Spain Update!

No news from Beatriz - we still love our new place - last night was INSANE - tonight we are going to our first Spanish disco.

Thats about it!

:)

We went down to watch the game and it was just nuts. I was wrong before it was the semifinals last night - SPAIN 3 Russia 0! So now they play in the final on Sunday. The whole country is going crazy. Before we got sucked into the madness that is Plaza de Colon during the game we found this cute little bar with the sweetest bartender ever! She loved us! Here are the four of us all ready for the game...

L to R: Ana, Sandra, Nicki and Me

Spain or "We were Guadalajara - Street-ed"

*Sigh* We've told this story over and over for about four days now but none of you at home actually know what happened - so here we go. Nicki is doing a study abroad program while we are in Spain. She's taking two classes for 6 credits and its only 3.5 weeks. Nice. Its the first year for the program so some kinks are still being worked out. We decided to live off campus during our stay because who want to live in a dorm room and be on a meal plan for 3.5 weeks at ages 24 and 27. Not us. They gave the option to ALL the students to live off campus (only to say much later that they prefered everyone to live ON...kinks....) so we decided it would be fun - and cheaper - to get some roommates and find a nice, big apartment together. The school gave some names of realtors that they trusted and sent us on our way. Nicki's Spanish is quite good but one of our roommates, Ana, is Mexican so she handled most of the communication with the realtor. And that was all settled way before we left on the trip, we had sent her a deposit ($900) and once we got to Spain, Ana and Sandra (other roomie) would be here, we just show up to the apartment and everything would be great....

Picture it: Middle of nowhere Spain, 2008. 11:00pm. We had just spent *gulp* 75€ on a cab ride to find the stupid place - getting lost several times, Nicki testing out her rusty Spanish (and doing VERY well!) our cab driver muttering things like "this isn't normal, nobody wants to come this far". But we finally found the place. Oh and this is AFTER our truly awful morning in Paris when we realized it was a different airport we had to be at and almost missed the shuttle. So ok, we found the apartment - 3 Guadalajara St. Get our things out of the cab, pay the obscene fare and walk up to the buzzer. We saw a note that said "Nicki" thinking it was Ana and Sandra telling us which apartment number it was....well it was them alright but the note said something to this effect: "Go down to the security guy and talk to him - we have to stay at the dorms tonight" Uh...ok...how the heck do we get there?! So we walk down to the security guy all the while starting to freak out more and more. That's where we met Raul - who doesn't know a lick of English but was very sweet to us. Nicki's Spanish once again pulled through and we figured out that we needed to call one of the professors and they would come get us. Well, we don't have a phone. Now its coming on 11:30pm - Raul says he can't get a line out, there are no public phones and no hotels. I start to sob thinking we are spending the night on the streets of Spain. Raul breaks some rules and quickly uses his only-incoming-calls-from-his-boss phone and gets the professor on the line for us. He is apologizing all over himself and says he will be there to pick us up in 20 min. Raul tells Nicki to tell me to calm down and that its ok now. Then he brought us some coca-cola...."Coca-Cola! America!" is what he said. Very, very sweet. We might still be stuck on Guadalajara St if not for Raul. So now we are saved but we still don't know what happened to Sandra and Ana and why we can't get into the apartment....

He takes us to the dorm to drop off our stuff and then to a bar. Ok, Spain is starting to get better :) Ana and Sandra were on their 3rd or so pitcher of Sangria when we finally joined them. I don't know if I can make this long story shorter but basically the realtor just never showed up. Sandra was to be the first in Spain and Ana had set up an appointment for Saturday June 21 at 2:30 for them to meet, get the keys and pay the remaining amount. Sandra waited all day. Ana showed up and then they waited together. No Beatriz. Thats her name. We dislike her very much. Oh, the professor that helped us out is Antonio and he was a knight in shining armour that day. I guess the girls had found his number in an email after Beatriz didn't show up and he took care of them too - getting us all rooms at the dorm, taking them to the store, driving them around to leave us the note knowing that we would just turn up at the apartment...so yeah, he was great. He also helped us find a new place. A better place, closer to the University, right across the street from a grocery store and it has a pool! I know what I'm doing while they are in class!! Oh! I forgot to mention that Beatriz was also in possesion of Nicki's computer and books for the courses, as well as Sandra's books. Since we were traveling before she didn't want to lug them all over Europe. So they didn't have their stuff for class Monday morning.

