Monday, 13 June 2011

Home

I just wanted to post a really quick blog to say that I am home in courtenay.
I will post a blog in a day or two to tell about my last few days.
Soon I promise :D

Saturday, 11 June 2011

Day 60: Mallorca to London

Yes I am back in London. Exactly two months ago, I had just arrived here and was with my friends Krista and Kieran. It's crazy to think how fast these two months have gone by. I have loved my time here, I have seen so much, met so many people and just had an amazing time. I have one day left in London and I know its going to be an amazing day.
yesterday was a nice relaxing day of travel. Nothing crazy happened, which was good. I packed, ran a few errends, and just did random things before my flight. then around 1 it was off to the airport, and my flight took off around 4. You have got to love the cheap airlines. I flew Ryanair. hahaha, I suggest you don't fly with them. they make you pay for checked luggage, which SUCKS. the seats are uncomforable and well I don't think I would do it again. O well. the flight was a little over two hours and then I took a bus from the airport to London. the bus trip, was about the same length, but I enjoyed it more and it was much more comfortable. also there was wifi, which just makes everything better :D
When I got to London I found my hostel with ease. After I checked in I went out for one last pizza and a beer. both of which were very good. then I went out for a walk down by the water. I did the same walk that I did my first night in London. Its crazy to think how much has changed since then.
Well I have one day left here in London, and I have a LOT planned, but you will find out about it all later.
Thank you all for reading my blog and being interested enough to read my crazy writing, it has been nice to be able to write down what I have been doing and even nicer to have people read it. so thanks.
ALSO YAY CANUCKS for winning last night. I am happz because I get to watch at least one game.
BYE. for now.

Friday, 10 June 2011

Day 59: Mallorca

So I am off on my day count on my blog, by a day or something. I might be on day 60 or something, not to sure. Anyway. Thursday was a beautiful day here in Mallorca. In the morning Madiline took to me these caves here in Mallorca and I went in and took a tour around. I had never been in caves like this before, so it was pretty interesting, the only thing was the tour guild spoke german and spanish, niether of these languages do I know very well. Oh well. After that we all went to the beach. We were there for several hours. I layed there and tanned for several hours and went swimming a few times. The water was just beautiful. It was warm and you could walk out so far. We also had a picnik down at the beach too. I got a lot ofsun yesterday, and I got a tad burned, but when the burn goes away I shall have a lovely tan. AND I will be even too, no crappy tan lines. YAY. It was so nice to be able to just lay down on the beach and relax. When we got back to the house we relaxed, ate a wondreful dinner, talked and played games. Peter (Madilines partner) and I played chess, he won once and I won once. One thing I have really enjoyed about staying here is the wonderful food that is being cooked everyday. People can no longer call me picky, because I have eaten many things on this trip I have never had before. If something has been put in front of me, I have eaten it. It is Friday morning as a write this, at around 4 this afternoon I take a flight to London. I will be there for about a day then I shall fly home. I cannot belive that my trip is pretty much over now. I am excited for London because I am going to be doing something SO EXCITING. not telling what it is now, when I am home you shall hear about it.
There shall be a few more blogs to come. Bye for now. :)

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Days 57 and 58: Mallorca

I have been having lots of fun in my last week here in Mallorca. It has been very relaxing and nice. I have had my own room, washroom, home cooked meals, and kinda spoiled a tad, which we can all agree is really nice. Over the past few days the weather has been nice on and off, it will be rainy sometimes, others really sunny and hot. On Tuesday Madiline and I went to a this town and went to this market. I love markets. We walked through it and looked at a bunch of things. There were clothes, food, jewlery, and other such nick nacks. I got a few things for people. We also went up to a church (like my 60th one :P) had lunch, went for coffee and drove around a bit more. Later we came back to their house here and we walked down to the beach. we took a walk, in one direction it was sunny and beautiful, in the other the clouds were dark, and there was lightning and rain. It was crazy. It was a nice day. Then on Wednesday Madiline and I set out around ten and drove around the island. We were gone until 6, so 8 hours. On our island adventure we went to a bunch of towns. There were many different weather conditions. Pouring rain at one place, and then amazing and sunny at another. We stopped in this one place and went down to the water and had a coffee, it was so beautiful. the water is just so BLUE. Part of the drive was on this really crazy road that went this way then that. I saw a bunch of the island, and its all so different. Parts are full of mountains, other flat and has lots of fields, other with long beaches. I really like it here, and I can see why people come here.
I have a few days left and I plan on enjoying them. BYE

Monday, 6 June 2011

Days 55 and 56: Mallroca

I am on my alast few day here and I will be spending them in Mallorca Spain with my family in their beautiful villa. Now when latst I wrote I was just about to leave for the airport to take a flight over to Mallorca. Let me say this, it was one hell of a trip to make it to the airport and I am soooo lucky I even made my flight. Now my plane left at 3:55 and I left my hostel at 12:30. plenty of time right. If I had gotten on the right train to the airport it would have been wonderful. I was told to get on a train on platform 9, which I did. Wrong train. so after a 40 min train ride in the wrong direction and me freaking out a bit, I get off the train and am in a panic, when I someone asks me where I am going. Lets just say this, there are some AMAZING people in this world. Three people from Venezuela were my savors. They told me what train to take (they were taking it as well) and then what bus to take (which they walked me to) and when the next bus would not come in time, the one lady said she would drive me to the airport. I cannot believe how lucky I am that I met them and how nice they were. I was so thankful to them. I made it to the airport on time and I met some wonderful people doing it. I arrived safely in Mallorca and took an hour drive to where my family is staying. Now Mallorca is an island. (look it up) and it is a very beautiful one. I ate a wonderful dinner last night and talked and relaxed. I was also able to sleep in this morning. Today we went to the biggest city on the island called Palma (where the airport is) and we walked around, looked in some shops, I went into this amazing cathedral. We ate some Tapas at a Tapas bar. I had the biggest ice cream cone today. It was also the cheapest for what you got. SO GOOD. We drove around a bit and saw some sites. I has been a good day. I just wish the weather was nicer. I want to go to the beach, and be able to swim and tan before I leave.
that is all for now. hope you are all well and that the weather is nicer than it is here, which is not bad, but not as nice as I would like for my last week here. BYE

Sunday, 5 June 2011

Day 54: Barcelona

HELLO THERE. I am in a very awesome mood right now. I have been having such a fun time over here in Europe. I have met so many people. Which is amazing. I now have a week left. and that time will go by very quick. I was talking to my aunts Sue and Dawn last night on skype and they were saying how I can always come back and do this again. which I really want to. It's amazing and I love it here.
When I left off at my last blog it as evening. after I wrote it a bunch of us went to this light show at a fountain with drinks in hand. I got some amazing photos. It as a fun adventure to go out at night time. I met some really nice people on the walk there. we got home at around 1. which was fun. then the next day, Rowan and I walked around. we saw the 1992 Oylmpic stadium, and this beautiful castle. we also walked around this big park area. it was really nice. after that we went to the BEACH and tanned and I went swimming in the ocean. it was sooo nice. i like loved it. I am tanning more and more. but I still have a long way to go tanning wise before I go home. In the evening I hung out with some people at my hostel and then at 12 a HUGE group of us went on a club crawl. which means we pay like 10 euro and we get to go to these clubs and bypass the lines. which was fun. we went to two of them, and I danced and had an awesome time. one club was on the beach so we were able to go and sit on the beach. it was lots of fun.
anyway I am off to catch a flight to Mallorca to spent some more time with my family. I am going to relax and enjoy myself for a few days. I am not sure how often I will be able to do my blog, because not sure about internet, but I shall try.
thank you all for all your wonderful facebook messages about missing me.
much love. BYE

Friday, 3 June 2011

Days 51, 52 and 53: Madrid and Barcelona

I have really been enjoying my time here in spain. like soooo much. I had lots of fun in the rest of my time in Madrid. On my second full day there I saw some really beautiful things. I went to the Bitanical Gardens. they were so amazing. I spent quite a while walking around and looking at all the plants. I picked a bad day to go. it was the opening to this Photography show, so part of the gardens were closed off. which was kinda sad that I didn't get to see all of it, but what I did see was so pretty. I also went into a few churches and other random things. I went to this amazing park, where you could rent a boat and row around it. I spent sometime in the park and layed in the sun, took some photos and read. I got a tad of a sunburn. that evening I walked around with these awesome people from my hostel. there were about 9 of them in my hostel and they are taking this course, they have 9 hour school days plus homework, which is CRAZY. but they were all really nice. one girl taught me some yoga, which is really fun. I think I am going to start yoga when I get home. it was fun to spend time with them when I did. the next day, which would have been thursday, I took a train from Madrid to Barcelona. and then found my hostel. this was one of the easiest hostels to find, which is really nice. its also one of the nicest hostels I have had. I met these two really nice girls when I got there. one of them has been one of the most awesome people I met on my whole trip, we just kinda connected. sad thing was she left this morning. LAME. but we chatted lots and hung out last night, so that was fun.
On Friday I hung out with this awesome girl from the UK, her name is Rohan. We walked around Barcelona. it has been one of the best days I have had. even though the weather was kinda lame. we went to the beach, ate ice cream, put our feet in the water and walked along the beach. we ate Tapas at a Tapas bar, had coffee at this really funky little shop AND went to this amazing market. We bought strawberries there. so good. i also took lots of photo. we are going to hang out tomorrow as well. shall be fun.
I have 8 days left. which is rather scary to think about. I try not too. anyway. thats what I have been up too.
thanks for reading. BYE

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

Days 49 and 50: Trains and Madrid

So when I last left off I was heading to the trains for a very long 20 hour trip. and let me tell you, it was long, uncomfortable and just ugg. The first train was the worst. it was an overnight train and they had these horrible seats that reclined but were so uncomfortable, It was so hard to sleep, but I did end up sleeping some. I put earplugs in because there was this one guy who was snoring sooooo loud, people were looking at him and saying the girl next to him should hit him, which was quite funny. the first train was about 9 hours. the two trains after that I was actually able to sleep some, the seats were comfortable. on the second one I met these two girls from the USA and we traveled the rest of the way together. The wonderful thing about having such a long trip is when your last train is about 40 minutes late and you just want to get to your destionation. Now the Spanish trains are known for being on time, so when the train arrived they said you could get a refund because the train was late, so me and the girls from the US went to see about getting a refund, waited well over an hour in several different lines to have them tell us that since we got our tickets in France and not Spain there was nothing they could do about it. O well, we had fun sitting on the floor in the train station. after that I found my hostel and unpacked a bit and relaxed. there is this group of people here, they are doing a course over here and then are going to be teaching english as a second language, there are some really nice people in the group. the only annoying thing about this hostel, is the internet SUCKS. it says I am connected but it just doesn't work. then others it works awesome. it has a mind of its own, but its so annoying. On Tuesday I went out and saw some of Madrid, which is really a nice place. I slept in, which was nice, because I was sooo tired. I went and saw some really nice parks and churches. and here is the really exciting thing that I did. I had just left my hostel and was walking down the main street and I came across this theatre and they were playing Le Mis in Spanish. so I got a ticket for about 16 Euros. yes the show was in Spanish and a lot of the time I didn't know what was happening, but it was so amazing. No matter what the language is, it was just beautiful. My tickets were for the back row in this huge theatre. Where I met these really nice girls and for the second act their friend was sitting in this box really near the front, so we all went and saw it from really close. It was nice to see one act from far away and one from really close. In all I really enjoyed the show. I had shivers at several points. I really now want to see the show in english.
well I am off for another day in Madrid. BYE

Sunday, 29 May 2011

Days 46, 47 and 48: Nice

HELLO THERE. sorry I haven't posted a blog in a few days, I have been really busy and my hostel has really bad wifi. But I shall do a quick update now before I head off to the train. I have had an amazing time in Nice. I arrived on Friday afternoon. I have met so many amazing people. the hostel that I am at is so disorganized, they lost my booking so I didnt think I was going to have a place to stay my second night, which was not fun, but it all got worked out. When I got to my room I met these really nice girls from Ottawa. and we bonded right away. they were so nice and honestly they have been some of the nicest people I have met on my whole trip. We went out and walked around, bought some stuff ate dinner, LAUGHED SO MUCH. I man I laughed so hard. it was awesome. we drank wine, took photos and just had lots of fun. On Saturday we met up with my friend Dacey, who I met in Florence and the four of us and our American friend Daniel, and we went to the beach and tanned. went SWIMMING. which was awesome and just went around the city a bit. honestly my days here in Nice have been spent relaxing. they have been just so amazing. I called my aunts Sue and Dawn, it was so nice to be able to talk to them on the phone, its really nice to hear peoples voices. At night we bought a baget and some bree and ate that. which was sooo good. and bought some wine and we met some other Canadians and went to the beach and drank wine, and danced with the locals, and just had a really amazing time. This morning which was Sunday, I went out for a nice coffee really I didn't do a lot today, went to the beach again, and just met people. I have a train to catch to Madrid at about 8:30PM and its going to take about 20 hours. which is going to suck a lot. but I hope Madrid will be nice. i am there for 3 nights. I am sorry if this blog is kinda BLAH, but I have just been relaxing, eating good food, drinking good wine, talking, laughing, meeting people and having fun. so ya. I am off to the train station in a bit. I hope it goes by quick. also I am now down to two weeks. I will be on a plane home in two weeks from now, which is a crazy thought. bye. loves ya all. <3

Thursday, 26 May 2011

Day 45: Turin

Just felt like posting a quick blog saying that I have the rest of my trip planned. I have booked all of my hostels, and know where I am going and when I am going. I must say it is a wonderful feeling to not have to worry about finding hostels and all that other crap. I have 16 more days and 5 cities that I am planning on going to. I had an okay day in Turin. Honestly there is not a lot to do. I walked around the city, took some photos, ate some pizza and was just so hot. I am glad that I am leaving Turin in the morning, but I am sad that I am leaving Italy. I really enjoyed my time here, I wish I could go back to Rome, but I can't. Well at least not on this trip. I am off to Nice tomorrow to spend a few days there and meet up with my friend Dacey, who I met in Florence. After that its off to Spain. I am going to keep this short. The hostel I am in is like dead, there is no one here, minus the bed bugs :P. I just switched rooms to where the boys from th UK were last night, I know there are no bed bugs there, so I am safe. Ciao from Italy and Ciao Italy.

Days 43 and 44: Milan and Turin

So I was looking at my blogs and realized I said the same day twice. I apparently lived day 34 twice. which is always fun. I did have a good time in Milan. It was almost quiet compared to Rome. it was nice to have a little bit more of a quiet city. not that Milan is a quiet city, but you know what I mean. So on tuesday I got up, had breakfast and just as I was leaving I asked for a map of the city and where some nice places to go see were, and at the same time this girl asked as well. We started to chat as we were leaving the hostel, she was from Canada. I have met so many Canadians. We ended up spending most of the day together, we walked around the city, went in the Dome went to this really nice park where we saw 11 brides taking photos. thats right 11. I couldn't believe how many there were. I have been seeing brides taking photos with their grooms all over Italy at the major site. In Florence, Naples and in Rome as well. I must say the weather has been so hot here in Italy. You walk outside for like 5 minutes and you are sweating, its truly wonderful. So several times we sat down in the shade to cool down a bit. Half way during the day we parted ways because I wanted to go look at all the shops and she didn't. I went into so many nice stores in Milan. In one store, Abercrombie and Fitch, there was a guy with his shirt off, to attract people into the store. I found that interesting. I really wanted to buy myself something from Milan, just to be able to say, "I bought this in Milan" so I bought some really awesome Diesel underwear, they are rather awesome. I went in lots of stores and had fun looking at all the clothes and some really nicely dressed Italians. After that I went to this really nice park and finished my book. I was reading Runaway Jury, which was a good book. I went back to my hostel in the evening and made dinner and ate with my Canadian friend Laura. I also met other people, two girls named Marinana and a guy named Reccardo. its so nice meeting people. On Wednesday Laura and I spend the morning together before we had to go to the train station. So I had a first on my trip to Italy. The train I was on broke down. So that took a little longer than I wanted. After getting to Turin, it took a little while to find my hostel, but I did find it. Once there I met these two guys from the UK, who were really nice. I spent the night in there room having a few drinks. I also had my first experiance with bed bugs. I was really lucky. Joel, the one guy said he had seen bed bugs in the room I was in, so before I went to bed I took a look, and low and behold, there were bedbegs in my bed. So I went to their room and slept in there, because there was a free bed. I feel so lucky that they told me, or, I don't even want to think about it. At around 4;30 in the morning we were woken up by a thunder and lightning storm. Two of us, me and Josh (the other UK guy) sat and watched the lightning for 30 minutes or so. I loved watching lightning storms. The weather is not suposed to be too nice today, so I am going to go out and see some stuff and hope it doesn't rain too much. Bye for now :D

