Florence

florence was pretty boring. an average day there went as follows:
wake up at 9:30
walk around the gray, cold city a couple of times(its quite small)
do some "calorie-burning" by walking up the lookout hill over and over(nik's idea)
buy groceries for dinner (couscous, veggies, box of wine)
cook...eat...
watch the featured film at our hostel.
try to stay up til 11:00
go to bed at 10:30

a couple of honourable mentions are seeing michaelangelo's david, having a sauna, pool, steam room, and gym in our hostel, and trekking through rain, puddles and the dark streets of florence late at night to buy a chocolate pie, to satisfy "someone's" chocolate craving. i think the best memory of florence happened on the day we left. the plan was for us to head into the cinque terre(a group of five small fishing villages on the coast of italy, very beautiful, highly recommended to us), spend the day, then end up in nice, france at night. once we got to la spezia, the station from which to catch the cinque terre train, it was pretty cold, and we couldn't figure out how to use the luggage storage maintenance shed/sketchy room thing properly. so, we just went straight to nice. the funny thing is, my last backpacking trip to europe, i did the exact same thing; went to the cinque terre, saw that it way a little rainy, and just left, heading straight for rome. i'm 0 for 2 at cinque terre. guess its just not meant to be. anyway, we're in nice now, its nice. seriously, its beautiful here, so much to do, and we're staying at the best hostel we've ever been to(its rated one of the best in the world). we plan on staying a few extra days than originally planned, but we'll keep you posted.

bye.

stikki.

Rome'n Around

So we are done with Rome. It was wonderful. Our hostel not so much but what can ya do.

We visited all the usuals like the Colosseum, the Vatican, the Trevi Fountain, the spanish steps, and so on. We took pictures of many impressive buildings, unsure exactly what were taking a picture of. We ate yummy pizza once, and not so yummy pizza another time. The gelati is always crazy good. We walked, and walked, and walked everywhere we could. The Vatican from our hostel was almost an hour and a half and we did that journey more than once; steve's shoes crapped out and he blistered up but they are now repaired and good to go!

It was green everywhere and I no longer had to wear 6 layers a day which was so so so wonderful. It rained one day pretty bad after we had decided "yes, what we could really use this morning is another walk to the Vatican area". Let's just say that cheap little yellow umbrellas, however cute, are mostly useless and definitely not meant for 2 people to share for long journeys.

We went for dinner in 'the country' with Ellen and Luca one evening who treated us to a lovely meal at a small restaurant with home made pasta and sauces. Ellen is due to have her baby in about 2 weeks, so it was great to still be able to see them. The evening ended...well let's just say Steve's stomach didn't agree with everything that was consumed (boar, rabbit, and cheap wine) and Ellen now has the excuse she was looking for to have Luca get a newer car for her and the baby.

So we are now in Florence where it is a bit rainy but our hostel has an indoor pool and sauna, gym, and bar/restaurant, along with movies every night. We'll be fine.

Hope all is well wherever you are reading this from.

luvstikki.

Vienna Shmienna.

So. We were in Vienna just over 24 hours as we couldn't make it straight to Rome from Budapest. Poor Vienna. Maybe it's an ok city but we were so tired of the cold by the time we got there that we didn't even want to go outside for the day we had to kill. But we did. Reluctantly. Vienna is...well let's just say we should have stayed inside. Cold, poor museum visit, nothing else to do, friggin expensive, cold. We spent $20 Cdn on 2 coffees and an apple strudel. Ya. We know.

Anyway. We are now finally in Rome! It's warmish and green and many beautiful things await us. Oh, and I'd love to post pics but we left our camera cord at home (I know dad, it's cheap and we should get one), everything electronics is stupid expensive here so we'll see. For now, picture Steve and I holding hands. But only on one side as a rule as we are down to one pair of gloves, we each get one for the hand-holding hand. yes, we are lame. and too cheap to buy another set of gloves.

Loveyouall,
Stikki

bed-a-pest

so, we leave hungary in one hour. just in time for me to e-diagnose myself with hungarian bed bugs. not only do i have the bite marks, but i also saw and killed one yesterday. gross! besides that, budapest has been an awesome experience. there's so much to see and do, its ridiculous. last night we went out to a very interesting bar with our new boston friend, joe. the bar is called szimpla, and is located in an old abandoned building in downtown pest. its a labyrinth of halls, spiral staircases, weird rooms, tarps as walls in some places, and about a dozen bar areas where you could get a drink. by far the best bar i've been to (nikki agrees too). most days were spent wandering around, looking at castles, palaces, churches and museums, and thrown in the mix was an evening under the stars in a hungarian thermal bath, and a wine tasting at an ancient castle wine cellar. the evenings were spent chillin at the goat, the best(aside from the infestation) hostel we've ever been to. we also spent time teaching our hungarian hostess at the hostel some humorous american slang at her request. this morning, after i complimented her coffee-making skills, she told me i'd better "recognize" in a hungarian accent. i almost spit out my coffee! anyway, we're off to vienna, which is further north(don't ask) and much more expensive. so, we're not staying long. bye for now,
stikki

budapest

so we finished up in berlin yesterday and walked outside all day. it was minus 18! we were walking outside for 5 hours without proper winter clothes (not just from the car to the house) and i was actually praying that my toes wouldn't turn black from frost bite. i know, i know, you all pity us.
anyway, we went to checkpoint charlie, saw the old Berlin wall remains and the nazi SS building. also waited in line at the parliament building outside for over a half hour (minus 20ish by now) for the honor of seeing the OUTDOOR spiral thingy at the top. wouldn't have waited in line if we knew more cold awaited! a very history-rich day but steve will tell you the cold put me in far too lovely a mood to be as excited as he was by the end of he day.
we left this morning for the 12 hour train ride to Budapest and we're here at the Goat Hostel! Very sketchy from the outside but awesome inside as many things here seem to be.
we're safe, steve's ankle is doing great, and we hope to warm up here at the many hot hot public bath houses!

lovelove,

stikki.

ok. we are in berlin. it's cold and snowy but the city is way better than the band steve says. we slept at a cheap-as hostel last night and tonight spent the day in town, mostly at the german history museum which is fitting as both our ancestors came from here at one time. lots of war pictures and such. it's one of the few museum topics (war) that keep steve awake i've found. steve maybe rolled his ankle on the ice and for sure dropped our bread on the street. i rescued it. it was still yummy. tomorrow we're taking a free tour. if steve's ankle can handle it. from now on, i hold the bread. (you know, cuz he might drop it on the road again).
interesting fact for the starbucks addicts back home: a small tea and americano at starbucks here cost more than a bottle of wine, loaf of bread, salami, and tomato sauce that we had for supper. we found this out the hard way.
until next time.

stikki.

We are arrived.

So, we made it to Frankfurt. All the short connections were caught and our luggage made it no problem! We're pretty thankful for that.
It's gray out but warmer than Winnipeg so can't complain too much.
We're here a couple days then off to Berlin...probably.
Not much excitement yet EXCEPT that the first guy we talked to at the train station was a Friesen from Winnipeg! Seriously! Ridiculous.
Anyway, that's all for now.

luvstikki.