Day 1 in Rimini

8-26-09

Tess and I decided to split up for the day so I had a quick breakfast in our hostel and then spent the first part of the morning reading my book on Iran and US foreign policy at a nearby cafe. I then took a bus to the city center and walked around to see the local sites.

I saw the Ponte di Teberio and Arco d'Augusto. I next treated myself to lunch at Trattoria la Mariana and had gnochi with seafood and wine. I met a woman named Sara who lives in Rimini and just finished her studies in law in March. She is currently working at a firm in Rimini. Sara translated for me to the waitor (she spent a year studying in London so she spoke English and Italian) and we chated about things to do in Rimini.

I then walked to the Piazza Cavou, the "fulcrum of the midevil township" and site of a statue of Pope Paul V and one of Da Vinci's favorite fountains (Fontana della Pigna). Then I went to an ancient fish market with high stone counters and fountains for cleaning the fish. I spent an hour or so reading here during the Italian "nap" time in midafteroon. I then saw the Castello Malatesian which is a fortefied castle with a project to rebuild a moat underway. Next I went to mass at the Church of St. Augustine which is in the gothic style and has frescos depicting St. John the Evangelist and the Virgin Mary. I then moved to the heart of the Roman city, Piazza Ter Martiri which was really fun and very hip. I got pesca (peach) gelato at the place Sara suggested which was the best I've ever had.

Last, I saw the Domus del Chirurgo or Surgeon's House where an ancient doctor's surgery was perfectly preserved adn the City Museum which was part of an 18th century Jeusit college and saw some beautiful art.

Tess and I also decided to skip out on Cinque Terra and head straight to Rome.

Another day of Travel

8-25-09

It was an early morning (5am) for Tess and I to head to the airport. We took a short plane flight to Athens and Tess happened to sit next to a very nice couple, David and Barbara. They are from Canada and have two grown children. They had spent a week in Santorini as a gift from their children. Barbara was very motherly, telling us to look out for ourselves, admiring our courage in traveling, and giving us advice on putting money away each year as part of a retirement plan, "Pay yourself first!" While wandering around the Athens airport we ran into them again and talked for about an hour and a half.

After five hours in the Athens airport, we flew to Milan and caught a train to Rimini. We made it to our hostel around midnight. The hostel is clean, near the beach, and we shared our room with one other girl.

Day 4 and 5 in Santorini

8-23-09

Tess and I woke up, read, and caught the local bus to Fira (Thira) around 10. We looked around some shops, bought a few gifts and then started on our three hour hike to Oia which is famous for its beautiful sunsets. The entire hike was along cliffs overlooking the water. It was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. I truly believed I was experiencing the Divine in the scenes we were able to observe even through the heat of the middle of the day.

When we arrived in Oia we looked around a bit and then found a restaurant with a view of the sunset and settled in. We made friends with our waiter as well as the surrounding tables as we enjoyed grilled vegetables, wine, pasta, and dessert. The sunset was fantastic and we took many beautiful pictures.

8-24-09

Another perfect day laying on the beach. Tess and I ran a few errands (laundry, groceries, etc) but really just continued our lounging. We definitely both enjoyed this vacation, but I think we are very ready to head to Italy early tomorrow morning.

Day 2 and 3 in Santorini

8-21-09

After a good long night's rest Tess and I woke up and headed straight to the beach. The beaches here are black sand and instead of sand under the water there is rock or marble or something. We layed out reading and sleeping for three hours and then headed to our hostel to eat our homemade sandwichs. This small lunch break turned into a two hour nap. After this, we headed to an internet cafe to catch up with friends and family via Skype and email.

For dinner Tess and I went to an all day breakfast place near our hostel and had pancakes. It just happened that the owner and chef has a daughter who just graduated from Seattle U! What a small world.

8-22-09

Another difficult day on the beach...Tess and I layed out, made more PB&Js and relaxed some more. I "listened and learned" some more Russian and thats about it. What a hard life!

Ferry and Day 1 in Santorini

8-20-09

Tess and I woke up early so we could catch our early morning ferry to Santorini. Unfortunately, we once again got lost on our way to the metro station. Slightly frantic with less than thirty minutes to get to the ferry station, we hailed a cab and he rushed us to the ferry just in time. We boarded the ferry and ended up in a very windy seat and were super cold. A few hours in we moved inside and soon after that we went to the top and sunned ourselves. It was really beautiful and Tess and I both fell asleep. Unfortunately, my neckline got really burned. When we got off the ferry we went to the travel agency and found out that every ferry back to Athens was booked for the next week. We freaked out a bit because we had no idea how we would get back to Athens to get our flight to Italy.

We also had no idea how we would make it to our hostel in Perissa. We found another hostel near ours and the man offered to drive us. We were so happy to see our own little room. Its very simple and clean with two beds and a small window with sheets and a towel. There is a 24 hour bakery open near our hostel which serves FANTASTIC food. We had baklava and got rolls for lunch the next day. There is an internet cafe near our hostel as well and we managed to find a flight from Santorini to Athens which was a big relief.

Tess and I then walked to the beach (about two minutes away) and looked for a restaurant for dinner. We found one on the beach that served a plate for two to share of authentic Greek food. The food was ok, but we were not too impressed. Since this was the part of our trip that was true "vactation" we went to bed early and woke up late.

Day 2 in Athens

8-19-2009

Tess, and I got up early and headed out to explore Athens. We first went to the ferry station to buy tickets for our trip to Santorini. Then we caught up with some "to-dos" at an internet cafe and I bought a new camera. I was very excited with my new purchase.

Then Tess and I hiked up to near the top of the acropolis which was beautiful. We also stumbled upon the acropolis museum where we were able to see the beginnings of excavation of more Greek ruins. Next, we found more Greek ruins and saw the archeological site of the Olympian and the National Gardens. We also went into an art museum where Tess bought a couple boxes and I fell absolutely in love with a painting. Unfortunately, the painting was 800 euros. The man trying to sell the painting complemented my taste and told me he would give me a deal, but unfortunately this was still very outside my budget.

As night fell we headed back to Dimitris's house and showered, pack, and relaxed in preparation for our eight hour ferry ride to Santorini the following day!

Travel and Day 1 in Athens

8-18-2009

Our plane left early Tuesday morning and we had to fly from Prague to London and London to Athens. Good news was we both got stamps in our passport for London and Athens! We flew safe and slept most of the way.

In Athens we are couch surfing with Dimitrius Tol and we are sharing his "couch" with two other travelers. Dimitrius and the Australian couch surfer at the apartment have both been to Moscow and LOVE the city and the country. Hearing this made me more excited about my approaching trip, especially because I learned that day that I would be sharing a room in my dorm instead of my own personal room as I'd requested.

After chatting on Dimitrius's beautiful balcony, Tess and I slept outside on lawn chairs. They were surprisingly comfortable and it was very nice to wake up to a breeze and the rising sun. From Dimitrius's balcony we can see the Acropolis which amazes me everytime.

Prague Day 3

8-17-2009

Rose and I woke Tess up singing "Happy Birthday" and then the three of us bought strawberries for breakfast and visited an internet cafe to get ourselves organized. Rose needed to buy a train ticket so she headed to the train station and Tess and I went to see an exhibit on the Terra Cotta army. This exhibit was not sufficiently air conditioned, but it did provide a great picture into what the actual Terra Cotta army would look like.

Then Tess and I found a store and did some shopping. I was able to find a thick pair of tights (something I'd been looking for in the US) which will be great in Moscow. Tess and I met back up with Rose and the three of us headed to the Jewish quarter to see some museums. We started by seeing a cemetary with over 12,000 headstones and over 30,000 bodies. In some places the bodies were layered 12 deep. The cemetary was attached to the Pinkas Synagouge which housed an exhibit of children's drawings. The drawings came from an art class conducted at concentration camps during the Holocaust and the pictures we saw are an many cases the only piece of information that shows us these children existed.

On leaving the museum we cleverly sold our 24 hour passes to another American couple and managed to draw the attention of the guards, but we somehow avoided any confrontation or trouble. Then we decided to celebrate Tess's birthday by renting paddle boats and spending some quality time in the sun and on the water. We boated for an hour and headed to Matrea, a vegetarian restaurant. The food was not as great as the night before, but was still delicious and we enjoyed two bottles of wine as we shared affirmations of each other for Tess's birthday and Rose led us all in her familys' traditional BQs (birthday questions).

After returning to Gautier's, we packed up for our early trip the next morning and hit the hay.

Prague Day 2

8-16-09

Tess and I slept in and woke up slowly, both reading our books in bed for awhile. We chatted with Gautier and his girlfriend and they led us to the bus station around 1pm where we picked up Rose. This was a fantastic reunion because the last time the three of us had been together was in Tijuana, Mexico in December 2008.

After dropping off Rose’s things we met near the clock tower for our free three hour walking tour of Prague. We started our tour with Isaac who had lived in Prague for eight years after moving from LA. Isaac was awful. He was rude, liked to talk more about himself than the city, and had an oversized ego. About halfway through the tour, we took a break at a bagel shop and decided to switch tour guides. We finished the tour with Sara who was fantastic. She explained the history, architecture, and stories behind much of Prague. We ended up enjoying the tour and came away with many ideas for the rest of our time in Prague.

After all this walking we headed up A LOT of steps to a beer garden near the Prague Castle that had beautiful views overlooking the city. The three of us reminisced and chatted for an hour or so before we decided to look for a place to eat. On our way home we stumbled upon a vegetarian restaurant called Maitrea (the sister restaurant of the place we planned to eat the following night for Tess’s birthday). The food was incredible and surprisingly cheap. We had smoked tofu pasta with spinach, vegetarian lasagna, vegetarian burrito, sundried tomato pesto salsa with chips, two glasses of wine, water, and two desserts all for 750 crowns. This is only about $32 USD. Everything was delicious.

The three of us headed home and fell asleep immediately around 11pm.

Prague Day 1

8-15-09

We woke up early on Saturday and caught the train to Prague. This was my first experience on a train and we had a great time. At first when we boarded we could not find a seat. We quickly learned that the reserved seats were in the forward cars and since we had not reserved a seat, we would find some in the farther back cars. We found a section that was empty except for one sleeping man. We sat in this car and our companion awoke. His name was Vladamir and he is originally from Ukraine but lives in Berlin and studies medicine in Vienna. He was incredibly friendly and laughed at my attempts at Russian as I listened to my “Listen and Learn Russian” playlist on my iPod. After some teasing, he was generous enough to help me with my pronunciation and correct some of the things I had learned.

After the two hour train ride we arrived in Prague and headed to our couch surfing location (Gautier LeSann). Tess’s phone was out of money so we could not call our host. Vlad let us use his phone but the number we had written down was incorrect. We decided to try and find his apartment on our own since we had the address. Somehow we found the apartment building but had no way to enter. Luckily another woman was entering the building and let us in. The apartments were not numbered so we had no idea which was Gautier’s. Luckily we heard music from one apartment and decided to ring just to ask if this resident knew Gautier. It just so happened we had found Gautier’s apartment. Gautier is from Paris and has lived in Prague for three years. He speaks English (his French accent is VERY difficult to understand) and French but no Czech even though he has a Czech girlfriend. Our room is very nice and has all Ikea furniture which made Tess and I giggle a bit.

We decided the best way to spend the rest of our afternoon would be to walk and explore the city. We had an awful and small map, and were in search of a better one. We found a place to eat and walked for about three hours while trying to find the clock tower and Charles Bridge. By the time we found these touristy centers of the city we were somewhat delirious. On our way Tess introduced me to European shopping by way of Zara and Mango. At Zara, Tess and I found great cardigan sweaters to buy. Unfortunately neither of us was carrying our credit cards, just the small amount of Czech crowns we had exchanged for our Euros. Embarrassed, we had to leave the check out counter, unable to purchase our items.

We found a map and oriented ourselves with the city before sitting at a very nice restaurant. We shared bruschetta, a bottle of wine, and two desserts. After eating, we walked home and discovered the walk that had taken us three hours should have only been twenty minutes. It was a fantastic night filled with laughter and great conversation.

(AND my camera was lost/stolen...BOO!)

Last Day in Berlin

8-14-09

On my last day in Berlin Tess and I joined her friends Sonya and Lucy at a vegan restaurant for brunch. It was fantastic because brunch was all you can eat for whatever price you felt you should pay. There was a card on each table that explained this policy and suggested a range of prices. On our way back to Tess’s apartment we stopped at a photo booth and took two strips of four black and white pictures. They are darling and will be nice to have with me in Russia.

We continued to Tess’s apartment to pack our things so we could leave what we were not taking on our three week adventure at her host parents’ home. We then lugged our very heavy and awkward bags to the tram and continued the fourty minute ride. We had some issues moving our things and on the first tram we met a very nice Swiss med student who was living in Berlin and on his way to dinner at an exiled Iranian politician’s home. He took to us and helped with our bags. It was very nice to have an extra set of hands.

