U-2 in Copenhagen
Here are the promised pictures of U-2 that we took in Copenhagen. Hope you enjoy!!
Here are the promised pictures of U-2 that we took in Copenhagen. Hope you enjoy!!
So, Jesse and are taking a self-guided walking tour of Copenhagen yesterday and we end up taking a quick detour to see some old-style buildings and then continue down the street. The street empties us into a large square where we see a large group of people standing. It didn´t look like there was a street performer or anything and it was odd since it was in front of a hotel, so we asked a guy what was going on. He said that the band U2 was performing that night in Copenhagen and the band was supposed to be coming out!
Well, Jesse and I thought that was pretty cool so we decided to hang around for a bit. To make a long story short, we ended up standing there for about 4 hours and totally got to meet Bono and 2 of the other members!! How cool is that? Not only that, but we got all 3 of them to sign our map of Copenhagen!!!! To say the least, we were a little bit star struck! Standing around waiting for U2 wasn´t quite what we had in mind for our first day of sightseeing in Denmark, but it was a total blast! We will post pictures when we can upload them, so you can see Bono´s cool sunglasses!
So, Jesse and I just got back from a Salzburgian (not quite sure what people from Salzburg are called) pool complex. One of the great things about Europe is that every one has a great body image and everyone wears a bikini- even the dudes. Tall, fat, short, skinny, 25 or 65 it doesn't really matter here. It is kind of nice not to feel that you have to be Hilton-skinny (although not Hilton-skanky) to walk around in a bikini. For example some guy was letting it all hang out in a neon green banana hammock (also known as Speedo), the likes of which I haven´t seen since my last trip to LaBear`s. We also got to see the buttcrack of a 40-something mother as she strutted her stuff in an itsy-bitsy bikini that would fit most 5 year-olds. Unfortunately, Jesse hasn´t got to see as many hooters as he would like! I guess you can´t have it all...
Anyways, we are on our way to Berlin tonight which is pretty exciting. I hope at least the AC on the train will work this time! We hope all is well at home. The trip is quickly coming to an end which is both exciting and sad. We miss you all very much!
Meghan & JeSSe
Greetings from Vienna, Austria! Since our last post we have visited the watery town of Venice, which was very nice- even with all of the crowds. Our first day there we got lost, which is very easy to do, and had a great picnic in a quiet little residential square. Then we hit the museums on the island- The Correr and Archaeological Museums and the Doge´s Palace. Pretty cool and with tons of gold- no surprise there. The Piazza San Marco is a mad house with equal parts insane tourist and pigeon. Although we aren´t sure who has the higher IQ- the pigeons geting a free meal at the expense of hundreds tourists paying a euro per bag of feed or the tourists letting the filthy things land all over them. Oh, wait! I guess the pigeons win!! ...Or is it the pigeon feed vendors?? We may never know.
The next day we slept in (we had AC, so it was actually cooler in the room than outside) and then headed out for a tour of the Grand Canal on a tronchetto. Then we headed out to the island of Murano to look at the famous glass they make. That was a lot of fun, we got to see a demonstration where they made a leetle glass ´orse (for effect say it in a cheesy Italian accent). After that we headed back to Venice and tried to see San Marco´s Basilica. Jesse couldn´t get in with the backpack (funny how they don´t tell you that you can´t bring in a bag until you are at the head of the line) so he waited outside since it was about to close and the line was still really long. I went in and looked really quick, it wasn´t as good as some of the other cathedrals we have seen. It was very dark and dirty. The only neat thing about it was the mosaic murals covering the whole ceiling. Oh, yeah- it was all gold tiles, no surprise there!
Last night we caught a night train to Vienna and had to share a compartment with 4 other people. Luckily they were really fun and interesting to talk to. We were with two Brits, an Austrian, and a guy from Holland. We stayed up most of the night talking about politics, they sure do love Michael Moore. Anyways, they were a fun group to be cooped up with for 12 hours, even if the air conditioning didn´t work. Thankfully, they weren´t any of the stereotypical smelly Europeans. We arrived in Vienna early this morining and found a neat little hostel near the train station. We crashed for a while since we didn´t get much sleep on the train, then headed out to see the sites. So far Vienna is a very clean and laid back city, much better than some of the others we have been to. Tomorrow we are heading out to explore more of the city and then we are moving on to Hallstatt and Salzburg.
We hope that things are going great back home, we are very much looking forward to coming back and enjoying the AC! Remember to keep writing us emails at our address or leaving us little notes here on the blog. We love to hear from you all!!
Meghan and JeSSe
Jesse and I hit Florence's two great museums today, the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Musuem. Both were very cool featuring The Birth of Venus and David. The Accademia is lucky that it has the great David, otherwise I think it would have to shut down since there really isn't much more to see there except for some ugly modern art (it is like wearing plaid and paisly together when compaired next to the amazing David) and a giant poster of an old naked guy with a boner (YUCK!!! I cannot believe they put that in the same room as David!). That is not my idea of art!
Anyways, we had a pretty easy day today and also got to see the Duomo. Florence get bonus points for being walkable for sure, but I'm not sure that I would spend a lot of time here otherwise if not for the art. I think Jesse and I are in agreement that Rome is much more historically and culturally interesting. Although, it is the birthplace of gelato...
Okay, so I know that it has been a long time since our last real post and that we are super far behind on what we have been up to. I will try and make this as quick as possible for you guys.
After our special bus ride in Toulon, France we visited the island of Porquerolles. It was nice, but the water- again- was freezing. I think Jesse and I were the only ones on the beach who were wearing jackets while the crazy French frolicked around in Speedos. The trip was fun though, we found a neat little cove all to our selves and had some great cheap French wine and then had even better ice cream in the little village. The boat ride home was a bit rough, but no one blew chunks, so that was good.
The next day we took a train to Switzerland for over 15 hours!!! At least the scenery was good. That helped the time to fly by quicker. We stayed in a tiny town called Gimmelwald that only has about 150 residents, most of which are related. The first night was spent sleeping in a barn. They think it is hilarious that people will pay money to sleep in their cattle barns. It was cool, except for the crazy little kids running around terrorizing even the flies. We slept in our clothes since it got pretty cool and had about 5 blankets (Jesse says I had about five and claims he only had one- whatever!) and made pillows out of hay. Luckily the hostel down the road had some openings and we made reservations there for the next couple of nights. The first full day was spent on a 7.5 hour hike of the North Face trail. It was really beautiful and pretty easy. We had lunch at this great little restaurant that was off by itself on the side of a mountain. There was even a cute litte sheep family. We had to take the cable car back into town since at the end of the hike neither of us had the leg strength to walk down hill. That night was spent in the "Lovers Room" cozily cuddled up next to 2 complete strangers in one giant quadruple bunk bed. Jesse slept next to a dude!!! Hahaha...
The next day we did a smaller hike along a river and into the valley between two mountains- very pretty. The rest of the day we spent relaxing at the hostel, drinking hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps (okay, that was just me), and lounging in the hot tub. Did I forget to mention the cheese fondue (I had it twice, it was wonderful)?
After that we headed into Germany to visit Charlotte. Whatever your misconceptions may be about the German people, Charlotte's family happened to be the nicest family in the whole of Europe. The completely welcomed us into their home, showed us incredible hospitaltiy, and even did our laundry- just like mom! I think it is our new German home-away-from-home. Her mom even took care of me after the infamous White Sausage and Wine Incident of 2005. For the first time in this whole trip it did not feel like we were so far away from home.
Here is a quick note to anyone planning a trip to Bavaria in Germany: