La Belle Montréal

It was a loong flight and an exhausting day but we are finally back to Canada! Getting to the Athens' airport was as expected. We got on a subway which was clearly mapped to go straight to the airport. It didn't mention that half way through you had to get off the subway, and wait for another train which came every 40 minutes. No, this was told to us by some Greek lady who did not speak any English. We eventually got the hint to get off the subway, where there was an English speaking Greek who informed us of the next train. Anyway, we got there. We took a plane from Athens to Munich, where we started this whole mess. We found ourselves at the Munich airport, exactly two months later, at even the same time of day. We weren't there long, as our first flight was delayed and our second was 10 minutes from leaving. We got on the plane and began our 8 hour transatlantic journey.

We didn't sleep at all on the plane and by the time we arrived at in Montreal, we were up for close to 24 hours. The day before we were looking over Athens in shorts and t-shirts, but stepping out into Canada it was obvious it was winter. My aunt picked us up in a car with antlers and a rodolf nose and we knew we were home. The next morning the city was covered with snow. We prepared for a lot of circumstances on this trip, but snow was not one of them. When deciding what to pack I checked the average temperatures for all the places we would hit. Everywhere but Montreal that is. The snow and cold was a good excuse for us to laze around yesterday. That, and the fact that even after a full 24 hours of being awake, I still woke up at 3:30am unable to sleep. The time change is getting to me. On our way to Europe we flew Halifax to Germany, suffering a 5 hour time change. This time it was from Athens to Montreal, making it a 7 hour time change. I'm slowly getting used to it though, this morning I slept until 4:30.

It doesn't matter though, because we are back in Canada, which means we are back at home. We can plug things in without adapters and everything in stores are already converted into Canadian dollars. There aren't people yelling at us in different languages and we can walk into a store, or passed a resturant without being followed around by the owners. Tomorrow we fly to Halifax! So excited to be done travelling. Saturday I will sleep in and do nothing all day but watch movies. As for now, I think I will continue to lay on the couch and watch the Gilmore Girls.

Love Sarah

Canada-bound!

Dave and I are about an hour from leaving to go to the airport! We are giving ourselves boatloads of time, due to our previous experiences with getting around Athens. It still seems a little surreal that we're leaving. Last night we emptied our packs and threw out whatever we didn't need anymore. There were so many old tickets, receipts, even our original boarding pass to get into Germany. We reminisced on all our favorite memories in Europe and thought about how different things were when we first arrived. We had our last Greek meal (delicious) and took our final shots of Ouzo before going to bed. We both woke up early this morning, finding it difficult to sleep thinking about the day ahead. It still seems to hard to believe we'll be on Canadian soil by the end of the day. We spent the last of our euros, and still have a 5 dollar Canadian bill, which we will immediately use at Tim's upon entering the airport. I'm not particularly fond of Tim Hortons' coffee, but it will be a nice taste of home. Anyway, Dave has just informed me that he is entirely packed and I should be too.

Will talk more from Canada!

Love Sarah

Santorini

Hi all!

Dave and I are now out of Athens. A couple of days ago we took another ferry from the coast of Athens to Santorini. We are staying here until tomorrow when we take the ferry back. We are then only in Athens for 2 nights before flying back to Canada!

Getting to Santorini wasn't easy. Our ferry left at 7:30am and we had to leave our hostel around 5:30. It was still really dark and Dave and I spent half an hour getting lost looking for the metro station. Luckily the scenery was beautiful. (see picture below) When we finally found the station, we were starting to run a little late, it was then we found out our subway wasn't running. (see picture below). I suppose we should feel lucky that the metro in Athens is even in business, but public transit so far has been far from smooth. We were running out of time and patience and almost took what would have been a pretty expensive cab ride, when we found a sign. A tiny little sign posted on the door of the security office two floors up. It said to get where we needed to go, we had to take the subway in the opposite direction, which would eventually turn around and take us to the ferry port. (of course). Maybe there were signs like this on the subway platform, but who can tell when everything is written is triangles and squares? We still weren't sure if we were going to make it but we got on the ferry shortly before it set sail. It was a new boat and the ride was about 8 hours. We spent the first half catching up on sleep missed that morning, and the other half eating hamburgers and playing cards.

When we got here we were picked up at the ferry port by the George who owns the hostel we're staying in. He and his wife Stella have been super nice and will even be taking us back to the ferry port at 6:00am tomorrow. So far Santorini has been great. We each rented a scooter for the time we're here at a whopping 10 euros a day, and they have been so much fun. We're able to tour around the entire island and see the picturesque scenery we've always heard about. It's beautiful here. There are just little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky, little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same.They are almost all white with blue shutters, as if to send a message to all outsiders, that these islands are Greek. Last night we rode across to the other side of the island to watch the sunset. It was pretty cloudy, but beautiful. (See picture below) Tonight should be clearer so we will try again. The weather here has been surprisingly cold. It's been really windy and we've had to dress like we're back in Canada. I don't even know how many layers I wore last night but it was a lot, including two sweaters and leggings under my jeans. We've also had to buy gloves for scooting purposes. Today was a lot nicer though. Still windy, but we could see the sun and it warmed us up.

Anyway, tomorrow we're back to Athens, where we will be spending our last days in Europe. It's hard to believe this trip is coming to an end. We've both gotten so used to being homeless travelers that being back to having a home will be an adjustment. We're so excited though. Our original plan for this trip was 3 months, and neither of us can imagine spending another month on the road. It's break time. We're exhausted and getting sick. Anyway, it's siesta here. Time for a nap.


Love Sarah

Ciao Italia!

Greeting from the sea! We are actually beginning our 15 hour journey to Greece now. We are about 3 hours in and so far it's been beautiful. We are staying in a cabin which is great. We have our own room, including a shower, and we're still able to walk around and enjoy this fantastic ferry. I only have 15 minutes of internet time, as we are sharing an hour we bought with some boys we met waiting for the ferry. Boys we are now sharing a 5 litre jug of wine we bought at the supermarket for 4 euros. The ferry is pretty sweet, it's got plenty of resturants and bars, a casino, and a disco. When we wake up we will be in Greece! There is a hazy plan in the mix to wake up at 5am to see the sun rise. Not sure if we will make it. Anyway, my 15 minutes is running out quick so I will end it here.

We will talk more in Greece!

Love Sarah

Roma

Tonight is our last night in Rome. It's pretty cool here. There is a lot to see, and most of it is really old. We got here a few days ago and took a walk to find the Colosseum. It was a pretty short walk from our hotel and we caught it just before sunset. We didn't want to explore too much as the next day was dedicated to Ancient Rome. We got up early and started the wait in line to get into the Colosseum. We took the tour around and learned about life back in the day. (Did you know that gladiators used to fight hippopotamus? I didn't.) We spent the rest of the day touring around the ruins of Ancient Rome. We bought a 'then-and-now' book which showed us what everything used to look like, otherwise it would just look like broken rocks and crumbling columns.

Today we walked around Vatican city. Literally. The entire thing is surrounded by high brick walls and we walked around the entire thing (which is actually a country) looking for the entrance, which is only available through the museum. We stood in a few long lineups and looked around St. Peter's church and square. We finished our day with the most expensive and delicious ice creams we've ever had before booting it home.

Tomorrow we train to Brindisi, where we will only stay one night in the worst rated hostel we've been in. There aren't many options in Brindisi and since we're only there one night we figure we'll tough it out. Even if we have to stay in separate boy and girl dorms. The next day, we board an overnight ferry to Patras. Greece is our final country and we actually started the countdown (9 days) until we are back in Canada. Anyway that's all for now. I will leave you some more pictures of our Roman times.

Mucho love,

Sarah

Italia

Finally down to Italy! Venice is probably the strangest city we've seen. There are no cars or bikes, just water. Lots of water, and boats. Things like taxis, buses, cars and ambulances, are all boats. And the food. The food is amazing. We went out for pizza and beer last night and it was amazing, even more so because they expect you to eat an entire pizza. And we do. Pizza again for lunch. Only this time rolled up and cut in half. Every restaurant is a pizzaria, and a pastaria. Venice is also the city we've been in that is the most blatantly tourist. The population of this place is something like 60 thousand, where they get 20 million tourists a year.

We are two of those tourists, and obviously so. We are just like everyone else with our maps outs asking 'Where the hell are we?' We never know where we are. Since the streets have no cars there is no order. It' just a maze filled with people and maps and rivers and boats.

Tonight we go out for pasta. We've probably each gained 5 pounds already. Any weight I lost in the summer has come back with a vengeance. I don't even care. I can always lose weight but how often can I eat an entire Italian pizza?

