When in Rome!

We made it to Rome! And it only took us 1 train then a bus...then another train...then the metro...then another bus. We could have taken one fast train, but we saved almost 60$ going the slow, random transportation route. I have to say were getting pretty good at working public transportation and manouvering deals. I dont want this to seem like Im complaining...because Im not...but backpacking is hard work, and I mean hard work in the most satisfying andworthwhile way possible but its exhausting! I really understand why people take organized tours...you dont have to think that way! But there is really something to be said about doing it yourself too...you get to shop around for deals, you get to have random arguments with ticket sales men (in Italian), you sometimes get on the wrong train, or the right train just going in the wrong direction and you keep a flexible schedule. For example we loved Tuscany sooo we tacked on a few extra days. Anyway I love it, its amazing but sometimes you are just so tired...other backpackers think Im crazy when I say that Im backpacking for three and a half months...sometimes I think Im a little crazy too actually. Anyways...im going to attempt to recap on Italy so far.

First of all, it is bloody hot here! And we are heading South in the two hottest months...bright idea...probably not. In Cinque Terre I have never sweated so much in my entire life. You couldnt stand barefoot on the rocks or your feet would actually blister AND we checked the temperature one night...900 in the evening, in the shade...over 30 degrees still. I havent worn pants or a cardigan in over three weeks now. Anyways, we woke up early to do the 6 hour hike between the five towns (Montorosson, Vernazza, Corgnilia, Montorolo and Riomaggiore) because we thought it would be smart to do the toughest part of the hike in the morning, which was smart because by 930 it was already 30 degrees! The hike was wonderful though...it takes you up above each one of the five tiny towns, and you have the most breathtaking view of the hills and the ocean. I think overall the hike took us 3.5 hours, not including the stops for lunch and swimming. Apperently the record for the hike is 1.5 hours...that person was a friggin psycho. My feet were bleeding with blisters before we even reached the second town, so I did the easy part of the hike (between Corgnilia, Montorolo and Riomaggiore in flipflops). Theres a really cute pathway between Montorolo and Riomaggiore called Ville d amore (I think)...basically its a lovers lane. There are still no major roadways that connect cinque terre with the outside world, and until they built the train between the five towns, the walking trail and boats were their means of communication. So lovers used to meet in the tunnel connecting the two towns. The entire place is covered in graffetti and locks...I guess its some popular thing to lock a lock on bridges etc with your lover. A couple asked me to take pictures of them while they locked their lock together (aww cute). We saw the same thing in Florence actually.

Everything just keeps getting better...and although its hard to choose a favorite...so far its Tuscany. We stayed in this little hill town called Certaldo...not really a popular place for backpackers, in fact the train conductor looked at us like we were crazy when we got off there. But its been the highlight of our trip so far. The guest house is actually one of the really beautiful and now rare old farmhouse, vineyards called Fattoria Bassetto. The building we stayed in was over 700 years old, and full of random pathways, attic rooms etc and really beautiful. Walking down the hallway made you feel like you were drunk...it had little hills and potholes, and everything was origional cracked paint and old wooden furniture. There were lots of other buildings too...and an old underground hallway that was full of wooden wine barrells. To top it off there was gardens, hammocks, a pool and a beautiful view of the Tuscan countryside. Couldnt really ask for anything more! The first night we were there was the most incredible night Ive had backpacking so far. We threw an 18 person BBQ...with delicious food...bruchetta, stuffed peppers, pasta, salads, anti/pasta, cheese and bread, olives, a whole chicken, pan friend potatoes, burgers and about 15 bottles of Certaldos finest red wine. Everyone cooked together, ate dinner outside by candel light, drank and sang songs to the guitar. It was one of those nights where everyone clicked and came together in the most amazing way...dont even think words can begin to describe it. It was just this incredible mix of music, laughing and genuine human connection (basically what every backpacker is looking for). We spent four days hanging out with these people, biking around Tuscany and exploring the area...but in the most slow paced relaxing way possible. Some interesting highlights included...watching the football game between Turkey and Germany (Germany won wahoo!) on the street with a group of old Italian men and women. When we asked what the score was, they started grabbing seats for us and insisted that we join them. I love how open Italian people are. On the other hand, we had this crazy (and very drunk) Italian man lose it on Carolyn and I for accidentaly putting her purse ontop his cell phone. I tried saying sorry and explaining that I dont speak Italian, but he finally just stuck up his middle finger and said Fuck You!...Pretty clearly explained how he was feeling. We also watched the Miss Italia contest...not on purpose but stumbled upon it on the street.

