i dont know what i am gonna do. but i am quite sick of them!
i am here in firenze (florence) italy, and i am glad to be leaving tomorrow. it is a beautiful city with amazing museums that cost a boat load, and too many tourists to even pretend this is actually in italy! and it is september, almost october, for crying out loud! ah, well...
i have been feeling better, but i am still not at 100%, which i am sure limits my energy (and therefore my willingness to be out and about) some. i have exhausted myself quite well the past few days, but to beat the crowds i have to be out the door by 8 or so. well, tomorrow i am catching a train to rome, so i dont have to leave until 9.
i did go to venice, and that certainly was an experience! it truly is a unique city, but not one that i would want to live in, or really ever go back to. i am glad i went and experienced it, but again, i was glad to leave. it is a normal sized city, with only walkways and a few boats along the canals, which equals a LOT of walking. and apparently the art museums are pretty sweet, but not being an art person, i wanted to save my very few "art points" for here in florence. even that was a stretch!! so, i did go in the duomo and up the bell tower, both of which were gerat.
but alas, my internet time is up. thanks again for praying for me, i do appreciate it. andthanks for emailing me, too!
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
better!!
now i am in verona, italy. it took all day to get here, and i am glad i didnt have to do much more than change trains a few times to get here. i am feeling much better, thank you for your prayers!! my throat is still sore, but that is nothing compared to the misery i was in a few days ago.
verona is beautiful, and i cant wait to explore it a bit before heading to venice tomorrow. too bad it is raining now!
verona is beautiful, and i cant wait to explore it a bit before heading to venice tomorrow. too bad it is raining now!
Saturday, September 23, 2006
still sick.
but of all the places to be sick, this isnt so bad. i am in gimmelwald, switzerland, still, in the alps south of interlaken, for those who know their swiss geography. this little farming town is part of the way up the schilthorn mountain, a gondola ride, bus ride, and train ride from interlaken. and 3 more gondola rides to the top.
i did go up the schilthorn yesterday, but that was probably a mistake since i havent felt that bad ever, i dont think. my drugs wore off up there, and at 10000 feet, it is a little cold, so my shivers were just worse! and my whole body tensed up, too, so i just ached even more. so i made a hasty retreat back to bed, where i basically have been since then. thankfully there is a computer with internet here, so i dont have to go far to check email!
the most bumming part is missing out on seeing friends. i was supposed to be in austria now, hanging out with brad, a friend from OU. and i am supposed to go to a town outside munich to meet up with alex, another friend from OU, tomorrow, but i may not have the energy for it. and i dont want to get her sick, too. so perhaps i will just go to italy from here....
thank you all for praying. i really do appreciate your prayers!
i did go up the schilthorn yesterday, but that was probably a mistake since i havent felt that bad ever, i dont think. my drugs wore off up there, and at 10000 feet, it is a little cold, so my shivers were just worse! and my whole body tensed up, too, so i just ached even more. so i made a hasty retreat back to bed, where i basically have been since then. thankfully there is a computer with internet here, so i dont have to go far to check email!
the most bumming part is missing out on seeing friends. i was supposed to be in austria now, hanging out with brad, a friend from OU. and i am supposed to go to a town outside munich to meet up with alex, another friend from OU, tomorrow, but i may not have the energy for it. and i dont want to get her sick, too. so perhaps i will just go to italy from here....
thank you all for praying. i really do appreciate your prayers!
Friday, September 22, 2006
sick
hey, yáll, quick update. been sick today, like the flu. felt the crappiest this morning than i have in at least more than 2 years, if not since high school. i am feeling better now, mostly since i am drugged up, but not sure what is going to happen. please be praying for me! thanks!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
heck. yes.
so. i had a fabolous post up, and since all the stuff on this computer is in german, i deleted it on accident. i thought i was publishing, but really i deleted it. dang it.
so, i think this is a lame recreation of what i said earlier, but i guess it will have to do.
so, this place is amazing. it is definitely my favorite hostel yet. out my window is the jungfrau, eiger and monch mountains. and i have to bend over to see them, thez are so high!!
yesterday i went canyoning. i donned a much-needed wetsuit, jumped into and over waterfalls, rapelled down waterfalls, floated down the river on my back, rushed down on my front with my hands out front, hopped over boulders in the water, etc. the sweetest way yet to spend 110 swiss francs.
so i am pretty exhausted today... i went hiking, on a supposed 3 hr easy hike to a waterfall. it was 4 hrs and we made it to a boulder field near the waterfall, and decided against trying to go up to the glacier to walk on it. figured we would probably fall and break something. at least that is what i thought. so we headed back, along the white-blue river with snow capped towering mountains all around, dodging the path of huge, cute cows with bells on their necks, noticing the tree line just above us, and trying not to fall. good times. and i greatly enjoyed the hot tub tonite, too. ;-) it is cool at night, but i can see so many stars it is ridiculous. so many. so ridiculous.
tomorrow i will head up the schilthorn, where the james bond movie was filmed at gloria piz, a rotating restaurant at the top of the mountain. i will play on the glacier and in the snow and enjoy the panoramic view as i sip my hot cocoa. mmmmm! then i will hike down, at least part of it, before getting all the way back down to interlaken to catch the overnight train from zurich to graz, austria. i am going to see brad and florian, and i am prettz stinking excited.
so now that i had another go at the computer (one shared among 30 or so of us), i am tired and heading for bed. gnight, and much love!
so, i think this is a lame recreation of what i said earlier, but i guess it will have to do.
so, this place is amazing. it is definitely my favorite hostel yet. out my window is the jungfrau, eiger and monch mountains. and i have to bend over to see them, thez are so high!!
yesterday i went canyoning. i donned a much-needed wetsuit, jumped into and over waterfalls, rapelled down waterfalls, floated down the river on my back, rushed down on my front with my hands out front, hopped over boulders in the water, etc. the sweetest way yet to spend 110 swiss francs.
so i am pretty exhausted today... i went hiking, on a supposed 3 hr easy hike to a waterfall. it was 4 hrs and we made it to a boulder field near the waterfall, and decided against trying to go up to the glacier to walk on it. figured we would probably fall and break something. at least that is what i thought. so we headed back, along the white-blue river with snow capped towering mountains all around, dodging the path of huge, cute cows with bells on their necks, noticing the tree line just above us, and trying not to fall. good times. and i greatly enjoyed the hot tub tonite, too. ;-) it is cool at night, but i can see so many stars it is ridiculous. so many. so ridiculous.
tomorrow i will head up the schilthorn, where the james bond movie was filmed at gloria piz, a rotating restaurant at the top of the mountain. i will play on the glacier and in the snow and enjoy the panoramic view as i sip my hot cocoa. mmmmm! then i will hike down, at least part of it, before getting all the way back down to interlaken to catch the overnight train from zurich to graz, austria. i am going to see brad and florian, and i am prettz stinking excited.
so now that i had another go at the computer (one shared among 30 or so of us), i am tired and heading for bed. gnight, and much love!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
greetings from freiburg, germany!
i keep calling this place "free-burg", but it's definitely "fry-burg". oops.
i know you're all dying of dianne-deprivation (and yes, i'm a fan of alliteration), so after 5 days of silence, here i am!
so i'm here visiting charlie. he's studying german at the goethe institut before heading elsewhere in germany for 2 semesters of study abroad. we were friends at ou, and man, is it good to hang out with someone i already know, and we can trade stories about our many mutual friends. good times, indeed!
i've also had a quieter few days which has been good for the budget and the rest. and the laundry, and email catching-up. i wanted to post from belgium, but they have the stinkin french keyboard at my hostel, which is ridiculously hard for an american english speaker to use. all the keys are in the wrong place! ok, not all, but at least the a w z m n ... and you have to "shift" to use the numbers, instead of shifting to use the symbols. grrr. at any rate, it wasn't worth it to me to pay to spend 3 times as long as i normally would to write a post. so instead, you get the "quick" update now. ha. like any update with me is quick!!
ok, so mary was asking about the corrie ten boom house, which was great. the guided tour was excellent, telling many of the stories from "the hiding place" (corrie's book), as well as other cultural and political happenings at the time of ww2. the tourguide was excellent, a great storyteller, amusing, and honest about what was going on and the ten boom's religious convictions. again, it was just awesome to be there. i walked around the markt (town square) afterwards, remembering most, if not all, the buildings i was looking at were there when corrie lived there in ww2. most are even several hundred years old! it is so hard to think of that, coming from a city less than 100 years old.
so i was glad to leave amsterdam the next morning, and i so i headed for brussels. i met a group of grandparents from ohio that were very entertaining and funny. i could see them all trying to get up the stairs to the train platform (we were on the same train to belgium) with their large suitcases, so i helped one lady by picking up the end of her bag, so it didn't drag on the stairs. i continued in conversation with them, and a few mins later, she came back and handed me a 2 euro coin! i was so surprised! she said to buy myself a coffee with it, and the guy i was talking to was like, "even better, a glass of wine!"
well, i don't care for brussels at all. it was a lot rougher around the edges than i was expecting. it was just a big, dirty city with the train station in the working class/immigrant neighborhood. so as i walked up to the main markt area, where all the touristy stuff was that i wanted to see, i had to walk down a big road with hundreds of muslim men drinking tea, watching me walk down the sidewalk. not fun. so i took a pic of "mannekin pis", the little boy peeing out water fountain, and then looked for one of the 5 waffle stands/shops listed in my guidebook, which is less than a year old. no luck. one of the 5 was still there, but it served ice cream now, not waffles. so i was 1 for 2. then i went in search of the chocolate museum. i couldn't find it and was 1 for 3, ready to call it a day, when i spotted it the next block up. so i went in, and they said the chocolate master was at lunch, come back later. so i was still 1 for 3, and went in search of some other waffle. i did find one, and man, was it sweet!!! there was also a market set up that i walked thru and just enjoyed that few blocks of the city, before going back to tour the disappointing chocolate museum. i did get a free sample, which was good, and saw a demonstration of how pralines are made (the filled ones), which was cool, but i'm not sure it was worth the entry price. some of the signs and info pages were in 3 of 5 languages all over the museum, but not all 5 languages. frustrating. so i was happy to walk back to the train station, collect my bag and head on to bruges...
and bruges was great! i absolutely loved it. the hostel i stayed in had a funky character, but nice and friendly. my room was on the 2nd floor, and you had to go thru another bunk room to get to it. to get to the shower, i had to go thru the other room, downstairs, thru the bar, thru the kitchen, thru the courtyard, up the stairs, down the hall, and into the shower room. my ukranian roommate loved it so much she took a video of it with her camera! good times. so i got in in the afternoon and found an australian family chillin in the courtyard, making dinner, so i hung out with them and cooked my own pasta. then, i decided to walk around the town in the dark. i saw mostly american tourists in their 40s and 50s, with a few locals out for a night on the town themselves. it was a small city with canals and beautiful gabled roofs on houses and old, big churches lit up in the night. so i played with the long exposure function on my camera and just enjoyed the perfect weather and gorgeous surroundings.
saturday, i headed out around town to see how different was in daylight. i headed straight for the church of our lady to see the only michelangelo sculpture to leave italy while he was alive - the madonna with child. then i headed for the belfry tower over the markt and climbed the steep spiral staircase to the top, and i was rewarded with some incredible views! it was really neat to see the bells and all, too. then i met up with a group for a countryside bike tour. we headed northeast, toward holland, along the canals, saw some windmills, ate lunch at a quaint garden/restaurant, and headed back thru town. it was a great way to spend 3 hours, and it exhausted me enough for a nap... mmm...
