Thursday, July 31, 2008
A better side of Greece
Well Greece just kept getting worse and worse each day. We finally got out on Monday night, but unfortunately we slept through our stop which was at 630 am and ended up on the island of Ios. We wanted to be on Santorini but had planned on going to another island at some point, so here was our point. We found a cheap campground right on the biggest party beach of the island, and in case you don't know, Ios is THE PARTY PLACE IN GREECE.... Which sometimes we like but really we wanted our Greece trip to be relaxing on the beach and checking out cool towns, not really feeling the partying, but we were going to rally, or so we thought. After the longest game of chess, turns out I take an hour to play one game (always thinking) and a few other cranky cranky hours Tony and I looked at each other and knew we wanted no more of this island. It wasn't what we had signed up for!
So we bought another boat ticket and headed to Santorini. The boat ride set us right, Tony slept for two hours and I hung out on the top deck watching the islands and waves, sooo cool. The last two hours on the boat we sat watching the sunset eating a delicious mango, life was good again.
We spent the past two days exploring this island and it's little towns. We stayed in a rad hostel for 5 euros each a night, and one night they screwed us with only one bed so we made them charge us for only one person, worked out well. We also rented a scooter for the two days, 12 euros. Tony had a slight learning curve, I learned how to grip to him quite well. We somehow lucked out with the most powerful scooter ever!!! NOT. IT was sooo horrible. Every hill we went up we were concerned about getting to the top, multiple times we didn't and I had to hop off while Tony went he rest of the way, funny looks from the other scooters going by. But it was a joyous occasion none the less. PS. of course it was a Peugot, just one that couldn't go without us singing "Just Keep Swimming..."
Today I had the luck of getting the donkey like our scooter. The donkeys are a big thing here and quite entertaining. You can ride them down, take a cable car down or walk the long winding steps down to the port area and ride them back up. WE of course walked down and paid to ride back up, only five euros each. Well Tony's took right off, without me! I was all alone majority of the ride up, and twice some lady had to grab his ropes and pull my donkey to get going again, he would stop when he felt like it. HE also loved the sides of the walls. Anyways, point is it was a lot of fun but quite silly. WE had a blast the past two days.
The sunsets are supposedly the best in the world, and they are quite beautiful. We watched from the lighthouse on one side of the island the first night and then from Oia (the most popular sunset watching spot in the world) tonight. It was better at Oia but TONS of toursists who clapped at the end of the setting.
The beaches are quite interesting here too. A volcano erupted in 1600 BC so they have black and red sand beaches from the ash of the volcano. Santorini really has been a fun place. And they have bomb ass pitas, yum! Well off to Hungary
So we bought another boat ticket and headed to Santorini. The boat ride set us right, Tony slept for two hours and I hung out on the top deck watching the islands and waves, sooo cool. The last two hours on the boat we sat watching the sunset eating a delicious mango, life was good again.
We spent the past two days exploring this island and it's little towns. We stayed in a rad hostel for 5 euros each a night, and one night they screwed us with only one bed so we made them charge us for only one person, worked out well. We also rented a scooter for the two days, 12 euros. Tony had a slight learning curve, I learned how to grip to him quite well. We somehow lucked out with the most powerful scooter ever!!! NOT. IT was sooo horrible. Every hill we went up we were concerned about getting to the top, multiple times we didn't and I had to hop off while Tony went he rest of the way, funny looks from the other scooters going by. But it was a joyous occasion none the less. PS. of course it was a Peugot, just one that couldn't go without us singing "Just Keep Swimming..."
Today I had the luck of getting the donkey like our scooter. The donkeys are a big thing here and quite entertaining. You can ride them down, take a cable car down or walk the long winding steps down to the port area and ride them back up. WE of course walked down and paid to ride back up, only five euros each. Well Tony's took right off, without me! I was all alone majority of the ride up, and twice some lady had to grab his ropes and pull my donkey to get going again, he would stop when he felt like it. HE also loved the sides of the walls. Anyways, point is it was a lot of fun but quite silly. WE had a blast the past two days.
The sunsets are supposedly the best in the world, and they are quite beautiful. We watched from the lighthouse on one side of the island the first night and then from Oia (the most popular sunset watching spot in the world) tonight. It was better at Oia but TONS of toursists who clapped at the end of the setting.
