Hey, so now it's December 19th... HOLY! It's almost Christmas!! Yes!!
Well, things have been interesting at home, but I won't talk about that now... I'll talk about Greece again! So, the dogs... oh yes, that dog was ok. The car just tapped him and then he ran back over to us and kept following us. Sheesh.
While in Santorini we stayed at one of the only places open, called Stelio's Place... it was run by Stelio and his wife, Eva who were both lovely people. Our second day there we rented a car!! They only had standards but we were up to the challenge. I drove but it really stressed me out, since I'm not so hot at standards but luckily the roads weren't very busy. The island is so small that you can drive the whole length of it in less than an hour, so we drove to all the main villages and through some smaller ones. Santorini is an island right by a volcano island so Santorini was all black and red rocks, with black and red sand beaches which was really interesting! The whole island is like a big rock and all the villages just sit on top of the rock, most of them right on the edge of a cliff. The houses are all interesting shapes surrounded by little stairwells and walkways. And they're mostly painted white and a lot of the churches have blue domes on top! It was really cool.
At nighttime, since the island was so quiet that time of year, we had nothing to do so we'd just go to bed. Well, eat dinner out and then be followed home by all of our stray dog friends. And then go to bed!
We left Santorini and went back to our little hotel in Athens. I think we spent two nights there and it was pretty fun. They were really nice to us there... the bartender, Murphy, cooked all of our food and they even left us in charge once. Steph and I worked reception and Ern worked the bar. It was good times there.
While in Athens we went to the Acropolis one day and saw all the ancient ruins, including the Parthenon. Steph got in trouble there... she decided to take a rock, from the trillions of pieces of rocks on the ground, to give to her dad BUT a security guard caught her and made Steph give it to her. Haha... what a hoodlum. Ern got in trouble for something too that day... oh yeah, we went to the National Archeological Museum and Ern got in trouble for touching the glass. Haha... suckers. I got in trouble too though... for robbing someone. JUST KIDDING! For touching the glass too... they were pretty uptight at the museum. It closed early, so we had to leave anyway. Phhhffff.
Finally, we left Athens and flew to Berlin! That was exciting... by that point I was ridiculously excited to come home. Plus, every morning someone would be excited about Christmas and we'd all get excited. Oh boy... I love Christmas!
We got into Berlin pretty late at night so we tried to get to a hostel, but of course we had a hard time getting to any. So, we decided to go to a hostel type place kind of near by. We tried to walk, but got lost and scared. So, we took a taxi. The next day we moved to another hostel and ate falafel’s down the road! I think falafel’s have been one of the highlights of my whole trip. Maybe of my life.
That night though was AWFUL! We had a mixed dorm at our hostel and there were two, big Australian guys in our room who snored ALL night! It wasn't even snoring... it was more like dying. It was the most terrible noise we had ever heard. But, finally it was morning and they left AND WE went on a walking tour of Berlin! It was very fun, but cold! We saw lots of cool things... including some of the Berlin Wall!
Also, in Berlin we went to a few Christmas markets which was AWESOME! Ohhh, Christmas in Berlin! Steph and I ate a huge cookie ball with chocolate on it at one of the markets... it was delicious.
Finally, I left the girls after two days in Berlin and caught a flight to London. I met a friend on the plane... his name was Ritchie. He was a contortionist! I'd never met a contortionist before! And then in the airport, when I was buying a bus ticket, Ritchie pointed out Prodigy walking by! I thought that was pretty cool. That is now my main claim to fame, other than I know a contortionist. YES!
So, I spent a night alone in London and then caught a flight home the next day. It was the most exciting day! The flight home had FREE FOOD! And lots of it! It was fantastic.