Monday, 23 May 2011

Days 40 and 41: Rome

Well Rome was a major highlight of my trip. that is forsure. the best part about the hostel that I stayed at was that I met so many people. there were lots of canadians there, but I met some people from Austrailia, the US, Brazil, Greece, and so many other places. Saturday was more the day of site seeing and Sunday was more of a wander around with people and we what we can find. On Sunday morning 5 of us went out for coffee and then to the Basilica, which is at the Vatican. We went at the perfect time, there was no line to get it. The Basilica was amazing. it was so beautiful. I was overwelmed with emotion that I did tear up a little bit, I am not to sure why, but I did. as soon as we left the Basilica the Pope came out and gave his Sunday address to the people in St. Peters Square. So yes I did see the Pope. It was really cool, he spoke in 7 languages, and it was just really awesome to hear him talk and see him. my friends and I agree that he just seems like a really nice man. So that was cool, to see the Pope. After that, the 5 of us split up and three of us hung out. Sabrina from the US and Julia from Austrailia, (she is one of my fav people I have met on my trip) the three of us just worked so well together, we all liked each other and just had fun. we went around the city and sat in this pretty park and went around. Sabrina had to leave around 4:30 so we made our way back to the hostel around 4 and the rain clouds just randomly came out and it just started to pour. it was crazy. not as crazy as in Berlin, but still a lot of rain. after Sabrina left, Julia and I went out and bought some food to make dinner with. We made pasta with feta, and had some bri and crackers, as well as a really nice bottle of white wine, (which I am really starting to like) during our dinner time we talked to these two guys from the US and at around 11 the four of us took some drinks and went to the Colloseum and sat there for an hour or so and had some drinks and sat and talked. it was such a fun night. it was just so chill and nice to drink and enjoy this amazing monument. I loved it. The Colloseum is just so beautiful at night, I think seeing it at night was one of my favourite things in Rome to see. We got home at around 3am and when we got there the guy who was supposed to be up to let us in, was passed out so someone else let us in, and we all chatted in the kitchen at ate some food.
Then on Monday morning I tried to sleep in a bit, that didn't happen, o well. Four of us went to the Vatican today and walked around and looked at so much stuff. The two guys from the US and this other guy from Canada that I met my first night. We spent around 3 hours walked around the Vatican and I think we would have stayed longer but we were all really hungry. That took me till around 3. After that I took the train to Milan where I am now. tomorrow I shall go out and see Milan and then off somewhere else the next day.
Rome was one of my favourite place, part for all the amazing people I met, and the fact that I was able to do so much stuff with the people I met. Also because I got to cook food with people, and enjoy that. Rome was also just such a beauiful city. I loved it. I cannot believe that I have less than three weeks left. time is just going by so quick, but I am enjoying myself so much. bye for now. :D

Sunday, 22 May 2011

Days: 38 and 39: Rome

Well I have spent the past two days in Rome and man what a two days. I really love Rome, it is an amazing city. So beautiful. I left Naples on Friday around 11:15 and into Rome around got into Rome around 1:30. I found my hostel really quickly and was still able to have a good portion of the day to walk around Rome. I went to St. Peters Square and just walked around Rome and looked at some things. This hostel I am staying at I have met the most people at. I went out that night, there was a group of 10 of us and we went to the Colosseum It was so beautiful at night. I actually liked it better at night than I did during the day. After walking around and finding the Colosseum we went to a little Irsish bar and had a few drinks and got back to the hostel late. It was so fun to walk around the city at night, and it was good to be in a big group. in the group there were 5 greeks (who are traveling together) 1 from the US, 2 from Canada (including me) and two from South America. Sabrina, who was from the US, the two of us talked so much, she is such a nice person. On Saturday four of us ventured around the city together, Sabrina, Andrew (from Canada) and Patricia from South America. We walked all over Rome. Some of the places we went were the Pantheon, which was beautiful, Piazza Navona, we went back to the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and we also went into some really nice churches. We went to some other really nice places. We had a really nice lunch at a cute little Italian restaurant. The four of us were perfect to walk around the city together, we had so much fun. Saturday has been one of a few days where I was sooo sore after the day of walking around, but it was so worth it. After we got back to the hostel, Sabrina and I made dinner (while I made dinner and we both ate it) made some pasta with feta and cheeses. and we shared a bottle of wine, it was really nice to be able to cook a meal. after dinner I spent my night talking to this girl from Austrailia and two people from the UK. It was just nice to talk to people. One really nice thing about Rome is, there is water fountains everywhere where you can drink that water, which is just so nice. Rome is amazing. Today I am going to go to the Vatican and not to sure what else.
My aunt Susan posted in a comment a few days back about two months not being enough and wondering if I wished I was here longer. I honestly can't Imagine being here for another month, I think two months was a perfect ammount of time to be here.
Bye for now. :D

Friday, 20 May 2011

Days 36 and 37: Florence and Naple

Well I had a wonderful past few days. At my  hostel in Florence I met these two really nice girls. Dacey, who is from a town in Alberta, kinda close to Edmonton, and then Jan who is from Thailand. We got to talking and they decided that they would come down to Naples with me. So on Wednesday the three of us spent some time in Florence. We went to go see Michelangelo square, where David is. That was cool. We also went around and saw some sights in florence, we saw the Dome, and other little things in Florence that there was to see. Then in the afternoon we caught a train down to Naples. Once there, we made a little adventure of finding our hostel, which we did with not too much trouble. Now I have to take a moment to talk about hostels. All the hosteling in Germany, Austria and even the one I went to in Prague, when it came to breakfasts, they were very good. There was bread, meats, cheeses, yogart, jucies, cearal, and all sorts of other thing. In Italy, there is not a lot of stuff. Cearal, bread, jam and juice. so not a lot. also the past two hostels I have been in, were, not as nice as ones I have been in. They are clean and are good. But when it comes to the little thing. Take my hostel in Naples. for some reason, there is only one key per room. All other hostels I have been in, each person gets there own key, here, theres one. Also there are no lockers in the rooms. wait thats not true, there are lockers, just no way to lock them. Some hostels are just better than others, its how it works.
Anyway, after we arrived in Naples and checked in around 10ish, the three us went out for some good old Naples pizza, which I must say was amazing. SO GOOD. on Thursday we went around Naples, walked around. We ate some more pizza, also very good. We went to this really old castle, which was awesome, there was a newlywed couple there, getting there photos taken. it was very beautiful. One thing I like doing is going down some of the smaller streets, and looks at stuff that is not on the main drag. One thing about Naples and some other places, is there were so many venders selling stuff on the side of the road, everywhere. they sell everything. sunglasses, jewery, books, dvds, electronics, iphones, toys and lots of other crap. and they all sell the same stuff.
but yes. in general i am really enjoying Italy. I am now off to get one more pizza from Naples then off to the train station to go to Rome. so excited. bye for now :D

Tuesday, 17 May 2011

Day 35: Florence

I had a pretty good day today. I went to meet my friend Brian today at the Dome where he was supposed to meet his friends as well. Turns up they sent him an email saying they would meet him at 1. So we ended up waiting at the Dome until 12. so two hours, and then i suggested that he check his facebook, where we found out they would be coming before 1. when they got to Florence we walked around the city and took photos, and then bought a beer and sat by the river and chatted about stuff. At around 5 they took the train to Rome and I walked around the city some more. after I came back to my hostel and met some awesome people who I am going to go Naples with. Which is exciting to travel with some other people for a few days. They are very nice. I also found a better hostel to stay at in Rome. Which makes me really happy. I had a chicken donar today. it was sooo good.

So after being here for five weeks I am missing a few things from home. I am missing friends, my bed, my macbook (I miss that so much) I miss my car and being able to drive, (this is the longest I have ever gone without driving) I miss KD, Canadian candy and other things. its interesting to not have the stuff you are used to around. anyway. I am hanging out with these awesome people I have met so bye for now

Monday, 16 May 2011

Day: 29 and 30 Munich and Salzburg

The past two days have been so much fun. Yesterday I spent the day walking around Munich and seeing the sites there. It is a really nice city. As most of the other cities I have gone to in Europe there is a river that runs through the city. The best part about the one in Munich is there a beach area and I was able to go lay on the beach and tan (got a little burned but o well) also I put my feet in the water. It was sooo nice. and refreshing. While I was at the beach this group of 8 helicopters went by, it was really odd. I came across one of the most random things in Munich. I came across a Micheal Jackson shrine. it was really weird to see. all these photos of MJ and all this other stuff. was odd. I also found this guy playing the guitar and singing, he had such an amazing voice. I also took lots of nice photos. There was also a fair going on in Munich, its on for a few weeks, so I took a walk through, they have a lot of the same sort of rides we have in Canada, a few different ones.
then this morning I took a short train to Salzburg, (which is the sounds of music town). it is a very pretty place. There is this kind of mountain with a castle on it. Well I walked up the mountain (didn't go in the castle, rather expensive) and then took a walk along it. you could see for so far. I could look out and see all the churches, the mountains in the distance, the castle, the river and the whole town. it was so beautiful to look at. Also with the rivers in both Munich and Salzburg, they were actually really clean and blue. most of the other rivers have been really dirty.
I met some really nice people in my hostel today. I was sitting in the kitchen down stairs waiting to make food (it was such a small kitchen) and met some really nice people. two of them i happen to be in the same room with. we also chatted later about this weird guy in our room. there are some WEIRD people in hostels.
anyway. tomorrow I am off to see my friends Christine and Eva, and spend a little time with them.
I hope you are all enjoying my blog. is there anything you would like to see me do more of in the blog. let me know :D
this photo was taken at the fair. I think it is one of my favourite photos I have taken on my trip so far. I just LOVE IT

Day 34: Venice and Florence

Well today was a beautiful, sunny, and warm day in Venice. it was the complete opposite of the day before. I saw two completely different Venice's in my time there. The rainy day Venice and the sunny day. I spent from 9:30 until 2 walking around sunny Venice, taking in the sites and taking photos. One of the coolest thing I have done so far was in St. Marcos Square today. there were people feeding th pigons, so i got some awesome photos of that, and I remembers that I had some bread in my bag. so i fed the pigons. I even had some on me. At one time I had four on me. It was so awesome. I spent around 30 minutes in the pigon area. I gave these asian ladies some bread, they were so happy they got to feed the pigons that they asked to take a photo with me. made me laugh and rather happy. I then got on a train to florence. One thing i didn't know is that with high speed trains in Italy, you need to reserve a seat, which I didn't know. I was told I had to pay 18 euros on the train, which I said I didn't have, so i was kicked off a train, which was fine, I just got on the next train. I met up with my friend Brian who I met in Venice around 7 and found my hostel, which is kinda far away from everything, but is still really nice. then we went out for dinner. I had some italian pasta and we shared a good bottle of wine. and now I sit here in my hostel checking facebook and writing my blog.
I have now been here 5 weeks. which is just CRAZY. I have four more to go. over the half way point now. but still a lot to look forward to, Rome, the south of france, spain. shall be good.

Sunday, 15 May 2011

Day 33 and 34: Venice

Yes I have made my way over to Italy. I left Golling Saturday morning and took a train and a bus to get to Venice. The main way of travel in the beautiful city of Venice is by either walking or by boat. So when I got off the bus I took a boat to where my hostel is, which is on a little island. Right away I met this guy (named brian) in my dorm. where was he from you ask, he was from Victoria. We got to talking and then went out for a pizza (italian pizza is amazing) and then took a boat over to the sort of main square area and walked around. I had my first italian getlato as well. SO GOOD. we were walking around from about 8:30ish till 11:30. it was pretty fun, saw some sites and ya. It was a good night. Sunday morning I woke up and the weather was just horrible this morning. when brian and I left the hostel in the morning it was just pouring, (which was not too fun) we walked around a bit and found this little pizza place and got a HUGE pizza for 8:50 euros. which is an amazing deal, like so good. and i must say it was some amazing pizza. by this point the rain had kinda stopped, so we walked around and I took photos around 1:30 we parted ways (he was heading off to florence today) and I spent the rest of the day walking around and looking at Venice. I did go into one musium while I was here. it was really nice. I really like the city. One thing I am not a fan of is how expenive some things are. My boat ticket cost a fair amount. besides that I really like the city, even though most of my time here has been spent with crappy weather, I am going to spend part of my day tomorow walking around before I head out. I am going to Florence tomorrow as well. I spent over two hours tonight trying to find a cheapish hostel in rome that was close to the city. I could not find anything. I was getting so fed up and stressed that I just said fuck it and booked a hostel, realizing after that its like 45 min outside of rome. i am slightly annoyed, but what can you do.
i have booked the next week or so of stays, Florence for 2, the Naples for 2 then to Rome for 3. then off to somewhere else.

just on a side note. I finished reading the 3rd book in the Millenium Series. (the girl that kicked the hornets nest) the books were SO GOOD. if you have not read them, I highly recomend them.
well bye for now.

mmmmm pizza

Saturday, 14 May 2011

Day 31 and 32: Golling

First off I just want to say sorry for not posting a blog over the past few days. I tried to, but it wouldn't let me sign in and all this weird stuff. So what I am going to do is tell what happened for two days, then tomorrow I will post for the next two days. So on my last blog I was talking about visiting my friends Eva and Christine, they live in a town called Golling, which is very close to Salzburg. So on what was the 13th I got on a train to Golling, or what I thought was the train, see there were two trains leaving at the same time, 11:10 one to Golling and the other in the other direction, and of course, I went on the one going to other direction, so instead of getting to Golling at 11:30 I got there around 1:10.Oh well. I had a really fun time with Eva and Christine, on our first day we walked around this little lake, put our feet in the water, watched some duck chase after each other. the weather wasnt all that nice that day, so we didn't do a lot outside, but we did go out for coffee and traditional austrian desert, I had strudle, it was good. that night Eva's mom made dinner and I had something that I have never eaten before. I tried horse. yes thats right, horse. It was interesting. It was good, but its not something I think I will have anytime soon. Then we watched some movies and chated and caught up. the next day we ate breakfast at Christines and went out for a drive, it was a much nicer day then the day before. we went to this really cute little town on this beautiful lake. and we ate fresh fish from the lake.I had trout. It was soooo good. after the town we went to this amazing lake, it was so beautiful. we walked  all the way around and agian put our feet in the water. it was so cold.
that night christines sister was having a birthday party, so we had some gifts for her. I made her a glitter card and got her some sponge bob stuff (she really likes him) and then we went to her sisters house and had some drinks. it was really fun. I had such a great time with Eva and Christine, they are such nice girls. I wish I could have stayed longer, but they are off to London on Sunday.
Anyway thats all for now. Will do a post tomorrow. BYE
this is a photo of the beautiful lake :D

Tuesday, 10 May 2011

Day 27 and 28: Prauge and Munich

I just have to start off by saying that I have now been here for 4 weeks. its kinda crazy to think i have been here for so long.

Yes I am back in Germany for a few days. I decided to go to Munich for a few nights.
My second day in Prague was a really nice day. I was really tired that day, for reasons I will tell you now. In the room I was in there was this guy, and this guy snored louder than anyone I had heard snore before. I could hear him through my earplugs. so I ended up getting up early the past two days, because I just couldn't stand the snoring any longer. so anyway I was tired that day. I did some walking around, went into some churches, layed in the park (where i read my book, tanned and had a nap). I found this really cute little market, so I shopped around there. I bought another bracelet in Prague. I am now up to 8 bracelets. its pretty awesome. I had some good food that day. I didn't take as many photos on my second day in Prague, i still took some, but not near as many as the day before. there was a maraton race going on in prague, so I watched people running for a little while. (some people run really odd). I loved Prague, it was a beautiful city, and I think it will be one of my highlights.
on monday I spent most of my day on the train, four different trains, taking around 7 hours, from Prague to Munich. o well, it was fine. went by pretty quick I guess. I found my hostel pretty quickly. its a nice hostel. Last night I ordered a pizza from this restaurant, it was so BIG and so good, I couldn't finish it. Pizza has become one of my favourite things to eat over here in Europe, its better over here.  I met this really nice girl in my room last night. She is from thailand, but she is going to school in the south of france, she told me some really beautiful places to go in the south of france. also she said she would show me around when I came to the city she was living in, which I thought was really nice.
I am now off to explore Munich. BYE for now.

