The day has come for us to return to the states! After BOTH of us were pulled aside in the airport by security, and our luggage was torn apart, we boarded our delayed plane only for more delays. What a perfect time for us to reflect.
After thinking about all the people we met, and the different cultures we were exposed to, there is no doubt in our minds that we will do this again. Our trip could not have been any more exciting or fulfilling, and when J and Cs Excellent Movie is made you will all see first hand. Here are just a few of the things that we have learned from our experiences:
In Switzerland:
1. When you say you are "full" it means you are drunk
2. Cars wait patiently for cows to wander through the street
3. Fly swatters are a frequent decor but infrequently used
4.Two way streets are only big enough for one car
5. Extra cream is used on EVERYTHING but coffee
In Italy:
1. Italian drivers take the cake for craziest driving, as seen by the number of times we were run into bushes on our bikes
2. Pig, olive oil and salt are used excessively in every meal
3. It has been documented that there are 200 restaurants in Brazil that serve Italian pasta
4. Ducks can hiss
5. Just because you make bread for a living does NOT mean that it is good
In France:
1. Beaches made of rock are still crowded
2. The honor system is used on trains, therefore we saved a lot of money
3. Sing alongs are fully embraced on trains
4. "Meeting Nelson Mandela" means something very different
5. Research a hostel before staying there
In Spain:
1. 2am (our bedtime) is when the night life is just getting started
2. Prostitutes do not like being videotaped
3. Restaurants think that yelling at you to eat there will entice you
4. People on the streets making duck noises are not there to entertain
5. Never live on a street where a taxi cab refuses to drive down
In all of Europe:
1. People think we are spanish sisters, as in the words of Marcello, we "do not look like WASPs"
3. Toilet paper is infrequently used, as are bras
4. Peanut butter is a very rare commodity
5. Restaurants do not even open for dinner until 8pm
6. European fashion consists of sweaters around the neck and waist, clothes as tight as possible, solid color outfits, and belly shirts.
7. Many people who lack university degrees are smarter, know more languages, and have a whole lot more money in their pockets.
8. We will return both to europe and to WWOOFing, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Who's joining us in Brazil??
-J and C
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Day 21: Embracing the Rain
Being our last day in Europe, we had a plan to do as much as possible. We made a fair attempt even though we woke up to a rainy, muggy day.
We got dressed for another hike, with the addition of raincoats (we almost thought we weren't going to have to use them). We set out to find Parc Guel, Gaudi's Park. We took the metro as far as possible because we had little to no energy. We got out and began our "hike" that didn't last very long. Maybe we really are pros now.
Parc Guel was really beautiful. It had a view of all of Barcelona. Only thing, it was so foggy we could barely see everything. We were still able to admire the architecture of the park, though. The intricate designs and mosaics were really stunning, even if we were soaking wet due to faulty raincoats.
After our hike we set out to the "Champagneria," a local secret that we were lucky to hear about from an inside source (thanks Reid). We ordered pollo con queso, as directed, and were each given a glass of champagne and delicious fresh sandwiches cooked to order. Definitely our best lunch choice. Of course we were taking pictures documenting our lunch, simultaneously getting stares and looks of disapproval from locals. Used to it.
After lunch, we made an attempt to buy souvenirs for all of you people, but after walking around La Rambla for TWO HOURS in the rain looking for one particular store (in order to avoid junky tourist gifts) we had to throw in the towel.
We were drenched and exhausted so we headed back to the room and passed out for an hour or so.
We woke up not so refreshed, but excited for our upcoming meal. After a few days of researching. Henrik found out what were hoping would be the perfect ending meal in Europe. We got dressed in our nicest clothes and set out to find the restaurant.
Knowing the address, we were heading in the correct direction, but when we hit the beach before the number of the building, we were a little confused. We knew the restaurant was the highest one in Barcelona, so when we spotted a tower, we thought we should inquire. The tower, though, looked like a water tower. We walked up to it anyways and it certainly was it.
We took an elevator up to the top where we were stunned by the gorgeous views. We were seated right at the window overlooking ALL of Barcelona. Move over cloudy Gaudi, we were able to see the ENTIRE city from here.
While watching the sunset, we indulged in foie gras, steak, and even some pigeon and UNLIMITED bread (officially making this Christine's favorite restaurant). We had a delicious (free) chocolate ending and we were beyond full. It was a really great meal (thanks mom and dad).
We fit in with the classy businessmen and women that were patrons of the restaurant by playing with an odd figurine that was strangely used as a centerpiece. For about 15 minutes, we were posing this odd robot-like toy around the table for a photo shoot. We are thinking of selling them to the restaurant to use a decor.
We waddled out of the restaurant after eating wayyy too much and headed back to the hostel to hang out with our friends for a bit. Mostly everyone had left that morning, so it was a little sad and not nearly as entertaining. We decided that going out last night and dinner tonight was a good ending.
We are sad to be leaving, but we had an experience of a lifetime.
-J and C
P.S.- This is not the last post, one more to come. :)
We got dressed for another hike, with the addition of raincoats (we almost thought we weren't going to have to use them). We set out to find Parc Guel, Gaudi's Park. We took the metro as far as possible because we had little to no energy. We got out and began our "hike" that didn't last very long. Maybe we really are pros now.
Parc Guel was really beautiful. It had a view of all of Barcelona. Only thing, it was so foggy we could barely see everything. We were still able to admire the architecture of the park, though. The intricate designs and mosaics were really stunning, even if we were soaking wet due to faulty raincoats.
After our hike we set out to the "Champagneria," a local secret that we were lucky to hear about from an inside source (thanks Reid). We ordered pollo con queso, as directed, and were each given a glass of champagne and delicious fresh sandwiches cooked to order. Definitely our best lunch choice. Of course we were taking pictures documenting our lunch, simultaneously getting stares and looks of disapproval from locals. Used to it.
After lunch, we made an attempt to buy souvenirs for all of you people, but after walking around La Rambla for TWO HOURS in the rain looking for one particular store (in order to avoid junky tourist gifts) we had to throw in the towel.
We were drenched and exhausted so we headed back to the room and passed out for an hour or so.
We woke up not so refreshed, but excited for our upcoming meal. After a few days of researching. Henrik found out what were hoping would be the perfect ending meal in Europe. We got dressed in our nicest clothes and set out to find the restaurant.
Knowing the address, we were heading in the correct direction, but when we hit the beach before the number of the building, we were a little confused. We knew the restaurant was the highest one in Barcelona, so when we spotted a tower, we thought we should inquire. The tower, though, looked like a water tower. We walked up to it anyways and it certainly was it.
We took an elevator up to the top where we were stunned by the gorgeous views. We were seated right at the window overlooking ALL of Barcelona. Move over cloudy Gaudi, we were able to see the ENTIRE city from here.
While watching the sunset, we indulged in foie gras, steak, and even some pigeon and UNLIMITED bread (officially making this Christine's favorite restaurant). We had a delicious (free) chocolate ending and we were beyond full. It was a really great meal (thanks mom and dad).
We fit in with the classy businessmen and women that were patrons of the restaurant by playing with an odd figurine that was strangely used as a centerpiece. For about 15 minutes, we were posing this odd robot-like toy around the table for a photo shoot. We are thinking of selling them to the restaurant to use a decor.
We waddled out of the restaurant after eating wayyy too much and headed back to the hostel to hang out with our friends for a bit. Mostly everyone had left that morning, so it was a little sad and not nearly as entertaining. We decided that going out last night and dinner tonight was a good ending.
We are sad to be leaving, but we had an experience of a lifetime.
-J and C
P.S.- This is not the last post, one more to come. :)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Day 20: Pro-Hikers
Unlike our previous morning, today we woke up early so we could have a full day at the beach. We headed straight to the hostel common room to gather the group for the beach. When we arrived half of our friends were still asleep and the other half were moving very slowly. After about an hour everybody was finally ready to go. We headed out on our first mission, to find a spanish specialty, churros con chocolate. We asked every restaurant we passed until we finally found churros con chocolate! To our surprise they gave us some churros with a mug of hot chocolate to dip them in. Delicious but strange.
After filling up on churros it was beach time! We joined the hundreds of other people on the beach and relaxed as tons of people husstled us about tattoes and massages. No gracias. The water was absolutely beautiful and we spent hours soaking in the sun.
After our bodies started turning red we left the beach for another visit to the Boqueria. We drank the most delicious fruit smoothies imaginable and bought more fresh fruit to make sandwhiches.
We packed dinner and sent out to hike Mount Juic to take in a great view of the city. We walked uphill for a little bit until we reached all these closed gates and "do not enter" signs. We came o the conclusion that it was under construction and took our pictures as needed. On our way out we found a majical staircase that we hadn't seen before. We went up and again were left in a dead end. We found this random pathway through the woods and since we expected a great hike decided to explore. After we got through all the brush we ended up in a main road with lots of people walking around and a restaurant up ahead. We walked around the beautiful garden and took pictures of things we thought could be the castle that we heard of. After eating our dinner and dicussing our great hiking skilss (since we barely broke a sweat) we re-looked at the map and realized we were not even a third of the way to the top of the mountain. Whoops.
We headed up, this time using the map, and ended up at the real castle! Bellisimo! We got there just as it was closing time, however, so we were only able to admire the beautiful views and outside of the castle. After a successful hike we headed back down the mountain and back to the hostel to meet up with the group.
The two boys from Brazil put on a show with their mini guitar and tam-tam, and we sang along in spanish, english and french. After a lot of singing we headed out to Chupitos for another celebration. This time we tried all different shooters, relying heavily on reccomendations from the bartenders. So many delicious ones, especially all those involving chocolate and pop rocks. It has been decided that a Chupitos USA coming soon. Get ready.
-J and C
After filling up on churros it was beach time! We joined the hundreds of other people on the beach and relaxed as tons of people husstled us about tattoes and massages. No gracias. The water was absolutely beautiful and we spent hours soaking in the sun.
After our bodies started turning red we left the beach for another visit to the Boqueria. We drank the most delicious fruit smoothies imaginable and bought more fresh fruit to make sandwhiches.
We packed dinner and sent out to hike Mount Juic to take in a great view of the city. We walked uphill for a little bit until we reached all these closed gates and "do not enter" signs. We came o the conclusion that it was under construction and took our pictures as needed. On our way out we found a majical staircase that we hadn't seen before. We went up and again were left in a dead end. We found this random pathway through the woods and since we expected a great hike decided to explore. After we got through all the brush we ended up in a main road with lots of people walking around and a restaurant up ahead. We walked around the beautiful garden and took pictures of things we thought could be the castle that we heard of. After eating our dinner and dicussing our great hiking skilss (since we barely broke a sweat) we re-looked at the map and realized we were not even a third of the way to the top of the mountain. Whoops.
We headed up, this time using the map, and ended up at the real castle! Bellisimo! We got there just as it was closing time, however, so we were only able to admire the beautiful views and outside of the castle. After a successful hike we headed back down the mountain and back to the hostel to meet up with the group.
The two boys from Brazil put on a show with their mini guitar and tam-tam, and we sang along in spanish, english and french. After a lot of singing we headed out to Chupitos for another celebration. This time we tried all different shooters, relying heavily on reccomendations from the bartenders. So many delicious ones, especially all those involving chocolate and pop rocks. It has been decided that a Chupitos USA coming soon. Get ready.
-J and C
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Day 19: I Guess Prostitutes DON'T Want To Be Movie Stars
We woke up extra late today in attempt to skip the Barcelona six-o'clock nap. We met our friends from yesterday at the hostel and set out to see the Gaudi sights. We walked down La Rambla and Passeig de Gracia and saw several Gaudi buildings. We finally made it to the other side of Barcelona where we admired the incredible Sagrada Familia.
We headed back to get a quick lunch at the cheap supermarket. Since this morning was one of our tourist days, of course we had our cameras out. I was videotaping the area, and all of a sudden, about five big scary prostitutes began surrounding me and yelling at me. They were trying to see what I was filming. Yikes. As we said, prostitutes probably have already given up on their dreams to be on the big screen in order to pursue...other carreer paths. Christine realized I was being hasseled and she came to my rescue. She grabbed my hand as they were grabbing me and we RAN. One chased after us and proceeded to slap my butt. I guess it was an easy target. We ran for the life of us and hid in a market until we caught our breaths. I don't think we will be walking through that street ever again. Marcello and those prostitues may haunt our dreams for a while.
After we regained our courage, we bought some bread, cheese and popcorn for lunch and enjoyed it in our lovely apartment style hostel room. Since it was already late in the afternoon we decided to save our beach day until tomorrow.
We hit the shops. This time they were open. We found some cool stores and thought we should support them with our money. After burning a hole in our pockets, we decided to get a budge, yet delicious, dinner from the market. This isn't just any market, it is a fruit, meat, cheese and candy HAVEN. We spent only a few Euro each and got fresh ingredients to make a great salad. We also stopped at our favorite supermarket to get a sixty cent baguette. We are now regulars at that shop.
We ate our dinner with the ipod blasting and then got ready to go out (ipod still blasting). We headed over to the hostel to meet up with our friends. We played more drinking games. This time we taught them an American game. It was a ton of fun just like the night before. The different languages are so interesting. We can all be so different, yet so similar.
We went out to find a bar that is infamous for its numerous amounts of flaming shots. On the long walk, we started having a sing-a-long (you all could have guessed by now). There was one boy from Brazil who didn't speak a word of English, only Spanish and Portuguese. But he DID know every word to a Justin Bieber song. Who would have thunk.
We found Chupitos and had a great time there. S'mores, chocolate, reeses, how could it get better? We didn't stay too long because we were all starting to get tired. Even they are not used to staying up all night every night (us Americans seem like champs next to them). We set out for the long walk home where we had a few dance breaks and song sessions. We also taught one of the French boys different expressions in English in exchange for the French equivalents. We explained to him that Americans don't "pose pepe," we simply go to the bathroom. And that saying (in French) that you have a cigar at the tip of your lips does NOT mean you are about to smoke a cigar.
It was a really fun day, but still extremely tiring. Beach nap tomorrow is a MUST.
-J and C
We headed back to get a quick lunch at the cheap supermarket. Since this morning was one of our tourist days, of course we had our cameras out. I was videotaping the area, and all of a sudden, about five big scary prostitutes began surrounding me and yelling at me. They were trying to see what I was filming. Yikes. As we said, prostitutes probably have already given up on their dreams to be on the big screen in order to pursue...other carreer paths. Christine realized I was being hasseled and she came to my rescue. She grabbed my hand as they were grabbing me and we RAN. One chased after us and proceeded to slap my butt. I guess it was an easy target. We ran for the life of us and hid in a market until we caught our breaths. I don't think we will be walking through that street ever again. Marcello and those prostitues may haunt our dreams for a while.
After we regained our courage, we bought some bread, cheese and popcorn for lunch and enjoyed it in our lovely apartment style hostel room. Since it was already late in the afternoon we decided to save our beach day until tomorrow.
We hit the shops. This time they were open. We found some cool stores and thought we should support them with our money. After burning a hole in our pockets, we decided to get a budge, yet delicious, dinner from the market. This isn't just any market, it is a fruit, meat, cheese and candy HAVEN. We spent only a few Euro each and got fresh ingredients to make a great salad. We also stopped at our favorite supermarket to get a sixty cent baguette. We are now regulars at that shop.
We ate our dinner with the ipod blasting and then got ready to go out (ipod still blasting). We headed over to the hostel to meet up with our friends. We played more drinking games. This time we taught them an American game. It was a ton of fun just like the night before. The different languages are so interesting. We can all be so different, yet so similar.
We went out to find a bar that is infamous for its numerous amounts of flaming shots. On the long walk, we started having a sing-a-long (you all could have guessed by now). There was one boy from Brazil who didn't speak a word of English, only Spanish and Portuguese. But he DID know every word to a Justin Bieber song. Who would have thunk.
We found Chupitos and had a great time there. S'mores, chocolate, reeses, how could it get better? We didn't stay too long because we were all starting to get tired. Even they are not used to staying up all night every night (us Americans seem like champs next to them). We set out for the long walk home where we had a few dance breaks and song sessions. We also taught one of the French boys different expressions in English in exchange for the French equivalents. We explained to him that Americans don't "pose pepe," we simply go to the bathroom. And that saying (in French) that you have a cigar at the tip of your lips does NOT mean you are about to smoke a cigar.
It was a really fun day, but still extremely tiring. Beach nap tomorrow is a MUST.
-J and C
Monday, June 7, 2010
Day 18
This morning we woke up in our bunk beds very excited to get the free breakfast from the hostel. We knew it wouldn't be a buffet from Ritz but were still a little disappointed by the pile of white bread and bowl of corn flakes. At least there were multiple jars of nutella. We ate our bread with the hopes of making some hostel friends. I walked over to a group of boys to say intorduce myself and asked them where they were from. I got 5 blank stares and a one word response of "Germany." I'm going to assume none of them understand English.
After we ate, we deicided to use our first day in Barcelona to explore the area and do a little shopping. Since it was Sunday and almost every single store was closed, we walked around the city admiring the beautiful architecture. After hours of exploring, and remembering all the stores we needed to come back to, we decided to treat ourselves to a big spanish lunch consisting of tapas and paella! Due to our grumbling bellies we walked into the first place we found (which looked really great from the bar area) and ordered a tapas and paella special. We eagerly awaited the feast we had been dreaming of. When the food arrived it did not look as delicious as we had pictured it, and it tasted just as bland and mushy as it looked. Let's just say we were not impressed. And when we asked for some free bread like the couple next to us received they refused to give any to us. I don't think they liked us very much due to our fuss over wanting TAP water, with ice, por favor. We were still hopefull for the dessert that was included in the meal until our waiter plopped down a yellow custardy thing in front of us both. After one bite we exited the restaurant in search of a gelateria (we couldn't break our streak now).
After delicious gelato (the best yet in Spain!) we returned back to our hostel and rested up with a long nap. We woke up for dinner time. Since we were disappointed by our lunch feast we were determined to have a great dinner. We took Reid up on his recommendation of a Mexican restaurant (the only thing we crave more than peanut butter is chips and salsa). The tacos and margaritas were great and definitely made up for our previous meal. We left the restaurant full and happy and got ready to make another attempt at making some hostel friends.
We went to the hostel common room and quickly got asked to join a group of french, canadian, and brazilian people who were playing card games. The group could not have been friendlier, and hours were spent playing games in french, spanish, portugese, and english. Despite some language barriers the group bonded over games that were familiar to everyone. We learned that we had to "take a glu" instead of taking a sip. The different pronunciations of "ace" was also a continuous joke throughout the night.
The group of us finally made it out in search of a bar near the beach that has 300 different types of shots. Unfortunately we got to the bar so late that we were not allowed inside. We were even too late for Barcelona. Instead we wandered to the beach and hung out while some braved the ocean. We, however, refused to go in the water for fear of our shoes getting stolen from the beach. Maybe tomorrow night when we have our bathing suits.
We took a long walk home learning different expressions in different languages and perfecting our french/spanish accents. We are ready to hit the sack and turning our alarm off for a good nights sleep.
-J and C
After we ate, we deicided to use our first day in Barcelona to explore the area and do a little shopping. Since it was Sunday and almost every single store was closed, we walked around the city admiring the beautiful architecture. After hours of exploring, and remembering all the stores we needed to come back to, we decided to treat ourselves to a big spanish lunch consisting of tapas and paella! Due to our grumbling bellies we walked into the first place we found (which looked really great from the bar area) and ordered a tapas and paella special. We eagerly awaited the feast we had been dreaming of. When the food arrived it did not look as delicious as we had pictured it, and it tasted just as bland and mushy as it looked. Let's just say we were not impressed. And when we asked for some free bread like the couple next to us received they refused to give any to us. I don't think they liked us very much due to our fuss over wanting TAP water, with ice, por favor. We were still hopefull for the dessert that was included in the meal until our waiter plopped down a yellow custardy thing in front of us both. After one bite we exited the restaurant in search of a gelateria (we couldn't break our streak now).
After delicious gelato (the best yet in Spain!) we returned back to our hostel and rested up with a long nap. We woke up for dinner time. Since we were disappointed by our lunch feast we were determined to have a great dinner. We took Reid up on his recommendation of a Mexican restaurant (the only thing we crave more than peanut butter is chips and salsa). The tacos and margaritas were great and definitely made up for our previous meal. We left the restaurant full and happy and got ready to make another attempt at making some hostel friends.
We went to the hostel common room and quickly got asked to join a group of french, canadian, and brazilian people who were playing card games. The group could not have been friendlier, and hours were spent playing games in french, spanish, portugese, and english. Despite some language barriers the group bonded over games that were familiar to everyone. We learned that we had to "take a glu" instead of taking a sip. The different pronunciations of "ace" was also a continuous joke throughout the night.
The group of us finally made it out in search of a bar near the beach that has 300 different types of shots. Unfortunately we got to the bar so late that we were not allowed inside. We were even too late for Barcelona. Instead we wandered to the beach and hung out while some braved the ocean. We, however, refused to go in the water for fear of our shoes getting stolen from the beach. Maybe tomorrow night when we have our bathing suits.
We took a long walk home learning different expressions in different languages and perfecting our french/spanish accents. We are ready to hit the sack and turning our alarm off for a good nights sleep.
-J and C
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Day 17: "You Guys Had the Right Idea With the Wine
We woke up to a gorgeous view out of our hotel window of someone elses backyard and several Texas-like buildings. So we quickly packed up our stuff in attempt to leave as soon as possible.
At the train station in Montpellier we tried to purchase the next ticket out of there, destination: Perpignan. Because the line was moving like an escargot, we attempted the ticket machines. Of course, this would have been to easy. None of the machines seem to like American credit cards. We were running around the station, with people attempting to help us, for about a half hour until we realized our train was due to depart shortly. We decided to do the unspeakable: board the train with NO ticket. Such rebels. AND, we sat in first class.
The whole ride, we held our breath as each person made their way past us in hopes that they were NOT the conductor. By the time we reached the second to last stop, we decided we were lucky enough to make it this far for free, so we might as well get off before we are charged extra for an onboard ticket. Bonjour Narbonne.
We bought tickets to Barcelona, but of course we had to wait four hours until our train. With much time to spare, we set out to find a beach. We rolled our luggage around for about ten minutes before we decided to ask someone which way we should actually be headed. He laughed and told us it was about 50km away. I guess that means we can't walk there. He offered us a ride on his bike. Seriously. Thanks, but no thanks.
We walked back to the station and entertained ourselves for hours with no ipod. We played the few songs that were saved on our phone. A boy asked if we had any family from the Netherlands because "he had seen us before." We tried to tell him that it was just because we were famous. I don't think he believed us.
After over two weeks of no iced coffee, I felt that all the spare time we had left would be enough to attempt at requesting this foreign drink. I tried to explain the concept to the man at the coffee bar, but he simply did not understand. So I asked for a coffee and a glass of ice. He gave me a weird look when I poured sugar into the glass of ice, but finally he understood when I poured the coffee in there. I may have started a revolution of ice coffee in France.
Finally it was time to bored the train. As we got on the train, we could not find a single unoccupied seat. This led us to another opportunity to make friends as we propped our suitcases on the floor and using them as seats. To add to this, we popped a bottle of wine to make the trip go a little faster. Four hours on the floor would not be so fun. To make even MORE friends, we started singing. A woman stood up and gave us a thumbs up. Success.
After a few stops we found two seats that were previously occupied by a woman and her cat. This is when we began our real concert. We started singing a variety of songs. A woman stood up and said "que bien" to us and began clapping along with her friend. We noticed a boy who had a guitar and we begged him to begin playing and we would be the lead vocals. Finally, he agreed and we started a sing-a-long with half the train car. We sang James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Jack Johnson, etc. Something for everyones entertainment. Multiple people took out their video cameras to tape this scene. Let's just say after a four hour train ride, we were sad for it to come to an end. Best train ride EVER.
Finally, we have reached our final destination: Barcelona. We dropped our bags in our hostel and set out to find some good (cheap) food. We found an area filled with Turkish food, and picked the best looking one (the one with the most people inside). It was really delicious (and cheap).
Then we headed back to the hostel, got dressed and headed out on our typical American companion finding mission. This was the most difficult one yet. Especially since everyone thinks we are locals, they don't seem to be too friendly until we start talking, it is the exact OPPOSITE reaction with the locals.
We snuck onto a bar crawl without paying the unaffordable 18 Euro. We got free drinks, we got into the clubs for free and met some great people. We are probably the most economical tourists around. It was a good night. Only problem is, Barcelona stays up too late and smokes inside way too much.
-J and C
At the train station in Montpellier we tried to purchase the next ticket out of there, destination: Perpignan. Because the line was moving like an escargot, we attempted the ticket machines. Of course, this would have been to easy. None of the machines seem to like American credit cards. We were running around the station, with people attempting to help us, for about a half hour until we realized our train was due to depart shortly. We decided to do the unspeakable: board the train with NO ticket. Such rebels. AND, we sat in first class.
The whole ride, we held our breath as each person made their way past us in hopes that they were NOT the conductor. By the time we reached the second to last stop, we decided we were lucky enough to make it this far for free, so we might as well get off before we are charged extra for an onboard ticket. Bonjour Narbonne.
We bought tickets to Barcelona, but of course we had to wait four hours until our train. With much time to spare, we set out to find a beach. We rolled our luggage around for about ten minutes before we decided to ask someone which way we should actually be headed. He laughed and told us it was about 50km away. I guess that means we can't walk there. He offered us a ride on his bike. Seriously. Thanks, but no thanks.
We walked back to the station and entertained ourselves for hours with no ipod. We played the few songs that were saved on our phone. A boy asked if we had any family from the Netherlands because "he had seen us before." We tried to tell him that it was just because we were famous. I don't think he believed us.
After over two weeks of no iced coffee, I felt that all the spare time we had left would be enough to attempt at requesting this foreign drink. I tried to explain the concept to the man at the coffee bar, but he simply did not understand. So I asked for a coffee and a glass of ice. He gave me a weird look when I poured sugar into the glass of ice, but finally he understood when I poured the coffee in there. I may have started a revolution of ice coffee in France.
Finally it was time to bored the train. As we got on the train, we could not find a single unoccupied seat. This led us to another opportunity to make friends as we propped our suitcases on the floor and using them as seats. To add to this, we popped a bottle of wine to make the trip go a little faster. Four hours on the floor would not be so fun. To make even MORE friends, we started singing. A woman stood up and gave us a thumbs up. Success.
After a few stops we found two seats that were previously occupied by a woman and her cat. This is when we began our real concert. We started singing a variety of songs. A woman stood up and said "que bien" to us and began clapping along with her friend. We noticed a boy who had a guitar and we begged him to begin playing and we would be the lead vocals. Finally, he agreed and we started a sing-a-long with half the train car. We sang James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Jack Johnson, etc. Something for everyones entertainment. Multiple people took out their video cameras to tape this scene. Let's just say after a four hour train ride, we were sad for it to come to an end. Best train ride EVER.
Finally, we have reached our final destination: Barcelona. We dropped our bags in our hostel and set out to find some good (cheap) food. We found an area filled with Turkish food, and picked the best looking one (the one with the most people inside). It was really delicious (and cheap).
Then we headed back to the hostel, got dressed and headed out on our typical American companion finding mission. This was the most difficult one yet. Especially since everyone thinks we are locals, they don't seem to be too friendly until we start talking, it is the exact OPPOSITE reaction with the locals.
We snuck onto a bar crawl without paying the unaffordable 18 Euro. We got free drinks, we got into the clubs for free and met some great people. We are probably the most economical tourists around. It was a good night. Only problem is, Barcelona stays up too late and smokes inside way too much.
-J and C
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Day 16: Nice Knowing You
This morning we had a plan. It was to find the H&M in Nice. After eating Henriette's delicious hommade pancakes for breakfast we hit the shops. We asked girls on the street for directions to H&M and finally found our beloved store. Some great purchases were made to replace the appearance of our farm clothes. We swear none of these things could have been found in America.
Then we set out to find the restaurant where we would have our pre-planned huge french feast. We walked around checking every menu and basing our decision on the prices, how many people were eating at the restaurant, and how much sun was shining on the seats. After going into almost every restaurant in town we ended up just grabbing cheap pinini's and eating outside. We finally had the chance to put the Coke Light / Coke Zero test into action. Jaime failed her blind taste test and she concluded that they both taste exactly like Coke. I, however, continue to only buy Coke Light and Jaime only Coke Zero on principle.
This economically sound lunch enabled us to continue our gelato streak. We turned down one gelateria due to their "no sample" policy and found what has been the best gelato in France yet! Much more needs to be tasted.
We walked back to Henriette's in an attempt to burn off some of that gelato and see the city one last time. We entered a few grocery stores on the way to check out their peanut butter status. At this point we have come to terms with the unlikelihood of purchasing any peanut butter and are more collecting data for a future European peanut butter business. We did, however, buy cheap wine and delicious french bread for dinner. When we got back to henriette's she had another pancake-like treat ready for us before our travels to Montpellier.
So there is this really great travel service in France called Coiverterage, but to any average American it sounds a tad sketchy. Henriette showed us how frequently it is used throughout the country and set us up with a ride from Nice to Montpellier. Our driver, Mattheiu, was a very nice young gentleman who spoke a little English. He laughed at us when we told him that this kind of service would never work in America and he asked us to tell him if we had to "make pee-pee."
Three hours later we arrived in Montpellier and got dropped at the Tram. the Tram ride to our hotel was rediculously long, but gave us more time to discuss all the wonderful things about French public transportation, such as the frequented butt rests. We finally arrived at our stop and headed off to find the Buffalo grill, the only landmark we could understand on the phone.
The Prime Hotel was not so prime. We entered through the back door as a creepy woman onlooker lurked behind us. We searched the hotel for the place that they hid our keys. We found many hidden keys, but all with other names on them. We thought maybe the hotel guy got our name wrong so we took one of the keys and checked out the room. Since the name "Dreamline" was nothing close to "Goldstein" we left our stuff in the room and continued to search for OUR keys.
Finally we found keys hidden in a second floor wall pannel labeled "Joldstin". No wonder he was having trouble getting our email addresses right. Now that we had they keys to our real room we had to get our stuff out of "Dreamline's" room and return the keys to their hidding place. Easier said than done when you have creppy woman onlooker popping out of random doors.
When we finally got all of our stuff to our room via mission impossible style it was too late to head back into the city. Trapped, we decided to watch Scrubs in french in our surprisingly comfortable bed.
Our two bottles of wine will have to wait until tomorrow.
-J and C
Then we set out to find the restaurant where we would have our pre-planned huge french feast. We walked around checking every menu and basing our decision on the prices, how many people were eating at the restaurant, and how much sun was shining on the seats. After going into almost every restaurant in town we ended up just grabbing cheap pinini's and eating outside. We finally had the chance to put the Coke Light / Coke Zero test into action. Jaime failed her blind taste test and she concluded that they both taste exactly like Coke. I, however, continue to only buy Coke Light and Jaime only Coke Zero on principle.
This economically sound lunch enabled us to continue our gelato streak. We turned down one gelateria due to their "no sample" policy and found what has been the best gelato in France yet! Much more needs to be tasted.
We walked back to Henriette's in an attempt to burn off some of that gelato and see the city one last time. We entered a few grocery stores on the way to check out their peanut butter status. At this point we have come to terms with the unlikelihood of purchasing any peanut butter and are more collecting data for a future European peanut butter business. We did, however, buy cheap wine and delicious french bread for dinner. When we got back to henriette's she had another pancake-like treat ready for us before our travels to Montpellier.
So there is this really great travel service in France called Coiverterage, but to any average American it sounds a tad sketchy. Henriette showed us how frequently it is used throughout the country and set us up with a ride from Nice to Montpellier. Our driver, Mattheiu, was a very nice young gentleman who spoke a little English. He laughed at us when we told him that this kind of service would never work in America and he asked us to tell him if we had to "make pee-pee."
Three hours later we arrived in Montpellier and got dropped at the Tram. the Tram ride to our hotel was rediculously long, but gave us more time to discuss all the wonderful things about French public transportation, such as the frequented butt rests. We finally arrived at our stop and headed off to find the Buffalo grill, the only landmark we could understand on the phone.
The Prime Hotel was not so prime. We entered through the back door as a creepy woman onlooker lurked behind us. We searched the hotel for the place that they hid our keys. We found many hidden keys, but all with other names on them. We thought maybe the hotel guy got our name wrong so we took one of the keys and checked out the room. Since the name "Dreamline" was nothing close to "Goldstein" we left our stuff in the room and continued to search for OUR keys.
Finally we found keys hidden in a second floor wall pannel labeled "Joldstin". No wonder he was having trouble getting our email addresses right. Now that we had they keys to our real room we had to get our stuff out of "Dreamline's" room and return the keys to their hidding place. Easier said than done when you have creppy woman onlooker popping out of random doors.
When we finally got all of our stuff to our room via mission impossible style it was too late to head back into the city. Trapped, we decided to watch Scrubs in french in our surprisingly comfortable bed.
Our two bottles of wine will have to wait until tomorrow.
-J and C
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Day 16: Nice Rocks
Nice is nice and nice is Nice. Ok, we won't start that again, but seriously, Nice is beautiful.
We woke up to a classic Henriette breakfast of toasted bread and homemade jam of wild fruits. She decided to be our personal tourguide of the day. We walked around the old city of Nice as she was showing us all the gorgeous views and of course to learn more about the plants.
We walked around the little old city and tasted the traditional Nice "Socca," which was deeeeelicious. Then we found one of the many sandwich shops and picked the chicken sandwhich. It was the first chicken we had seen in a while, so we were incredibly excited to eat.
We took the sandwiches to go so we could eat them at the beach. As we were walking, we noticed a big tent set up called "Italie a Table." We walked through it and had samples of many different foods we have been missing since our departure of Italy just yesterday. And yes, we even tried the bread that was soaked in oil. I guess you don't know what you got till its gone.
We got to the beach, knowing it was made of rocks (since we were pre-warned--thanks mom) but Henriette described them more like "small pebbles." Wrong. They were ROCKS and they HURT. But, a beach is a beach...right? We layed in the sun and attempted to find comfortable positions on the rocky beach. Pavement "lawns," rock "beachs," does Europe not understand comfort?
We got used to laying on the rocks, but when we got up to go into the sea, we were in serious pain. We swam for a while in the gorgeous, yet extremely salty, water (which we mistakenly discovered).
After we layed out long enough to have rock imprints all over our bodies, we left the beach to check out the shopping in France. We soon discovered that we simply cannot afford anything here. Even the shops that look like dinky beach stores have designer clothing at ridiculous prices. So we made our way to McDonalds, yes, McDonalds, to indulge in a nice cold soda and ice coffee. Problem is, ice coffee in Europe does not exist, in fact the concept of it is completely unheard of. EVEN at McDonalds.
As we sipped on our Coke Light (Europe's version of Diet Coke) we discussed the stupidity of having different tasting sodas in different countries. In America, Coke tastes like Coke and Diet tastes like diet. In Europe, however, Coke, Coke Light, AND Coke Zero ALL taste like Coke. What is the point?? We decided we will use this topic of conversation as another pick up line. We are going to have SO many friends by the end of this trip. Jealous?
We did a little more exploring and headed back to Henriette's when we hoped it would be dinner time. I guess we forgot how late Henriette likes to eat. You think we would be used to the 9 o'clock dinners by now? Her nephew joined us for dinner. We were hoping he would take us out to show us the night life of Nice, but he had to go home since he has work early tomorrow morning.
We headed out on our own in attempt to find something to do. We walked around areas filled with people hoping to see where to go. The only thing we could see was restaurant after restaurant. So we stopped for some gelatto that we hadn't had in one whole day. Later, we saw younger people coming out and of course we had to follow anyone we thought would lead us somewhere. Of course, we found the most American bar in all of Nice. After an attempt at making a friend that we soon learned had just graduated high school, we decided it was time to leave. Soif Jeudi does not properly translate to Thirsty Thursday. As we were told "Saturday Night Fever" is where its at. I guess Nice is a few decades behind the times.
-J and C
We woke up to a classic Henriette breakfast of toasted bread and homemade jam of wild fruits. She decided to be our personal tourguide of the day. We walked around the old city of Nice as she was showing us all the gorgeous views and of course to learn more about the plants.
We walked around the little old city and tasted the traditional Nice "Socca," which was deeeeelicious. Then we found one of the many sandwich shops and picked the chicken sandwhich. It was the first chicken we had seen in a while, so we were incredibly excited to eat.
We took the sandwiches to go so we could eat them at the beach. As we were walking, we noticed a big tent set up called "Italie a Table." We walked through it and had samples of many different foods we have been missing since our departure of Italy just yesterday. And yes, we even tried the bread that was soaked in oil. I guess you don't know what you got till its gone.
We got to the beach, knowing it was made of rocks (since we were pre-warned--thanks mom) but Henriette described them more like "small pebbles." Wrong. They were ROCKS and they HURT. But, a beach is a beach...right? We layed in the sun and attempted to find comfortable positions on the rocky beach. Pavement "lawns," rock "beachs," does Europe not understand comfort?
We got used to laying on the rocks, but when we got up to go into the sea, we were in serious pain. We swam for a while in the gorgeous, yet extremely salty, water (which we mistakenly discovered).
After we layed out long enough to have rock imprints all over our bodies, we left the beach to check out the shopping in France. We soon discovered that we simply cannot afford anything here. Even the shops that look like dinky beach stores have designer clothing at ridiculous prices. So we made our way to McDonalds, yes, McDonalds, to indulge in a nice cold soda and ice coffee. Problem is, ice coffee in Europe does not exist, in fact the concept of it is completely unheard of. EVEN at McDonalds.
As we sipped on our Coke Light (Europe's version of Diet Coke) we discussed the stupidity of having different tasting sodas in different countries. In America, Coke tastes like Coke and Diet tastes like diet. In Europe, however, Coke, Coke Light, AND Coke Zero ALL taste like Coke. What is the point?? We decided we will use this topic of conversation as another pick up line. We are going to have SO many friends by the end of this trip. Jealous?
We did a little more exploring and headed back to Henriette's when we hoped it would be dinner time. I guess we forgot how late Henriette likes to eat. You think we would be used to the 9 o'clock dinners by now? Her nephew joined us for dinner. We were hoping he would take us out to show us the night life of Nice, but he had to go home since he has work early tomorrow morning.
We headed out on our own in attempt to find something to do. We walked around areas filled with people hoping to see where to go. The only thing we could see was restaurant after restaurant. So we stopped for some gelatto that we hadn't had in one whole day. Later, we saw younger people coming out and of course we had to follow anyone we thought would lead us somewhere. Of course, we found the most American bar in all of Nice. After an attempt at making a friend that we soon learned had just graduated high school, we decided it was time to leave. Soif Jeudi does not properly translate to Thirsty Thursday. As we were told "Saturday Night Fever" is where its at. I guess Nice is a few decades behind the times.
-J and C
Day 15- How Nice
Due to our late night touring of Florence we slept in as late as we could and packed up our stuff not knowing what was ahead of us or where we were headed. We ate one last delicious brunch in Florence and walked around a bit more before saying areverderci to the city. We headed to the train station just in time as it began downpouring just as we got to the station. Pisa sounded interesting! We bought our first ticket to Pisa and off we went.
On the train we met two more Americans who seemed to think we were really cool until we started talking about WWOOFing on farms. I guess WWOOFing isn't cool in CT?
We got off at Pisa and got very little help from anyone with finding this leaning tower. Instead of roaming around Pisa on our own to find it (because we know how great we are at that) we boarded the next train right away that was headed to Genova (semi in hopes for making up for our previous stop in Ancona).
More friends were made, this time Australians. Now people are beginning to use pick lines on us! The train ride was spent trying to figure out where we were and where exactly we were going. Thanks to the Australians we got to look at a map! We decided on the nice ville of Nice Ville. Should be nice in Nice!
After figuring out that we would be in France, we had to cancel our flight from Italy. This was not an easy task. While switching trains and going on buses, we were attempting to work out all our arrangements, thank you Henrik. Now we don't have to trek back to Italy.
Anyways, Genova was exactly was we hoped for. The city is right on the coast and was filled with carnivals, dog shows, beaches, and happy people everywhere. After being famished from hours of train rides and no gelato breaks like we got used to
In Florence we searched Genova for food. With only an hour till our next train we took a bus to the water front and grabbed the first paninis we could find. We had a speed-picnic overlooking the water and headed back for train number three.
This three hour train ride to Ventimiglia was the prettiest train ride imaginable. It was if we were on a boat as we rode along the coast of Italy the entire time. To pass the time we sang Disney concerts and learned rap lyrics and to our surprise got no looks of disapproval. We must have sounded great! When we got to Ventimiglia we thought that we might be stranded there for the night as we couldn't find anyy train tickets to Nice. The train station workers were very helpful by explaining to us that we could only by beer from them, not train tickets. We hoped on the next train that came that was headed to Monaco. Our third country! We got to be outside in Monaco (the vegas of Europe) for about a whole 15 minutes, but we decided this amount of time is sufficient enough for a thumb tack.
Finally we boarded our fifth and last train to Nice! Henriette was at the station waiting for our arrival. As random as this sounds to you...it was to us as well. When we were in Switzerland she kept offering to put us up if we ever were visiting the area. After our Italian fiasco we decided to take her up on this offer, hoping the short notice wouldn't be a problem. She was more than happy to have us! She brought us back to her apartment overlooking the entire city. INCREDIBLE. She is going to show us around the city tomorrow and her daughter and nephew are going to take us out at night.
We already knew that Henriette was very nice but by welcoming us into her home in Nice, nice doesn't do her justice!
Au revoir!
-J and C
On the train we met two more Americans who seemed to think we were really cool until we started talking about WWOOFing on farms. I guess WWOOFing isn't cool in CT?
We got off at Pisa and got very little help from anyone with finding this leaning tower. Instead of roaming around Pisa on our own to find it (because we know how great we are at that) we boarded the next train right away that was headed to Genova (semi in hopes for making up for our previous stop in Ancona).
More friends were made, this time Australians. Now people are beginning to use pick lines on us! The train ride was spent trying to figure out where we were and where exactly we were going. Thanks to the Australians we got to look at a map! We decided on the nice ville of Nice Ville. Should be nice in Nice!
After figuring out that we would be in France, we had to cancel our flight from Italy. This was not an easy task. While switching trains and going on buses, we were attempting to work out all our arrangements, thank you Henrik. Now we don't have to trek back to Italy.
Anyways, Genova was exactly was we hoped for. The city is right on the coast and was filled with carnivals, dog shows, beaches, and happy people everywhere. After being famished from hours of train rides and no gelato breaks like we got used to
In Florence we searched Genova for food. With only an hour till our next train we took a bus to the water front and grabbed the first paninis we could find. We had a speed-picnic overlooking the water and headed back for train number three.
This three hour train ride to Ventimiglia was the prettiest train ride imaginable. It was if we were on a boat as we rode along the coast of Italy the entire time. To pass the time we sang Disney concerts and learned rap lyrics and to our surprise got no looks of disapproval. We must have sounded great! When we got to Ventimiglia we thought that we might be stranded there for the night as we couldn't find anyy train tickets to Nice. The train station workers were very helpful by explaining to us that we could only by beer from them, not train tickets. We hoped on the next train that came that was headed to Monaco. Our third country! We got to be outside in Monaco (the vegas of Europe) for about a whole 15 minutes, but we decided this amount of time is sufficient enough for a thumb tack.
Finally we boarded our fifth and last train to Nice! Henriette was at the station waiting for our arrival. As random as this sounds to you...it was to us as well. When we were in Switzerland she kept offering to put us up if we ever were visiting the area. After our Italian fiasco we decided to take her up on this offer, hoping the short notice wouldn't be a problem. She was more than happy to have us! She brought us back to her apartment overlooking the entire city. INCREDIBLE. She is going to show us around the city tomorrow and her daughter and nephew are going to take us out at night.
We already knew that Henriette was very nice but by welcoming us into her home in Nice, nice doesn't do her justice!
Au revoir!
-J and C
Monday, May 31, 2010
Day 13, Part Two: Alive and Happy
After escaping the wrath of Voldemort/Rasputin/Hitler/Marcello...we took a train out of Orvieto into lovely Firenze. We couldn't have asked for a better change. All we can say is...WOOF (thanks for that one dad).
On the train we befriended an Italian girl. She was ten. Probably the nicest person we have encounter thusfar...and a great way to realize that not all people are like evil Marcello. We chatted with her via Google Translator. She told us we were beautiful and that she loved us. We are now facebook friends. She put us into a much happier mood. Thanks Martina.
We got off the train in Firenze, unsure of our plans, but ecstatic to be alive and safe.
We loved our experience on the farms and had an amazing time, but we realized that we were excited to finally have time to do whatever we want to do.
We found a "hostel" to stay in...more like a hotel...and called them to get directions. We got lost, of course...taking a bus OUT of Firenze, instead of further into the city. About an hour and half later, we finally found the bed and breakfast where we are staying. We were in heaven. The couple who owns it had the cutest baby and they were such nice people. We have our own room and bathroom (a rare commodity at such a low price) and it is in walking distance of EVERYthing we want to see in Florence.
We took our first shower in days and hit the town.
First mission: try to get a dinner without ANY oil. Not such a success. The salads we ordered, of course, came topped with oil...at least not as much as Cinzia's mother put.
Second mission: gelatto. After a reallllyyy long and dreadful day, we had to reward ourselves. The gelatto was...ok...but it made us appreciate the one we had in Roma even more (thanks for that suggestion Mal--now tell us where to shop in Florence)!
Third mission; follow all the American students to the cool places to go at night. After a period of awkwardly trying to follow people without them noticing, it was a success.
Final mission of the night: befriend fellow Americans. We brainstormed several icebreakers.
1. Is that a haunted house?
2. What time do the bars close around here?
3. I really like that yellow sweater!
4. Can you take a picture of us?
5. Oh my gosh, are you American too?!
6. Do you guys know how to bundle wood? We do.
7. Did you know there are 200 places in Brazil that sell pasta?
I think we spent too much time brainstorming and not enough time putting our plan into action. Mission four: not such a success. At least we had a great night.
We are excited to wake up at any time we want tomorrow (though it'll probably be early) and explore Firenze with no plans whatsoever!
Ariverderci farms...Hellooooo tourism!
-J and C
On the train we befriended an Italian girl. She was ten. Probably the nicest person we have encounter thusfar...and a great way to realize that not all people are like evil Marcello. We chatted with her via Google Translator. She told us we were beautiful and that she loved us. We are now facebook friends. She put us into a much happier mood. Thanks Martina.
We got off the train in Firenze, unsure of our plans, but ecstatic to be alive and safe.
We loved our experience on the farms and had an amazing time, but we realized that we were excited to finally have time to do whatever we want to do.
We found a "hostel" to stay in...more like a hotel...and called them to get directions. We got lost, of course...taking a bus OUT of Firenze, instead of further into the city. About an hour and half later, we finally found the bed and breakfast where we are staying. We were in heaven. The couple who owns it had the cutest baby and they were such nice people. We have our own room and bathroom (a rare commodity at such a low price) and it is in walking distance of EVERYthing we want to see in Florence.
We took our first shower in days and hit the town.
First mission: try to get a dinner without ANY oil. Not such a success. The salads we ordered, of course, came topped with oil...at least not as much as Cinzia's mother put.
Second mission: gelatto. After a reallllyyy long and dreadful day, we had to reward ourselves. The gelatto was...ok...but it made us appreciate the one we had in Roma even more (thanks for that suggestion Mal--now tell us where to shop in Florence)!
Third mission; follow all the American students to the cool places to go at night. After a period of awkwardly trying to follow people without them noticing, it was a success.
Final mission of the night: befriend fellow Americans. We brainstormed several icebreakers.
1. Is that a haunted house?
2. What time do the bars close around here?
3. I really like that yellow sweater!
4. Can you take a picture of us?
5. Oh my gosh, are you American too?!
6. Do you guys know how to bundle wood? We do.
7. Did you know there are 200 places in Brazil that sell pasta?
I think we spent too much time brainstorming and not enough time putting our plan into action. Mission four: not such a success. At least we had a great night.
We are excited to wake up at any time we want tomorrow (though it'll probably be early) and explore Firenze with no plans whatsoever!
Ariverderci farms...Hellooooo tourism!
-J and C
Day 13, Part One: The Escape From Alcatraz
Note: Mom, Dad, Grandparents, we are alive and safe. Keep that in mind while reading this.
This morning we woke up leisurley trying to not "go" in the bucket for as long as possible. We very awkwardly went into the kitcken without any greeting from Marcello. We grabbed some stale bread for breakfast (we quickly learned that he is not a very good bread maker, and that he definitely does NOT have the bread factory that Cinzia spoke of) and sat together in silence. We quickly got ready for work and then listened to Marcello list the chores that were ahead of us for the day, and as he assured us the night before there were never any "please's" to his requests. He mocked us when we didn't know what pruning was (hellooo, city girls), and told us he wouldn't be able to show us but we could collect the branches.
As we were walking to the yard he explained that he should have taken care of the lawn "two weks ago" but we think he meant two months ago. Since this was a job "for only one person" Jaime took hold of the the broken lawn mower and began mowing the shin-high grass pretty much blade by blade. He took me down into the wilderness through grass I couldn't see over and showed me how to bundle branches with string. So far very doable (although we were a little worried about the lack of coffee breaks and the no lunch thing). He got a little frusterated with my bundle making and called me a "lousy" knot tier (in all seriousness) and then blamed Jaime for breaking the lawn mower. Hans and Cinzia, we miss you!
After getting lost in grass and webs of the largest spiders I have ever seen I took Jaime up the mountain to teach her how to bundle branches and how to tie non-lousy knots. This is when we began discussing our true feelings about Marcello. It wasn't the lack of toilet, or lawn mowing that gave us uneasy feelings about this farm, but how unwelcome we felt in his home and his frequent references to nazi's and jewish conspiracies. We decided there was no need to go though boot camp or have an unenjoyable stay so we decided to put into action the Emergency Escape Plan that Jaime
had devised the night before in her head. It called for the need to leave due to an emergency back home. Simple enough right?
We headed down the mountain to find Marcello and told him that we needed to leave early due to an emergency and asked him if there was a nearby bus stop or if he would mind driving us to the train at some point. He laughed at us for a few minutes with a snide look before saying he would think about it and continued on his work. Now we really diskliked the man. We went into the house and contemplated what to do from there. We wanted to walk out and leave him a note with some tude but we only got about half way up his mile long dirt "driveway" before we were winded.
We turned around and asked him one more time if he would mind taking us to a bus or train and he said that he "did not care about our emergency" and that we had to do more work before he would take us anywhere. Fake tears were not necessary. Being about 40 minutes from ANYTHING we had no choice but to keep working. More bundles were made and more grass was cut until we were finally done. He told us that we would have to wait till the night for a ride or that we could walk on our own.
So we packed up and attempted the driveway one more time. We got only a few steps from the house before he came wildly chasing us and yelling. He called us crazy and demanded to see our WWOOF cards. We toured around
Roma without a map, you think we brought our WWOOF cards? After he accused us of being imposters and theives he comanded us (in true Hitler fashion) for identification. After showing him our liscences he proceeded to call the WWOOF Italia organization to "report" us for who knows what. We sat there while he tried to prove that we were not WWOOF members and to get us banned from the organization. He failed at his mission and after they assured him that we were indeed members he finally agreed to drive us away. if possible, it was even scarier of a drive than the night before as he chose to take notes and eat lunch while driving on the othe side of the road. The only thing he said to us the entire drive was "at first I thought you were just silly...but now I know you are liars and cheaters".
MAMMA MIA! We boarded the next train to Firenze and were constantly on the look out for big white vans and Hitler look alikes.
Like Hans says, every WWOOF experience is like a blind date. Two for three isn't too shabby. Firenze here we come!
-J and C
This morning we woke up leisurley trying to not "go" in the bucket for as long as possible. We very awkwardly went into the kitcken without any greeting from Marcello. We grabbed some stale bread for breakfast (we quickly learned that he is not a very good bread maker, and that he definitely does NOT have the bread factory that Cinzia spoke of) and sat together in silence. We quickly got ready for work and then listened to Marcello list the chores that were ahead of us for the day, and as he assured us the night before there were never any "please's" to his requests. He mocked us when we didn't know what pruning was (hellooo, city girls), and told us he wouldn't be able to show us but we could collect the branches.
As we were walking to the yard he explained that he should have taken care of the lawn "two weks ago" but we think he meant two months ago. Since this was a job "for only one person" Jaime took hold of the the broken lawn mower and began mowing the shin-high grass pretty much blade by blade. He took me down into the wilderness through grass I couldn't see over and showed me how to bundle branches with string. So far very doable (although we were a little worried about the lack of coffee breaks and the no lunch thing). He got a little frusterated with my bundle making and called me a "lousy" knot tier (in all seriousness) and then blamed Jaime for breaking the lawn mower. Hans and Cinzia, we miss you!
After getting lost in grass and webs of the largest spiders I have ever seen I took Jaime up the mountain to teach her how to bundle branches and how to tie non-lousy knots. This is when we began discussing our true feelings about Marcello. It wasn't the lack of toilet, or lawn mowing that gave us uneasy feelings about this farm, but how unwelcome we felt in his home and his frequent references to nazi's and jewish conspiracies. We decided there was no need to go though boot camp or have an unenjoyable stay so we decided to put into action the Emergency Escape Plan that Jaime
had devised the night before in her head. It called for the need to leave due to an emergency back home. Simple enough right?
We headed down the mountain to find Marcello and told him that we needed to leave early due to an emergency and asked him if there was a nearby bus stop or if he would mind driving us to the train at some point. He laughed at us for a few minutes with a snide look before saying he would think about it and continued on his work. Now we really diskliked the man. We went into the house and contemplated what to do from there. We wanted to walk out and leave him a note with some tude but we only got about half way up his mile long dirt "driveway" before we were winded.
We turned around and asked him one more time if he would mind taking us to a bus or train and he said that he "did not care about our emergency" and that we had to do more work before he would take us anywhere. Fake tears were not necessary. Being about 40 minutes from ANYTHING we had no choice but to keep working. More bundles were made and more grass was cut until we were finally done. He told us that we would have to wait till the night for a ride or that we could walk on our own.
So we packed up and attempted the driveway one more time. We got only a few steps from the house before he came wildly chasing us and yelling. He called us crazy and demanded to see our WWOOF cards. We toured around
Roma without a map, you think we brought our WWOOF cards? After he accused us of being imposters and theives he comanded us (in true Hitler fashion) for identification. After showing him our liscences he proceeded to call the WWOOF Italia organization to "report" us for who knows what. We sat there while he tried to prove that we were not WWOOF members and to get us banned from the organization. He failed at his mission and after they assured him that we were indeed members he finally agreed to drive us away. if possible, it was even scarier of a drive than the night before as he chose to take notes and eat lunch while driving on the othe side of the road. The only thing he said to us the entire drive was "at first I thought you were just silly...but now I know you are liars and cheaters".
MAMMA MIA! We boarded the next train to Firenze and were constantly on the look out for big white vans and Hitler look alikes.
Like Hans says, every WWOOF experience is like a blind date. Two for three isn't too shabby. Firenze here we come!
-J and C
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Day 12- Toto, I Don't Think We Are in Kansas Anymore
So now we being our true farming experience. We started in Paradise: on a lake, wireless internet, bare minimum of work, then went to a happy medium: good phone service, beautiful scenery and work with great people. Now we are on a true farmish type place: a toilet that doesn't work (he told us to go in a bucket), bread for breakfast lunch and dinner, and in and out phone service.
Shouldn't we have done this the other way around? Or maybe we were just eased in to this experience. Either way, we won't really know until tomorrow.
Our last day in Spoleto was yet another day off. I guess Cinzia's Sunday are like Sundays too. We were free to do whatever wanted, so we had a small breakfast and got to tanning. The lawn chairs were wet, so we pulled up a couple chairs in the driveway and sat out in the sun. We broke a few necks as the locals were driving by.
Then we decided to work of yesterdays pizza and gelatto and go for a serious uphill bike ride. This time we knew what was in store for us. After getting yelled at by a man in a tractor and being chased by crazy dogs, we returned downhill (back home) for lunch. Our last oilly meal of the trip. Hopefully.
After lunch, Cinzia invited us to come to a "party" on top of the hill with her friends. We drove up the windy roads to get to the top of the mountain. The views were gorgeous. After being at this party for serveral hours that we thought was a family reunion, we found out that it was a gathering of the Catholic church of Spoleto. We walked around the mountains looking for mushrooms with Cinzia and at the party we ate any food we could spot that didn't have pork in it. We were about to indulge in what we thought was turkey meat...until we saw the giant pig head right next to it. Yum.
It was a perfect day...until the minor camera fiasco...that may or may not have led to Cinzia and her boyfriend breaking up: we went to the mountain party in Maximillio's car, and Chrsitine left her camera case in there. Fine. We left in Rafaela's car, camera case not with us. Not fine. When we got back to Cinzia's house, Christine told her that she forgot her case in Maximillio's car. She called him, no answer. Our train was due to leave in about one hour. Cinzia went to her room to try to figure out everything with Maximillio, who was still at the top of the mountain. As we got our stuff together to leave, Cinzia rushed to get us saying he would meet us at the station to give Christine her CAMERA. Cinzia was really distressed about how big of a "crazy man" he was being because "of course this camera is very important." Oops. Awkward miscommunication. Let's just say the interaction at the train station was not the most pleasant note to leave on. Cinzia looked like she was about ready to kill Maximillio as she handed Christine the EMPTY case. Arriverdeci Cinzia!
So now we get to the good stuff. Marcello told us he would pick us up at the station in a big white van. Of course we had to guess what he would look like again (and of course Christine was right again) but when we were at the station, there were so many men we thought he could be! None of them! He was a little late, but he finally came in his great white van. The drive was...long...and well, maybe all I'll say is that I think he learned to drive in England. Or that maybe he should use his lights. We finally burst out into nervous laughter that we tried so hard to hold in, but Christine made a recovery saying that the roads were like a roller coaster ride! Ha ha haaaa!
To our great surprise, we managed to make it safely to the farm where we had a nice piece of hard bread for dinner and peed into a toilet that doesn't flush. Mamma mia. I think I would rather eat oil but we will see tomorrow. Everything is different in the daytime. Right?
-J and C
Shouldn't we have done this the other way around? Or maybe we were just eased in to this experience. Either way, we won't really know until tomorrow.
Our last day in Spoleto was yet another day off. I guess Cinzia's Sunday are like Sundays too. We were free to do whatever wanted, so we had a small breakfast and got to tanning. The lawn chairs were wet, so we pulled up a couple chairs in the driveway and sat out in the sun. We broke a few necks as the locals were driving by.
Then we decided to work of yesterdays pizza and gelatto and go for a serious uphill bike ride. This time we knew what was in store for us. After getting yelled at by a man in a tractor and being chased by crazy dogs, we returned downhill (back home) for lunch. Our last oilly meal of the trip. Hopefully.
After lunch, Cinzia invited us to come to a "party" on top of the hill with her friends. We drove up the windy roads to get to the top of the mountain. The views were gorgeous. After being at this party for serveral hours that we thought was a family reunion, we found out that it was a gathering of the Catholic church of Spoleto. We walked around the mountains looking for mushrooms with Cinzia and at the party we ate any food we could spot that didn't have pork in it. We were about to indulge in what we thought was turkey meat...until we saw the giant pig head right next to it. Yum.
It was a perfect day...until the minor camera fiasco...that may or may not have led to Cinzia and her boyfriend breaking up: we went to the mountain party in Maximillio's car, and Chrsitine left her camera case in there. Fine. We left in Rafaela's car, camera case not with us. Not fine. When we got back to Cinzia's house, Christine told her that she forgot her case in Maximillio's car. She called him, no answer. Our train was due to leave in about one hour. Cinzia went to her room to try to figure out everything with Maximillio, who was still at the top of the mountain. As we got our stuff together to leave, Cinzia rushed to get us saying he would meet us at the station to give Christine her CAMERA. Cinzia was really distressed about how big of a "crazy man" he was being because "of course this camera is very important." Oops. Awkward miscommunication. Let's just say the interaction at the train station was not the most pleasant note to leave on. Cinzia looked like she was about ready to kill Maximillio as she handed Christine the EMPTY case. Arriverdeci Cinzia!
So now we get to the good stuff. Marcello told us he would pick us up at the station in a big white van. Of course we had to guess what he would look like again (and of course Christine was right again) but when we were at the station, there were so many men we thought he could be! None of them! He was a little late, but he finally came in his great white van. The drive was...long...and well, maybe all I'll say is that I think he learned to drive in England. Or that maybe he should use his lights. We finally burst out into nervous laughter that we tried so hard to hold in, but Christine made a recovery saying that the roads were like a roller coaster ride! Ha ha haaaa!
To our great surprise, we managed to make it safely to the farm where we had a nice piece of hard bread for dinner and peed into a toilet that doesn't flush. Mamma mia. I think I would rather eat oil but we will see tomorrow. Everything is different in the daytime. Right?
-J and C
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Day 12- Conquering Roma
So today we woke up and decided we wanted to go to Rome. Saturdays are Cinzias day off so she told us we could sleep late and relax, but due to our hibernation yesterday we were up early and ready to go. We watered the plants in the greenhouse and went for another unbeknownst uphill bike ride. When we devised a plan to try to wake up Cinzia to ask if spending the day in Rome would be okay. Our plan failed but at least we got the peanut butter out of her kitcken. We decided to go and pack for our day trip despite not having asked Cinzia yet. After having our bags packed and outfit ready we decided to try and wake her one more time, trying to make as much noise in her kitchen as possible. Success! Cinzia woke up and agreed to our plan and told us whenever we were ready she would take us to the bus stop. To her durprise it took us about 40 seconds to run upstairs and grab our bags before we were ready to be on our way!
We took the bus to Spoleto and spent a few minutes before our train to Rome searching supermarkets for peanut butter concluding that we definitely should have bought more in Switzerland.
We boarded the packed train to Roma and we were off. Once we arrived in Rome we realized we had no idea where we were going or what we wanted to see. We denclined buying a map and began walking in hopes of finding something famous we recognized from the DaVinci Code. Surprisingly this tactic did not work and we ended up asking many nice Italian people how to get to some famous land mark.
This lead us to the Coliseum which came easier than expected as it was RIGHT out of the metro station! We had to ask about six different people before we got a picture of us that had at least a little bit of the Coliseum in it. We are now pros at spotting good picture takers and we use them wisely.
Pizza time. We ate at a cute Pizzeria overlooking the Coliseum and stuffed our faces with an entire pie each. Cinzia's mother has gotten the best of us, but who wants to carry around leftovers all day?
After a leiusurely lunch we began walking again, mostly following the crowd, to an unknown destination. How we were excited! We came upon the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Although we may never who's tomb it was it seemed important and so we joined in the tourist ooh-ing and aah-ing. Tomb, check.
Now off to find the Trevi Fountain! Somehow, after explaining to Italians that we were looking for the "T-r-e-vi Foun-tain" we stumbled upon an extremely overcrowded fountain and immediately felt like we were in that Hilary Duff movie. Check!