Now I think the girls are in England. This is what I think they've been up to... I'll make it up a little bit. I know they flew out of Berlin to Nice, France. They went to Monaco and went into the casino and gambled away all of their money. They met a girl named Buffy who stole all their food and then they high tailed it out of there and went to Cinque Terre, in Italy where Ern got married. From Italy they flew to London and caught a bus to go see Anna Mitten, someone that Ern knows who owns a hostel near Stonehenge. I bet that's what they've been up to. They come home on the 21st and I'm going to go meet them at the airport! If you'd like to come too, you should! We could all go! And you could buy us all ice cream.
Well, I guess that's it for me. I hope everyone has a very, Merry Christmas! Thanks for reading about our trip!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
December 14th, 2004
Hello lovers!! This is Bri writing... I'm at home now! I left the girls in Berlin on the 9th and made my way home on the 10th. I told those chumps that I would update the website since it's hard to do it when you're living in hostels, so here it is!
So, we haven't updated this in awhile. I think the last time we did was back in November... maybe after Sicily? So, after Sicily we went to Rome. Wait, maybe we did write about Rome. Just in case, Rome was awesome! We did a tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. We also ran into Katherine Risley from Acadia! She just happened to be staying at the hostel we were staying at and waked in one morning while we were eating breakfast. That was pretty crazy! Ps - sorry if I spelt your name wrong, Katherine.
While in Rome we did a lot of sightseeing, but we also dressed up in togas! There was a toga party at the hostel we were staying at so that was cool... running around Rome, trying to find pizza, in togas. Hahahahahahahahahahhaha.
Anyway, after Rome we took a train to Bari, which was a VERY scary place. I heard a gun shot there... well, the girls didn't think that that was what it was. But, I did! It was scary whether it was a gunshot or not though. Luckily we weren't staying in Bari... we only had to go there to catch a ferry to GREECE!!
The ferry was about 15 and a half hours... it was disgusting! Actually, it wasn't that bad... we got into Patras and caught another train to Athens which stopped part way through because the train was malfunctioning. We had to get off the train and get on a bus... except it was all in Greek so we had no idea what was going on! People were yelling at each other all over the place!! Greek people are loud!
Anyway, we went to a hotel in Athens, which turned out to be awesome! There was a little bar in the hotel and all the men who ran the hotel or worked there hung out in the bar. They invited us down for a welcome drink of Ouzo, a very gross Greek shot. The people there included Murphy the bartender, Vassilius the "boss" and George, the large, Greek man with a mullet. That night Murphy convinced us to go to Santorini, one of the Greek islands. We couldn't make the ferry that next morning so we spent another day in Athens and then headed to the island early the next morning.
Santorini was awesome... it's a tiny Greek island that is totally run by the tourist industry. While we were there it was completely shut down! But, it was still fun! On the first night we realized that there were a lot of stray dogs in Santorini... one started to follow us and eventually it turned into six. It was SCARY! They wouldn't leave us alone and when we tried to go into restaurants all these dogs followed us so people probably thought we had lots of weird dogs. They would run in the street around us and they weren't very smart... one was hit by a car!
Ok, I have to go now but I'll continue this exciting story soon! Oh, the dog wasn't hurt when it was hit by a car... so no worries! I don't want anyone upset over the stray dog!
So, we haven't updated this in awhile. I think the last time we did was back in November... maybe after Sicily? So, after Sicily we went to Rome. Wait, maybe we did write about Rome. Just in case, Rome was awesome! We did a tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. We also ran into Katherine Risley from Acadia! She just happened to be staying at the hostel we were staying at and waked in one morning while we were eating breakfast. That was pretty crazy! Ps - sorry if I spelt your name wrong, Katherine.
While in Rome we did a lot of sightseeing, but we also dressed up in togas! There was a toga party at the hostel we were staying at so that was cool... running around Rome, trying to find pizza, in togas. Hahahahahahahahahahhaha.
Anyway, after Rome we took a train to Bari, which was a VERY scary place. I heard a gun shot there... well, the girls didn't think that that was what it was. But, I did! It was scary whether it was a gunshot or not though. Luckily we weren't staying in Bari... we only had to go there to catch a ferry to GREECE!!
The ferry was about 15 and a half hours... it was disgusting! Actually, it wasn't that bad... we got into Patras and caught another train to Athens which stopped part way through because the train was malfunctioning. We had to get off the train and get on a bus... except it was all in Greek so we had no idea what was going on! People were yelling at each other all over the place!! Greek people are loud!
Anyway, we went to a hotel in Athens, which turned out to be awesome! There was a little bar in the hotel and all the men who ran the hotel or worked there hung out in the bar. They invited us down for a welcome drink of Ouzo, a very gross Greek shot. The people there included Murphy the bartender, Vassilius the "boss" and George, the large, Greek man with a mullet. That night Murphy convinced us to go to Santorini, one of the Greek islands. We couldn't make the ferry that next morning so we spent another day in Athens and then headed to the island early the next morning.
Santorini was awesome... it's a tiny Greek island that is totally run by the tourist industry. While we were there it was completely shut down! But, it was still fun! On the first night we realized that there were a lot of stray dogs in Santorini... one started to follow us and eventually it turned into six. It was SCARY! They wouldn't leave us alone and when we tried to go into restaurants all these dogs followed us so people probably thought we had lots of weird dogs. They would run in the street around us and they weren't very smart... one was hit by a car!
Ok, I have to go now but I'll continue this exciting story soon! Oh, the dog wasn't hurt when it was hit by a car... so no worries! I don't want anyone upset over the stray dog!
November 26th, 2004
Hello friends! So, it's been awhile since we last wrote so we have a lot to say. Right now we're in Rome, but since Sevilla we've been to Portugal, Barcelona and Sicily!
Portugal:
Well, we took a night bus to Lisbon, from Sevilla, which was stinky. We arrived way too early in the morning and met a funny little girl named Jennifer from Regina. Jennifer gave us a map and some money for the metro. Thanks Jennifer! So, we went to our hostel which wasn't a hostel at all, it was a nice little room with three beds and nightstands! We toured around Lisbon that day and decided that the next day we would go to Sintra, a small town outside of Lisbon. People were very nice to us in Portugal... and they ALL spoke English! The only not nice person we saw in Portugal was an old woman who was being tormented by some guys. It made her really upset and she threw a huge rock at them. We were pretty scared.
So, Sintra was beautiful! It was small, and there were white lights hanging from all the trees. There were lots of parks, palm trees and palaces. Our second day there we went to see some of the palaces and met a wonderful Canadian couple. We pretended they were our grandparents. It was nice to hang out with our grandparents for awhile.
We spent only three days in Portugal and then headed straight to Barcelona.
Barcelona:
We got into Barcelona in the evening and found our way to a cool hostel. There was a big fruit market off the main street, La Rambla, and we bought food to make the most delicious omelets! Oh umm. We toured around the city the next day and saw some cool architecture and also ate gelati! That night we went out to a place where we got free dinner... it was mediocre. We met some friends and when to a pub and hung out around a barrel. The best part of our time in Barcelona was... FALAFEL!
Sicily:
We left Barcelona and then things got fun. We flew to London where we spent the night on the airport floor. Steph, unfortunately, got sick all night. We relocated so we could be close to the washroom. She must have drunk some bad water. Bad Stephanie!
We had another flight out of there the next morning and things got even more fun! Steph says she was sick again but Ern and Bri know that she was just trying to get free food from the flight attendants. But, it worked for her! Passing out always does! She got a free bottle of water and a free chocolate granola bar! Plus, she got to sleep across three seats while Erin and Bri were mad and smooshed in the back.
Anyway, we arrived in Palermo and it was ugly and there were mean men at the train station so we were outta there! We caught a train to Taormina where we stayed for four nights. Life there was good... we went to the beach, joined the Mafia, and ate marmelada. Ern and Steph took a day trip to Mount Etna, which happened to erupt that very day!!!! They ran really fast down that mountain. That's a lie. They did hike up it though and it was spectacular. Bri went to the beach. We met some cool friends there and they were very nice to us, although they were American. Except for Darcy, James and Gibralto who were not. American, that is. They were also nice.
We took the night train to Rome and sat in a coach with a lovely Italian man who gave us his sandwich and an apple! Bri ate it all and didn't share at all. We got into our hostel about two hours ago... and there's a toga party here tonight! You are all invited. So, see ya here tonight! We have to go because there's free breakfast, fatties! None for you. Sorry! See ya!
Portugal:
Well, we took a night bus to Lisbon, from Sevilla, which was stinky. We arrived way too early in the morning and met a funny little girl named Jennifer from Regina. Jennifer gave us a map and some money for the metro. Thanks Jennifer! So, we went to our hostel which wasn't a hostel at all, it was a nice little room with three beds and nightstands! We toured around Lisbon that day and decided that the next day we would go to Sintra, a small town outside of Lisbon. People were very nice to us in Portugal... and they ALL spoke English! The only not nice person we saw in Portugal was an old woman who was being tormented by some guys. It made her really upset and she threw a huge rock at them. We were pretty scared.
So, Sintra was beautiful! It was small, and there were white lights hanging from all the trees. There were lots of parks, palm trees and palaces. Our second day there we went to see some of the palaces and met a wonderful Canadian couple. We pretended they were our grandparents. It was nice to hang out with our grandparents for awhile.
We spent only three days in Portugal and then headed straight to Barcelona.
Barcelona:
We got into Barcelona in the evening and found our way to a cool hostel. There was a big fruit market off the main street, La Rambla, and we bought food to make the most delicious omelets! Oh umm. We toured around the city the next day and saw some cool architecture and also ate gelati! That night we went out to a place where we got free dinner... it was mediocre. We met some friends and when to a pub and hung out around a barrel. The best part of our time in Barcelona was... FALAFEL!
Sicily:
We left Barcelona and then things got fun. We flew to London where we spent the night on the airport floor. Steph, unfortunately, got sick all night. We relocated so we could be close to the washroom. She must have drunk some bad water. Bad Stephanie!
We had another flight out of there the next morning and things got even more fun! Steph says she was sick again but Ern and Bri know that she was just trying to get free food from the flight attendants. But, it worked for her! Passing out always does! She got a free bottle of water and a free chocolate granola bar! Plus, she got to sleep across three seats while Erin and Bri were mad and smooshed in the back.
Anyway, we arrived in Palermo and it was ugly and there were mean men at the train station so we were outta there! We caught a train to Taormina where we stayed for four nights. Life there was good... we went to the beach, joined the Mafia, and ate marmelada. Ern and Steph took a day trip to Mount Etna, which happened to erupt that very day!!!! They ran really fast down that mountain. That's a lie. They did hike up it though and it was spectacular. Bri went to the beach. We met some cool friends there and they were very nice to us, although they were American. Except for Darcy, James and Gibralto who were not. American, that is. They were also nice.
We took the night train to Rome and sat in a coach with a lovely Italian man who gave us his sandwich and an apple! Bri ate it all and didn't share at all. We got into our hostel about two hours ago... and there's a toga party here tonight! You are all invited. So, see ya here tonight! We have to go because there's free breakfast, fatties! None for you. Sorry! See ya!
November 12th, 2004
We are in Sevilla right now! We just arrived today and a woman wooed us into staying at her hostel. We will be here for two nights and then we are off to Lisbon for four nights! The last few days we have been in Cadiz, which was awesome! We went to the beach one-day and another day we went to the Rock of Gibraltar where there were monkeys! That sat on Bri and Steph's head! And one ate out of Erns pocket. It was very scary!
We will probably be back here, using the Internet, tomorrow to write more about all of our adventures! We love you! And sorry about the guestbook! We have had a hard time trying to fix it! You crazy kids keep filling it!