The beaches are quite interesting here too. A volcano erupted in 1600 BC so they have black and red sand beaches from the ash of the volcano. Santorini really has been a fun place. And they have bomb ass pitas, yum! Well off to Hungary
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Greece
tony day reporting in, and so far greece has not been what we were expecting, the boat ride over was very fun and we met lots of cool people and traveled with one guy all the way to athens. he was very funny guy who was traveling alone because his travel partner fell down some stairs and broke his hip very intense. so he needed a buddy and we had some good times. once in athens we soon found out the place is super ghetto and there are deformed bums one lady had here feet facing the wrong direction. we have had alot of trouble getting around but have been able to find out that sparta is not going to happen. bummer but i did pick up a cool spartan t shirt. checked out the parthenon today and was very cool. we are out of athens tomorrow and off to beautiful santorini, blue and white houses with red sand and white and all the other colors of the rainbow.
we also totally changed our trip around becuase of some dutch girls(anyone who is from holland are great i have meet alot and they all have been very very awesome) we are not going to venice (sorry bec) but through eastern europe. through serbia and we will stop in hungary. which should be very different then to praha and poland this way should be a big change. good times
we also totally changed our trip around becuase of some dutch girls(anyone who is from holland are great i have meet alot and they all have been very very awesome) we are not going to venice (sorry bec) but through eastern europe. through serbia and we will stop in hungary. which should be very different then to praha and poland this way should be a big change. good times
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Information overload is glorious
We have learned so much interesting stuff the past two days and it will continue on till tomorrow and through greece I am sure.
Yesterday we went to the colloseum and as we approached the hour long line an english speaking gentleman approached us asking us if we wanted to do a tour that was 9 euros more than the ticket price, but we skipped the line and got a guided tour through the colosseum and palatino hill. Being that this was something Tony was really excited about and I found interesting we decided to go for it. The guide taught us so much about the history of the arena and the fighters themselves. Tonys fav tidbit was learnin that the gladiators trained for nine hours a day. It was really cool to have the tour, we would have been a little lost about all the history of this place. Then when we went to Palatino hill it really really helped to have a guide, that place is big! And with our guide we learned all about the birth of Rome from Romulus and Remus, as well as what SPQR means, which is on everything in Rome, even the sewer covers. Its a phrase that I cant remember, only Q: que which means and. But not the typical and, it means one thing cant be itself without the other. So a husband can't be a husband without the wife, a man can be a man, but a husband is only a husband with the wife. Well in this phrase it talks of how The senate of rome cant be a senate without the people and vice versa. It was cool stuff! Also learning about how they gave up their own blood or life for the city, Rome meant everything to them. Anyways, lil bit of history we found really interesting.
After that we went and saw the Pantheon, which was sweet, and a few other areas around Rome. WE had a nice Italian meal at this cute little place for our anniversary. Of course I got fettucine alfredo (had to see if it was legit in Italy) but Tony tried some authentic to only Rome meal that he loved. We also tried a glass of house wine...when in Rome we thought.
Today we headed to the Vatican to meet with the same tour group, we knew we would be absolutely clueless about everything there so we wanted to be told about it and so glad we did! It was three and half hours and man I learned more than I do in a semester! The sistine chapel is really really cool if you know what is going on. Tony and I really liked learning about all the figures in the Last Judgment, super cool stuff! Also learned about Romans idea of Beauty, which is pretty serious stuff. Anyways, it was really good to gain a bit of historical knowledge of this amazing place.
After the tour ended we had time to rome St. peter's basilica, that thing is big! but full of so much beauty and gnarly stuff! We were overwhelmed but really enjoyed ourselves. We eventually headed out to do the climb to the copula which gave us the gorgeous view of Rome. The walk up is so weird! Longest and tightest spiral staircase ever. Then you are walkin on a small platform that is leaned all weird because of the dome you are walking around. If you are clastrophobic, might not be your thing. But if you can handle it, its worth the view of the city, and the weirdness of the halls and stairwells. After that we headed into the tombs of all the popes which was interesting to read. A few we saw only lasted for three days or thirty three days, (if ya didnt know we arent to educated in this stuff, but were trying!). It was pretty cool to see the tomb of Peter. Anyways it was a really awesome past couple of days and tomorrow we head to Pompeii for the day to learn even more!
Yesterday we went to the colloseum and as we approached the hour long line an english speaking gentleman approached us asking us if we wanted to do a tour that was 9 euros more than the ticket price, but we skipped the line and got a guided tour through the colosseum and palatino hill. Being that this was something Tony was really excited about and I found interesting we decided to go for it. The guide taught us so much about the history of the arena and the fighters themselves. Tonys fav tidbit was learnin that the gladiators trained for nine hours a day. It was really cool to have the tour, we would have been a little lost about all the history of this place. Then when we went to Palatino hill it really really helped to have a guide, that place is big! And with our guide we learned all about the birth of Rome from Romulus and Remus, as well as what SPQR means, which is on everything in Rome, even the sewer covers. Its a phrase that I cant remember, only Q: que which means and. But not the typical and, it means one thing cant be itself without the other. So a husband can't be a husband without the wife, a man can be a man, but a husband is only a husband with the wife. Well in this phrase it talks of how The senate of rome cant be a senate without the people and vice versa. It was cool stuff! Also learning about how they gave up their own blood or life for the city, Rome meant everything to them. Anyways, lil bit of history we found really interesting.
