TravelStream™ news feed for member addicted2travel on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/addicted2travel en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:12:07 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1243404714/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1243404714/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1243404714/tpod.html Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:12:07 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 12:30pm

Sunday morning breakfast was at 8am so we were able to get a tiny bit more sleep. The Sunday morning church service was at 10:00 in the Logos Lounge. They started off with a time of praise and worship. They have different worship teams that take turns leading and they've got drums, guitars, keyboards...the whole thing. There is something way cool about having a time of praise and worship in a place like that. Nearly all of the people on the ship aren't Irish except for the locals that joined us for the service and possibly a crew member or two. Yet there we were in the middle of Dublin with people from over 40 countries with entirely different backgrounds and cultures...all brought together with one purpose to serve one God. It was all pretty amazing as I stood there and thought about it. The ship also has a different person speak each week during the service. Someone from a Bible institute in Dublin came to speak. The whole service lasted about an hour.

Dinner is usually the big meal on the ship but on Sundays they make lunch big. There were also a bunch of guests for the meal. After that we did a shift in the galley from 1:30 to about 7:30ish. I chopped up a bunch of peppers, helped put sliced meat on trays, and of course...did dishes. The bookstore and cafe on deck 4 that is open to the public was still open at the end of our shift so we thought we'd check out what it's like still running. There were a lot of people there! OM considered Dublin a place where it was not really as busy as other ports, so with as many people as appeared to be in Dublin, there must be tons of people in other ports.

That evening a group of us watched an old Russian movie in the TV room. Thankfully there were subtitles for it. About half of the group watching it was Russian. I guess it's a really famous funny movie in Russia that is quoted a lot. The movie was pretty cheesy and ridiculous but funny all the same!

A large group of us went out on the town that night. I don't know how many there were, but
there were quite a lot. It seemed as if all the Russians had come cuz there was a lot of Russian that I heard. We stopped at McDonalds for ice cream and then walked in and out of a few pubs to see what they were like. We did a lot of walking around and finally got back to the ship at 12:45am.

Bekah and I assumed that on Monday, the next day, there would be the normal breakfast and devotion schedule so we headed to breakfast at 7:30 after a short night of sleep. However,
Monday is the day off for most people on the ship so there were no devotions and breakfast went from about 7:00 to 10:00. We were disappointed to see that we could have slept another couple of hours! The day was mostly relaxing...just caught up on some things, took some pictures around the ship, and prepared to leave the next day. In the afternoon, we figured we'd scout out the hostel that we'd be spending Tuesday night in so we walked over the river and across town to find it. It was about a 35 minute walk.

The ship had pancakes for dinner that evening and we ate with a few of the people from Team Awesome, as Bethia our shift leader, has called our galley team that works together. People on this team include Bethia (Australia), Catherine (UK), Hoi Yan (Hong Kong), Alex (Russia), Mel (Canada), Dasha (Russia), Graham (USA), Michelle (Malaysia), and maybe a couple others. About 5 of us ran outside after dinner to walk about 30 seconds down a small nearby street. There is an old recording studio there where the group U2 used to do recording. Along one of the back walls is a huge U2 tribute in graffiti. All along the wall and the wall across the street are messages from people to U2 or about U2.

At 7:00 was a meeting in the Logos Lounge where a lady gave a talk on reading Scripture. From 8:00-10:00pm was a time of worship. They had an intimate setting in the Logos Lounge and didn't plug in any instruments so anyone that played guitar or percussion played. There
were quite a few guitars. A lot of people from the ship were there so again, it was really cool having such a diverse group of people standing in the middle of Dublin worshiping the one true God in the same way.

Down on deck 4 in the cafe was a galley party that had already started so at 10pm we went down to that. They were saying goodbye to a few people in the Step program so they had a
party. There was lots of good food there too. After hanging out there for a while and in the dining hall making Mr. Casparov from a balloon, we eventually went back to our cabin to pack for our departure in the morning. We didn't get to bed until 1:30 in the morning.

Tuesday morning we finished packing up all our things in the cabin and then went to breakfast and devotions. The ship was planning to leave at 11am and the crew had to do some prep work so we though we'd leave at 9:00, drop our luggage off at the hostel, and return to watch the ship leave at 11:00 since most of our day would be spent on the south side of the river anyways. We found the Wests to say goodbye to and thank them for everything they did for us and some of our galley friends came to say goodbye to us like Alex, Michelle, Hoi Yan, and Graham. It was sad to leave the ship and all the fun times we already had. We didn't mind getting up at 5:30am to work in the galley, or washing 400 plates and cups 3 times a day, or the small cabins. We enjoyed learning how things worked in the galley, anything from meat slicers to dish washers the size of a room, from washing fruit in a machine to chopping up boxes and boxes of veggies, from power washing the floor to keeping up with a steaming hot machine shooting clean dishes at you at 100mph as you slide around on the wet tile. We already had fun memories like Alex's goofy sayings or misunderstandings like "I had 9 beers" (pears), "Get a grip," and "Let's party...politic party," or his love for pictures like the Irish doors and leprechauns for 1€. Fun stories we heard like Catherine's parrot-dog-fetus story of an animal that had washed up on shore somewhere...apparently it was actually a raccoon. Bethia's excitement for Team Awesome and her enthusiastic retelling of times with Andy the chef. Bekah's not remembering how to get around the ship even after 5 days. Saying "beauteous" after watching our Russian movie. Graham saying "OMG! BFFs!" whenever Bekah and I do something really similar. Many good times in only a few days!

We left the ship soon after 9:00 with all our luggage on our backs and made the trek across Dublin to our hostel. We stored our luggage there, grabbed some food from the breakfast thing, and made our way back to the ship to see it leave. We were back by 10:45 when the last few people not sailing with the crew got off the ship. A lot of the crew was gathering on top of the ship to wave goodbye to people seeing it off. Other members of the crew were walking around prepping the ship. The deckies were all in orange suits. We were able to see Jos from the Netherlands one more time as he was out there waiting to close up the doors to the ship. It took a while, but eventually they were ready to set off. We could see part of Team Awesome on top and waved to them. There were a lot of people up there. There was a small crowd, some with signs, on the street with us waving goodbye. Sometimes at ports there will be hundreds of people welcoming or seeing the ship off but Ireland had fewer cuz it has the smallest percentage of Christians in Europe or something like that. Ireland, a country of only 3 million people, has very few Christian organizations so there were still many people thankful for OM uniting some churches and helping launch a new community of Christians. It was cool to see the huge impact that OM had on people and being a small part of it for a few days was awesome. Bekah and I can't help but wonder and hope that someday we'll be able to be a part of life on the ship again. Eventually the ship sailed off in the distance towards Cardiff and the crowd dispersed...Bekah and I were officially on our own in Dublin.

Already on the south side of the River Liffey, we headed over to Trinity College. We took a half hour tour of it. There used to be a monastery there but Queen Elizabeth had Trinity College built and started there. It used to be in the original wooden buildings but they got replaced with the current ones in the 1700s. It's not a huge campus but there are still about 16000 undergrad students. A lot of the main pretty buildings to look at are residential ones. There is actually a section of some of the best dorms that are for students who speak Irish at all times. Students that grow up in Ireland are taught Irish through the time they are 18. If they choose to continue practicing it and excel in it, they can choose these dorms. Most people don't keep up on it though and speak English almost exclusively. In the center of the campus is a bell tower that only is rung at exams and funerals. There are figures on it and little faces of people like Homer and Plato cuz they used to have to study classics too. There are 4 major squares on the campus. One of them has really nice grass that no one is allowed to walk on except faculty part of a certain fellowship. However, we saw some guy earlier talking on his cell phone walking around on the grass oblivious to the signs and I seriously doubt he was faculty. The ticket for the tour also let us in the library and the exhibit for the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells was probably produced early in the 9th century by the monks of Iona. It contains a beautifully decorated copy of the four gospels in Latin. They are extremely colorful and neatly written. Some of the drawings were very detailed. The book was sent to Dublin in the 1600s for security and soon went to Trinity College. It is the most visited site in Ireland today. The library above the exhibit was also really cool. It is the world's largest single vault chamber library. Books reach from floor to ceiling arranged by size...biggest on bottom and smallest on top. There is a big ladder to reach the ones on the bottom and there are some kind of balcony things to get to the ones really high up. It was like a library straight from Beauty and the Beast! All the books are over 200 years old and aren't used anymore. There is a new library that students use today. Marble busts go up and down the room as well. The oldest harp to survive in Ireland is on display and it comes from the 15th century. It is constructed of oak and willow with brass strings. The harp is often used as a symbol of the Irish.

We sat on the steps of the dining hall building as we ate a granola bar for lunch at Trinity College. The hall looked a bit Harry Potterish inside. We were almost done eating when some kind of guard at the college told us we weren't supposed to be eating on the steps. Kind of a weird rule I thought, but we were about done so he let us. There was no sign though. As we sat there, we were amazed at how fast the clouds moved across the sky. It would go from ginormous gloomy drizzly gray clouds to bright clear skies in only a minute or two.

Bekah and I headed to Dublin Castle after Trinity College and took a little tour of it. It's not a huge castle and you would hardly notice it though it's in the center of Dublin because it's a bit hidden. Some old remains of an old Norman castle are on display underground but the main castle you see was built to be the seat of British rule in Ireland several hundred years ago. A lot of important political ceremonies and meetings still take place there. The crests of all the Irish presidents were also on display. After the tour there was a small round garden in the back that we went to see.

We walked more around Dublin so that we could go by Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedral. They were closed by that time but they are beautiful from the outside so it was nice that we were able to see them.

We made our way back to the north side of Dublin and picked up a bit of food on the way. We checked into the hostel and found our room and beds. It was the first time for both of us staying in a hostel. You had to have a key to get into the room but inside the room was a 12 bed female dorm. There were 6 bunk beds and a sink and lockers in the room and that was it. We set up our beds with the sheets they handed us and I had another dinner of my staple...peanutbutter and bread. It was a clean room and the showers and toilets were down the hall. Different girls started coming in soon and we ended up getting into quite lengthy conversations with a few of them so that took up most of the rest of the evening. They were college students, some from Canada and some from Illinois. We didn't meet most of them though. We got ready for bed and I locked up my stuff in a locker for the night. It was so nice to finally go to bed at 10:30 and get a full 8 hours of sleep! I slept quite well for my first time in a hostel!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246839140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246839140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246839140/tpod.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:59:31 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Zakynthos, Ionian Islands, Greece

Monday, June 29, 2009, 1:01pm

On Friday evening, the bus from Corinth didn't leave until 8pm so as we waited at the bus station, we had some common Greek food that you see at convenience stores. We had some little pastry type things that they said in English was a cheese pie. It was a thick flaky pastry bread filled with feta cheese. We all split a chocolatey type one too. They were extremely good! Eventually the bus came and we left Corinth close to a half hour late. Fortunately, another Greek lady that spoke English had the same destination as us and was able to show us which bus to get on and explain things a bit because these bus systems are not the most clear things in the world. The bus had already picked up a bunch of people along the route so when we got on, we finished filling the last open seats scattered throughout the bus. This means I had that extra little seat in the way back that is in the middle of 5 people. The bus ride was a little over 3 hours long and since it reached the final stop of Pirgos so late, no local buses were running so we had to take a taxi the last 15 minutes to get to our hotel in Olympia. We finally got to our nice little hotel room with 4 twin beds a little past midnight. It was a nice hotel, great location, and really decent price but we had certainly made plenty of phone calls trying to reserve something while we had been waiting for the bus in Corinth!

The breakfast at the hotel in Olympia was on the 4th floor Saturday morning which we thought was strange but when we got up there, we could see why it was there! Huge windows were on all the sides of the breakfast room and there was a little outside patio. We were at the base of a hill and you could look out over the city and nearby hills. Olympia is a small city but it's in the midst of some hills and it gave a gorgeous view. We were amazed at how few tourists there seemed to be as we walked down the main street of Kondili to Ancient Olympia.

Ancient Olympia was really cool to look around. There were quite a lot of ruins of various buildings. The 1st Olympic games were held in honor of Zeus and the 1st recorded Olympiad was in 776 BC. They originally competed naked, believe it or not. (The word gymnasium comes from a Greek word meaning naked!) At first it was only men that would compete in a foot race. Eventually the popularity grew and they added longer races, wrestling, boxing, and the pentathlon. Over a thousand years later, Emperor Theodosius put a stop to them and in the 500s, much of the Olympic site was destroyed due to earthquakes. The large temple of Zeus is the centerpiece for the site. The remains of huge pillars are there and you can walk freely around them. Columns making a big square were also there which created the training grounds for things like wrestling. We could walk through the workshop of Phidias, who made an ivory and gold statue of Zeus so grand that it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. We were able to walk through the archway onto the field of the stadium where the athletes would compete. The athletes were first required to make a sacrifice to Zeus and take a sacred oath before competing. The stadium is still very well intact. There were never seats put in for the spectators but large grassy slopes that could hold about 40,000. No women could watch. The only seats were for the judges. The large dirt field still had the stone start and finish lines in tact and we could walk on it. There is a small spot where the Altar of Hera is and that is where the Olympic flame is lit for the modern Olympics and then carried to the new site by Olympians. There were lots of temples, buildings, and training areas to look at, a really cool site to explore! The archaeological museum was with the Olympic site that had numerous objects discovered from around the site.

The Museum of the History of the Olympic Games in Antiquity was free and nearby. We were able to learn more about the history of the games and see some of the things they used like shields or a disc that they threw. There were also some prizes on display. Some of the prizes used to be triple cauldrons. We learned how violent some of the boxing events could be as well. Basically the only thing that wasn't allowed was biting and gouging out the eyes.

The main street in Olympia was very pretty, quiet, and quaint. It would have been a great place to have a Greek lunch at a little shaded cafe, but we had to move on. We picked up our luggage at the hotel and tried to figure out how to take the local bus to Pirgos. After having the local shop owner do lots of pointing across the street and speaking in Greek, we sat down and waited for the bus. Our experience in Olympia was that it is not a busy city at all and the poor taxi drivers were really hurting for business. We had a taxi driver spend 5 minutes talking to us, trying to convince us to take his taxi over the bus. We went with the cheaper route which was the bus, and when we got on, we were the only ones there anyways. He picked up a few more people along the 45 minute trip to Pirgos. We took another bus from Pirgos to Kyllini which was full. As we got off, Johnny tried to close the big luggage storage door underneath but it went crooked and sort of looked broken. When we left, the driver was still trying to make it go down straight.

In Kyllini, we bought tickets to go to Zakynthos, a nearby Greek island in the Ionian sea, by ferry. We were able to spend about half an hour at the Kyllini beach while we waited for the ferry. It had beautiful crystal clear waters where you could see straight to the sandy bottom even if you were in water several feet deep. There were lots of people there and so little umbrellas covered in straw with chairs underneath were all over. What wasn't cute were all the people because everyone, no matter their shape, size, or age, wears bikinis, and that is not always a pretty sight. Another sight that is not so pretty: a good portion of the men in speedos.

The ferry was huge and it was about an hour and 15 minute ride over to the island. We had great views of the coast the whole time. All along the coast, the land goes straight up into hills rather than staying flat. When we arrived in Zakynthos Town on the east side of the island, we didn't have any hotel booked for the night. We had heard that it was fairly easy to find one when you got there. We got to the island, walked around the port and down the street by the harbor and found less hotels than we anticipated but after a few inquiries, we decided on one at a reasonable price. Ironically, it was called Phoenix Hotel. It was a great place. There were 2 bedrooms and a bathroom in the room plus 2 little balconies and each room had a TV. Plus, it was right along the harbor. A lot for a good price.

The four of us took a walk along the harbor that evening to find a traditional Greek dinner. I have never seen restaurant salesmen like there are in Zakynthos. Someone stands at the front of the outdoor cafe area talking to you as you pass by and they really know how to draw you in. We ended up at a nice little place and most of us, including me, ordered mousaka. It seems to be a traditional Greek dish and it was pretty good. There was a meat type mixture on the bottom and a fluffy cakey bread on top. Mmm...Greek food!

On Sunday morning, we went to a rental place and inquired about renting vespas for the day. Mrs. Brooks wasn't a fan of the thought of it, but in the end, we all went for it! And it was so worth it!!! Bekah was the only one that had been on one before, and we all needed practice before zooming out at top speed. The lady renting them to us was even a little nervous renting them to us in case we were to get in an accident and we hardly knew how to drive them. The first time I had a go of it, I was a little shaky, but within an hour I had the hang of it. One person would pull up the rear because Mrs. Brooks didn't exactly keep the speed the rest of us had. We just headed north, cruising through the little villages with the wind blowing (and bugs splattering on my sunglasses, face, and body). Some of the road went along the coast from the top of a hill and the views were amazing. It was a little weird driving on the roads cuz there were some pretty sharp zig zag turns. Plus, I was driving in another country and the Greeks don't drive like Americans. There were a lot of small roads going around the island. They were two way roads but no lines were painted and they were barely wide enough for two vehicles to go past each other. When you want to pass someone, you just go around them whenever despite crossing to the other side of the road. Most of the time the cars were passing me because vespas aren't the fastest things on the road. We didn't really go faster than 50kph on those windy roads and it seemed to max out at 60kph.

We made it all the way to the north side of the island where the blue caves are. From there, we took a little boat cruise that took us from the blue caves to a shipwreck site. The little boat had a partial glass bottom through which you could see the blue water. The boat ride had views that just got more and more spectacular as we went around the northern tip of the island. Huge cliffs came right down to the water. The water was absolutely stunning. I've seen water on both coasts of America, all around China, as well as England, France, Greece, and Ireland. I've seen some completely crystal clear waters that you can see right through, but I have never in my life seen water like this. It was like a royal bright blue. It seemed to be glowing as if a light were underneath. When we reached the little beach with the shipwreck, called Smuggler's Wreck, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was simply gorgeous. I could not believe something like that even existed. Pictures won't do it justice, but I think God has just outdone himself. The beach wasn't incredibly long but it was tucked away between some huge cliffs and a big boat skeleton was centered on shore. The boat dropped us off to swim there for about 45 minutes and the beach was pebbly so it was hard to walk on. We all took a bit of a swim in the glowing blue water. We ended up being salty the rest of the day, but ah, the water was worth it! The boat took us to get into a smaller boat with more of a glass bottom and took us into the blue caves. The little boat squeezed into the little caves along the water that were barely bigger than the boat. It was crazy to see that the water was literally blue! As it splashed up on the rocks or went around the couple people that jumped in, you could see how blue it was. The enthusiastic guy that ran the boats and the amazing views made the tour extremely worth while!

We had to stop to buy some water and the little shop owner gave Mrs. Brooks some bread when we were desperate for food and she tried to buy a couple of pieces. We all hopped back on our vespas and headed back to Zakynthos Town. Johnny had sped up ahead, took a wrong turn, and got lost for some of the ride back until he ran into us at the gas station. It was early evening when we made it back to the town. Mrs. Brooks was worn out with her vespa and returned it but the rest of us were still in love with our set of wheels. The 3 of us planned to cruise around with them as long as possible. We made a short stop at the bus station to get tickets to Athens for the next day and then just rode. We went south, hoping to see some of the scenery and beaches of the rest of the island since they were supposed to look different. We went down to Kalamaki and Laganas, where there just seemed to be a bunch of British tourists. The beaches were more sandy down there but the ones on the north were much more beautiful. We went back through the little town of Argassi before heading back. It was so much fun to cruise around the little island on vespas but we had to return them before 9pm. We returned them, and despite my blistered hands, the owner was quite impressed with our skills even though this was our first time on them.

None of us had had dinner, or anything to eat really, since our breakfast so by 9pm, we were ready to eat Greek. We found a cheap local food place and tried a gyro. It was so delicious though kind of strange looking because French fries were in it. It was like a pita bread with meat, a special sauce, and French fries.

Here's a random thing...dogs seem to be everywhere in Greece. Stray dogs seem to roam the streets in every city and a lot of times there will just be a random dog lying in the street fast asleep. It's the strangest thing!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1247093343/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1247093343/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1247093343/tpod.html Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:35:36 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Mesa, Arizona, United States

Wednesday, July 8, 2009, 3:50pm

Here I am sitting in my own house in Mesa. I've been back a few days now and I'm just trying to figure out what my life holds with these extra 2 weeks at home that I didn't expect to have. The rest of the getting-home process went ok. I caught that flight last Thursday afternoon from Los Angeles to Phoenix. It was only a little over an hour long and I think the whole not-having-slept-for-about-45-hours-thing started to really catch up to me. It was the only flight where I never even felt take off or landing because I was asleep so fast. I had asked for a glass of water during the flight so the poor business man next to me probably ended up taking it away and putting up my tray table in preparation for landing. My parents met me at the airport and brought me home. I was in Mesa again...16 days too early.

About my luggage...it eventually came Sunday morning and was delivered to my house.