Tomorrow we head to Rome. Less than two weeks until we're back in Canada! We have recently downloaded the CBC radio app and listening to Halifax radio has been a taste of home. Time has been going really fast lately. We have been seeing so much and are always on the move. Also, it's hard to feel homesick when we have this kind of scenery around us. It will be nice to rest though, to stay more than 3 nights in the same place will feel like such a luxury. We have already started making lists of things we will do when we get home. Most of them include washing and sleeping. Anyway, it's siesta time. Here is a taste of Venice for you though.

Love Sarah

Holy Toledo!

So we have finally left the coast, and can no longer call ourselves in southern Spain. Yesterday we took a train for the first time since Switzerland, to Toledo, Spain. Which is about half an hour out from Madrid. We love it here. We arrived yesterday late afternoon, threw our bags down, then left to explore.

Toledo is a small city, and its map looks like spaghetti. The city center is encased by fortress walls and the streets are so teeny tiny that cars can hardly drive down them, so they rarely do. When we were out last night we saw maybe 5 cars, trying to make their way through the crowds. Not as much tapas here though, which is a little disappointing. We will still find it.

We have exactly three weeks until we return to Canada, with a short, three day stop over in Montreal before heading back to Halifax. We still have a lot of places to see before that time and have pretty much every day planned until then. There's not a whole lot more of that "we like it here so we'll stay another day" mentality, if so we would probably extend our stay in Toledo...and everywhere we go.

We are getting excited to be home though. I miss the simple pleasures of taking a hot shower, then wrapping up in a big fuzzy towel, instead of the wafer-thin travel towel we've been using. Or brushing my teeth with a toothbrush that doesn't fold up. Or best of all, traveling around without a 20 pound back on my back. It will be nice just hearing consistent English around me, instead of German, Dutch, French, Spanish, and soon to be Italian and Greek. Anyway, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. Europe is amazing and the experiences we've had here are ones we won't forget.

Tomorrow we move on to Barcelona! We will actually be back on the coast again, but far more north than we were before. Probably won't be swimming weather but pretty all the same. Ok. That's enough for now. I've been writing on Dave's iPhone and my eyes and fingers are starting to hurt.

Much love,

Sarah

Malaga

Hi all,
After a five hour bus ride yesterday, we are now in Malaga! The bus ride wasn't so bad. We drove all along the coast so there was constantly beautiful scenery. It would have been a little better if the ladies in front of us didn't pull their seats all the way back at the beginning of the trip. Can't complain though, we made it here in good time. The city is beautiful. There are the most luscious palm trees I have ever seen and there are plenty of them. This is the greenest city we've been in, and we decided to spend an extra night here.

There have been huge castles in all the Spanish cities we've been in and our usual plan is to tour the castle in the morning, then hit the beach in the afternoon. This morning the castle was quite a hike. I thought I was going to pass out in the heat but we made it up and rewarded ourselves with some cold bottles of water. The view is always worth it.

After that we headed straight to the beach. We rented some lounge chairs under an umbrella and stayed there a good part of the afternoon. Now we are back at the hostel for some siesta time. Tomorrow is our last day here before leaving the coast and heading north. We are stopping in Toledo before heading to Barcelona. Tonight we're going out for tapas, my new favorite thing. A lot of places will include free beer with Tapas so our bill has been something like 10 euros for the two of us. The only problem is ordering. We can usually decipher one or two words, but it doesn't seem to matter. Dave and I like pretty much everything and the food is always delicious. Anyway, I think I will read 2 pages of my book then fall asleep. Dave is already there and I am jealous. First though, here are some pictures of our time in Spain!

Almeria

I'm sitting on my bed of the Hotel La Perla, deep in the heart of Almeria. Sarah has crashed early. Her notorious bug bites are acting up again and dealing with them is tiring business. There are Spaniards screaming at each other outside our window, but I cant tell if they're arguing or if they're just drunk. Maybe it's both.

I'll admit, I've been into the wine myself, so my love for Spain may be biased. It may be even more biased when I consider that each bottle cost me less than 2 euros. They pretty much give wine away here, which is dangerous for those of us who are used to paying a full hour's work for one decent bottle. How are we supposed to take responsibility for ourselves when such options for irresponsibility are so readily available? Life here is so great that it's not fair for those of us who aren't used to it. The whole thing is just plain dangerous.

But honestly, we've behaved considering our options. In one month, I've only dealt with one hangover. We're generally daytime troopers, using up most of our energy seeing as many sights as possible. By the time evening hits, we're usually too tired to get ourselves into trouble.