Finally we spent a day in Florence with a friend kirk. Beautiful but very hot city. We went into the Duomo...and the Uffizi, which were both really neat. My favorite part of the day though, was randomly walking up a hill and finding this amazing look out point over all of Florence...as the sun was setting. It was breathtaking. We were having such a fun time there that we somewhat forgot about getting home to Certaldo (about an hour away). By the time we were back at the train station, the next train to Certaldo was at 500 in the morning! It worked out in the end...we took one train, a bus and then hitchhiked the last 15 minutes, but for awhile we thought we would be spending a night in the fields!

Anyway, now in Rome...but we havent seen any of Rome yet. Were staying in a camp ground just outside the Vatican, but it feels like a resort with tropical music and a swimming pool. Tomorrow were going to go check the Vatican out.

So much is going on its hard to keep up with it all! I hope everyone is doing well..I miss you all tons

Venice, Cinque Terre and Tuscany...

Italy is beautiful and crazy and I am completley in love with it so far. Since I last updated Carolyn and I have trecked from Milan to Venice (then from Venice back to Milan...), over to Cinque Terre, then to Pisa and finally to Tuscany, where we are staying in a small town called Certaldo (technically still in Florence). God where to start!!!

Venice was surreal. We spent only two nights there, so it was a bit of a whirwind tour, but it was everything that comes to mind when you think about Venice...beautiful, romantic, odd (in a good way) and a little bit smelly. Out stay here started off on an interesting note too...We had literally JUST stepped outside the train station and were gawking at Venices main canal, when I heard a voice I recognized, turned my head and saw Logan going into the train station (easy to spot because hes a good head taller then everyone else) For those of you who dont know...Logan is a good friend from highschool. We did one of those screaming runs towards each other and he picked carolyn and I up, with big backpacks and everything. It was unreal! We saw each other less then a minute and then he had to run and catch his train to Austria. Crazy start to a crazy city! Even after spending two nights in Venice I still couldnt really figure out how it works...it looks like the houses are floating on the water! I learned that Venice is actually an island (shaped like a fish!), built up of clay thats been stacked up on old river sediment deposits, that its also actually slowly sinking and that its population has been cut in half the past 30 years. On any day of the year Venetians are outnumbered by tourists.

ok. I do have muuuuch more to say about Venice and Italy in general but I have just been informed that my time on the computer is up! This is what makes communication frustrating. But a few quick other points...

Cinque Terre was probably the most beautiful place that I have ever seen. A little too touristy again but right on the Mediteranean Ocean and hot, simple, stunning. We did the hike between the 5 towns and I dont think I have ever sweated that much in my entire life...

Pisa we saw the leaning tower and then that was it! I think we spent 2 hours there...but the leaning tower was actually even cooler then I thought it would be.

Now for the past 4 nights we've been staying literally under the Tuscan sun. It is beautiful, but more then the scenery the place is a haven for backpackers. Theres only 16 people, bbqs, a swimming pool, gardens, hammocks and the most unreal red wine and slow paced lifestyle. We were only supposed to stay 2 days here but we extended it to 4. Did a day trip into Florence yesterday which was really beautiful too.

Sorry this is much shorter then I wanted it to be!!! We head to Rome tomorrow morning and maybe they will have longer internet service :)

Si como no?

