Photo Update!! (We found a computer with a USB port, yeah buddy!)

Beautiful clear water along the shores of Monterosso. We took the ferry from Monterosso after a play day at the beach (we rented a paddle boat!) back to Vernazza.

 

Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy. 

In our adorable room we rented out from a sweet Vernazza local, Enrica.

A view of the Duomo from Michelangelo Plaza in Florence

 

A day trip outside Florence to the little town of Fiesole.

Jamie and Emily on the Rialto Bridge in Venice

Piazza San Marco, Venice

Jamie and our Italian roommates in Munich trying to communicate via Rick Steves Italian phrase book!

 Englischer Garten, Munich Germany

Em and I at the Colosseum.

Dachau: October 8, 2011

Greetings from Deutschland! Itś a chilly 42 degrees here, which feels shockingly cold compared to the weather we grew accustomed to while adventuring across Italy last week. We stepped off our overnight train yesterday morning at the Hauptbahnhof train station in Munich and we had a breif "Toto, weŕe not in Kansas anymore" (and by Kansas I mean Italy) moment as we layered on the few cool weather clothes and jackets we packed. Luckily we all had our rain coats, so we dug them out of the very bottom of our packs and hit the streets of Munich!

We traveled about 25 minutes northwest from Munich to the town of Dachau today for a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. Opened in 1933 shortly after Adolf Hitler came to power, Dachau was the first concentration camp in occupied Europe, and served as the model for subequent camps such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Nearly 32,000 people were murdered at Dachau. The weather was quite symbolic as cold wind burned our noses and ears and whipped through our hair. We toured the entire camp, and walked through the bunkers and gas chambers. It was sobering, educational and uncomfortable all at the same time. An eery stillness filled the gas chambers as we walked through them. For me personally, phyiscally being on the property put all the things I have learned about the Holocaust into perspective. I looked down at my feet as we walked across the massive open square where daily roll calls were made, and I kept thinking of who had been standing where I was 73 years ago... what was their name, what happened to them, what must they have been feeling on a miserably cold day like this in 1938?

Being face to face with such autrocity, albeit some 70 years later, was surreal. Having spent the last three weeks traveling to beautiful places, my priviledged position in this world was put in perspective. Itś not easy living out of a backpack and sleeping in a different bed each night, and yes, it is annoying to pay to use public bathrooms, and have random roommates who snore, but standing infront of the watch towers at Dachau suddenly opened my eyes to where I am, both physically and historically in the world. I have learned that traveling makes you feel very, very small in the world. In the grand scheme of things, my humble and simple life in sweet little Bellingham, Washington is not the epicenter of the world, though it feels that way sometimes. Our lives at home become trivial as you watch people walk down the sidewalks in cities like Paris, Florence and Munich, and you think about what their lives are like in comparision to your own. My existance in the world is tiny. I felt this way as I stood infront of the massive "maintenance" building at Dachau where prisioners were registered, their heads shaved, their rights and identities dissolved.

Touring Dachau made us feel blessed. There have been several times along our journey where we feel blessed, or lucky. Those emotions have generally been stirred by the amazing people we have met, or when we looked out across the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, or when we tasted really delicious, and buttery pastries in Paris. We are lucky to travel, we are lucky to see the world, we are lucky to be here, we are lucky to have each other. You cannot help but feel a great deal of sympathy and compassion, and for me personally, remorse, when you think about the victims of the Holocaust. I cannot fathom what life must have been like. My brain does not process that degree of suffering. And, for that reason I feel blessed. Our tour guide was adamant in communicating that Dachau victims do not want us to feel sorry for them, though it seems impossible not to. However, the other side to that coin is that we are also blessed to take part in and experience the educational component of such an evil period in history. There are lessons to be learned and we were lucky enough to stand face to face with such a lesson today.

On a more positive note, we are planning to snuggle up at the hostel tonight with big mugs of hot chocolate. The cold weather is actually quite enjoyable through the windows of our room :) It is great to have a change of pace. Jamie departs tomorrow morning so we are looking forward to a quiet night just the three of us, reminicing about all the great times we have had over the past three weeks. Lots of laughs, and so many memories in such a short period of time. This has been a really unique and incredibly lovely journey so far, and today was just another page in our book of experiences.

Sending love home to the states! Emily and I are off to Rome tomorrow night, so we will keep you posted on our adventures. Love, Kels

Florence and Venice in a Nutshell

We have spent this week traveling around Italy with stops first in Florence and then Venice. This week has gone by so fast and we are preparing to lose one of our teammates (Jamie) on Sunday! :-( This meant we had to make the most of the time we had left!

We have been so lucky in Italy (and really throughout our trip) to catch some great weather! It has been mid 70's to mid 80's making for a couple hot days of walking around! Florence was no different! Forcast called for 87 and 89 the two days we were there! Stay hydrated!!

We spent Saturday through Monday making our way through Florence and soaking up as much culture as possible! Having just come from a small town like Vernazza, it was difficult to be thrown back into a big city with lots of cars, sirens and zooming mopeds! We spent the first day readjusting, getting settled into our hostel and relaxing a bit! We got up Sunday morning and we were ready to see the city!

We quickly realized that Florence is a church town and Sunday is the busiest day of the week! So many people out and about attending mass or admiring the beautiful arcitecture! We spent the day taking pictures, eating gelato, finding the jersey shore house/workplace and getting lost in the big city! We spent the night time at a restraunt/bar listening to a great live band and trying to catch a little football (Kelsey and Jamie were sweet enough to make the long trek!)

On Monday, we decided to take one of the double decker bus tours! We had walked around the day before but were interested in knowing more about the history and background of the city! The bus was great and we all enjoyed getting to see the city from a different angle! We all enjoyed Florence but we were felt two days was plenty and we were ready to move onto Venice!

We arrived in Venice on Tuesday afternoon and took the 30 minute walk to our hostel through the city! Venice is AMAZING! We stayed close to the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal in a hostel named Sweet Dreams! We arrived, dropped off our packs and headed out to do some shopping and wander around! We bought some great gifts and took some amazing pictures! We had dinner and decided to call it an early night!

On Wednesday we decided to visit San Marco Square and wander around the city of Venice! We ended up walking down side streets and residential areas filled with hanging laundry and the sounds of the locals. It was so fun to get out of the hussle and bussle of the tourist areas and wander through the streets, no idea where we would end up! We spent the night having dinner and wandering some more with one of the girls from our hostel. We left Venice on Thursday and made our way to Germany where we are now! It is very cold today and we spent the day bundled up and wandering around! We will see what tomorrow brings! :-)

Liebe,
K.J.E.

Pictures From Vernazza

We met two fabulous women from the Seattle area while we were in Vernazza. They were so sweet to us. It was very comforting to feel like we had two Moms looking after us while in Cinque Terre. WE MISS YOU LINDA AND CHRIS!! No monkey business!

"Nice place" -Antonio

Before we left the states, we had every hostel booked and had paid deposits at each destination. We were expecting to have a couple bumps in the road since none of us had traveled in Europe previously. We knew the ball would drop eventually we just didn't know when... Until we got to Riomaggoire, Italy.

After a very long travel day, we arrived in Riomaggoire and headed to our hostel (Mar Mar) with cash and confirmation papers in hand. We checked in and paid the remaining balance, and Tony (the owner) showed us up to our room. 

Everything seemed fine as he showed us around, until Tony introduced us to one of our hostel room mates (who also lives there) Oliver and informed us that one of us would be sleeping in the spare bed in Oliver's room-that was separate from the main sleeping room with multiple beds.

We all looked at each other in disbelief and sat down on one of the empty beds in the main room to have a pow-wow. Kelsey overheard one of the other guests out on the balcony talking to Oliver about how she had bites on her legs that itched. The word bed bugs all came to our minds instantaneously. Em noticed that she was starting to get some bites. We all realized pretty quickly that we didn't know how we would make it through one night (let alone the 4 nights we just paid for).

The hostel office was about to close for the night at 5pm...and our bed bug discovery was made at 4:45. With no Internet, no map of the towns (Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small coastal towns) and only 2 hours of daylight left, we unanimously decided to get the heck outta there in hopes we could find somewhere to sleep for at least the night. We thought we might have more luck finding a camere(room) in a different town so we left Riomaggiore without so much as a good bye... Went to the train station (which had breathtaking views) and bought a one way ticket to Vernazza (another one if the 5 towns). Kelsey went to take out her camera to take a picture of the great view and realized it was no where to be found. She frantically ran (with em and I speed walking behind her-oh and all our packs on) back into town in hopes it would be back at the bed bug hostel or the bar we had just bought bottled water at.

Luckily Kels found it at the hostel and she was so relieved as we headed on the train to Vernazza in hopes of a place to sleep (but not without getting some gelato to sooth our little hearts).

Vernazza is so small that buildings advertise rooms for rent and you ring a persons bell and ask if they have any space. We were fortunate enough to come across Enrica  who was kind enough to rent us out one of her available rooms right in the heart of town. 

We ended up finding rooms in vernazza for all 4 nights at a couple different places. Canceling Mar Mar ended up being one of the best decisions of this trip. 

Cinque terre is one of the most beautiful places we have seen... We've spent our days sunning on the rocks in the harbor, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea and making friends. We met the most delightful ladies from the Bellevue area. They were lifelong friends on vacation with their husbands. They both have kids our age and it was really comforting to have two moms in Vernazza! 

We also befriended Antonio, a lifelong Vernazza resident, one evening after dinner in the plaza. Antonio offered to take us on his boat the next day at 3pm, and sure enough the next afternoon at 3:00 sharp there was sweet little Antonio in the harbor getting his boat ready. He took us for a tour of the other towns and we threw the anchor in the water near Corniglia and jumped into the beautiful blue water. We all agreed that boating with Antonio was a once in a lifetime experience as we watched each hilltop town pass and listened to Antonio tell us stories about living in Cinque Terre. It was an unbelievable experience. 

Vernazza is an adorable, sleepy little Italian town. We befriended many of the locals and after about a day everyone knew us by name and would wave across the plaza. We are already talking about booking a trip there in the future!

Ciao!

The Last Week at a Glance

To all our followers... we're sorry we haven't been keeping up. We've spent the last four days in Vernazza Italy, and wifi was hard to come by. To update you:

We left Switzerland on Tuesday the 27th with heavy hearts. We absolutely loved our hostel (Backpackers Villa was like an all inclusive resort!! Clean, modern, spacious lockers, free breakfast, cheap internet, laundry!!!), and the small town of Interlaken was a much needed escape from the bustling cities we'd previously visited. We met so many amazing people in Switzerland and had a lot of fun learning about other people's travel experiences. Before we departed, we made sure to make the very best of our time.... Jamie, the daredevil of the group, went paragliding from 4,100 feet, and sailed over all of Interlaken. She had her guide Anders (from Norway) do lots of loops and dips and crazy tricks... she loved every minute of it and was giddy when she met Em and I on the ground. She took some amazing pictures... we'll have to upload some to show you!

We were a little disappointed to discover how expensive Switzerland was. We intended on seeing more of the Swiss Alps, but felt it was like charging an arm and a leg (140 CHF) to see the top of the Jungfrau.... so we decided to opt for the more economical option (plus, our hostel provided us with a discount!) to ride the Harderbahn to the very top of the Hard Kulm. We jumped onto the tram and rode along the nearly vertical rail (super scary!) to the top where we had lunch and enjoyed the views. Unfortunately, it was a bit hazy that day so we weren't able to capture the best photos, but it was unbelievably beautiful in person.

We made sure to stock up on chocolate bars before we departed... they didn't last long, so we hope you're not expecting to taste any when we get home. We had chocolate for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. We had a fabulous time lounging around and soaking up the Swiss sunshine. There was a cow pasture across the street from our hostel. Each cow wears an iron bell around his neck, and the clinking of each bell became a comforting noise. We rested, relaxed, laughed and throughly enjoyed our time in Interlaken :)