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