After that we went and saw the Pantheon, which was sweet, and a few other areas around Rome. WE had a nice Italian meal at this cute little place for our anniversary. Of course I got fettucine alfredo (had to see if it was legit in Italy) but Tony tried some authentic to only Rome meal that he loved. We also tried a glass of house wine...when in Rome we thought.
Today we headed to the Vatican to meet with the same tour group, we knew we would be absolutely clueless about everything there so we wanted to be told about it and so glad we did! It was three and half hours and man I learned more than I do in a semester! The sistine chapel is really really cool if you know what is going on. Tony and I really liked learning about all the figures in the Last Judgment, super cool stuff! Also learned about Romans idea of Beauty, which is pretty serious stuff. Anyways, it was really good to gain a bit of historical knowledge of this amazing place.
After the tour ended we had time to rome St. peter's basilica, that thing is big! but full of so much beauty and gnarly stuff! We were overwhelmed but really enjoyed ourselves. We eventually headed out to do the climb to the copula which gave us the gorgeous view of Rome. The walk up is so weird! Longest and tightest spiral staircase ever. Then you are walkin on a small platform that is leaned all weird because of the dome you are walking around. If you are clastrophobic, might not be your thing. But if you can handle it, its worth the view of the city, and the weirdness of the halls and stairwells. After that we headed into the tombs of all the popes which was interesting to read. A few we saw only lasted for three days or thirty three days, (if ya didnt know we arent to educated in this stuff, but were trying!). It was pretty cool to see the tomb of Peter. Anyways it was a really awesome past couple of days and tomorrow we head to Pompeii for the day to learn even more!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Roman Rains and Assisi Rays
We are now in Rome and had quite the adventure yesterday. But first have to tell of our new found love of Assisi! Such a cute cute town. WE also had an adventure there with accomodations but luckily some cool aussies (they really are so down and cool) helped us out with a great campsite for only 17 euro to go to. And it was conveniently close to town, just up a hill which tony had fun making me run up the next morning ( we are trying to be healthy and work out 4 times a week, he loves it and im getting to loving it.) Anyways but the convenience also made it so we could be on our own time in the town. WE saw the big St. Francis church there and wandered around the city. We played some crib and browsed through the shops. when the sun was setting we wandered to the castle at the top of town that overlooks a tuscan valley below, it was gorgeous. We both rated Assisi up there for sure.
From Assisi yesterday we came to Rome and headed to Pomezia, two train stops away where we had a hotel booked and man was that intense. We had no idea where or what Pomezia was but we assumed it would work out and we could take a bus there, man were we wrong. First off, the entire trip we have probably had a max of 5 minutes of rain, never really been stuck in it either, even in the UK. When we arrived in Rome it was raining, pretty hard. Which wasnt to bad because it was really humid and hot. Anyways so in Pomezia we tried asking any passer bys, they all just stared at us with blank looks, "holiday inn? what is this?" We found a bar that Tony went to charge our phone at, I stayed by the bus stop with the bags. Across the street was a lady in high platforms, a pretty reavealing dress and dancing to some music on her ipod. I watched her for a hwile and came to the conclussion she was a hooker. We had that confirmed after she got picked up, and then dropped back off an hour later. It was awesome. Also in Tonys absence I was approached by an old man in a truck, which I think he thought I was ahooker. He called me over to his truck, I thought he was trying to help and we had a little chat which neither of us understood the other but I was bored so I didnt care, until he starting saying a few things and then he grabbed himself. At that point I said NO and walked away. I have no idea what he was trying to say but I was not down with talking to him anymore.
Tony finally came back and he was really mad. The hotel receptionist informed us that the hotel was 8km outside of the town of Pomezia and the only way to get there is by a taxi which would cost 25 or 30 euro. So every time we wanted to come into Rome we had to pay that. We were not down with this. We tried for a hour and half to figure out if any buses went there but every bus that came pointed us to another bus which was funny because there was only two buses. In order to not get charged anything I had to cancel the reservation by 4pm, it was approaching four quickly. Due to our mishap in Siena when we got to the closed campground, the lady gave us a lil booklet of campgrounds in europe, so we found one in Rome and called to make sure it was open and available. once that was confirmed I quickly called the hotel to cancel luckily in time! We left the sketchy town of Pomezia to head to our campground. The campground is awesome, 23 euros so pretty good and free internet! A bar, free transportation from the train station and a pool.
We decided we needed to lighten our load of the beers and liquor we had been carrying around for 4 nights and after the day we had it seemed like the right night to do it. So we loaded up the day pack, no food just the beers and headed into Rome. We wandered around till we got to the Fontana de Trevi (Trevi Fountain) which was really cool, but filled with tourists there. There was a guy selling little tourist things like light wands and these two magnets you catch together and make a funny noise. He was showing them to Tony when a cop started to pull up, he ran into the crowd (apparently its illegal for them to be selling stuff there?). Because he fled Tony was confused but down with his new free toy. So we started to walk away, the guy followed us but then the cops came back so we chilled by the cops, as for once they were a benefit to us! Eventually we left the fountain to try to find a cool bar. Unfortunately there were none to be found anywhere near us. So we tried asking varios people and finally found two dudes that were from there that were going to the area with bars. We followed them on various buses and eventually got to the area, but most of the bars were closed because ti was a monday. After wandering around more with these locals, who spoke very little english and spanish, but somehow we had conversations, kind of. Eventually we decided we had a long road ahead of us of trying to figure out how to get back to our campsite since the trains stopped at midnight and it was 1 am.
We figured out the bus system and finally made it back to the station in our little town of prima porta, but then we had a mile walk to the campsite, luckily our packs were lighter though so we were happy and content. It was a fun night in Rome, and today we are headed out to see the Ancient City and have a good Italian meal tonight.
From Assisi yesterday we came to Rome and headed to Pomezia, two train stops away where we had a hotel booked and man was that intense. We had no idea where or what Pomezia was but we assumed it would work out and we could take a bus there, man were we wrong. First off, the entire trip we have probably had a max of 5 minutes of rain, never really been stuck in it either, even in the UK. When we arrived in Rome it was raining, pretty hard. Which wasnt to bad because it was really humid and hot. Anyways so in Pomezia we tried asking any passer bys, they all just stared at us with blank looks, "holiday inn? what is this?" We found a bar that Tony went to charge our phone at, I stayed by the bus stop with the bags. Across the street was a lady in high platforms, a pretty reavealing dress and dancing to some music on her ipod. I watched her for a hwile and came to the conclussion she was a hooker. We had that confirmed after she got picked up, and then dropped back off an hour later. It was awesome. Also in Tonys absence I was approached by an old man in a truck, which I think he thought I was ahooker. He called me over to his truck, I thought he was trying to help and we had a little chat which neither of us understood the other but I was bored so I didnt care, until he starting saying a few things and then he grabbed himself. At that point I said NO and walked away. I have no idea what he was trying to say but I was not down with talking to him anymore.
Tony finally came back and he was really mad. The hotel receptionist informed us that the hotel was 8km outside of the town of Pomezia and the only way to get there is by a taxi which would cost 25 or 30 euro. So every time we wanted to come into Rome we had to pay that. We were not down with this. We tried for a hour and half to figure out if any buses went there but every bus that came pointed us to another bus which was funny because there was only two buses. In order to not get charged anything I had to cancel the reservation by 4pm, it was approaching four quickly. Due to our mishap in Siena when we got to the closed campground, the lady gave us a lil booklet of campgrounds in europe, so we found one in Rome and called to make sure it was open and available. once that was confirmed I quickly called the hotel to cancel luckily in time! We left the sketchy town of Pomezia to head to our campground. The campground is awesome, 23 euros so pretty good and free internet! A bar, free transportation from the train station and a pool.
We decided we needed to lighten our load of the beers and liquor we had been carrying around for 4 nights and after the day we had it seemed like the right night to do it. So we loaded up the day pack, no food just the beers and headed into Rome. We wandered around till we got to the Fontana de Trevi (Trevi Fountain) which was really cool, but filled with tourists there. There was a guy selling little tourist things like light wands and these two magnets you catch together and make a funny noise. He was showing them to Tony when a cop started to pull up, he ran into the crowd (apparently its illegal for them to be selling stuff there?). Because he fled Tony was confused but down with his new free toy. So we started to walk away, the guy followed us but then the cops came back so we chilled by the cops, as for once they were a benefit to us! Eventually we left the fountain to try to find a cool bar. Unfortunately there were none to be found anywhere near us. So we tried asking varios people and finally found two dudes that were from there that were going to the area with bars. We followed them on various buses and eventually got to the area, but most of the bars were closed because ti was a monday. After wandering around more with these locals, who spoke very little english and spanish, but somehow we had conversations, kind of. Eventually we decided we had a long road ahead of us of trying to figure out how to get back to our campsite since the trains stopped at midnight and it was 1 am.
We figured out the bus system and finally made it back to the station in our little town of prima porta, but then we had a mile walk to the campsite, luckily our packs were lighter though so we were happy and content. It was a fun night in Rome, and today we are headed out to see the Ancient City and have a good Italian meal tonight.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Italy!
Well we have only been in italy about three days but it is awesome. We went to Cinque Terre and hiked to each city, such a gorgeous hike, right on the Italian Riveria and freakin awesome! Tony swam into a cave, we both cliff jumped and we wandered the streets of these five little Italian towns. WE stayed at a bomb campsite about twenty minutes away, where Tony swam with the biggest waves ever, I thought he was going to die but of course he is all good.
