4 places since the last post.... hmmm... where do we begin. Well to settle the nerves we are blogging from Rome, so we made it, but the travels in between were amazing as usual. We will give you the abridged version.
We will start out in Prague, where we left everyone hanging. It was mostly raining in Prague the whole time we were there, but that didn't stop us from site seeing and having a good time. We saw the largest castle in europe... which overlooked the whole city, both were amazing sites. After drying out and freshining up we did our first pub crawl that night in Prague. Almost missed it, but we made the pub crawl just in time and had a blast! Fun Fact: Chad met 4 different people from marquette that night on the pub crawl also, one a group partner for a class.
We left Prague by hopping on a train we were hoping was heading to munich... And in our cabin on the train 3 other americans joined us that were hoping the same thing. A brother and a sister from Texas and a guy from New York. They were planning on connecting in Munich and headin some where else. However, after hanging out and a few beers on the train they decided we were pretty cool and were gonna stay the night in Munich with us. Two of them left the next morning and one decided to tag along for another day in Munich. To sum up Munich we drank alot of oversized beers, met a bunch americans, and the city was beautiful.
Then we went to Florence and met up with two of our river rafting buddys. We stayed for 2 nights, learned to love wine, and saw some amazing sites like the David...
Cinque Terra... Don't know how to put it into words... WOW!
And now were in Rome, about to head into the city and conquer once again.
Ciao for now! Hope everyone is safe back in the states, keep commenting so we know everyone is allright.
Peace.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Im on a raft, and its as real as it gets, and....
To start things off we are not on a raft, yet. We started our first day in Interlaken by renting a Moped, yes that hog got 50 miles to the gallon. It is unfair to try to explain our tandem moped journey to the top of the mountain. Lets just say we went where no moped has gone before. On the way up we saw cows and waterfalls, and at the top was one of the most breathetaking views we had both ever experienced... And then the storms came... We rushed down the mountain facing gusting winds, darting raindrops and falling trees. But we made it back safely to enjoy some local beers with new friends at a bar that was at least 96 percent dudes. But we still had some fun.
The next day we talked two of our roomates into going canyoning with us. Canyoning is the art of spidermanning through alpine canyons by jumping , zipping, diving into water. Well as most of our plans have gone so far, canyoning was cancelled due to concerns of high water levels... So we joined the white water rafting group heading out at the same time. We put on our equipment, took a sardine van to the river and formed the best 8 person raft crew in europe. Our team was on the same level, often being asked by the guide to keep down on our jokes, singing and laughter and listen to his directions. This experience was as real as it gets... Mixed with class 4 rapids, freezing cold water, amazing views, and unparalleled teamwork. Fun fact: The only team member to fall out of the boat and to be rescued was Chad.
After bonding with our team we said farewell and hopped on the train to Prague. It was a blast and now we are heading to catch our train that leaves in 30 minutes to Munich, we will post a great blog there! Enjoy
peace, love and kabobs
chad and shane
The next day we talked two of our roomates into going canyoning with us. Canyoning is the art of spidermanning through alpine canyons by jumping , zipping, diving into water. Well as most of our plans have gone so far, canyoning was cancelled due to concerns of high water levels... So we joined the white water rafting group heading out at the same time. We put on our equipment, took a sardine van to the river and formed the best 8 person raft crew in europe. Our team was on the same level, often being asked by the guide to keep down on our jokes, singing and laughter and listen to his directions. This experience was as real as it gets... Mixed with class 4 rapids, freezing cold water, amazing views, and unparalleled teamwork. Fun fact: The only team member to fall out of the boat and to be rescued was Chad.
After bonding with our team we said farewell and hopped on the train to Prague. It was a blast and now we are heading to catch our train that leaves in 30 minutes to Munich, we will post a great blog there! Enjoy
peace, love and kabobs
chad and shane
Thursday, May 28, 2009
I'm on a raft, and its as real as it gets. and...
To start things off we were not on a raft, yet. We started our first
day in Interlaken by renting a mo-ped, yes that hog got 50 miles to
the gallon. It is unfair to attempt to explain our tandem mo-ped
journey to the top of a mountain. Lets just say we went where no mo-
ped has been before. On the way up we saw cows and waterfalls. At
the top it was one of the most breathtaking views we had both
experienced... And then the storms came in and we rushed down the
mountain fighting gusting winds, darting rain drops and falling
trees. But we made it back safely and were able to enjoy some local
beers with new freinds at a bar with 96% dudes, but we still had some
fun.
day in Interlaken by renting a mo-ped, yes that hog got 50 miles to
the gallon. It is unfair to attempt to explain our tandem mo-ped
journey to the top of a mountain. Lets just say we went where no mo-
ped has been before. On the way up we saw cows and waterfalls. At
the top it was one of the most breathtaking views we had both
experienced... And then the storms came in and we rushed down the
mountain fighting gusting winds, darting rain drops and falling
trees. But we made it back safely and were able to enjoy some local
beers with new freinds at a bar with 96% dudes, but we still had some
fun.
The next day we talked two of our roomates into going canyoning with
us. Canyoning is defined as the art of spider-manning through alpine
canyons by jumping, swiming, swinging and zipping. Well as most of
our plans have gone so far, canyoning was cancelled that day due to
water level concerns... So we joined the white water rafting group
heading out at the same time.
We put on our equipment, took a sardine van to the river and formed
the best 8 person raft crew in europe. Our team was on the same
level, often being asked by the guide to quiet down our jokes, singing
and laughter to listen to his directions. This experience was as real
as it gets.. Mixed with class 4 rapids, freezing cold water, amazing
views, and unparrallelled teamwork. Fun fact: the only team member to
fall out of the boat and need rescued was chad. It was extremely
hilarious and we will explain later.
Ahter bonding with our team we checked out and joined the team for a
few beers in the park, watching hang gliders coast in from the
mountains and land. Unfortunately we had to leave to catch our 8
oclock overnight train to Prague. That is where we are typing this
from, our own sleeper cabin on the train.
We are having the time of our lives meeting tons of people, trying new
things, and learning valuable lessons along the way.
Stay tuned for our next blog, and Czech us out in Prague!
Sent from my iPod
Monday, May 25, 2009
Belgium to Switzerland... with a little Paris
Sorry we left everyone hanging for so long... We have been on the move like you wouldn't believe. So after our big late night fiasco in London, we some how woke up early, like 8:30, because we knew we had to make to the chunels departing station to see if we had any chance of getting to Paris. When we got there we found it was going to cost us about 1000 dolllars to get to Paris within the next two days... don't worry, we turned it down. However, he did mention we could book a 5 o'clock train to brussels that day for about 60 bucs. We shouted in celebration, oh yeah were going to brussels. After that we quickly asked, wait, what country is Brussels in. He replied Belgium, and we instantly got excited for waffles, beer, and chocolate. So we booked the train, saw the rest of the main sites in London, and departed for Brussels at 5.
We arrived in Bussels around 10 pm, with no hostel or hotel booked, and no idea where to go in brussels. To make the situation even better, we couldn't read any of the street signs, and had a horrible map. While wondering the streets, we met another american kid who was in the same perdicament as us. So we all decided to find a hostel or hotel together. After walking the streets for an hour and finding out all hostels were booked, we got a room at the Manhattan Brussels Hotel for 30 a piece. Fun Fact: the hotel had the oldest elevator known to man. After settling in we thought about it, and we didn't even know the kids name that we were giong to be sleeping with that night... yes, only one bed in the room for the three of us. After finally introducing ourselves we grabbed kabobs and wondered the streets for hours looking for some sort of nightlife... which we couldn't find. Then John, our american roomate, saw the peek of a church that was lit, and before we were about to head home he said we should check it out. Well, it just so happend that that church was in a piazza that was lit and one of the most beautiful places we had ever seen. And to make things even better, the hopping nightlife was right around the corner... which we were to exausted to acutally particpate in so we had a few beers at a corner bar there and enjoyed the brussels night life. Plus we had to be up at 630 the next morning to get to the station and see if we could get to Paris.
We awoke on time the next morning, said goodbye to John, and went to the station. At the station we found out we wouldn't be able to get the direct train to Paris, so we were going to have to take 4 different trains to get there... we were up for the challenge. We left Brussels around 720 and had to connnect at 4 different stations throughout France... but we made it... Childsplay.
We booked into our hotel in Paris around 3 pm, and settled in. After learning our lessons from previous cities, we went right to the train station to book for Barcelona the next night. However, again, as usual, the night train to Barcelona was booked, even for the next 3 days... so we had a quick decision to make. There was nothing even close to Barcelona we could go to, so we decided to skip barcelona and go to Switerland early, which there were trains for the next day... thank god. To celebrate, we went to the Luxemburg gardens, layed out, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Also to celebrate we decided to try for a nice french dinner. So we got dressed up for eachother and went to find a restaraunt. While looking we met some other americans from from LSU and Virgina Tech looking for a place to eat. Fun Fact: Caitlin, a Macie Barnes from Virginia Tech said she either knew or has heard of you. We tagged along for a creppe dinner with bottles of wine, and ended up at the Eiffel Tower for the late night light show. We had live music playing, plenty of wine and champagne, and a solid group of people looking to have a good time. Although the date with just the two of us would have been very nice, it was great to meet up with others from the states and to sing to some familiar tunes. All in all, it turned out to be an unforgettable night by that famous tower.
We finally got some decent sleep and woke up around 10 to check out of the hotel and see the sites of Paris. The sites were breathtaking, we got plenty of pics, and the weather was perfect once again. After an exhausting walk from the Arch de Triomphe to Notre Dame we finally made it to the train station to catch our 5 oclock train to the land of Switzerland. The views fromt the train were unbelieivable and we made it to Interlaken safely around 11 at night. It took us about an hour to find our hostel, which was only about 15 minutes from the train station... oops. Special shout out to the 3 people who gave us bad directions in the smallest town know to man. But we are here, safe, enjoying Swiss beers, and updating the blog that we have been slacking on lately... sorry, we are trying our best, and will hopefully add some pictures very soon.
Aufederzein, and Swatch out for our next post!
XOXOXO. Chad and Shane
We arrived in Bussels around 10 pm, with no hostel or hotel booked, and no idea where to go in brussels. To make the situation even better, we couldn't read any of the street signs, and had a horrible map. While wondering the streets, we met another american kid who was in the same perdicament as us. So we all decided to find a hostel or hotel together. After walking the streets for an hour and finding out all hostels were booked, we got a room at the Manhattan Brussels Hotel for 30 a piece. Fun Fact: the hotel had the oldest elevator known to man. After settling in we thought about it, and we didn't even know the kids name that we were giong to be sleeping with that night... yes, only one bed in the room for the three of us. After finally introducing ourselves we grabbed kabobs and wondered the streets for hours looking for some sort of nightlife... which we couldn't find. Then John, our american roomate, saw the peek of a church that was lit, and before we were about to head home he said we should check it out. Well, it just so happend that that church was in a piazza that was lit and one of the most beautiful places we had ever seen. And to make things even better, the hopping nightlife was right around the corner... which we were to exausted to acutally particpate in so we had a few beers at a corner bar there and enjoyed the brussels night life. Plus we had to be up at 630 the next morning to get to the station and see if we could get to Paris.
We awoke on time the next morning, said goodbye to John, and went to the station. At the station we found out we wouldn't be able to get the direct train to Paris, so we were going to have to take 4 different trains to get there... we were up for the challenge. We left Brussels around 720 and had to connnect at 4 different stations throughout France... but we made it... Childsplay.
We booked into our hotel in Paris around 3 pm, and settled in. After learning our lessons from previous cities, we went right to the train station to book for Barcelona the next night. However, again, as usual, the night train to Barcelona was booked, even for the next 3 days... so we had a quick decision to make. There was nothing even close to Barcelona we could go to, so we decided to skip barcelona and go to Switerland early, which there were trains for the next day... thank god. To celebrate, we went to the Luxemburg gardens, layed out, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Also to celebrate we decided to try for a nice french dinner. So we got dressed up for eachother and went to find a restaraunt. While looking we met some other americans from from LSU and Virgina Tech looking for a place to eat. Fun Fact: Caitlin, a Macie Barnes from Virginia Tech said she either knew or has heard of you. We tagged along for a creppe dinner with bottles of wine, and ended up at the Eiffel Tower for the late night light show. We had live music playing, plenty of wine and champagne, and a solid group of people looking to have a good time. Although the date with just the two of us would have been very nice, it was great to meet up with others from the states and to sing to some familiar tunes. All in all, it turned out to be an unforgettable night by that famous tower.
We finally got some decent sleep and woke up around 10 to check out of the hotel and see the sites of Paris. The sites were breathtaking, we got plenty of pics, and the weather was perfect once again. After an exhausting walk from the Arch de Triomphe to Notre Dame we finally made it to the train station to catch our 5 oclock train to the land of Switzerland. The views fromt the train were unbelieivable and we made it to Interlaken safely around 11 at night. It took us about an hour to find our hostel, which was only about 15 minutes from the train station... oops. Special shout out to the 3 people who gave us bad directions in the smallest town know to man. But we are here, safe, enjoying Swiss beers, and updating the blog that we have been slacking on lately... sorry, we are trying our best, and will hopefully add some pictures very soon.
Aufederzein, and Swatch out for our next post!
XOXOXO. Chad and Shane
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Victory! and... Belgium?
Where do we start... well we first want to thank you all for posting
and keeping up with the blog.
and keeping up with the blog.
Okay we have only been away from the states for less than two days,
but have managed to pack in a weeks work of chaos, including emotional
highs and lows.
London started out great... We relaxed in Hyde park... Shopped at
harrows... Made fun of the gaurds at buckingham palace... At watched
our first day of sight seeing tick away at big ben. Oh and the
weather was perfect.
The hostel was surprisingly clean, however we still dont understand
how they fit 15 beds into our tiny room.
After getting settled we decided to hit up some authentic English
pubs. A few beers down we were feeling good so decided to head back
to see if anyone else was heading out. Fun fact: the temperature had
dropped like 20 degrees so we also needed jackets.
Then the story begins... We met some nice alaskans when we got back to
the hostel and found they were also heading to Paris next. They asked
if we had booked our train yet, and of course we smiled and said we
were planning to book at the station before hand. Well they then
laughed and said the train had been booked for a couple of days and we
might have a problem. We weren't smiling anymore. This began 5-hour
investigation on how in the world we could get put of London. Fun
fact: monday is a national holiday for London and everyone else was
also trying to leave... And hadn't procrastinated like us. So after
10 pounds spent on Internet, alot of help from alot of people, and a
midnight run to the train station... We are now boarding to Belgium
and will explain later. But were safe.
Time for waffles, chocolate and beer!
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