As we bid farewell to Europe and to blogging (don`t cry) here are a few statistics from our trip.
9 of Tom´s cousins met
8 Aunts and Uncles visited
7 dogs belonging to those aunts, uncles and cousins
6 Countries visited, and no this does not include the ones we rode a train through, I wasn`t allowed to count those. It was England, France, Italy, Croatia, Czech and Germany (yes, staying one night in a country while waiting for a flight DOES count)
5 Mineral springs tasted in Marianske Lazne. This is the last Czech town we stayed in and they are famous for the huge number of natural mineral springs. So we took our mug and walked around town tasting all of the ones we could find. The best tasted like a very earthy Perrier. The worst tasted like a vat of salty rotten eggs that had been sitting in an iron vat for 5 years. Not my fave. But apparently they have healing properties which bodes well for my aching wisdom tooth, sore heel and swollen right nostril (???).
4 bottles of shampoo and conditioner left in various showers.
3 hours for Tom and I to polish of a .5kg bar of Studentska Chocolate in Prague. You don´t even know how easy it was.
2 Pairs of glasses left on trains, blast!
1 Fantastic Europtrip coming to an end! Can`t wait for home!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Pit Stop in Prague
We are back in Prague after 5 nights in the country and tonight we will catch a train to Marianske Lazne, don't ask me where that is or how to pronounce it! You would think my Czech would have improved a bit being fully immersed in the language for a week, but alas, I have never had an ear for languages.
Last night Tom's cousins took us on a mystery adventure and it was one of the coolest and scariest experiences of my life...luckily it was more cool than scary. We were told to bring a flashlight and then we hiked to the middle of the woods at night...I was already scared. Turns out there is a massive network of caves that date back to 50 000 BC and anyone who wants can just go ahead and explore them, anytime they want. This is where it gets scary. In the middle of the night, we crawled into (on hands and knees)these caves with our flashlights and started to explore. I am mildly claustrophobic, FYI. Once we were about 20 metres in and far enough so I couldn't escape if things went horribly wrong everyone decided it would be a great idea to turn off all the flashlights and just sit inside a cave that was about 1 metre tall. NOT FUN! I practiced some deep breathing and managed to escape alive once we decided to live, but it was scary, I'm not going to lie.
Overall, a very, very cool experience. One of those ones we would never have done on our own. We have been very well taken care of!
Well, off to find some lunch. Tom has already left me to go sit in the main square and grab a beer so I will have to find him first I suppose!
Last night Tom's cousins took us on a mystery adventure and it was one of the coolest and scariest experiences of my life...luckily it was more cool than scary. We were told to bring a flashlight and then we hiked to the middle of the woods at night...I was already scared. Turns out there is a massive network of caves that date back to 50 000 BC and anyone who wants can just go ahead and explore them, anytime they want. This is where it gets scary. In the middle of the night, we crawled into (on hands and knees)these caves with our flashlights and started to explore. I am mildly claustrophobic, FYI. Once we were about 20 metres in and far enough so I couldn't escape if things went horribly wrong everyone decided it would be a great idea to turn off all the flashlights and just sit inside a cave that was about 1 metre tall. NOT FUN! I practiced some deep breathing and managed to escape alive once we decided to live, but it was scary, I'm not going to lie.
Overall, a very, very cool experience. One of those ones we would never have done on our own. We have been very well taken care of!
Well, off to find some lunch. Tom has already left me to go sit in the main square and grab a beer so I will have to find him first I suppose!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Caves
Today we went on a tour of some caves and if I thought it was cold above ground, below ground was a whole different story. Freezing. We tagged along with a high school tour and some imature member of our group set off the alarm because he touched the wall of the cave. You guessed it, Tom. He just haaad to touch the stalagmite! I was terrified I thought the alarm was to let us know that te cave was collapsing!!! Luckily the worst that came from the alarm was Tom getting scolded by the guide, and not us getting trapped 20 feet underground, phew.
Off to uncle number 2 tonight!
Off to uncle number 2 tonight!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Up North...
It's horrible but I don't know the name of the town we are in right now and Tom isn't nearby to ask! We are about an hour north or Prague with his aunt and uncle and cousin in a beautiful small town. We are so lucky to be able to see so much more of the country than we would if we were alone. Today we went for a hike (must be Tom's relatives! Lol) and are now relaxing after a big lunch.
One thing that is taking some getting used to is the temperature! After 3 weeks of thirty degree heat in the south we are now slowly adjusting to the 13 degrees here! I am freezing! There had better be some sunshine when we get back to Vancouver!
We have had some of the most amazing food in Czech and the best part is how afordablw it is. In Prague we went for dinner and my meal included a chicken breast and a pork chop sandwiched between two gigantic potato pancakes for about $6 Canadian! Tom had half a duck for the same. So tasty.
One thing that is taking some getting used to is the temperature! After 3 weeks of thirty degree heat in the south we are now slowly adjusting to the 13 degrees here! I am freezing! There had better be some sunshine when we get back to Vancouver!
We have had some of the most amazing food in Czech and the best part is how afordablw it is. In Prague we went for dinner and my meal included a chicken breast and a pork chop sandwiched between two gigantic potato pancakes for about $6 Canadian! Tom had half a duck for the same. So tasty.
