Saturday, May 07, 2005
| Hey! Well, I've finally gotten around to writing about free travel! No one to tell us what to do, when to do it, when to eat, when to use the restroom...(Baha!), etc. Anyway, the first day we planned to catch the 6:15am bus...which never came! So 21 people crammed into 2 cars and...we made the trains and the ferry! We were too cheap to get flight seats on the ferry, so we just got deck seats. Around 2:30am Josh and Michelle woke me up because they were freezing, and we ended up sleeping at the bottom of a staircase. Around 10am most of us who were on the ferry got together for a devo and communion. After we got off the ferry we had 10 minutes to make our next train to Rome...but the train station ended up being at least a mile away...and we all had our backpacks, so we didnt make it. But we made the 2pm train to Rome and once we got there we headed to our very first hostel ever. 4/18/05 Well, we made it through our first night in a hostel. Thank goodness we weren't there for Pub crawl night. Rome is beautiful! It was totally crazy because of the whole pope election thing, so we couldn't get in to almost anything because there were so many people in Rome. The Sistene Chapel was closed. But we did get to see the Colosseum, Arch of Titus, Arch of Constantine, the Roman Forum, St.Peter's, the Vatican Museum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and many other beautiful places in Rome. I hope to be able to go back to Rome someday! It was a wonderful city! Okay, so a quick runthrough of the rest of my trip. After that we went to Florence which was a beautiful city! The Duomo was amazing! Then we went to Pisa, and all took our pictures pretending to hold it up. We went back through Florence on our way to Venice. So our hotel was way outside the city so we didnt go in that night. The next day we went into the city. When we got there we got out our map, and said "Forget it!" Ther was no way that map was going to help us in this crazy layed out city. But...somehow we got where we needed to go. And I fed the pigeons in St.Mark's (I think) square. That was definitely crazy! We did a little shopping and Josh, as a surprise, bought me a beautiful bracelet there. He is so thoughtful! So after Venice we left Italy! We stopped in Innsbruck, Austria for an afternoon. That is an absolutely beautiful city! It is such a quaint little city, felt safe, and surrounded by snow-capped mountains. There wasn't a ton to do, but it was definitely beautiful! Then we headed to Munich. We walked all around the city and through the Olde Town. We had an interesting experience in Munich that night. But anyway, the next day we went to Neuschwanstein. Kind Ludwig's Disneyland castle!!! We got to go on a tour of he inside and it was awesome! Then we walked around the city for a little while, which was also very cute. After that we took a night train to Paris. We were there for a couple of days. We went to the Louvre for many many hours. We walked down the street (can't spell it, haha) from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomph. We also went to the Notre Dame cathedral and had dinner in a little cafe next to it. We went to the Picasso Museum and took a last loooooooong stroll all around Paris before heading to Barcelona. Favorite bakery item in Paris: definitely the strawberry tart! The first afternoon in Barcelona we walked around the city for hours, and then stopped back by the hostel before dinner. We also found out that the strike for our plane flight had been called off!!! That was wonderful news! So, we had dinner at a little cafe in Barcelona. I tried to be adventurous (not knowing what I was ordering) and...it was interesting. Not bad, just dfifferent. So that night we watched a movie at the hostel and went to bed. The next day we went to the La Sagrada Familia and then....to the beach!!! (where I got totally roasted). Our flight to London from Barcelona didn't end up leaving until almost midnight, and got to London around 1. Didn't get much sleep that night. So we went into London and carried our bags around for about 7 hours that day, and saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Millenium Bridge, and many many other wonderful sites of London. Then we found our way to the hostel. After that night we went and had dinner at a pub. I had fish and chips and Josh had chili and rice! The next day we went to the British Museum for a long time, and then to Hard Rock Cafe (the original!) The next day....came back to the states! So that's free travel in a nut shell. =) | |
Sunday, May 01, 2005
| Hey everyone! Well, sorry this xanga has been so boring the past few weeks. It has been really hectic trying to make trains, escape strikes, dealing with delayed planes....but it has been sooo much fun! I will email with many details when I get home. I fly home tomorrow morning! And get to sleep in airport number 2 tonight! But I will get to see many other HUGgers tonight and on my flight to Cincinnatti tomorrow. I am very excited! It is always so wonderful to see familiar faces. Well, in a little while we are heading to the British Museum where we are very excited to drop our bags off. Michelle and I, being the extremely pasty white girls we are....got completely roasted at the beach in Barcelona. Carrying the bags around for 7 hours yesterday didnt feel too great...but its okay. Anyway, it is going to be so weird leaving Europe, full of more mixed emotions. I am so excited to leave but at the same time I feel like I am leaving a place where I have made so many wonderful memories and relationships. I pray that I will keep all the relationships that I have made as I leave Europe and continue on in life. I am soooo excited to see my family though! I love you guys soo much! Well, I better get going! Off for my last great adventure....for now! Love you all! God bless! | |
Thursday, April 28, 2005
| In Barcelona! Tomorrow we are chillin at the beach! Then we head to the UK tomorrow night! Plane strike called off!!!! Love you all! God bless, Katie | |
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Havent taken any wrong trains or busses yet! Hopefully we can keep this up! And...hopefully the train strike in Italy wont happen or we will be stuck an extra day! ANyway, thanks for keeping us in your prayers! We are having a blast! See you soon! Love and God bless You all! Katie | |
Friday, April 15, 2005
Well....I just had my last meal at the Artemis. I'm so sad! I can't believe this semester has come and gone so quickly. I'm full of so many different emotions and I can't even start to describe them all: happy, sad, nervous, excited. I've never travelled the world without adults before. Wait...I'm an adult? Katie |
I'm an adult! That's crazy. Maybe this is my official transformation. 
Anyway, so Josh, Michelle, and I head out at 6am...along with 16 other HUGgers. Then we'll make our way to Italy via ferry. Head to Rome, Florence, Piza, Venice, Innsbruck, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, London. Then on May 2nd I'll fly back to the US! So...please pray for the safety of our group, and that we will have Christian attitudes the whole time. The Lord bless you and keep you all. Love and God bless,
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