We have a tv in our room here, which is always nice. It's tiny, as all European televisions seem to be, but that's ok. I was expecting no frills down here, yet their cable is surprisingly digital. There's no Wifi in the rooms, but lobby Wifi is available, and that's fine with me. Especially when you consider this is our cheapest night yet, and we're not in a crowded hostel bunk room listening to a symphony of snoring. Nope, this is a real hotel, and it comes at the same price as two Big Mac meals back home.

The bus ride here was very cool. Our route weaved in and out of mountainous regions, and we passed by the ruins of many abandoned stone lodgings. Rural areas here are so different from anything we've seen so far on this journey. Instead of perfectly quaint little picturesque towns, we're seeing houses with no electricity and their roofs caved in. It's quite a contrast to what we're used to.

Tomorrow, we'll explore the town a bit with a little beach time once things close for siesta. I'm looking forward to chance to improve on my previously-mentioned farmer's tan, but 'bronzing' may be out of my reach. We'll see.

Southern Spain

Here we are down south! We like it here. It's warm and sunny and the people speak a language we can almost decipher. The funny thing here is that I actually look like a local, until I open my mouth and nothing comes out. That's okay. We are able to figure out the essentials from decoding words and with the limited phrases we know like 'where is the bus station?' and 'two beers please'.

Anyway, we love it. Spain is beautiful, warm and cheap. We are staying in a hotel which I would even call nice by Canadian standards, for 30 euros a night. That's the same price as a 20 bed dorm in Amsterdam with a shared, tiny bathroom.

We flew into Alicante a few days ago and today we took a bus south to Almeria where we will stay two nights. After that we're not sure. We will head south until we get tired of beaches, then a few more stops in Spain before moving onto Italy and Greece! (providing we can get in and then out of Athens). Anyway, that's all for now, time for siesta.

Love Sarah

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.

Everytime I (Dave) find myself in a new country, I say to myself "Wow, this place has got to be my favourite country I've visited so far." Well it's happened again.

To get back on a route that makes sense, and to see most of what we want to see, we had to catch a plane to Spain. Gregg found us a cheap flight from Zurich to Alicante, and we pounced on it.

We hadn't really planned on making it this far South in Spain, but I'm glad it happened. A few days ago we were stomping around the snowy Alps, and today we went swimming in the Mediterranean.

There's not much English, but we can usually decipher signs and the people we've met have all been patient. This morning we remembered the Spanish word for 'breakfast' (desayuno, I think) and ended up drinking the best orange juice we'd ever had. No problem.

This place is the most affordable place we've hit. Tonight we'll be sitting on the rooftop terrace of our hostel for a few hours, sipping on unlimited Sangria for the price of three euros each. Then the hostel owner will bring whoever wants to come (which will most definitely include us) to a local bar that will serve us unlimited sangria and beer until the night is over. For five bucks.

We'd love to stay here forever, but there's a storm a brewin'. It only rains here something like 15 times a year, but three of those days will be this week. Our plan is to retreat along the coast. We're hopping a bus tomorrow morning, and hope to land in Almeria sometime in the afternoon. It's another beach town, so I look forward to frightening more Spaniards with my god-awful farmer's tan.

I should mention, the photo displayed was taken on top of the giant fortress that looks over Alicante, known as Castillo de Santa Barbera. Beside Sarah, in the distance, you can spot the local bull fighting stadium.

I missed siesta today, so time for a late one. Until next time!

Switzerland

Hi friends,

It is our last day in Switzerland today, and the end of our extra long, mid way break. Tomorrow we fly to the south of Spain for some warm weather and beach going. Quite the contrast to our mountain tops and hovering 0 temperatures. We have a lot of travelling to do in the next month, and probably won't spend more than 2 or 3 days in any location, we will have lots to post about. Also we will be looking into a new camera in Spain so there will be plenty more pictures. Until then, here are some crazy pictures of our lives in Switzerland. 

This was our first day where we actually left the house. We took a train into Grindelwald, then a Gondola up First mountain.

Once up the mountain the view was gorgeous. We took a zip-line down part way, then had a beer in short sleeves in the sun.

  On the way back we stopped in Bern, which is the capital of Switzerland. We didn't spend much time there, but took a walk through the old town.

The following day we took a gondola up another mountain and had lunch at this little cafe overlooking the mountains and water. The weather was a bit hazy so the mountains look more mysterious.

