Iceland . .. cold, sun, Björk

"Better weight than wisdom a traveller cannot carry. The poor man´s strength in a strange place, worth more than wealth."
and
"He is truly wise who´s travelled far and knows the ways of the world. He who has travelled can tell what spirit governs the men he meets." - both from Hàvamàl Eddaic poems (AD 700-900) (Viking sayings)

(oh! if you want to smile watch the videos on wherethehellismatt.com)

Reykjavik, Iceland June 29th, 2008
9:30pm

Somehow when I was planning this trip (errr . . .. "planning") I somehow forgot to even think about Iceland. It wasn´t until I was in a library in New Zealand that I even picked up a guidebook to see what things there were to see and do in this far-north country. I definitely did not look up what the average temperature would be here in June. So . . . as it turns out . . . it is COLD. Seriously cold for someone who mostly has a summer wardrobe. As luck would have it, I managed to buy a nice coat and sweater in the Paris sales immediately before arriving here. The biting wind and 8° C weather didn´t catch me unprepared! Just surprised.

In addition to cold weather, Iceland at the moment has 24 hour sunlight. Pretty wild, when you think about it. I´ve only stayed up past midnight one night, but sure enough it was still bright and light out. It darkens slightly between midnight and 2am, but not enough to really obscure anything. The amount of partying that goes on here is madness . . . such intense nigth time debauchery that even the grocery stores can´t bring themselves to open before 10 am. It is a bit strange, however, to see people stumbling about drunk in full light . . . that sort of thing should really be hidden by darkness, shouldn´t it?

So, cold weather, sunshine and . . . CRAZY expensive prices!! When I calculated that the shuttle bus from the airport to downtown Reykjavik was going to cost $30 and that a regular take away type meal would cost close to $20 . . . well the nice young man selling me my shuttle bus ticket said, "I hope you brought your platinum!" Sure enough, Chase Rewards is going to be quite happy with me. Even eating cheaply and self-catering are still pricey in this island country. A beer is easily $10 making Iceland one of the most expensive places to go out in the world. Apparently it is second only to Tokyo.

Despite all this I have been enjoying Reykjavik and using it as a quite time to reflect and enjoy being by myself. I have had some seriously lovely days wandering around, having a coffee (about all I can afford), sampling a cheap hot dog (I got one from the same stand that Bill Clinton did on his visit), and strolling around the wharf and flea market. I visited the National Museum and learned that the majority of women in Iceland share genetic markers with women from the British Isles, but the majority of men share genetic markers with men from other Nordic countries, mainly Norway. What does this suggest? You guessed it . .. vikings settling here with their Irish brides. It makes sense that Icelandic people are ridiculously gorgeous - possibly even more beautiful than the Swedes although it is a tight race. Blond, blue eyed, with the occasional ginger splash and freckles . . . everyone is über-good looking. Also . . . they all speak English in addition to Icelandic, which is quite helpful!

On Saturday night I went to the free Björk concert here in Reykjavik, which was really quite a big deal for Iceland. Björk and Sigur Ròs got together with some other artists to do the concert as an environmental awareness statement. Here in Iceland they are worried about their natural resources being destroyed for aluminum smelters and big ugly hydroelectric plants, etc. Anyway, the crowd was HUGE, Björk´s outfit was WILD and of course it was sunny out for the whole thing. And freezing.

Today I went on a tour of the so called "golden circle" which visits three of the most important natural sights of Iceland all in one day. First the Gullfoss waterfall which was big and beautiful, followed by the geothermally active area of Haukadalur. This area reminded me of Roturua in New Zealand . . . bubbling mud, steaming hot water, sulphur smell . . . but Haukadalur was different. Mainly the geyser, Strokker, which every four minutes or so hurled boiling water up to 20 meters high. Pretty amazing stuff, folks.
Oh! And I got to have some traditional Icelandic meat stew for lunch (lamb) and it was delicious.

