bye bye Budapest and cold weather, hello Greece and sunshine!

Hello All!!!

So much has happened since we last have written. We went to visit my friend Dani Bridges in Sarrbrucken, Germany. Dani is there playing soccer. This was a well needed rest for us. We literally sat on their couch watching movies for days! It was nice to have a comfortable place to stay and be in private, or at least with people you know. Dani and her roommate Kelly, who is from Orgeon and also on the team, were so accomodating to us, it was really amazing. They have been living in Germany more or less for a year and are loving it. It was nice to see a familiar face when so far away, not only for myself, but also for Dani. Yay for friends! After we left Germany we went to Switzerland. One word, AMAZING!!! First we went to Gryon. This is a small ski village. Our hostel was not what we expected at all. It came highly recommended by the OWNER, who we met in Cesky Krumlov. With that said, we thought he found another snow village that we would fall in love with. Well this hostel, Chalet Martin, sucked! It was half hostel/half apartment for young peopel travelling the world. The result was that it was very uncomfortable and overcrowded. People who considered this their temporary home were forced to share space with strangers, as a result, it was like highschool all over again. They were a big cliche that controlled everything. This not only made it hard to literally manuver in the limited communal spaces (especially the kitchen), it also made it akward, as you felt like you were an unwelcome guest in someone else's home. Don't blame them, blame the owners, they need to make up their mind, either a hostel or an apartment complex, it just doesn't work to be both and share the same spaces. Also, they have extra charges for EVERYTHING. We went skiing and it was 10 euros per item we rented, so for gloves, mask and ski pants it was 30 euros per person, not including lift ticket or ski rentals. OVER-RATED! Not to mention that one of the people who supposedly work at the hostel came home inebriated and made so much noise that I had to politely ask him to be quiet in which he ruded told me to get out of his room. Gryon itself was nice and the ski was AMAZING! It had snowed 2 feet the night before and by 11am on the mountain the sky was competely clear and sunny! Definitely fun. Gryon I give you a B rating, better than average, but nothing special.

From Gryon we went to Interlaken. Interlaken, YOU ROCK. This place, believe it or not, was so amazing that even though they had just laid manuer over the entire town's ground as fertilizer, we didn't even mind the smell, that's how sweet this place was. It's a small town, but it has such a lively feel, completely opposite of Gryon. Our hostel, Backpackers Villa, was beyond amazing. It had such a cool vibe, with a ping pong and pool table outside. The staff was beyond nice, and the facitily was amazing. Not only that, but the hostel was well connected in the community and gave us a card for free bus travel, free mini golf and free entrance to the pool which we definitely took advantage of. One funny thing to note is that in the sauna areas in Europe, there is a no bathing suit policy. It is quite funny because Chris and I would try to walk in, in our bathing suits and then get ushered out quickly, usually getting yelled at by some old man who was definitely not going to get the chance to see me without my bathing suit on! Interlaken is also a hub for extreme sports. Everywhere we looked people were paraglyding from the snow capted mountains that were stunning. We wanted to go hang-glyding, but it was too expensive, we will have to go back some time, and good to note, that starting the middle of April the hostels begin their "package deals" which is outrageously cheaper, so if you do go to Interlaken, go in April and take advantage of these deals.

From Interlaken we began our long journey to Budapest. We got on a train that took us to Dresden, Germany. From there we went through Slovakia, and finally made it to Budapest the next day. Overnight trains are over-rated. I would say you should try one just for the experience, but then I would be lying. It is not worth it, especially if you don't have your own private couchette. (Which is your own sleeping room that locks). We have done two overnight trains, one with a couchette and one without and they both suck! Budapest = the homeland! I can't put into words the feelings that I felt just entering this city. I feel like a part of my history has always been such a mystery. I know very little about my Hungarian roots and I felt right at home immediately, like Budapest and I had some unique bond. Even Chris noted that he felt more excited in this city. We learned a lot about Budapest pre and post communist and got to see the affects it had on the city and ask a lot of questions about how Budapest is now. It is relatively young as a democracy and it a long time away from really being a true democracy. Most of the people who were in charge during the Communist time, are still in charge, just have a different title now. While we were here we experienced our first theft! It was more our fault than anyone elses. We wanted to go to the hot spring bathes that Budapest is famous for but we also wanted to go on a run. We figured that we could go to the hot bathes, hide our change of clothes in a bush, go on a run, get our stuff and then go relax in the hot bathes. Well, when we came back from our run, our stuff was gone. Wierdly, happily and kind of hillariously, there were venders selling towels and bathing suits outside the bathes, so we were able to purchase new ones. The bathes were amazing, but after an hr or so it gets old, but it is definitely a MUST in my opinion, they are hot, and relaxing! While we were in Budapest we met with an old family friend Kinga. She actually traveled to the US (Seattle) when she was 25 and stayed with my grandparents. Here it is, 18 years later, and we are 23 traveling to her land and getting to see what her life is like. She took us out for such a wonderful day. We went to this little town which had a simple real beauty to it. We got some coffee and chated for hrs, learning a lot about her country, her life, and her learning about our life. After that we went to this old castle, which has a name but I forgot, and I need to get that information from her. After that we went bob-sleding, which was super fun, and then she took us to get some Hungarian sausage and then brought us back to her village, welcomed us into her home and fed us a wonderful meal of Galuska. It was such an amazing day. She is such a wonderful woman and has such a lovely life! Her two children are just beginning to be teens and are absolutely cute! Well, even though we couldn't speak to them because of the language barrier, we still got a good vibe from them. This experience ended our stay in Hungary. There are so many more places I want to go in Hungary and this is one place I can easily say that I will definitely return, next time, hopefully with more Uczekaj's with me!







From Budapest we took a train to Venice, Italy. This was our second over night train and was even worst then the first one because if you do not have a couchette each time you enter a new country the custom come and wake you up, so got woken up about 4 times from 11pm to 1am in the morning. When you have a couchette, you hand over your passport to the train personnel in the beginning lock your room, and then don't have to be disturbed till the morning. Night trains suck, but sleeping pills help, A LOT! Venice, I LOVE YOU. You are not only beautiful, but you are a city that is so full of life, local life. Children are everywhere, tourists are everywhere and so are locals. My favorite part, NO CARS, ANYWHERE!!! They do not allow them, and this made walking the streets such a pleasure, at each moment walking over a different canal exposed to the raw beauty of the old buildings against the beautifully green/bright blue water. We followed our nose to good food, good markets and had a wonderful time. We stayed at a hostel run by the Catholics the first night. In good form, the dorms were single sex and they charged you for everything. I found this sadly, entertaining and very stereotypical. However, one thing they had that we did take advantage of, which we were probably not supposed to, was this old canoe we found outside the back of the hostel. It had ores, so we woke up at 6am, and took the canoe out on the canals! It was amazing, and at any moment I thought we were going to get caught and get into so much trouble, but it was well worth the fear beacuse being able to flot down the canals in Venice on your own boat is pretty amazing, not many people can say they have ever done that. I have to give Chris all the credit for this one because he definitely made it all happen :) The second night we stayed in a HOTEL. Ooo, yes, a HOTEL! It was only a one star hotel, but it was so lovely. We had our own room, our own bathroom and our own balcony! We sat outside on our private balcony sipping on our limocelo, reading our books in the sun. It was amazing. Hotel Gabbo, we love you! (by the way, they upgraded us that wonderful room for free!!! It was the same price as the dull hostel from the night before) Venice, you were so good to us, you food is amazing, your people are kind and your children are happy. What a wonderful place.










From Venice we began our long journey to Greece. We had to take a train to Ancona and then a 21 hr ferry to Patras. Let me tell you, taking a 21 hr ferry overnight with no place to sleep but the floor in the hallway with the lights on, is not fun in the least! However, we got there, and all for 7 euros a person, so I have to say, what a deal! Patras, can I just say, after watching our large cruise ship dock and being overwhelmingly excited all of this was forgotten the moment we got off the boat and all of a sudden a group of young teenage boys started running towards the boat. Then we noticed that there was about 50 boys all hoping the very high fence, trying to run towards the boat, in order to get to the train station to get to Athens we had to walk directly in front of all of these boys, on the same side of the fence that they were all. For the first time, I was actually seriously scared we might have gotten jumped! However, as we started our very fast walk towards the station the police begain to usher the boys back and we safely made it to the station, only to find this man yelling histerically loud at the ticket attendent. It was quite entertaining, he even tried to walk to the side of the office to get into the office to talk directly to the woman. After about 15 minutes of yelling at the top of his lungs, he finally left. Wow, Patras, what an impression. Needless to say, I was glad to get on the train to Athens. 5 hrs later, after the most HOT and overcrowded uncomfortable train ride, we made it to Athens and to our lovely hostel. Hostel Aphrodite has been very good to us. They don't have a kitchen, but they do have free internet and helped us so much with planning our trip through the Greek Islands, even setting us up with cheap places to stay at each Island. They are so nice here and I would definitely recommend this hostel, and it is relatively cheap, 11 euros a night in the 8 bed dorm. Today, we had to go to the ferry docks to book all of our island ferries. Greece sucks at transportation. The train schedules are impossible to understand and are never accurate, you just have to go with the flow and trust you are going the right way. The ferry stations are even worse, you can't find out any accurate information unless you go directly to the station, which because it was a weekend took us an hr and a half (which normally takes 15 minutes). One 2 subway rides and a bus later we finally arrived then had to go to three different ferry terminals to finally get help! But now it is all done and we are planning on going to Santorini tomorrow, then Paros, then the Corfu, then back to explore the rest of Italy and hopefully be in Rome for Easter.







We hope all are well at home and miss you all dearly. We love to get emails from you keeping us updated on your lives!!!! We are finally getting some sunshine and hope the sun starts shining back home for all of you too!!!

Love
Jas and Chris

They are traveling.....from Hungary to Greece?

Hello all! Jasmine and Chris have spent the last week in Hungary and next stop is hopefully Greece....here is my best shot at an update of the map:

It's a little complicated but I think They traveled from Austria back to Germany thru the Cech Republic..then to Switzerland and then to Hungary and now they are planning to get to Greece.....On second thought I think I'm confused about the part between Austria and Germany...:)....Maria.

Leaving Austria, back to Germany

The last month has gone by so fast. After we left Prague, we went to...

Cesky Krumlov, which is a small village about 3 hrs south/west of Prague in the Czech Republic. It was so beautiful, and definitely one of our favorite places. Everything, including the huge castle was covered in snow and gave the village such a magestic feel. A river ran through the town, which in the summer people float all day long. In the winter, there are small ponds that freeze over and people go ice skating, and if you make the hike up to the Montessori, you can go sleding, which was fun, but slightly overrated because it took you so long to hike up, then so quick to sled down. After going to so many major cities, one after the other Cesky Krumlov was incredibly refreshing and just what we needed. We relaxed a lot, and enjoyed the hand-made wood cabin hostel we stayed in. The hostel was, Krumlov House, which I would definately recommend, it is small, and has great people, and is really connected with the community. All in all, A rating for me.

After Cesky Krumlov, we went to Olomoucs, which is about 1 hr and a half east of Prague in the Czech Republic. Locals, call this place Prague without tourists. Here, we finally got to go to a futbol match!!! It was Prague vs. Olomoucs (they are BIG time rivals). The actual play was horribe, Chris would be an all star for either team if he was out there, but the fans were insain! The Prague fans, which were seperated by a plexi-glass wall from the rest of the fans, were crazy! They were so much more loud and routy then all the Olomoucs fans together, even though their section was only a 1/6th of the whole statium. They lit flares and held them up high, which covered the field in smoke. Can you imagine someone trying to do that in the US? They would get kicked out immediately! If the Prague fans started acting to violent the Olomoucs security would spray fire extinguishers at them. It was pretty crazy, and eventually, the Prague fans helped Prague to win one zero, due to the fact that all the flares and "fireworks" they lit off in the stands, covered the field with a thick smoke cloud, allowing Prague to attack a goal that was virtually invisble, making it impossible to defend, or for the goalie to see where the ball was. All in all, Olomoucs, a nice place, but nothing worth going back to in the winter. We stayed at The Poets Corner hostel, which was cozy, but lonely. They had nice staff, a kitchen, and hot showers, so I'm not complaining at all.

After Olomoucs, we went to Vienna, Austria. Vienna...well, I think its better that I am writing this than Chris, because all I am going to say is that I don't think we really got to take advantage of what Vienna had to offer. (Chris will tell you he hated it) EVERYONE smokes, and by smokes I mean is a chain smoker. That by itself isn't necessarily a problem but in Vienna you are allowed to smoke ANYWHERE. We couldn't go to a cafe, because we would get smoked out, we couldn't go to a bar, because we would be suffocated with smoke and it would seep into all our clothes, making them smell horrible, and going out to dinner, out of question, unless you wanted to go to McDonald's, which was surprising smoke free. Couple the smoke with rain, and we didn't do or see much in Vienna, better luck next time I guess... One good thing to note though, was our hostel, Hostel Ruthenstiener. Amazing, big with a cozy feel, modern, yet comfortable, with a kitchen, bar, all the good stuff, and NON SMOKING! Definitely would recommend.