Sunday, 8 May 2011

Day 26: Prague

As I said in my last post, Prague is a beautiful city. and I think that even more now. I spent most of yesterday walking around, taking photos and looking at this amazing city. the architecture is just so beautiful. there are so many different kinds of buildings. most of the buildings in the city are older and have aged so well. it just amazing to walk down these cobble stone streets and look and see all this amazing stuff. I took so many photos yesterday, the most taken in one day so far. Around 500, which is just crazy.
I walked around, went into some churches, layed in the sun, and tanned for a while. I read my book and finished it. I went to the castle in Prague, beautiful. At one point I walked by this protest, no idea what it ws for, but there were lots of people and lots of police officers. Also I saw a helicopter flying around. Also I walked by what looked like a movie set, which was kind of cool.
I am not exactly in the writting mood at the moment, I am apparently uncreative at the moment.
So I am going to end this blog here.
Bye for now

Saturday, 7 May 2011

Day 24 and 25: Linz and Prague

Yes I am in Prague now. One of the most beautiful cities in the world, but I will get to Prague in a minute.
My last day in Linz was not a very exciting one. I spelt in, spent a lot of the day relaxing (which I needed) then I went out for a little bit. I saw the house that my grandfather grew up in, saw some of the nice buildings that are left in Linz. A lot of what was once in Linz is now gone, it is more of an industrial city. I went to the last traditional coffee house in Linz. In the late afternoon, I went with Madline and Peter (her partner) and went to have dinner with two of their friends. they spoke german most of the night. Oh well.
then yesterday it was off to the train for a 5 and a half hour ride to Prague. I read my book most of the time. I am now reading the Girl that Played with Fire. They are such good books. When I got to prague, I actually found my hostel with very little difficulty. I settled in and watched a little Glee. Then at around 7 I went out for a walk. Prague is so beautiful. So many old buildings. I went down to the river and watched the sunset. Again so beautiful. I then had a beer and ate dinner. It was chicken something. SO GOOD. Then back to my hostel and relaxed and watched the other episode of Glee I had missed.
Today I am going to go out and enjoy Prague. I am here for two full days. I plan to really enjoy it here. When I was by the river last night, I just kept saying to myself "I am in Prague. I'm in fucking Prague"
Its just amazing. I was just so happy. It was the moment where I realized all that hard work had gotten me somewhere so amazing.
I am off. goodbye.

Friday, 6 May 2011

Differences Between Canada and Europe

I will post a double blog later. I just didn´t do a lot yesterday, and I know I will most likely not do a lot today, so I will do something different. YAY. I am going to post some differences between canada and europe and some random other things.

The traffic lights are different in europe. They turn yellow when the light is going to turn red as well as green.
In Austira (not sure about other countries) it is still legal to smoke in restaurants. which is gross and i hate
People have their dogs with them everywhere, on trains, in restaurants, hotels, and most other places.
German and Austrian radio is interesting. They talk in German, but most of the songs are English songs. There are a lot of top 20 songs from the USA. Also I have heard the German verison of some english songs, one was Green Day, and sung by a girl.
People use scooters a lot more in Europe than they do in Canada. Lots of adults use them.
I have seen people drinking beer in the middle of the day. in lots of places. may favourite was when I was sitting on the train in Berlin and this guy pulls a beer out of his coat and takes a drink
Pop is a lot different here. it tastes different. and there is more coke than pepsi here. I barely see pepsi
Gas stations are just way different.
The buses in Berlin are pretty awesome. most are double decker buses, but are also a lot longer then the ones you would normaly see. I was on them a few time. was sweet.
People park really weird here. In Canada you park the way the side of the street goes, not here, you can park any dirrection you want, where ever you want.
also the streets are different too. we have a two way street and you know where you are supposed to drive. in Linz for example, there is what would look like a one way street, but no, its really not.
Lots of the major cities I have been in have had a river running through them.
The toilets are different.

So yesterday, I was looking at a calender and realized I am in europe for 9 weeks, not 8 weeks, like I thought I was here for. I knew I was here for 2 months, and I thought that two months was 8 weeks, while I was wrong, its 9. I laughed a bunch when I fingured this out. Anyway, I am off to the train station and heading off to Prague. BYE <3

Thursday, 5 May 2011

Day 23: Vienna

Wednesday was my last day in Vienna. But it was a nice day. It was also a kind of relaxing day. I went out by myself for most of the day and just walked around the city. I looked in stores, bought a bracelet to add to my collection. I went and sat in a park and read my book. (On the note of books I read Stupid White Men by Micheal Moore. I found it kind of funny, the morning after I started reading it osama bin laden was killed, and the day after that, Canada ellected another stupid white man. It was a very interesting book, and I learned a lot of interesting things about the USA and random other stuff.) I had lunch in this little restaurant. I took many photos. At one point in the day there was this long line of black cars and motorcycles. I think they must have had someone really important in one of the cars. At around 4 in the afternoon I met up with my family at  Schönbrunn Castle (which is one of the top tourist attractions in Austria). Its a beautiful castle. Its also made up of a huge garden and so much other stuff. We all walked up this big hill to where there was a little cafe and had some desert. I had this traditional Austrian chocolate cake. It was very good. After that went back to the house and at around 9 took the train back to Linz, where I am going to stay one more night and then off to Prague.
It has been so nice to meet my family and spend time with them, but I must say that I am excited to get back to staying in hostels, backpacking and just doing my own thing.
In the next few days I am going to post a blog telling a bunch of differences between Canada and parts of Europe, there are some really odd things.
Well thats all for now. BYE

Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Day 21 and 22: Vienna

I have now been in Vienna for two full day now, and I must say it is a beautiful city full of beautiful buildings and much culture. The majority of the buildings are very old and are just so beautiful to look at. I have done some site seeing and lots of walking around. On Monday I went out with what is my second cousin, Madiline (or something like that, shes a little older than my mom. its some weird relation) anyway, we went out and took a tram tour of the city center, saw some really interesting buildings and learned some really interesting facts. after we went to this really beautiful church (there are very many of these in europe :P). My random family member then took my shopping, (birthday present) which was really nice of her, I got this really nice jacket (which I love) a pair of jeans, and a really nice scarf, from an European store called Zara (which I had never heard of before, but apparently is a really nice chain of stores). After this walked around and looked in some stores and had lunch in an outside restuarant. (there are lots of outside cafes\restaurants in europe, its like the in thing to do, eat and drink coffee outside) after this we went to pick up the kids. (These are Madiline´s grandchildren) and, along with their mother, went to this sort of fair thing in Vienna and went on this farris wheel and had a really amazing view of the city. Then took this little train thing around, (for the kids) and yes, after that we came home, the kids went to bed, and us adults ate a very nice dinner and drank some very good wine (yes, now i am drinking wine. I am pretty sure I have drank more alcohol in the past few weeks then in the past year, and if not the past few weeks, then by the end of the next few)
Tuesday was not really too much different from Monday. I walked around the city by myself and went to two art shows, niether of which I really liked. The first one was of photographs. Which I liked more than the second, but there as no theme. It was just a bunch of photos, many of which (in my oppinon, where not very good) the second one was at a modern art musium, where I paid 9 euros to get in (i could have paid 6.50 for being a student or unemployed, but i had to prove that i was a student or unemployed. how do you prove you are unemployed????) then I was made to pay 1 euro to check my bag because it was "too big." anyway, i didn´t enjoy the modern art musium, it was actually really creepy and weird. the photography part, was just, uggg. I felt really gross when i left.
Other than that, I went to a traditional Austrain coffee house today, which was good. (my coffee habit is getting worse, I had two cappuccino´s today) I did lots of other walking around today. It was fun.
I am going to go out in a little while to see some of Vienna´s night life with Madlines daughter and her husband, shall be fun.
I just have to say a few quick things about the Canadian election. I am so happy for Elizabeth May for being the first Green Party member elected. I am also so happy that the NDP won their most seats in the party´s history with over a 100. I just think it is so crazy that the Conservatives won a majority, I just think its crazy.
because of this, I don´t plan on coming back until the next election :P just kidding.
thats all for now. sorry this blog is so long,

Monday, 2 May 2011

Day 20: Vienna

I have been here for three weeks now. It´s kinda crazy, it doens´t feel like I have been here for that long already. I am now in Austria´s capital Vienna. I have met even more of my family, which for me is really cool. I have only ever heard stories about this part of my family and it is really nice to actually meet them.
Yesterday I left Linz with some of my family and stopped in a little town called Spinz (I think) and ate lunch at a traditional Austrian restuarant, with more of my family (they have two very cute little kids) I had schnitzal again, which was sooo good. I am trying schnitzal in lots of places, just for fun. Then we drove to another little town, it was a very old, we walked around and I took some photos. Then we drove to Vienna, and got to the house of more of my family. (its really hard to explain how i am related to them, so i am not going to). I then played with the kids and we ate dinner. It was a nice night, had a glass of wine and talked. It was a fun day. Today I am going to go out and see some of Vienna. I am going to be here for a few days, so hopefully I will be able to see lots of things.