We ended the day with my favorite place - Þingvellir National Park. Not only is this the spot on which Iceland´s parliament started meeting in 930 (it is one of the oldest parliamentary institutions in the world), but it also happens to be where the continental plates of North America and Euro-Asia meet. Err, well, they aren´t so much as meeting as tearing away from each other. So basically, today, I stood on the continental rift and looked down into the canyon separating North America from Europe. I found this fairly exhilarating.

The only thing that kept me from jumping for joy was the extremely sobering thought that tomorrow I will be back in the U.S.

That´s right folks, Anna´s great round the world adventure is coming to an end. I imagine I will post at least once more with conclusions, overviews, etc. (plus I have a ton of quotes still to use), but this will be my last post from the road.

While I am looking forward to seeing people, and to living in one place for awhile, I have to admit that I am sad that this adventure is over. The past four months have easily been the best of my life. I just have to remember that as this door closes another opens . . . this is just one more beginning, one more fresh start.

Thank you, for traveling with me. Hopefully I will see you soon!

Lots of Love! Anna

and maybe . . .
". . .the grand tour is just the inspired man's way of heading home."
- Paul Theroux

Paris!! (a quick review) (in more ways than one)

"Paris is always a good idea." - Sabrina (the movie)

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard

(Reykjavik, Iceland June 30)


Last Wednesday I took the train (Castillion to Bordeaux, Bordeaux to Paris) up to Paris. I met Dorothee, a German friend I had made in New Zealand, at our hostel in Montmarte around 4pm . . . and we didn´t stop going until Thursday night! With only a day and half in Paris we made every moment count! Luckily Dorothee knew Paris well enough to get us quickly and efficiently to the main sights, and we managed to spare plenty of time to wander through small charming streets and stop regularly for coffee and or crepes. Thursday we wandered around Montmarte, visited Sacre Coeur, saw the Arc de Triumph on Champ Elysses (many apologies for poor French spelling!), passed by the Grand and Petit Palais, saw the Eiffel Tower, grabbed cheese, baguette and wine and picnicked in the Tuilleres, and went out to a Jazz club in Montmarte. Quite amazing for having only arrived at 4pm!

Thursday we headed out to the Louvre first thing and arrived around 9:30. No waiting in lines for us, we got our tickets and headed straight in! We only spent about two hours there, not wanting to be completely overwhelmed. We did the obligatory Da Vincis, and visited a lot of other important and interesting bits. The whole time I kept thinking "I am in the Louvre!!!!!"
The whole Paris/Louvre thing felt fairly surreal to be honest. One of the places you hear about all your life, and then . . . to actually BE there. Well, anyway . . . it was fantastic.

After the Louvre we headed over to the Left Bank for some shopping and gallery hopping. The Paris sales had JUST started so we enjoyed quite a bit of poking in shops. We had lunch near Sainte Michel Boulevard (I think!), followed by a visit to Notre Dame. By this point there were lines, but they moved relatively quickly. Then we headed to Sainte Chappelle which was beautiful. More leisurely walking on the islands was followed by a coffee & creme brulee stop and then more shopping!

Friday morning before my flight I headed back over to the Left bank and visited St. Sulpice . . . of Da Vinci Code fame. Took a picture of the "rose" line and headed off to Charles de Gaul . . .

Wwoofing at Chateau Brandeau, otherwise entitled, "Whatever you´re doing - stop doing it!"

June 29th, Reykjavik, Iceland.

I spent almost two weeks working (volunteering in exchange for room and board, really) at Chateau Brandeau, in Castillion, France. Castillion is a small area in the Bordeaux region, in between Libourne and Bergerac, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Despite the fantastic countryside, after three days of partying in Stockholm, facing a seven hour work day of hard labor in the vineyard was a bit shocking. On Friday we working in the pouring rain for hours, weeding, grabbing, pulling, bending, clipping. At the end of seven hours of work I was ready to get on the next train out of there . . . I didn´t really care where to, just anywhere I wouldn´t have to work so hard!