We then went to Florence and saw that sweet town, we were cheap asses and didn't do go see David but we saw the duomo and lots of other cool things. We did a wine tasting with some dumb American hillbillies from Tennesse, that wanted hamburgers to wash down the taste of wine. The man choked on the wine, it was awesome.
Now we are in Sienna, where we journeyed a long road to a closed campground that opens in a week, lucky eh? now we are staying with nazi russians were we cant stay out past midnight and have to leave by 9 am! But the town is so cool. Cute little Tuscan town with some awesome cathedrals and buildings, piazzas for lots of cribbage playing. We walked through the city center, tony got pooped on by a bird, which I loved. People watching is great, italian families eating big meals and old women collecting bottle caps from the garbage.
We then went to Florence and saw that sweet town, we were cheap asses and didn't do go see David but we saw the duomo and lots of other cool things. We did a wine tasting with some dumb American hillbillies from Tennesse, that wanted hamburgers to wash down the taste of wine. The man choked on the wine, it was awesome.
Now we are in Sienna, where we journeyed a long road to a closed campground that opens in a week, lucky eh? now we are staying with nazi russians were we cant stay out past midnight and have to leave by 9 am! But the town is so cool. Cute little Tuscan town with some awesome cathedrals and buildings, piazzas for lots of cribbage playing. We walked through the city center, tony got pooped on by a bird, which I loved. People watching is great, italian families eating big meals and old women collecting bottle caps from the garbage.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
My nephew
Carter finally decided to join us in the world on Friday Jule 11th , yay! Angie (from what I heard) did well and so did Carter. Sorry I couldnt be there but hope you guys are sooo happy, congrats!!! yay Im finally an aunt.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
sidekick
we went to san sebastian, it was gorgeous! we only had a few hours, to recover from night before but what we saw i loved. you should def go there if youcan.
Tony´s turn
so it finaly happened, i am sure everyone was waiting for this we slept out side on a park bench. it sucked we slept for about forty min then were woke up by the cold, i can my jacket to a west point big tuff army kid, cause he was compaining about the cold. so it sucked. it was about six in the morning and we walked around looking at the sea of twenty year old kids sleeping on the streets and all wearing the traditional white shirt and pants with red scarf. this place can never be decsribed only experienced i have never seen so many people so drunk sooo drunk it was unbelevable the bathrooms take to long so everyone just pees in the street and trash cans are not used so there are cups, broken glass, sangaria bottles. the smell and seen take you back a second. anyway we wonder into get a bocadilla which is pretty much the only things you can eat in this city and it is a warm bagette with some meat, i think the are de lish.
we make our way to the running which starts at 8. and before we know it the crowd is awake and everyone is going to run or watch. we get to a place where we both can kinda see and me and kel establish a meeting point for after when i go run, i leave but soon come back there are so many people that it is impossible to get in know. so we watch and it is six bulls and six baby bulls vs probably two thousand people the only real danger comes from the people the bulls are just hanging out. needless to say i was not impressed and did not feel the need to run the next day,
we did go to a bull fight which was awosme they killed six bulls and had a wide variety of skill levels on matador got his face cut by the bulls horns and the main event guy was 23 and really good it was all about style and this guy had it he killed the bull with one sword when most others took two the shitty guy took four.
moral of san fermen it is about the party the bulls come second, european festivals are the craziest thing i have ever seen. with one million people in a town that takes ten min to walk across is crazy.
we make our way to the running which starts at 8. and before we know it the crowd is awake and everyone is going to run or watch. we get to a place where we both can kinda see and me and kel establish a meeting point for after when i go run, i leave but soon come back there are so many people that it is impossible to get in know. so we watch and it is six bulls and six baby bulls vs probably two thousand people the only real danger comes from the people the bulls are just hanging out. needless to say i was not impressed and did not feel the need to run the next day,
we did go to a bull fight which was awosme they killed six bulls and had a wide variety of skill levels on matador got his face cut by the bulls horns and the main event guy was 23 and really good it was all about style and this guy had it he killed the bull with one sword when most others took two the shitty guy took four.
moral of san fermen it is about the party the bulls come second, european festivals are the craziest thing i have ever seen. with one million people in a town that takes ten min to walk across is crazy.
San Fermin
man are we exhausted. Three nights in Pamplona during running of the bulls (san fermin) is enough! We did have a very good time though. The first night we didnt make it to late but by round two we were ready to go! This time I took a sweatshirt and was able to rally all night, even though our hosts and most other friends of the night fell off to sleep.
Tony and I went out with Louise this chick from Denmark who was travelling all around the world by her lonesome having a ball. We downed lots of sangria and kalimochxos (sp?) which were quite delicious. And then embarked on many adventures, the first was a hip hop concert, in spanish. That was pretty fun but the beer was really expensive so Tony and I snuckaway to go get more beer and go to the bathroom. The bathrooms suck here, most don´t have toilet seats, never any tp and worst of all these damn european girls do not know how to pee rapido! I do not know what the hell they are doing in there but it takes them FOREVER!!!!! Drives me, and patiently waiting tony crazy. But anyways, so we went off on adventures and found many. We found a touristy, cheesy cowboy hat that we tried to barter everyone and every place for food.Tony finally found a dude (actually an old man about 50)willing to give up a bite of his sandwich for the hat, lucky tony but very unlucky Kelli. He screwed me over with nothing! I was so mad I went back to the guy and demanded the hat back or the entire sanwhich which he of course said no too. I was so jealous of tony andhis big bite I grabbed the hat and ran outside. Which I didntfeel to bad as these hats are ridiculously ugly. But apparently this guy was a big fan because he followed us outside and stared me down. I was a little scared so I gave the hat back. But Tony then came over and snatched the hat back off the guys head and took off running down the street. I followed immediately as I was terrified this guy was going to chase us, but we got away clean. Tonythen while I was using the restroom traded the hat for a popsicle, man was he in trouble again!!
The rest of the night was hanging out in bars dancing the night away.WE found one American bar that played lots of ol 80s songs, including Iget knocke down! but I get up again....., we were loving the songssinging at the top of our lungs to them.
Throughout the night we would hit lows and think of
Tony and I went out with Louise this chick from Denmark who was travelling all around the world by her lonesome having a ball. We downed lots of sangria and kalimochxos (sp?) which were quite delicious. And then embarked on many adventures, the first was a hip hop concert, in spanish. That was pretty fun but the beer was really expensive so Tony and I snuckaway to go get more beer and go to the bathroom. The bathrooms suck here, most don´t have toilet seats, never any tp and worst of all these damn european girls do not know how to pee rapido! I do not know what the hell they are doing in there but it takes them FOREVER!!!!! Drives me, and patiently waiting tony crazy. But anyways, so we went off on adventures and found many. We found a touristy, cheesy cowboy hat that we tried to barter everyone and every place for food.Tony finally found a dude (actually an old man about 50)willing to give up a bite of his sandwich for the hat, lucky tony but very unlucky Kelli. He screwed me over with nothing! I was so mad I went back to the guy and demanded the hat back or the entire sanwhich which he of course said no too. I was so jealous of tony andhis big bite I grabbed the hat and ran outside. Which I didntfeel to bad as these hats are ridiculously ugly. But apparently this guy was a big fan because he followed us outside and stared me down. I was a little scared so I gave the hat back. But Tony then came over and snatched the hat back off the guys head and took off running down the street. I followed immediately as I was terrified this guy was going to chase us, but we got away clean. Tonythen while I was using the restroom traded the hat for a popsicle, man was he in trouble again!!
The rest of the night was hanging out in bars dancing the night away.WE found one American bar that played lots of ol 80s songs, including Iget knocke down! but I get up again....., we were loving the songssinging at the top of our lungs to them.
Throughout the night we would hit lows and think of
Monday, July 7, 2008
San Fermin
Wow. really wow. Biggest party in a city I have ever seen. It was ridiculous! but absolutely fun.
Tony and I arrived, with no number for Felipe our host and no directions to his house, it was right when the mayor spoke to say hoorah lets party for a week and everyone starts spraying calimochos and sangria everywhere. So we were a little nervous of what was going to happen, especially because it took us an hour to finally find an internet cafe. Once we did we get his number, gave him a call and worked our way to plaza de castillo where everyone was hanging out getting wasted. Tony and I went to a touristy stand and bought some white pants and shirts, we had to fit in and not look like the typical Americans. Everyone, and I mean everyone is in white pants and tshirt with a red sash around the waist and a red bandana around the neck. All day and night you drink calimochos and sangria, which are like 7% alcohol. Tony drank one 1.5Liter sangria and was drunk, and they cost 3.5 euro, so you can imagine how the night went.
Felipe said he planned to stay up all night so we could go watch the running of the bulls that was at 8am. I was scared as Tony and I only had 5 hours of sleep from the night before and we started drinking at 1pm.
People are insane during this festival. They´ll stand on this one statue thingy thats 20feet up? and 10 people will stand below them linking arms to catch them as they jump to their fate. It was aweome, well kinda sad but the first dude we saw they barely caught him so he clonked his head a little and was pretty messed up for a while. But everyone else after that was caught. Girls were being retarded and going up there flashing guys and jumping, it was gnarly.