the next day i headed for freiburg (not freeburg) germany, to see charlie. i would not have come here, except that i wanted to hang out with charlie, and he gave me a free place to stay. not to mention i am using his lovely american mac to type this while he's at class. good combo. at any rate, i'm having a great time here and am enjoying myself. i think switzerland is next, but possibly shorter than i wish. we'll see.
ta ta for now!
i know you're all dying of dianne-deprivation (and yes, i'm a fan of alliteration), so after 5 days of silence, here i am!
so i'm here visiting charlie. he's studying german at the goethe institut before heading elsewhere in germany for 2 semesters of study abroad. we were friends at ou, and man, is it good to hang out with someone i already know, and we can trade stories about our many mutual friends. good times, indeed!
i've also had a quieter few days which has been good for the budget and the rest. and the laundry, and email catching-up. i wanted to post from belgium, but they have the stinkin french keyboard at my hostel, which is ridiculously hard for an american english speaker to use. all the keys are in the wrong place! ok, not all, but at least the a w z m n ... and you have to "shift" to use the numbers, instead of shifting to use the symbols. grrr. at any rate, it wasn't worth it to me to pay to spend 3 times as long as i normally would to write a post. so instead, you get the "quick" update now. ha. like any update with me is quick!!
ok, so mary was asking about the corrie ten boom house, which was great. the guided tour was excellent, telling many of the stories from "the hiding place" (corrie's book), as well as other cultural and political happenings at the time of ww2. the tourguide was excellent, a great storyteller, amusing, and honest about what was going on and the ten boom's religious convictions. again, it was just awesome to be there. i walked around the markt (town square) afterwards, remembering most, if not all, the buildings i was looking at were there when corrie lived there in ww2. most are even several hundred years old! it is so hard to think of that, coming from a city less than 100 years old.
so i was glad to leave amsterdam the next morning, and i so i headed for brussels. i met a group of grandparents from ohio that were very entertaining and funny. i could see them all trying to get up the stairs to the train platform (we were on the same train to belgium) with their large suitcases, so i helped one lady by picking up the end of her bag, so it didn't drag on the stairs. i continued in conversation with them, and a few mins later, she came back and handed me a 2 euro coin! i was so surprised! she said to buy myself a coffee with it, and the guy i was talking to was like, "even better, a glass of wine!"
well, i don't care for brussels at all. it was a lot rougher around the edges than i was expecting. it was just a big, dirty city with the train station in the working class/immigrant neighborhood. so as i walked up to the main markt area, where all the touristy stuff was that i wanted to see, i had to walk down a big road with hundreds of muslim men drinking tea, watching me walk down the sidewalk. not fun. so i took a pic of "mannekin pis", the little boy peeing out water fountain, and then looked for one of the 5 waffle stands/shops listed in my guidebook, which is less than a year old. no luck. one of the 5 was still there, but it served ice cream now, not waffles. so i was 1 for 2. then i went in search of the chocolate museum. i couldn't find it and was 1 for 3, ready to call it a day, when i spotted it the next block up. so i went in, and they said the chocolate master was at lunch, come back later. so i was still 1 for 3, and went in search of some other waffle. i did find one, and man, was it sweet!!! there was also a market set up that i walked thru and just enjoyed that few blocks of the city, before going back to tour the disappointing chocolate museum. i did get a free sample, which was good, and saw a demonstration of how pralines are made (the filled ones), which was cool, but i'm not sure it was worth the entry price. some of the signs and info pages were in 3 of 5 languages all over the museum, but not all 5 languages. frustrating. so i was happy to walk back to the train station, collect my bag and head on to bruges...
and bruges was great! i absolutely loved it. the hostel i stayed in had a funky character, but nice and friendly. my room was on the 2nd floor, and you had to go thru another bunk room to get to it. to get to the shower, i had to go thru the other room, downstairs, thru the bar, thru the kitchen, thru the courtyard, up the stairs, down the hall, and into the shower room. my ukranian roommate loved it so much she took a video of it with her camera! good times. so i got in in the afternoon and found an australian family chillin in the courtyard, making dinner, so i hung out with them and cooked my own pasta. then, i decided to walk around the town in the dark. i saw mostly american tourists in their 40s and 50s, with a few locals out for a night on the town themselves. it was a small city with canals and beautiful gabled roofs on houses and old, big churches lit up in the night. so i played with the long exposure function on my camera and just enjoyed the perfect weather and gorgeous surroundings.
saturday, i headed out around town to see how different was in daylight. i headed straight for the church of our lady to see the only michelangelo sculpture to leave italy while he was alive - the madonna with child. then i headed for the belfry tower over the markt and climbed the steep spiral staircase to the top, and i was rewarded with some incredible views! it was really neat to see the bells and all, too. then i met up with a group for a countryside bike tour. we headed northeast, toward holland, along the canals, saw some windmills, ate lunch at a quaint garden/restaurant, and headed back thru town. it was a great way to spend 3 hours, and it exhausted me enough for a nap... mmm...
the next day i headed for freiburg (not freeburg) germany, to see charlie. i would not have come here, except that i wanted to hang out with charlie, and he gave me a free place to stay. not to mention i am using his lovely american mac to type this while he's at class. good combo. at any rate, i'm having a great time here and am enjoying myself. i think switzerland is next, but possibly shorter than i wish. we'll see.
ta ta for now!
