Our Last Stop...Paris!

Our last stop this trip is Paris. Our flight leaves at 1:30pm from Paris on August 19th. It's been a good run but now we have to get back home and face the bills. Here are some pictures from the things we tried to catch up on that we didn't get a chance to see the first time around. This time we did actually climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower, which was wicked packed and took forever to get to. Sunset may not be the best time to visit. We almost missed our train again but thanks to Josh's sprinting skills we ran to catch the train. We had like three transfers, talk about STRESS!!! Here, I'll let the pictures tell this story.

(This was towards the end of the walking tour that we had taken that day. I'm standing at the end of the Tuileries Gardens, near the Champs-Elysees.

(This is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWI, this is the eternal flame that never goes out. Well ok, so it's been blown out twice since it's erection. Once I think was a prank, then another time some tourists decided to cook hot dogs over the flames. Each person was deported back to their home country never able to return to France.)
Napoleonic Arc de Triomph

(The Arc de Triomph is accompanied by two other Arc's in paris both equal distances away. The Arc de Triomph is the second largest arc in Europe.)

(It is estimated that every 1/2 hour that is a car accident in the round about that circles this monument.)
( This is right before we climbed the tower. We looked at the long lines and asked ourselves "Is it worth it?" We decided yes.)

(This picture was taken directly at the bottom of the tower while waiting in line. There are three areas to buy tickets to go to the top.)

(The city from the top of the Eiffel Tower at night.)

(Every seven years the Eiffel Tower is painted, it is currently being painted at the present time. Paris hired a team of Italian painters to hand paint the entire tower. The color changes from time to time but is currently a mixture of brownish grey. Three separate colors of paint are used on the tower, with the darkest on the bottom and the lightest at the top.)
( The G. Eiffel intended for the Eiffel Tower to be built in Barcelona but Barcelona declined. Many Parisians called the Eiffel Tower an eyesore. It was erected in the 1800's for the World Fair and was only intended to be in Paris for 20years. One man tried to sell the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal every few years and a few rich people actually paid to take down the tower. When they realized it was a scam they didn't tell anyone they just took the loss. The scam went on for about ten years before this con was caught.)

(At the very top of the Eiffel Tower, don't let this fool you there were about a hundred people surrounding us. This is also right after I used the bathroom at the top, the tower sways so much that it felt like I was on a boat.)

(Eiffel Tower, at the top of every hour there is a light show that you can watch. )

(Eiffel Tower at night right as we are about to leave for the train, Josh is telling me to hurry cause it's late)

Brush strokes to Giverny

Why look at a painting when you can be in one? So for those of you who aren't familiar with Giverny, France this is where Monet lived. Earlier in the blogs you may have remembered us talking about Monet's paintings and the ridiculous amounts of pieces we've seen. Well imagine looking at his paintings and imagining what he was thinking, where did he get his inspiration, what did his subjects look like, smell like? In a sense we were able to dive into his paintings and see the actual gardens, fields and lilies that inspired his paintings. It's one thing to look at a painting and appreciate impressionism, the brush strokes and his use of color; but to actually look at what he saw brings a whole new sense of appreciation. If you like any of Monet's work I highly suggest taking the extra expense to travel outside of Paris to see where he lived and worked.




We couldn't have asked for a better day, not too hot, not too sunny a perfect day for a picnic and tour of Monet's garden. The pictures don't do it justice. By far one of our most inspirational days!



We left for Paris in the nick of time, we had to return the car by 6pm and it was an hour drive. So we packed it in and assumed that we could make it back alright. We felt confident that we could at least make it to the city. Keep in mind, no phone and no maps. This again amazes me, we made it into Paris without a problem! Granted we came close to not having a enough money for the tolls but we made it. Well that is until we got stuck in traffic and needed to find a gas station to fill the car. We took some side streets through the city, figuring we would have to drive by a gas station eventually. And we did, although for anyone traveling in Europe most of the machines that take credit cards require you to have a smart chip which we don't. So we couldn't get gas anywhere, no gas attendants were even working. So bizarre! Two hours later, we were able to find a gas station that would take cards. When we returned the car, we parked in the wrong garage, and were two hours late. Hertz actually tried to charge us for an extra day but luckily Josh was able to argue our way out of it. Technically we did run in and ask them where there was a gas station before our check-in time. Although since we were so late getting in, meant that we were also late in getting to the grocery store to pick up supplies. We got to the store literally as they were locking the gate. The kicker was, that had we not looked for a grocery store in Paris, we would have made it in time to go the Carrefour right next to our hotel. The same hotel that we stayed at the first time we were in Paris, and as luck would have it we had the same room too!

Which way to Chartres?

We missed our train Sunday morning to Paris, so we spent the next two hours in the hot waiting area charging my phone. We reserved a car with Hertz so that we could drive around the outside of Paris. For those of you who may not know, my dad is a Chef who studied in Chartres, France. While here I figured it would be pretty neat if we could stop by and have dinner. Instead of getting an expensive hotel room we decided to rent a car and sleep in the car that night. So up to this point everything had gone to plan, we got a cute little car and thanks to the directions on my phone we got to Chartres in record time.

The town is by far one of the cutest towns I've seen with lots of little cafes and stores. The Notre Dame de Chartres is the reason that the town is even on the map.
When we drove into the town it almost looked as if the cathedral was floating on the hill tops. Before dinner we walked around the town and listened to a violinist in the cathedral. For anyone visiting Chartres keep in mind that parking is super difficult! Later that night we went to the restaurant, where I had the best dinner of the trip. It's a four star restaurant so you can just imagine how good it was, especially after eating Gouda cheese and salami for the past two weeks. We started out with appetizers (a crab spring roll and shrimp with chilly), dinner (lamb shank and Penni pasta), followed by dessert (tiramisu and a raspberry thing). Ok so I'm not very good at their French names but it was pretty DELICIOUS!! After a million pictures and a few glasses of wine we decided to high tail it out of there and find a place to park the car and sleep. By this I mean we decided to try and drive to Giverny but we got so irritated with the directions on my phone because France can't name a road one name so we pulled over to sleep it off. Eighty steps for an hour drive, seriously! Luckily for us we found a parking area that was free with a nice large bathroom (hmmm, I mean tree). To our surprise the car was much more comfortable then the tent. We slept so well that we didn't realize how late it was when we got up. Ok so now back on the road! Oops, did I mention my phone was about five minutes from running out of battery life and was the only map we were using for directions! For some reason no stores outside of Paris sell maps. So there I am writing down 80 steps of how to get to Giverny. With the help of our trusty Carrefour (the Walmart of Europe), we were set for the day, breakfast and lunch done. Our hour drive from Chartres to Giverny would take like three hours. The phone was dead, we were lost and a this point guessing which direction to go in. For some reason, we let our noses lead us and guess where we ended! Right exactly where we wanted to go, imagine that, not even a map!!!!!

Never say Nevers

Lyon was pretty amazing despite our short visit. It's too expensive to stay in the hotels there, so instead we hopped a train to Nevers, France. If you picture the country and point directly to the center that's where Nevers should be, right along the river.

Camping is currently our cheapest option with less than 6 euros per person a night. Although we're still sleeping on the ground but the sand seems a little more comfortable. We are getting the hang of this camping thing, except we still don't have electricity or internet. At this point we're only surviving on what we can buy at the grocery store and wine. Oh yeah and Kababs (I think we're becoming regulars at the one place) and if it's not Kababs then its McDonalds cause they have free Wifi. Oh and it's like $9 for a value meal, super expensive!!!!! Nevers is even smaller than Lyon which means that even less people speak English. The town is really cute and easy to walk around, old castles and antique looking buildings.

My favorite part of Nevers would be the canoe trip that Josh and I took. We went down the river that I can't remember the name of, it was really quiet and relaxing. The water was pretty shallow because in most parts we could stand in the water and walked the whole way. The water here is so clear that you can see all of the fish, even from the top of the bridges. Had we had our fishing poles we may have given it a try.

Our days in Nevers were spent walking around town while we spent our nights laying on the beach drinking wine and watching the meteor shower. AMAZING!!!!! We saw so many shooting stars. We tried finding constellations but the only two I know of our the Big and Small Dippers. We also discovered that if you look closely you can see the satellites circling the earth. I of course was determined to take a picture of a shooting star so I sat with my camera the whole time taking pictures of all the stars, probably about a few 100 or so. I think all I got was the tail end of one. Oh well there's always next time.

In a day we will be off to Paris to finish up the trip, I can't believe it's almost over. :(

Asunta and Roma

Eating Pizza in like the only restaurant in town.

In Asunta's apartment!

Hear the Roar of Lyon

Ok so it's been awhile since I've blogged. For some unknown reason there's like no place that has wireless, which makes it very difficult to update pictures.

Barcelona treated us well, especially since we got such a good deal on the campsite. It was almost like we didn't pay anything at all. Of course we had the grocery store, beach and pool. So it was almost like we never had to leave. Although, after I finished my book we decided to go on a quest to find another book for me to read on the beach. Who knew that in all of Barcelona not one book store sells a book in English. So being the handyman that Josh is, he took the knife on our corkscrew and cut the binding of his book. So now I'm reading the first part of his book while he reads the second. Yay for big books!!!!

On August 9th we left for Lyon, France which actually means Lion in French. We kinda figured that out when we noticed all of the lion statues. Lucky for us our hotel was right next to the train station. So we sat in the park across the street and walked the flea market since it was Sunday. It was super cute cause they have little puppies for sale along the one side. Super super cute!!!! Lyon is a little different than Paris, especially since no one speaks ENGLISH!!! However, we did manage to buy a chicken and potatoes for lunch from the flea market. We sat under a huge tree to have lunch.

Later we walked to the tourist office while it rained, a welcoming site after being in Barcelona for over a week with nothing but clear skies! My sunburn thanks you rain. We would have been able to enjoy the sites a little more had we learned a little more French. All of the signs and information were in French. The city is super cute! But if you ask me, I wouldn't go on a Sunday, there wasn't a store or shop open. We walked all the way into the not so touristy side to find a grocery store.

The next day we spent enjoying sleeping in an actual bed instead of on the hard cement like sand. Talk about HEAVEN!!!! The sites were cute, the old town was amazing! We hiked up to the top of this hill where there was a cathedral and Lyon's own Eiffel Tower (now known as a TV tower). Ok so from that view we realized Lyon is much bigger than I had thought.

Kabob's and Gelato were for dinner and a nice walk through town was in order. Hopefully I got some cute night pictures of the city.

Next stop, Nevers!!!!

~cheryl

Barcelona

¡Hola¡
¿Como estas?

Yeah, Yeah.... thanks to four years of Spanish as it turns out none of it was too useful in Barcelona where apparently they speak some other dialect. It sounds more French then it does Spanish.

So we arrived in Barcelona a few days ago, July 31st to be exact. We took a ferry from Roma to Barcelona, a 20 hour ferry ride. Oh and by ferry I mean a cruise. The ship was equipped with a casino, spa, restaurants and entertainment. I got a pedi then sat on the deck to finish reading my book. Talk about a vacation, it´s the best sleep I´ve gotten yet. The sun warmed me when the wind cooled me, the weather was perfect without a cloud in the sky. I was even able to see the sunrise over the sea. Although, Barcelona is HOT!!!!! This time I´m prepared, fan and sunblock in hand! Let´s see the sun get me now! My sunburn is doing much better these days, in fact my relationship with Josh has reached a new level, he´s been peeling off my skin for me. Sooooo super gross, I feel like a snake now! It´s kinda funny though, cause the only part of my body that´s burned is the front.

Since the 31st, I can´t say we´ve done much. For anyone ever visiting Barcelona, it is super expensive. The city tried to have free walking tours like in Berlin and London but the tour guides were getting things thrown at them in the street. The cheapest hostile we could find was 20€, so of course the cheap travelers we are; figured we could try to sneak a person in since we´ve done it in other hostiles or hotels and there were extra beds in Josh´s room. It would have worked had the guard not asked for our key cards. After we had no explanation the manager came down and was convinced that Josh was sneaking me in for umm... other reasons. The manager was extrememly upset with Josh and sent him to his room telling him if he didn´t go he´d call the police. Once Josh left the manager offered me a room and a lecture. Keep in mind his English wasn´t very good, but I think he may have thought I was a prostitute. He gave me a room next to his office and walked me to bed. I´m pretty sure he slept outside my door, which wasn´t too good because my suitcase with everything was in Josh´s room. No worries though, I was greeted with hellos the next morning, Josh and I made it a point not to check out together. Haha... wow!

So now, we´ve made it to a campsite right outside of Barcelona which is much cheaper, however there is no internet making communication with the outside world pretty difficult. The last few days we´ve made little trips to Barcelona, but no need to travel much since the beach is right next to the campsite and a grocery store about 2 minutes away. In fact Josh and I maybe the slowest shoppers in the entire world. We spent like 3 hours buying dinner at the Carrefour (Europe´s Walmart) and really not buying much. In fact we were so hungry and tired after shopping that we stopped at the McDonald´s next door to have a hamburger off the euro menu. Camping has been a little bit of an adventure with our 20€ tent that I bought in Rome. Since we don´t really have a sleeping bag or pillows, we had to take out all of our clothes and lay them on the ground then put our fleece blankets on top of them. It has to be the worst sleep I´ve ever gotten (Josh is a selfish sleeper taking up our entire tent)! I´ve never been so sore, it´s like sleeping on concrete. Dinner has been extremely difficult since we don´t have any supplies. Yeah we bought food and everything, but we didn´t have coals, lighter fluid, forks, plates, aliminum foil, and a sapatula. So we gathered sticks and twigs for a fire that wouldn´t light, used a branch as a spatula, and tried to recover whatever hamburger meat that didn´t fall between the grill or on the ground. No worries, we´ve been living off of bread, cereal, muffins and Nutella (which Josh swears if see´s me eat anymore of it with my fingers he´s going to vomit!) But it´s sooo good!

Sleeping on the ground is getting easier, we´re getting better at cooking, and we´ve made some friends with some French guys and by we I mean Josh. (I think one of them has a crush on him) Actually, there are more French people at our campsite then Spanish, go figure.

Our day´s consist of sleeping on the beach, reading by the pool (which we snuck into last night and had the whole pool to ourselves!), guitar (I´m trying to learn Free Fallin still) and drinks at night. Now this is the vacation we needed from vacation! Josh is now sitting next to me at another computer planning our next stop with the help of Christina! France, here we come!

(Pictures to come once I get to WiFi area!!!)

¡Adios!

~cheryl

Romin around!

Christina and Cheryl at the Pantheon

So the last I left off we were heading to Rome on an awful train ride. To Christina and I Rome would be place to relax and enjoy ourselves having visited before. To be honest I can’t say that I look forward to doing anything touristy in Rome. The weather is hot, too sunny, and way too many people! My advice is if you ever intend to visit Rome or the surrounding area do avoid visiting during the months of July and August. What were we thinking?

The first day we were in Rome, we had to say good bye to Alyssa. Her flight left the next morning very early so she decided to stay in a hostile closer to city center. Christina and I however were able to get a bungalow in a camping area right on the outskirts of Rome. The campsite was huge, almost like it’s own community having a grocery store, restaurant, laundry, pool, volleyball court and much more. We arrived too early to check in so we decided to take advantage of the pool for an hour or two. Coming straight from Vienna where the sun isn’t as strong, we didn’t even consider putting on sunblock. I mean we were only out there for a short time. Yeah in like the hottest times of the day. When we got the key to our room, we changed from our bathing suits and realized that we had one of the worst sun burns since we were kids. The best part was, since we didn’t think that we were out there that long, I never rolled over. My backside is still pretty pale. I have all of these weird sunburn lines all over my body. First stop, Christina and I picked up a huge bottle of sun block and a huge bottle of Aloe Verae (thankfully written the same in English and Italian.) The rest of the day we spent lounging around and eating dinner with some fellow travelers!

Eating Gelato outside of the Ruins

The next day we devoted to sightseeing. Since it was the last Sunday of the month, the Vatican was free. We bought our shuttle tickets bright and early for 8am (we didn’t miss the bus this time!), since the Vatican opens at 9am. The travelers that we met from dinner the previous night joined us. I’ll let the pictures tell the story of the Vatican, I took a quick video of the Sistine Chapel. Brandon (a fellow traveler) drew a portrait of me, while waiting for his friends at the Vatican.

Cheryl's Portrait

I can’t say Christina and I were in the mood for sightseeing when our sunburns ached underneath our clothes. We of course had to wear jeans and t-shirts since we were going inside churches.

Recreating a fight!

The rest of the day consisted of roaming around the city, visiting ruins, the Pantheon, and other must sees. The weather was hot, the sun was just plain mean on our already burned bodies. We tried to cool off with some gelato, (Tiramisu was soo the best, good choice Chris!!!).
Later that night, we enjoyed dinner at the campground. Some roast chicken and a bunch of other stuff from the grocery store. We had a feast, well until the bees found us and we were forced to move indoors to our bungalow. Talk about cramped eating!!!

Our Massive Feast

Thank god for facebook, it allowed us to stay in touch with Josh. He was still in Madrid doing his own roaming around. He told me that we went to go see a bull fight and now I’m super jealous!!!! I soo wanted to see a bull fight, he told me he took a ton of pic so I’ll try to post them asap if he doesn’t update the blog himself. Soon he’ll be off to Barcelona where we should eventually meet up.

Off to meet our distant relative, Asunta!!! We’re renting a car, this is sure to be an adventure!

~cheryl

Vienna, Paris' rival!!!!

Cheryl, Josh, Alyssa and Christina at the Orchestra

Sitting on an overnight train to Rome should be one of the highlights of our traveling experience. Trains are comfy, cozy, spacious forms of transportation. I mean, even the seats come down to form a bed. So then how the hell did we get stuck next to the two worst smelling men in all of Europe!!!!! The cabin is hot with very little ventilation and of course the men don’t speak a lick of English! How should I describe there awful stench? Think of a man in a whole who has not showered in over a month, defecating himself while in 110 degree weather without bathing once. Then times that by ten and you will have what the men next to us smell like. You may be wondering, well then why don’t we just move? It’s because the train is sold out! There are absolutely no seats available and the dining car is full, people are sitting in the hallways because there’s no room. For the first two hours we’ve been spraying this tiny can of deodorant in the air every five minutes, I even took off my shoes to see if my feet could make the smell any better. Nope, it’s at the point where I don’t want to get up to move because when I walk back into the cabin, the shock of the odor makes me want to vomit. Thank god, I didn’t buy that Kabob for the train!!!! (ill gross he just touched me!!!! Alcohol pads, I need alcohol pads!!!)

So back to Paris’ rival, Vienna and euros!!!!! We spent the last two days enjoying this city. Which also must have the best looking hair because there are hair studios every two feet! So far we’ve learned that they speak German here, so I can use my few little words. Although, it’s kinda a touristy area so almost everyone speaks English. The first day we wondered around the city, taking pictures of old cathedrals and political buildings. We even took some super funny pictures of us on a statue of an elephant, well that was until we realized that since we uploaded Pragues’ pictures and didn’t replace the memory card in the camera no pictures were actually taken. Sorry guys we missed out on some really cute pics! That’s when we bumped into some guy on the street selling orchestra tickets. Looking at all the signs, we kinda had a hint that an important part of coming to Vienna is to see an orchestra, especially one that plays Mozart. So after some haggling, we got him to reduce the ticket price to ½ of what it was worth while throwing in some free champagne. (Mean while we were praying that this guy was ripping us off.) I‘m not gonna lie, the show was much smaller than I had imagined. I pictured a huge Opera house (kinda like the Stanley in Utica, NY), instead we got a small section of a huge building! None the less the show was very impressive as the orchestra was accompanied by singers and dancers. At the end of the show, we went to the stage to take a group shot.. Taking our sweet time actually worked out in our favor. Right as we were about to leave a huge storm rolled in, with hale and strong gusts of wind. We were trapped with the performers. Therefore we had nothing else to do but watch the rain, drink some more free champagne and enjoy our time talking to the performers, there was about 15 of us! It was so much fun, we danced the Waltz with the professionals from the show!!! Alyssa, looked amazing dancing. I however think that I have to work on my kicks. After the rain had let up, we walked back to the hotel admiring the destruction that mother nature had caused through out the city.

We woke up today with fond memories of the night before, luckily no headaches today. Thanks to Poland, I think we were prepped for a night of drinking. Sadly, Josh and us girls parted ways. Josh is hopping on a bus to Prague where he will jump on a plane to Madrid only to meet again in Barcelona. Christina, Alyssa and I will take the train to Rome for a few days before saying our good-byes to Alyssa. Thank god for our hotel though, they let us keep our luggage there all day so we could roam around the city. They even let us check out late and do our laundry. Our day consisted of visiting the Freud Museum because this is where his practice was (well besides his later one in London where he died). Then we hopped on the hop on hop off bus. This was the first time we did the tourist bus thing. It was nice, no walking and all the sights. It was a good way to take in all the sights on such a limited amount of time. It really brought in how Vienna contributed so much to the world of classical music and art. If you ever visit Venice, the city is so big that the hop on hop off bus is so the way to go, we however had a difficult time catching it. Leave it to us to get to the bus stop early to only miss it twice in a row! We have also discovered that there is no possible way for us to eat an apple strudel and take a decent picture!

So that’s about it for now. Check out the pics and videos !!!

Czech us out!!!

Just a quick update while I get a chance to steal the computer in the am.
Prague is a cute little city in Czech Republic about four hours from Berlin and four hours from Vienna. Our difficult challenge in this country has been the currency. First, we couldn't figure out what the hell kind of money they use (it's called krowns), when we got to the bus station of course I had to immediately use the bathroom which you had to pay for. 10 cents is what it will cost you to use the bathroom around here or at least what I thought was 10 cents. See around here it's 18 krowns to $1. The woman at the counter in the bus station looked at me like I had three heads when I asked her to break a 2 krown coin. Apparently there are no 10 cent pieces (their currency doesn't go that low!!!) That meant that I needed 10 krowns!!! So this has been the whole trip, trying to figure out what everything costs in dollars. A whopper is 109 krowns, you do the math!

(The Castle at Night)

(This is the clock tower that has every Czech name on it, there's what the call your name day.)

We stayed in a cute little hotel, Josh and Alyssa got the room while Christina and I are just "visiting". They charge like an extra $50 per person, so we figured this would save us some mula. It's definitely interesting only having two beds though, I can't say I enjoy sleeping in the crack!!!!
The first day that we were here we took a walking tour of the city, I'll post the pics asap. It was pretty interesting considering that Prague is a land locked city yet every country wanted to take it over. They've only had two victories in their country and one was revoked because the Red Army showed up later that day! Just a quick tid bit, Prague is where the sugar cube was invented!

After a night on the town! Don't ask!

So after a few touristy dinners, and some quick shopping I can now say I did it... That's right after leaving Josh and Alyssa to take naps at the hotel. Christina and I went down to the piercing studio to get my nose pierced. Man did that hurt like no other!!!!! I'm such a wimp and will never get that done again! Although I really like it, it took Josh about a 1/2 hour before he noticed and Alyssa talked directly to my face for at least 5 minutes before realizing. Of course I couldn't tell them what I was doing (I didn't want to have to come back and tell them I couldn't go through with it.) Check out my before and after videos:

So that's about it for now. I have to start packing and eat breakfast. Our bus leaves at 10:30am to Vienna. I think Josh still wants to get his hair cut, poor guy hasn't found a place yet and he's been looking since Dublin!!!!
Czech you later...

Warsaw.... where?... We've Seen....

... and then some!!!

In every country we have hit so far we have all tried the beverage they are known for. In Ireland it was Guiness, England their scotch, France their wine, Germany their beer, but in Poland its vodKa.

In Poland vodKa is not generally taken with a mixer. To fully appreciate it you drink it by shot. That’s great!!! The first one starts off smooth, and it is quickly followed by the second leg. The second shot is called the second leg because that shot is meant to balance you out. Now I don’t know if you have all seen me so take a good look at the pictures. After about the fourth or fifth leg… yeah I am hammered.

Cheryl has told you a lot about the nights we were there, but I have to say this past few nights have been the funniest in Europe thus far.

Woz has been a great tour guide and has shown us the cultural and the party scene of Warsaw.

Here is a first…

In every city we have hit so far we have had a great time and have loved every minute of it… well almost every minute (we all have our moments), but Warsaw… Wasrsaw is a different story. Maybe it is because we got to see Woz, we met a lot of cool people, had and insane time or because Kup went back to the states, or maybe it is because of all these reasons that I found leaving Warsaw difficult. I am truly sad that this leg of the trip is over. I wish I could stay in Poland for a few more weeks and see the entire country.

Since you now know my feelings twards Warsaw, here it goes!!!!

Top memorable moments of Warsaw :

Afromania!!!!

I don’t know if you guys already know this, but if you don’t check out Cher’s blog. Afromental is Woz’s band and he was nice enough to invite us to go to a concert. IT WAS AWESOME!!! They are a really great group of guys. Not just the band members, but the whole crew. Everyone was so polite and welcoming. The Poland boys are by far the most polite boys we have met so far. I can honestly say their momas raised them well!!! None of them let us really carry our bags up the stairs and they always held the door open. (Don’t worry Mrs. Tefel, you raised Josh well too. He is always offering to help us and always opens the door for us)

Ok… ok.. I know I am rambling.

Mine and Alyss's Dream Apartment in Old City of Warsaw

The concert Woz and the guys performed was awesome! Check out all of the videos on our website, but here is a taste, I really hope they come to the US soon. So we can show them New York!!!!

Shoving cake in Robs face!!!

I know this is kind of mean, but I loved it. I really wish I had a picture to show everyone. However, vodKa was involved and the camera taking thing didn’t happen.

Anyhow, at the hotel we were staying at where there was a wedding. They were nice enough to give us some of there cake to try. It was delicious cheese cake. We loved it!! It was soooo good (not as good as my Dads, but really can you even compare the two!!!)

Rob asked me for a piece and well I just couldn’t resist. I meant to just get a little bit on his nose, but a force inside of me shoved it a little bit harder then I thought and it went all up his nose!!! Hilarious!!! Rob took it well and laughed it off… again… thanks to vodKa.

Trains are the way to travel!!!

Since we have been on such a tight budget we have been taking a lot of buses to places. Going from Berlin to Poland however was cheaper to take the train. This was a luxury I am happy to say was on the second part of the trip. Lets just say once you go choo choo you never want to go vroom vroom again!! This train was cool we had our own car on electricity for our laptops. We were on cloud nine. It made our ride super smooth.

Plus on a train like this you can run really fast and slide in your socks down the isle.

Traditional Polish Food.

Having Woz as our guide allowed us to properly discover Polish food. The first day we were there he brought us out to a traditional polish restaurant where we tried Prorogues (all different kinds), and fat. What they call fat is this really good spread you put on fresh bread, add some salt and eat a pickled cucumber with. ( I liked the fat, but I wasn’t a fan of the pickle). Since everyone at the table ordered prorogues, I decided to mix it up by ordering a pancake with a pineapple in the center served with a raspberry sauce ( I don’t remember the polish name). It was AMAZING, really filling, but amazing. I am craving it right now!!!! They gave me four and I was luck to get through two!!!

Culture and history:

Let me give you a little background information on Poland. During world war II much of Poland was bombed and flattened. This meant that much of Warsaw’s building were built post war. It is a very new city in an old way. The buildings arr newer and reflect mainly the style of the 20th and the 21st centuries. Old city is a part of Warsaw where many tourists go, and now we know why. It is beautiful. Alyssa and I picked out the type of Apartments we would by if we could, just based on this area. It was gorgeous!!!!

The Mermaid:

The mascot of Warsaw is the Mermaid. You will see a number of sautes of a mermaid around the city, just like the one you see below.

This particular statue is the most famous and was placed here after it survived WWII.

This statue is the cast of a sculpture made by Konstanty Hegel in 1855.

The Tower:

Abover is this really nice tower in the middle of Warsaw. It has a clock on all four sides. You can climb the tower too, but we went and saw Bruno in the bottom. That was a hilarious movie. It played in English, but subtitled in Polish. Really though the tower is really cool. For a while I guess the people of Poland were debating about tearing it down. I really hope they don't!!!

The Park:

This is the Agrykola Park ( I think, I am not entirely sure) in Warsaw!!! It was really beautiful!!! There was a really pretty bride and groom here taking pictures and you can understand why. It def. looks like the most peaceful and beautiful place in Warsaw. Although, Alyss did get eating alive by bugs. There were many cool buildings and statues.

This was better said by Afromental, but here it goes!!

Thanks guys you have been a great audience!! (now picture a virtual bow)

Catch you guys soon!!

~Chris