Quotable Quotes

In 6 months you have a lot of laughs. Below are some of our favorite quotable moments, we'll be saying this stuff for years.

“Ho Chi Minh, city of motorbikes. You don’t have a motor bike you don’t have a life. You have no boyfriend, no girlfriend, nothing. A while ago they say, you ride motorbike you wear helmet. We say we no wear helmet, helmet looks like rice cooker on your head.”
- Mekong Delta Tour guide

You buy postcard for your boyfriend.”
“I don’t have a boyfriend.” [Jen’s response]
“That’s cuz you no buy postcard.”
- Cambodian girl selling postcards

“Where you from.”
“Nowhere.” [Jayme’s facetious response]
“Capital Oslo. Population 4 million, minus three. 1-2-3”
- Cambodian boy selling postcards who thought we were from Norway

“Who’s the weggie.”
- Thai hiking guide who can’t pronounce his “v’s”.

“You want more wegetables, you can add more wegetables. You want more carlots, you add more carlots.”
- Thai cooking instructor

“Girls, what are you complaining about! You could have been born with your boobs knocking between your knees.”
- James the Kiwi on women’s rights in India after seeing a female goat.

“You said 60 rupees!!! For 6 people!!!”
- Jen losing it with an Indian cab driver

“It’s a deal, it’s a steal, it’s the sale of the $%*! century.
- Pink Harry on finding 15 rupee Kit-Kat’s in India

“So be that.”
- Danielle on quantum physics.

“Egeszsegedre!”
- Jayme’s words before spilling a glass of white wine on Ann’s lap

"It's a stuuudent thing."
- Our friend Katja on student events in Slovenia

“I need to call China; I have a problem with them.”
- Jen in the Czech Republic on being charge 3 times for her plane ticket home

“I hate you and I hate you and I hate you the most!”
- Drunk guy at 4:30am in Warsaw hostel (best if reenacted by Jen)

“Crem de la Kremlin.”
- Tad cracking himself up in Moscow

“Do you have a flagg...”
- Tad's impression of Eddie Izzard on British colonization

“I pack like Paris Hilton.”
- Tariq on his 60lb backpack for the Trans-Mongolian railway

“When we were young we had no toys; we played with our toothbrushes.”
- Tariq on growing up in England

“Dab a little behind your ear and you're ready for formal wear.”
- Tariq on the smell of smoked Russian fish

“Darling, have you seen how rubbery this is – you could play squash with it.”
- Tariq’s steak in the Russian train dining car

“Mongoowia.”
- Say this in your best Kim Jong II Team America accent

"You have lamas in Mongolia...three toes, they spit."
- Rupert on lamas in Mongolia. The sign in the museum, however, was talking about the Dahlia Lama.

California here we come!

Jen and I depart at 8:30pm Beijing time and arrive at 5:45pm LAX time on Wednesday (yep, we get home 3 hours before we leave tomorrow). Jayme is on a different flight and gets in an hour earlier. Our bags are packed and we'll be singing the theme song to the OC all the way home. First stop will be In'n out near LAX.

Going home is a funny thing, a bit of a time warp, actually. I have no idea what it will be like to sleep in the same place for more than 5 nights or pack a bag everyday and carry it everywhere. I feel like we just left. Two of our new friends (Rupert & Tariq) are headed to Hanoi. If we had the money and the time I'd start over again in a heartbeat.

Cultural Observations

Here are a few quick observations I've made on China in the past few weeks. Nothing profound just random.

Babies
- There is no so such thing as strollers or diapers in this land. They carry their babies and have built in potty training with crotchless pants. It's one way to save money and pretty funny when you get flashed.

Air Conditioning
- One of my favorite daily sights is what I call "Asian Air Conditioning". This consists of men pulling their t-shirts up and letting their belly's hang out to cool off with the heat. They walk around like this, ride bikes, live their normal lives either with their stomach hanging out or their t-shirt off.

Transportation
- Bikes are cool and even cooler when they are a manual/electric hybrid.

When I grow up...
- Based purely on the number of stores I have seen in Beijing, I truly believe all Chinese teenagers what to grow up to become rock stars. There are more guitar stores (sometimes up for 12 in a row on a block) and hair salons than you could possible fathom. Rock on!