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Success!!
yay! i tried a couple places to get my photos off my (full) memory card and onto the internet to save them, with no luck. no usb ports, disconnected usb ports, computer errors, 9 euro and 7 hours later, i have my pictures on a cd. well, i assume they are there... i can't find a computer with a cd reader to check! well, a free computer, anyway. so, for those wanting photos, you'll just have to wait a bit longer. sorry!!
i'm also feeling better in general. i was quite happy to get over to haarlem today, instead of staying all day in amsterdam. it's a beautiful city, but just not my cup of tea. at least the environment that my hostel is... well, as i speak, i am in the bar area, with music loud enough to discourage conversation, a guy smoking weed and drinking beer on my left, and a disco ball illuminating the wall above me in moving polka dots. last night, at least, they were watching a soccer/football match, but i couldn't ever quite figure out who manchester was playing. a guy said, but either i couldn't understand him, or i had never heard of it before.
so anyway, i am enjoying the local foods. i didn't eat much at all my first week and a half or so, but i think i have made up for it here. so good! giant frites, belgian waffles dipped in chocolate, falafel, dutch pancakes, yum! i was planning to make pasta tonite and even bought some pesto sauce to put on it, but in my mad dash for an internet cafe with a working usb drive, i worked up enough hunger for a "small" serving of frites. it's american small, which means huge!! but delish!
i also walked around for a while looking for a payphone that i could use my prepaid calling card on (thanks, rex!) to call my sister (happy birthday!!). but it was a nice tour of the city. i do feel more confident now, knowing more of my way around. and in like scandinavia, most everyone speaks english, which is such a huge blessing!
so thanks to everyone praying for me and leaving comments. i am enjoying the journey, realizing it's kinda silly to get so frustrated with things that don't go my way, and am just enjoying myself a bit more than i was before. but i definitely have enjoyed this trip so far, and am quite thankful to be here. even if this isn't my favorite city. ;-)
i'm also feeling better in general. i was quite happy to get over to haarlem today, instead of staying all day in amsterdam. it's a beautiful city, but just not my cup of tea. at least the environment that my hostel is... well, as i speak, i am in the bar area, with music loud enough to discourage conversation, a guy smoking weed and drinking beer on my left, and a disco ball illuminating the wall above me in moving polka dots. last night, at least, they were watching a soccer/football match, but i couldn't ever quite figure out who manchester was playing. a guy said, but either i couldn't understand him, or i had never heard of it before.
so anyway, i am enjoying the local foods. i didn't eat much at all my first week and a half or so, but i think i have made up for it here. so good! giant frites, belgian waffles dipped in chocolate, falafel, dutch pancakes, yum! i was planning to make pasta tonite and even bought some pesto sauce to put on it, but in my mad dash for an internet cafe with a working usb drive, i worked up enough hunger for a "small" serving of frites. it's american small, which means huge!! but delish!
i also walked around for a while looking for a payphone that i could use my prepaid calling card on (thanks, rex!) to call my sister (happy birthday!!). but it was a nice tour of the city. i do feel more confident now, knowing more of my way around. and in like scandinavia, most everyone speaks english, which is such a huge blessing!
so thanks to everyone praying for me and leaving comments. i am enjoying the journey, realizing it's kinda silly to get so frustrated with things that don't go my way, and am just enjoying myself a bit more than i was before. but i definitely have enjoyed this trip so far, and am quite thankful to be here. even if this isn't my favorite city. ;-)
the netherlands
so, the guy sitting next to me is smoking pot. and it's blowing in my eyes. not cool. but hey, that's holland, so it seems.
this is the first "american" keyboard i've typed in since leaving the states, and it's a little odd. hard to get used to again.
this country is beautiful, and i'm loving the canals and old buildings all squished up together. i'm not liking my hostel so much, or that i can't meet any travellers at all who aren't stoned. grrr.
i went to the van gogh museum yesterday, definitely cool. then i walked around a bit, took an hour canal boat tour, then headed for the anne frank house. they did a really really great job with that one.
now i'm in haarlem, waiting to go to the corrie ten boom house. i read"the hiding place" just before i left, so i'm hoping iremember enough of it. they have an english tour at 1:45, and that is the only time the building is open. i'm glad i have all day!
so i haven't had as much luck with hostels as i thought i would. current counts:
hostels i booked, but then i didn't make it to that city: 3
hostels i booked and stayed in: 1
hostels i booked, but they lost my reservation and i could stay anyway: 1
hostels i booked, they lost my reservation, and i cou'ldn't stay there: 1
hostels i booked, then cancelled: 1
now, i'm not having so much luck with this computer. SO frustrating!! i came to this internet cafe soley for the purpose of uploading my photos, but it won't let me. i have them on the computer (all 800, it took 20 min), but when i try to upload them, the window opens and automatically closes. and the guy who works here doesn't know how to fix it. he says to try another computer, which i don't have time for, as the tour leaves in less than 30 min. oy.
this is the first "american" keyboard i've typed in since leaving the states, and it's a little odd. hard to get used to again.
this country is beautiful, and i'm loving the canals and old buildings all squished up together. i'm not liking my hostel so much, or that i can't meet any travellers at all who aren't stoned. grrr.
i went to the van gogh museum yesterday, definitely cool. then i walked around a bit, took an hour canal boat tour, then headed for the anne frank house. they did a really really great job with that one.
now i'm in haarlem, waiting to go to the corrie ten boom house. i read"the hiding place" just before i left, so i'm hoping iremember enough of it. they have an english tour at 1:45, and that is the only time the building is open. i'm glad i have all day!