I just wanted to say that today (Monday May 2nd) is election day in Canada, and I just wanted to say that I hope everyone gets out there and votes, because your one vote does make a difference, so get out there and vote, it doesn´t matter for what party, but just vote.

:D

Sunday, 1 May 2011

Day 19: Linz

This is just going to be a quick post before I leave.We are leaving to drive to Vienna in a little bit, so I am not sure how much time I have to write this. I had a fun day yesterday. Went around Linz a bit. Went to a few churches, one of them was the church where my grandparents got married in. Was very beautiful. I went to this technologies musium. There were some really interesting things there. Learned some cool stuff.
In Linz its May Day weekend. so there is special events happening, I saw some of that yesterday. I went out with my family and their friend and had a drink, some good wine, and tried liverworst. was interesting. I was also interviewed for Austrian TV, about spring and the May Day festival. So I will be on TV in Austria.
I had Austrian Schnitzel for dinner last night and yes. It was a fun day.
I am off to Vienna now. Hope you are all well. BYE

Saturday, 30 April 2011

Day 17 - 18: Berlin and Linz

I had a few last few day in Berlin. On Wednesday, Vito had a job interview at a hotel so we went to that in the afternoon and while he did that i went off and did some looking in stores and did a little shopping. I also sent off a few postcards :P to whom you ask. not telling. We also went out for coffee with his mother, and I must be honest I am starting to have a little coffee thing going on. At home I never really drank coffee, not the case here. Since last Sunday, I have had quite a few. Vito and I went to a few other churches that day and just did some walking around. Berlin is a really nice city. I really enjoyed spending sometime there and I wish I could have spent a little longer there. Also that day, Vito and I went out for dinner, and we had one of the WORST waiters I have ever had. He never smiled once, was rude, didn`t really care about us, and at the end of the meal when we paid, it was 19:70 and I gave him a 20. he asked for me to give him EXACT change. didn´t really enjoy that too much. We also stopped at the Canadian embassy, just for the fun of it.
had a few drinks that night. Yes I have been drinking German beer. and those of you that know me well, know I don´t really like beer, but I have been drinking it, and it is good.
On Thursday, Vito and I got up a little bit earlier and I packed all my stuff and we went to Potstam a town outside of Berlin and did some walking around. we walked all the way around this like and i took a bunch of photos, then we drove to this castel. it was fun. then off to the train statin where i took three trains and it took around 8 hours from Berlin to Linz. I read my book most of the way. I finished it too. I need to go buy some more books. I have one left to read. but I need a few more, I like to read on trains. I am staying in Linz, Austria, with some family of mine. We are spending a day or so here then off to Vienna.
Berlin was awesome. I had such a great time there, rode a motorcycle, was in a thunderstorm, saw some really interesting historic things, went to see the Blue Man Group, and spent time with my friend Vito. Berlin was a highlight of my trip forsure.

Thursday, 28 April 2011

Day 16: Berlin

Well Berlin seems to becoming a highlight of my trip so far. I have been having so much fun here in Berlin. I had a really awesome day. Started off by making Canadian pancakes again. Which were just as good as the first time I made them. Got to love pancakes. Then we made a quick motorcycle ride to Vito's mom work, (which is so much fun, I love riding on a motorcycle). after that we got on a train and went to see another site that has some of the Berlin Wall left. this place has a lot more there, and there is a spot where you can see what it looked like on the east side of the wall, with watchtowers and the couple hundred meters of other things put in peoples way to make it so they cannot escape. I don't really know how to explain it. We then went to Checkpoint Charlie, which was a America checkpoint from West to East. We had a nice walk in the park and went around and saw other random things. Ate lunch and had ice cream at one point. Now here is my exciting part of the day. I kept seeing signs up all over for The Blue Man Group playing in Berlin, so we went looking for the theatre, and life is just so awesome sometimes, we got tickets for 25€ and sat in the 7th row. OMG it was so amazing. they were so good. I laughed so hard and it was just really amazing. They are like part comedy show, part rock concert. Seeing them will be one of the highlights of my trip for sure. At the start of the show, they were throwing marshmallows at the audience. and i got one. it was tasty. They did so many awesome things. I might rant about them more later. who knows. after that Vito and I went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. That was my day yesterday. Not too sure what I shall get up to today, but I am sure it will be fun.
BYE

Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Day 15: Berlin

Yes I am in Germany's capital of Berlin. I am staying here with my friend Vito.
I had an awesome day yesterday. I took an hour train from Leipzig to Berlin, and Vito picked me up at the train station and we went to his house. and then we went out and saw some of Berlin. I saw part of the Berlin Wall, which was really cool. really close to where I saw the Berlin wall there is a Jewish Memorial. It was created in May 2005 and is made up of 2711 stone slates. It was really awesome. there were just rows and rows and rows of the slates. some were really tall and others were only a foot or so tall. after we were walking and it just started to RAIN. so hard. and there was thunder and lightning. we were inside at this little store, and when we made a run for the underground, we ran through the rain and after about 45 seconds of running, we were very very wet. It was crazy. we then took a ride on this train that goes in a circle and saw some more of Berlin from a dry area, the rain didn't last too long. Went back to Vito's house and ate pizza then he had to go to soccer practice. (we took his motorcycle) we got there but he never played because there was thunder in the distance again, on the way home it started to just PISS down rain, even harder than before, so we had to stop and wait it out. it was crazy, so much rain, thunder and lightning, plus a little hail. It was so awesome. We waited it out and had a coffee. Then we came back to his house, watched a movie called Eurotrip, which is a movie I was told I had to watch, cuz I am on a Euro trip so to speak :P
I am off to see some more sights today. :D

Monday, 25 April 2011

Day 15: Frankfurt to Leipzig

I am now writing this for the second time. for some reason it didn't publish the first time. so here i go, trying to write the same thing again.

I didn't really do to much today. I took the train from frankfurt to a town called leipzig. the train ride was about 5 hours. I spent most of the ride reading (I started reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo") so far its a really good book and i am really getting into it. I also slept a bit as well, and did a little people watching, (which is always fun) once i got to leipzig, I checked into my hostel and then walked around the city. there was not a lot to do, as it is still easter weekend. most of the stores were closed. BUT there was a sort of medeival fair going on. there was lots of really interesting things to look at.
i thought that i would treat myself to dinner today, so i went to a cute little restaurant and sat outside and ate some pasta. which was really good. there was bacon in it, (which makes everything better)
then i came back to my hostel and went through a bunch of my photos and now here i sit writing this blog.
tomorrow i am off on the train again to a little city called Berlin. I am going to visit my friend Vito. i am really excited, berlin has so much history, which i am really looking forward to seeing.
thats all for now. BYE

Day 14: Frankfurt

Two weeks I have been here. wow how time flies. ITS CRAZY.
well yesterday was easter and I was kinda sad at the thought of spending it alone.
but that is not the case. I was invited to my friend Emily's house to spend the day with her and her host family. I had a wonderful day. I arrived around lunch time and we all went out to this really cute little restaurant. I had a glass of champain and the most amazing food. in english it would be a peppercorn schnitzel with fries. OMG MOST AMAZING FOOD EVER. it was a pork schnitzel. and it was just so good. it was covered in this peppercorn sause, and wow. one of the best things i have ever eaten.
i met all of the familys relitives. some of them spoke english, which was nice to be able to talk to some people in english. But i heard a lot of other people talking in german. after the restaurant we went back to the house and a while later had some very good deserts. they all had strawberries in them. yum. i spent the rest of the day there, played with the kids, ate chocolate, played games. i had a really good day. and i am off to the train station in a little bit for a 4ish hour long train ride. i shall read and it shall be good.
also, i finsihed angels and demons. it was a really good book.

