Land of Dracula aka Brosov and Surrounding Area

 Even though we had a  terrible experience on the train we did get to see some beautiful fields and fields of sunflowers! Extremely picterques!  We arrived at our hostel where we had a private room but there were three bunk beds in this room. We headed to eat, as we walked the streets of Brasov we found a different side to Romania than Isisishjdshfkjhkfjd. The buildings were much nicer,the streets were better kept and we felt safe here.

     We were able to schedule through our hostel for a driver/ guide/ guy who owned the hostel  ( garbiel) to drive us to Peles Castle  on the way we stopped at a Church and instead of paying admission you just donate to the church and along with that gaberiel got us candles, after looking at the  church he showed us where they light candles outside where they have these two places where you could place candles.

One was for the living and the other  marked mort was for the dead so we lit one for grandpa. We than walked up to the castle. It was  gorgeous. It cost 40 leis to take pictures which is more than the ticket so we dont have any. Our tour had a bunch of Germans so after our tour guide said in English about the rooms than one of their friends would repet it in German, it made the tour extra long but we still enjoined it. After wards we enjoined looking at the garden and we even meet some Mormon Canadians backpacking there.

   We than drove to Brans Castle( inspired for Dracula). We got there thinking that it would be bigger and better than Peales castle but to tell you the truth it was our least favorite castle, it was pretty small, the stairways were very clostriphbic and even the doorways were small.

   We than got to shop around at ate a snack there, we had this odd Suggested dish, it was a scone with cream cheese, grated cheese and garlic... Very interesting. That we got this twisty bread thing with a whole in the middle. We stopped  at Rasnov, Where we got to go inside. If you look at the pictures  to the top left and right if you look closely you might see some recognizable solders ! Lol 

  We meet up with the girls for dinner and saw a short show where some men in uniform came out and played the trumpet it was fun. When we ordered dinner one of the girls ordered a salad and once again we witnesses how different salads are in Europe than in in US. Her salad consisted of onions, spices and tomatoes with some salad dressing on it, it looked more like salsa to be honest.

   Our last day we decided to hike to the Romanian equivalence of the Hollywood sigh, A giant Brasvo. We walked and than took a tranm. We got some gorgeous views of the city and was quiete and experience.

 The last of our time in romania was in the capital city of Bucarest, after spending about two hours I was able to find a church and a way there. So after walking, subway, a bus and some more walking in rain we were able to find the ward there. They had ear pieces so that we could listen to it in English and than we went for the second block with the older missionary couples and the American embassy members for Sunday school. Then through the rain we walked to the second largest building in Europe    . My pictures got messed up so I found some from the Internet. It was immense! We went on a tour and only saw 13% of the total building.

Buna Zuia from Romania!

Sunday we got to go to the branch there. It's really nice having the girls to show us where things are and how to go about doing things. The branch had about 30 people, there are three sets of missionaries. So it's a pretty small church. Once again the missionaries translated for us but when second block came around we were able to have a meeting with just us 13 girls. On the way there though, which was only about 10-15 min walk away, mom and I were walking with three of the girls and two of the girls had there butts grabbed by this old drunk guy on the street! Some times we get honked at, kissing noises made, whistle sound but this was the worst that happened in our two weeks in Romania.  We feel really safe with all the girls and the area we are in is pretty safe. We were able to see their apartment which is quiete nice for the area, they have many neighbors that are lawyers but the way they live is still different .  They invited us over for dinner  and we celerbrated Mrarios brithday.  In Romania it is common for those who birthday it is to give a gift to those  they celebrate  with. Mario following this tradition taught us how to make her favorite dessert. It had chocolate cherries and was delicious! 

   

  Now about the girls apartments. It  has a elevator however you can only fit four people in it and that's if you are packed in like sardines. It's is about 1/4 of the size of an  average American elevator. They have a washer but no dryer so they hang their cloths outside on the line.

