Guess Where???

Give up? I´ll give you a hint....Trebíc....still no?? Czech Repbulic...South of Praha (Prague), between Cesky Krumlov and Brno. Ahhhh, you say, I know exactly where that is! lol ;)

Praha....gorgeous does not begin to describe this city. We stayed in a hostel at the bottom of Petrin Park....at the top were amazing views of the city and a beauty all itś own....a perfect location. The castle...the parks...the bridges...all of the Jewish Quarter...the Spanish Synagoge....all just ridiculously gorgeous. There must have been a billion tourists in town, but it was still somewhere I´d like to visit again.

And then there was Cesky Krumlov....tiny, quaint town....I could have stayed a week! Relaxing, beautiful....still touristy, but not overwhelmingly so. We watched a folk band play in the town square...they sang in Czech, but we definitely recognized some of the songs. If I were to go back, I would rent a kayak and head down the river...it looked like a great time!

And now weŕe in Trebíc....not exactly charming, but itś quiet and the hostel is brand new (clean!) ;) There is definitely more of a language barrier here....we are pointing and signing as best we can though. lol. Tomorrow weŕe off to Vienna for a night, and then itś on to Budapest.

Itś definitely been a bit whirlwindy...but I´m enjoying seeing the country side from the train (can I say, I love the train!!) and checking out all the different towns and cities. I´ve honestly been surprised at how built up it seems here (Cz Rep) and how beautiful so many of the homes are with their orange-red roofs and brightly colored exteriors. I was not surprised by all the beautiful farmland though.....ah, farms...I am certainly looking forward to some time on the farm in Greece....a day trip here and there will be all we need to plan for....how relaxing!!

Hope youŕe all doing well ;) Thanks for reading!
Sending love from beautiful Czech Republic,
Lor

Brugge...Brugge...Brugge....

How I wish I was still there....Brugge is, indeed, beautiful and enchanting. It has a small, quaint feel that makes you feel welcome, comfortable and peaceful. The canals flow gently...the grass is green and lush...there are more bikes than cars...the sound of the bells permeate the city streets...and everything closes at 5pm. It's completely different during the day and at night! As I walked around at 4pm it was bustling, at 9pm there were many times I was the only one on the street (side streets mostly)!

I visited the Chocolate Museum - soooo worth every moment! The history of chocolate is more fascinating than I knew and there was a good deal of information about the ancient Indian cultures mixed in as well. One chocolatier in specific was highlighted at the museum. He helped many aspiring chocolatiers get their start - of course I found dairy-free dark chocolate at his shop ;) Oh, and I learned that chocolate is actually good for your cholesterol (not the junk people pass off as chocolate in the states, but the good stuff) ;) at that it is the drink of royalty. So go ahead, induldge!!

The highlight of my stay? De Halve Maan Brewery of course! Family owned and in operation since forever, we had a lively tour guide that gave us many helpful hints, such as the tidbit that corriander helps prevent hangovers and is an aphrodisiac. Oh, and wheat beer and other unfiltered brews are a decent source of vitamin B :) I have pictures of a can collection that rivals that of my former housemate, Stephen, that I will upload when possible. I even got to see the farmers come to collect the barley husks to use as feed for their cows. So cool, it came down a shoot from the brewery still steaming hot and was dumped right into their trailor. Apparently it's good nutrition for the cows and helps them produce more milk.... Oh, and St. Arnold is the patron saint of beer - he saved many lives travelling from village to village encouraging families to brew beer at home when the infested water was wiping out villages of people.

I met several cool people there, including Sharon, a hot yoga instructor, and Lolta, who came to Brugge to meet her internet boyfriend....but it's just too much to go into at the moment (they charge you all kinds of cash to use the internet here).

My travel to Amsterdam was less than ideal, but I made it. It was a bit of a shock when I walked out of the train station - this place is huge! It's a giant city compared to Brugge and there was soooo much going on (I got in at 9:30pm).

We had a very cool jam session in the park today - Adam on his uke and Francios on his guitar with four strings (should be six)....then there were the bazillion SM&O University students that eventually surrounded us and were beyond rowdy and excited to sing. Good times, good times....

More to come soon....sorry guys, but I can't spend too much time in here ;)

Love to you all and thanks to those who have been commenting (Geet, Chris...) I do read them :)

xoxo, Lil

Off to Galway

First - Dublin, which reminds me of a quaint version of NY (without all the tall buildings). We were exhausted on Wednesday, but persevered and made it to the Guinness Storehouse and Pheonix Park....plus explored a lot of the city just walking around. While mildly disappointed by the Storehouse (I've been spoiled by New Belgium - best brewery ever) the Guinness tasted fabulous up there in the Gravity Bar. We decided that it was the longest day EVER - leaving NY on Tuesday at 7:40pm...catching a few winks on the plane and arriving in Dublin at 9:00 in the morning, we realized we had a whole other day before we could sleep. We nodded off a little in the park....which is when we decided it was time to get moving again ;p After a little something to eat we headed back to the hostel to crash....I was out by 10:30 and I can't even begin to explain how good it felt to lay my head on that pillow!! My 4 bunkmates from Rochester, NY and 2 from Germany all went out - thank goodness - for the night, so aside from waking in the middle of the night when they came in, I slept like a baby.

Thursday left us feeling most refreshed, and after breakfast in the dining hall where I met William, a piano teacher from northern Portugal, and two girls from Torrino, Italy, we made our way out to the Natural History Museum and Art Gallery. I have NEVER, EVER, EVER, seen so many dead, stuffed animals, insects, fish, etc. It was utterly disturbing at first...I mean you could see the stitching in some of the animals skin! After a while, I was surprisingly OK. The insect exhibit was soooo cool :) The Art Gallery was interesting - there was a Yeats exhibit which was pretty sweet. But I have to say - in general, the "Traditional" Irish art wasn't really doin' it for me.

On to the Archbishop Ryan Park - beautiful. One thing that stuck out as a bit odd were two headstones - one dedicated to those who have been abused and the other dedicated to children who died at birth.

We hopped on the bus and went out to the National Botanic Gardens (surprising I'm sure) ;p Gorgeous, simply gorgeous!! First we checked out the sights....more succulents and cacti than I'd ever seen - Linse, I got you some good pics! Lush green and bright colors everywhere... not to mention the trees...very cool trees...ahhhhh. We found a nice spot to play some frisbee (Adam got it stuck in a tree, but used his manly skill of stick throwing to retrieve it), write in our journals and play some tunes on the uke. Then it was off to Porterhouse Brewery - an Irish brewery with some damn good beer....my Weiss had serious banana undertones goin on and Adam's Porter was smooth and yummy. From there we walked to an Indian restaurant (Geeta you would have loved this place) that was quite different than we were accustomed to - all the more reason to try it! After some delicious food we made our way back to the hostel to grab some warmer gear and drop off our pack and headed to the Arlington Hotel (how ironic) on Bachelors Walk for some traditional Irish dance and music - pretty chill...good times - all that mattered was that we found some live music.

Our hostel was pretty nice, and huge! Almost 300 beds, but no mixed dorms - which makes sharing toothpaste and shampoo a little more of a challenge, but we managed. Today we're off to the Galway area - we're staying in a hostel (Ben Lettery) near Clifden at the foot of the the mountains for some chill time hiking and exploring. Ahhh, the cliffs of Ireland - the beauty that awaits. Figure we'll go into the little nearby town for some local action :)

Oh, and I have to say - I love the bus! The drivers are more than helpful and friendly, and we've met a couple interesting people riding around. Ahhhh, the joys of public trans ;)

More to come soon....
Peace and Love,
Lil

Safe and Sound

We're safe and in Dublin :) We've checked into our lovely hostel and are off to explore.....more soon!

Much love,
Lor

And.....we're off!!

From Arlington to Michigan to Jersey to Rhode Island and back to Jersey....it's been a busy month!!! I wish I could have talked to all of you one more time before leaving, but time has gotten away from me. Please know that I'm thinking of you and hope you are all fabulous!

Wishing you all peace, health, happiness and much love :)

Until next time,
xoxo
Lor

We're not scared....

...there has never been a safer time to travel :)

We are going to (hesitantly) check our backpacks because we're not giving up our burts bees...no way, no how!

They're saying to get to the airport 3 hours early....watching the news this morning you'd think I'd need three days to get through security! I see hours of people watching in our future - oh, the many lives we'll covertly invade....the stories we'll make up about them....the fun we'll have watching the impatient ones who can't sit still...ah, the airport...good times!

If anyone is flying in the next couple days, we'd love to know what to expect...so drop a line :) The rest of you can go ahead and laugh...I'll be sitting at the airport doing the same thing ;p

Much Love,
Lil

The Plan

OK, so here's the plan for Europe....

August 15 - fly to Dublin (arrive 9:30AM August 16) Hang out around Dublin....Guinness Storehouse, pubs, botanical gardens, etc.
August 18 - travel to the west coast of Ireland - Gallway area for hiking and exploring
August 20 - back to Dublin
August 21 - 6:25AM flight to Brussels (49 cent flight before taxes! Sangeeta would be so proud) then catch the train to Brugge. Sample fine Belgian beer and chocolates - what a great combination ;)
August 22 - take an evening train to Amsterdam to check out the scene
August 24 - 9AM flight to Prauge - oh, yeah....
August 27 - travel to some small towns on the way to Budapest - who knows where yet
August 28 or 29 - find our way to Budapest - paddle down the danube...check out the baths...
August 31 - late flight to Athens to get our fix of ancient culture and ruins
September 4 - hop on the bus for a five hour trek to Arta to work on Arta Biological Farm - a vegan farm with orange, kiwi, and walnut trees, grains and plenty of veggies.
October 1 - hop a ferry to Italy....

That's as far as we've gotten on the planning....we'll have three weeks to get from Greece to Cadiz in the southwest corner of Spain. Life is soooo rough ;)

More to come....
Hugs!

Jumping into the technology age

I said I'd do it...eventually anyway....move on into the 21st century. After Sangeeta got me the MP3 player, I thought - what am I waiting for? It's time to blog. ;p

So, this is how I'll be keeping in touch while I'm away in Europe for the next four months, and then Peace Corps (no more cell phone after this week). Just remember - if you post a comment...we can ALL read it. I'll still have my email account for those more personal, "oh, how I miss you" emails, not to worry ;p

Ah, my first ever blog....created in Jersey of all places, for all those I love.

Hugs,
Lil