Saturday, July 7, 2018

Our Thirty-Fifth, Thirty-Sixth, and Thirty-Seventh Days - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Sunday July 1, 2018

We arrived in Amsterdam around 5:30AM and got off the bus. Tim's Switch had been delivered to a nearby hotel, so we made our way there. It was only about a 10 min walk. Once we had arrived, we asked the front desk attendant if he had our package. He checked the storage room, luggage room and a few other places, but was unable to locate the case. We knew it had arrived because Tim had received a message from the bus lines confirming its whereabouts. So we drank some coffee and refreshed ourselves while we waited for the previous night's front clerk to arrive around 7AM. Once he arrived, we found out that the case was in the safe! We said our goodbyes and then walked to the closest Tram station.

The ride into the city center was gorgeous! We dropped of our bags with our hotel's front desk clerk and started meandering toward a place called Yoga Delight for Aftyn's Singing Workshop.

Aftyn had learned yesterday that a musical artist she was listening to - Ayla Nereo - was actually going to be in Amsterdam on the same day hosting a workshop! Unfortunately, Tim had made a mistake and accidentally saved the incorrect location and we ended up on the other side of town from where we needed to be. Well, what’s a morning without a little drama? We quickly hoofed it across town, on foot, until we got to a main road where Aftyn was able to catch a bus to her destination. Miraculously, she made it to the yoga studio just in time! :-)

The workshop was absolutely amazing! Her music is so touching and inspiring, and it was just such an honor to be in the same room with her in such an intimate space. We started with some breathing exercises and centering ourselves, then moved on to making sounds together as a group. It was stunning how we were all able to randomly come together and make beautiful harmony, with absolutely no plan. She walked us through several vocal and writing exercises, which continued to amaze me. At the end of the workshop we swayed, hummed, danced, sang, and prayed as a group of glorious individuals. I was able to speak with Ayla after the workshop and tell her how much her music has meant to me since I was introduced to it just under a year ago. She was just the most authentic, bright-spirited person I've ever had the pleasure to meet, and I'll be forever grateful that I got to experience this workshop with her.

After wandering through the city for a bit, we decided to make our way back to our hotel to check in. When we got there, the front desk clerk did not find our reservation and we realized that Hotels.com had cancelled our reservation for some reason. So, we started another search for another hotel... Luckily, Tim was able to find another hotel fairly quickly that was actually in a better location (in the city center, not on a busy street, elevator, and a nicer lobby) and was only a little more expensive. We grabbed our bags and went for another walk downtown.

Once checked in to our final location, we were exhausted. It was only around 3PM, so we decided to shower and then take a nap to rest up for the night. We had already purchased online tickets for a Red Light District Bar Crawl tour, and we knew we were going to be out very late.

THE BAR CRAWL

Since we hadn't eaten much that day, we decided to arrive early to our Bar Crawl's meeting point, a bar called "Players". It was a sports bar that was very unique. Upstairs was a pool table and a smoking room with a bar, while downstairs was the actual bar. We met up with our tour guides, who were pretty cool, and were greeted with our first shot and a wrist band. Once everyone for the tour had shown up, the other tour guide was walking around with a vodka drink and was pouring it into our mouths! We must've had 3 mouthfuls of the stuff. We chatted for a bit with other crawlers, and then it was on to the next bar.

Fair warning, we do not remember all 6 of the bars we went to as we only spent a limited amount of time at each one, but we will try our best :-)

The next stop was a bar at the hostel where one of our fellow pub crawlers was staying. They had a drink deal of 2 shots for 2 Euro, or two Heineken for the price of one - which we somehow resisted partaking in buying. They were playing really awesome music here, so we spent most of our time here singing along and having a great time with our pub crawl crew!

At the next place we were supposed to get a jello shot, but we were engrossed in conversation with some of our fellow crawlers, and somehow missed it on the way in. We chatted for a while before we started to wonder where our drink was, so we found our guides and told them the situation. At first they didn't believe us, but after we insisted we didn't get the jello shot they gave in and got us some shots at the bar.

Then we went to a place called "The Black Tiger", and was in the heart of the Red Light District. In here, anything goes. A lot of people were drinking and smoking in the street, and women were dancing in windows as you'd walk by. We made it to the bar, got our shot, and headed upstairs. There was good music on, and we kind of started a bit of karaoke for everyone in the bar and got them singing along with us!

Monday July 2, 2018

The rest of the bars were pretty much more of the same. We would show up and get a shot, then we would talk with people in our group for a bit. Aftyn got to play a game of pool at one of them and she won!

Our final stop however, was a very unique place. It was about a 15 min walk from the rest of the bars, but it was worth it. We had to go through their security and we were in. Lots of rave music on with lights and smoke filling the air. We didn't stay long since it was already 2AM and we were both still exhausted and had to get up early.

After crawling into bed around 3AM, we were only able to get about 5 hours of sleep since we had to get up early to go to the US Consulate for Tim's passport replacement.

Zzzzz...zzzzz....zzzzzz....zzzzzz..zzz.....zzzzz.

Surprisingly, we did not feel too bad the next morning. We were not hungover in the least since we did not buy any extra drinks. The worst part of it was that we were still tired. Oh well, at least the hotel had a decent breakfast! So, we charged ourselves up and headed to the US Consulate.

We arrived a little after 9:30 and waited in line. Once we had been seen however, we learned that we would need to get a Passport photo printed from somewhere, and we would not have enough time to come back today (they are only open for Passport services from 8:30-11:30?). Well, darn. We had non-refundable plane tickets to Dublin that night! The guard at the consulate gave us a paper with directions to the nearest passport photographer, and we headed there and got them done. Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel and used their computer to print and fill out all of the forms for the replacement passport. Our thinking was that we would do it in Dublin if we could get there. So, we headed to the airport. We made it through security and even got our paper stamped by the guard there, but when we went to board the plane, they wouldn't let us on...

We booked another hotel, this time close to the US Consulate, and made our way there to at least get a decent night's sleep before trying to get an emergency passport again tomorrow...

Tuesday July 3, 2018

Tim headed to the US Consulate around 7:45. Once he arrived however, he learned that he could not be seen until 10:30, since that was when they help "emergency" cases. They are open for Passport services at 8:30, but for appointment only. Why didn't they tell him that yesterday?!?

We got some food at a grocery store and then sat outside of the US Consulate and ate a bit of it until Tim could be seen. While we waited, another man got in line who had also been pick-pocketed, but in Amsterdam the day before. We chatted with him until it was finally time for them to help us. Tim went in alone, since nobody is allowed to go in with you, even if you are married. So I spent the time waiting at a cafe down the street, and looking into possible flights into Dublin in the event we were able to get Tim a replacement passport in time to still make the trip that evening.

Eventually, around 11:45AM Tim met me at the cafe and said they told him they would have his passport ready by 2:30PM. So we stayed at the cafe and worked on getting any plane, bus, etc... tickets we would be needing when the time came. Around 2PM we left the cafe and arrived at the US Consulate by 2:10, in hopes they would maybe have the passport ready a bit early for us. They might have had it ready, but we couldn't know for sure because they refused to let us in to get it until 2:30 - On - The - Dot. We ended up sitting in a park across the street and eating a bit more while we waited, then Tim walked over when 2:30 finally rolled around. Thankfully, he was in and out in less than 5 minutes, and we were immediately on a bus for the airport since our flight was at 4:55PM and we didn't want to miss it.

Our journey to and through the airport was uneventful, and we made it to our gate with a bit of time to spare. The airline - Aer Lingus - was delightful, and we only had one little hiccup once we got to Dublin when the Airport Hopper bus to our B&B was 15 minutes late. We got a little nervous that we somehow missed it, but in the end everything turned out just fine, and we made it to our B&B safe and sound... if not a bit burnt out. Our host was super kind and sympathetic to our plights, and made us some tea, which we enjoyed along with a much needed rest before we left for dinner.

Dinner was good. We basically just walked down to the village and went to the first restaurant that we came across, which happened to be an Italian place that made their own homemade pasta. The food was yummy, but honestly, at this point we were so tired that we just didn't care how good or bad it was. After dinner it was straight back to the B&B and off to bed for us, for some much needed sleep.

Checkout all of our photos in our European Adventure 2018 album:

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Our Whatever Day...Let's Get Real


 Aftyn here. This post will have nothing to do with Europe, and everything to do with life. 