so i haven't had as much luck with hostels as i thought i would. current counts:
hostels i booked, but then i didn't make it to that city: 3
hostels i booked and stayed in: 1
hostels i booked, but they lost my reservation and i could stay anyway: 1
hostels i booked, they lost my reservation, and i cou'ldn't stay there: 1
hostels i booked, then cancelled: 1
now, i'm not having so much luck with this computer. SO frustrating!! i came to this internet cafe soley for the purpose of uploading my photos, but it won't let me. i have them on the computer (all 800, it took 20 min), but when i try to upload them, the window opens and automatically closes. and the guy who works here doesn't know how to fix it. he says to try another computer, which i don't have time for, as the tour leaves in less than 30 min. oy.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
copenhagen
so... i've been in copenhagen 2 days now. and i walk around and think of things all the time that i want to put up here, but i forget them.
random thoughts:
there are TONS of jellyfish here! and the water in the harbor and canals is so clear! i'm very impressed in both the water quality, and the ability of the jellyfish to live in such cold water.
i actually went back to sweeden today. i haven't visited trivoli gardens (sorry, jim!) cos it's pretty expensive, so i decided to head back across the water for the morning. i walked around malmø for a bit, saw the "twisting torso", a building that isn't straight up and down, but the actual structure twists, spent some swedish kroner, and hopped back on the train for lund. lund was pretty... a university town with a huge old church. i'm glad i went, then hopped back on the train back to malmo, realized that 60 SEK isn't worth exchanging, and spent an hour trying to decide how to spend it. there weren't any good shopping\touristy areas around the train station, that i could see, so i ended up getting a couple postcards and some food there at the train station.
then i came back to this side of the water (denmark), headed for the little mermaid statue (that hans christian anderson used as inspiration, good job, mary!), and walked along the water for a while. i went thru the area where the royal palace is, got too close to a statue and had a royal guard yell at me across the plaza. whoops. too bad i don't understand danish! another guy told me later that he was yelling at me. i had no idea, i just heard him yelling. and i thought the chain was up around the thing to keep the cars out. oh, well. another lesson learned!!
random thoughts:
there are TONS of jellyfish here! and the water in the harbor and canals is so clear! i'm very impressed in both the water quality, and the ability of the jellyfish to live in such cold water.
i actually went back to sweeden today. i haven't visited trivoli gardens (sorry, jim!) cos it's pretty expensive, so i decided to head back across the water for the morning. i walked around malmø for a bit, saw the "twisting torso", a building that isn't straight up and down, but the actual structure twists, spent some swedish kroner, and hopped back on the train for lund. lund was pretty... a university town with a huge old church. i'm glad i went, then hopped back on the train back to malmo, realized that 60 SEK isn't worth exchanging, and spent an hour trying to decide how to spend it. there weren't any good shopping\touristy areas around the train station, that i could see, so i ended up getting a couple postcards and some food there at the train station.
then i came back to this side of the water (denmark), headed for the little mermaid statue (that hans christian anderson used as inspiration, good job, mary!), and walked along the water for a while. i went thru the area where the royal palace is, got too close to a statue and had a royal guard yell at me across the plaza. whoops. too bad i don't understand danish! another guy told me later that he was yelling at me. i had no idea, i just heard him yelling. and i thought the chain was up around the thing to keep the cars out. oh, well. another lesson learned!!
Monday, September 11, 2006
things i like
lighthouses
views from high places
clouds
water (as in lakes, rivers, bays, oceans, waterfalls...)
irony
seeing things from a different angle
architecture
arches and courtyards
laughing out loud to myself, to the amusement of those around me
chocolate
sleeping
views from high places
clouds
water (as in lakes, rivers, bays, oceans, waterfalls...)
irony
seeing things from a different angle
architecture
arches and courtyards
laughing out loud to myself, to the amusement of those around me
chocolate
sleeping
peace in oslo
i went to the nobel peace center in oslo yesterday, and they had a display of photographs of religious actions and life from judaism, christianity, and islam. i cried seeing the images of humanity that don't know the Father as i know Him. and i just felt an overwhelming sense of love and compassion that God has for all of them- jews, muslims and christians alike. it's been a while since i remembered that, and i was thankful for the reminder of how "real" other people are. i was then thinking about how to best respond, both now and in the future. it seems that love is the only option, and that means loving well those who are around me. and as i felt the grace to serve others in little things, to honor those who don't "deserve" or haven't "earned" my respect, but just to love them. of course, at the same time, i had the greatest instances of selfishness and rudeness, so i can see it is a fight i will have to keep taking to the Cross. hmmm, i seem to be rambling, but i guess i'm just saying that loving people is hard, but God is good.
so now i am in denmark. i sat next to a guy on the train yesterday who was very friendly and talkative, so i enjoyed conversing with him for the 2-3 hours of our trip. and i am very glad to be in a cheaper city! copenhagen seems, so far, to be a mix of paris and gothenborg. laid back, pretty architecture, and lots of bikes! i plan to rent a bike this afternoon and just ride around a bit, explore the longest pedestrian mall in the world, and get some good food. the exchange rate is about the same (about 6 kronar to the dollar), but a hamburger here is 10dkk, not 15. woohoo!
the hostel i'm staying in is very nice, i'm on the 10th floor with views of the city. so far i'm the only one in my room, but perhaps others will join me tonite.
thank you to everyone who has left me comments or emailed me. i'm so glad to know you're reading this! i'm also delighted to read about what you are up to and to hear from you. it may take a few days to read your emails, but i do read them and i love them!
so now i am in denmark. i sat next to a guy on the train yesterday who was very friendly and talkative, so i enjoyed conversing with him for the 2-3 hours of our trip. and i am very glad to be in a cheaper city! copenhagen seems, so far, to be a mix of paris and gothenborg. laid back, pretty architecture, and lots of bikes! i plan to rent a bike this afternoon and just ride around a bit, explore the longest pedestrian mall in the world, and get some good food. the exchange rate is about the same (about 6 kronar to the dollar), but a hamburger here is 10dkk, not 15. woohoo!
the hostel i'm staying in is very nice, i'm on the 10th floor with views of the city. so far i'm the only one in my room, but perhaps others will join me tonite.
thank you to everyone who has left me comments or emailed me. i'm so glad to know you're reading this! i'm also delighted to read about what you are up to and to hear from you. it may take a few days to read your emails, but i do read them and i love them!