Today we left Valencia and flew to Milano Italia! It was about time to leave Valencia...don't get me wrong, we had a wonderful time there but that time was definitly up. Valencia itself was not my favorite city. Besides from the fact that people were speaking Spanish it was easy to forget you were in Spain. Instead it felt more like L.A or some other large, dirty city that prioritizes beaches and the night life. We went out partying a totaly of three nights while we were there and I think the earliest we were ever home was 4:30 in the morning! Thats crazy for me. Call me lame but I love a good party and then a good nights rest of being in bed by at least 1:30-2:00...but when in Spain party like the Spanish people si como no?!? So to sum it all up...in Valencia we tanned, we shopped, we partied, we watched a wicked dolphin show at the arts and science center and we ate good spanish food. There were a few other monumental moments as well...including tanning topless on the public beaches. At first this was slightly unnerving, then pretty liberating and finally very normal. Actually normal to the point where I could walk around or go swimming without a second thought. Out of curiosity can you even legally tan topless in Canada?? Carolyn and I were having this debate...I said yes she said not in public places. Nudity doesn't seem to be a big problem here and I seriously enjoy this mentality. In Barcelona we saw this completley naked older man just walkin down the road, strutting his stuff. He actually even went up to someone and bummed a cigarette and a light. That seemed a little out of the ordinary but I didn't see too many people even give him a second glance. Some other recent changes include that I now drink espresso (because its considered a crime here if you dont, PLUS people dont listen to you when you say you dont want a coffee!) and I am even listening to (and enjoying) some electronic music. Prehaps Europe is having a bad effect on me?

In other news...Carolyn and I are testing out couch surfing for the first time tonight. Man is it nice. We are staying with a very nice 35 year old man named Carlo and his rooommate. If you havent heard of couch surfing look it up! It's a genuis idea. Basically its a way to connect people of different cultures and countries with one another. So Carlo lets us stay on his couch for free, and we in turn have nice convsersation over dinner and some bottles of wine. Then in the future if he needs a place to stay in Canada we open up our couch for him. You make connections with people all over the world this way, plus you meet local people who show you the good sights, the good restuarants and some things they dont write in the tourist books. For example, for tonights dinner we went to a gay bar. You buy one drink during happy hour and then its unlimited food from the buffet for the rest of the evening. Good food too! Risotto, tomatoes and cheese, salads mmm Italian food.

Tomorrow it's off to possibly one of the most romantic places in the world...Venice! Hopefully next time I write I can include some Italian phrases although I wont lie...the combination of German, Spanish, English and Italian could get messy!

Hola Espana

Sooo much has happened since my last blog! I apologize but the internet latley has been few and far between. Right now I'm writing this sitting in the middle of a parking lot on Carolyn's friends laptop (in Valencia Spain too I might add). A little random but it's the only area around their house that recieves and internet connection. But before I dive into Spain I will backtrack a little bit and finish our final week in Germany.

Let's just say by the end of my two month stay, Germany felt like home! Regardless of the fact that I can't speak the language I was still using all the common conversation German phrases ( I swear you can get by pretending to speak german by only using the words genaoux (spelled wrong but meaning exactly) Ah so (ah yes), and yaya (which can mean kiss my ass when said correctly). My last week in Germany was spent with family in Dortmund. I picked Carolyn up at the Frankfurt airport (at 6am gah) and then we took the most round-about, but cheapest, trip up to see our aunt Giesela (actually our second aunt) our second cousin Lara, and our honorary extended family that came with them including our new cousin Rahieme. Dortmund was not the most extrodinary city to explore but the people made it amazing. Over the course of four days we...made a trip out to a small old german town, spent a day by the lake, watched the sex in the city movie in German! went shopping, went to the market, had family dinners and spent the day in Aunt Giesela's grade two classroom! The kids were adorable and asked for our autographs at the end of the day. I think they may have had the distorted idea that we were someone famouse but nevertheless, cute kids. Once again I have never met such kind and generous people...family who we had never met before first of all agree to take us in but then also completley re-arrange their lives to spend time with us and pay for everything! It was very hard to leave...but eventually we did and made our way down to Stuttgart.