And now for the final reflections on my summer adventure 2009. The whole thing was truly amazing, from the very beginning to the very end, despite the insanity of the very end. I'm so thankful to have had Bekah traveling and working with me all those weeks. We got along great and found out more about each other all the time, even though we've been friends since we were 5 years old. So many parts of the trip went just as planned and were incredibly enjoyable. Most of the transportation was just on time and what we needed, we never messed up meals and couldn't eat, we were safe walking around all those foreign countries, etc. It really was great. I miss the little trips to Aldi and experimental dinners, the traveling to new places, the funny hostels and hotels, the watching Bekah take forever to eat at every meal, the updates at OM, the collapsing under heavy backpacks, and all that. The majority of our trip was spent working with OM in some way and we have both been incredibly impressed with the work done there and the amazing things that are being accomplished through the program. I didn't think of myself as going on a mission trip before I left in May, but now that I think about it, it was a mission trip...I felt like I was part of this amazing team everyday working for something huge that would impact the world. Bekah and I were able to see some amazing things around the world: the Empire State Building in New York City, Trinity College in Dublin, Mozart's birthplace in Salzburg, the Berlin wall in Berlin, the castle in Heidelberg, the snow capped mountains in Switzerland, the Parthenon in Athens, the glowing blue waters on the island of Zakynthos...I could go on and on. We learned to laugh (after initial frustration) about all the broken things on the trip: my watch, my camera, the oven, Bekah's purse, Bekah's sandal, Bekah's backpack, etc. We made some trouble: setting off the fire alarm at NYU, getting caught jaywalking by the Austrian police, being detained at the UK border, and so on. We used about every form of transportation possible: planes, big boats, small boats, vespas, foot, bus, car, regular trains, subways, taxis, etc. Then our 6 1/2 weeks of traveling and working came to an end. She went off to see Scandinavia with her family and I got denied access into the UK, interrogated, searched, fingerprinted, detained, and deported. I really miss England and wish I was there with the kids and friends I have. It wasn't meant to be though. I'm still able to check off 5 more new countries when it comes to places I've been and I sure have a boatload of stories to tell. Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza has officially come to an end. Until next time...auf wiedersehen!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1247092595/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1247092595/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1247092595/tpod.html Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:43:12 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Los Angeles, California, United States

Thursday, July 2, 2009, 3:30pm

After the big ordeal I went through, it was somewhat of a relief to get in the passport line for US Citizens knowing for sure that I would be welcome to enter. The immigration officer was very nice, sympathized with my crazy experience, and said a good ol' American accented "Welcome home" as I went through. I stood at the baggage carousel for about half an hour until there were about 3 bags left and no more coming. No, the complications were not over when I left London. Turns out, my bag was not placed on my flight to LA but it did get on the next one to LA. Unfortunately, my flight to Phoenix will be leaving when my luggage arrives in LA. So after waiting another 20 minutes in line, I was able to talk to British Airways and they will FedEx it home but now I have to wait several days. I was surrounded by the construction of LAX and the only airline I saw was Mexicana. Nothing says welcome to the southwest like Mexicana. I had to meander on over to terminal 1 which was a 10 minute walk away and now I'm checked in and ready for the last leg of my journey. I'll be leaving for Phoenix in just over an hour!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1247090470/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1247090470/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1247090470/tpod.html Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:35:12 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

London, England, United Kingdom

Thursday, July 2, 2009, 5:43pm

There I was. I arrived in London with Bekah Wednesday afternoon and I was bummed that she was heading to Scandinavia, but I was excited to head to Bucksmore to be an intern at the children's program in Plumpton, England like I did last year. I was excited to be in England for 2 and a half weeks, be in one place, and explore in my extra time. I thought I could enjoy the beautiful cool weather of England and discover some new places.

Then I went to passport control. The long line moved quickly and I approached the immigration officer, Patricia, thinking I would get through with a stamp and problem-free. That was certainly not the case. She asked what the nature of my stay in England was and I gave them the same story I gave last year when I went to Plumpton--that I was going to be an intern at a summer program with practically no pay. I got through fine last year, but this time the officer began asking me all sorts of questions right away. She wanted work visas, documentation, paper work, etc. I had nothing. I used my $1.99/minute cell phone to make calls to Bucksmore to figure out what the problem was. I was told to wait in some chairs surrounded by stanchions right next to the passport control line. I was eventually able to get the right phone numbers to Patricia so she could call who she needed. I was left there to wait. I was there for about 3 hours. I watched streams of other foreigners go through quickly, and there I sat at the UK border control waiting. Whenever I received a call about the case, I got an evil glance from one of the other officers because they didn't want me on the phone in that area. I was told that if it didn't get sorted out, it would be mandatory refusal and I couldn't enter the country. All sorts of people were on my case both in immigration and at Bucksmore. Bucksmore tried for several hours trying to get the proper certification I needed and fit me into the right category for approval.The fact is, the rules changed drastically from last year and it took us all off guard. My future was looking dismal. After waiting for 3 hours, from 4pm to 7pm, the next stage of this process started.

Patricia took me into a private room behind passport control for questioning. This lady never cracked a smile, said anything encouraging, and felt the need to scold me at every chance she got. In a small white plain private room, she began my questioning. She had to write down her exact questions and my exact responses so that everything was recorded. She asked at least 20 or 30 questions about everything. Why was I going to England? Why didn't I have the proper documentation? How much money did I have on me? How much did I have access to? What did I do in the States? What do I study? How many years have I studied? Etc, etc, etc. At the end of the long series of questions, she asked for a final statement and I had to sign off on the interrogation papers.

Next, my luggage. I was actually able to go down to get my luggage finally (with my immigration escort) and surprisingly it was still circling the carousel after 3 hours. Just letting me have it would have been too easy. It had to be searched. I was taken to another room where she opened up all of my bags and searched the entire thing, asking me questions as she went. She sorted through tons of suspicious stuff that would be of great interest to her like dirty laundry, hair brushes, contact solution, and Parthenon brochures. I'm sure it was well worth her time to find my Germany for Dummies book and Switzerland postcards.

With my interrogation and search complete, it was time for my fingerprinting and mug shot. The lady that did my fingerprinting was actually extremely nice and sympathetic. She even tried to get me more info to help me out. All of my fingers were scanned in several different ways and a couple mug-shot-like photos were taken.

I was only made to wait a tiny bit longer near passport control when it all became real. I received one more call from Bucksmore saying there was absolutely nothing more they could do and some last scoldings by Patricia. It was official. I was denied entry into the United Kingdom and they would detain me until the next flight they could arrange to get me back to the United States.

Denied entry. Interrogated. Searched. Fingerprinted. Detained. This was all really happening. I was taken to a checkpoint where they took all of my belongings, put them in a separate room, and only allowed me to keep my cash and a couple books. I was not allowed to take my phone because it had a camera and they had a whole set of rules about that. They let me transfer my sim card to another camera-less phone they had so I could contact a few people.