Yes, bad things have happened to us - both before we left, and since we've been on this trip. My step-sister had brain surgery. I lost my mother. Before that I lost my Grandma. I had a bad allergic reaction in Lithuania, then got some sort of sinus infection and was pretty sick for about a week. I left a hat in Lithuania, Tim left his neck pillow in Vienna, we lost our switch on the bus to Zurich, and we got pick-pocketed in Paris. My family has recently suffered through a lot of sad and scary circumstances, and I was far away for much of it, unable to help in any practical way. This morning I was feeling so defeated, and I just wanted to come home.

But then I started thinking about the bigger picture. What is "home"? It doesn't really matter where I am, or what I have lost - because I'm alive. And as long as that is true I must keep in mind that this life is just a brief experience of my existence. You see, I hold a deep belief that my home isn't on any Continent, Planet, or Physical Plane. It's in the fibers of the hat I lost. It's in the cells of the man who picked Tim's pocket. It's in the tree we sat under this afternoon. It's in the breath of the people sitting next to us at Starbucks. It's in the grassy hills of Zurich, in the stones of the castles in Warsaw, in the dirt in my parents backyard, in the mountains of Oregon, in the clouds floating over the Earth, in the stars burning across our universe, and so many more places that I can only dream of. My spirit is unkillable, and I will forever be a part of something much bigger than what I can see right now. 

As I type this, this world seems to have fallen into complete chaos. Aside from all the trauma I've personally experienced lately, in the United States we are being lead down a dark path by a fascist presidential administration. Every day we see a story in the news that breaks our hearts. People are suffering, and we feel so helpless to do anything to change it. Especially from "across the pond".

I am frightened for our Country, and for our Humanity. I hold this fear, and try with all my might not to allow it to turn into hate. Because I am a lover. Each breath I breathe is teaching me that I can't keep this fear in my heart. My purpose on this Earth is to learn from and serve others, because there simply isn't anything else worth doing while I'm here. It's hard. It hurts. It makes me feel very tired and sometimes I just want to sleep forever. But I'm awake...

...Are you?

Love from - literally - everywhere. <3

Our Thirty-Third and Thirty-Fourth Days - Paris, France

Friday June 29, 2018
First off, the bus rides from Zurich to Paris were not pleasant. We ended up catching the bus out of Zurich around 4:30PM, then headed to Freiburg, Germany. This ride was ok, but definitely not the best. We almost missed the bus since it wasn't labelled as a "Flixbus" and only had the number on a small piece of paper in the front window. Luckily Tim found it in time and we boarded. It was a nice ride through the German countryside. Then we got to Freiburg... We both had to use the rest room, but for some strange reason, all "Water Closets" in bus stops in Europe require you to pay 50 Euro cents to enter. This is just strange to us. So, we waited until the bus came and would just use the one on board for free. Unfortunately, the WC in this new bus was covered in poop and very unsanitary. We finally arrived in Mannheim around 11:30PM and had to wait until 12:35AM to catch our final bus to Paris, which was completely full. Aftyn was able to secure 2 seats in the rear of the bus between some guys, and then we were off. Not much sleep last night...

Once we arrived in Paris, we decided to make the most of our time and sanity. We found a cute little fresh bakery near our bus stop and got some coffee. Then we hopped on the Metro and rode through the city and got off on our next stop, the Eiffel Tower! Here we rested in a park and took in the sights. We still had our bags with us and it was very hot out (around 85F). After gathering ourselves and re-hydrating, we decided to head to our AirBnB.

Again, we hopped on the Metro and rode the train to the end of the line. Our AirBnB wasn't quite in Paris, but instead was in a city just outside of Paris called Drancy. The place was a 15 minute walk from the metro through a city neighborhood where almost all of the houses looked the same. Because of some slight miscommunication (and a language barrier) we had arrived a bit early to our AirBnB and she wasn't quite ready. It was a quaint little house with her and her family living there. We had an upstairs bedroom that was cozy and met all of our requirements (bed and power outlet, lol). After settling in for a bit and after a shower, we went out for some pizza, then came back and crashed. Our host was very friendly and we wish we knew more French because we would've loved to have stayed up all night with them chatting.

Saturday June 30, 2018
Waking up feeling refreshed, we left the house around 7AM ready for our adventurous day in Paris! We hopped on the Metro and rode to a train station that was nearby our bus station so that we could leave our luggage there and then go explore the city. After asking several people, we were completely lost in the train station. People would say "around the corner" and we would always follow. This led us outside again. While we were searching for the lockers, we ran into 2 men outside and they seemed very iffy. Tim asked if they knew where the lockers were and they said "around the corner". It was at this time that one of them decided to dance with Tim and it was all so strange. Around the corner was nothing so we went back to ask them where again, but they were gone. Tim made a comment like "that was weird, I wonder why he wanted to dance?". "Perhaps he was trying to steal something from us", Aftyn asked. That was in fact true. Tim's wallet ($100 US Dollars, Visa Debit Card, Health Insurance Card, and Drivers License) and Passport were no longer in his pocket and the guys were long gone...

So, now we were shocked, upset, exhausted, and just plain done with Paris. The Police at the station were very helpful and we filed a report. They gave Tim a travel document so that we could finish our travels through Europe and also be able to make it back home to USA. Luckily, Aftyn had decided to make copies of all of our documents for this very reason (THANKS AFTYN <3), so we still have that if anyone questions us. The police showed us where the lockers were, but we couldn't get it because we were out of Euro. So at this point we had to exchange currency. For some reason, there was no place in the Train Station (weird) and we had to go to a place about a block away from the station. After some lunch, we just decided to nix our plans for Paris because we just weren't feeling it. It reminds us a lot of New York, just with an Eiffel Tower and lots of people speaking French. Both of these cities are often romanticized in films, but are nothing like what you see in those films once you get there. Instead, we opted to go to the park near our bus station for awhile and relax. It was really hot again today, so we then packed up and hung out at a Starbucks (comfy chairs, AC, and free wifi!) until it was time to catch our bus.

Not much love from Paris</3

Checkout all of our photos in our European Adventure 2018 album:

Friday, June 29, 2018

Our Thirty-First and Thirty-Second Days - Zürich, Switzerland

Wednesday June 27, 2018
The day started out rough to say the least...
When the bus arrived at the station in Zürich, Switzerland we had very little time to gather our things. The bus driver even shut all of the doors and was outside trying to take a bike off of the rack before we even got our shoes on! In our hurried and worried state, we ran out of the bus thinking we were going to miss our stop. We went to a Starbucks across the street and gathered ourselves. After some breakfast and coffee, we decided to get a start to our day. It was at this time that Tim asked "Where is the Nintendo Switch?". IT WAS ON THE BUS! At this point an hour or so had gone by and the bus was already gone and on its way to its final destination about 2 hours away. We hopped online and immediately filled out a Lost and Found form on their website. After calling the bus company (Flixbus) and getting nowhere, we were finally able to determine that the bus' final destination was Freiburg, Germany. So, Tim got on his phone and quickly bought a ticket to go so that he could try to retrieve his Switch. Aftyn on the other hand was going to  about the day as planned. She left Starbucks and made her way to Lindenhof hill where a castle once stood. Tim however was still waiting for the bus at the bus stop because it had been delayed, and he somehow missed it and gave up on his endeavor to retrieve the Switch in person. So, Aftyn came back to Starbucks and the day officially began.

Lindenhof hill was about a 15 minute uphill walk from the bus station. The view was spectacular! There were many very old churches and buildings that could be seen along the river from this viewpoint. We learned from some signs that a castle once stood on this location and We stopped here for a few minutes to collect ourselves and then moved on.

Our next stop was an old church called St. Peter Kirche that has a beautiful clock tower. We really just meandered inside and looked around as there wasn't much more than that. It was quite breathtaking.

After that we just wandered around some of the side streets for a bit, then grabbed a small bite to eat and some drinks at a cafe.

The next stop was a 1200 year old church called Fraumünster. The church had been remodeled several times in its history and is now setup as a museum. It is one of the oldest churches in town and has the third largest organ in Switzerland! It also has some very beautiful stained glass windows and also has a crypt underneath. We hung out here and took in the sights for awhile and then we headed up to an Art Gallery not too far away.

The walk led us over the river and up a hill through town. We got to see so many buildings with such great architecture. When we arrived at the art museum, we found it to be a bit too pricey, so we just left.

