A Crappy Europa Run-Down

These past five months--going on six!--have been nothing shy of insane. As my previous post states, I was in Southeast Asia for six weeks, starting in February. And then what? Well, let me tell you a little story (and I do mean "little").

After Southeast Asia came to a close, Ken and I went zipping back to Korea to collect our year's worth of belongings, said goodbye to some dear friends there, and then jumped on our 9 millionth flight and headed back to North America. After a depressing goodbye in the Detroit airport (there wasn't a goodbye at ALL, thanks to the jerks working the immigration lines), we parted ways--Ken going off to Toronto, me going to the white-trash capital of the world. (Jackson, Michigan--in case you were wondering.)

After a whirlwind two weeks in Michigan that included visiting with family, making plans for Europe, and trying to coax Ken into coming to Nashville with me for a quick visit, I finally won and drug my significant other to the south with me to meet my Nash-friends. We only spent about five days there, however, as we were very pressed for time.

After driving back up to Michigan, Ken met my family in a whirlwind introduction before hopping on a Greyhound bus that took the both of us up to Toronto. After sitting in the most uncomfortable positions for hours on end in the bus, I briefly met Ken's mother, quickly visited with some friends there, then hopped on yet another plane that took us to Amsterdam. And Amsterdam is in the Netherlands, for those of you who are globally challenged.

I said in my last post that a picture is worth a thousand words, and I stand by that statement. So instead of rambling for hours and hours about the many details of our trip, I thought I would just show you the pictures (stolen from Ken's camera).

Amsterdam:

After being on the bus all night from Jackson to Toronto, then staying up all night in Toronto catching up with friends, THEN flying overnight to Amsterdam, we were really tired when we got there. Needless to say, I don't remember much other than falling asleep on a park bench in the middle of the day.

Paris, FRANCE:

We spent about a week in Paris, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because we couldn't afford anything else (my love-handles were looking pretty sexy by the time we got out of there). We spent our Parisian days strolling through the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, Versailles, the not-so-cool Pantheon (Ken thought it was THE Pantheon, which is actually located in Rome), and Sacre Coeur. (Actually we sat outside of Sacre Coeur because we were too cheap to pay the entrance fee.)

Cinque Terre, Italy:

Quite possibly the most beautiful place in the world, next to the Philippines! We hiked along the cliff-side mountains of the Mediterranean sea between five cities (hence the name of the place). It took about six hours to complete the hike, but it was worth every step of the way.

Florence, Italy:

I wasn't in love with Florence, like everyone who'd been there suggested I would be, but we enjoyed our stay there. We saw the enormous and crazy-impressive statue of David (Michelangelo), circled around The Domo a few times, and got a lovely case of bed bug bites from our nasty hostel (the only souvenirs I walked away with).

Rome, Italy:

Rome is filled with OLD stuff. This picture was taken inside the Colosseum (Ken and I happened to be arguing that morning, so we thought it would be an appropriate place to visit, given the circumstances). We also visited the Vatican (St. Peter's Basilica--really cool; the Sistine Chapel--overrated), the REAL Pantheon, Palatine Hill, and a few other really old places that I can't remember.

Venice, Italy:

Venice is so NOT overrated. The city is absolutely stunning (albeit a little crammed with tourists). We didn't do anything here except walk around it's maze-like structure for a few days, continually getting lost and continually getting screwed over by Bus #15 (another story for another time).

Modena, Italy:

Woops, we didn't take any pictures here!

Vienna, Austria:

This is where we ate Wiener Schnitzel and almost died. This is also where we saw some Klimt paintings (amazing) and saw Mozart's grave (morbid).

Prague, Czech Republic:

Prague is another city that has not been overrated by its throngs of tourists. The city is beautiful in its own Gothic glory. Naturally, we didn't want to spend the money on any of the tourist attractions (e.g. Prague castle), so aside from wandering its beautiful streets and rowing in the Danube, I have nothing else to report from Prague.

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic:

This was my second favorite part of our trip! The town of Cesky Krumlov is still relatively untouched by tourism and it's positively adorable. We meandered around the mid-evil city trying desperately to soak in all of it's fairy-tale-like sites, but probably failed miserably (sensory overload set in). We took a raft around the river that surrounds the city and had a grand ol' time (until a huge bug flew down the front of my life vest and into my shirt, causing me to scream and jump around with panic until Ken maneuvered the boat to shore, ripped off my life vest and killed the bug heroically with his oar).

Krakow, Poland:

This city was a great find, and we probably wouldn't have found it had my friend Adam not decided to teach English there for a year. I wanted to visit him for a bit while we were in Europe, so the trip to Krakow came naturally, without much planning. It's pretty much the only good-looking city left in Poland after WWII; Cobble stone streets, underground restaurants and bars that look like dungeons, castles and clock towers, etc.

Berlin, Germany:

An unexpected love affair. I didn't have many expectations for Berlin, so it naturally blew me out of the water. It's tumultuous history combined with it's new-mixed-with-old-(albeit bombed-out)-architecture made it a city to fall in love with. And the curry wurst was delish!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes my Europe-update-extravaganza! I'm sorry I didn't go into great detail, but this short post alone took all the time I can afford to give to the computer in one sitting.