Luckily Saturday and Sunday turned out to be lovely days. The family who runs the organic vineyard at Chateau Brandeau is really very nice, and they took us Wwoofers to Sainte Foy for the market on Saturday morning. Wandering through this 12th century French town, amidst the cheese stands, butchers, spices, books . . . I fell in love with southern France. Everything was lovely, old, and just full of character, romance and beauty. I had never really been interested in France before, but a love affair was just beginning. My interest more than doubled the next day when we attended the féte in Saint Emillion. For 2€ each we sampled dozens of Saint Emillion wines, including some Grand Cru. There was also cheese, olives and chocolate to sample, and the entire experience was a ton of fun. In addition to the wine tasting, we also had time to explore the town, which was even lovelier than Sainte Foy. We explored caves underneath the town that had been turned into wine cellars, a lovely cloister and a gorgeous church. Live music and lovely cookies with marzipan added to the glory of that Sunday.

The next week was filled with 7 hours work days, long delicious lunches, dinner full of wine, clue tournaments, cards, conversations and friends. I really enjoyed the people I met at Brandeau. I wish I could say I enjoyed the work, but to be honest it was the hardest physical labor I have ever done. I definitely think it was character-building, however. Every day I wanted to just bolt and go back on vacation, but I stuck it out . . . I could just feel my character growing!

In addition to working in the vines (levage, relevage and enpomprage) I also helped feed the chicken & collect eggs. Some Canadians and I had the fun task of labeling and packaging bottles of wine for a large Japanese order. I´m not being sarcastic, it was actually really fun playing with the giant labeling machine, however finicky its behavior!

I was lucky enough to get to meet up with my brother Nick and his girlfriend Valerie at the end of my time at Brandeau. It was amazing to see them and to meet Valerie for the first time (she is terrific!). They are planning on working at Brandeau for THREE months. All I can say is that I couldn´t do it. My love and best wishes are with them and the family at Brandeau - thank you!

Stockholm: Beer, Chokladbollar, and Meatballs

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” - Tim Cahill

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” - Mark Twain

June 29, 2008 Reykjavik, Iceland

I am very late in updating my blog, but the last few weeks of my trip have just been too fun and busy to be sitting at a computer!

Stockholm, Sweden - June 9-12

Early on a Monday morning I took a cab from Hostel Elf in Prague to the airport. I arrived in Stockholm and was greeted at the airport by Josephine (see: New Zealand) and her mother, Suzanne. It was fantastic to be met at an airport and driven home- I felt so well taken care of! We picked up Michael, Josephine´s brother, and went out to lunch at a terrific seafood restaurant on the water. The whole time I was in Sweden it was spectacularly sunny . . . that first day was fairly warm despite a breeze. I had some amazing salmon, and the restaurant even served me an individual Swedish meatball when Suzanne told them I had never tried one before. It was delicious as well, served with gravy and some cranberry sauce.

The four of us picked up some pastries on the way to Josephine´s grandfather´s house in Saltsjöbaden. Thus, my introduction to the glorious world of Swedish sweets began . . . chokladbollar, biskvier, kanelbullar . . . it was an absolute delight and everyone stuffed their faces! I also tried some pickled mackerel, but did not find that quite as enjoyable :-)

Josephine and I caught the train back to Stockholm and headed out to the Gondolen . . . a bar/restaurant high above the city with fantastic views. We had cosmos while we enjoyed the view and then headed to Josephine´s father´s pup to catch the end of the Holland euro cup game (her father, being Dutch, was very excited for this initial win!). We finished the evening at Little Persia where we devoured some delicious hummus, tahini, stuffed grape leaves, etc.

On Tuesday Josephine and I took the ferry over to Djurgården and had a walk. I tried a typical Swedish hot dog wrapped in some kind of a strange pita-like bread that also held lettuce, tomatoes, mustard and . . . mashed potatoes!! It was yummy, but strange and a little heavy on the carbs! We ferried back to the mainland and explored the old town a bit . .. saw the castle, cathedral, lovely little cobblestone streets, etc. Some beers by the water proceeded dinner at Herman´s vegetarian restaurant that overlooked the city. The vegan garlic butter absolutely blew my mind! That night we hoped to watch the Sweden-Greece match on the big screen downtown, but it was all full-up by the time we got there. We headed back over the river and found a bar to watch the game - there was much celebration in Stockholm after Sweden won!