Friday, June 18, 2010
In Prague...
Just Czeching things out... That's right, I went there!
Day two in this lovely city and it is raining! I suppose it has finally caught up to us. Europeans don't do anything half assed, the food, the wine, the history, are all a cut above the rest. This goes for rain as well.
What is this 'rainy Vancouver' you speak of? You want rain? We'll show you rain!
Sure, we may have them beat when it comes to duration and overall amount of rain, but the 2 days on this trip that it has rained (yes I am gloating) have been absolute downpours! There was no way I was digging through my bag to find the unused raincoat in the bottom (it has just been so sunny! ) so we are now sitting in a mall waiting for tom's cousin to get off work.
The time we have spent in Prague so far has been fantastic. I am loving this city. Great food, great atmosphere, beautiful setting, just great. Tom is happy too because you can get half a litre of beer in a restaurant for about $1.50!
We are very lucky here in Czech because for the remainder of our trip we will be well taken care of by Tom's extended family. And He has been trying really hard to translate for me so I don't just sit around smiling and nodding! Although he is using my lack of language skills to his advantage. I asked him to find out from his cousin where the closest mall or shopping was and he simply said 'nah, don't want to'. What's a gal to do?
Zatim Naschledanou ( that's goodbye for now!)
Day two in this lovely city and it is raining! I suppose it has finally caught up to us. Europeans don't do anything half assed, the food, the wine, the history, are all a cut above the rest. This goes for rain as well.
What is this 'rainy Vancouver' you speak of? You want rain? We'll show you rain!
Sure, we may have them beat when it comes to duration and overall amount of rain, but the 2 days on this trip that it has rained (yes I am gloating) have been absolute downpours! There was no way I was digging through my bag to find the unused raincoat in the bottom (it has just been so sunny! ) so we are now sitting in a mall waiting for tom's cousin to get off work.
The time we have spent in Prague so far has been fantastic. I am loving this city. Great food, great atmosphere, beautiful setting, just great. Tom is happy too because you can get half a litre of beer in a restaurant for about $1.50!
We are very lucky here in Czech because for the remainder of our trip we will be well taken care of by Tom's extended family. And He has been trying really hard to translate for me so I don't just sit around smiling and nodding! Although he is using my lack of language skills to his advantage. I asked him to find out from his cousin where the closest mall or shopping was and he simply said 'nah, don't want to'. What's a gal to do?
Zatim Naschledanou ( that's goodbye for now!)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Things that make me very happy...
1) getting stamps in my passport. I was very dissapointed when they didn't give us a stamp when crossing the teeny section of coastline that is Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2) Kittens! There are cats everywhere in Croatia and where there are cats there are kittens and where there are kittens here is Kate . We saw a little black kitten the size of Sawyer's head. He ran away from me.
3) hot dogs. Now there is a mystery meat I can sink my teeth into!
4) pasteries filled with chocolate or Nutella. There is no way you can go wrong with that combo. The best were in Rome, my mouth is wattering just thinking about them.
2) Kittens! There are cats everywhere in Croatia and where there are cats there are kittens and where there are kittens here is Kate . We saw a little black kitten the size of Sawyer's head. He ran away from me.
3) hot dogs. Now there is a mystery meat I can sink my teeth into!
4) pasteries filled with chocolate or Nutella. There is no way you can go wrong with that combo. The best were in Rome, my mouth is wattering just thinking about them.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sitting in a cafe in Dubrovnik writing on my iPod. I ordered a Coke and Tom has a beer. The beer was cheaper than my coke!
Yesterday we had an unfortunate food experience. We got into Dubrovnik at around noon and set out for lunch and sightseeing. We grabbed a couple mini pizzas from a bakery and sat down in the shade to dig in. Everything was going well until I started to look closer at the ham on my pizza... It wasn't ham, it was Spam, or the Croatian equivalent to spam 'shudder'. It was horrible. Tom tougher it out, picking off the more obviously gross bits. Me, I had to pull the whole top of my pizza off and try and finish off the crust without thinking about what had been on it. We had to get gelato after to ease the pain.
Today we took a quick ferry to a small island off the coast and spent the day swimming and exploring the fort, monastery and garden on the island. It is stinking hot here so we try not to venture to far from the water!
Tomorrow we set out for Split where will will catch an overnight train to Zagreb. From there we catch a bus to Prague that takes, oh, 12 hours.
Wish us luck!
Yesterday we had an unfortunate food experience. We got into Dubrovnik at around noon and set out for lunch and sightseeing. We grabbed a couple mini pizzas from a bakery and sat down in the shade to dig in. Everything was going well until I started to look closer at the ham on my pizza... It wasn't ham, it was Spam, or the Croatian equivalent to spam 'shudder'. It was horrible. Tom tougher it out, picking off the more obviously gross bits. Me, I had to pull the whole top of my pizza off and try and finish off the crust without thinking about what had been on it. We had to get gelato after to ease the pain.
Today we took a quick ferry to a small island off the coast and spent the day swimming and exploring the fort, monastery and garden on the island. It is stinking hot here so we try not to venture to far from the water!
Tomorrow we set out for Split where will will catch an overnight train to Zagreb. From there we catch a bus to Prague that takes, oh, 12 hours.
Wish us luck!
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