Saturday, September 09, 2006
frustrations in oslo
ok, so i'm in oslo again. i didn't want to be here now. it's the most expensive city in the world, and i'd like to leave. the whole travelling on a eurail pass, staying at hostels is a bit more frustrating than i thought it would be. the trains i want to take are either not actually running or fully booked. the hostels i want are also fully booked.
i had planned to take the train this morning to stockholm, but i couldn't find anywhere to stay, so i'm staying where i am in oslo. which is really a pretty good deal - i'm staying at a woman's apt here in the city. good stuff.
i also ran into a guy i met a few days ago in voss, so i was able to tour around the city with him today which alleviated some of my lonesomeness. oslo is really a great city, if it weren't so expensive!! it's a little over 6NOK to the US dollar, and a plain hamburger at mcdonalds is 15NOK, and that is by far the cheapest lunch i'll ever find. most "cheap" restauarants run at least 75NOK a dinner. thankfully, i am able to cook at the apt i'm staying in, so i made pasta last nite. nice and cheap.
today i went to the sculpture park, which was pretty cool. and i also just took the tram around town to see the different neighborhoods. i also went over to the castle, which was closed, but that's ok, cos i didn't want to pay 60NOK to see it anyway.
yesterday i went to the munch museum, which was good. (think: the scream) it was all his stuff that he left in his will to the city of oslo when he died. i was able to catch a 50min english movie on his life, which really helped explain his work. the paintings were pretty good, too.
i also broke down and bought a book to read while waiting for trains and while on trains. i'm excited to just sit and relax tonite, i wore out my feet and legs the past few days.
on a personal note, i'm feeling pretty lonely. i was glad to share a room at this apt with a polish girl that speaks english well, and i was really excited to see my friend from voss. i didn't have any plans to go to the castle, but since he was going, i decided it would be better to hang out with him than mope around by myself, doing my own thing. i was frustrated enough to cry this morning, as i wanted to take the train tomorrow to stockholm and had already booked a hostel there (the third time i've booked a hostel i couldn't make it to, but i really don't have an option, cos then i'm stuck on the other side - not having a place to stay, which is probably worse). so... i'm thankful for the blessings (great weather, friends, being here at all), but i'm a little down overall.
i plan to go to copenhagen tomorrow, stay there tomorrow night and the next, take the overnight train to amsterdam, stay there 2 nights, and then go to bruges for 2 nights. at that point, i'll have to do more planning, but it's looking like germany. kinda depends on my friends in germany, and what they're doing.
i had planned to take the train this morning to stockholm, but i couldn't find anywhere to stay, so i'm staying where i am in oslo. which is really a pretty good deal - i'm staying at a woman's apt here in the city. good stuff.
i also ran into a guy i met a few days ago in voss, so i was able to tour around the city with him today which alleviated some of my lonesomeness. oslo is really a great city, if it weren't so expensive!! it's a little over 6NOK to the US dollar, and a plain hamburger at mcdonalds is 15NOK, and that is by far the cheapest lunch i'll ever find. most "cheap" restauarants run at least 75NOK a dinner. thankfully, i am able to cook at the apt i'm staying in, so i made pasta last nite. nice and cheap.
today i went to the sculpture park, which was pretty cool. and i also just took the tram around town to see the different neighborhoods. i also went over to the castle, which was closed, but that's ok, cos i didn't want to pay 60NOK to see it anyway.
yesterday i went to the munch museum, which was good. (think: the scream) it was all his stuff that he left in his will to the city of oslo when he died. i was able to catch a 50min english movie on his life, which really helped explain his work. the paintings were pretty good, too.
i also broke down and bought a book to read while waiting for trains and while on trains. i'm excited to just sit and relax tonite, i wore out my feet and legs the past few days.
on a personal note, i'm feeling pretty lonely. i was glad to share a room at this apt with a polish girl that speaks english well, and i was really excited to see my friend from voss. i didn't have any plans to go to the castle, but since he was going, i decided it would be better to hang out with him than mope around by myself, doing my own thing. i was frustrated enough to cry this morning, as i wanted to take the train tomorrow to stockholm and had already booked a hostel there (the third time i've booked a hostel i couldn't make it to, but i really don't have an option, cos then i'm stuck on the other side - not having a place to stay, which is probably worse). so... i'm thankful for the blessings (great weather, friends, being here at all), but i'm a little down overall.
i plan to go to copenhagen tomorrow, stay there tomorrow night and the next, take the overnight train to amsterdam, stay there 2 nights, and then go to bruges for 2 nights. at that point, i'll have to do more planning, but it's looking like germany. kinda depends on my friends in germany, and what they're doing.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
voss, flåm and bergen, norway
oh, geez, this place is AMAZING!!!! if it were further south, i'd move here. it's a bit chilly, about as cold as i ever like it to get, so thankfully i am wearing a shortsleeve shirt, longsleeve shirt, midweight fleece, and a rain-windbreaker. but today is mostly sunny, which is a huge blessing!! it rained yesterday, which made the trail i was on to see a waterfall a little slippery, adn i fell. but the waterfall was awesome, and i made it back in one piece, with just a few scrapes and bruises.
i went kayaking on the fjords tuesday. thankfully, another good weatther day, and not too cold. it was AWESOME!! we put into nærøysfjord and went up about halfway to a little farm place for lunch. we made a fire and cooked the best pork chops i've ever had (sorry mom) and fed the sheep GORP (raisins and peanuts). it was really spectacular and i took over 150 pictures. woohoo!!