On Wednesday we slept in and then went out to lunch with Suzanne (who, by the way, looked exactly like the actress Lena Olin) for typical Swedish meatballs (yum!). Josephine then taught me how to make Havrebollar or Chokladbollar, or Chocolate Balls. Yum!!! So good! We spent some time shopping and sampling various Biskvier (I will miss this pastry forever, and I do not think I can recreate it) and coffees. We had dinner at her father´s pub and met up with Josephine´s friend Jonathan. It was an absolutely amazing few days and I was so sad to leave! I can´t wait to go back and visit!

Early on Thursday morning I headed for Arlanda airport to catch my flight to Bordeaux . . . .

Castles, Churches, Communism, Oh my!

"Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out." -Vaclev Havel



Prague, Czech Republic June 8, 2008 10:30 pm

Greetings from beautiful Prague, with its winding medieval streets, lovely old churches, art nouveau stained glass windows, and live jazz bands on Charles Bridge. This city is gorgeous, and the old town is overflowing with a character unique and fabulous, despite the throngs of humanity that fill it up every day.

[Quick wrap-up on Hungary: My last night in Budapest I went climbing up to the top of the Citadel, which afforded a lovely view of the city at night. I went with a girl I had met at the hostel, and we wandered back down to the hostel around 10:30 or so. I managed to sleep, and I got up before 6am to take public transport to the bus station. The metro turned out to be reasonably navigable, and the bus to Prague was lovely . . . I slept during much of it. The countryside wasn't as beautiful as I expected, maybe because we were on a major highway. My hostel in Prague (Hostel elf) turned out to be VERY close to the bus station, so that was lovely.]

My first day in Prague I was still feeling a bit rough from the bus ride, so I just had a bit of a wander down through Stare Mesto (old town) and through the big old square. I got to watch the astronomical clock change the hour, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Astronomical_Clock), had a bite to eat, and wandered back to the hostel to get a good night's sleep.

Yesterday was a big full day! I crosses Charles Bridge and headed to Prague Castle at around 10 in the morning. On the walk there I bumped into a Canadian from the hostel and we explored around the castle together for a bit. We saw the changing of the guard at noon, that included lots of marching and a brass band. After that the Canadian took off and I bought a discounted student ticket to see a bit more of the castle. The most exciting part was the cathedral of St. Vitus which had an incredible Art Nouveau stained glass window by Alfons Mucha. I also came across a toy museum within the castle grounds/area, that advertised a Barbie exhibit. Well, this may come as a surprise to some of you, but I actually collected Barbies when I was younger. I was thrilled to visit the Barbie exhibit, which started with the very first Barbies (from 1959) and worked up to the present. The outfits were fun, and it was interesting to see how Barbie had changed . . . I was exceedingly happy after viewing it! It made me want to go home and get out my Czechoslovakian Barbie (which was only possible in the short few years after communism fell but before the Velvet Divorce -- the split between Czech Republic and Slovakia).

I grabbed a gelatto to keep me going, and I headed for the Loretta, a Baroque place of pilgrimage, filled with religious bits and pieces. The most exciting parts were the skeletons of two saints that had been dressed in outfits, and had wax melted over their faces. Also their was a large painting of St. Starosta, a crucified bearded lady. The Loretta treasury was filled with gold, silver and diamond monstrosities that were somewhat interesting to look at.

Next, I headed further into Mala Strana and visited the Strahov Monastery which looks down on Prague. In addition to affording lovely views and photo ops, the library of the Strahov is particularly impressive. Although the libraries themselves were gorgeous, I think the most interesting bit were the whale penises that were on display amidst other strange things from the sea.

At this point it was almost 4pm and I was desperate for food. I ate in Maly Buddha (little Buddha) and had some delicious eastern food. Before crossing back of the Charles Bridge I visited St. Nicholas Church which was large and lovely. I think I visited a couple more churches as well on the walk home, but at this point it was mostly a blur :-)

This morning I took a guided tour of the Municipal building, which had been highly recommended by lonely planet. Mucha was heavily involved in the decoration of this building which was built at the beginning of the 1900s and was an important work of Czech nationalism. It was lovely, although I'm not sure it was worth the $10 tour. It did get me fairly excited about Mucha, however, and later in the day I visited the Mucha museum which was lovely. I had a traditional Czech lunch . . . beer, beef and bread dumplings. I spent a good bit of the day wandering, visiting random churches (including, Our Lady of the Snows), and stopping at cafes for a cappuccino. I spent the early evening poking around in English language bookstores before getting some food at a vegetarian cafeteria for dinner.

Tomorrow morning I fly to Stockholm to visit Josephine!

Lots and lots of love
Anna

The midnight train to Budapest

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Two of the greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and wings." –- Hodding Carter

June 5, 2008, 11am Budapest, Hungary


Okay, so it was a 10:30 train. Now that I am safely in Budapest I have to admit how absolutely freaked I was to take a night train in Eastern Europe. The stories you hear are not good, and contain all sorts of crazy tales of druggings, robbery, rapes, murder, gang muggings and of course the big scary story- gassing! When I wrote my last quick blog in Krakow I was already gripped with fear having googled "night train krakow to budapest" over and over in different variations. I was of course slightly relieved to be reassured by some that the idea of a "gassing" is ridiculous- how could someone actually manage to pull it off without killing people (unless they had been trained in anesthesia), how could people actually acquire and lug that much gas around, etc. Of course the idea of organized pickpockets, etc., is warned about in Lonely Planet, etc., so you know to be on your guard. At some level I knew that it was highly unlikely that the train ride would be anything but uneventful, but I managed to work myself into a minor dither. The only thing that kept me calm was that I saw a "damski" notation on my ticket, suggesting that I would be in one of the nicer cabins with all women . . . and possibly a door that locked!

When I asked the guy working at the hostel about a taxi to the train station (it was 10:00 at night!) he laughed and said I would be fine walking the 5 blocks there. Even though I was a little nervous about it (and I knew my mom wouldn't be happy), I walked there anyway. Of course it turned out to be ridiculously well lit and the last couple blocks were in this extremely fancy mall area, complete with H&M and other fun western stores. When I got to the train I was guided to by car by the porters . . . the train car was filled with retired Americans chatting in the hall . . . English everywhere. I was in a lovely three-bed room that I shared with Barbara, a Brit with Polish ancestry. The bed was comfortable and the door locked- quite a relief! I felt very foolish for having been frightened!

At about 1 am when the train pulled to a stop in the middle of nowhere and the porter began slamming all the windows in the entire car shut. The slam woke me up, and my first thought was "they must be shutting the window's for safety since we are stopped in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night." Then the air conditioner turned on. My second thought was, "Shit! We're being gassed! The porter has organized with local hooligans and they are going to break in and . . ." at this point the thought ended because I realized we had both a bolt lock and a chain lock on the door and it would take a lot of time for them to break in, etc., people would have to be pretty drugged to not wake up with doors crashing, how could they really get THAT much gas, etc.

I still cracked open the window and kept my head by the fresh air :-) I went back to sleep after the train started moving again.

I slept terribly and woke up feeling foolish for all my fears. For awhile I thought I had lost one of my camera's memory cards (which I had cleverly(?) kept with my cash and credit cards in my bra, just to fool those train thieves!), which upset me a good bit. Just as I had come to the conclusion that, as we all know, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" and I should be lucky to be safe and healthy . . . I found the memory card in my wallet. Phew.