 One thing that I was particular thankful  at the hotel was air conditing ,the girls apartments don't have it so we invited them to come and have there next planning meeting in our room. They loved it, one of the girls said she hadn't felt that cool for three weeks. So than we invited them Tuesday night to have a pizza party,to enjoy the air conditing  and to thank them for everything:) it was really fun! But let me just tell you if your ever in Romania and are about to order a pizza from Pizza Hut think again! It is not the same,how u ask? It just different thin crust and nothing like at home. Guess they don't know what deep dish pan is. And guess what! They don't sell bread sticks! None zip nada! Can you believe it! Either could I. But things here are just different like yogurts different, better in Romania in my opinion. They sell a lot of olives here! They have a whole section similar to the meat or cheese section that just sells different olives. You have to pay for plastic bags, McDonald's charges you for ketup packets! ! Verry diffrent where at home we just grab a handfulnof them!At McDonald's you can get an ice cream cone for Cheeper than a ketup packet! Now if you get your ketup any other place than McDonald's ketup is different here, it's not as red and the flavor is just a little off, it's more sweet if that makes since, not to much to our liking. 

 Tuesday we ran into a snag between the workers  and us. One little girl came in from playing on the trampoline outside with this huge goose egg on her head the nurses were very angry. We found out that she fell and had hit her head but the nurses were mad at us! They mocked us and yelled at a few of the girls, it was a very unpleasant atmosphere! We came out of the orphanege very upset at how they handled the suitation. They got mad at us  when we didn't cause it, yet some of the workers are very rough on the children, one girl got knocked down by one of the workers and ended up with this huge slash on her forehead.  The children are so sweet and that's why we're here but the workers and  culture make it  a extremely difficult.

      Thursday was our last morning there, two of the girls were kind enough to offer to show us where the train station, help us get on and figure everything out, before we left we feed what we called " our dog". Over the past week we had seen many stray dogs but one morning my mom felt really bad for this one dog so while waiting for the girls she went back inside to our complimentary breakfast  ( different than in America. Pretty much meat, salads and tomatoes) grabbed some meat and she feed it to this dog. Almost every morning she would find this dog and give it some food.  We found out that he had been abused.  it really made me just want to take  him home to America.  We meat this sweet lady who always carried around dog food who when she came across an dog in need she would give some of her food to him :) The first time we approched hime he was really scared but by the last day my mom would make this whistling call and he came running from down the block, it was really cute. 

     We got on the train headed for Bucarest and than we transferred to Brasov but less than 10 minitues when were sopposed to leave we didnt know the lane or the cart! while trying to find our seat and this guy helped us and he asked if we wanted to buy a magazine for helping us my mom thought why not , but when we got a magazine my mom asked for change back and than he  was like o this is enough and took off, it was in leis so it wasn't a ton of money but still we were just happy to be in our seats. But that didn't last long litterly less than a min later  after we have our bags up on this extreamky crowded train this guy tells us that were in his seats! This other guy turns and is like ya your in the wrong seat  grabs the suitcase and the ticket and is like ill show you where it is and takes off, my mom goes after him while I'm struggling with my backpack that's stuck underneath my chair. when I catch up two cars ahead he tells us these are are our seats and would we like to donate to the children foundation, we give him a small bill, because we just payed the other guy but he had our tickets in his hand! And he's like this isn't a lot and were like we just spent a week in an orphange  donating our time,so we give him like a dollar ( but in leis ) more and than we look at the seats and what do you know! There the wrong seats. Mom was fuming we got past the guy and she was those weren't our seats and at this point I'm sure we were both sending out some don't mess with us vibes because no one else tried to help us. We found our seats opened up the sealed magazine only to discover that it wasn't even in English AND it was from June of 2010!!We  talked about how No one from then on gets ahold of our tickets or our luggage!  We wrote the ticket information on our hand! We had been warned about scams , with taxis, talked to a girl who had her i pad stolen in barcalona, had a guy in front of us tell his friend how he just felt a hand go in to his pockt,  saw people let men carry there luggage across a bridge( with steps) ( we didnt let them) have to pay 20 euros ( like 27 dollars) so felt like we were doing pretty well . At this point we were just ready to get out of Romania! It was a bad experience, but after talking about it we decided maybe maybe we had this experience so that later on we wouldn't have something worse happen to us.  

Day Trip: Painted Monasteries

The first night we were in Romania I was dying of thirst so I went to drink a glass of water from sink, not thinking anything of it. My mom wasn't entirely sure if the water was safe , so I looked online and it said dont drink from the river but as long as its not connected to that you should be fine. So I drank it two and a  Half glasses full. When we asked the girls they said they use it for cooking and to brush their teeth but other than that they wouldn't suggest it. After that we were just buying water, apa plata translated to "flat water" ,since the also carry carbonated water (after accidently buying it i would suggest you stick with just apa plata). We buy five litters at a time  carry it to the hotel and just poured it into the smaller water bottles.

   The third night though I started feeling sick and aftersome diarrhea and some throwing up my mom blamed it on the water so I stayed in bed the next day and my mom insisted I stay in the hotel the next but luckily I was feeling better to go on the tour Mario ( the amazing social worker) and Tayo( the wonderful speech pathologist) put together for us. So all 15 of us got in a maxi taxi and set off to see Painted Monstary along with the countryside and other churches. Since a picture is worth a 1000 words here's 10,000+ !

One of the churches we stopped at

Behind me is one cool looking library outside of the church above.

Doorway to the Painted Monastery!

Painted Monasteries which was completed in the past couple years. The paintings are very colorful and vibrant!

Ceiling to the opening of the monastery 

To the left of the opening of the monastery  

 We than hiked this steep walkway to the fortress, the view was worth the climb! On our way up we said hi to this man selling things and he goes " American?" After we said yes he goes " Oklahoma?"

 "Oklahoma ?" " Washington?"  " Washington ?" And we were like " Idaho"  and the man goes " oh Idaho!" . Oklahoma and Washington, how random right? Most people just ask us if we're from New York, California, or Florida so I thought that was impressive he knew some of the other states.

   While we were in the castle they were setting up for a wedding in the chapel located in the top of the fortress and the wedding reception on the bottom two levels of the fortress. We got some delicious ice cream sandwiches for about 2 Leis or 60 cents which Who wouldnt love ice cream for 60 cents! Everything on the day trip was extremely cheep ( except for the fact that we had to buy and extra ticket for the whole group so that we could take pictures!) for instance  you can get a leather bracelet for 5 leis or 1.60!

View from the top of the fortress

Inside the fortress!

One of our favorite parts was the dungeon, it was super chilly which felt amazing considering how hot it is here.

 As a group we tried to decipher what the sign said ,seeing money at the bottom and seeing the word cursa we came up with that it was like the opposite of a wishing well. You threw down money to curse your enemies and that is what everybody thought til Tayo told us it was just a prison. But I like our curse one better!

 Braided bread outside the fortress!

Romanapia Day one working in orphanage

Today has to of been my favorite day on the whole trip. We got to start working in the orphanage and in the hospital! My mom had painted a pretty bleak picture for me so I came in expecting the worse. I was surprised of the condition to be better than I expected but still compared to American is extremely different. The hospital itself is much worse than the orphanage but they are different places. Today we just went through and got a tour of everything spending time  a little bit here a little bit there but ill just start from the beginning. 

   The girls ( from BYU) came and picked us up at our hotel, (which we later found out is just down the road from their apartment) and we walked to the orphanage and the main girl whose third time it is here showed us around. They have three sections Isolation, Bambi and  Micky. I don't remember all the particulars but Isolation is where the the babies are kept. In each section there are different room. It's a pretty big orphanage and very fortunate that its one if the better orphanages.  Over all there are 75 children kept there with one full time doctor and two nurses ! They have a three or four other specialist like a speech pathologist and  physical therapist. About two to three workers in each section who are very much over worked and are spread thin. They currently have 11 students from BYU 9 of them work at this orphanage and 2 at another place that I have not yet seen. They than split them up two to a room with one  having three. Though these children have there needs like food, shelter, clothes, bed and toys met what they really need is love, just somebody to hold them and talk to them and to just give them attention. Many have severe medical problems some are Handicapped, and many developmentally behind .The students are really needed here and are appreciated. It was really hard because you can't really do anything or change there suiation all you could do was provide Love. We only got to really be with each section for a small amount of time  and it will be different in the coming days. we did though get to go outside and hold some children, talk to them, and play. As we came outside this adorable little girl named Nicolette came to me and wanted to be held, she was so sweet and really just wanted to be held, we spent at least an hour out there and I got to hold her she has the most adorable smile. I also got to spend some time with Carol who is rarely taken outside because of the wheeled chair the special education children don't get to come outside as much so this was an exciting day for him. I just held his hand and rubbed his arms we laughed a little. 

  I speck no Romanian as you know but really tried to learn some of the basics, but it is an extremely hard language things don't look like they sound at all. For instance Iasi is pronounced Yosh which is the city were in. I can now say about six words including buna zina which means good morning.  

  By lunch time the kids take naps so they leave and we went to lunch . 

 The second half of the day was much harder for many reasons. We were given scrubs which help identify us with byu( in the orphanage they wear the scrubs as well) which we changed into after we walked to the hospital. We all got split up, my mom went with the main girl and they didn't see too many kid and I went with another student named Rachel. I was really worried of how I would take it and I imagined the worse so I feel like I took it well. We first walked up the the 8th floor and were given the right corners on four floors. We started with this adorable baby who was just covered from head to toe in clothing and I  thought I was dying from heat ! They wouldn't open a window because the door was open and one big cultural difference was that they believe that if you have the door and the window open at the same time it will cause kerenit which is the bad air and no joke many of the people legitly believe in it, you can  even be diagnosed with kerenit. They had two other patient beds( occupied ) and the Crib which  the baby was in, Rachel told me that one of the mothers took a liking to him and will hold him and change his dipper which was nice to know he will be held and taken care of before next time we see him tomorrow.  Another thing that was like woah  what are you doing! This lady decided to Brest feed right there in this small room with like four other people there and didn't even bother to cover up, and that happened in another room as well. Another thing that's odd Was that the people jere are not shy at all they will stare at you and not care that you can see then, some of the rooms have windows in then and there will be like four rooms like that and you will have a lady in your room staring at you two ladies in the next looking at you  and one in the last room all just watching you.

 At each floor we, you ask where are the children with no mothers and some times the nurses won't tell you their there and just say no or none and you have to leave which was frustrating because most of the children there are from the orphanage  and the girls come everyday so they know that there are children that are there. We had that on one floor and that was hard because we're there to change there diaper and spend some time with them which is pretty much there only interaction for the day which is sad. Out of the kids we saw there which was four  three were extremely skinny and the other not far behind and it broke my heart. After a few minutes with one boy Rachel realized she had forgotten her baby wipes at the last room she asked me if I would be okey  for like two minutes if she ran up a floor to get them and I told her it wouldn't be a problem but it was  kinda scary because the boy we were with you couldn't get him excited or he wouldn't breath so I had to stop at a point or two and say breath, but he was so happy and smily it was amazing to see this child in a horrible condition to still be smiling and happy. Another boy we saw was Just dripping with sweat which made me really sad so we talked to him and fanned him. One of the feeding tubes for one of the babies was clogging and needed to be changed, they had just left the syringe in the feeding tube instead of closeing it even though it says one usethey will use them more times.  We came home emotional, physically and mentally just drained and even though it is all those things It just made me just really want to help those children. But the hardest part of the day had to be the end when we came back to change we had met up with another two girls  and one of the girls had found out that the first baby she held here in Romania who she really  loved and was attached to had passed away between yesterday when she held him and today. Which was really hard even for me and my mom, it was really sad and than we found out another one of the babies had passed away that had been at the orphanage and it was really hard to hear these stories because you see the conditions they are at in the hospitals and its awful! And it breaks your heart.  When I first saw the building itself it reminded me ,building design way of what used to be St. Marks or Lukes by sugar house in Salt Lake City which has now the granite school district main office however this one is much much much more run down. Some of the wall is missing from the side of the building and in the rooms there are nasty walls that have gash and honestly the first thing I can think of to help you picture it is looks almost like a old haunted hospital  and some of the floors were better than others but its just so different because you think this would never fly in the us with all of laws and such it would be shut down in a day. 

 On the bright side we are in a great location and food is really cheep, just different selection.   The money here Leis exchanges for 1 American dollar for 3 Leis. Last night when we got in we went over to the mall food court and got a Kebob ( I believe that's how you spell that,) the meat is shaved off  piece of meat ( turned cooked)  than they like grill it and served with French Frys, salad, coleslaw ( better here than in US) and some pita bread. It is extremely good, doesn't look like it but it is! Our hotel is in a great location we have a great view of the palace right outside of our room and right next to the palace is the palace mall which is very new, and to our left we have another mall

 Our dinner Koboe...yummy!