yesterday i took the bus to gudvangen, near where we kayaked the day before and i took the 2 hr ferry up that fjord and down the next. we landed in flåm, and i walked around town and up to the waterfall. when i started hiking is when it started raining. i didn't like flåm much, there wasn't anything to do but shop in the now closed stores or hike, which i'd had my fill of. so i took the next train up the mountain to myrdal. THAT was amazing. the trainride, that is. it goes up over 850m in 20k, and had spectacular views as it criss-crossed the valley. unfortunately, i didn't check the train schedule close enough and had to wait in the rain and fog at myrdal for the train. but it was beautiful and reminded me a lot of tasmania. i was the only one there, too, so i could put on my ipod and sing aloud along with it. i did make it back to my hostel in voss ok and made a nice warm cup of tomato soup.
today i took the train into bergen, on the west coast. i walked around town, saw the beautiful churches and headed for the torget, the fish market. it reminded me of the fish market in sydney, but that's just because that's the only other fish market i've ever been to. this city is amazing. i think if you crossed seattle with colorado, this is what you'd get. sweetness. well, i walked thru the old wooden buildings part of town up to the fort on the hillside and watched a big ship load up. then i took the train-thingy up the hill to hike around the mountains a bit before heading back down to catch my overnight train to oslo.
i went kayaking on the fjords tuesday. thankfully, another good weatther day, and not too cold. it was AWESOME!! we put into nærøysfjord and went up about halfway to a little farm place for lunch. we made a fire and cooked the best pork chops i've ever had (sorry mom) and fed the sheep GORP (raisins and peanuts). it was really spectacular and i took over 150 pictures. woohoo!!
yesterday i took the bus to gudvangen, near where we kayaked the day before and i took the 2 hr ferry up that fjord and down the next. we landed in flåm, and i walked around town and up to the waterfall. when i started hiking is when it started raining. i didn't like flåm much, there wasn't anything to do but shop in the now closed stores or hike, which i'd had my fill of. so i took the next train up the mountain to myrdal. THAT was amazing. the trainride, that is. it goes up over 850m in 20k, and had spectacular views as it criss-crossed the valley. unfortunately, i didn't check the train schedule close enough and had to wait in the rain and fog at myrdal for the train. but it was beautiful and reminded me a lot of tasmania. i was the only one there, too, so i could put on my ipod and sing aloud along with it. i did make it back to my hostel in voss ok and made a nice warm cup of tomato soup.
today i took the train into bergen, on the west coast. i walked around town, saw the beautiful churches and headed for the torget, the fish market. it reminded me of the fish market in sydney, but that's just because that's the only other fish market i've ever been to. this city is amazing. i think if you crossed seattle with colorado, this is what you'd get. sweetness. well, i walked thru the old wooden buildings part of town up to the fort on the hillside and watched a big ship load up. then i took the train-thingy up the hill to hike around the mountains a bit before heading back down to catch my overnight train to oslo.
Monday, September 04, 2006
paris, hamburg, goteborg and oslo
ok, so i made it to paris safely wed. unfortunately, my bag did not. it actually arrived thurs, then spent 3 days taking a tour of paris, just like i did. i did get it back saturday, soaking wet and smelling terrible, but at least it was in my possession!!
my first day, i was pretty jet lagged and out of it, so i made my way to zahra's house, the sister of my dad's cousin's husband. got it? anyway, they are an awesome family that i was very please to stay with for 3 nights. we went out to dinner the first night with other family that had come into town for the evening. the next day i set out for the sights: eiffel tower, champs elysee, arc de triomphe, and musee orsay. the next day i set out again and saw: the louvre, notre dame cathedral and towers, musee rodin, and a market area. and i had an incredible crepe. by far, my favorite thing was the view of the city from the notre dame towers. it brought tears to my eyes, it was so beautiful. i definitely had a full 2 days and was exhausted enough to prove it.
saturday, i set out for the airport to try to track down my bag. it had been sent out for delivery, so i had to sit around all day and wait for the delivery truck to come back. then i got an overnight train to hamburg to copenhagen, but the overnight train was an hour late and i missed my connecting train to copenhagen. so i found a place to shower (now that i have my shampoo and soap and a sopping wet towel that dried a little on the train overnight), then found a laundromat and washed and dried all the wet stuff. so even tho i didn't want to be in hamburg, it was a lovely place. it was nice and quiet on a sunday morning, cool and overcast. it started to rain as i did laundry, so i rode the tram back to the main train station to get an afternoon train to copenhagen. and i had a great big pretzel, too.
the train to copenhagen was good, if long. i sat next to a bolivian guy who spoke pretty good english and across from a ukrainian woman and her 6 yr old son who really got on my nerves by the end of the trip. he was cute tho, it just reinforced the idea that i don't want kids anytime soon. so i made it to goteborg, a suprisingly big and convenient city in southwestern sweeden. it was quite an evening... in my guidebook, all the hostels had receptions that close by 9pm, my train didn't get in until 10:20. i saw 2 girls with backpacks on heading out of the trainstation, so i asked them if they had a place to stay and could i tag along. they were german and found on the internet a "mini-hotel" that stayed open until 11. so it took asking a bunch of people and getting a free ride from a cabbie to find the place, but we did. it was a little sketchy, but worked just fine. the german girls had been camping in norway for a week, they were just glad to have a bed!!
