Highlights
Playing boardgames with Mark and his family. Hearing Mark play organ. Riding a double-decker bus. Mastering the tube system. That day with the two church services.
Walking down the Champs Elysses in Paris that first night, seeing all the lights, and singing Disney songs. Sitting by the Arc du Triomphe, watching the endless flood of cars. Warm baguette and cheese. Stained glass in Sainte Chapelle church.
That first stroopwaffle we ate in the pouring rain in Amsterdam. All of the bikes. Dinners with Riordin and Justine. Buying and wearing awesome pants. Back to back to back movies in Amsterdam.
So much food with Tessa and her mom! All the pictures on Tessa's wall :) Playing canasta with Tessa and her dad for hours. Eating whatever they ordered us, not really knowing what we were getting... Just loved all the care and hospitality from Tessa and her parents.
Hiking and wandering around outdoors at the foot of the Alps in Austria, and walking back 10 miles in the dark. Cooking a creative dinner.
Spending hours wandering around Venice with no map, not trying to get anywhere in particular. Sitting on the point, watching sunset, and all the boats.
Meeting Cody and Christina that first night in Florence, and just how we clicked right away. Spending time all together on Piazza de Michelangelo, looking over the city and just hanging out.
Arcidosso. Conversations in so many languages! Trekking through fields and under fences.
First night in Rome, when we had no idea where we were staying that night, but we didn't care. Cooking with John, and learning so much about food and how to make it. The Vatican museum. All the ruins in the rain. Eating half a jar of nutella, in the rain. Sunrise on the bridge. Just generally staying with John was pretty awesome.
Free Greek pastries. Sitting up on the Lycabettus hill for hours, just watching the city at night.
Nutella. Open air markets. Good bread. Trains. Singing. Pomegranates. Learning to get along even when we don't.
Things we've learned
Bridget picks up accents more readily than Kirstyn does
Other places in the world don't have graham crackers
Failing to clink glasses with everyone during a toast = 7 years bad sex
But. Rubbing the feet of the animal statues in Bremen = 7 years good luck
"Champignons" in German are mushrooms, not onions
How to make and pronounce bruschetta
Two pairs of pants are better than one
Picking out wine by the color of the cap is a surefire method.
Churches are awesome, and should be open and free all the time. Organs are awesome too.
Couchsurfing is a great way to meet people and actually learn about a city.
We have learned from 3 different people, of 3 different nationalities, in 3 different cities, that the best way to cross a street is to not look left or right, but just to walk, and the cars will stop for you. We are pros at jaywalking now.
If a door doesn't push open, try pulling. And vice versa. Also, we have bad luck with keys and locks.
If you're stranded with no money and no place to go, walk into an Irish pub.
Don't micromanage your time in a city. Wandering is fun too.
Smiling and nodding will get you pretty far in a conversation if you don't know the language.
Weather can greatly affect your impression of a city.
Most commonly uttered phrases
How many shirts are you wearing?
Where's the nutella?
Is it time to eat?
Drink. Drink drink drink drink.
Wow. How pretty!
Where are we going?
Kirstyn, do you actually have any idea where we are?
Ok fine. Can we pray?
For sure. Good call. Absolutely!
Sure do. Sure did.
Do you have the bag? Can I carry the bag now?
Reasons we're excited to go home
Bridget: Dunkin Donuts coffee. More easy communication with family and friends. Next House heating. Bathrooms and water fountains everywhere. Music playing all the time.
Kirstyn: Hugs. Cereal. Heat.
Reasons we are sad to leave
Less communal food... and communal everything... literally everything we have and do is communal right now...
Europe is gorgeous.
Goodbye to 8+ hours of sleep a night
Getting out of the MIT bubble is awesome
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Tap those ruby red slippers
Last day in Europe.... weird. Bittersweet.
Got up at O'dark-thirty ;) this morning to go watch sunrise from up on that rock where Paul talked about gospel. Bought coffees with some of our few remaining euros, and then sat up there for over an hour, just watching the city go from night to day. Gorgeous. Walked around more ruins and spent literally down to the last 0,03 euros on chocolate croissants and of course one last Greek fried pastry thing. Packed and headed to the airport...homeward bound :)
Got up at O'dark-thirty ;) this morning to go watch sunrise from up on that rock where Paul talked about gospel. Bought coffees with some of our few remaining euros, and then sat up there for over an hour, just watching the city go from night to day. Gorgeous. Walked around more ruins and spent literally down to the last 0,03 euros on chocolate croissants and of course one last Greek fried pastry thing. Packed and headed to the airport...homeward bound :)
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| ancient greek voldemort |
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
More of those fried Greek cheese pastries
So you take a light, fluffy piece of dough, and you fill it with cheese. Then you fry it.
Or maybe, instead of cheese, you fill it with a sweet cream thing. And then put cinnamon and sugar inside.
Then you repeat, and repeat, and repeat, because Kirstyn and Bridget eat a lot of these things, and someone has to make them.
That's kind of what today felt like. It was fantastic.