Then it was into the room I went. An L-shaped room where I would be detained until I could be sent back to the States. I was locked in the room and there were large windows on one side where security sat to watch whoever was in the room. No windows to the outside world. There were about 10 security cameras in there. It wasn't like it was a concrete jail cell. There were about 70 hard airport chairs (yes I had time to count though it felt much smaller than that number believe me), a TV with nothing on, a toilet, and some random snacks. But when that door locks behind you and you realize that you are placed in this locked windowless room being watched and you have hardly any freedom, it's a somewhat freaky feeling. There were 3 other people in there when I got there but they left within half an hour and then I was by myself. There was a payphone in there that I had my family call me on to try to sort everything out. I spent quite a bit of time on that, trying to find loopholes (didn't happen) and figuring out the best route home. After several calls home and several visits from the officer that arranges my departure, I was booked on a 9:55am London to Los Angeles flight. I was originally booked on a NY flight, but I asked to get closer to home. They wouldn't let me take the direct flight to Phoenix because it didn't leave until the following afternoon. With my fate decided, I could just wait. (It wasn't actually decided until close to 3am because the process was so broken up and drawn out.) I got in the room around 8pm and a few hours later another 21 year old American girl came in and we spent the next several hours of our lives together there. They detained her because she was a model and they thought she was going to try to find work without a visa, another pointless case. It was impossible to sleep so we talked all through the night, hour after hour. We really got to know each other quite well and I was even able to share my testimony with her. She believed in all sorts of energy in the universe but seemed very open to the Christian perspective. If no other good comes from this whole detention experience, maybe there was at least a seed planted in her heart. The 2 security guards that watched us through the windows were actually pretty nice too. They would often offer food or drink and the one guy even talked to me for a solid hour on his British perspective of American history. I almost fell asleep with him talking to me because he literally never took a breath the entire hour and he talked so fast.

Meg, my companion in the room, left at 8am and finally at 9am, they came to get me. I had been awake for 26 hours straight, been in London for 19 hours, and had been locked in that room for 13 hours. I was given all my belongings back except for my passport and was escorted by two airport workers in bright yellow vests to a baggage check, security check, and all the way to the door of the plane. They handed my passport to the flight crew and I will get it back when I am on US soil in Los Angeles.

This is a long flight, about 11 hours to LA, and I finally got a couple hours of sleep though not much. It's still hard to believe I was denied access to England and I'm still pretty bummed about it. I have no England experience for the summer to share besides the one you just read. It was a disappointing and abrupt end to my summer adventure after having been traveling through New York, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Greece for 6 and a half weeks. I guess when I get a bit more energy, it will be a hilarious experience and unique story to share with people for the rest of my life. I mean, how many people are lucky enough to get detained, interrogated, fingerprinted, etc. in a foreign country and then deported? Yeah, I would be one of them. Count me in.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246940666/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246940666/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246940666/tpod.html Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:04:28 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

London, England, United Kingdom

Thursday, July 2, 2009, 2:47pm

So right now I'm on a flight home to the States! I should've been in England still but I've gotten into a crazy situation and I'm headed home over 2 weeks earlier than anticipated! It's all been quite an ordeal but first I'll catch up on Greece and write a new entry about the craziness.

On Monday, June 29th, we left the hotel right after breakfast by taxi and went to the bus station. Our bus left at 8:30am from Zakynthos Town and would take us all the way to Athens. It does this by loading the entire bus onto the ferry that takes us from Zakynthos Island to Kyllini on the Peloponnese. We were able to wander around on the ferry and then we were loaded back up on the bus when we reached Kyllini. We made it to Athens in decent time considering Greek transportation. The bus made it to the main Athens bus station by 2:30pm. It always seems to be difficult maneuvering around Greek bus stations so we had to ask a number of different people to finally figure out how to get to the nearest metro station. Apparently we had to take a bus just to get there.

Our group of 4 split up in Athens. Johnny and Mrs. Brooks hadn't yet seen the Acropolis so they headed to see the famous sights. Bekah and I headed to the Roman Agora. It wasn't a huge sight to explore so it didn't take long. The Roman Agora was a large rectangular structure built between 19 and 11 BC with donations from Julius and Octavian Caesar. There is a large gate and a number of columns that remain. Also on the site is the vespasianae, or public toilets, constructed in the 1st century AD. An octagonal stone tower, the Tower of the Winds, also stands there and was initially crowned with a weather vane.

Bekah and I had already seen the main things we wanted to see in Athens (plus since it was Monday anything else we would have seen was closed) and with our big backpacks on in the very warm weather, we weren't motivated to see much else. We spent some time at Syntagma Square people watching as we ate some McDonalds for dinner, ordered from the 1€ menu. We could take the train from there back to London Hotel in Glyfada where we had stayed the first time we were staying near Athens. It was nice to be back at the hotel by a reasonable time in the early evening. We were able to walk down to the beach and watch the sunset over the water. It's so beautiful and relaxing to have the small waves crash over your feet. A few gypsy families, or what we have assumed are gypsy families, live near the beach too. It's weird to see the gypsies out there everyday as we walk to the tram. They usually had a truck with hammocks set up around it and some clothes drying out on a bush.

Tuesday, June 30 came and I checked to see if my hand washed laundry was dry because we had been told that we would have to switch rooms within the hotel for the next night which meant all my clothes had to be packed up during the day. I literally spent half an hour that morning drying my clothes with a hair drier only to find out when I went to breakfast that I didn't have to change rooms after all. Ah, the joy of wasted time.

We had decided that we wanted to see another island on our last full day in Greece after our amazing experience on the other island. We took the tram and metro to Piraeus where all the ferry boats leave. We caught the 10am ferry to the island of Aegina. This is one of the islands in the Aegean sea so we knew it would have a different look and feel from those in the Ionian Sea. You could tell right away that these islands were much more dry than the others and it was also quite a bit warmer compared to the perfect weather on Zakynthos. Aegina was actually the capital of Greece from 1827 to 1829 and is the second largest island in the Saronic Gulf. It only has an area of 83 square kilometers and a population of 17,000. Bekah and I had split off from her family when we first got to the island and we thought the two of us would just explore the town. However we soon bumped into Mrs. Brooks wandering around Aegina Town and after Johnny rented a vespa, we decided to rent a car for the day so we could explore the island on our own without being dependent on buses. Bekah and I were too young to drive it so Mrs. Brooks was our driver in our little white 2 door car. We took a little drive up the north side of the island and then down the west side to make a little stop at Marathonas beach which is supposed to be the best beach on the island. It had great sand and would have been a really good place to swim because the perfectly clear water was really shallow so you could go really far out. Then we drove all the way down to the very southwestern tip where we got a variety of bread and cheese to eat at some benches along the water for lunch. It was so cool to see some other small islands so close that you could practically swim to them. Back up in the center of the island was the Agio Nektarios, which is a big church. It was big with lots of rounded domes and towers. Because Bekah and I were in shorts, they made us wear a skirt/wrap thing before entering. If you drive up the hill nearby called Paleochora, you see a big hillside dotted with tons of little one room churches. There were 36 churches remaining of the original 365 built on the hill. The churches are from the 13th-18th centuries. We were able to hike up the hill in our flip-flops (which wasn't the best footwear for a hike) and we came to church after church all the way up and around the hill. Some of the little chapels even had stuff in there like they are still partially in use. This hill has an altitude of 355 meters so we could see the sea in pretty much every direction on all sides of the island. It was quite a long hot hike up and down the hill and from there we drove to the east side of the island. We stopped at the Temple of Aphaia which is one of the oldest surviving classical temples in Greece. It was built around 490 BC and it served as a model for the construction of the Parthenon. There is actually quite a bit remaining of it. By the time we drove back to Aegina Town and returned the vehicles, it was 5:30. We walked along the small narrow shopping streets of the town and since Aegina is famous for its pistachios, we tried some ice cream (pistachio flavor and chocolate parfait flavor) and we also bought some small bags of pistachios. We had a small little ferry boat that left the island at 7:15. My favorite part was that water had seeped into the carpet floor so all my stuff that I had set there was damp and smelled disgusting afterwards. By the time we made it back to the hotel, it was 9:30pm and Bekah and I were down to our last night together on our trip and half the night was spent packing up all our stuff!