Ok, so obviously Beatriz didn't answer to return any phone calls all weekend. Monday after class the four of us nervously board a bus to go to her office. We want her to know what a crappy thing she did, that we all were homeless and we want our deposit money back. HA! This woman was a first class bitch. There was nothing warm about her. Not even ONE "sorry". She basically said she would have never made an appointment on a Saturday because "no one works on Saturday!" and that it was not her problem. She and Ana were having it out in Spanish for what seems like ever while the three of us were left pretty helpless. Ana had made the appointment over the phone and we think Beatriz just never looked at a calendar. However our receipt says "June 21". Well the girls got their stuff, she refused to give our money back and just kept saying the fact we might have had to sleep on the street was "Not her problem". She was mad AT US for getting a different apartment! It was a mess and we were all pretty shaken after the encounter. Especially Ana, she held her own and we were very proud of her! We are going to try and get one of the LAW professors to help us try and get our money back but we'll see. We are very happy in the apartment we are in and it ended up being way cheaper in the end. So yeah, homeless in Spain = not fun! We want to make t-shirts that say something like "we were Guadalajara Street-ed" or NOT MY PROBLEM. Bright side: we are getting along great with the girls - nothing like tragedy to bring you all together!

Everthing else is good! :) We are going into the heart of Madrid tomorrow night to watch Spain the quaterfinals of futbol tourney. Very cool. Thanks for reading! xoxo

New Pics

We are literally on our way out the door in Paris and on to Madrid! Check out the new photos and we will update very soon on what we have been up to.

Love,

Us

Paris so far...

Well, we officially LOVE Paris. Oh yeah, big time. Seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time after you round the corner at the Trocadero = breathtaking. I (Kara) actually got tears in my eyes. Cheesy, corny...whatever. It was amazing. Today we climbed up the 'ol girl. Whew...not easy. But worth it. We also spent a few hours in the Louvre - you could spend DAYS in that place and not see everything. We hit the highlights, Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, plus some other pretty amazing art. Also yesterday we stumbled upon a Pro Beach Volleyball tournament taking place in Paris this week. For those who may not know, I played for nine years...including two in college - NJCAA National Champs, 1999. So this was a very exciting find. We took in another match today. It just so happens that my favorite doubles team, Misty May and Kerri Walsh (Olympic Gold Medalists) are playing tomorrow morning (also my birthday). We are going. It was a pretty awesome surprise.

Tomorrow we are also planning on going to Montmarte - home of the Moulin Rouge and the little cafe that is in Amelie. I decided I didn't want to do anything too outrageous for my birthday so we are going to have a picnic by the Eiffel Tower and watch her light up. It will be perfect I'm sure :)

More Pics!

We figured out how to link to the facebook albums, so if you look to the left and click on the links you will find some new photos! Thanks mom! Yeah.

PARIS!

We made it to Paris this evening. Today was one for the books. Florence to Pisa to the leaning tower to the airport to Paris to a shuttle bus to BILL!!! Sue and Bill are Nicki's parents friends that moved to Paris last year. And they have been our Godsend in Paris. Bill met us at the shuttle and ushered us through the Paris metro to their apartment in St. Cloud, a western suburb of Paris. There was chilled Champagne (the real stuff) in the fridge, goat cheese salad, and so many Paris maps and guides that we will definitely be able to fill our time here in the city of lights. PARIS PARIS PARIS. Gay Paree! We love it already. So, we will definitely have a catch-up blog soon and we will be uploading some pictures of ITALIA!! But now, we are very sleepy. Love ya. Peace.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! (and other stuff)

Hey Dads! Tom and Greg specifically - we couldn't find internet yesterday so you are getting your greetings a day late - sorry, we were just too busy slurping gelatto! We hope you both had a wonderful, relaxing day. And to Alexis on his first Father's Day - hope you had a good one too! Love to all!!!

So we are leaving Italy today and heading to Paris! Actually right now we are in Pisa - just saw this amazing tower...it leans! Ever heard of it? :) haha

Italy was good to us, lots of pizza, pasta and gelatto. Lots. We got attacked by some vicious Italian mosquitoes...mostly on our arms and hands. Big 'ol red welts. Not cool.

Well my time is almost up - we will write more in Paris. With pictures. Promise.

xoxo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Finally, a new POST!!!