At this point it was getting to be early afternoon, so we decided to start making our way to the direction of our AirBnB location. We had been in contact with our host Celine, and she told us that she worked in Kilchberg and that she would give us a lift if we got there around 5. So, we hopped on the metro and headed to Kilchberg. We ended up doing some shopping and then hung out at a Ferry Terminal that was also a park, until she came to pick us up.

We had such a great evening with Celine! We went with her when she walked her dog, Kira, who really reminded us a lot of Rhythm. Then we all ate dinner and chatted about all sorts of things. Eventually, she put on the Football (Soccer) game and we drank wine and talked while watching the game. We stayed up much later than we planned, but it was totally worth it!

Thursday June 28, 2018
We had a nice, slow start - taking our time getting our showers and packing up our things. Around 11AM we left Celine's house to take a hike through a nearby park called "Wildnispark Zürich Langeberg". It was basically a zoo mixed with a state park-esque hiking trail. We got to see a herd of red-tailed deer, some kind of small wildcat, a mouse, and a wolf - but the other animals were not visible. We had some mixed feelings about the place, because as a general rule we aren't big fans of keeping wild animals in cages - but at least in this case they were still in their actual natural habitat. We also do appreciate the fact that zoos provide education for the public and rehabilitation for endangered species. It was unclear if that was also the case with this Wilderness Park, but we hoped so, and we did see some educational displays about the animals. I mean, they were, of course, in German, so we couldn't actually read them... but they seemed educational.

Side note: while walking through the park, Tim received a message from the bus line saying that they had found his Switch and that he will be able to pick it up in Amsterdam when we arrive there on Sunday!

After our hike, we went back to Celine's to pick up our backpacks before hopping on the Metro back to downtown Zürich. We didn't really feel like spending any more money on tours of old buildings or museums, so we just spent the rest of our afternoon sprawled out on the lawn of one of the many parks surrounding Lake Zürich. We ate our lunch, which was leftover rice from dinner the night before, and then we found a sunny spot and both took a bit of a nap. When we woke up, it was time to head to the bus station, for our journey to Paris!


Love from Switzerland <3

Checkout all of our photos in our European Adventure 2018 album:

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Our Twenty-Ninth and Thirtieth Days - Vienna, Austria

Monday June 25, 2018
Ok, so we got, maybe, 3-4 hours of on-and-off sleep on the bus to Vienna. Luckily, our arrival at the bus station coincided with the opening hours of a coffee shop in the terminal. We refueled on caffeine and our leftover pizza, then made our way to the hostel we had booked to drop off our large bags before exploring Vienna. With our load lightened, we were pumped to start our itinerary which - thanks to an app called "visitacity" - was expertly laid out for us.

We started our journey at Hofburg Palace, which was actually a tour of three different museums. The first section housed room after room of kitchenware, dinning sets, and other ornate dining decor used by the Royal families throughout the centuries. After that, we made our way through an exhibit all about the former Empress Elisabeth, also known as Sisi. This was absolutely fascinating to me (Aftyn) because, as it turns out, she was actually a very sensitive and sad woman - despite the fact that she was very beautiful and well loved by all her people, and absolutely adored by her husband. She excelled at so many hobbies; from hunting on horseback, to fencing, to painting - but it was her poetry that really captured me, because it gave me a very clear understanding of what it was like for a person with emotional illnesses back before they even knew such things existed. Her life was very lonely because her husband was very busy with all his duties, and full of pressures that we could only imagine. Once we had completed the tour all about her life, we got to walk through the actual Palace rooms where she and the Emperor lived.

By now, our feet were on fire and our lack of sleep was wearing on us, but we still had half the day ahead of us and we didn't want to waste it. The good news is that the rest of our plans for the day took us towards our hostel, and they were outside which gave us a bit of a lift. The first stop was to check out a popular street for shopping called Karntnerstrasse, which had a lot of modern clothing and gift stores mixed in with several cafes and restaurants. On our way there, we happened by a small theater where a man was selling tickets for a classical opera and dance performance at the door. He engaged us by asking if we wanted to see the show that evening, and in fact we had previously talked about how you couldn't come to Vienna and not see a show. After a bit of haggling, we walked away with some relatively inexpensive tickets to what promised to be a great performance.