Yesterday morning, July 1, Bekah and I finished packing up to leave Greece and decided to explore Glyfada a little bit before leaving. There are basically just some shopping centers around there so we went into a few like Gap where there were simple tank tops for 19€...ridiculously expensive. The 4 of us caught the X96 bus to the airport which takes like an hour, we checked in, and had an easy flight from Athens to London Heathrow that left at 1:40pm. Bekah and I had to part ways in London after our 6 1/2 weeks together. So we were pretty sad to see each other go. We've gotten a billion inside jokes over the past few weeks and we've practically become the same person. I'm so thankful for her friendship and the fun times we've had! The plan was that she would go with her family to Scandinavia for the next two weeks while I went to be an intern at Bucksmore and then we would fly home together July 17-18.

It was right after my parting with Bekah that disaster struck...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246837375/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246837375/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246837375/tpod.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:06:48 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Corinth, Peloponnese, Greece

Friday, June 26, 2009, 8:30pm

We were awakened at about 4:30 this morning by the arrival of Johnny and Mrs. Brooks. We were expecting them at that time so we weren't surprised when they walked in so early. They were actually supposed to get to Athens 24 hours earlier but they had a series of delayed and canceled flight so they didn't get in till this morning. They were tired and soon went to sleep so we were able to as well.

Bekah and I thought we would go to breakfast at 7:45 and finish up seeing Athens so we could meet up with Johnny and Mrs. Brooks later. We thought we could just spend another day in the area and extend our stay at the hotel. However, when we went down to breakfast and told them we wanted to stay longer, they said they were full and we couldn't stay. This meant a change of plans cuz we would have to pack up our stuff, take it with us, and not have a place to go back to. We returned to our room after breakfast and explained to Bekah's family the situation. Since we all would have to pack up and leave, we decided to just finish Athens at the end of our trip and head out of town today.

Corinth was the destination we decided on. By the time we got out of the hotel, it was 10:30 and then we had to get into the center of Athens which took a little more than an hour by the time we got to the train station. We bought tickets to Corinth to take a train that comes once an hour. We got to the platform at about 12:07, just as we saw the 12:06 train to Corinth leave. So yes, we missed the train and ended up having to wait until the 1:06 train came. Let's just say travel in Greece is not nearly as efficient as other European countries.

Now let me just say that the 4 of us look like the quintessential American tourists traveling around a foreign country. First of all, we've all got the big fat backpacks stuffed with our entire wardrobe that we carried around all day. Then there's also one or 2 of us snapping a picture. (I have a camera now...a package from home that came with the Brooks!) Between Mrs. Brooks' fanny pack and our glowing white legs in the midst of the bronze colored Greeks, we can't help but stick out like a sore thumb. Whereas Bekah and I could blend in pretty well in Germany and we were often seen as any other local, here in Greece, which is like a mix of Europe, Mexico, and the Middle East in the way it feels, the whole blending in thing doesn't work so well. Most people just speak English to us before even asking.

When we arrived in Corinth after the hour and 15 minute train ride, we hopped on a bus that would take us to the city center, a spot we thought we needed to go in order to find the main bus station. It turns out that even if we had needed to go to the city center (which we didn't), we got off the bus too soon at an accidental random stop anyways that left us in a fairly empty run down part of town. Now all we could do is wander around until we found the bus station, and after asking some firemen and shop owners with broken English, we found a little bus station. We took a local bus to the big canal in Corinth. It's a huge canal built in the late 1800s that connects the Ionian Sea and Aegean Sea. It's 6343 meters long and 79 meters down to sea level where the canal water is 8m deep. It's just huge to look at!

A taxi took us from the canal to Ancient Corinth. Overall, there were hardly any tourists that we saw in any part of Corinth. The remains of the ancient city sit at the base of the Acrocorinth and still felt pretty high up compared to today's Corinth. When I say remains, there is literally only remains. While some parts you can get an idea of some of the structure of the building, others are only a few inches of the foundation sticking out of the ground. It was cool to walk around because Greek sites don't force you to stand 20 feet away from everything. We were able to go right up to some things and walk right on top of others. The largest structure was the remains of the Temple of Apollo where 7 of the 38 columns still reach towards the sky, despite being built in the 6th century BC. We were able to walk through the remains of the forum and other shops, as well as more temples. It's unbelievable how many gods and temples these people had. In one of the central areas of all of that was the place where the Apostle Paul was accused and brought before the rulers. There is also a big marble walkway, a fountain, and some mosaics that have been well preserved. The small museum there housed numerous statues, pots, and mosaics that are all well over 2000 years old. It was interesting to see how ancient Corinth had been set up. It was also interesting to see how complex their art and architecture was so long ago. Just outside the site you could look over the ruins of an ancient theater that stretched all the way down the hill. It was all a somewhat successful day of sight seeing in Corinth despite all the transportation issues and confusion for the first half of the day.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246835348/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246835348/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246835348/tpod.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:40:39 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Glyfada, Attica, Greece

Thursday, June 25, 2009, 8:43pm

Bekah and I have to keep reminding ourselves that we're in Greece! There we were today, sitting at the Acropolis in Athens, Greece...we would never have dreamed that 16 years after meeting in Kindergarten we would be here. Nevertheless, we woke up here near Athens, about 100 meters from the Saronic Gulf. Our big free breakfast had a great variety which made us happy. At about 8:45am, we took the train into the center of Athens and then a subway stop over to the Acropolis. It took about an hour. I didn't really know what to expect Greece to look like, but it's certainly not like other places I've been to in Europe. Coming from the quaint little German towns with green everywhere and the little slanted red roofs, Athens looks way different. First of all, it's warm and we wore shorts for the first time on our trip! It was beautiful weather, I think in the high 20s but it felt a little warmer. It also looks a little deserty. The buildings are all big white squares so it's completely different from where I've been. Athens doesn't have a clean, high class feel either. Anyways, we found ourselves in the middle of Athens.

Bekah and I walked to the south side of the Acropolis and we could see the Parthenon sitting on top of the hill. All sorts of ruins are at the foot of the hill. We walked through the Theater of Dionysus, whose stone stage was at the bottom of the hill and the rows and rows of stone benches stretched up the hill. Most of it isn't there anymore, but what was left was cool. A few small temples that were being repaired also lay nearby. We could also look across the Odeum of Herodes Atticus, a functional theater dating from the Roman period (160AD). The many marble rows creating a semicircle around the stage at the bottom was so cool! After another walk up the hill, we were on top, finally on top of the Acropolis. It was absolutely swarming with tourists. I have never in my life seen so many tourists at any famous sight. We walked through some kind of temple or gate as we reached the top, but we never actually figured out which one it was. Then we saw the Parthenon stretching out before us. Certain parts of it actually had quite a bit of scaffolding on it and I think they are always repairing something on that hill. The Parthenon was first built in the 400s BC and as it changed hands over the years, it was even used as a Christian church, Catholic church and mosque. In 1687, Venetians fired shells at it and the gunpowder stored on the Acropolis blew off the temple's roof. Anyways, it was built as the Temple of Athena Parthenos and there are columns all around it. They did the whole optical illusion thing to make the columns swell in certain spots so they look straight. In the temple, in front of a pool of water, used to stand a 40 foot gold and ivory statue until it was destroyed. All the carvings on the building depict battles or events with the mythological gods. It was really a cool sight and it looks huge. You can see all of Athens stretching out on all sides and the sea in the distance. Way awesome. Other temples were also next to the Parthenon like the Erechtheion, complete in 406 BC. One of the sides is supported by six stone women, the Caryatids.

We made our way down the Acropolis and ascended Mars Hill, where the Apostle Paul preached the gospel in Athens. It's actually a very small hill (unless we were already mostly up to start with or something). It's also quite slippery and rough on top. It's so weird to picture events from the Bible happening where I stood! Pretty cool! After seeing the gazillion gods that the people of Athens were concerned about, you also understand why he talked about the unknown god...there were so many they believed in!

Down the hill on the northwest side of the Acropolis was the Ancient Agora. The Agora served as the city's marketplace, administrative center, and the center of daily life from the 6th century BC through 500 AD. Most of the buildings were just down to the foundations but you could still get an idea of the design. The Hephaesteion is the best-preserved Classical temple in Greece from 415 BC and still has well-preserved friezes. This was in one of the corners of the Agora.

On the southwest side of the Acropolis is the Philopappus Hill. We climbed right to the summit, and we sort of guessed our way up, but we found it. It was definitely a spectacular view. It is across from the Acropolis and probably has one of the best views you could get of it because they are both about the same height. We had to stop a bit and take in the view there. The Monument of Philopappos is a small stone structure also on the summit, decorated with friezes and statues and is from 114-116 AD to honor the Roman politician. It was from this hilltop that the Venetians fired at the Parthenon, causing it to explode.

The New Acropolis Museum opened up extremely recently (like within the last week) so we were able to experience that. There were lots of items and pieces from temples on the Acropolis that had been found. Nearly everything was from 500 BC...crazy. The whole museum is built on top of an ancient city and living area that you can see through the floor. Reconstructions of parts of the Parthenon were also there.

East of the Acropolis was the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. This Temple of Olympian Zeus was the largest temple ever built in Greece and looking at the size of the columns, you'd believe it. The 15 remaining columns are only a portion, but they're so big! One of them had gotten knocked down in a bad storm a while ago and still lays there showing the many slices of marble that the column had been made of. Ruins of Roman baths are also nearby.

The Panathenaic Stadium is a little bit further east. It was a Classical marble stadium that was restored and used for the first modern Olympic games in 1896. We only needed to stand at one end of the stadium to see it because it was a giant open U shape. There's rows and rows of marble benches, enough for 70,000 people.

Bekah and I were pretty worn out by that time so we made our way back to Syntagma Square. We couldn't find any quick and cheap Greek food so we ended up at the McDonalds as we each got a chicken sandwich and chocolate milkshake from the Euro menu. By the way, my chocolate milkshake was not very chocolatey...sad day. But it filled us up, and we took the hour long train ride back to our hotel, satisfied with our day seeing ancient Greece!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246834694/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246834694/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246834694/tpod.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:08:06 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Glyfada, Attica, Greece

Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 11:09pm

So Bekah and I have already managed to have a Greek adventure! We arrived around 6:15pm in Athens airport and from the looks of things from the air, it has a strange resemblance to Arizona! We were excited to hear it was a warm 27 degrees Celsius when we landed, a nice change after our freezing day in Rothenburg yesterday! Anyways, we picked up our bags after waiting to be one of the last bags that popped out onto the carousel and we knew we had to take a specific bus to a stop where our hotel was. So we figured out how to get a ticket, where the bus was, and hopped on. We knew which stop we wanted but the bus doesn't exactly announce its stops. So we had to search out the window at each stop to see where we were. Problem: all the bus stop signs were in Greek and didn't help since we only had the English version. After we felt like we had been on for long enough (nearly 50 minutes), we got off at a place we guessed on. Turns out, we should have stayed on for 5 more stops. "Oh well, " we though, "another one will come in 10 minutes." 10 minutes passes and we see the bus approaching. We stick out our hand to have it stop and the driver just motions forward and doesn't stop. We didn't have a clue what that meant so we walked to the next bus stop thinking he meant to have us go there. We waited another 10 minutes. Another bus approached and didn't stop. By that time we assumed that that particular airport express must not pick up people. We saw a nearby train station and thought we'd just take that the rest of the way. We took a guess on the ticket and the stop and took that to go two stops farther. We knew we had to be close to the hotel by the time we got off the train, but we didn't know where it was from the train station. By this time, we were pretty tired of carrying all we own on our backs. We wandered around, trying to find street signs and Bekah pulled up a little map on her phone but the English words don't help with Greek street signs. Eventually, we saw a park next to us that looked like the one on the map, walked down the street, and finally got to our hotel around 8:30. What an expedition to get here! We were so glad to drop our stuff after walking in circles. After our nutella and bread dinner, we walked out to the gorgeous Greek beach which is about a 2 minute walk away. We're staying in Glyfada, right outside of Athens and we let the waves crash on our feet as the sun finished setting. So relieved to finally be in beautiful Greece!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246682045/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246682045/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/addicted2travel/8/1246682045/tpod.html Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:47:58 -0400 Kristen and Bekah's European Extravaganza

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

London, England, United Kingdom

Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 2:45pm

Right now I'm on my way to Athens, Greece! But first, the last few days of adventure through Germany...

Let's see...Monday morning, we filled up on breakfast and took the hour long train to Leipzig which took 1/2 hour longer than it was supposed to so it took more like an hour and a half. This was definitely a city I was excited about! It was one of the cuter German cities to walk through and everything was extremely close to the hauptbahnhof. The first place we stopped at was the Nikolai Church which is where Bach had played before and it was about 900 years old. It was very pretty inside with lots of light pink and green. It looked like lots of big green leaves on the tops of all the pillars. There was also a big demonstration there in 1989. After that was the Thomaskirche, the church Bach worked and played at for 27 years! Outside was a big statue of him. Inside was not the most beautiful or extravagant church, but certainly the most exciting and historical in my opinion! The ceiling had red designs protruding out. The decorations have been changed quite a bit from Bach's time unfortunately. In the front of the church was Bach's grave! It hasn't always been there and I think it was moved there in 1950, 200 years after his death. People still bring flowers often to it. Also at this church was where Martin Luther had preached to bring the Reformation to Leipzig. Mozart had played a little bit at the church too. So much exciting history there!

After these churches, we headed across the street where the Bach museum was. They are supposed to have one of the largest collections of Bach's manuscripts and things. So we went inside and it turns out the museum is going through a huge restoration project between 2008 and 2010! That means I couldn't see it! I was so bummed! All they had was a small temporary exhibit that literally takes only about 5 minutes to see and is almost completely in German. Oh well, the Thomaskirche had to satisfy my Bach desire. Since the Bach museum was closed and we had the extra time, we went to Felix Mendelssohn's old house. After the luck with the Bach Museum, we were lucky enough to discover once we were inside the Mendelssohn house that it was completely in German. This means that I don't really know much about what I saw or when he lived there. My impression was that he lived there just in the late 1840s at the end of his life. There were a couple instruments but I don't think they were original and some objects that he owned. There were also some old programs and manuscripts, some of which were original, like the program for the premier of Elijah.

Bekah and I walked through the busy old looking shopping streets and past the University of Leipzig. Bekah wanted to try a good ol' German bratwurst before she left Germany so she stopped at a street stand and got one while I got a unique little cheese bread from a different stand. More yummy German food...not much to complain about in Germany when it comes to food! Then it was back to the Leipzig hauptbahnhof for us, which is one of the largest in Germany. There are so many shops in there, it's bigger than a mall would be!

Our train from Leipzig left around 3pm and we made the 4 hour journey to Rothenburg with having to change trains several times on the way. It was about a 10 minute walk from the Rothenburg station into the city walls where our hotel was. It was an absolutely adorable little medieval city street in Germany and I was so excited to stay within old city walls! It was a quaint little place that I think was run by "Familie Rippstein" and an old lady showed us to our room. It was really quite an adorable little place with two twin beds and a private bathroom. Plus, it was super clean. We were all settled in by 8pm so we were able to relax and chat a bit before going to bed!

Bekah and I were already right in the middle of the little city so we didn't have to get up early yesterday! We went down to breakfast at 8:30 where there were only a few other people. I was glad to go down to a nice big breakfast after a rough start to my morning which included a cold shower (apparently you had to leave it in a certain position for a long time before it heated up), the hair drier breaking right after I started using it, and putting on dirty socks because I thought I had no clean ones when it turns out I really did. Anyways, we left our luggage at the hotel for the day and headed out into the extremely cold brisk morning. A few minutes walk away was the Marktplatz, the central square in town. On one side of it is the Rathaus, with its front part from the 1500s. The part in the back with the Gothic tower was built between 1250 and 1400. We went up to the top of the tower. To get there, you had to go up a whole bunch of super narrow and small staircases. You basically had to squeeze up a little ladder and through a small 3 foot tall door to get up the tower. It was very small on top and you didn't have more than about 12 inches to move around as you circled the tower. The view was great though. We could see the medieval city walls, the churches, and the vast green hills in the distance, well worth the climb to the top! From the Marktplatz we went to the Reichstadtmuseum (Imperial City Museum), which is Rothenburg's local heritage museum inside the former Dominican Priory. From 1258 until the Reformation in 1544 nuns of this convent resided there. There was a completely preserved priory kitchen dating back to that time. There was also large collections of weapons...tons of medieval spears and armor as well as a variety of guns over the years. The old medieval city wall circles the city and you can go up and walk along it. It was a really cool walk. It was a narrow covered path where you could see most of the inside of the city and look through little windows to see outside of the city. It was especially nice because it protected us from the rain. As we were walking on the wall, we saw a young guy and girl taking a picture of themselves and offered to take it for them when we heard the girl's American accent. We asked each other a few basic questions and it turns out they know people from OM on the ships and in offices and they just finished Bible school in England. What a small world. We walked about halfway around the city on the wall and then headed towards another museum. On the way to the museum, we got a schneeball (snowball) which is a local specialty. It's almost like the texture of a pie crust all scrunched up and slightly crunchy in a ball form and covered with something...mine was powdered sugar. Yet another yummy German food. We ate as we walked and finished making our way to the Medieval Crime Museum which shows different forms of punishments people used to receive. There were all sorts of shame masks and neck violins, which looked like a violin shape but your head went through a hole and your arms were locked up in the "finger board" area. They had dunking cages and even a flute they gave to bad musicians. They showed whips and big stones they'd make people carry. All sorts of strange punishment for both big and small crimes. Some, not many, were more gruesome like things that drove spikes into your legs or stretched you. Anywho, that's a medieval museum for ya. Our last stop was the Burggarten which were some small gardens at the edge of the city and we could overlook the huge valley near the city. It was gorgeous. By that time, it was time to pick up our luggage at our cute little hotel and head to the train station in the drizzly rain. We were there in plenty of time and left Rothenburg at 3:06.

Rothenburg is kind of an out-of-the-way city so our journey to Frankfurt had quite a few changes within the few hours it took. We got to our stop without much trouble and it was near the airport. It was about a 10 minute walk from the nearest train to the hotel. We were impressed with the nice big room compared to the hostels we had been used to. It had a nice big bathroom, a double bed, a twin bed, and a big TV! We hadn't really watched a TV in like a month so that got us pretty excited! We ate our bread and nutella as we turned on the TV to CNN, one of the only English channels. It was just in time for a live Obama press conference, which kind of made us wonder why we had missed a TV. It was nice to hear a bit of new though.

We wanted to figure out how we were getting to the airport in the morning since our Frankfurt to London flight was at 7:25am. We went to ask the guy at the reception desk and told him we wanted to be at the airport around 5:30. He made it sound like the only reliable way was taxi and wanted to get us one. We asked about trains and buses and he made it sound like they wouldn't run at that time of the morning, It sounded strange to us so we looked it up online since there was a computer with 15 minutes of free internet. We found trains that left every 20 minutes but the guy made it sound like they would get canceled or something. We didn't want to pay for a taxi so we said we'd try the train. It seemed like he had something in it for him if we got a taxi...who knows...

We got to bed at a reasonable time and woke up at 4:15 this morning so we could pack for the airport and be out the door by 5:00. We went to check out and it was dark everywhere. No one was around to get our key and we couldn't even get in the room with the reception desk. It was weird so we left the key by the door and left. We walked to the train station and took the train to the airport. I still can't believe that guy tried to convince us trains were unreliable. There were literally hundreds of people taking the train at that time of day! Sketchy man...sketchy. We checked our luggage and were at our gate by 6:15am, plenty of time before our flight. It was a relief to Bekah, who tends to worry like crazy about stuff like that. It was a simple hour and a half flight from Frankfurt to London. We had to go through London to get to Athens cuz it's British Airways...why not take the scenic route though? After a 3 hour layover in London, we got on our plane to Athens. It was supposed to leave at 11:50 but we sat on the plane and didn't leave until 12:45 because of an Athens delay. Oh well, next stop...Athens!
]]>