From Vienna we went to Salzburg. I loved this town. Chris thought it was too touristy, but I thought it was beautiful. The Danube (major river going through Middle/Eastern Europe) flowed right through the city, dividing it into two sections. It was clean, visibly beautiful, and home to Mozart. However, downfall, it was pretty expensive. It was very sunny one day and we hiked up the old castle to overlook the entire city, which was absolutely amazing. We also went on a run and ended up going through this forest that led to STUNNING views of the Austrian Alps. It was so clear, so close and soo massive...absolutely beautiful. Not much of a night life, however, we didn't really try to go out because everyone smokes in Austria, and we had already given up on trying to go out when we were in Vienna. Only downer, would be our hostel. YoHo International Youth Hostel, the rooms were nice and clean, newly renovated, but there mentality was slightly, uhm...lets just say not for me. First of all, you can smoke in the lobby and bar...which sucks. Second, they dont have male or female bathrooms, they are mixed, which is just wierd. They have mixed showers too, but luckily, they at least also has just male and just female showers. They wont let you eat or drink anything that isn't from there bar, and they didn't have a kitchen...boo YOHO, you suck.

From Salzburg, we went to Bad Gastein, Austria. AMAZING!!!!!!!! Just the train ride was worth the trip. The entire train ride we were traveling through the alps, seeping underneith them and going through them at times. The sun was shining, and it was so beautiful. Once we got there, we couldn't hide our excitment. We stayed at Euro Youth Hotel, which is literally, just accross the street from the bottom of the slopes, our hotel was closer to the slopes then the rental place was! Skiing is incredibly cheap, we were able to rent for 14.50 euro (which we didn't do because we thought we found a better deal somewhere else, but it wasn't, but the point is, you can rent, board and boots from 14.50 euro a day, and it gets cheaper each day) The lift ticket, was 39 euro and the mountains, yes the Austrian Alps, were so worth it. It was truly amazing, with tons of runs, and lifts, the US is FAR behind Europe with ski technology and runs. The amount od runs and lifts are comparable with Whistler BC Chris would argue. It was fabulous skiing. We only went for one day. The other two days, we enjoyed the very beautiful city, which is sorrounded by mountains on all sides and a massively beautiful waterfall in the middle which is jaw dropping. We also went tobagganing on a real course which was great. You think these are reasons enough to come here, but just wait, Bad Gastein is also home to hot springs, and has thermal spas everywhere. Even closer to our hostel was a thermal bathe. In all actuality, it sounds better than it is. The pools were about 90 degrees, which isn't very hot to sit in for more than 15 minutes, and its quite expensive, if we weren't on a budget, I'd probably recommend trying it, but for 14.5 euros for 3 hrs (which was the discounted price), its really wasn't worth sitting in some luke warm pools.....Our hostel was great, and CHEAP, only 15 euro a night, and free breakfast. I'm sad to leave Bad Gastein, but we are...today...and we are going to Saarbrucken, Germany to visit my friend Dani Bridges, (yay for being able to see a familiar face while you are have way around the world).

We are having so much fun, and meeting so many great people. Generally, we are able to stay within budget and even our setbacks, like losing both our atm cards, haven't been able to slow us down. This experience is truly amazing and we are so lucky to get to experience all of this together. We miss you all back home, and love to hear how everyone is doing, we are trying to keep up with the news as much as possible, and I'm reading Obama's, The Audacity of Hope, which is a dense read, but I think it is important to read. LOVE YOU ALL LOTS!!!!

Jas and Chris

PS. Its probably hard to tell in pics but something is a bit different...can you tell?

Follow the red triangles and the black lines -

See how far Jas and Chris have traveled between London and Prague.....follow the red triangles and the black arrows....:) London-Paris-Amsterdam-Berlin-Munich-Prague

left Germany, now in Prague.

Man, the last couple of weeks have gone by so fast, it is hard to believe we've been in Europe for just a little over a month already!

Amsterdam was absolutely perfect. I loved it. It was small enough to walk everywhere (some people would argue with that, but if you have legs and don't mind a half hr walk, there is no where you can't go). There bikes EVERYWHERE!! and very few cars besides taxis and police. Most everyone walking around is our age, and the city just has a very quaint vibe to it. The canals and apartments along the canals add an unremarkable beauty to Amsterdam. It was cold, but never too cold, and people were very nice. We felt safe and stayed at a great hostel (Orfeo), for a great price...oh and the red light district, not all its cracked up to be, more shocked by Burbon St. in New Orleans actually.

Germany: WHAT A PLACE!
we were able to travel virtually anywhere for free because our e-rail passes allowed us on all the subway systems, which saved us lots of money, time and energy!