I'm not sure why I was so much more nervous about this trip then about any of the traveling I did in South America. I was in Lima for goodness sakes, and I'm afraid in Poland? It hardly makes any sense, and I'm trying to figure out where that fear came from. Maybe I just need to avoid websites discussing backpacker myths!

Anyway . . . Budapest is beautiful. I'm still not feeling my best so I won't manage the full Budapest-tour, but the buildings are absolutely gorgeous. Yesterday I walked to St. Steven's Basilica which was amazing, and the practicing choir made the experience even better. I walked up to the Parliament building and could not decide whether it was gorgeous or an architectural monstrosity. Pretty amazing, no matter what. There were great memorials to the 1956 uprising, and I remembered learning about Hungarian history under communism during college. The Imre Nagy monument was my favorite, and I enjoyed reading up on him again. Nagy was an anti-soviet communist who believed in freedom of thought and expression, and that the market needed room to grow on its own a bit. His "new course" communism helped Hungary for a couple of years but ultimately the soviets invaded, shot innocents, and executed Nagy. His monument portrays him standing on a bridge with his back to the Soviet monument in the square behind him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Imre_Nagy%2C_Budapest_statue.jpg

The hostel I am staying at has possibly the worst beds ever, but I finally managed to sleep aided by antihistamine. Today I had a long wander which included visiting the large marketplace, sampling some gulash stew, some cherry and poppy seed strudel, and some marzipan. This afternoon I may either go see the castle over in Buda (I've been in Pest so far) on the other side of the Danube, or take the metro up to the baths. Tomorrow I take a 7am bus to Prague!

Lots of Love, and hopefully I will blog on my trip with my mom soon!
Anna

Krakow and back again

But do not ask me where I am heading,
As I travel in this limitless world
Where every step I take is my home
~ Portion of a Poem by Eihei Dogen ~

Krakow, Poland June 3, 2008 9pm

Here I sit in the basement of lovely Mama's hostel waiting to depart for my night train to Budapest. There is so much to cover from the trip across southeastern Poland and eastern Slovakia, that there is no way I can do it justice at the minute. My mom and I had a fantastic amazing time, and the rural areas of these two countries were beautiful! I have many pictures and stories to share, and I think my mom may even be contributing some! I have been back in Krakow for the last two days nursing a cold I picked up in Slovakia and planning my next two weeks before I begin my Wwoofing at Chateau Brandeau in the Bordeaux region of France. Krakow is lovely, but having spent over 5 days here, I am ready to move on!

I will update more in Budapest! Lots of Love!
Anna

Florence . . . .

(posted June 3, in Krakow, Poland)

Florence, Italy- May 19th- May 22

I arrived in Florence on May 19th (my dad's birthday) and was THRILLED to see my parents at the train station! It was so fantastic to see them and 4 days were not enough to catch up on almost three months! They took great care of me, and my dad wore my huge pack all the way to the hotel (a good 12 blocks or so . . . and its a HEAVY backpack!). Hotel Bretagna was gorgeous - converted out of an old Gianfigliazzi family palace it sits right on the Arno river and was decently close to everything. Our room was full of character, and the breakfasts were good! It was so nice to be in a hotel instead of a hostel, I couldn't get enough of it!
(sideways parents in hotel room)

Okay- Florence was incredible. The buildings, the museums, the FOOD, and just the general atmosphere. It was definately a strolling-around kind of place, and we planned our days by when and where we would stop for our next cappacino/gelatto/pizza/pasta, etc.

We celebrated my dad's birthday the first night I was there, and we shared a few seafood dishes. I finally tried a little pulpito (tiny little baby octopus), after having only eaten a leg in Lima, Peru. It wasn't too bad actually. The squid was better, however :-) I couldn't handle the after-dinner grappa, however, and my dad had to finish mine!

Museums included the Uffizi where we saw Leonardo da Vinci's, Botticelli's, Michaelangelo's, Raphael's and Rembrandt's. If only there had been Donatello's we would have had all 4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's spoken for! The Botticelli's were amazing and definately my favorite.

