24 days of pure European bliss

Vienna not so much

2009-08-01T02:33:00.000-07:00

Most of our time spent in Vienna has been in parks wondering what we are supposed to be doing. This city is pretty but we're over museums, out of money and keep asking each other "what are we supposed to be doing?" We thought about putting out a blog alert "Help! we're in Vienna and have nogthing to do..." But that just makes us sound stupid. We read the travel books and know what other people want to see when they get here so we wandered around and looked at the outside of the buildings too cheap to go in. We're living off bread, butter and apples and 65 cent "beer". Actually this is a funny story...

So we're dead broke and while wandering the isles in the supermarket looking for the best deals, we see 65 cent beer. They are even tall boys! We are so excited but can't get them right now because we have a busy day ahead of us, we're going to be sitting at some park. So off to the park we go. We talk all day about how we're going to go back and get two and drink in our courtyard and play cards. What a fun night! We get to the supermarket just before they close and each buy one. Mind you our daily budget is 5 Euro so this had to be "saved for." We get back to the hostel crack them open, cards in hand ready for our fun night and it tastes like lemonade. We bought something shittier than Mikes Hard everyone. It had 2% alcohol and was just like drinking lemonade. We made jokes about Zimas, and Mikes and even taught out English roomie the term "bitch beer." Our fun night actually did end up being fun with several rounds of Rummy and lots of laughs.

We're taking a train to Salzberg tomorrow. I plan on singing the "Hills Are Alive" in Kristy's ear the entire train ride over. That should be fun.

Czech us out!

2009-07-29T09:03:00.001-07:00

So the day started with a stroll to the John Lennon wall, were we took pictures and noticed that someone had written "respect the john lenin wall" misspelling his last name-speaking of respect, ironic...

Then we followed the small brick road up to the Prague castle, which in our opinion is no castle at all. There is a church, St Vitus Cathedral, a convent, and a building that looked like it was just painted this spring. We were expecting a draw bridge and war torn walls...well I guess if you are going to battle it's best to have the the lord's people on your side, I wouldn't want to piss off a nun.

We then found a restaurant on our way down that had an amazing view of the city, with it's red rooftops and charles bridge back drop. We had a good glass of wine, a shitty beer ( I am very disappointed with Pilsner and can't seem to find a beer worth drinking in Prague), and a cheese plate (very euro, huh).

Our next stop was posting up at a restaurant that overlooked the Vltava river to watch the sunset over the prague castle. It was hilarious because our waiter hated to love us, saying "oh you again", when asking where the toilets were...the turning point was when he brought birthday cake with a candle, singing happy birthday to me prompting us to buy him a shot (on our tab) and me hugging him awkwardly on the way out...we spent the rest of the 2 hours watching video of our trip that has been taken thus far and laughing so loud...final count was 14 tequila sunrises (to explain: we kept ordering doubles because in the great U.S of A a double normally means a discount, when apparently in Prague it means pay for two)...

My birthday ended with drunk dialing Adam, getting a buy one get one free deal on pizza which I later sat on and calling it a night.

Today our last adventerous day in Prague was dedicated to sight seeing...well sort of. We went to the Old Jewish Cemetary, not to go in because we didn't want to pay for the grand tour. We walked to Wenceslas Square only to shop and spend more money than we wanted to. Happy Birthday to us!

BLOG OUT

Praha what??

2009-07-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam was super. We both agree that this is a must see for everyone. The buildings are adorable and every street has a canal which adds to the fabulousness. Be warned that perviness lurks around every corner. There are countless sex shops, sex museums, statues, not to mention the whole red light district with the pretty ladies.