After dropping off our things we returned to the “downtown” area of Berlin to see the Reichtag which is the German parliament building. The building has a glass roof that you can climb to the top of so the parliament can look up at any time and remember who they are serving. The building is also built to represent transparency. Unfortunately, we were unable to climb to the top because the line was so long. The track and field world championships are currently being held in Berlin and were occupying the nearby area so lots of other tourists had the same idea we did.

Day 2 in Berlin

August 13, 2009

Today was another busy and fantastic day. Tess and I met her friend, Sonya, for brunch in a new (to me) part of the city. The girls had bagels with various spreads and I had muesli with fruit and yoghurt. I always want to like yoghurt, but I never really do. Instead I picked around my brunch and had some of the other girls’ bagels.

Next, Tess and I went on a four-hour walking tour of Berlin. This tour was fantastic because I was able to learn a lot of history of the city as well as see all the sights and get a great walk in. Berlin is a beautiful city and it’s amazing to walk the same places as Hitler, see the University where Einstein taught before he fled Germany, see the churches built by Fredrick the Great, and remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall that are still standing in one afternoon’s walk.

In the evening we went to the East Side Gallery which is a part of the Berlin wall still standing with art on it. Recently, the artists redid their work. I took photos of many of the art pieces. I did so because they are beautiful but also because Larkin’s Mexico graffiti pictures that should now be hanging at our house inspired me. Hopefully, we will have more graffiti picture art in our purple house post Christmas.

Day 1 in Berlin

August 12, 2009

Today included a flash back to the dark ages. And by dark ages I mean the days before cell phones. I navigated my way from the airport onto the bus and met Tess at a stop about thirty minutes later. Since I don’t have a phone here we were both quite worried about actually meeting each other. Luckily things worked out smoothly.

I met her two roommates, I took a nap, and we headed out for a walk. We went to the “beach” which was actually a swimming pool on a river where we drank beers and lounged in the sun. Then we walked around a park and took the bus to the bar where Tess used to work. We met some guys from Israel, Australia, and Ireland.

Later in the evening we went to a bar near Tess’s house for her roommates’ last night in Berlin. We returned to the apartment around 2am and watched part of The Wedding Singer before bed.

On the plane to Amsterdam

The plane flights were better than expected. Of course, I’m writing this before my adventure of trying to find and ride a bus in Germany and figuring out where I am without speaking a word of German. Oh, to be linguistically talented. If I were back at Seattle U doing Orientation, I would ask my small group to share the skill or talent they wish they had the most. Mine would be the ability to quickly learn and retain languages.

In the Boise airport, I was able to board the plane without issue. Miraculously I bought my ticket before they changed the international baggage rules so I was not charged for checking two bags. As my parents and I said our goodbyes, we saw a Mormon family saying goodbye to a missionary. I silently thanked God that I will have access to Skype and am free to call my friends and family whenever I’d like. My mom and I cried as we hugged and before I could put myself completely back together, the security guard handed me a tissue.

I flew from Boise to Minneapolis and had to rush in the airport to my next flight to Amsterdam. When I arrived at the gate (of course it was on the other side of the airport) they were doing the final boarding call for my flight. I am thankful that I didn’t have to sit and wait during a long layover since I’m on this plane for seven and a half hours. During my long walk, I got to talk to my best friend Larkin. Neither of us cried during this phone call which is amazing and only resulted because I had not yet read the gift she gave me. I also got to chat with Kyle who was distressed because he had just finished his Basic Exam. This exam decides if he can continue pursuing a PhD or if he is going to be kicked out of grad school. This made my conversation with Kyle even more difficult because I knew he had so much on his mind and the last thing I wanted to do was say goodbye. However, life moves whether we like it or not and we did what we must.

The Plan

The rough outline of the trip as Tess and I see it happening. We'll see how much goes according to plan. Knowing the two of us, it all will. We are fantastic list-makers and have amazing follow-through. :)

August 12 (Wednesday)

Natalie arrives in

BERLIN, Germany

August 15 (Saturday)

Natalie and Tess train to:

PRAGUE, Czech Republic

August 16 (Sunday)

11:00am ish Rose arrives in Prague!

August 18 (Tuesday)

ATHENS, Greece

And other islands

August 25th (Tuesday)

MILAN, Italy

Train to RIMINI

August 27th (Thursday)

Train to CINQUE TERRE

August 29th (Saturday)

Train to ROME early morning

September 31 (Monday)

BERLIN, Germany

September 1 (Tuesday)

Natalie flies to:

MOSCOW, Russia