Berlin - I know that Berlin has a massive dark and powerful history, but it wasn't until we really walked through it all and begin to learn about everything that we could truly appreciate this massive city. There is no where in the world we have been with which such a hard, and powerful past like Berlin. Buildings either hold battle wounds from WWII, smoke wounds from when the city used coal to heat, or massively beautiful statues, structures and architecture. We stayed in West Berlin first, which was nice, but boring, mainly because our hostel was DEAD, it was seriously very errie. However, it would be perfect for a family. It was called Stayforcheap Hostel, and it was in a building built in 1905. I felt like i was in Harry Potter and I was scared it was haunted at night. Once we moved to East Berlin, we stayed at The Generator, which is this massive hostel, crawling with young people, action and fun. It was great for us, we had key cards like a hotel. We had a very interesting roommate, and I only use interesting for making this post Politically correct and not because it is the right word, can't wait to tell you all about it when we get home. Overall, Berlin = Amazing...the history was truly beyond powerful. Go on the free tour if you go to Berlin, very great guide and gives you info you couldn't find or read unless you spent weeks doing research on everything, they sum the history up well in 3 and 1/2 hrs.

Munich: love love love it! Munich, unlike Berlin, was small enough (it's city central) for us to get around very easily. We took the same free tour in Munich, which was honestly, pretty bad. That could be due to the weather because it was snowing like a mad dog on our three hour tour and the guide was not excited at all. The history about Munich in some ways was very similar to Berlin. Before Hitler became big, he worked for the Bavarian Government, and it was very interesting to hear about Hitler before he started to take over. Did you know that in one of Hitler's attempts to take over with his ideas of Nazism, his bodyguard jumped in front of the Bovarian government shooting at him, to take something like 12 bullets. If he hadn't done that, Hitler would have been hit, killed, and dead before WWII and the Holoucaust ever happend. Crazy huh. We spent Valentine's Day here and had a lovely sushi fiest. I would have liked to stay in Germany longer, there are so many more places I would like to go, like THE ROMANTIC ROAD!! Baden Baden, etc. Hopefully we can come back before our trip is over and go to those places.

side note: people in germany like to drink, we saw/delt with multiple crazies due to too much liquor...and you'd think that at 8 am, they'd be passed out, but no...we were even harrassed on our train to Prague, twice. Needless to say, I am very glad we have each other.

Prague: just got here and haven't got to see the city yet. We decided last minute to go to Prague because it is so cheap, and everywhere else is quite pricey right now because of the Carnival Festival. We might end up staying here for a couple weeks, taking day trips and traveling through the Checz republic because it is so cheap for us. We were able to get our own private room for 16.00 us dollars a night (for each of us), which is amazing!

Hope all are well at home. We love you all and miss you lots. We are learning so much, not only about the history and culture of everywhere we go, but about Americans, non Americans, communicating with people who don't speak the same language, but also, we are learning a lot about each other, travelling isn't always fun and glamorous, but we are definately making it work and having so much fun along the way!!
We uploaded a ton more photos, and I am trying to go back and put captions on things for you guys, I put captions on all of Amsterdam's album, some Berlin, and Paris, hopefully, we can get them all up. NOW is a good time to email us, because we have free internet at the hostel we are staying at! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Jas and Chris

Sending Happy Valentines to Chris and Jas

Happy Valentine's to Chris and Jasmine!!!!

goodbye Amsterdam...HELLO GERMANY

The last 10 days have been such a different experience. London was so different from Paris in so many ways. We are so lucky for this opportunity and for getting the chance to learn and share in other cultures, that I find it hard to say anything but good things about where we go, however, lets just say, after 5 nights in Paris, we were DEFINATELY ready to move on. Amsterdam is a beautiful city. Bikes everywhere! Very young night life, most people walking around were our age. We have spent the last four nights here! In Paris, we stayed at The Friends Hostel, which was not so pleasant as an experience for me, as I broke out in a rash which has now moved to my face! However, Orfeo Hostel, in Amsterdam is great! Clean, good FREE breakfast and...FREE INTERNET...also close to everything for the most part. Paris had some beautiful attractions, the effiel tower at night is a MUST. Amsterdam as a city wasn't as stunning individually, but it all fit. While here we went to the Anne Frank museum, which was amazing. Well...wish I had time to tell more, but we need to catch our train to Berlin! Love and miss you all!! We have finally uploaded the rest of our London pictures, all of our Paris pictures, and a couple Amsterdam pics. HOPE ALL IS WELL AT HOME!