We also visited the Galeria del Accademia where Michaelangelo's "David" is housed. I had no idea how HUGE the statue of David was, and it was really fairly incredible to behold. The detail on the arms and hands was amazing, but very much lacking on the legs. We came back there a second time after my parents randomly made friends with the manager of the museum bookshop in a nearby park.

Many beautiful churches were also visited, and other museums, but I didn't keep a running list as I should have!!

Our favorite cafe (I think) was Za-Za, which I would highly reccomend. Everything was fantastic, the bread, steak, wine, truffle ravioli, walnut ravioli, appetizers- everything! The decor inside was fun and quirky as well, absolutely perfect!

The hot chocolate at various cafes was definitely on par with anything I tasted in South America. Its amazing how terribly we do hot chocolate in the U.S.!

The people in Florence were not particularly friendly but the men were solicitous enough. Not in an offensive manner, but in a sweet flirtacious kind of way. The waiters were generally very nice and helpful, and many people spoke English. Most of the menus had English translations as well, which helped a great deal. I had actually spent time trying to learn some basic Italian while I was in Canberra, but in the end it wasn't really needed.

I had an absolutely incredible time with my parents, and my mom and I were sad to say goodbye to my dad on the 22nd. She and I took a train to Bologna where we caught a flight to Krakow.

Well, I've been at this internet cafe for over 2 hours and I need a break . . . Mom, Dad, maybe you would like to add comments with other places we visited? Other adventures had?

Anna with Florence behind her

Anna and Dad with the Ponte Vecchio bridge and the river Arno behind them

Canberra, revisited

(posted June 3, 2008 in Krakow, Poland)

Hi folks! I know I should be terribly ashamed of how far behind in my blog!! How are you going to know what amazing places I've been visiting if I don't tell you? Well luckily for you (although rather unluckily for me) I've been stuck in Krakow with a nasty cold, so I finally have time for some blogging!

Canberra- May 6-May18!

I had a grand time with Annika and Michaela who took super good care of me. It was great to spend time with them and get to know them better- I miss them already! Their boyfriends, Rob and Nick, respectively, were lovely as well. I spent a lot of time wandering around the National Gallery which was fantastic, and I spent a lot of time in downtown Canberra where the shops and cafes are! Canberra has some great cocktail lounges- I didn't even realize I like cocktail lounges, but I do!

For my birthday Annika, Michaela, boyfriends and roomates took me out to a restaurant where I got to sample some native Australian food. In one meal (including various appetizers) I samples crocodile, emu, kangaroo, baramundi, and king prawns (big shrimp!). The emu was a proscuitto and was delicious, and I enjoyed the crocodile and the fish. The kangaroo was good, but I felt to weird about eating it to really enjoy it! I mean . . . they are so cute!! Also, they were hopping all over the place in Canberra after dark . . . like deer in Westchester, NY!

There were many fun and varied excursions with Michaela and Annika including the National Museum, a fun trip to the zoo (we saw a snow leopard!!!) where I was frightened by strange small monkeys, and a trip to Cockington Green Gardens which is filled with miniature buildings of famous edifices from Britain and around the world.

sideways Annika and Anna on the little train at Cockington Green (the nice conductor took us around a second time for free :)

People were friendly in Australia, and the food was lovely. The girls took me to many cafes that were surprisingly upscale and served amazing food (especially breakfasts!). I made cookies twice at Michaela's and Annika taught me a number of recipes (she's a fantastic cook!).



Michaela, Anna and Annika

I was sad to leave Annika and Michaela, and not at all prepared for my 33+ hour trip to Florence (although I was excited about Europe and seeing my family!). I had a 3 hour bus from Canberra to Sydney, 3 hours at the Sydney airport, a 15 hour flight to Abu Dhabi, a 2 hour layover in Abu Dhabi (NOT my favorite airport!! I was so miserable I was forced to purchase junk food from the duty free shops!), a 7 hour flight to Milan, a 1 hour bus trip to the train station, and a 3 hour train to Florence. Whew.

On to Florence!