Our final test

We had our final backpacker test last night and survived. It was the 12 hour, hard seat, overnight train ride from Xian to Beijing. Yep, it was us and the locals in wagon 5. The train was packed and they even sell standing room tickets. Seriously, 12 hours of standing on a train overnight\- we saw people do it. It was a little packed and uncomfortable to say the least. I think we are the only tourists who didn't buy the scalper sleeper compartment tickets. We didn't get that memo and are way to cheap for that nonsense, so we suffered. It was our last train ride of the journey and a memorable one. I played name that animal or object game with my camera and a 4 year Chinese boy. He got a 100% mainly because I have no idea if his answers were right. Hey - it couldn't be all that bad - there was air conditioning.

Back to Beijing

We've spent 5 nights here in Xian. Saw the panda bears & blue sky, biked the city walls and ate the spiciest meal of the trip (my nose hairs were on fire). Oh and then there were amazing dumplings for 35 cents and don't forget the night we ate at the public health nightmare restauruent. Dishes on the floor, nasty bathroom, teenager help staff and the cigarette butts...but somehow it ended up being one of the best meals in China.

Somehow, I also ended up purchasing a replica of a Chinese MIG helmet the other day. Tad ditched us and found his way to Shanghai to ride the maglift train. We are all reconvening in Beijing (12 hour overnight train) for one last shopping spree and KTV session before heading back to the States.

Water Army

Our group of 7 is now in Xi'an, China. It's pouring rain here and hasn't stopped since we arrived 2 days ago. For some reason there are no train tickets available in China and our big dreams of going to Shanghai were crushed at the train station. I'm glad we got tickets back to Beijing.

Xi'an is home of the famous Terracotta Army. We paid a visit to the vast bronze army yesterday (soaking wet most of the day). Learn more about these ancient warriors at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army.

The best part of the evening was the incredible foundation show at the Goose Pagoda. One great thing about traveling in other countries is they don't have rules and there is no thing such as liability. So, instead of watching the foundation show Tad, Jayme, Rupert and I joined in and ran through the foundation terraces. More fun than you could possibly imagine.

It was our last evening with our good friend Tariq, so we headed to the local KTV (karaoke) joint for 4 hours of belting our lungs out. If you want to see Jen sing and dance her heart out, just give her a mic and put on Footloose. Tariq's rendition of Love Shack will go down in history. We love KTV!

7th Wind

Who knew a 22 hour day could give you a 7th wind. After making it to Beijing, there were officially only 8 days left of world tour. Mentality, all I had to do was make it there, so thinking about having another 8 days of travel was a little overwhelming. We ate some bad Peking Duck which added to the downward spiral.

But after our day of hiking the Great Wall and finishing the night at 2am with an awesome hour of KTV as is well.

Walking the Great Wall

Okay, it definitely more a hike than a walk but worth every drop of sweat.

We started again earlier and were out the door by 5:30am for a 2 hour car ride to the Great Wall of China. The hike was 9 kilometers from Jinshanling to Simatai. After the hords of people at the Forbidden city, we thought the Great Wall would be another tourist mecca. Lucky for us, we decided to visit a section further out and had the wall almost to ourselves. Our journey started with a cable car ride up to the top and 4 hours later we ended with a zip line ride down to the parking lot.

The wall snakes along the mountain ridge like a dragon. It truely is amazing site. We walked up and down both restored and unrestored sections. By the end we were exhausted and completely drenched in sweat by some of the super steep inclines.

Beijing Mornings

The alarm clock went off at 3:50am this morning. We all met in the lobby at 4:15am with of goal of starting our time in China off right with the raising of the Chinese flag at Tianamium Square at 5am. This is also when we learned white people are cool and we were the only ones at the ceremony among thousands of Chinese. After the ceremony we took photos with random Chinese people who love people with blond hair as we walked through part of the Forbidden city. Next stop was watching Tai Chi and other Chinese games at the Temple of Heaven.

Hot, Dirty & Exhausted

The worst part of the Trans-Mongolian was from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing, straight through the Gobe desert. Talk about a complete waste land. It was hot, make that sweltering. The train wagon was full of dirt and sand, you could see it in the air and feel it in your teeth. We were all seriously miserable and disgusting. We did find some ice cream at one stop and got chocolate all over our faces as it melted so quickly. My allergies had already flared up before the ride so with the help of Benadryl I think I slept for 24 out of the 32 hours we were on the train.

Around 11pm the train crosses the border into China but the tracks are narrower here. So, they have to change the undercarriage. I fell asleep somewhere in the process. Our wagon was on a huge jack inside a hanger getting its wheels changed. Once we made it to Beijing, Jen lost a shoe on the platform. It fell down onto the tracks and a nice Chinese man helped retrieve it.

Mongolian Olympics

The Mongolian Olympics contain three main sports - horse riding, archery and wresting. We attended the opening ceremonies in the rain and eventual blazing heat. I said hello to the President of Mongolia.

Ger Camping

The next morning we had a great tour of the largest Buddhist Monastery by a really cool monk. Then our crew of 7 plus our new guide Elmira headed 1 hour out of town to a Ger Camp - a highlight of Mongolia and one of the trips. A Ger is a big round tent that the nomadic population uses for shelter. They typically move 3-4 times a year and have a variety of livestock including - goats, sheep, horses, cows and yaks. They eat alot of meat in this country.

Once we got out into the countryside we realized Mongolia is the place to be. Forget Russia, forget Europe, forget cities - come hang out in the Mongolian mountains. We could easily spend months hanging out here and living in a ger camp. Rupert vowed he was going to return one day and learn how to train eagles.

After settling down in our spacious ger - it was time to ride some horses. I have wanted to ride horses ever since our camel safari in India. I'm all about alternative forms of transportation. When our horses arrived we discovered horses in Mongolia are half the size of normal horses. No worries, oh except Jen, who hated every minute of horse riding. In fact, we have video footage of her yelling about how much she hated it and how she would never do it again. We rode up to Turtle rock and then over to a nomadic family's camp. There ger had a satellite dish out front and a Mongolian cowboy rounding up horses while chatting on this cell phone.

The day didn't stop there though. Once we got home we hiked to the top of the ridge for a grand view of the land. Pretty amazing. Our guide Elmira (adorable & smiley girl) taught us how to play ankle bones before dinner. I broke out the Slovenian bottle of rum/wine that I had been carrying around for 2 months for the highly anticipated evening of star gazing.

Then, it was up at 4:30am for the sunrise. Here we are.

Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar

Okay first imagine the hot, dry air and mountainous high desert of Palm Springs. Then, remove all golf courses, grass and nice hotels. Then, add factories, communist's blocks, a big Buddha statue, and something that looks like the Eiffel tour. Then, add thousands of temporary housing tents surrounding the city limits. Welcome to Ulaanbaatar the capital of Mongolia.

Here are a few facts about Mongolia:
-One of the largest land-locked countries in the world
-One of the most scarcely populated countries in the world with a population of 3 million
-Over 1.2 million people live in the capital of Ulaanbaatar but 60% of them live in temporary housing (like big tent) that can be moved.

We arrived in the morning and scrolled around town, stopping off at the main square and history museum. Then, in the afternoon it was up to the big soviet monument on the top of hill for an excellent view of the city and to hear a little throat singing.

Mongolia is also one of the cheapest countries we have been in thus far. I could get a coke for 16 cents and an hour of Internet for 30 cents. It's like India without all the social issues. For some reason the city as a HUGE expat community and you can eat well in town from Mongolian BBQ to French pastries. Oh and don't forget the plethora of Irish Pubs.

Back in Asia

Sorry it's been a while. We are officially back in Asia after completing the Trans-Mongolian railway journey. I will post all about our Mongolian Ger Camp, horse riding (Jen claims she will never ride a horse again) and Olympic game adventures, along will the unforgettable train ride from Ulaanbater to Beijing.

Asia is great and it's good to be back in the land of friendly people, cheap cokes and cute babies. Little Asian girls will pig tales has to be one of the cutest things on the planet. Our Mandarin is much better than our Mongolian. Stay tuned.

Border Crossings

Okay, so yesterday we spent 10 hours crossing the border between Russia and Mongolia. Eighty percent of that was on the Russian side. We have no idea why, but it can take any where from 7 to 12 hours.

The best part was witnessing Mongolian smugglers hide massive amounts of beer in their compartments and pay off the officials. It was pretty entertaining.

We love Mongolia so far and are heading out to a Ger camp on horseback tomorrow and then the next day we'll be attending the Mongolian Olympics. Can't wait to see the archery, wrestling and horse riding competitions.

Beaten with Sticks

The highlight of Siberia was the Russian Banya! The Homestead where we were staying just built their sauna, and we were only too eager to participate. There are three rooms in the banya, one with the coals and benches which is burning hot. The next with the freezing cold water buckets, to pour over yourself of course. And the last, which has a picnic table where you can sit and snack between steamings!

We started in the coal room for five minutes, then out to the cold water, then to the table. Again, coals, water, table. The last time you enter the coal room - someone is to come with you and beat you first with birch branches, leaves intact, and then pine branches! After six months of traveling with people, there is nothing more rewarding than beating them with sticks!

We all survived, and thoroughly enjoyed our third cultural "bath" experience.
Today we are headed back to the train and onto Mongolia, bring on that smooth train rock and roll.

Lake Big Lake

Lake Baikal, in eastern Russian, is the deepest lake in the world at 1600 meters. This lake contains 20% of the world's fresh water. Scientists believe that in a few million years this lake will help create the 8th ocean and China will become a new continent.
Lake Baikal is also home to fresh water seals and a multipide species only found here.

The lake freezes over in the winter and makes for great ice fishing & dog sleding. Mid-summer the waters tempurature is 5 degrees celsius also know as will make your legs numb in about 30 seconds. We hiked up to various view points, went for a boat ride to view the water amazing visibility (up to 40 meters in certain areas).

4th of July Celebration

We did our best to celebrate the 4th of July. There was singing, dancing, food and then more singing. We blasted the Beach Boys, Lynard Skynard, the Star Spangled banner and every great American song we could find on our ipod’s. With our two new British friends on board we discussed doing a enactment of Paul Revere’s ride, yelling the British are coming while they ran away down the train hall in red coats. Here we are on the train with all our American products and singing a great American song. Fireworks and a good cheeseburger would have been a fantastic addition.

Passing the Time

Who knew passing 80+ hours on the train could be so easy. Thanks to Tad we were well supplied with oatmeal, top-ramen noodles, coffee, double stuff oreos, peanut butter and a multitude of celebrity magazines. The train features an unlimited supply of hot water and all you need is a cup. There were 4 of us in a cabin. Jayme and I had the upper bunks while Jen and Tad bickered below.

As we moved east, we began to gain time. A total of five hours from Moscow to Irkutsk, but this is Russia, so everything still operates of Moscow time. It was 2am but all the clocks say 10pm. Good thing it was easier to take a nap when you were tired. The train would stop for 20 minutes, 3 times a day. Enough time to hop off, buy a coke, ice cream or something from a little babushka. You didn’t stray too far in fear of being left behind. Most of Siberia looks like Nebraska. Looking out the window we saw green plains, aspen-like trees and small villages from time to time.

Every day we looked forward to movie night. Our new friend Rupert brought his laptop and we made sure to pick up a few pirated dvds in Moscow. We watched Dejavu , Devil Wears Prada and Sandra Bullocks new movie Premonition. Devil Wears Prada won hands done and for the future we are all going to avoid movies involving time travel.

The Vodkatrain

The final leg of our journey, the Trans-Mongolian railway, has begun. The big kicker begins tonight with 4 nights and 3 straight days on a train through Siberia. Here's a quick overview of our stops along the way.

3 days St Petersburg
3 days Moscow
3 days on a train through Siberia
2 days in Irkutsk and Lake Baikal
1 more day on a train to Mongolia
3 days in Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar & a Ger Camp
2 days in Beijing
10 more days in China

We are heading home on July 25th from China. See you all in 25 days or so.

Team Rocky

There are now 7 of us on our Trans-Mongalian railway tour. The new additions include: Tad (Jen's cousin), Rupert (charming British pub worker), Teriq (British IT banking sercuity guru) and Jeff (Aussie mortage broker).

We have deemed ourselves "Team Rocky" after hearing the Rocky theme song in a St. Petersberg bar. Here's a pic we shot today at the Russian War museum. We also downloaded the entire Rocky soundtrack to play during our 4th of July celebration on the train.

Arm-wrestling, Weight-lifting, Beer festival

It was another big day in Moscow. We toured the Kremlin grounds, viewed a few of Stalin's sinister Seven Sister buildings (7 neo-gothic style structures that look like somthing straight out of Gotham city). Then, it was a lovely boat cruise down the river to the ski jump where you get an excellent view of the entire city. Tad was interviewed for Moscow television and then we headed for the grand finale of the day - the Russian arm wrestling, weight-lighting, beer festival under the watchful eye of a large Lenin statue. It was great hanging with the locals and how often do you get a chance to watch Russian arm-wresting.

Take that Mr. Lenin

During our first big day in town we headed to Red Square to see Mr. Lenin in his Soviet tomb. Once inside, we were greeted by 8 Russian soldiers, then after another flight of stairs we were greeted by another 8 Russian soliders, and then another group of soliders. I felt like the President. Once into the viewing room, keep your hands by your side and walk around the case containing Lenin's waxy body. Pretty weird stuff. But, it got even creepier when we learned that Stalin had Lenin's brain removed when he died in 1924 to have sciencists look for his communist genius.

After seeing Lenin we needed a snack. The most popular place just off of Red Square is...yep - McDonald's. We grabbed a hot fudge sundae and some fries. I'm sure Lenin would be rolling over (if he could) as I walked passed his tomb's with my french fries. Oh the irony.

Never Ending Days

We have made it to St. Petersburg, Russia. It has been a few good, long days and the sun is finally out after 2 days of showers.

Yesterday, we pounded the pavement for 16 straight hours. It all started around 11am and we didn't get home until after 2am. I swear we must of walked at 12 miles during that time. The big sights of the day included the Hermitage ( one of the largest art museum in the world), Church of the Blood (amazing mosaic interior) St. Issac's Church (babushka with a pretty hat), and then we ended the night watching the draw bridges rise at 1:25am. We learned the Russians have annoying tourist entrance fees. One price for Russian and one price for foreigners (which is always double).

The White night phenomenon here is pretty amazing. We walked out of dinner at 11:45 pm and it was still completely light out. Your mind and body can not compute time anymore. About 2am it become twilight and then sun is back up by 4am. We have gotten little sleep the past few days.

Overall, St. Petersburg is a very european city with large grand buildings and canals. But the the architecture still feels quite heavy. The building are solid and you definitely get the feeling you could be easily crushed. Everything is still just big and for no good reason. You should see the size of the rain gutter drains, uselessly gigantic. The Soviets loved there concrete and I'm excited to see all of the hideous structures in Moscow.

Today we toured Peterhof (summer palace and Russian attempt to up stage the France's Versailles) and tonight we are off to the Russian ballet. Then it's the midnight train to Moscow.

to Hel and back

We spent the weekend in Hel. Seriously Hel, Poland. It is a small town on the Baltic Coast at the very tip of a long peninsula.

Because of the fun name we said things like "Buy a one-way ticket to Hel" or "Check out all the people going to Hel" or "Gosh, it really is a cold day in Hel." Small things amuse us now. We came for the sandy beach and experienced 2 hours of sun bathing between thunder storms.

Tonight, back in Warsaw, we got our movie fix with Ocean's 13.

We are excited to put our Russian visas to use tomorrow, see you in St. Petersberg Tad.

Laugh to Keep From Crying

There are days when the traveling is amazing. Every moment is a new experience and the beautiful views, delicious tastes and inspiring sounds surround you. Others, you have to work at it. The last twelve hours have been work. My family left last night for Vienna, and I waited with them at the train station for a while and then had to make my way back to the hostel alone. We were unfortunately sleeping in a twelve bed dorm last night, so when I opened the door at 10:00 there was a guy getting dressed, but he had only made it into his underwear when I entered! Okay.

The other nine people in the room went out last night, about the time we went to bed, so I knew I would be expecting them throughout the night. At about 2:30 some show up flip on the light, clumsily and noisily get their things together and go to sleep - without turning off the light. So, once out of bed. Again some more folks came home, twice out of bed to turn off the light. The last guy stumbles in at 4:30, and gets into bed. Just about then our resident snorer starts up, and the last one home starts mumbling something in his bed and then jumps out of bed. "F-this, and f-that.", he says. I'm not sure what was f-ing wrong because I couldn't understand his accent! Then he starts into, "I hate you. And I hate you. And I hate you most of all." He heads out the door, and I was greeted by him almost coming out of his shorts this morning where he passed out on the couch just outside the room. He slept right through the large Asian group eating breakfast this morning, so I doubt the snoring would have been that big of a problem!

We got up early this morning and headed to the train for Gdansk. In our compartment there is already a guy, who probably hasn't showered in a week, or atleast thats how it smelled when he helped me put my bag on the shelf above our heads!
This wouldn't be so bad, except that I've already been dealing with the worst smelling man in Poland back at the hoste! Take a freaking shower! They are free, and the hostel will even give you a towel!
But he sits down and the smell subsides, another girl joins us and we now have five people in this small compartment, but it will work. Until seat 33 shows up, and her beagle. That's right - six people and a dog! Plus the lady has no control over the stupid thing so it spends the first fifteen minutes of the trip licking my feet! I just kept repeated, I asked for this trip, I asked for this trip!

Luckily I found a more vacant compartment and got a new seat, and we arrived in Gdansk which is a great city, and our hostel was only five minutes from the train station! It resembles a halfway house more than a hotel, but I'm still laughing!

Warsaw Tired

Today, we spent 11 straight hours running around Warsaw. Our morning began with a stroll along the Royal Way which led to Old Town Warsaw. After lunch, we walked through the area that used to be the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto and then headed for the Warsaw Up Rising Museum. The museum is actually not about the Jewish revolt in the ghetto but about the few months the Poles bravely faught the Nazi's while Russian tanks were parked 25 miles away. Least to say, Warsaw looks pretty good today considering the whole city was rubble in 1945.

Our evening concluded at the Warsaw Totilla Factory. I realized I have not had Mexican food since Cambodia and that was 4 months ago. I think that is one of the only draw backs to long term travel.

Jayme's family is on the night train to Vienna and we are heading to Gdansk in the morning. I'm beat but it never gets dark here so going to bed at 9pm is a little tough.

Zakopane

After Krakow, we hopped on the train for the Polish mountain town of Zakopane. Pope John Paul II hiked these mountains and his legacy has lived on as a nun hike up behind us to this glacial lake.

Today, we are heading to Warsaw and then onto northern Poland. We'll be in Russia within the week to begin the last leg of our journey...The Trans-Mongolian Railway.

Photos Around Eastern Europe

Auschwitz

An hour and half outside of Krakow is Auschwitz. The former death camp is now a memorial and museum receiving over 1 million visitors a year. Jayme's sister Jill minored in Holocaust Literature in college and offered some good insight into the history and stories of survival.

Birkenau (pictured here) is the larger Auschwitz camp and functioned primarily as a death factory. Between 1.1- 1.6 million people died at Auschwitz, 90% of them Jewish. Jayme posted the following comment on her blog regarding our day, "We were walking through the camp at Birkenau and the wind blowing in the rain storm provided some relief from the heat, but with it came a burning smell that just comes from the ground. The entire area, an old farm, one massive grave, just pulses with the tragedy."

Krakow, Poland

Krakow is a great Eastern European city with I believe the largest city square in Europe.

While in town we visited the Jewish Quarter, Castle, Cathedral, Main Square and frequented a few old school Communist cafeteria's called "Milky Bars" where we dined on chicken schnitzel and potatoes.

Also we discovered a great new beer, "Dog in the Fog", I need to convince Trader Joe's to import it when I get home.

Cesky Krumlov

After picking up Jayme's family (Mom, Dad, and 2 sisters) in Prague, we then headed south for the Czech city of Cesky Krumlov. There is a nice little river that flows through the town. The city name actually translates "bend in the river."

So, we rented a boat and a kayak and started paddling down stream. We hit a few rapids and stopped for beer and sausages at a riverside BBQ place. All was great until we were late for our pick up as Jayme's sisters kayak deflated during the trip and they had to carry it for the last leg of the journey.

Praha ha ha ha

We are currently in the glorious city of Prague. This morning we started bright and earlier at 4:45am! Lauren you left just in time because I am sure you would not be too happy about the 5am walking tour we went on before heading to the airport to pick up Jayme's sister Jill.

I must say if you ever come to Prague in the summer I can't think of a better time to stroll in cool morning air. No one is out except for a hand full of folks stumbling home from a hard night out. We began our walk in old town square and strolled across an empty Charles Bridge until the sun peeked through the clouds. It does not get much better than that.

(Okay if 5am is a little too earlier for you, try 9:30pm when the sun is settting and I got this pic.)

Church of Bones

While on our 5 day Czech road trip we stopped the famous Bones Church in Kutna Hora. Creep---y! The whole church is filled will human bones, skulls and skeletons. Jen started picking out all the different types of bones. The artist was pretty creative, I guess you decorate with what you have.

No more stops for wildlife!

Yesterday, we were driving along backcountry Czech roads, enjoying the rolling green hills dotted with red tile roofs. I love that every little town has a clock tower punctuating its skyline!
We had just stopped at a castle that had some birds on display. My guess is that the somewhat shady man smoking a cigarette not too far away with the large leather gloves would put on a show with the hawk, and other birds of prey. However, when we were there they were all tied to their own stump, the hawk even had blinders on.
As we turned a corner in our car, I noticed the wingspan of a large bird swooping down to a tree, so I slammed on the breaks and threw it into reverse and turned down the hawk's street. We turned off the engine and rolled in, as to be sneaky! We got a pretty good look, before the bird noticed our bright red car (not great for wildlife stalking!) and flew off. But, we got to watch those huge wings power off into the sky.

I put the car back in reverse to turn around, and was watching for traffic out on our bigger road, when I felt the back tires slip off the road! We had already been commenting on how deep the ditches in the Czech Republic are, and now we were about to really find out! Luckily, I was driving so the other three hopped out, Jen without shoes, and got behind the car. We had cooked up our plan of attack when a Czech lady drove up and started shouting questions in Czech. When she realized we only spoke English, the pity and amuzement filled her face, and she also ran to the back of the car.

When I felt the wheels slip the first time, my hands had done a little flying for the emergency break, and in the process I had turned on the windshield wipers. So the girls are all in the back trying to hold the car, and getting their fingers hit by the back wiper. They start hollering to fix it before moving the car. I started pushing buttons and moving the extra sticks on the steering wheel, but all they really got was shot by the wiper fluid! Luckily, we were laughing hysterically!

Because I am such a fabulous stick car driver, and I know special tricks with the emergency break, and because of my great defensive line in the back, we got the car on the road no problem. Crisis averted! And we made a new Czech friend!

Next time a bird's shadow crosses our dashboard, we will pretend it didn't happen!

Low Clouds, High Tatras

We spent two days hanging out in the jagged High Tatra mountains in Slovakia. Our first day we saw clouds and rain. Plan b included playing cards, drinking really good Slovakian beer called Zlatý Bažant Tmavá and eating more food with sheep cheese. Lauren seriously order a meal called "pasta with mildewy and mouldy cheese"! The next day we headed out on a great hike and saw a little bit of these jaw dropping cliffs.

We learned the people here in Slovakia don't speak English, and they don't like you reading their People magazines without buying! But they do have Dr. Pepper which was an incredibly redeeming factor!

The next four days are to be spent driving around the Czech countryside checking out old castles and cathedrals. That is the plan, but seeing as how they don't believe in roadsigns, we'll see where we end up!

Free Wine at 10am

During our 2 hour lightning tour of Brataslavia, Slovakia, we stumbled upon wine tasting at 10am. Lauren was stoked and we made friends we a guy from one of the wineries who gave us a free tasting. Then, he was nice enough to actually give us an entire bottle for free. Our lucky day.

Team HVALA

Meet Team HVALA. Hvala is "thank you" in Slovene and one of the only words we picked up along way. Our fifth team member, Kristen, departed back to the US a couple days ago. Since then, we spent one and half days stomping around Vienna. Then after a quick one hour train ride we landed in Bratislava, Slovakia. Had an interesting meal tonight in Slovakia which consisted of lots of cheese...fried cheese, spicy sheep cheese and some sort of stuffed dumplings. I will let you know if I have any crazy dreams.

Ohh, somehow Lauren did not get the memo we were attempting to look tough in this photo.