Other than eating really delicious Greek fried things, this morning we went on a walking tour around Athens. Our hostel is literally right in the center of everything. It's amazing. We saw the Parthenon, a bunch of ruins and gardens, a few churches, temples for Zeus and Hephaestus, Hadrian's Arch, and learned a ton of history. We went up to a rock where the ancient Greeks did all of their court cases for super high offenses - mainly murder and high treason, because those were crimes that would pollute the city, so they had to get out of the city to try the case. Also, because in open-air spaces, people were less likely to lie, because the gods could see everything that they said/did. This was the rock Paul stood on when he talked about Christianity in Athens, super cool. We also walked up near the Acropolis and got FROZEN GREEK YOGURT! Which was SO DELICIOUS. I got raspberry because it was wonderfully delectable and Bridget got plain Greek yogurt because I guess that's also good :P but hers did have a phenomenal texture, so points there I guess.
Then we got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens, which was very interesting. After the tour, Bridget and I wandered back off to our favorite street to our favorite church and SUCCESS got her phone back :DDD
Then we went back to the Acropolis and wandered around. Oh gosh. I took a Greek mythology class in high school, it was one of my favorite classes ever, and actually seeing the theatres and ruins and such was like the most incredible experience ever. Like, Dionysus' Theatre. The real thing. Saw it. Sat in the seats. And another big important theatre, that they actually still use for shows. Can you imagine watching a show from a theatre that's been around for literally thousands of years?? Thousands. Imagine it.
And the PARTHENON!! It was big. Really big. And they were, like, restoring parts of it, which was actually very interesting to see - you could tell what parts were new and what parts were old, and what statues were copies, but I really liked that. As for why the Parthenon was in ruins in the first place when a lot of other buildings from that same time period are intact -- when Athens was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, the Parthenon was used for ammunition storage. Unfortunately, in 1687, an explosion of that ammunition cause the ruined Parthenon we see today.
Then we wandered through the old part of town - apparently, if you can find your way through the myriad of winds and turns, there's a working steam bath and an oasis of peace and quite and wonderful. We didn't find it. But, hey, it's a Wednesday in the middle of January, so there was plenty of peace and quiet anyway! Finally, we made our way up Lycabettus Hill, which is the tallest point in Athens, to watch the sun set. It was gorgeous.
Then we just sat out on the mountain, overlooking Athens, as the sun left and the city lights started to come up. And sang. And got a little cold, but that was okay. The weather today was bright and sunny and super great. We finally wandered our way home and went up on the roof of our hostel, which apparently is one of the best views in Athens - who knew!! It was a pretty nice view!
Or maybe, instead of cheese, you fill it with a sweet cream thing. And then put cinnamon and sugar inside.
Then you repeat, and repeat, and repeat, because Kirstyn and Bridget eat a lot of these things, and someone has to make them.
That's kind of what today felt like. It was fantastic.
Other than eating really delicious Greek fried things, this morning we went on a walking tour around Athens. Our hostel is literally right in the center of everything. It's amazing. We saw the Parthenon, a bunch of ruins and gardens, a few churches, temples for Zeus and Hephaestus, Hadrian's Arch, and learned a ton of history. We went up to a rock where the ancient Greeks did all of their court cases for super high offenses - mainly murder and high treason, because those were crimes that would pollute the city, so they had to get out of the city to try the case. Also, because in open-air spaces, people were less likely to lie, because the gods could see everything that they said/did. This was the rock Paul stood on when he talked about Christianity in Athens, super cool. We also walked up near the Acropolis and got FROZEN GREEK YOGURT! Which was SO DELICIOUS. I got raspberry because it was wonderfully delectable and Bridget got plain Greek yogurt because I guess that's also good :P but hers did have a phenomenal texture, so points there I guess.
Then we got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens, which was very interesting. After the tour, Bridget and I wandered back off to our favorite street to our favorite church and SUCCESS got her phone back :DDD
Then we went back to the Acropolis and wandered around. Oh gosh. I took a Greek mythology class in high school, it was one of my favorite classes ever, and actually seeing the theatres and ruins and such was like the most incredible experience ever. Like, Dionysus' Theatre. The real thing. Saw it. Sat in the seats. And another big important theatre, that they actually still use for shows. Can you imagine watching a show from a theatre that's been around for literally thousands of years?? Thousands. Imagine it.
And the PARTHENON!! It was big. Really big. And they were, like, restoring parts of it, which was actually very interesting to see - you could tell what parts were new and what parts were old, and what statues were copies, but I really liked that. As for why the Parthenon was in ruins in the first place when a lot of other buildings from that same time period are intact -- when Athens was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, the Parthenon was used for ammunition storage. Unfortunately, in 1687, an explosion of that ammunition cause the ruined Parthenon we see today.
Then we wandered through the old part of town - apparently, if you can find your way through the myriad of winds and turns, there's a working steam bath and an oasis of peace and quite and wonderful. We didn't find it. But, hey, it's a Wednesday in the middle of January, so there was plenty of peace and quiet anyway! Finally, we made our way up Lycabettus Hill, which is the tallest point in Athens, to watch the sun set. It was gorgeous.
Then we just sat out on the mountain, overlooking Athens, as the sun left and the city lights started to come up. And sang. And got a little cold, but that was okay. The weather today was bright and sunny and super great. We finally wandered our way home and went up on the roof of our hostel, which apparently is one of the best views in Athens - who knew!! It was a pretty nice view!
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| this is Lycabettus hill |
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| Hadrian's arch |
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| Temple of Zeus |
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| Olympic stadium |
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