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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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,

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

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