It was really fun though, apparently the city goes from 150,0000 people (i believe is what felipe said) to 1 million. Just ridiculous amount of tourists. He said everyone here is really calm and don´t party much during the year, their whole mindset is San Fermin and as soon as one san fermin ends they are thinking of the next one.
Anyways so Tony and I split up from the group for a bit and wandered around for 3 hours alone. We went to a lot of bars to dance for a bit. Searched for the best drunk food we could find, which we didn´t succeed very well at. Finally at like 2 am I couldn´t handle much more, the night got really cold and I was exhausted. So we were going to find a bench to sleep for a few hours but luckily after an hour we got ahold of Felipe again and he was actually back at home to sleep himself. Yay! So we got a lot of sleep, didn´t go to the running this morning as we would have had to get up at like 630 am but we are looking into getting tickets for the bull fight tonight and tomorrow morning we will go to the running. Felipe our host is going to run, as well as another cser here so tony is going to check out the scene, if it feels right he´ll do it. Only 9 people got hurt today :). But he won´t do it without knowing whats going on.
I´ll try to put some pics up later of everything from last night. Just absoulutely insane, imagine NY on New years times ten. The town is an awesome town, except during the festival, its soooo dirty as thousands sleep on streets, there aren´t many bathrooms so its taken to the streets, you just throw your trash on the ground. Very dirty but they have workers out trying to clean up as best as possible. Anyways, if you can´t tell we are enjoying San Fermin a lot, especially if we get to see a bull fight tonight!
Angie will you please have Carter, I keep having dreams about it and making bets with myself that it happened and check and no carter, so hurry up!!! :)
Tony and I arrived, with no number for Felipe our host and no directions to his house, it was right when the mayor spoke to say hoorah lets party for a week and everyone starts spraying calimochos and sangria everywhere. So we were a little nervous of what was going to happen, especially because it took us an hour to finally find an internet cafe. Once we did we get his number, gave him a call and worked our way to plaza de castillo where everyone was hanging out getting wasted. Tony and I went to a touristy stand and bought some white pants and shirts, we had to fit in and not look like the typical Americans. Everyone, and I mean everyone is in white pants and tshirt with a red sash around the waist and a red bandana around the neck. All day and night you drink calimochos and sangria, which are like 7% alcohol. Tony drank one 1.5Liter sangria and was drunk, and they cost 3.5 euro, so you can imagine how the night went.
Felipe said he planned to stay up all night so we could go watch the running of the bulls that was at 8am. I was scared as Tony and I only had 5 hours of sleep from the night before and we started drinking at 1pm.
People are insane during this festival. They´ll stand on this one statue thingy thats 20feet up? and 10 people will stand below them linking arms to catch them as they jump to their fate. It was aweome, well kinda sad but the first dude we saw they barely caught him so he clonked his head a little and was pretty messed up for a while. But everyone else after that was caught. Girls were being retarded and going up there flashing guys and jumping, it was gnarly.
It was really fun though, apparently the city goes from 150,0000 people (i believe is what felipe said) to 1 million. Just ridiculous amount of tourists. He said everyone here is really calm and don´t party much during the year, their whole mindset is San Fermin and as soon as one san fermin ends they are thinking of the next one.
Anyways so Tony and I split up from the group for a bit and wandered around for 3 hours alone. We went to a lot of bars to dance for a bit. Searched for the best drunk food we could find, which we didn´t succeed very well at. Finally at like 2 am I couldn´t handle much more, the night got really cold and I was exhausted. So we were going to find a bench to sleep for a few hours but luckily after an hour we got ahold of Felipe again and he was actually back at home to sleep himself. Yay! So we got a lot of sleep, didn´t go to the running this morning as we would have had to get up at like 630 am but we are looking into getting tickets for the bull fight tonight and tomorrow morning we will go to the running. Felipe our host is going to run, as well as another cser here so tony is going to check out the scene, if it feels right he´ll do it. Only 9 people got hurt today :). But he won´t do it without knowing whats going on.
I´ll try to put some pics up later of everything from last night. Just absoulutely insane, imagine NY on New years times ten. The town is an awesome town, except during the festival, its soooo dirty as thousands sleep on streets, there aren´t many bathrooms so its taken to the streets, you just throw your trash on the ground. Very dirty but they have workers out trying to clean up as best as possible. Anyways, if you can´t tell we are enjoying San Fermin a lot, especially if we get to see a bull fight tonight!
Angie will you please have Carter, I keep having dreams about it and making bets with myself that it happened and check and no carter, so hurry up!!! :)
Saturday, July 5, 2008
I have met my match
Well two new additions to the house are these Denmark gals and they are definitely my match in the one game I can beat everyone in (not mariokart) but Egyptian rat screw! They are so good and it was awesome to play someone that gave me some good competition. I was in awe. They said they learned it in the states from some dude from Morroco pretty sweet eh?