We will probably be back here, using the Internet, tomorrow to write more about all of our adventures! We love you! And sorry about the guestbook! We have had a hard time trying to fix it! You crazy kids keep filling it!
November 3rd, 2004
Ola! We are in Spain! We caught a train from La Rochelle to Barcelona which was very interesting... it was a night train and when we first got on Bri tried to recline her seat but smooshed the little man sleeping on the floor behind it. He yelled at her in French. There was also a drunk man running around the train sitting in other people’s seats. He stuck his butt in Erns face and then sometimes crawled down by his bag behind Steph's seat. He was weird.
We kept taking trains right through Barcelona and onto Alicante, which is on the southeastern coast of Spain. And it is the most beautiful place in the whole world. We arrived late last night and walked to our hostel. It was a beautiful walk! There were palm trees everywhere and white marble sidewalks! Our hostel is also very lovely and we have our own room! We also have a balcony that overlooks a fortress and a beautiful church. And we are two minutes from the beach! We went today for a few hours and it was about 25 degrees! We got to use our bathing suits for the first time! We also got to wear skirts and flipflops. We love our lives here.
We are planning on staying here for about five nights or so. We want to try to get to Portugal but we will see how it goes! Spain is awesome! We are having a party here tomorrow night! You are all invited! Woo fiesta!
We kept taking trains right through Barcelona and onto Alicante, which is on the southeastern coast of Spain. And it is the most beautiful place in the whole world. We arrived late last night and walked to our hostel. It was a beautiful walk! There were palm trees everywhere and white marble sidewalks! Our hostel is also very lovely and we have our own room! We also have a balcony that overlooks a fortress and a beautiful church. And we are two minutes from the beach! We went today for a few hours and it was about 25 degrees! We got to use our bathing suits for the first time! We also got to wear skirts and flipflops. We love our lives here.
We are planning on staying here for about five nights or so. We want to try to get to Portugal but we will see how it goes! Spain is awesome! We are having a party here tomorrow night! You are all invited! Woo fiesta!
Our Week in France
We arrived in Paris, but not really Paris... we had to catch an hour-long bus to Paris. In Paris we stayed in the shabby hotel de Medicis. It was pretty shabby, but there was a bidet in our room! Woopwoop! And we had no food, so we ate cold bean and cheese sandwiches. It was slightly depressing.
Our time in Paris was short but we did see some lovely things including the Eiffel Tower! And also the Notre Dame Cathedral where we met the mayor of the West Indies! Or so that man told us.
We caught a train from Paris to Dinan to stay with a lovely family that Steph knows. They were incredible to us! We stayed there for six nights and ate like the French. Which is how we wish we always ate.
While we were there we went to Saint Malo which is a lovely walled coastal city. We also went to Mont St Michel, which was beautiful! We ate some tasty food and drank some lovely juice de goyave!
We left Dinan and headed to La Rochelle, which is where Erns beautiful friend Paula lives. She was also very lovely to us. While we were there we visited Ile de Re, which is a fantastic island with lots of beaches, and ice cream stands. Yumm.
We left La Rochelle and caught a train to Barcelona. People in France were very hospitable to us. Thank you... we love you!
Our time in Paris was short but we did see some lovely things including the Eiffel Tower! And also the Notre Dame Cathedral where we met the mayor of the West Indies! Or so that man told us.
We caught a train from Paris to Dinan to stay with a lovely family that Steph knows. They were incredible to us! We stayed there for six nights and ate like the French. Which is how we wish we always ate.
While we were there we went to Saint Malo which is a lovely walled coastal city. We also went to Mont St Michel, which was beautiful! We ate some tasty food and drank some lovely juice de goyave!
We left Dinan and headed to La Rochelle, which is where Erns beautiful friend Paula lives. She was also very lovely to us. While we were there we visited Ile de Re, which is a fantastic island with lots of beaches, and ice cream stands. Yumm.