We left Amsterdam in the evening on a train. We met some girls from California who we shared a cabin with. They were very funny one of which accidently booked the wrong date and was a stowaway. The train staffer came in to check our tickets and we couldn't even look him in the eye. The whole thing was hilarious. He didn't speak much english and was very confused my her ticket but couldn't seem to pinpoint what was wrong with it. (The day was correct, it was the month that was wrong.) We all kept asking him questions to distract him and he completely ignored us. It was one of those awkward moments that you have to ask yourself, or your travel companion, "did that just happen?" He never figured it out and she safely and miraculously made it to Prague!

So we get into the train station with no sleep, haven't brushed our teeth and aching backs. The train station was the weirdest thing. There was no one there! We got cash out and tried to buy coffee and juice and they wouldn't take our cash, the bills were apparently too big. We later did some calculations to figure out it was the same as trying to use a $20.00. We thought that was funny too. So we're at the train station with no way to get on the metro because we don't have coins and no one will help us. This is not a good start...

We get out our lonely planet to do a little research on taxis in Prague only to find out that they are so dishonest that they had to make a law about ripping off tourists. This makes us feel less than comfortable but at this point we have no options. We get a cab and our driver rips us off. Kristy, being the map wiz that she is, looked at the map and discovered he was driving us around the block. It gets better....

At this point all we want is a bed to crash in. We get to our hostel, find our room which up like 18 flights of stairs and go in, its trashed!! The bed is dirty and there is pee, straight urine, all over the toilet. They told us that check out was at 11 and it was only 11 at this point so we went to go eat and wander the streets until they had a chance to clean it. Let me remind you we still haven't brushed our teeth.

We walked around Kristy was cross eyed from lack of sleep and I was delirious. In our walk Kristy noticed a menu that looked good. She was so excited! "It's all American food!" she exclaimed. (we were at the hard rock!) We decided to try to rally with a drink. Kristy sneakily ordered chocolate cake and sang to me. It was very sweet. good friend.

We went back to our hostel to find the room still messy. Long story short apparently a homeless man had been making it his home, getting in and out through the window that was broken. Kristy got us another room that is much better and actually has a sweet view out the window of a very cute little street. The room however has a queen bed, one bed, so we're calling it our honeymoon suite. Last night we got very drunk in it whilst sharing headphones, playing drinking games, making funny videos, and pretending we were having a party.

Then we had drinks and food (we went back to the hard rock!) and called it a night.

Today we got up and went and had coffee and hit up the grocery store. That was actually pretty cool. It was underground and very cheap. We got a lot of food and waters for like 10 bucks. (with our calculations this may be a little off) We went up to a park and wrote in our journals. It was very euro and nice to be back in the sun. (Amsterdam down poured)

Tomorrow we are going to do some sight seeing. We are going to the castle, petrin tower, and john lennon wall. (and celebrate the birth of Kristy Bre!!)

everyone hates us

2009-07-23T03:08:00.000-07:00

kristy c.-posting up, Holla!

i swear in every place that we have been there has been one person that is not a fan of us...rude resturant guy in barcelona, 2 lady computer nazis that cut in front of shea to use the internet, i tried to be sarcastic with a waitress at a cafe and something was totally lost in translation, everyone in paris rolled their eyes when one syllable was uttered from these lips (i got asked twice if i knew how to speak french), yesterday a man covered his face when he heard we were americans asking shea is she had the "pig flu"...nonetheless europe is still the bomb.com and we will continue to laugh about the awkward conversations that we have with locals.

the travel day from paris to amsterdam was a breeze...the train is now my new preference for travel...no security, bag checks, tight airplane seats or turbulance...just a smooth ride listening to Mat Kearney from train station to train station...

Thus far on this trip as an euro-travel virgin i have complied a list i call-"things i have learned whilst traveling"...here goes-

1. check a metro route before paying for the ticket.

2. always have some form of toilet paper on your person.

3. earplugs will save your life.

4. when lost look for a bus stop, they always have maps.

5. i am too old to stay in mixed dorm hostels.

6. to find cheaper stuff start at the tourist attraction and walk a block away from it, every step you take the prices get cheaper.

7. when booking with Rail Europe it is like Expedia, so when you arrive at the train station look at board for the trip you booked then go to that train company to check in.

8. watch the locals (without being a stalker) and do what they do...that's how we figured out the metro ticket machine in paris.

**I plan to continue to make a list to become the worlds third best traveler behind Rick Steves and Jake and Carlee Loya.

Yesterday we went to the Van Gogh Museum and it was really cool. The paintings are in chronological order from the time he started as a painter to the last painting he did before he commited suicide. i found it fascinating that up close he used simple brush strokes (that i swear i could do) but when you step back the painting is totally a complete beautiful picture...this dude had incredible vision.

After the museum we did some souvenier shopping (you lucky bitches)...searched for the red light district with no luck and ended up at a cafe drinking Heinekens (imagine that)...the man that owned the resturant came to our table looking very distressed (here we go again someone else hates us) wanting us to pay our bill...we explained that we were going to have 2,3,4 more and if we could wait to pay...he explained in words i did not understand but thank you jesus shea did, that he was worried that we would dine in dash...we explained that we weren't but thanks for thinking we could run that fast and he was cool with us...by the end of the encounter this man loved us...we ended up drinking 4 beers each and then he gave us one each on the house...showed us pics of his kids, gave us his phone number, we even took a pic with him and his son who was working there for his summer job...on the way out i got a kiss on the hand and three on the cheek...loved us!!

Went back to the hostel where we befriended an austrian lad named sebastian, who claimed that he was a wise man and could lead us to the promise land (Red light district)...turns out that our hostel is pretty much in the heart of sexy town...once we actually got on the street with the pretty ladies, I was disturbed by the fact that there were walking tours with several small children being led through the district. After walking around a bit and having a man outside a sex shop yell at us "hey ladies do you want some cock"-shea decided it was a good time to take a pic of one of the girls in the doors...as she brought up her camera the girl dodged behind a curtain and i said "what the fuck are you doing"...a passerby (who i later came to think was a womanly pimp, she had on a suit with a fishnet shirt over her bra) pulled us aside and said "if you want a picture of the girls you have to ask for permission, if not their pimp with find you, beat you up and take your camera."...i replied to shea, "put your fucking camera away you are going to get us beat the fuck up"...after laughing uncontrollably for several minutes there were no other issues to report from that scene.

walked home, went to bed.

BLOG OUT

Doing work in Paris

2009-07-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

We had the most amazing day today. Last night we drank way too much so the first part of our morning was a little "hung" but as soon as I tried Leek Quiche I was fine. Funny how food can totally change your perspective. Hmmmm (sidenote: I had fries twice today) Anyway we jumped on the metro which we are pros at and headed to Trocadero, just above the Eiffel tower for a quick photo shoot then jumped back on the hop on hop off tour bus that we purchased yesterday. Today our goal was to hit up the Louve and Notre Dame. We were victorious!!

At the Louve, our main goal was to see Monna herself but we ended up wandering around in awe. Please note that all these pictures are "self portraits" You have to look pretty close but there is Monna in the background in all her glory.

After we left the Louve we went to Notre Dame to see the inside. It is absoloutely beautiful and we just sat inside in awe of it forever. Kristy wanted to know if they do weddings... My guess is no. We went outside and got french bread sandwiches and sat on a cute little side street. We got back on the bus and went to get on a boat tour. In theory this was a great idea because we thought it would be so fun to get on a boat and just float around taking in the sights, but again we were so tired that we just sat in silence looking out the window. It was still very beautiful.

We made it back to the Eiffel tower just in time to see the lights come on. It was so pretty. First they just turn on regular lights then they turn on sparklers. We were in the right place at the right time because apparently the sparking lights are only on fir like five minutes. We were locked and loaded and ready with all cameras. Go US! (anther sidenote we have been getting some excellent footage via video camera!)

Well the computer just gave me my five minute warning. We leave for Amsterdam in the morning. Miss you all!

quasimodo ain't got nothing on us

2009-07-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

our travel day took forever...we took a bus for 1 1/2 to get to REUS then we flew to Beavais (and Butthead-hee, hee) and took a shuttle to Paris for an 1 1/2, metro for 2 transfers then got lost in the rain finding our hostel which turned out to be a 'make love in the club' hostel filled with 18 year old personel.

Today July 19, 2009. We woke up late because our stinky italian hostel mates were up until the crack of dawn spitting spit wades at eachother and talking at the top of their lungs into our bunks. Obviously they are 18 and first time hostel matees. FUCKERS! (shea)

We took the metro to the Eiffel tower. Took some pics and ate french fries under the tower. Then we hopped on a tour bus and saw the hotspots, as well as, the Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, Trocandreo, Moulin Rouge(+sexy shops). We ended the night with many beers at the hostel bar debriefing the day and looking at pics, we also beat our 18 year old hostel mates into the sak claiming they went to the clubs but were home by 12:30.

SHOUT OUTS:

Mrs. Christ-paris is worth it, 'yes you can' vaca to europe

Janessa-Start saving, this is right up your alley...paris needs you

Christopher Ryan-well done on triathlon, you are the bomb

sober post coming...

BLOG OUT

hey, hows it going...it´s kristy c.

2009-07-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

quick recap:
i have been called ¨sir¨3 times thus far since leaving united states soil...i forgot to take my ambien on the plane and did not sleep the whole trip, when i finally did pass out my pillow was knocked out from under my head by a passer by, no worries i feel back asleep to be awoken by a girl who was trying to get to her seat, if only she would have looked up and seen that all seats in my row were occupied...so london was a blur, shea and i went into a small pub i had to refrain from ordering my standard coors light because it is now an import and apparently very uncool, not one person ordered one the whole hour and a half shea and i sat there...the next morning we had to catch the tube to liverpool street to get on a train and as we were leaving the station i told shea that liverpool is such a cute town, come to find out the real liverpool is quite a ways north, oopsy...

barcelona is amazing...on wednesday shea and i followed the many bathing suit wearing travelers to find the waterfront and it was gorgeous...we drank lemon beer and ate foccacia amongst the topless females and full frontal males, it was not appetizing...the walk back in the warm weather knocked us out for the evening until in the middle of the night one of our fellow hostelians awoke the whole room yelling and screaming in her sleep while it looked like she was trying to run or something, whoa scary spice, i awoke in a zombie state and thought that it was shea talking in her sleep and politely woke her up but she was already awake and pointed at scary spice...

on thursday we had a plan to find the sacred family cathedral that we kept seeing on all the postcards, it was fun to use the map and find the location although we did get lost a couple of times...the cathedral was gorgeous though under construction and as we walked around the backside there was a pond and park, an old man was walking in the pond and as we got closer i noticed that the pond was filled with dead fish, once the man got out of the water he kicked a dead bird into the pond, so gross...on our way back we came across a bull fighting arena, shea was repulsed and took a picture to send to PETA stating, ¨i wonder if they know this stuff still happens¨...when we got back into town we went to a pub by our hostel and drank, talked politics with travelers from australia and italy who are all very excited about obama, can anybody say ¨yes we can¨ in italian?

overall the traveling days are long but well worth it when we get to hang out in a place like this...i am very excited about paris.

SHOUT OUTS:
Carlee Foxstella My Loya-everything i do i do it for you.
Madam Lover-distance does make my heart grow fondlier

BLOG OUT

Hello from Barcelona

2009-07-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

We arrived in London yesterday safe and sound. London was a ¨shit show.¨ Our flights were fine but Kristy packed her ambien in her checked luggage so we didn´t sleep as well as we hoped. We did take some Tylenol PM which ended up leaving us in a como for our landing and tube rides, then carrying over to our tour. We checked into our hostel and it was really nice. It was probably the nicest hostel I have stayed in. The buds had privacy curtains that reminded me of my tent bed. I loved it! Apparently so much that I snored last night and Kristy had to decide to let me sleep and annoy the rest of the room or wake me up. Being the best friend that she is she said, F them and let me snore away. After we got all situated in out room we bought a hop on hop off tour but were so tired that it ended up being more tortorous than fun. Both of us kept falling asleep. Kristy almost hit her head on the seat infront of her and I almost dozed off my chair. Again a shit show. We got off and walked back to find a pub. We bellied up to the first bar we found and ordered two pints of English brew. We noticed while sitting here that not one person ordered a Coors Light. Weird. With a nice little buzz we wandered across the street and ordered two Strongbows, forgetting that it´s a cider. Kristy ordered her fish and chips and I got Phad Thai (holla Hay!) At this point we were delirious from lack of sleep and Tylenol and Strongbow so we headed back to the hostel to take a shower and finally pass out. Our stay in London was very short lived, we flew out this morning for Barcelona!

We arrived early enough to check in and spend the day drinking and wandering the streets. Barcelona is beautiful. Again, we lucked out with a very nice hostel. We´re staying in a 6 bed mixed dorm but we have a bathroom (Shell seeing Barcelona is worth your bowels) in our room and the shower even has a curtain! We´re getting spoiled with nice hostels. Our location couldn´t be better. We´re right in the middle of everything sorrounded by Irish pubs and lots of shopping. Today we walked down to a street cafe and drank sangria and people watched. It was so fun. We went to a real restaurant for dinner and spent way too much money but we wanted to try ¨authentic¨food. We each had paella. It was delicious but we will be shopping at the market to save some Euros (that´s right I said plural- Chris that was for you) We´ve been trying to figure out the calling card situation. I brought my phone to buy a prepaid SIM and FINALLY got it figured out. In the meantime we bought calling cards but couldn´t read them (they are in spanish) or understand the prompts. The theme to this trip has been, live and learn. Carlee you would be embarrassed at some of the stupid shit we´ve done. We did master the tube and we´re looking forward to hitting that up when we get back to London in a few weeks. Tomorrow our plan is to go to the waterfront and drink. We are having so much fun! We wish you could all be here. We haven´t taken any videos yet but that will go down very soon!

Shout out to Carlee for planning this amazing trip!

Itinerary!

2009-06-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

Shea and Kristy do Europe 2009

London:

Dates: July 13-14

Transportation: Alaska # AS8-Continental # 110
Accommodations: Journeys London Eye: waterloo@visitjourneys.com

Barcelona:

Dates: July 14-18

Transportation: Easyjet # 3031

Accommodations: Sun & Moon hostel: info@smhotel.net

Paris:

Dates: July 18-21

Transportation: Ryanair flight # FR2117

Accommodations: St. Christopher’s Paris: bookings@stchristophers.co.uk

Amsterdam:

Dates: July 21-25

Transportation: Rail Europe Train # 9323

Accommodations: Stayokay Amsterdam Stadsdoelen: stadsdoelen@stayokay.com

Prague:

Dates: July 26-30

Transportation: Rain Europe Train # 457 (overnight)
Accommodations: Ritchie’s hostel: ritchieshostel@centrum.cz

Vienna:

Dates: July 30-August 2
Transportation: Eurolines bus #E94045501
Accommodations: Happyhostel: info@happyhostel.at

Salzburg:

Dates: August 2-4

Transportation: Will book upon arrival

Accommodations: Yoho International Youth Hostel: yoho@yoho.at

London:

Dates: August 4-5

Transportation: Easyjet flight # 8894

Accommodations: Journey's London Eye

Seattle: (HOME)

Date: August 5

Transportation: Continental # 29-Alaska # AS7 @ 9:40P
Accommodations: Home!!

*All hostels are booked under Kristina Carstensen