few random things.
they have some really weird baby stollers, some of them have umbrellas on them
there are lots of mini's over here. and most of the cars people drive are very new
I saw people on a segway tour the other day.
I saw a monk.
i have seen so many people that look like people from home, i may have said this already, but i have to say it again, its really weird.

thats it for now. BYE

Sunday, 24 April 2011

Day 12-13: Frankfurt Area

Okay here I am. I have some time to write a blog to say what I have been up to the last few days.
On the 12th day I had a nice relaxing kind of a day. It was Easter friday so most things were closed, so there was not a lot to really do. so I just kinda walked around and enjoyed the AMAZING WEATHER. it was around 25 and so beautiful. I spend around 2 hours sitting by the river in Frankfurt reading my book and enjoying the sun. While I was sitting there, an easter group of people walked by, there was a man carrying a cross, it was interesting. I went to the Dom in Frankfurt that day and to a few other sites, walked over 5 of the many bridges as well. People really start to drink early here sometimes. It might be an easter weekend thing, but when i left my hostel around 9:30, people were walking around drinking beer.
I got back to my hostel and relaxed. they have a BBQ on the weekends, so I ate food at the BBQ, and people gave me some beer. I met some really nice people. A guy from Kentuky, a girl from germany and this guy from India. They were all really nice. I had a drink or two with the first two. had some really nice conversations with them.
on my 13th day here I went and spent the day with my friend emily, we walked around some towns near frankfurt and talked. we spent sometime with her friends and ate some good food. emily and I went to this Italian place and ate pizza. and also went for ice cream a few times. it was all really good. we went back to her town and walked along the river and then her host family had an easter egg hunt, which was really fun. i had some chocolate. YUM. we also took some really awesome photos, that I am really excited to go and edit at some point. I LOVE THEM. the psat two days were really nice. relaxing and fun. which is what i needed. I decided to stay another night in Frankfurt. 1. because I didn't want to travel on easter. 2 because I am going to spend the day with Emily and her family, which shall be fun.

I hope that you all have a wonderful easter and spend it with people you care about. enjoy life :D

Saturday, 23 April 2011

Quick Update

I just wanted to say that I am alive and not dead in a ditch somewhere. I have been really busy the past few days and have not gotten back to my hostel until really late. I will post a long blog tomorrow to let you know what I have been up to. but for now i am off to bed.

Friday, 22 April 2011

Day 11: Frankfurt

I had a wonderful day yesterday. I took a train to a town called Erbach to visit my friend Emily from Canada. i have not seen her in a long time. it was great to see her. we walked around a lot, talked theatre talk (which i really missed). She is an opare in germany (which is a nanny). so i met her family that she i oparing for. the family has four children, the two boys are older (oldest is 13) and the two younger are girls (youngest is 5). they are a really nice family. i spent most of my day with emily. i also met one of her friends, anna. she was very nice as well. Emily has been in germany for almost a year.
after walking a lot all day, we sat and relaxed and ate ice cream and had a few drinks. it was a very fun day. i am going to spend the day with her on saturday as well. which will be fun. I am trying to figure out where i should go between frankfurt and berlin. i am leaving frankfurt on sunday and need to be in berlin on tuesday, so i need to find a place to go for in between there. i shall figure something out.
i am going to go out and do stuff around frankfurt today.
my quote of the day yesteraday "thats so shay"

i would love to know who is reading my blog. so if you read this blog today. leave a comment with your name or something interesting in it. hope you are all well :D

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Day 10: Maastricht to Frankfurt

Yes that is right. I am in Frankfurt Germany now. I am in a really nice hostel, it is the nicest one I have been in so far, and the price was great too. only downside is, its right by the "redlight district". o well, what can you do.
I didn't do a whole lot today. I started off by finishing watching Moulin Rouge with Teresa and then we made a Canadain breakfast of Pancakes. Which were really yummy. While staying with Teresa we made some really good food. it was nice to be able to cook for myself. After breakfast, I packed and we walked around Maastricht for a bit, then it was off for another day of travel, I took one bus then a train to Frankfurt. It was a pretty fast train, and took less than two hours.
Then checked into my hostel and have just kinda been relaxing, went through a bunch of my photos and ya. here i lay, in my bed writing this blog. I am going to stay in Frankfurt until sunday i think, then off to somewhere else. I have a friend, Emily, that lives near here, so I am going to go visit her tomorrow, which shall be fun.

going to leave you with some random thoughts and interesting facts.
one thing I don't really like about europe, is you have to pay for public washrooms.
in maastricht, lots of people use bikes to get around, most of those people do not wear helmets
crosswalks work different in different cities, in paris, you go as long as there are no cars.
some french people really do know how to make smoking look sexy.
hope you are all well. do people have questions. would love to answer some :D

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Day 9: Maastrict

I am just about to go to bed but I wanted to post a quick blog saying that I am still on Maastricht with my friend Teresa tonight. I had a great day today. Slept in a bit, went to a Netherlands lecture, bought some books for my trip to read, bought some sunglasses (the ones I brought with me broke on my first day here).
I walked around the town today and just had. Nice relaxing day. It was beautiful and very sunny and warm. I am off somewhere else tomorrow. Not saying where. It shal be a surprise. It's not where I said I was going, which was Amsterdam, the reason for that is there were no free beds at any hostels there. I forgot about it being Easter this weekend.
Any guesses on where I am going.
Will try and post a blog tomorrow.
Bye for now.

Monday, 18 April 2011

Day 8: Maasricht and Cologne

Well I have been here a week already. time does fly.
So today i got up early (7ish) ate breakfast and went down to the train station and got on a bus took an hour trip then onto a train and did an other hour trip to get to a town in Germany called Cologne. My friend Teresa said it would make a good day trip, which it did. When you walk out of the train station you look up and there is this amazing cathedreal called the Dom (look it up). its truly anmazing and really very beautiful. I then got an ice cream cone and walked around. there is this really wonderful shopping district in Cologne. there are so many shops. there were 6 H&M's in the area, i was rather amazed that there were that many needed. I didn't buy anything, but i looked in a bunch of stores. OOOOO there was a LEGO store. it made me rather happy inside. :D I then went over to this bridge, on the one side it has thousands and thousands of locks. its amazing and beautiful. i spent about 30 mintute walking one way and then back, looking and taking photos of all these locks. there were so many different kinds. after that i got another ice cream cone and watched a bunch of german boys skateboard. then came back to maasricht. I went out to a pub tonight and had a drink with some very nice people. it was a fun day.
i am going to cut this short. i am really tired. its like 12:15 here. so i am off to bed. will try to make tomorrows blog a little more interesting. with some random facts and thoughts :D

Sunday, 17 April 2011

Day 7: Paris to Maastricht

Hello there all. Yes I am in the smallish town of Maastricht in the Netherlands.
My friends Teresa and Johanna are going to school here, so I am visiting them for the next few days.
I didn't really do a lot today. got up, ate, checked facebook and responded to around 10 messages (i love messages from people, they make me happy) then off to the train station. Where I took three different trains, out of france, through belgium and into the netherlands where i met my friends. the trip took maybe 4 to 5 hours. i got a lot of reading. I finished reading "Eat. Pray. Love". which was an amazing book that i would recomend to anyone who hasn't read it. Then I started to read "Water for Elephants" which I am now about half way through. it is also a really good book that I would recomend.
After arriving in Maastricht we walked to Teresa's place and we ate food, laughed, caught up, chatted, and had a wonderful time. I laughed more tonight than i think i have in a long time.
thats about it for today. I am going to go Kalon tomorrow, which is in germany. will be fun.
and yes. goodbye for now :D

Saturday, 16 April 2011

Day 6: Paris

Well today in general was a much better day than yesterday. The weather was beautiful and sunny. I slept so well and I didn't get mugged. So much better in that respect.
today was more of a walking randomly around to see what I would find kinda of a day. I left my hostel around 11 and went to the "Metro" as its called here. and got on and got off at this place that i dont know the name of, but it was very pretty :P after that i went to what i think is called Petit Palais. It had art up and such, i walked around and looked at it, but the best part was the amazing paintings on the ceiling. they were just so beautiful. I spent most of the rest of my day just walking around. I stopped a few times and went on a grassy space and read my book in the sun. which was really nice. I went back to the mac store i found yesterday and did a bunch of random internest stuff. facebook and such. which was fun. after that I went and walked around and found some awesome stores, I found H&M, quicksiver, and a bunch of stores.
I didn't say this before, but on my first day here, on my walk to my hostel, I walked through this whole area that was made up of sex shops. I didn't realize where I was and was like "o hey", but ya, found another place like that today. there is some weird stuff here in Paris. I am now back in my hostel eating food. which is nice.