Segway...on our trip down to Stuttgart we decided to do some reconnecting with our German roots so we went to Sankt Sebastian, a tiny little town on the Rhine river. Here is where Carolyn and I's great Opa is buried (although we couldnt find his grave anywhere and trust me we looked), and where our grandparents were married. The town itself is a tiny hiccup...2,000 population, one church, one beirgarten (of course) and one bakery. The church was the highlight of this trip...it was actually quite incredible to stand in the place where our grandparents were married some 55 years ago. It's a beautiful little church too that literlly is placed right beside the river. It took 6 trains and two buses to literally visit the middle of nowhere but it was incredible. After we took the pretty scenic train down the Rhine river...man was that amazing. Really bright green hills, vineyards, a winding river and a little town and castle approximatley every 5 minutes. I had a serious case of castle snobbery by the end of Germany...I saw 43 castles in two months.

Spain is so different. I think I would have less culture shock going from Canada to Spain then Germany to Spain. I don't even want to think about the number of times I said danke instea of gracias. But Spain is wonderful. Carolyn and I spent two nights in Barcelona, in the hostel penthouse since Carolyn has connections apperently! Two days in Barcelona was too fast. It is such a busy, ecclectic, diverse, beautiful city...I can see why people visit and never leave. In Barcelona we went on a pubcrawl, laid on the beach, did a bike tour, ate paella and sangreia and wandered the streets. For me the bike tour was the highlight...It was four hours and tok us all over the city, to the University area, the poorer area, the prostitute street, all the main plazas (and the not well known ones ), the gothic quarter, the churches, castles, fountains, parks and all of Dalis works. Dali is mindblowing..Ive seen a lot of churches lately but nothing even comes close to his church in Barcelona...its surreal. The bike tour was also not for those bikers who are faint of heart! Started easy enough but by the end your biking in heavy traffic with crazy Spanish drivers.

After Barcelona we bussed down to Valencia...a more southern metropolis beach town. Were staying with two of Carolyns friends from softball Becky and Jen. Really really nice girls. Here we've done a combination of lying on the beach and partying. People here are CRAZY! Nuts. No one goes out to party before two in the morning...clubs are open until 8:00am. Last night we ate dinner and started getting ready at 1:00, we were ate the club by 2:30, in by 3:00....we left there at 5:00 and went to a new club until 6:00! We got home at about 6:30am..which in all actuality for Spanish clubbing is considered a early night. Crazy crazy people here. I'm not cut out for it, but for one night it was fun. Other then that I have a cold and we have three more days in Spain until Italy!

Love and miss you all...keep sending me your life updates!

Talking with hands and feet

Since my last post I have travelled from Nurnberg to Wurzburg and now am in the wonderful metropolis of Frankfurt. The last of my stay in Nurnber was much improved... I managed to not get lost once in my final 24 hours! On my last night I went out to a nice little Italian cafe on my own, sat and read my book and splurged on dinner with caprese, bruchette, risotto, white wine, persecco etc. Here I met Eugene, possibley the most lovable italian man on the face of the planet. First he wouldn't let me not finish my dinner and then he wouldn't let me leave when I asked for my bill! Instead he brought me Italian liquor (rammazzoti I think?) that was so potent I literally had to choke it down. Let's just say that Eugene was looking out for me because half way through the evening (keep in mind I stayed here for about 5 hours) he made me join his young italian friend and an older German man who were both eating alone too...and then he made them(and I literally mean made because he didn't give them much of a choice) pay for my entire dinner/drinks! haha so I walked away full, slightly drunk and with an extra 35€ in my pocket. The last thing Eugene told me when I walked away was 'you have the nose of an angel'...I told him he should refrain from using that line on too many girls.

After Nurnberg I travelled onto Wurzburg, the land of wine and churches! Here I stayed with my moms second cousin ElVira and her husband Richard...who I had never met before. Talk about amazing people...Never having met me before, having only met my mom and nana briefly the year before, they not only took me in for the weekend but they planned two days packed with sightseeing and paid for my entire stay. And of course I loved Wurzburg because it's just like the Okanogan...only in Germany and with some churches and ancient archetecture. The area if famous for white wine (which I sampled in plenty) and its plethora of churches. Apperently...you could go to a different church every Sunday for two years and never repeat churches. How crazy is that? We walked up to the fortress on my second day and with the view of the city you could count over 30 steeples on any one side.

So the challenge with staying with Elvira and Richard was the communication. Let's just say that after 6 weeks of living in Germany I am a little short of being fluent in German! I am however a pro at saying hellow, how are you, I would like one pretzle please, shit (shiza!) bless you and goodbye. For goodbye everyone here says Cheews! I have no idea if that's spelled correctly but that's how it sounds...and really it's the most incredible sounding word for goodbye. It always sounds happy! You can be listening to two people having an arguement and then randomly they say 'cheews' like their in the best mood possible. I love it! I'm adopting it for when I come back to Canada so watch out...But back to my communication break-down...whoever said that language barriers don't exist was full of it. I've gotten by so far with a combination of the following...using my hands (and feet when necessary), speaking my limited German but more often then not speaking English. But Elvira could speak a little bit of English, I can understand about 50% of German, and Richard could understand about 50% of English...so somewhere in the middle there we found common ground. On the Sunday we travelled to Aschuffenberg, a smaller city about an hours drive, to visit with Elvira's mom and dad (my nanas cousin) Loni and Karl. Here is where the communication really got tricky! Although by the end of the day I had taught Loni some English and my German vocabulary had expanded. They are also truley lovely people. We looked at old photographs, had lunch in a castle (of course...we need to remember that were in Germany here), lounged in the backyard, ate icecream and attempted conversation. It's incredible to think that just a few days ago I hadn't ever met these people and that only a few weeks before that I hadn't really heard their names before. Yet they treated me like family...and I know that we are family but like family members that have known each other our entire lives. That's one thing I've noticed about travelling alone...people really reach out to you. I have met soo many people so far! Restuarants, trains, hostels whatever...doesn't seem to matter, theres always people to talk with. For that I'm really glad the past little bit has been on my own, I don't think I would have made some of the connections with people that I have so far.

This next part will have to be short because my computer is counting down the time (only 8 minutes left!!!) I arrived in Frankfurt yesterday afternoon, and haven't been overly impressed so far. My hostel is in the red light district (again!) but it's a lot less sketchy. Overall the city has an interesting mix of modern buildings (the tallest skyscrapers in Europe) and old ancient buildings...but it just has the feel of any big city, which I'm not the biggest fan of. Although I had a really wonderful dinner last night, met an English man and two other men from Canada and we had a great discussion about diffferent school systems. So since everything has been such a whirlwind the past couple weeks, I decided to spend today in a nice botanical garden spa! I ended up going with two other Canadian guys from my hostel (dave and shane) but of course we took the wrong train and instead landed in this tiny tiny German town about an hour away from where we needed to be. So my spa idea went out the window and instead we hiked through this really old fortress/prison, which was actually really cool! We somehow scaled the walls of this one part, and got into the old tower that was blocked off from visitors. Challenging for me since I was wearing a dress and flip flops but I still managed. Then we had a nice lunch in the town and went swimming in the river.

Ok thats the speedy version of my life over the last couple days. I need to send this off before my time runs up (17 seconds!) Tomorrow I pick carolyn up from the airport, and we head off to Dortmund!