HVALA (say it like holla!)

Daytrip to Venice

What's a great European road trip without a quick side trip to Venice, Italy. It was a good day. Wait, any day in Italy is a good day.

After making our way through the hordes of tourists and across the multitude of bridges and canals we landed in San Marco square.

As I attempted to take a photo of ourselves in the square with church and tower behind us, I began to count down when I felt something cold in my ear. I'm thankful it wasn't bird poop but Kristen's gelato in my ear and hair. The quote of the day became "1...2...there is ice cream in ear."

Then, I convinced Kristen to come feed the pigeons with me while Jayme (serious pigeon dis-liker) stood 30 feet away and took photos of us with her telephoto lens. We bought each bought a bag of popcorn seeds for a euro and the fun began until Kristen accidently threw some seeds in Jayme's direction and the birds swammed towards her...she shouted and ran. Then a giant wave of pigeons decided they wanted to fly over me and I hit the deck and yelled if I was being attacked. Kristen died laughing.

Falling Water

Somehow we got caught in a giant rain storm while driving back to northern Croatia. It started in Dubronik and followed us all the way to Italy. Every time we would out run the storm, then stop for gas or sightseeing, and then run right back into the dark and ominous clouds.

Along the way we stopped at Croatia's Plitvice National Park. This is a waterfall wonderland! With 16 terraced lakes and hundreds of water falls. We hiked for a few hours before hopping back in the car. Some how we landed an apartment to stay in at 10pm on a rainy night an hour from the Italian border.

Driving the Dalmatian Coast

Most of our time the past week has been spent in the car driving down Croatia's beautiful Dalmatian coast while listening to the only cd we have (Mat Kearney) over and over and over. If we are not in the car, we were soaking up the sun on a rocky beach or slab of concrete. Lauren is in charge of our tanning regimen and we have introduced sun to Kristen's white feet.

Here is a quick rundown of a few places we have stopped along the way.

Piran, Slovenia
Very cute coastal town, built on a hook out into the Adriatic Sea. Great Venetian buildings, and good gelato.

Split, Croatia
Shipping city with a Roman history. Diocletian had his retirement palace here, when everything was owned by the Roman Empire. He was the beginning of the end, by partially things off to four sub-emperors.

Dubrovnik, Croatia
The pearl of the Adriatic, at least according to Lord Byron and he wasn´t too far off. The old city was gorgeous, with great gelato! We walked the city walls, where you get wonderful views of the Adriatic.


In Slovenia and Croatia, the locals rent out rooms in their houses almost everywhere you go. There are signs labeling the ˝sobe˝ in every neighborhood, so we found a great on up on the hill, and were able to make ourselves some great pasta dinners!

Monday Night Slovenian Bowling

Nothing like showing up in the bowling alley to hear great American oldies music. And to know that the brand of bowling ball the world over, is American. Here are the beautiful American ladies having a little taste of home!

Put Out to Pasture

The Lippizaner horses were bred here in Slovenia, when this was part of the Hapsburg Empire to supply Archduke Charles with stallions for his court. They are a beautiful white, with short stocky legs, and have incredible strength and intelligence. We went to the stud farm yesterday, and saw the mares and all the new colts. However, we were in a group with 15 retired British folks, who only wanted to know what happened to the horses when they could no longer work! Ironically, these horses retire at 27 and just graze the fields and enjoy life for another fifteen years or so. The Brits thought that way okay, and we find it pretty nice too. Retire at 27 okay, done!

I had been telling Lauren for a while how beautiful and white the horses would be - trying to pump up her enthusiasm. So, I read her part of the book and the line, "They are born a dark black ... " sort of threw me! But the sentence finishes, "then turn a mottled gray in adolescence before becoming white in adulthood."
We had a wonderful time touring the farm, and seeing the show. I love a good show! The horses side-stepped, and side-strutted, and stood on their back legs. I don't really remember that being a positive trait in horses, but when in Slovenia...!

We drove out to Piran yesterday afternoon, which is this cute little Venetian coast town. Our next week involves lots of Croatian beach time - tough life!

A month in Eastern Europe

In the past 4 weeks we have toured Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovenia. All of the photos are finally on flickr if you want to check them out.

View Eastern Europe photos here. New photo sets include Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovenia.