Team Name: PS aka Pope Stalkers

For those who might be concerned because you have not heard from me in awhile, I am still alive. So is Emily, we have yet to kill each other. For those wondering why I am writing every word, it is because I can not find the apostrophe key on this Italian keyboard.

I am sitting at a fancy hotel that we checked into, (it was surprisingly cheap, although the airport shuttle does not run on Sundays or at 5 am), taking advantage of their free computer usage, wearing complimentary slippers on my feet.


Funny moments with Nicole and Emily: it took us probably three minutes to figure out how the heck to get into our room. We were given a card. No problem, you just slide it in the top or side or whatever and you are in, right? Wrong! You are supposed to simply touch the card to the pad. Go figure. Then we got in the room, put our stuff down and what not and next thing we know the lights go out. Not only that we are locked in our room!


I stumbled my way in pitch black toward Emily who was at the door to hand off the key card. Turns out you have to put the card in a slot on the inside to keep the electricity on. Ooops....

Other than this charming hotel in the industrial district, we have seen much of Italy from train/bus windows and actually stopped in Rome, and the Cinque Terre area.

Rome: we were there for two nights, basically a day and a half. We met up with our friend Trinity at 1 and she showed us around the city and suggested good, inexpensive places to eat.

Before that Emily and I wandered around and saw a few sights on our own. The most noteworthy was we went to the Vatican and guess what, WE SAW THE POPE AGAIN!!! He was addressing the crowds talking about his trip to England. Ah life....


It was also at the Vatican that I discovered I was carrying an illegal weapon and had my knife confiscated.

Then we went down to the Cinque Terre region where we stayed for three nights, two and a half days or so. I do not have time to tell you all about those adventures, so I will just mention the highlights.

We stayed in an AWESOME bed and breakfast, in a small village tucked away in one of the hills. Think the 5 Cities without all the tourists. It was amazing. One day we went to actual Cinque Terre, and the other day we just spent exploring where we were.

To get to Cinque Terra we hiked 4 km to a Lerici where we caught a water taxi/boat to the first of the 5 Towns. We did not get to the last town because it was raining, getting late, and we still had to figure out the buses to get back/knew there was a good chance we would be walking again. And since parts of the road did not have good shoulders let alone sidewalks, we decided to do it in the day light.

Tomorrow we fly out to Porto Portugal to begin the hiking part of our pilgrimage. I can pretty much guarantee I will not be anywhere near a computer for the next 10 days. So if you miss us, just reread this and it will be like we never left.

Oh yeah, and always wise Em, reminded me that if you wanna pray for us as we hike through who knows where, that would probably be good. Actually we know yall are already praying from the way things have worked out so far. Mary, keep it up.

If you want a specific request, we still need a place to stay for one night in London after the Camino. Preferably near the airport.

Remember to
Have fun and......DONT DIE!!!

This is late but...

.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI!!!

Did you have a good one? What kind of cake did you eat? Is anyone even reading you this blog?

I am sitting at a Library in Oxford (go figure) figuring out with Emily what we are doing next. Conclusion, Rome is EXPENSIVE. And we're not so good at hostling, we tend to go the more comfortable safe route. But hey, it's a once in a lifetime vacation right? (Well for me anyway).

We are currently staying at a B&B here, which really wasn't that much more than the hostel we looked at.

We came to Oxford because after a night and day of London, Emily and I both realized neither of us are city people, and we'd already seen what we wanted to see anyway.

The coolest part about London is that we were able to stay with one of Emily's friends and his family. It was great because they not only gave us food and a place to sleep (which is amazing in itself) but they also gave us tips on things to see, let us borrow maps and taught us how to use the Tube. We would have managed on our own, but I think because of their help we got much less lost. Even then we went in circles a couple of times.

I've learned a lot about traveling, things like, take some time before you get to the next place to figure out where you're staying. It is not fun running around a city with your poorly packed backpack thumping against your back.

Looks like Em's ready to go. Time to find some tea, scones and possibly a nice romp along the Thames.

P.S. Suzi, about the note, "very funny, I almost forgot to laugh."

Today I Saw the Pope

No joke, Emily and I saw the Pope today in London. It's his first visit since, well I guess since Henry the eigth (it's too late to remember roman numerals) split from the Catholic Church and created the Church of England.

Last night we saw the musical Oliver in London. I thought it was very fitting and it was fun.

Tomorrow Oxford?

Next at bat

Austria has been great. I will be a little bummed to leave, but I must admit, I probably won't miss the cleaning or dishes, even though it wasn't that bad. And if I'm truthfully honest, I think it was a good transition from MH to traveling.

If I were a master word smith, I still don't think I could do the Austrian countryside justice. Think, foothills, forests, Yosemite, and farming, all in one place and green. It's "super awesome".

Tomorrow Emily and I fly to London. The Plan: we have 4 1/2 days to see London and any other part of England we want to visit. Oh, and it looks like we can stay with a friend of hers for at least the first night. Other than that we have a few things we've talked about doing/seeing, and that's about it.  

And just in case I don't get to this before, Rome is on deck.

Nicole + Europe. Word Vom Version

Well I made it to Europe, it took 29 hours, three planes, a bus, and two trains, but I made it. It was only supposed to be one train, but the door didn't open so I missed the stop. Thankfully, trains here are much more common than at home so I was able to catch another one and actually get off the second time round.

Since then I've developed a cold, and a horrible case of jet lag. I keep telling myself I'm too tough to be tired, but the lag knows no master.

On Saturday, after cleaning all morning, Emily, myself and some of her friends, hopped half a dozen trains to get to and from Vienna. The way there was supposed to be one train, but the bus made us miss our train, then the conductor of the next train said we could get on, but when he came to take our ticket he told us we either had to pay a bunch of money or get off. We decided to get off and try to figure out if another train was going to come by. There was another train coming that wouldn't kick us off, but we had an hour wait.  By that time everyone was hungry, so we went to the store and bought food for dinner and breakfast.

Random side note, the stores here have a circle tree logo, it makes me think of MH.

We caught the train only to discover that no other "slow train" was going to Vienna that night (please keep in mind were not even half way there yet and it's already night). The conductor on this train however was MUCH more helpful and he called to see if we could ride the fast train for free since it was the transportation people that messed up. He was told NO. So Em suggested we pray, which we did. The conductor decided to try again and this time he got a YES! We were stoked.

Because we got in so late that night we basically just hung out and didn't see much of the city that night. It was weird walking around Vienna the next morning. In some ways it was just like a normal big American city, but in other ways it was very different. I can't fully explain how except to say, the McDonalds look much nicer.

It only took three trains to get back. It was nice to be in the right place at the right time.

Since then life has continued to be crazy busy, as we finish cleaning, and Emily and friends pack in the last minute fun before they have to leave.

Monday night was a staff dinner at a nice restaurant, (they let me come) and then, well I don't know what it's actually called, I call it Austrian Bowling. The balls are smaller and only have two holes, also the point system/pin set up is different. I did better when I went over to Team 2 where my "family"was.

Tuesday after work I went on a walk with Emily, the countryside is awesome here! Later we had a bonfire and made stick bread.

Conclusions from Austria so far,
US needs some castles. Cathedrals are cool, but I would HATE to try to run sound in one.  I now recognize what "next stop" on a train sounds like in Austrian. Jet lag stinks. Kabobs are amazing. Big fire, stick bread with chocolate, fellowship, guitar/singing keeps me awake pretty dang good. German has enough words similar to English, that on rare occasion I get the gist of what is being said. I do not understand Spanish from Spain.  (Not that I understand it anyway).

I think that's long enough. And I've caught up to today anyway. I don't know when I'll have internet again or if I'll ever post anything ever again. So enjoy this for as long as you can.

Nicole. Out.

I did something

I'm really confused on how to use this thing. There's a good chance this might be the only thing I ever post, but at least the blog will look less blah.

Tomorrow I fly out. Now I pack.