Hello everyone!!
I will start this blog post by telling everyone that James and I are alright! We are healthy and moral is high, so thank you for all of your prayers! However, the trip is not over yet so please keep praying for safety as we travel North up to Bremen for our flight back to Tampere, Finland!!!
So as you may have guessed we are at about the halfway point of our adventure! We have made it as far south as we are going to go (Rome) and this morning our headed on a train up to Pisa, Italy for two days. We are looking forward to not only seeing the leaning tower, but to hopefully find a beach and catch some rays!!!! (I am doing my best Megan!)
Anyways, the journey so far….So we flew into Frankfurt, Germany with a low amount of problems. Our hostel turned out, however, to be 120 kilometers from the airport!! This means that we were forced to pay 12 Euro to take a bus to the downtown train station. Rough start to the journey if you look at having to pay an un-expected fare… but we were now able to locate our hostel, and the train station, which is ultimately killing two birds with one stone. One interesting thing about our hostel, however, is the fact that it was located in the middle of the Red-Light District of Frankfurt, so there were literally 10 strip clubs and sex shops within a two block radius! I now understand where Eurotrip got all of their material! That puts Oregon and their amount of sex shops per capita to shame!
So, after waking up that Monday morning we headed to the train station to book our train to Paris. We were able to book the train, however it didn’t leave for 4 hours, so we had a little bit of time to kill…This is the point in the journey where James and I learned an important lesson…Don’t just wonder unless you have PLENTY of time to do so! We ended up straying way to far from the train station, and despite seeing some beautiful scenery were forced to sprint to the train to make it in time! Anybody who knows me well knows that just walking up stairs usually gets the sweat glands pumping, you can imagine what it was like with a 50 lb backpack in 85 degree weather!! Needless to say we made the train and Paris here we come!!!
Paris is a beautiful city. James and I were taken aback at how gorgeous all of the buildings are, and how awesome the Eifel tower is! We made it to the tower at night, so we were able to enjoy it all lit up! It was cool! We attempted to make it all the way to the top, but due to our packs were not allowed to. So we propped up on the lawn by the tower, and due to our budget restrictions, bought an extremely cheap bottle of champagne from a vendor, (I think it was 6 Euro…hahaha) and shared a romantic moment. As many of you know James and I are sort of hetero life-mates, so these romantic moments have happened before. However, I am not going to lie, it made me miss Megan terribly! I hope that one day we get to return to that spot and can enjoy maybe a little bit more expensive bottle of bubbly! Ha!!
So, the next day is where all of the fun begins. We woke up a little late, and thus were not able to make it to Versaille. So, we headed down to the Louvre because we wanted to see what all the fuss has been these past few years regarding the Mona Lisa. But, as you could have probably guessed, the one day that the Louvre is closed is Tuesday…Not Monday…or Sunday…But Tuesday…So we couldn’t check it out! Slightly dejected we headed toward Notre Dame, and then the train station.
Once at the train station we went to book our train to Venice, Italy which is considered an “overnight train”. However, the train was overbooked and we literally had no place to stay! In fact, there were no trains to Venice open for a week! So, due to our hostel reservations on the 22nd in Rome, we decided to work with the nice woman behind the desk to develop a plan to get to Rome. Once it was all said and done, we were headed through southern France through Montpellier, Nice, and then ultimately to Italy.
Despite all of this, we still had no place to stay in Montpellier. But, as many of you Bearcat fans know, we always have each other’s backs! How does this tie in you say? Well many of you remember Arnaud Vidallier! Well, due to those Cat Patch groups we love so much, James learned that Arnaud was from Montpellier! So thanks to an internet café, and facebook, we were able to get in touch with him and were pointed in the direction of food and lodging!! He is currently in Northern France, serving as the starting Strong Safety for the French national team but was able to put us in touch with his friend Dario, who speaks perfect English! Dario again helped us locate a grocery store, and food…(So important!) and train tickets to Nice, where our journey to Italy began!!
As you can probably imagine, arriving in Nice we didn’t have a place to stay. And Nice, being a small town, doesn’t have many hotels. So, by going one by one around the city, we found that we weren’t going to have a place to stay that night. Ahahaah….After the last one rejected us we located a park, a cardboard box, and set up camp! We actually slept on a box in a park. We were complete hobos, and at the time were at a low place…a very low place….Moral was low and rations were lower…we were seriously questioning whether or not to go on, but after a dip in the Mediterranean sea in the morning, and treating ourselves to a nice breakfast, we packed up and headed to Rome.
One thing that I would advise everyone about traveling in Europe, especially by train, is plans are going to change. A lot. On our way to Milan, Italy, which was our connecting train to Rome the train broke down. Yes, stopped on the track, and was not working. After a 1 hour delay the train headed back towards Milan. It was at this point that we realized we were going to miss our train to Rome, which was bad because we already had hostel reservations. “Oh no problem” we said….”They will compensate us somehow!” Well loyal readers, this is not the case. In Italy, apparently when a train breaks down and you miss your train, they don’t give you anything except a ticket on the next train to Rome, which wasn’t until the next morning!!! Ahhh!!!!!
After a dejected walk from the train station, our 10th meal at McDonalds, and another hotel, I was able to gain access to Internet. This is where I was eventually able to speak to Megan and she reminded me of some important things. She, as many of you know, studied in Spain for 5 months this past semester. She experienced several different things that resulted in cancelled plans, no sleep, and extremely uncomfortable situations, and she reminded me that is all part of the trip. She explained to me that we were still going to Rome, although a day late, and could still enjoy the trip. Yes plans had changed, she reminded, but I was still traveling Europe with one of my best friends! This is an awesome experience and she truly encouraged me to enjoy it and not be a negative Nancy the rest of the trip!!!!!
Well Megan, thanks to your advice I was able to push on! And sure enough, things have gotten better! Our train tickets are reserved for our trek home, and Rome was a great time! The metro is awesome, and literally took us to all of the sites we wanted to see! The Coliseum, the Forum, The Vatican, and the Trevi Fountain were all as good as advertised! We are off to Pisa today and I am optimistic regarding the remainder of the trip! Thank you Megan for being awesome, and really helping make this trip great! I love you so much!
Well, off to Pisa everyone, I will try to keep you updated on the adventures of Andrew and James throughout the trip, but internet may be scarce! But until next time….
God Bless!!!!
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