Yesterday we took another day trip into Weesen, before heading into Elm for lunch. The scenery was beautiful and weather was actually pretty warm.

Then we took another gondola half way up a different mountain, then hopped on a chair lift to go to the peak. Then back down half way for lunch.

This time we rode these fantastic mountain trikes down just as the sun was starting to set. An amazing trip down through the mountain.

Anyway, that's Switzerland. On to Spain tomorrow where we will have some pictures of us in shorts an t-shirts! (Hopefully) Until then!

Love Sarah

Swiss Alps

Hi everyone.

This blog will probably be a little short as it is late at night here in Switzerland and I may have to pee. Our lives have drastically changed since our last blog post. Instead of burning a hole in our sweatpants, we are climbing mountains! Real, actual mountains. Barbie and Gregg had bought us an all day train pass for today, and we were able to tour around the country a bit, which, by comparison, is about the size of New Brunswick with about half the fun things to do. I kid. I wasn't sure what we were going to do today, as I was mostly, if not all asleep when the planning was happening last night. I literally had no idea where we were going when I got on the train, but choose to keep it like that.

We had taken a beautiful train ride through the mountains to arrive at this fantastic little village that looked like a post card. (In fact it was a post card, and I bought 3) We then took a gondola for about half an hour before we could even say we were close to the top of this particular mountain. After a few glasses of wine last night, Dave had agreed to ziplining down this mountain, despite his increasing fear of heights. Although he tried to put it off when we were up there, we were determined (also we had pre-bought our tickets). It was about an 800 meter drop, however it looked much steeper when staring down a mountain that was 7100 feet above sea level. It was a great experience and Dave managed to only slightly wet his pants. At the bottom of the zip-line there is a rewarding bar where we enjoyed a couple of beers. After sitting down we quickly realized how warm we were. We could actually still see our breath but the sun's rays were so warm they we ended up stripping down to our last layers. I wore a tank top that had not seen the light of day since our 30 degree weather in Germany. After heading down the rest of the mountain it was winter again, and we were forced to put back on our borrowed winter coats from Barbie and Gregg.

Anyway, so far Switzerland has been (obviously) awesome and tomorrow we are being taken into Zurich, which is the closest town to where we are staying, at about 20 minutes by train. We will have more to update I'm sure and will keep you all posted.

Love Sarah

Pictures and Things

Hi all,

It is our last day in Angers and we will be sad to leave. The non-stop sweatpants and TV watching have been a welcome taste of home, and a relaxing break from the hustle and bustle we are normally used to. We have also eaten like kings. It has been so nice to have an actual kitchen and I realized how much I actually miss cooking and doing dishes. At the same time we are excited to move on to Switzerland, however not so excited about the 12 hour train ride it will take to get there. Anyway, I had meant to post fantastic pictures of our trip so far, but with our camera situation, or lack there of, I will post a variety of pictures taken from Dave's iPhone and Bryan's camera. Enjoy.

These are our Canadian/Australian friends we met in Berlin. Somehow we ended up at this fantastic, mostly outdoor bar when the plan was to head to a Berlin famous club. We were pretty happy with the decision. 

This is Amsterdam, where the streets are lined with rivers and bicycles. These pictures are actually taken in the Red Light District, where off in the distance there are live sex shows and windowed ladies.

  This is Paris. Our hostel was a short walk from the Eiffel tower and we spent a fair amount of time there. The first picture is of the Louvre, and the second is at Gare de Lyon, just before meeting Dave's uncle Gregg for dinner.

 These are some of the hives I got during the trip. It may be hard to see but I have about 30 little dots on my arms alone. The itching has finally subsided and the dots are disappearing. 

This is Angers. We had a picnic of bread wine and cheese in the park the second day we were here. Somehow the baguette has made it into all of these pictures, but that is not all that surprising considering most of what we have eaten has been bread and cheese on this French adventure. 

This was our Thanksgiving meal, a week late but who cares? Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, yams and vegetables. And who can tell if a pie is from the bakery if it still comes out of the oven?

That's the best we can do for now. I still have this ridiculous secret hope that our camera will be found, but we will get a new one soon. Until then you will have to go on your imaginations my friends. I will write another post upon the entry into Switzerland, when I have more to write about than baguettes and sweatpants. (We love you Taryn and Bryan! Most fantastic hosts ever)

Much love,

Sarah