Hot and Sweaty in Venice

Venice was hotter than Hades! Lol we got off boat and took a people mover to find a water taxi where we took a fourty min little boat ride to Murano aka the glass island. We got to see the outside oftheir cemetery   which was beautiful! We watched them flawlessly make glass. We walked around the city where we practically melted. We both got some adorable glass purse holders.

   It was interesting to see how they create lanes for there water taxis. There are just a bunch of poles sticking out of the water for markers. On the way back they stuffed us on and I'm pretty sure that the capacity was above what was capable. We got to walk around St. Marks Square and than got to walk inside Dodges palace it was really cool we got to see old armor,prison and an array of other spectacular things. Sunday moved off the cruise to Treviso Where it was slightly cooler, but not by much we met many kind people who stopped right off their bikes and helped us navigate. Having  gotten some rough directions to the nearest lds church off the Internet we hoped that we would be close to the building but after fourty five minute walk we found the building and that is where the pictures come from. We walked in late to the small branch and the only seats that were available  were on the front row. The lady behind me asked me " American?" I said yes and she was able to get one if the elders to come sit by us to help us translate. We found out after sacrament that it was there last block but they invited us to their lunch which we greatly appreciated! We were able to eat some authentic Italian food and it was really good, the people were very kind and there was a real sense of togetherness many of them came and shook our hands talking to us. It was like a big family reunion where you can just feel that everyone just enjoys each others company .Most of the people there wre Italian but many had moved from places like Africa or other parts in Europe. We even met a lady who was from Brazil who like us was visiting. We put the chairs away and they set up tables in the what doubled as the chapel. The food was great! We got to try various new foods, very exciting!

The little girl, sara we met at church . She loved pointing to anything she knew in English and drawing us pictures I told her my name was Kenzie and she wrote it as Candy, how cute, right!

The elders who were awesome and translated for us

Walking there and back we got to bask in the beauty of the park . They even had roosters there! How bizarre huh!

Croatia

We got up early and took a bus for about 10  minutes to the city of Dubrovick. As we saw our first glimpse of the city there are tall stone walls that are very well kept surrounding the city. We bought tickets to the walk, since we have the ics cards ( student cards)we were able to get the price for a child. we than walked the one and half mile wall. The wall itself was beautiful , the city and the whole look of the city was very picterques the only down side was that it was extremely hot and this was at 8 in the morning.! To say we walked the wall would be untrue it's more what my mom called as cross training, we would climb steep steps, climb with a incline, walk and than climb some more, it was quiete the workout. We took some beautiful panoramics in the wall but the million dollar shot was up a cable car, the cable car itself is overpriced but the view was the best! We had to wait in line for about an hour and as we were hiking up to get there we saw a dead rat that was Disgusting.We left the walled city by noon and by than it was smoking hot with loads of tourist coming in, so we were greatful that we got up early.

On top of the wall

 Panoramic view from the wall

Day of the strike... and Pompeii

 We visited Pompeii on one hot day and didn't have much luck. We got off the boat and followed the long line of tourist from the port and met the nicest couple from a different ship that told us where to buy the bus tickets so we ran across the street bought the tickets and barely got on the tram.Our tram ticket doubled as our train ticket and between a bunch of people and us we found the right train. We met another nice couple who we spent the forty minute train ride talking to. On one of stops we had these two men sit between the couple and mom and I through, through their llittle English and our even smaller Italian we were able somewhat have a conversation and of course they tried to sell us socks and lighters. 

  When we reached Pompeii there was a little both right outside the stop and when we tried to buy our tickets the man said that we couldn't buy them because there was a strike. The couple we had spent the train ride thought he was joking .... But with our luck of course they weren't. For some reason the workers went on strike and weren't coming coming to work until 11 and this was all tentatively. We're sitting there at 930 thinking what are we going to to do for an hour an a half? So after wandering around for 20 minutes we came across the same couple and invited us to join there table where we ordered a pizza( mainly so we could get the wifi password :) ) and talked and ate this odd looking pizza. We decided that since Italy is know for its pizza that we better try it... It was good, but not as good as back in the states. The first thing we noticed was that there was oil on the pizza just sitting on top of it, which was kind of gross to me , my mom didn't like that it looked like just slobs of cheese on it. But after two hours of waiting we were still waiting and the strikers had come past us and than kept going and people had lined up in front of the gate but than left, so at this point we were even wondering if they were going to even open. And about 11:45 ish they let us in, we stood in line forever to get tickets and we go to go in. When you first see the remains it looks really cool.  After you hike up  you come into a main entry where we got to see the pieces they recovered along with a few bodies. We than made the mistake of A not getting audio guide/ tour guide so we didn't know what we were looking at for and  for B for going to the left where more of the normal houses  Are. Really what it is just lots of roads and empty remains , my mom was not impressed , i know I had higher expectations. On top of that because we waited and it was the heat of the day (but on the bright side we got more use out of our umbrellas by using them as protection from the sun).  We than were able to find the richer homes and saw them, saw the orchard where they found multiples people many of who were children, which was sad because even though they only look like the mold of a person were still people and to think about the way which they died. We got back on the train and I don't know if they were just in a rush or the people in front of us were movin slow but we heard the sound that they were going to close the doors and I hurried and my mom hurried next but her backpack had got caught in the door, she was stuck , it was pretty funny and kinda scary but luckily the doors opened again and we arrived back at port and on the ship.

Florence, Pisa and Rome O My!

 Day one on the cruise we stopped in Marseilles, France and we got off the ship, we looked around and than we got back on  the boat haha after traveling so much it was nice to be able to have a day to juwt relax.Day two we docked in Liverno, Italy. We got on a bus with a tour group and we drove for about an hour til we reached Florence . The streets were pretty dirty  and smelled like urine but we had a tour guide to show us exactly where to go so that made it extremely nice,as we reached the main share we saw a church where the lead us in a big square and told us about the city . They had this funny little shop that everything they sold was made of wood, and most of the items related to Pinocchio they even had a life size Pinocchio you could take a picture of along with one a wood nose and hat that you could put your face in it, it was quite funny and I have a picture to show but on my camera.  We than had lunch in an former palace! It was a really pretty building and we sat next  to some pretty funny people.At the end they left us with a little free time to shop where me and my mom found these beautiful scarves for €5 and there 70% cashmere. So we now the proud owners of matching  turquoise scarves.  Than It started raining and had a plethora amount of guys try to sell us umbrellas, we didn't buy from any of them... Until we got to Pisa. As we pulled up to Pisa it was a downpour and no joke like 30 guys ran to get to the bus , pushing and shoving to sell us umbrellas( it was humorous)... And we bought two. There both have some popular scenes from all around Italy, very cute.  But even than we had people trying to sell us umbrellas as if we didn't already have one in our hand. One guy in the group eventually tried to sell his umbrella from back home in then US to one of the guys who was trying to sell then to us for €5 at the end and the guys goes "I'll see you this umbrella for € 6 " and the man goes in a heavily Italian accent with pride in his voice " from Italy" and the guy from our group paused for a second and replies " but this is from America" and we all laughed even the Italian umbrella man smiled.Through the rain we walked to famous Leaning Tower of Pisa  to learn a little bit about it from our guide, toke a few pictures and browsed around the grounds.

      The third day we got to go to Rome. We got on a tour bus,drove for about fourth five mins got off at the Coloseem which we both loved we had an amazing guide who really taught us a lot. We got  walk in and around walk around and take some pictures. We learned that what's you see left of the Colossem is only 1/3 of what it used to be! I didn't expect that much of the Colossem but it has been one of my favorite things to see, a lot of the history is sad because many people and animals died there but the seer immensity and architecture of the building is phenomenal ! We than went to Vatican which was a cool experience we got to walk through a museum. In one room they had all these hand painted maps that were beautiful. Lots of beautifuln ceilings- but most of the places we go to see have beautiful ceilings , many times they are more beautiful than what is being held in the room. Mom was really excited to see the 16 Chaples and when we arrived we had security guards yelling at the hundred + people to be quiet , not take pictures and  to squash to the other side of the room, the feeling wasn't so great but it was nice room. Not as great as I expected after all the reviews of it, but it was massive, just overrated in a way. We toured a church which was beautiful, we got to touch one of the lucky statues foot, saw some beautiful statues and was told that Peter the apostle is baried there. We than ended in a Vatican gift show where you can get holy water, coins and prayer necklaces all blessed by the Vatican. I bought a postcard and payed about a dollar and a half for a stamp and send it from the Vatican post box to home.

   Both days were about 10 hours of walking around and getting to see some beautiful places and at night we were able to come back to the ship, eat some nice food and hit the hay. Though we did so much both days there still didn't seem to have enough time there which left us missing a few places or just driving past them. One of the places that I was sad that we didn't get to see was Trevi Fountain in Rome but there's only so much you can fit in a day and were still packed with some great experiences.

   One thing that's really made us laugh is when we disembark for things these two guy photographers see us, they always say " the sisters " really excitingly, which makes us laugh even when we've told them were mother and daughter, or sometimes I get "Barbie". The photographers are just everywhere, in the hall, at dinner, on deck, on land  ...everywhere, we try to avoid them haha  but they make us laugh.

 * ill try to get pictures up of Spain and Italy  

Barcelona Spain

The day after Nice! We took the bus to Barcelona, Spain! O how we loved Spain! We saw people constantly sweeping the sidewalks and overall it was a very clean city including the subway which was very different from France! As we exited the subway we walked only a few steps and that is when we first saw Sagada Familla and it was beautiful! We met this nice old French lady who helped us find where we needed to go and Than after walking with us a few blocks gave us one of those traditional two check kiss. We stayed at The Generator where we had our own room at this hostel which was very the largest room we've had. It was modern and with them being open for only 78 days quite new. The next day we got on Hop on Hop off buss where they drive to all the main tourist stops via a open double decker bus  all day and than you decide where to get off and when to get back on . It was challenging to find and we had bought the pass through bus about but when we got there they said they had never seen that voucher! We managed to get on and we started our tour though the city. The buildings in the city were unique clean and colorful built with beautiful Spanish architecture. We stopped at Sagada Familla which was draw dropping. After waiting over an hour we were able to go inside the building. Now the building itself is still being built and will be finished in2026, when completed it will have 18 towers( 12 disciples,4 evangelist, Mary, and the largest tower will be Christ) it has a few sciences carved on the outside of the building including the Nativity ( the oldest part) , the crucifixion, and I believe it was there was also the judgment. We couldn't see them all because they were working on them. Once  inside it was even better! I can't even describe it! It had to be my favorite place we've seen. It is especially unlike any other church we've seen! The others can be dark this one was very light  and you could see nature through out it, the columns look like the trunk with the roof looking like the leaves and branches. The pictures on the camera really don't do it Justice. Since they  are still working on we got to see them put in a stain glass window. After that we went to the artist of Sagada Familla house with a surrounding park which he designed also, located with a spectacular view of the city. As with anything in Europe the hiked some stairs and a nice step hill at the top they have their iconic mosaic lizard. At the bottom of the hill we found this little shop that had some amazing prices! So my mom got a mosaic looking shirt and I got some really cute scarves for only €2 and € 3! We than rode the bus around the city... I got smacked by a tree while on the bus, and than we went back to The Generator)

Top of Europe

June 3 2013-Jungfraujoch Switzerland- also known as the top rail station in Europe at 11333 feet . Here we saw breathtaking views of the Swiss Alps.  Words really cant describe the view so ill try to show you, but keep in mind that the photos really don't do it justice. 

 My favorite was the ice palace! We wee quite surprised how it wasn't slippery, they keep it a chilly -3 F in this part and were told they constantly have to  re scultture it due to the heat everyone brings in.

And to make things even better I got a handmade Alpaca  scarf 1/2 off! 

Yesterday we saw some beautiful waterfalls in Lauterburrn from outside our " hut" as I like to call it,  with two bunk beds side by side , a small table and barley enough room to move they have a very different standard of living.  We took a walk and found tremmblebach  waterfall  it was really pretty.  From outside our hut you can see around 8 waterfalls  if u turn 360, but there were 73 in the valley we were in,   If you ever find yourself here remember to pack warm!  really truly! its cold, and its June!

 The bear pit in bern. There were no bears

On the Road Again...

 June 5 2013-Today we were on the bus  For the second time.We're taking this bus called Bus About with flexi pass. We choose the route we want to take and than they drop us off and pick us up, just about as simple as it sounds. It's really helpful because not only do we not have to try to map our way to the next destination but they have tour guides on each bus that give u tips like the best places to eat, local phrases, culture, history and anything else that you may need to know. So today we spent the whole day pretty much on a bus but I really don't mind because than you get to see the part of the country where tourist dont usually see and there are quite some treasures there. for instance when we drove through france to switzerland on the first bus we got to see the charming little castles and churches in all the towns and they had these fields and fields of these yellow flowers and they were beautiful. Today we drove through Switzerland, Italy and back to France. One of the stops was Lake Como in Italy, we were only there for about 20 minutes but we were able to get some delicious geleto(yum) and see some of the sites from the bus. They had some flea markets my mom and I both were eyeing but sadly we passed them. We than headed to Nice (pronounced niece) which is very nice... Lol Nice is nice that's a good one :) where we are now. Also know as the French Rivera, it has a much different climate than that of Switzerland. We got here around 7 and headed out for a brief walk to the beach with there so called " pebbles" instead of sand but I what I call " rocks". We walked past some cute little tent stores  and by this store that had around 80 geleto favors besides the normal vanilla! chocholate! strawberry ext had flavors like "rose" and " tomato basil" . We than followed a recomendation to the cutest little restraint with a three course French dinner for €15 which was the best thing I've ate here in Europe. Called 21 of September it was delicious and would highly recommend it! Tomorrow were on the bus again this time to Barcalona!

   We've meet a lot of Australians on the bus and after spending a couple of days with the. We found that we were starting to say things like them lol. To me it's really funny how we speak the same language but we have different names for things, and it's little things like coach for bus , rubbish bin for trash/ garbage can or biscuit for cookie. There all really nice and friendly. Another thing we all realized when we were in more of the country of France and Italy is that when you go to the bathroom there are No toilet seats! I'm not kidding! I don't know if someone stole them, they broke off and never replaced them but neither less there have been a few stops where they haven't been there. And to be quite honest we all thought they were broken at first until we realized they were all the same.

Lost at the Louve and most of Paris

 What to say about Paris.... loved it!

Our first day we conquered the Palace of Versaille which was amazing we took a private tour of part of the palace and then headed over to the Eiffel Tower which was my favorite thing in all of Paris to see. Than if we didn't walk enough already the first day we thought we would enjoy a rainy laid back day at the Louve. We arrived early and were the first in line for no tickets but as soon as we started to see the exhibits we realized the shear immensity of the place. We saw the mummies , alot of not fully clothed paintings, statues and sculptures and of course Mona Lisa -we tried to see it all! They said that if you were to walk to every exhibit it would be equivalent to half a marathon! But we didn't stop there we than ran over to Musee de Orseywhere we saw old furniture and my favorite Picasso and Monet. Notre Dome was next which we were able to go through.  After this busy day we were just ready to get on the metro and head to the hotel ,however four stops away from our stop the waiting time started to get longer and people were coming on the intercom but with it in french all that we knew is that we were being delayed. My mom joked that it was a bomb...little did we know. Finally three stops from where we needed to be  we found out that there was a quesionable luggage and that everyone had to get off here! As if we hadnt walked enough we than  now had to walk back to the hotel. My mom joked that it couldnt get worse... than we walked outside ...it was pouring rain! we arrived back at our hotel an hour later and soaking wet.

    The third day we were able to go the the basilica at monte marte which on the way we found a deal on scarves! After lots of stairs and a walk through the building we paid to take another 300+ steps to the top with a beautiful view of Paris.  We saw the famous arch de triumphe. Than headed over to the Eiffel tower  and rode the elevator to the second level, After much persassion i convinced my mom to ride up with me due to her fear of heights. we than took a hour boat trip and  across from the Effiel Tower ate a delicious crepe with Natella and strawberries on our way  home we found that we had to take four different metros to get to our second hotel and while we tried to figure it out we had a nice man tell us he knew were we should go... Little did we know that we had to walk out of the metro to walk to another one! We luckily got to where we needed to go but it took some time and he was kinda creepy. 

 So if you find yourself at the Effiel Tower you must go across the street and eat the most delicious crepe 

you have ever tasted, made right before your eyes. And to note they have the strange hair dryers that kinda look like old telephones.

* so we can't get the photos off the camera so I only have a couple here ya go

 

On top of the Effiel Tower

 Our attempt to take a picture together- we couldn't see 

View from the first floor of the Eieffel Tower

 Panoramic of th Louve

 Love bridge

For any of you who watch Dr. Who you should know this painting, apparently your not supposed to take pictures of the pictures oops! Just risking my life for you all