Sorry all, we have been so entranced by the old world charm of Italy that we forgot for a few days that technology existed. Not really, but we have had very limited internet access. As I type, I sit in the corner of the breakfast room at our B&B, as the owner washes dishes behind me. Anyway, we arrived in Treviso from Prague on Wednesday. We were right on track until we got to the train station and realized that we really had no idea where we were going. I guess there was some map we should have downloaded. oops. After an hour or three of searching and asking countless very kind Italians where we should be going, we finally found our room, of course having passed it about a half dozen times. Things are not well marked here. People are very nice though, two nice women stopped us to ask if we needed help. They didn't help much, but they tried. This language barrier is something else. We have been indulging in our first Italian pizza, pasta, gelatto, and wine. Pretty amazing. We had a great time with the staff of a takeaway pizza joint near our B&B, the first thing they said when they found out we were Americans was "Oh, BUSH!" and they made disgusted faces. Too funny. Not a lot to say back and forth, but we laughed a lot. The Italian people are so cheerful, and kind.

We went to Venice yesterday, and like we said about Prague, GO THERE. It is truly magical and certainly something we will never forget. We let pigeons eat off of us in Piazza San Marco. We had a very nice gondola ride, complete with an Italian serenade. It was pretty awesome. And it didn't stink. Go figure. Lots of great food, great people, and beautiful vistas. Kara even wanted me to pinch her to make sure she wasn't dreaming. We did have a little mishap with the camera in that it ran out of battery right before we got on the gondola, but I guess that is a memory that is supposed to be just ours. Sorry, folks. You will have to get your own.

We are off to Florence today to see a big naked statue called "David." And maybe some other cool stuff. We will let you know.

Quick hello!

Hi! Today we went in the Prague castle - beautiful. We also took in some more soccer - GO SPAIN! My finger is about 100 times better today which nice...the tip in still swollen and a bit numb plus the nail is turning a nice shade of purple...but its not as bad as I thought it would be. We are hitting the hay early tonight because we have to be up at 7 to head to the airport and then its off to Venice!

Hope all is well with everyone - thanks for reading!

xoxo

Prague

So, we are in Prague, very possibly the most beautiful city in the world (we haven't been to Italy or France yet, but we will see). It's pretty amazing here, like stepping into a fairy tale. It is difficult to describe and the pictures won't do it justice, but if we have one piece of advice for anyone planning a European vacation anytime soon, it is COME HERE! It is sooooo worth it. And come here before the Czech Republic converts to the Euro because the exchange rate is great, which you can't say for most of the world right now. We just had some amazing Czech beer for about $1.50US, IN A BAR. Yeah, not even happy hour, folks. Anyway, besides the beer, Prague has one of the most famous medieval castles, Prague Castle, which is beautiful. We walked the grounds today after an impressive hike up to the top of a hill overlooking the city. Tomorrow, we go in!

One really cool thing we have encountered here in Prague is the frenzy that is Eurocup 2008, basically the World Cup Jr, and these Euro folk go crazy for it. So much so that they have erected a huge screen in the 1000 yr. old Town Square and have set up beer tents to watch the games every night. It's pretty darn cool. I'm sure we'll encounter lots of this kind of behavior elsewhere, but since the tournament just started last weekend, we just have been introduced to it. And I have to say, I'm a fan. Massive bratwurst and pints of beer on a hot summer evening, just chilling next to some of the most gorgeous buildings I have ever seen in my life? Nice.

We missed some blogging in Berlin, so I'll try to make up for it a bit. We saw a lot of Berlin on foot (which they say can't be done). Never underestimate 2 women on a budget :) The zoo as we said was amazing, but we started to get a bit homesick, so we decided to do something unconventional and see the Sex in the City movie in the English-language megaplex that is the Sony Center. The Sony Center is in Potsdamer Platz which was pretty much destroyed when the Berlin wall was built right in the middle of it and since the wall has come down, the city decided to use the space to create a fantastic plaza of modern architecture and magnet for tourists. We were drawn. The movie was a great way to get a little taste of Americana (except German movie theatres have assigned seats - weird).

I do have to report on our first (hopefully only) injury. Kara got her finger slammed in the locker at the hostel that holds all of our stuff. Her finger is black and blue and we will most definitely post some photos. But, other than that, we are fantastic and ready for our last day in Prague. But don't feel too sorry for us because we are on to Venice on Wednesday. Jealous?

Berlin to Prague...

We are here in Prague now - Berlin was....meh. Just ok. Actually I (Kara) pretty much hated it. I can't quite put my finger on why - just didn't care for the vibe. We did a lot...saw the Berlin Wall, went to Checkpoint Charlie, Holocaust Memorial, Berlin Zoo (my favorite!) and just general wandering. Our couchsurfing experience was...an experience. More on that to come :)

We got into Prague about an hour ago and so far I absolutely love it. THIS is why I wanted to come on this trip...old beautiful city with its own castle, winding roads...its gorgeous! And out hostel is A-MA-ZING. Best one yet by far. We are about to go out wandering now....we promise for a more in depth update soon. We are alive, good, well fed, sleeping just fine and very happy.

xoxo

Amsterdam Album

Check it out!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2086945&l=10e2b&id=48600874

London Album

Here you go junkies!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2086943&l=1f5cb&id=48600874

PICTURES!!!

Some highlights so far...

BIG BEN!

SHANNON!

Homomonument, Amsterdam


Nicki at our first picnic in Vondelpark

Kara at de bontekoe in Leiden (someone please show Americano John, thanks!) :)

Canal cruise in Amsterdam

On the Deutchbahn (train) from Amsterdam to Berlin

Front page of the German newspaper!

Part of the Berlin Wall

Nicki after being told she has to pay to pee :(

Couldn't resist...

We hope that is satisfying for now. More to come we promise!!!

xoxo

A little Catch up

First, let me qualify this by saying that I am typing on German keyboard, which doesn't sound too strange, but let me tell you, it is. Anyway, our last few days in Amsterdam were pretty uneventful. We met up with one of my classmates who happened to be traveling in Amsterdam the same time we were and we spent the day wandering around the city. We checked out this big open air market and bought a bunch of baby tomatoes and then had lunch at a cute little Turkish restaurant. I love it that beer is the same price as soda here, it's pretty much awesome. It turns out, at one point in Amsterdam, the water quality was so bad that it was actually better for you to drink beer than water. I just pretended that we were back in that time :) Just kidding - We've been doing a good job of keeping hydrated since we've been walking so much. We also got some tickets for a canalbus, which is basically just water transport through the canals of Amsterdam, which was very cool. We thought we were so smart, taking it to the train station yesterday morning so we wouldn't have to schlep our backpacks throught the red light district, but when we got to the trainstation, the woman at the information booth helped us realize that we were at the wrong trainstation. So that was fun. Luckily, we were really early. The train ride through Germany was nice, but it looked alot like northern Michigan, which I thought was pretty funny. Lots of cows and such. We made it into Berlin last night and hoofed it to our first couchsurfing adventure. Our host is Andrea and she is very nice. She had a bed made for us, clean towels, fresh tea, a marked up city map and a 2 hour chat about what we expected to do in Berlin. After a good night sleep in a room all to ourselves, a hot shower, and some German pastries, we are ready to tackle the city. We think. Tonight, we are going to take Andrea to dinner somewhere in the neighborhood, her choice. We definitely need to brush up on our German, and by brush up, I mean learn some. Yeah. Love ya'll. Peace.

Off to Berlin

For those of you holding your breath waiting for our next post - here it is - we have survived Amsterdam! Today we're off to Berlin for another adventure of great proportions I'm sure. There will be more to come on Amsterdam when we have some time to post, but we have to check out of our hostel in 25 minutes, so this has to be brief. Amsterdam is like a roller coaster of strange and a little bit unbelievable. It's gorgeous and trashy at the same time, kinda like the Melanie Griffith of cities. Yeah. Anyway, I wish they sold those t-shirts in the train station like they do after you get off a ride at Cedar Point. I survived Amsterdam with a picture of the red light district or something like that. Or maybe a camera that takes a picture of your wide eyes as you look around the city for the first time, then you can buy the picture on your way out for 50 Euro? Good idea.

Well, we'll write more from Berlin. Talk soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!!

Do Not Drink and Blog

Attention readers: drinking Dutch beer for three hours then deciding to blog is a BAD IDEA. Oops.

Yesterday was lovely - we wandered around all over the city - found the HOMOMONUMENT! Also the other parts of the city tailored to ''our kind'' *wink, wink* had a drink in the oldest lesbian bar in Holland - went to the store to get pinic stuff and sat in Vondelpark people watching, eating and drinking a bottle of wine - because you can do that here!

And then we hung out at the hostel bar - met some dudes from Toronto and got pretty tipsy :)

Today we are doing a day trip out of Amsterdam to a little town called Leiden...a customer of mine from Intelligentsia recommended it (Americano John!) he said to check out this bar called De Bonte Koe - The Spotted Cow. We will let you know how is goes...

amsterdam day 2

better than day one. not so many ladies in windows....

So super drunk right now in the hostel bar...sorry parents. and grandparents. and aunts and uncles that may be reading this.

DRUNK!

but we drink beer. But NOT smoke weed like everyone else here.

Wow. This place is CRAZY! made some friends. Jeez. Today we had a picnic in the park and gave some homeless people our extra food. It felt good.

BYE!