we had a full day of traveling yesterday...
we had a seven hour train ride from bergen to oslo. then we had what turned out to be a two hour bus ride from the oslo central station to "oslo" torp airport. if the airport is two hours out of town, isn't that a different city? two hours. kelly kept insisting as the bus kept going and going that we were on the wrong bus. things really got interesting when the bus began slowing down on the freeway coming to a stop. the bus driver starting talking on his cell phone but just sat there after he hung up. after about a minute of silence someone yelled out in norwegian "what is going on?" (or so i think...i don't speak norwegian). The driver responded in a mumble over the PA in norwegian. the guy behind us said that a bus is on the way and we "should be ok". we were rescued in surprising good time and made our flight.
john and grace shelton were at the airport to pick us up and take us back to limerick to stay with them. its nice to have sustained human interaction. the 5 month gloria is super cute. we stopped at a gas station and i had real salt and vinegar "crisps". way better than any attempt in the states. we had a two hour car ride back to their house which is super nice. they are getting the "hook up" by the Lord. their landlord is giving them a 4 bedroom house for dirtcheap. their church community has given them a car and any/everything they could ever need as far a baby supplies.
kelly and i slept hard.
we've been really confused as to what time it is with changing time zones and also who knows what day it is...
john made us pancakes for breakfast (a great switch from our free hostel breakfasts of soft boiled eggs and bread). then we all went on a day trip to cork together. we walked around the city central in the rain. what would ireland be without rain? we had lunch at a pub that was really large and cool. the girls did a bit of shopping.
the drive to cork was great. very green...the green you only see through the filter of overcast skies. often are seen ruins of castles on the side of the road. rolling hills, sheep and cows. kelly insists that tolken got idea for the shire from the irish countryside.
we're about to pick up takout indian food and watch a movie! tomorrow kelly and i are planning to bus to the dingle pennisula...and ride some bikes downhill...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
norway
we night trained from Stockholm to Oslo. The train was packed. Our sleeper car had six people stacked on bunks with our luggage with no airflow. The ride was much bumpier than the others we've had. We had 3 hours in Oslo in the morning before our connection to " the land of the fjords. We walked around the city for the wait on the near empty early morning streets. It seemed to have character but not that of Stockholm. The train ride across Norway was truly beautiful. It followed a river for several hours with mountains and waterfalls all around. We arrived in Myrdal for a transfer with too many tourists on the Flam railway. Every guidebook we ever looked at recommended this half hour train ride from top to bottom of the fjord. Naturally every visitor with Rick Steves guidebook in hand accompanied us on a Silver Dollar Cityesque train through lush Rocky Mountain-like terrain. We stopped at a huge waterfall on the way down and out of nowhere comes blaring elvish music and two women rise out of the rocks in the distance dancing at the foot of the falls. We were jealous of the people biking down which would have been the greatest. Biking down hill has to be the funnest thing period. Put it in Norway, ouch, to good to be true.
Flam is a small tourist village at the mouth of one of the more popular fjords. Though intensly beautiful it is equally expensive as evidenced by 5+ dollars for a bottle of water. We stayed in the cheapest guest house we could find but still the most expensive of our trip. We hiked up along a river for the rest of the evening and explored the paths near our guest house. I also ate really expensive fish sticks rivaling any 88 cent box of van de camps.
We had a boat trip through the fjord and and bus ride back up the mount. I was waiting for the transmission to fall out as we puttered up the sharp switchbacks. Kelly was waiting for us to fall of the cliff. I officially doubled the number of waterfalls I've seen in my life the past two days. We caught a train to Bergen the 2nd largest city in the country. It lies on the west coast and has a sweet fish market. We think this is the farthest north we've ever been or will be on this trip. We did our usual find a park and read to close up our day. I'm reading Twilight now. It's your typical teen fantasy vampire love story. Right up my alley.
In the morning we'll train back to Oslo to catch a Ryan air flight to next stop...Ireland.
I'm taking full advantage of free wifi at our hotel and have typed all this puppy of an entry out on my iPhone. Think about that.
We've been thinking and praying about vision and future a lot. Also contending to walk in authority that Jesus says we have like when he sent out the 72 to heal sick and preach the coming of the Kingdom...
Flam is a small tourist village at the mouth of one of the more popular fjords. Though intensly beautiful it is equally expensive as evidenced by 5+ dollars for a bottle of water. We stayed in the cheapest guest house we could find but still the most expensive of our trip. We hiked up along a river for the rest of the evening and explored the paths near our guest house. I also ate really expensive fish sticks rivaling any 88 cent box of van de camps.
We had a boat trip through the fjord and and bus ride back up the mount. I was waiting for the transmission to fall out as we puttered up the sharp switchbacks. Kelly was waiting for us to fall of the cliff. I officially doubled the number of waterfalls I've seen in my life the past two days. We caught a train to Bergen the 2nd largest city in the country. It lies on the west coast and has a sweet fish market. We think this is the farthest north we've ever been or will be on this trip. We did our usual find a park and read to close up our day. I'm reading Twilight now. It's your typical teen fantasy vampire love story. Right up my alley.
In the morning we'll train back to Oslo to catch a Ryan air flight to next stop...Ireland.
I'm taking full advantage of free wifi at our hotel and have typed all this puppy of an entry out on my iPhone. Think about that.
We've been thinking and praying about vision and future a lot. Also contending to walk in authority that Jesus says we have like when he sent out the 72 to heal sick and preach the coming of the Kingdom...
Friday, July 25, 2008
stockholm
i'm spending my birthday in stockholm which has to be the coolest city i've been to so far. it has an all you can eat pizza buffet...with free refills on soft drinks...mmm. we used birthday money from my parent to go on a speedboat tour of some of the archipelagos nearby. stockholm is built on a series of small islands each having a bit different character and feel. i learned this my junior year taking my ACT test in the reading comprehension section. i was so intrigued by the stockholm essay that i reread it and spaced out for a while thinking about it and didn't finish that portion of the test.
we saw our second euro-brady yesterday in stockholm. the first was in amsterdam.
you can't beat free breakfast.
i've finished 'the man who laughs' and have moved on to floyd mcclung's on the devil's doorstep about his times and ministry on the hippie trail from amsterdam to india.
we are about to night train to oslo continuing our scandinavian tour to hopefully see some sweet fjords.
old fashioned scandinavian names like helga and olga are still huge here.
the blister on my left great toe is growing, but i'm looking forward to the huge callous.
i'm learning better table manners, eating everything with a fork AND knife keeping my elbows at my side.
we saw our second euro-brady yesterday in stockholm. the first was in amsterdam.
you can't beat free breakfast.
i've finished 'the man who laughs' and have moved on to floyd mcclung's on the devil's doorstep about his times and ministry on the hippie trail from amsterdam to india.
we are about to night train to oslo continuing our scandinavian tour to hopefully see some sweet fjords.
old fashioned scandinavian names like helga and olga are still huge here.
the blister on my left great toe is growing, but i'm looking forward to the huge callous.
i'm learning better table manners, eating everything with a fork AND knife keeping my elbows at my side.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
next days -paris
i've got a short time budget to blog... this costs me money.
we trained from amsterdam to paris via short stop in lillie a nice little very quaint and very french mini city. we arrived in paris with no idea where our hotel was besides 'near the eiffel tower'. live and learn. we walked around for a while but found our bare bones but private room which was a nice break from the shared dorms in amsterdam. after dropping of our bags from our weary shoulders we grabbed a bite and walked around the blue lit eiffel tower. it sparkles sometimes...maybe every hour on the hour. it was bigger and more attractive that i'd imagined and interpretted from photos and films such as ratatoulle and superman 2.
the next day kelly gave me the grand paris tour through the subways to all the major paris venues ie, the lourve, the arc of triumph, notre dame, sac de le coure as seen in amelie, etc. paris is kind of like a big carnival. lots of people. expensive treats and attractions. i'll say the top of the eiffel tower is cooler than any carnival ride though... we had a picnic dinner of cheese and baquettes and champagne at the foot of the eiffel tower.
next day. versailles. i thought it would be a nice little side town with a regular old palace. nope. the palace was a whopping city with endless mazes of gardens and man made lakes. louis the whatever had a knack for going overboard. the highlight of the trip so far was renting bikes and riding around the gardens. some genius next to the train station in versailles figured out that what american tourists crave in europe is 'tex mex' and we had our fill of fajitas. we trained back to paris and napped in the park like bums waiting for our night train to copenhagen.
i'm writing now from the dan hostel in copenhagen whick is fully furnished by ikea, feels weird.
getting used to typing on different keyboards with letters in weird places and other keys like æ and ø. buying water is difficult. you have to shake it to see if it sparkles because tonic water is nast.
i'm reading victor hugo's the man who laughs which is good as well as long. like les mis it has lots of background. but this is even less story and more background which can get brutal...
out of time suckers
we trained from amsterdam to paris via short stop in lillie a nice little very quaint and very french mini city. we arrived in paris with no idea where our hotel was besides 'near the eiffel tower'. live and learn. we walked around for a while but found our bare bones but private room which was a nice break from the shared dorms in amsterdam. after dropping of our bags from our weary shoulders we grabbed a bite and walked around the blue lit eiffel tower. it sparkles sometimes...maybe every hour on the hour. it was bigger and more attractive that i'd imagined and interpretted from photos and films such as ratatoulle and superman 2.
the next day kelly gave me the grand paris tour through the subways to all the major paris venues ie, the lourve, the arc of triumph, notre dame, sac de le coure as seen in amelie, etc. paris is kind of like a big carnival. lots of people. expensive treats and attractions. i'll say the top of the eiffel tower is cooler than any carnival ride though... we had a picnic dinner of cheese and baquettes and champagne at the foot of the eiffel tower.
next day. versailles. i thought it would be a nice little side town with a regular old palace. nope. the palace was a whopping city with endless mazes of gardens and man made lakes. louis the whatever had a knack for going overboard. the highlight of the trip so far was renting bikes and riding around the gardens. some genius next to the train station in versailles figured out that what american tourists crave in europe is 'tex mex' and we had our fill of fajitas. we trained back to paris and napped in the park like bums waiting for our night train to copenhagen.
i'm writing now from the dan hostel in copenhagen whick is fully furnished by ikea, feels weird.
getting used to typing on different keyboards with letters in weird places and other keys like æ and ø. buying water is difficult. you have to shake it to see if it sparkles because tonic water is nast.
i'm reading victor hugo's the man who laughs which is good as well as long. like les mis it has lots of background. but this is even less story and more background which can get brutal...
out of time suckers
Saturday, July 19, 2008
day 1, 2, 3
day 1 chicago (not in europe)
we were the two people on the magnificent mile with big backpacks. we got our cookies at the pricelined doubletree. kelly may or may not have had an obstruction in her throat...feel free to join the debate.
day 2 (plus bonus hours)
flights etc: we flew to london and connected to hamburg. i watched "jumper" which was way sweeter than i expected. in hamburg we shuttled straight to the train station to connect to amsterdam. stay out from under the stairs in the ginormous hamburg train station - a chubby red headed girl will come up to you and say something like ..."get out from under the stairs you bums" in german. we also ate veggie pizza in the rain while we waited.
the train ride was beautiful and we had a couple of transfers and waits in random empty train stations. by now the day is one big space out... somewhere in there i read a biography on smith wigglesworth a quirky old brit with a lot of faith and funny quotes.
we arrived in amsterdam after midnight, rode an expensive taxi to our hostel. we were way to tired to figure out the bus system. the hostel was locked and nobody to answer our lonely buzzer until a group of guests arrived to let us in.
day 3 amsterdam and haarlem
our hostel is actually in haarlem, like in nyc but no globetrotters. harlem is a quaint suburb? we walked around the open air market and went to corie tin boom's house for a tour. we bought some blueberries and bread at a grocery store and took the train to amsterdam. it rained most of the day. we added to the "hiding place" theme by going to the anne frank museum. we walked around the "red light district" which was not quite what i expected... burger king's only item on the euro menu is a chicken nugget sandwich which i hit and hit hard.
we were the two people on the magnificent mile with big backpacks. we got our cookies at the pricelined doubletree. kelly may or may not have had an obstruction in her throat...feel free to join the debate.
day 2 (plus bonus hours)
flights etc: we flew to london and connected to hamburg. i watched "jumper" which was way sweeter than i expected. in hamburg we shuttled straight to the train station to connect to amsterdam. stay out from under the stairs in the ginormous hamburg train station - a chubby red headed girl will come up to you and say something like ..."get out from under the stairs you bums" in german. we also ate veggie pizza in the rain while we waited.
the train ride was beautiful and we had a couple of transfers and waits in random empty train stations. by now the day is one big space out... somewhere in there i read a biography on smith wigglesworth a quirky old brit with a lot of faith and funny quotes.
we arrived in amsterdam after midnight, rode an expensive taxi to our hostel. we were way to tired to figure out the bus system. the hostel was locked and nobody to answer our lonely buzzer until a group of guests arrived to let us in.
day 3 amsterdam and haarlem
our hostel is actually in haarlem, like in nyc but no globetrotters. harlem is a quaint suburb? we walked around the open air market and went to corie tin boom's house for a tour. we bought some blueberries and bread at a grocery store and took the train to amsterdam. it rained most of the day. we added to the "hiding place" theme by going to the anne frank museum. we walked around the "red light district" which was not quite what i expected... burger king's only item on the euro menu is a chicken nugget sandwich which i hit and hit hard.
Monday, July 14, 2008
boom!
i had another blog that i don't remember what is was, i wrote on it once i think...and a xanga...and a facebook. heck, i'll join another online community particularly for kelly and i's travels to europa in the next month or so. dig it!
i have too much to do before i leave to be rocking the "blogospere" this hard but i want to just put some things in print before i go:
a: the flood street construction needs to be done before i get back or i am gonna freak out!
b: the free standing chik-fila should wait to open until i get back so i can camp out and get free chik-en for a year.
c: i'm worried that i won't be able to see batman until i get back...
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