the only problem was the tram we took cost 20kr, and i didn't have any sweedish money at all. (my original plan was to take the afternoon train from copenhagen to oslo and stay the night there, so i didn't intend to have any sweedish kronar at all!) so one of my new friends paid for me to get to the hostel, but i would still need 20kr to get back to the train station in the morning for my 6:45 train to oslo. so i asked one of the guys hanging out in the lounge, and he took me to an atm. well then, i had 100kr, but no change to pay the girl back. so i asked another guy and he went around to all his friends at the mini-hotel, and none had change for 100kr. so we went out again, in search of a store or restaurant that could give me change. he was an older somalian guy named mohammed who lived there at the mini-hotel and promised to treat me as his daughter. he was really funny and i enjoyed talking to him as we walked around town. we found a bar that gave me change, and then he was hungry, so we stopped at burger king. i was really tired and knew i had to get up early, but this guy was entertaining enough to keep me distracted from my exhaustion. so that's how i ended up eating burger king at midnight in sweeden with a somali guy.
so i caught the train this morning to oslo and i'll catch the train in an hour or so to voss, where i'll stay 2 nights. tomorrow: kayaking on the fjords!! in hindsight, i planned the kayaking way too soon after arriving, but hindsight is 20\20, right? so here i am... the plan for now is to spend the next day (wed) on the "norway in a nutshell" trip and head for bergen. thursday night i'll overnight back to oslo where i'lls tay the night friday, then train to stockholm and spend sunday and monday nights there. monday night i'll overnight it to copenhagen, and the next night overnight it to amsterdam. i sat down for 2 hrs after arriving here in oslo to decide this stuff. so we'll see how much it changes as i go!!
thanks for reading, if you got this far. i am checking email, but i am a bit overwhelmed by the 26 in my inbox, so we'll see how i do about responding. i'm also uploading pics to kodakgallery.com at the moment, so depending on how long that takes is how long i'll spend on emails. thanks, y'all!!!
my first day, i was pretty jet lagged and out of it, so i made my way to zahra's house, the sister of my dad's cousin's husband. got it? anyway, they are an awesome family that i was very please to stay with for 3 nights. we went out to dinner the first night with other family that had come into town for the evening. the next day i set out for the sights: eiffel tower, champs elysee, arc de triomphe, and musee orsay. the next day i set out again and saw: the louvre, notre dame cathedral and towers, musee rodin, and a market area. and i had an incredible crepe. by far, my favorite thing was the view of the city from the notre dame towers. it brought tears to my eyes, it was so beautiful. i definitely had a full 2 days and was exhausted enough to prove it.
saturday, i set out for the airport to try to track down my bag. it had been sent out for delivery, so i had to sit around all day and wait for the delivery truck to come back. then i got an overnight train to hamburg to copenhagen, but the overnight train was an hour late and i missed my connecting train to copenhagen. so i found a place to shower (now that i have my shampoo and soap and a sopping wet towel that dried a little on the train overnight), then found a laundromat and washed and dried all the wet stuff. so even tho i didn't want to be in hamburg, it was a lovely place. it was nice and quiet on a sunday morning, cool and overcast. it started to rain as i did laundry, so i rode the tram back to the main train station to get an afternoon train to copenhagen. and i had a great big pretzel, too.
the train to copenhagen was good, if long. i sat next to a bolivian guy who spoke pretty good english and across from a ukrainian woman and her 6 yr old son who really got on my nerves by the end of the trip. he was cute tho, it just reinforced the idea that i don't want kids anytime soon. so i made it to goteborg, a suprisingly big and convenient city in southwestern sweeden. it was quite an evening... in my guidebook, all the hostels had receptions that close by 9pm, my train didn't get in until 10:20. i saw 2 girls with backpacks on heading out of the trainstation, so i asked them if they had a place to stay and could i tag along. they were german and found on the internet a "mini-hotel" that stayed open until 11. so it took asking a bunch of people and getting a free ride from a cabbie to find the place, but we did. it was a little sketchy, but worked just fine. the german girls had been camping in norway for a week, they were just glad to have a bed!!
the only problem was the tram we took cost 20kr, and i didn't have any sweedish money at all. (my original plan was to take the afternoon train from copenhagen to oslo and stay the night there, so i didn't intend to have any sweedish kronar at all!) so one of my new friends paid for me to get to the hostel, but i would still need 20kr to get back to the train station in the morning for my 6:45 train to oslo. so i asked one of the guys hanging out in the lounge, and he took me to an atm. well then, i had 100kr, but no change to pay the girl back. so i asked another guy and he went around to all his friends at the mini-hotel, and none had change for 100kr. so we went out again, in search of a store or restaurant that could give me change. he was an older somalian guy named mohammed who lived there at the mini-hotel and promised to treat me as his daughter. he was really funny and i enjoyed talking to him as we walked around town. we found a bar that gave me change, and then he was hungry, so we stopped at burger king. i was really tired and knew i had to get up early, but this guy was entertaining enough to keep me distracted from my exhaustion. so that's how i ended up eating burger king at midnight in sweeden with a somali guy.
so i caught the train this morning to oslo and i'll catch the train in an hour or so to voss, where i'll stay 2 nights. tomorrow: kayaking on the fjords!! in hindsight, i planned the kayaking way too soon after arriving, but hindsight is 20\20, right? so here i am... the plan for now is to spend the next day (wed) on the "norway in a nutshell" trip and head for bergen. thursday night i'll overnight back to oslo where i'lls tay the night friday, then train to stockholm and spend sunday and monday nights there. monday night i'll overnight it to copenhagen, and the next night overnight it to amsterdam. i sat down for 2 hrs after arriving here in oslo to decide this stuff. so we'll see how much it changes as i go!!
thanks for reading, if you got this far. i am checking email, but i am a bit overwhelmed by the 26 in my inbox, so we'll see how i do about responding. i'm also uploading pics to kodakgallery.com at the moment, so depending on how long that takes is how long i'll spend on emails. thanks, y'all!!!
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