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy fourth and happy birthday michael!!!!
hey guys just wanted to say happy fourth, hope ya had a celebratory day and michael happy birthday! we are still in barcelona since the trains in spain are a hassle, we tried to go to morroco instead but that is a little to difficult, and sketchy? So instead we are going to stay with the "No worries"crew again because they are a lot of fun and the house is rad and so are all the surfers and guests. Tomorrow we head to Madrid then to Pamplona for Running of the bulls. woo hoo!
Barcelona is awesome anyways, the beach is super fun, topless beaches none the less, which is fun and gross at some points. Big waves and sandy beaches (if you have locals pointing you in the right direction). Most resteraunts have pig legs (with the hooves still on them) hanging out at the counter waiting to be sliced, a little intense for me but Tony is always down. We love the metro and amazing buildings, some which have taken 140 years to build and still aren't completed. WE attended a fountain show last night wich was really cool, I was hoping to see Lauren there mom! as it seemed really touristy but still cool.
Anyways, Barcelona has been one of my favorite places so far. We are really bummed to not have made it anywhere else in Spain but at least enjoyed where we are at the past four days, these guys are great and the town is awesome. See what Madrid and Pamplona have to offer next couple days.
Barcelona is awesome anyways, the beach is super fun, topless beaches none the less, which is fun and gross at some points. Big waves and sandy beaches (if you have locals pointing you in the right direction). Most resteraunts have pig legs (with the hooves still on them) hanging out at the counter waiting to be sliced, a little intense for me but Tony is always down. We love the metro and amazing buildings, some which have taken 140 years to build and still aren't completed. WE attended a fountain show last night wich was really cool, I was hoping to see Lauren there mom! as it seemed really touristy but still cool.
Anyways, Barcelona has been one of my favorite places so far. We are really bummed to not have made it anywhere else in Spain but at least enjoyed where we are at the past four days, these guys are great and the town is awesome. See what Madrid and Pamplona have to offer next couple days.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
few more pics.
Switzerland rocks! and look we are still kissing and still very happy :). The pics below are pics from Paris music festival thing. The one with the paint on our face is Germany for the game, being locals! and then switzerland the mtns and such. So gorgeous!!!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
European bike rides
well went for my first european drunk bike ride. quite the adventure. This would be at our new couchsurfer/hostel place. A cool dude with no worries named paul willing to host us, yet he is starting up his own tourist business and the works so if we want to stay with him we had to pay a little bit, but its well worth the little bit.
We have gotten spa treatment so to say. A kick ass pool in lovely barcelona (where hostels run for 25 euros a night per person) a private tennis court, becca I plan to kick Tony's ass tomorrow, showers, internet and laundry free which is soooo amazing, you forget what a luxurary they are in the US. And they feed us food, alchohol and good times at a very very small price.
Today we biked to the local pub which was hilarious, six of us on the sketchiest bikes ever! One shifter that shifted up and down, a little hard seat, tiny wheels, no shocks, just ridiculously awesome. Plus the streets are crazy with local drivers, and granted we are biking we 4 English men (they think traffic is on the other side of the street) its a shit show we'll say. But fun! def thought of last summer with you kimkim and two summers ago withyou A and T. So awesome. At the old school pub we had a lot of drinks, played some pool with a few band members that killed tony and slaugtered me. It was sooo cool cuz they are soooo good. Then we came back to this palace/spa to hang out with everyone. couch surfing rocks and europe is awesome. But we do miss you all! miss you and your birthdays, your days of birth! and the good days of summer. I miss the crazy random rope swing days, cliff jumping, and most of all cabin days, but we are having so much fun and hope you are enjoying this summer like us!
We have gotten spa treatment so to say. A kick ass pool in lovely barcelona (where hostels run for 25 euros a night per person) a private tennis court, becca I plan to kick Tony's ass tomorrow, showers, internet and laundry free which is soooo amazing, you forget what a luxurary they are in the US. And they feed us food, alchohol and good times at a very very small price.
Today we biked to the local pub which was hilarious, six of us on the sketchiest bikes ever! One shifter that shifted up and down, a little hard seat, tiny wheels, no shocks, just ridiculously awesome. Plus the streets are crazy with local drivers, and granted we are biking we 4 English men (they think traffic is on the other side of the street) its a shit show we'll say. But fun! def thought of last summer with you kimkim and two summers ago withyou A and T. So awesome. At the old school pub we had a lot of drinks, played some pool with a few band members that killed tony and slaugtered me. It was sooo cool cuz they are soooo good. Then we came back to this palace/spa to hang out with everyone. couch surfing rocks and europe is awesome. But we do miss you all! miss you and your birthdays, your days of birth! and the good days of summer. I miss the crazy random rope swing days, cliff jumping, and most of all cabin days, but we are having so much fun and hope you are enjoying this summer like us!
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