So a few random facts from the past few days.
i have seen a crazy old british man as well as a few crazy old french men.
some french people really can make smoking look sexy.
there are lots of people out there to con you in paris.
its really nice having a conversation with someone in english after not having one for a few days
i have seen so many people that look like people i know, and i want to go say hi, but then i realize that there is NO way they could be who i think they are.
not all english people have bad teeth, BUT some really, really do.
thats all i can think of for now

but tomorrow i am leaving paris. for where you ask. read my next blog and you will find out :P

Friday, 15 April 2011

Day 5: Paris

Paris. What an interesting place. My first full day in Paris has been a rollercoaster of events. It had its low points and it had its HIGH points.
I`ll start with the low point, i was mugged, yes thats right. my money was stolen from me, about 90 eruos. which sucks a lot. it was stupid, but it happened. I am okay, not harmed. I kinda had a moment after that. but i moved on. There is nothing I could really do about it. I am mad that it happened, but there is nothing I can do now. I have execpted that it happened, and I have moved on.

I went to see some amazing things today. First off I went to see Arc de Triomphe (thats what its called, its a huge arch. look it up). after that was the Eiffle Tower. Which was amazing. I didn`t go up at first, I walked around and sat in the grass and just looked at it. I walked up to the 1st and second level of the tower, (my legs hurt :P) and the few is amazing, you can walk around the whole tower and see the entire city, it is truely amazing. so beautiful. Next on my list was the Louve. that was so cool. I didn`t actaully go and look at everything, its 10 euros and i wasn`t really in the spend money kind of mood :P. but i looked around.
I then walked to Pont Neuf, then down to Notre-Dame. Those who know me, know that I am not a religous person, but I can appriate that others do. I was in the Cathedrale during mass, and it was really truly beautiful. the building itself was just so amazing. People lit candles, there was singing. I just walked around in amazement. It was the highlight of my day. It was just amazing.
Yes I did have my camera with me all day and took over 400 photos, and I got some really nice ones.
the weather wasn`t the nicest today, it was mainly cloudy, but there were some blue sky moments.
at the end of the day, I think it was a good day. It all a learning experiance.
Tomorrow will be a better day, not sure what I am going to do, but I know I am leaving Paris on Sunday and after that, I do not know.

If you have any questions about anything, ask. Also, I think I am going to start a random facts post or something like that. Just of random things i have seen or heard.

AND YES. I will post some photos soon :P

BYE

Day 3-4 London to Paris

Its been a few days since I posted a blog and I am very sorry. Lets see what have I been up to.
I spend part of my 3rd day in London, walked around, went to H&M, which was awesome. (got a cardgen)
I said goodbye to my friends Kieran and Krista, (which was really sad) I am now alone. I then took a 2ish hour bus ride to a town called Dover to take a ferry over to Calais, a little french town.
I met some people on the ferry that were doing this charity hitch hike, http://www.bummit.co.uk/news thats the link, take a look. They were really nice. We talked about some difference between Canada and UK.
I then spent the night in Calais at hostel, and then the next morning walked over to the train station and got a train to Paris. The trains here are rather interesting. its going to be fun using them over the next fewe months. Once I got to Paris, I spent a while trying to find a place with wifi that i could actually use without paying for it, and when I did I found a hostel, which was a rather long walk away, (i`m going to be doing lots of walking) and spend a while walking, when i got to the hostel i was just really tired and kinda passed out around 9:30 and slept for a while, UNTIL the really annoying french guy i was sharing a room with came back and was just so distrispectful, had the lights on and just was rude. you think when you see someone in room sleeping you would be quiet, but no, he was soooo loud. o well, am going to see about changing rooms. i am now off to explore Paris. I am going to be here for a few days.
In general my trip has been good so far, I am really homesick at the moment. its hard not knowing anyone and having like no one speak english. hopefully talk to someone on skype soon, would be nice to talk to someone.
much love

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Day 2: London

Yesterday was a good day. (because for me its the next day here) its weird, everyone in BC is going to bed or in bed around the time i get up in the morning. I walked around London a lot yesterday, took the Tube places, which is really fun, not going to lie. I spend the day with my friends Kieran and Krista. We saw the tower of london, (didn't do the tour, was really expencive). Walked over the tower bridge, did this really cool little walk. WENT TO SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE THEATRE. that was so awesome. went to this really cute little pub, it was called "Cheshire Cheese" it had been around since 1667. We had some british fish and chips there. mmmmmh, they were good. and we did random other things. when i got back to my hostel last night, i sat on my computer for a bit and while i was doing this, there was a soccer (or as the british call it a football game) and people were getting really excited.
Today I am leaving London, I have a 2:30 hour bus ride to a town called Dover, then a 90 minute ferry ride over to France. Shall be fun.
thats it for now. much love

Monday, 11 April 2011

Day 1: London

I am standing on a sidewalk outside a bar because it was a place I could find wifi. I am having a great time so far. I had a pretty good almost 8 hour flight. On which I ran into my friend Kieran (yea same name as me) and I have been with him and his (and my new friend) Krista. We took a bus from the airport to London and ha breakfast the took the tube to find our hostels. Krista and I have hostels rather close to each other. We went to platform 9 and 3/4 at king cross station. We also had a picnic in a park. That was good. Cheese and bagets. Yum. It was a beautiful sunny day, nice and warm. tomorrow will be a day of sightseeing after a night of needed sleep.
That is all for now. Will post soon. :D

Sunday, 10 April 2011

TODAY

Just a really quick blog to say that I am all packed, and heading off to the airport in about 20 minutes.
Then to wait for three hours, and my flight leaves at 1:25. WOOT.
It's finally time to start my adventure.
Will post sometime tomorrow when I am no longer dead and have found internet :D

Saturday, 9 April 2011

One More Day

Well tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow is the day that I get to spend a long period of time on an airplane flying half way around the world. (as I am writing this I hear an airplane in the distance, sign? i think so)
anyway, I have been having a great time in Vancouver, saw people I know, which is always fun.
I went to go see a taping of Mr.Young last night. My friend Gig has a lead role in it, so I went to support him. I had a lot of fun, I got to walk around the set after the taping of the show, it is truly amazing all the effort and all the detail put into creating the set. So many details. And all the hard work put into making a show. I had a lot of fun with that. People should watch Mr. Young if they haven't already and support an all Canadian cast and crew. The show is on Tuesday nights at 6:30 on YTV. WOOT

Anyway, I am leaving tomorrow, I will try and post a blog before I leave and one as soon as I can once I arrive. I AM REALLY EXCITED.
Much love :)

Thursday, 7 April 2011

Leaving for Vancouver

Well my plane leaves on sunday, but i am leaving Courtenay today and heading over to Vancouver to stay with my friend Michelle for a few days. I am excited for a few days in Vancouver, its always fun to visit there.
Thank you to all the people who have been so supportive of this trip and thanks to everyone who I have hung out with over the past three weeks I have been in Courtenay. I missed you all so much and I will miss you while I am gone. Love you all. <3

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

4 Days

I thought I would post a quick update blog.
I have 4 days and about 3 hours until my plane leaves on Sunday.
I am pretty much packed. Everything fits into my backpack.
I have this awesome purple and green backpack I am taking.
With a big canada flag on it.
I am off to Vancouver tomorrow to spend a few days there before
I leave.
I am off to enjoy the sunny weather today.

Sunday, 3 April 2011

My Birthday

Just a quick post to say that it is now 7 days until i leave.
AND today is my birthday, i had a great time yesterday
and today, thanks to all.

Saturday, 2 April 2011

8 Days

Well 8 days from now I am going to be on an airplane half way around the world.
Today I bought the last of my stuff for my trip, which is good that I have everything now.
I am going to start packing at the start of next week. Not to much let to do now, except wait
for the next week to go by, and before I know it, I will be there.