Once we hit Karntnerstrasse we didn't spend much time walking through it all, because what we really wanted to see was at the end of the street: The Naschmarkt! This was an open-air market place that featured prepared food booths, cheese shops, produce ventors, and crafts-people selling their wares. We took in the stunning displays of dried fruits, nuts, fresh vegetables, cheese wheels, baked goods, candles, soaps, and so much more. It was here that we decided to grab some dinner to go, and got a great tip from one of the vendors to try a place called "Dr. Falaffel" for a highly renowned "falaffel wrap". We were not disappointed! It was the perfect meal for what we needed: fresh, warm, light, easily portable, and best of all, Vegan! For the record, we aren't Vegans, but we are Vegetarians who like to try to eat Vegan as often as possible.

We spent the lovely walk back to our hostel chatting and chowing down on our yummy dinner, both of us in amazing moods. And thennnn.... as it turns out, when I booked the hostel I made a terrible mistake! While I had selected 2 guests at the home screen, when it came time to actually book the room I somehow only indicated 1 guest! In my defense, the app is a little confusing and I don't recommend it for couples as it seems to be mainly designed for solo travelers.

But this is an example of why I believe everything happens for a reason, because we ended up quickly booking a hotel not far from the hostel that was absolutely perfect! It had such a warm, cozy, eclectic vibe and reading about the owner and his vision, it was very clear that we shared a lot of values. The attached restaurant served mostly vegetarian dishes, predominantly dairy-free, and uses ingrediants from local farms. They also have their own bike team called the "Unicorns"! We got cleaned and gussied up for our night at the Opera, which ended up being very entertaining - even if not entirely as we were expecting it to be.

We strolled home from the theater under a nearly full moon, with Tim's arm wraped around my shoulders nearly the entire time. It was a moment to remember. After a long day running on next to no sleep, we were out almost as soon as our heads hit the pillows in our comfy memory foam bed. 

Tuesday June 26, 2018
Ahhh, it really makes a difference to have a nice place to sleep! We woke up refreshed and ready for another exciting day exploring the streets of Vienna. We swung by the bus station to stick our big backpacks in a locker for the day, then hopped on the Underground towards our first destination: Belvedere Palace. After spending a lot more money that we considered ideal yesterday, we really didn't feel like shelling out any more Euros today in the name of touring old buildings, so we simply passed the time wandering around the (free) Belvedere Gardens. We still got to view the stunning exterior of the impressive Upper and Lower Belvedere structures, all while taking in the beauty of the long garden connecting them.

Following our stroll through the palace gardens, we grabbed some ice cream and then made our way to check out a place called "Haus der Musik" (House of Music). On our way there, we noticed a large memorial with a fountain, which seemed like a perfect place to take a little rest. We sat by the fountain and enjoyed some leftovers we had gotten from the breakfast buffet at our hotel. After awhile, we completed our journey to the Haus der Musik. Upon arrival, we realized that it really was more for kids, and at 13 Euro per person it just didn't seem worth it. So instead, we walked around aimlessly until we accidentily arrived back at Karntnerstrasse. This worked out really well since we didn't get to see much of it the first time, and we needed to do some souvenier shopping.

And then the rain came...

We hid out for awhile in a little cafe and ate some warm "Apple Pie" that was really more like struessel. After that we went across the street to a grocery store called Bio Mart and picked up some necessities for our bus ride later. Conveniently, the rain had let up by now, so we were able to make our way to our final destination on our itinerary: Stadtpark. This was a georgeous park, featuring statues dedicated to various musicians, artists, and other important people that had made their mark on Vienna. As we walked, we began to hear some tunder in the distance, so we decided it would be wise to wrap our time up and head back to the bus station.

On our way to the Underground station, Tim happened to notice a big sign that said "BONBON" which - much to my suprise - he insisted we stop into. I wasn't about to argue with any idea involving sweets, so we popped into the shop and picked out a few small things to satisfy our sweet-tooth. Of course, the rain had returned while we were in the candy shop, so we had to hustle to the underground.

I'm not sure when the most appropriate time to mention this is, but I had the entire soundtrack to The Sound of Music running through my head the entire time we were in Austria. I also want to point out a couple fun facts about Vienna that we observed: For one, Mozart is everywhere. He did live in the city for a good chunck of his life, so it makes sense they would capitialize on that. This city is fairly obsessed with all things art, including painting, theater, sculpture, and especially music. We think its pretty perfect :-)

Much love from Austria! <3 

Checkout all of our photos in our European Adventure 2018 album:

Our Twenty-Seventh and Twenty-Eighth Days - Poland

Saturday June 23, 2018
Today was spent travelling. After waking up at 5AM, we raced to the bus stop and made it just in time to be at the train station by 6AM. We left Vilnius around 6:22AM and got to Kaunus a little after 9, then left for Bialystok and got there a little after 1. It was so nice to see a lot of the countryside, and it reminded us a lot of western Maryland with the endless fields and farms.

In Bialystok we walked around the town while we waited for our train to Warsaw to arrive. It was much like any city, and had little in the way of special sights. We wandered into a hotel restaurant and shared a plate of what they called pierogies, but they were not really like what we call pierogies in the States. Still, they were yummy and we saved some of them to have for dinner later.

The train to Warsaw was on a train like the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter! We had a cabin with a door that held six seats, of which only two others were taken by some women. At one point, a man came by with a snack trolley, but unfortunately he only took cash and we didn't have any Polish zloty on us so we couldn't buy anything. It rained for much of the ride, and it was quite relaxing to hear the drops on the outside of the train while we swayed with the motion of the track in our cozy little cabin.

Finally, we made it to Warsaw. It was getting pretty late, so we headed directly for our AirB&B, which was a super neat place with Space Capsules for sleeping! Once we arrived we reheated our leftovers for dinner, went downstairs to the little convenience market for some snacks and beer, then snuggled into our capsule for the night.

Sunday June 24, 2018
After waking up from our long slumber in the capsule, we went downstairs to a Cafe and refueled with an amazing breakfast, then headed toward Warsaw's Old Town. The Old Town was the original settlement for Warsaw and has some of the oldest buildings in the area. The first sight we wanted to see was The Royal Castle.

Walking down the streets of Warsaw's Old Town was like walking through a medieval town! All of the buildings are so close to each other and have such amazing architechural designs. We meandered through some shops and the town square, then headed off toward the castle.

Inside the castle there was so much to see and learn. After watching a few introductory videos about the history of the castle, we had learned that it was actually not the original castle. The castle had lasted through the ages; hosting royalty, politicians, and many other important people inside its walls. However during World War II, once the Nazis had invaded Poland, it was all over. We learned that the castle had been completely demolished and was then rebuilt using salvaged original materials. This project was mostly funded by the people of Poland in the 1970's. `They rebuilt it using the same design, only this time it was built a few meters higher so it would tower over the Old Town.

We went through room after room of extravagence. There were so many beautiful items, statues, busts, tapestries, paintings, furniture, vases, weapons, and much more. Almost all of the rooms had gold trim and most of them had a mural painted on the ceiling. It was like being in another world!

When we were done in the castle, we decided it was time to eat. As we made our way through the square, Aftyn ended up getting roped into dancing with a giant Chili Shaker mascot and got a free grinder full of pepper! Eventually we found a nice pizza place to get some grub. We sat outside at first, but then it started to rain, so we moved indoors. It was some of the best Vegan pizza we have ever had! The crust was flakey, and there was just the right amount of veggies on it...delicious!

By the time we had left the restaurant, it was nearly time to get to our bus. Walking through the square, we were stopped by a woman who had 2 white female peacocks and Aftyn couldn't resist. The woman put the peacocks on Aftyn and snapped a photo. She then looked at me and said "you too?". Oh, why not. The birds were very tame and well mannered. At first she put one on my arm, but then later placed it on my head! After she took a few pictures of us with the birds, she handed our phone back and said "The photos will be 10 Zloty." We told her we had no Zloty, so she asked for 2 Euro instead. We gladly paid, then headed to the bus.

The bus ride was not the most comfortable, but it was nice to not have to pay for transportation and a place to stay as well. Plus, we leave one city and wake up in a completely new city!


Love from Poland!

Checkout all of our photos in our European Adventure 2018 album:

Our Twenty-Second thru Twenty-Sixth Days - Last Week of Camp

Tim here! It's been such an interesting week!

Monday June 18, 2018
This was a typical Monday with the kids. Before lunch we split into groups and did our Morning circle outside. We had a few of the same kids from last week, but mostly new faces.
After morning circle, we played at the playground for an hour or so and headed back to finish thinking up our rules and team name (Meteor Team!), then before we knew it, it was lunch time.
We were served some sort of pancake with raisins in it with chocolate sauce and sour cream! The kids laughed at us when we said this is usually breakfast food, since they usually eat fruit, sandwiches, or some other heavier meal for breakfast.

Once we had finished our dessert-type meal, we headed back for some good ole meditation. Some of the kids did not like this, and there are always a few that can't sit quiet for more than a minute, but it was nice.

Our project for the day was painting some alien rocks (we collected rocks at the playground) and there were some very good artists in our group. We finished the day by doing some Space-themed true or false questions.

We returned to the flat and had a nice quiet night inside :-)

Tuesday June 19, 2018
Our photo shoot was today at 11AM and we had the kids make some cool rockets out of toilet paper rolls, aluminum foil, colored paper, and other materials. They turned out great! Afterwards, we headed back down to the river and played on the playground until the photographer arrived. When the kids were done with the photo shoot, we did yoga.

Unfortunately, this was our last day with these kids since we were going to be at a different location for the rest of the week.

Wednesday June 20, 2018
This was an interesting day since we had to take the bus into town to get to our new camp. Our group consisted of only boys. They were older and called their team "Team Fortnite". There was obviously not much structure in the beginning of the week, and we had to set them straight more than a few times. For instance, one of their rules was to get attention using the call/answer "Hey Ho Shhh It", which sounded WAY too much like "Hey Ho Shit". We replaced their existing rules with some of our own and they slowly grasped the concept that we could be fun, but didn't take any of their nonsense.

We spent the entire morning at the Vingis Park, the largest park in the city. They played on the playground and rode their skateboards and scooters around while we supervised. It was tough since they did not want to listen to us, and argued with us almost constantly. We ended up leaving a little later than we should and went straight from the park to lunch, arriving late at the restaurant. It was ok though, as the people at the restaurant did not seem to care.

After already walking a few miles to and from the park, we again had to walk to another location since it was their day for a photo-shoot. We arrived late to the location, but it was ok since the photographer was still working with another group. So, we sat around for an hour and waited. Once that was finished, we raced back to the studio and got back just in time for their  parents to arrive. It was a very stressful day...But, since it was so nice out, we decided to go to Vilnius TV Tower and have a nice meal! We deserved it after all!

TV Tower reminded us a lot of Seattle's Space Needle (which we have never been inside of, sadly), and it was cool to see the whole city from 541 feet up! The view was stunning, though Aftyn was a bit dizzy from the spinning and the height.

Thursday June 21, 2018
Excursion day! You would think they would pick the Planetarium since it was Space Station Vacation week, but no. Instead, we went to the mall Akropolis, and went to a "Play Place"...Essentially, it was a Chuckie Cheese but cheesier (get it?) and did not have much to do for the older kids. They did occupy themselves and were good sports about it.

Unfortunately, Aftyn wasn't feeling very well after lunch, so she stayed back at the camp for a bit and met up with us at the Play Place a little later. The problem was just an overload of cheesy, greasy, fried foods, which is nearly all there is to eat in Lithuania. We had a veggie-heavy dinner and vowed to do our best to avoid heavy, doughy foods for a while.

Friday June 22, 2018
Aftyn here! Tim and I have decided to co-op on this whole blog writing thing!

This was our last day of camp, and also our last day in Lithuania. Both of us were feeling a bit sad to leave, but we had been in Lithuania for month at this point and we were ready to see some new sights. We spent our day with the kids watching educational space videos and letting the kids prepare their acts for our talent show. After lunch we watched the kids performances and gave them each scores from 1-10. We awarded the prizes along with their certificates for completing camp. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners each got a large chocolate medal and all the other kids got lollipops.

That evening we just finished up laundry and made sure we had everything packed and ready for our super early train ride tomorrow.

Lots of love from Lithuania, for the last time! <3

Checkout all of our photos in our European Adventure 2018 album: