firenze (Florence), then Verona. Will we have any money left after Italy's high prices? Either way, we'll go up to Innsbruck, over to Munchen (Munich), down to Ljubljana and up to Budapest. To follow that, a stop in Vienna, Cesky Krumlov, a little stay in Praha (Prague) with a final stop in Berlin before flying back to the real world. phew. I hope my shoes are up to it!

Eurail, you are pricey but fantastic

We threw down some serious credit cardage for some Eurail Global Passes. Now that we have our huge expenses out of the way, (deep breath!) we can figure out the best way to spend the rest. Like one guide book recommended, take the crummy lodging and see the free sights so that you can "invest" in tasty vittles. I'm inclined to agree.

For now, we are in Atlanta, then Charleston, then Lexington, then Asheville. Then Frankfurt!

Frankfurt!

With a new budget hammered out and a new plan altogether- we've booked flights to Frankfurt! April 28th - June 23rd.

HelpEx in Asheville

Great day: Called the German consulate in Atlanta and was quickly routed to a helpful person, who nicely and directly let me know what I needed to do to be super sure we don't get turned away. Already Germany is seeming much friendlier! I also emailed the consulate through their website and heard back within 24 hrs from a different person. He said he didn't foresee us having any trouble- and that the UK isn't part of Schengen. That's right! UK isn't in the cool-kids club. Also sent an email directly to Frankfurt customs... Couldn't hurt! 

Meanwhile, Chris and I helped out at his parents' house to earn some of our room and board! Pretty nice stone path, eh? Picture

The bums always lose, Lebowski!

After a hike in the gorgeous North Carolina mountains, our spirits are lifted. A little fresh air goes a long way. Tomorrow, we call the German consulate in Atlanta and see if we would be allowed to be tourists in their country for 3 months. Going to Germany was the original plan anyway- we added on the UK to extend our trip. Hear that Britain? Yeah, we didn't want you either. ;) But for everyone else, we can highly recommend a little North Carolina mountains for your diet this time of year.

Returned. Removed. Whatever you call it, we're back in the USA.

Our great adventure began with a fabulous send off from the Foxes and the Windhams, as they waved goodbyes from Charlotte airport, noon on Saturday. We soaked up our last few moments in the States and waited for our 3pm flight to London via Newark.

Around 6am London time on Sunday, as the plane was descending into London Heathrow we began eagerly planning how to get through the airport, off onto the Underground Picadilly line, taking Glouchester stop to the hotel to drop off our things before a day of sightseeing. Wouldn't that have been great? With a little stop-off at a cafe to email the folks and enjoy some coffee...

First stop, customs. We went up to the counter together and before we know it, there are apparently problems with our intentions for the United Kingdom. "So you want to stay six months and you've quit your jobs back home?" She says with what I used to think was a charming accent, giving us the "you're crazy" look.  "And you have no documents on how you'll do this?" Well, we had booked a hotel and a train ride but little did we know that with each detail we offered, we were giving her fodder for later interrogations. But alas, we assumed it was just a glitch. 

She took us to someone else- a flighty woman who took us to get our checked backpacks and gave them a look over. She said if we were saying we'd volunteer in the UK then they wouldn't let us through but it was too late to change our story. Not to mention our mamas taught us never to lie, especially not to the British government.

So, to a holding room we go- more accurately called a detention room but that would make us evil immigration villains so we'll say "holding room." We're given notice that we are under further examination as well as written notice for reasons for detention and bail rights. We have our pictures taken, our fingerprints put into a computer and our passports and luggage are taken into the custody of the "Home Office" of the UK Border Agency. By now it's about 11am London time on Sunday and at this rate, we might not have to worry about filling time until the 3pm check in at the hotel! To us, it feels like 6am after a night without sleep so hotels are sounding better than most of the sites we'd planned to see. 

Security staff operates independently from the Immigration office and they offered us food, PGTips from a vending machine and some levity. We asked one man what the best pub would be, should we ever get out of the holding room. To which he replied, "I should think the closest one." 

Around 1pm, we were separately interviewed by charming Agent 8511- reminding me of Ayn Rand's Anthem where everyone has a number instead of a name. The immigration officers don't wear name tags and when asked, my interviewee only gave me her officer #. I went first and she asked about 15 questions, including what we did for work, how much money we had, what we had planned for when we returned to the States, what we wanted to see in England and what we wanted to do. I thought my clarity, cooperation and charm would help. Proven: Southern charm has no effect on English stiff upper lips. 

So then I ask her, "Worst case scenario, what we are looking at?" Quite unexpectedly, she almost timidly says, "We would send you back on the first available flight." Haha! Imagine that! Good thing that's only the worst case scenario and I'm sure highly unlikely. They would never! We're American, we have money and have planned this for two years, which she very well knows thanks to her thorough questions. Regardless, it starts the water works. My optimism defenses are down and as tears blur my concentration, my answers become terse. At this point, I can't wait to get back to the holding room we've been sharing with four other detainees for the last six hours. It's not good when that's your preferred place, but as long as we were in there, we still had a chance of making it out to the UK.

Around 2pm, Chris was interrogated, "interviewed" they called it. They asked him pretty much the same questions. When he got out, we attempted to contact our banks so that they could fax our bank balances. Not that the officers had given us a fax number or anything...or taken up our offers to provide our banking log in information. The security guards gave us the information we needed, and Chris made the call. At about a pound per minute, Chris was desperate. Being a Sunday, and Easter Sunday no less, his balance was not available and "shit out of luck" was the general feeling. We realized that trying to call our parents would cost a fortune and probably be equally futile. Calling our mothers and saying, "Hi we're being detained and need you to fax our bank balances" probably wouldn't go over well! The idea of telling our parents would make the situation too real, and instead, we hoped to tell them once we got into London- nothing more than an airport hassle story.

Meanwhile, we are as entertained as one could be by our fellow detainees. First is a man from India with a dialect no one can place. Multiple interpreters come in but none is ever found. The man is quiet, calm and never says a word. Then there are the three men from Tunisia. To which, Chris says, "Oh, where they filmed Star Wars." They were seeking asylum, "a-slime" as they pronounced it, and not particularly interested in chatting about R2D2. Lastly, there was the Aussie backpacker Matty. The only native English speaker and us bored as hell, we chatted him up. It turns out he was kept in a cell the past two nights, five paces by five paces at a jail-type place, because they wanted to send him back but couldn't find a flight. As rugged as this guy was, tattoos and scruff, he said he didn't mingle with the other people at the detention center. Worrisome. If they wanted to send us back, we hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

Around 3pm Agent 8511 comes back with a verdict- "We don't think we'll be able to grant you access to the United Kingdom at this time. The reasons you gave would require you to have a Tier 3 ..yada yada under section blah-A visa..." Stunned. She keeps rambling on about applying for the visa for when we want to come back." Through tears of exhaustion and disappointment, I tell her that "We aren't coming back. That would be retarded." I regret the non-PC tone of the comment but her even-keeled nonsense was destroying over 6 months of our plans. No more Miss Nice Jess. Chris asks to see her superior.

Around 4pm, nine hours after our arrival, a Chief Immigration Officer comes to see us. She says she'll look over the file but that it was not likely she'd disagree with her colleague. We become resigned to the idea of going back. Anything to get out of that holding room and away from the resentment that was building for the British government. 

They eventually start finalizing the details for our flight back to the US. We asked if we could stop off at any airport food places, just grab some pizza or something. It was as if we asked if the Loch Ness monster was real. They said no, that there was food in the holding room. We chose a microwaved lamb curry dish and the guard insisted that the rice must go with it. At least we had some curry in England, right?

We head off to the gate around 5:15pm, our walk of shame escorted by two officers and seated behind the ticketing counter. Our passports are given to the pilot of the plane, and we are seated before anyone else. As a small gift from the gods, we are seated in the aisle with the emergency exit and a little bit of extra leg room. 

Unfortunately, they had to send us back just as we had come - Charlotte by way of Newark. We pointed out that Hawaii was also US territory but they didn't seem to have much of an imagination. At 6:25pm London time (1:25pm US), almost exactly 12 hours after our arrival, we lifted off from Heathrow. 

Tired but happy to be getting somewhere, anywhere really, we got a few glimpses of sleep on the ride back and arrived in Newark at 9:30pm local time. After a trip through customs, baggage pick up and currency exchange, we finally, around 11:30pm, made our way to a lavish Howard Johnson. (yes, read: sarcastic). Having not slept for 42hrs, 21.5 of which were on plane, we didn't much care. Dug out some clean clothes and a toothbrush and slept like babes. Well, for a few hours anyway.

4:25am Monday- Rise and shine for more planes! We hauled ourselves out of bed and took a shuttle back to Newark airport, then to Charlotte by 8am. Around 9am we finally found a rental car service that actually had cars available. (We were, however, getting used to disappointment so if they had had none, we wouldn't be totally shocked). Hopeful and energized with our rented Ford Focus, freedom of the open road and our odyssey nearly complete, we stopped at a gas station for some 5hr energy and gatorade.

Up until this point, our attempts to call parents had failed for various reasons, so no one had any idea that our plans had taken a 180. We had discussed how not to start the call: "Hi, I'm okay but..." or "Hi, we're not in London but actually at a payphone an hour away..." No matter how we sliced it, our parents and family were as disappointed for us as you might imagine. 

So now we're recovering in Asheville- still wrapping our minds around the complete debacle. The weather is divine and the plants are just starting to be lush. We're practically zombies, so it's good we aren't operating any heavy machinery. Well, not today.

We'll be looking into Denmark and Germany's visa rules, including written and verbal correspondence with their consulate showing that our trip will be a-okay with their immigration office. If that doesn't work out for any reason, we will consider traveling around the northwest of the US. All to be determined once we have full brain capacity returned.

All in all, we learned to be prepared when traveling to a different country- CALL the consulate, get it in writing that your travel plans are approved and if all else fails say you are a tourist! "Work" and "volunteer" are dirty buzz worlds in this current state of mass immigration and economic stress. If you're traveling, (especially if you have quit your job to travel!) bring your itinerary to show how delightfully touristy you'll be, including the prices of things and a total budget. Print your bank balance to show you have the money to fund said budget. The biggest lesson was to appreciate our US citizenship status and the ease of travel to all the beautiful places we have here in the US. 

If you're curious, the official UK boot goes a little something like this:   

"You have asked for leave to enter the United Kingdom for six months in order to take up employment with Help Exchange but you have no valid Certificate of Sponsorship or entry clearance. Furthermore, although this work is voluntary, Help Exchange is not a registered charity and therefore you do not quality for entry as a voluntary worker outside of the Immigration Rules. 

"You have subsequently sought entry as a visitor however in light of the above, I cannot be satisfied that you will not take up employment.

"I therefore refuse you leave to enter the United Kingdom."

Move is Complete

We're done! Packed, moved and recuperating now for a few days at our parents' houses. Our send off from Charleston was great, and we'll miss you all so very much! Thanks for a wonderful send off~

We're doing what?!

Plans have firmed up, and it's time to share! Chris and I are heading out on our 6-9month tour of Europe starting April 3rd. We have quit our jobs and packed up much of our things. (Thank you parents and sister!!) We are leaving the beautiful and familiar Charleston to dig into something totally new and a new way of life.

After our first four days in London, we'll head out and get to work. Our first host, who we found through helpx.net, is in Wimborne, near Bournemouth, England. It's about 2 hrs southwest of London. We will be staying for about a month, during which we'll take on a cottage garden project. It needs to be sorted out and replanted for the next season, and we are very ready to get started. After working about 6 or 7 hours a day, we'll be able to walk into town or cozy up in the cottage with a book. On weekends, we are hoping to get out to Stonehenge and explore the local port of Poole- from which we might be able to catch a glimpse of France!

After Wimborne, we will head west to a host in Penzance. For our two weeks there, we will be gathering local naturally-available food to sell to restaurants and helping in the garden. Avoid pirates will be the hard part...

After Penzance, we'll head north to Barnacre, outside of Liverpool. During our month there, we will help out with a big project- learning about and how to use green materials including oak framing, lime plastering, rendering and lime washing, insulation, water harvesting, reed beds, heat pumps, wind turbines as well as general construction skills of joinery etc. And that puts us up to June 26th... Scotland, you're next!

Nearly everywhere we go, there will be wi-fi access. Even the coaches (buses) have it! We'll upload our pictures and link them here! We are discovering how to travel on the cheap, including 1pound fares to and from London through National Express. With our budget, we'll need it! Shoot us an email if you'd like to meet up with us somewhere!

London!

We've booked three nights in London for a steal of $210 total. And that's in a hotel! Loving the internet right about now....Here's easyHotel's website. From Heathrow airport we'll take the tube to Earl's Court or Gloucester Road. 
View Project Europe in a larger map

Doing some browsing online for where to eat on the cheap in South Kensington, near Hyde Park and our easyHotel. There's Bosphorus Turkish kebabs on Old Brompton,  a Milk Bar on Bateman, and Benito's Hat on Goodge. Google's StreetViewand TripAdvisor are helping immensely!

Meanwhile, our last day at work is tomorrow. Chris is being treated to tasty Mexican food from Santi's and buttermilk pie from Sugar!

Camping!

Been reading up on camping, campgrounds and all things camp! This website is a great resource: http://www.eurocampings.co.uk/en/europe/great-britain/

Most camps have internet access and a restaurant attached. How sweet is that! We can expect to pay about 11Euro for the both of us to stay each night. Looks like we might not be back for a very long time!

It has begun

Look out discount gear sites, we're coming to get you!~ We've been researching gear, shoving it into our packs, setting up tents in the living room, diving into sleeping bags, and the reality of the trip is finally sinking in.

When we first met Chris and I talked about wanting extended travel time. Now we have our flight scheduled and our gear is taking over the apartment! No word yet from our first host but with so many amazing sites to chose from, we're not worried. Not yet!