We left La Rochelle and caught a train to Barcelona. People in France were very hospitable to us. Thank you... we love you!
Our Week in Ireland
We spent about a week in Ireland and it was totally cool! We flew into Dublin and spent our first night there. We didn’t really have much of a plan for our week in Ireland so we went to a tourist place and decided to go on a three-day bus tour of Southern Ireland! Yes!!
We left Dublin early the next morning on a little green bus called the Paddywagon. There were about 30 people on the bus tour, including a bus driver/tour guide with a ridiculous Irish lisp and we could barely understand him... except when he made a joke, because he always snickered at his own jokes. Beside the bus driver we met some VERY cool people, like Jesse! From the United States! He signed our guestbook. Yes! Thank you Jesse!
Anyway, on the first day of the bus tour we went to very cool places like Clonmacnoise which was a cool monastery and Galway where we spent a night and went out to a pub! Hmm Guinness! Jesse bought us one! Thank you Jesse!
The next day we went to the Cliffs of Moher, which are about 750 meters tall, on the coast of Ireland! It was incredible! Thank you Jesse!
From there we went to a cool surf town where a wonderful woman from South Africa, named Jane, treated us to hot chocolate! We love her very much. We were the poor bums on the tour... when everyone else ate in pubs we ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches... outside the pub. So, that was very nice of her!
That night we stayed in Killarney and celebrated Christmas in Killarney! Well, maybe we didn’t BUT we did go out to a pub! There was a band that played and when they played the national anthem, and everyone else was standing, we didn’t know what was going on. We stood eventually.
The next day we went to Cork, but we dot want to talk about that now. After Cork we went to the Blarney Castle where we kissed the Blarney Stone. And Ern caught Hep A. Eww. Just kidding! We all did. Anyway, the tour was really nice and we headed back to Dublin. We spent two more nights there and ran into one grumpy man who kicked us off his steps. Pssshaw.
Before leaving for France we went to Limerick and a lovely little town called Six-Mile Bridge. We stayed in a beautiful hostel called Jamaica Inn and then caught a bus the next morning to the airport. And flew to France!
We left Dublin early the next morning on a little green bus called the Paddywagon. There were about 30 people on the bus tour, including a bus driver/tour guide with a ridiculous Irish lisp and we could barely understand him... except when he made a joke, because he always snickered at his own jokes. Beside the bus driver we met some VERY cool people, like Jesse! From the United States! He signed our guestbook. Yes! Thank you Jesse!
Anyway, on the first day of the bus tour we went to very cool places like Clonmacnoise which was a cool monastery and Galway where we spent a night and went out to a pub! Hmm Guinness! Jesse bought us one! Thank you Jesse!
The next day we went to the Cliffs of Moher, which are about 750 meters tall, on the coast of Ireland! It was incredible! Thank you Jesse!
From there we went to a cool surf town where a wonderful woman from South Africa, named Jane, treated us to hot chocolate! We love her very much. We were the poor bums on the tour... when everyone else ate in pubs we ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches... outside the pub. So, that was very nice of her!
That night we stayed in Killarney and celebrated Christmas in Killarney! Well, maybe we didn’t BUT we did go out to a pub! There was a band that played and when they played the national anthem, and everyone else was standing, we didn’t know what was going on. We stood eventually.
The next day we went to Cork, but we dot want to talk about that now. After Cork we went to the Blarney Castle where we kissed the Blarney Stone. And Ern caught Hep A. Eww. Just kidding! We all did. Anyway, the tour was really nice and we headed back to Dublin. We spent two more nights there and ran into one grumpy man who kicked us off his steps. Pssshaw.
Before leaving for France we went to Limerick and a lovely little town called Six-Mile Bridge. We stayed in a beautiful hostel called Jamaica Inn and then caught a bus the next morning to the airport. And flew to France!
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