Then we set our sites on the Pantheon. After taking pictures of a few building that we thought very well couldd have been the Pantheon we finally found the real thing! Check.
After exploring the windy streets and shops of Rome it was time to visit the only country where there are more parking spaces, more jobs, and more water fountains than citizens. It was time to see the Pope! Although the Pope was not around we chilled with the nuns for a while while walking around the Vatican, and eventually decided that the Pope might be found at a gelato bar.
He was not found at Blue Ice, but we still endulged in what may very well hav been the best gelato yet. But they are all so good, we will have to continue comparing places.
After our gelato eating and people watching break (Italia really has great style and has perfected the solid color outfit) we were off to find the spanish steps. Again, having no map, we took pictures on about three different stair cases before finding the real Spanish Steps where we found hundreds of people hanging out and admiring a beautiful sunset. Bellisimo!
After contemplating a second round of pizza and/or gelato we headed for the metro to go back to Spoleto. If we had a nickel for how many people we asked for directions today we could buy pizza and gelato for all of you. Who needs maps anyway?
Step aside Caesar, we can conquer Rome in just ONE day.
-J and C
We took the bus to Spoleto and spent a few minutes before our train to Rome searching supermarkets for peanut butter concluding that we definitely should have bought more in Switzerland.
We boarded the packed train to Roma and we were off. Once we arrived in Rome we realized we had no idea where we were going or what we wanted to see. We denclined buying a map and began walking in hopes of finding something famous we recognized from the DaVinci Code. Surprisingly this tactic did not work and we ended up asking many nice Italian people how to get to some famous land mark.
This lead us to the Coliseum which came easier than expected as it was RIGHT out of the metro station! We had to ask about six different people before we got a picture of us that had at least a little bit of the Coliseum in it. We are now pros at spotting good picture takers and we use them wisely.
Pizza time. We ate at a cute Pizzeria overlooking the Coliseum and stuffed our faces with an entire pie each. Cinzia's mother has gotten the best of us, but who wants to carry around leftovers all day?
After a leiusurely lunch we began walking again, mostly following the crowd, to an unknown destination. How we were excited! We came upon the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Although we may never who's tomb it was it seemed important and so we joined in the tourist ooh-ing and aah-ing. Tomb, check.
Now off to find the Trevi Fountain! Somehow, after explaining to Italians that we were looking for the "T-r-e-vi Foun-tain" we stumbled upon an extremely overcrowded fountain and immediately felt like we were in that Hilary Duff movie. Check!
Then we set our sites on the Pantheon. After taking pictures of a few building that we thought very well couldd have been the Pantheon we finally found the real thing! Check.
After exploring the windy streets and shops of Rome it was time to visit the only country where there are more parking spaces, more jobs, and more water fountains than citizens. It was time to see the Pope! Although the Pope was not around we chilled with the nuns for a while while walking around the Vatican, and eventually decided that the Pope might be found at a gelato bar.
He was not found at Blue Ice, but we still endulged in what may very well hav been the best gelato yet. But they are all so good, we will have to continue comparing places.
After our gelato eating and people watching break (Italia really has great style and has perfected the solid color outfit) we were off to find the spanish steps. Again, having no map, we took pictures on about three different stair cases before finding the real Spanish Steps where we found hundreds of people hanging out and admiring a beautiful sunset. Bellisimo!
After contemplating a second round of pizza and/or gelato we headed for the metro to go back to Spoleto. If we had a nickel for how many people we asked for directions today we could buy pizza and gelato for all of you. Who needs maps anyway?
Step aside Caesar, we can conquer Rome in just ONE day.
-J and C
Friday, May 28, 2010
Day 11- Basta With Pasta
We woke up to the usual routine: poopy pants and breakfast, but today we introduced peanut butter to Cinzia. She loved it. JIF, you can thank us later.
We got to work transfering more plants for the shop and watering and feeding the tomatoes, beans, cauliflower, stevia, etc. We also planted more today, this time it was cauliflower.
For lunch we had what they told us was a special Spoleto meal: pasta and more oil. The pasta was homemade so it was really great, but the oil is starting to get to us. There is NOTHING on the table that isn't drenched in oil. Nothing.
After lunch, it looked like it was going to rain. We decided it was time to go into rainy day mode: hibernation. We fell asleep and work up to the sun shining and the land as dry as ever. Oops. After a THREE hour nap, we realized we should probably see if we could help any more.
Cinzia asked us to help plant more tomatoes on her brothers farm. Cinzia kept saying there was something different about his farm but she didn't explain to us what it was. We figured it out: his farm doesn't use cow manure!! Only...he uses horse poop. Our poopy pants are becoming so cultured.
After sitting in horse waste for an hour, we took a short bike trip to the supermarket in search of more peanut butter and chocolate. There was no sign of any PB in the whole (tiny) shop. Failure. At least we got chocolate (pretty cheap too).
On the way home, we learned that it was Spoleto's rush hour consists of mini cars driving actually rushing to get home, leaving barely any room as they passed us on our bikes. Yikes.
For dinner there was even more oil. I mean food covered in oil. Fried fish. Our faaaavvvvorite. Ahhh!!! In attempt to hide our fish under pieces of lettuce, the whole family was making fun of us and saying we never eat. Finally they didn't force feed us though!
Cinzia told us that her duck (she has FOUR ducks) ate the cauliflower plants we just planted today. Her friend made a joke and said that tomorrow we will eat the duck. This led to a big confusion of language when we starting saying yummm we lovveeee duck! Cinzia was scared we were actually going to eat the duck. Sarcasm does NOT translate well.
Dinner was concluded by watching strange Italian dance shows with the volume blasting and Cinzia's mother begging us to dance. She says she will join us on a jog tomorrow morning (yes, the mother). We will see how that goes...
-J and C
We got to work transfering more plants for the shop and watering and feeding the tomatoes, beans, cauliflower, stevia, etc. We also planted more today, this time it was cauliflower.
For lunch we had what they told us was a special Spoleto meal: pasta and more oil. The pasta was homemade so it was really great, but the oil is starting to get to us. There is NOTHING on the table that isn't drenched in oil. Nothing.
After lunch, it looked like it was going to rain. We decided it was time to go into rainy day mode: hibernation. We fell asleep and work up to the sun shining and the land as dry as ever. Oops. After a THREE hour nap, we realized we should probably see if we could help any more.
Cinzia asked us to help plant more tomatoes on her brothers farm. Cinzia kept saying there was something different about his farm but she didn't explain to us what it was. We figured it out: his farm doesn't use cow manure!! Only...he uses horse poop. Our poopy pants are becoming so cultured.
After sitting in horse waste for an hour, we took a short bike trip to the supermarket in search of more peanut butter and chocolate. There was no sign of any PB in the whole (tiny) shop. Failure. At least we got chocolate (pretty cheap too).
On the way home, we learned that it was Spoleto's rush hour consists of mini cars driving actually rushing to get home, leaving barely any room as they passed us on our bikes. Yikes.
For dinner there was even more oil. I mean food covered in oil. Fried fish. Our faaaavvvvorite. Ahhh!!! In attempt to hide our fish under pieces of lettuce, the whole family was making fun of us and saying we never eat. Finally they didn't force feed us though!
Cinzia told us that her duck (she has FOUR ducks) ate the cauliflower plants we just planted today. Her friend made a joke and said that tomorrow we will eat the duck. This led to a big confusion of language when we starting saying yummm we lovveeee duck! Cinzia was scared we were actually going to eat the duck. Sarcasm does NOT translate well.
Dinner was concluded by watching strange Italian dance shows with the volume blasting and Cinzia's mother begging us to dance. She says she will join us on a jog tomorrow morning (yes, the mother). We will see how that goes...
-J and C
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Day 10- I am a Crazy Person for Plant
This morning we once again skipped our "daily" run and went straight to Cinzia's for breakfast. We set the table for the four of us and began our nutella and bread feast. Once Angela arrived she refused to use the bowl we put out for her and instead got the exact same one from the cubbard and used that instead. I guess she is still not over the sleeping bag incident.
We had lighter work in the garden and spent our whole morning transferring plants to individual pots to be sold in the shop. The only down side was that we were in the shade so we didn't get to utilize carefully planned tan-line proof attire.
After a few pear-juice breaks it was finally lunch time and we learned the difference between pasta faggiole and minestrone. We got to the table and the bowls were filled to the brim with minestrone. Luckily we arrived before everyone else so we could dump as much of our soup into other peoples bowls as we could before anyone saw us. I still couldn't finish my bowl.
We had the rest of the day off and took a what we planned on being an hour bike ride off into Cinzia's "country". Our butts were do sore that we lasted about 10 minutes and instead had our own dance party in the Bed and Breakfast to Disney stars, or the "best pop stars in the world" according to Jaime.
We didint even attempt to bike to the lake again, and instead got a ride from Cinzia into the city of Spoleto! Immediately we found gelato and devoured it, being our usual dinner hour. We walked around the city, getting much attention since we were the only tourists there! Our cameras and flip flops were a dead give away.
As we awaited for Cinzia to pick us up we tried to distract ourselves from our grumbling bellies (and trying to resist getting more gelato) by practicing our Italian on a bench. We are almost fluent in our Hello's and How Are You's.
Once Cinzia picked us up we realized that we missed one of the landmark sites in Spoleto. We are bad tourists.
Finally it was dinner time! And we have figured out the secret to delicious Italian cuisine: oil and salt...in EVERYTHING. The meal concluded with Cinzia's mother actually chasing us around the kitcken with a plate of cherries in an attempt to feed us even more. She won and the plate was cleared.
She then took us on a walk to her brothers house, although we had no idea where we were going. I think he is the only person in Spoleto who speaks English. After guessing that we were 16 he promised he would "taste us" his wine tomorrow, but only a little because we are "bambini's".
Apparently it is a full moon tonight which means that its great for the plants to grow. Cinzia would know this, because as she told us, she is "a crazy person for plants".
-J and C
We had lighter work in the garden and spent our whole morning transferring plants to individual pots to be sold in the shop. The only down side was that we were in the shade so we didn't get to utilize carefully planned tan-line proof attire.
After a few pear-juice breaks it was finally lunch time and we learned the difference between pasta faggiole and minestrone. We got to the table and the bowls were filled to the brim with minestrone. Luckily we arrived before everyone else so we could dump as much of our soup into other peoples bowls as we could before anyone saw us. I still couldn't finish my bowl.
We had the rest of the day off and took a what we planned on being an hour bike ride off into Cinzia's "country". Our butts were do sore that we lasted about 10 minutes and instead had our own dance party in the Bed and Breakfast to Disney stars, or the "best pop stars in the world" according to Jaime.
We didint even attempt to bike to the lake again, and instead got a ride from Cinzia into the city of Spoleto! Immediately we found gelato and devoured it, being our usual dinner hour. We walked around the city, getting much attention since we were the only tourists there! Our cameras and flip flops were a dead give away.
As we awaited for Cinzia to pick us up we tried to distract ourselves from our grumbling bellies (and trying to resist getting more gelato) by practicing our Italian on a bench. We are almost fluent in our Hello's and How Are You's.
Once Cinzia picked us up we realized that we missed one of the landmark sites in Spoleto. We are bad tourists.
Finally it was dinner time! And we have figured out the secret to delicious Italian cuisine: oil and salt...in EVERYTHING. The meal concluded with Cinzia's mother actually chasing us around the kitcken with a plate of cherries in an attempt to feed us even more. She won and the plate was cleared.
She then took us on a walk to her brothers house, although we had no idea where we were going. I think he is the only person in Spoleto who speaks English. After guessing that we were 16 he promised he would "taste us" his wine tomorrow, but only a little because we are "bambini's".
Apparently it is a full moon tonight which means that its great for the plants to grow. Cinzia would know this, because as she told us, she is "a crazy person for plants".
-J and C
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Day 9 -Poopy Pants
Today we skipped the second annual morning run to get a little extra sleep. We ate breakfast and put on our poopy pants (our designated pants for working in manure).
We planted about 200 more tomatoes. Mamma mia. After getting great sports bra tan lines and building our biceps with the gardening tools (no, gardening is NOT for sissys) we threw in the towel for the day.
Today we skipped the grande pasta italiano feast for a "lighter" lunch. At lunch we asked Cinzia about the lake that we wanted to bike to. We were excited to bike and cool off in the lake, but she told us someone died in it and its too dangerous to swim in. How a lake could be dangerous? We don't know. She drew out a map for us to get to the lake consisting of squiggly lines and wished us luck. We went off on our journey to find the lake that we couldn't swim in. After about 5 miles of biking, our legs couldn't take it any more. The lake was at the top of a hill a couple more miles awat and at that point we didn't think we would be able to make it. So we turned around in order to have enough energy for the five miles back. It wasn't until we turned around and didn't have to pedal at all that we realized that we had been going up hill the whole time. Bene. I guess we will never know why the lake is so dangerous.
When we got back to the B and B, Cinzia saw us sweating and aching and she just laughed at us (in a friendly way). She told us that tomorrow she would drive us to the lake we can't swim in. Is it because of pirahnas? Sharks? Toxic water? Answer to come.
The rest of the day we got our tan on and relaxed. A few guests checked in and we helped prepare the room for them.
We eagerly waited for dinner and tried to distract ourselves knowing we would have to wait until 9. Christine got corn rows and we discussed the importance of having friends to not become obese. Still didn't help our hunger situation. Yesterday Cinzia's friends were laughing at the fact that Americans eat at 6. Ha Ha.
After being stuffed with bread and rice and the tiny piece of proscioutto I haddd to try (again, sorry mom) Cinzia's mother force fed me nutella. How horrible!
After today, we are down one less companion. Earlier, we came into the room to find Angela's sleeping bag in the exact formation of a human body. Thinking maybe she was napping in it, we tried to be quiet, while trying to figure out if it was actually her. Of course we had a laughing fit that lasted about five minutes. It ended when Christine came up with the only feasable solution: lift up the sleeping bag. And that she did. Although Angela was not in her sleeping bag, she was standing outside the bedroom door watching. Oops. At dinner there was no eye contact made and no communication whatsoever. Don't worry, Christine plans on confronting her by saying there was a bug on her sleeping bag that she was trying to get rid of. Hope it works.
Sonno stanco. (Look it up).
Arrieverdeci (say in a southern accent, like Brad Pitt).
-J and C
We planted about 200 more tomatoes. Mamma mia. After getting great sports bra tan lines and building our biceps with the gardening tools (no, gardening is NOT for sissys) we threw in the towel for the day.
Today we skipped the grande pasta italiano feast for a "lighter" lunch. At lunch we asked Cinzia about the lake that we wanted to bike to. We were excited to bike and cool off in the lake, but she told us someone died in it and its too dangerous to swim in. How a lake could be dangerous? We don't know. She drew out a map for us to get to the lake consisting of squiggly lines and wished us luck. We went off on our journey to find the lake that we couldn't swim in. After about 5 miles of biking, our legs couldn't take it any more. The lake was at the top of a hill a couple more miles awat and at that point we didn't think we would be able to make it. So we turned around in order to have enough energy for the five miles back. It wasn't until we turned around and didn't have to pedal at all that we realized that we had been going up hill the whole time. Bene. I guess we will never know why the lake is so dangerous.
When we got back to the B and B, Cinzia saw us sweating and aching and she just laughed at us (in a friendly way). She told us that tomorrow she would drive us to the lake we can't swim in. Is it because of pirahnas? Sharks? Toxic water? Answer to come.
The rest of the day we got our tan on and relaxed. A few guests checked in and we helped prepare the room for them.
We eagerly waited for dinner and tried to distract ourselves knowing we would have to wait until 9. Christine got corn rows and we discussed the importance of having friends to not become obese. Still didn't help our hunger situation. Yesterday Cinzia's friends were laughing at the fact that Americans eat at 6. Ha Ha.
After being stuffed with bread and rice and the tiny piece of proscioutto I haddd to try (again, sorry mom) Cinzia's mother force fed me nutella. How horrible!
After today, we are down one less companion. Earlier, we came into the room to find Angela's sleeping bag in the exact formation of a human body. Thinking maybe she was napping in it, we tried to be quiet, while trying to figure out if it was actually her. Of course we had a laughing fit that lasted about five minutes. It ended when Christine came up with the only feasable solution: lift up the sleeping bag. And that she did. Although Angela was not in her sleeping bag, she was standing outside the bedroom door watching. Oops. At dinner there was no eye contact made and no communication whatsoever. Don't worry, Christine plans on confronting her by saying there was a bug on her sleeping bag that she was trying to get rid of. Hope it works.
Sonno stanco. (Look it up).
Arrieverdeci (say in a southern accent, like Brad Pitt).
-J and C
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Day 8: The Big Pig
We started off the day on a good foot by running into the "town" of San Martino. We had a light breakfast with Cinzia and Angela and then got an official tour of the farm and garden. We shoveled, raked, hoed, and watered until we were sweating more than we had chopping wood. Once lunch time came around we were force fed an enormous pasta lunch where too much was never enough. Mamma mia! Once our bellies were stuffed with pasta we took a bike ride back into town, this time with our tourist gear. We made stops to take pictures in peoples front yards, barely escaping vicious dogs. After perfecting some self shots we got back to the farm to work on our tan for a bit. Cinzia wanted to take us on a "break" to get ice cream so we headed to the most delicious gelato bar everrr. It is safe to say that we will be back there again.
After the break we successfully planted 48 tomato plants! Only a few hundred more to go! An even greater accomplishment would have been if we successfully explained the "when in Rome" expression which we struggled with for a while.
Work was over and off to Cinzia's GAS meeting we went. The meeting consists of organic farmers from the area who gather and trade different items they grow. We left with two huge cartons of vegetables and bags of fruit.
We returned home just in time for a TEN o'clock dinner where Cinzia's friends brought over pizza. And by pizza we mean one pie per person. Is this real life? After failing miserably to eat six whole pizzas the group chatted over home-made absinthe which was followed by a digereedoo performance. An italian-english dictionary was a definite necessity to the night, especially when a discussion of the ninja turtles began. Much more exploring needs to be done, but so far we have great company and full full bellies.
Buona notte!
-J and C
After the break we successfully planted 48 tomato plants! Only a few hundred more to go! An even greater accomplishment would have been if we successfully explained the "when in Rome" expression which we struggled with for a while.
Work was over and off to Cinzia's GAS meeting we went. The meeting consists of organic farmers from the area who gather and trade different items they grow. We left with two huge cartons of vegetables and bags of fruit.
We returned home just in time for a TEN o'clock dinner where Cinzia's friends brought over pizza. And by pizza we mean one pie per person. Is this real life? After failing miserably to eat six whole pizzas the group chatted over home-made absinthe which was followed by a digereedoo performance. An italian-english dictionary was a definite necessity to the night, especially when a discussion of the ninja turtles began. Much more exploring needs to be done, but so far we have great company and full full bellies.
Buona notte!
-J and C
Day 7- Ciao Italia
As we said farewell to Hans, we bought tickets to Milan not knowing where we were headed from there (sorry mom).
On train number one (starting at 7:30 AM) we met two American boys...don't worry Reid and Henrik, they went to WPI. It was nice to hear a little bit of English and to make people jealous of our farming experiences.
They were headed to Milan as well, so we left train number one and headed to the second with our new friends. During the entire two hours on train number two, they were constantly talking to us as we were passing notes to each other trying to guess their names. We were wrong. Christine left a good impression as she fell off the second train. (Unlike her first wipe out, this time she managed to stay on her feet).
In Milan, I had to go to the bathroom...of course...only to find out that Italy charges for public bathrooms. The entrance to the bathroom was like the entrance to Disney World. We decided to hold it (ahhh)!
Then, we bought another ticket to go to ANCONA! After 3 and half more hours and much anticipation for the beachside dinner we decided we were going to have, we finally arrived in Ancona. What can I say? Ancona...how you say...there is no beach in Ancona! Nor much of anything in fact. We did learn something for our stop in Ancona, though: there is NOTHING open on Mondays.
After our two hour layover, we boarded yet another train. We finally figured out where we were headed when we received an e-mail from Cinzia saying she could pick us up in Spoleto. The ride was another three hours, but very entertaining with our head phones and karaoke session.
At 8 o'clock in the eventing we finaly arrived at our destination: beautiful Spoleto.
Yet again, we attempted to figure out what Cinzia looked like. I thought she would be an old lady with curly brown short hair, wearing a dress and an apron. Christine thought she would be a young woman with straight brown hair. ...and AGAIN Christine was exactly on point. Funny part is, her mother is exaclty what I thought Cinzia would be.
At the station, Cinzia and another women working on the farm, Angela, picked us up and drove us to the house. She owns a Bed and Breakfast called Le Rondinelle in a small town outside of Spoleto in the Umbria region.
Her family was extremely welcoming and they fed us a true Italian dinner...and then they fed us more. After tea with Cinzia, we are so excited to explore the area and work tomorrow!
-J and C
On train number one (starting at 7:30 AM) we met two American boys...don't worry Reid and Henrik, they went to WPI. It was nice to hear a little bit of English and to make people jealous of our farming experiences.
They were headed to Milan as well, so we left train number one and headed to the second with our new friends. During the entire two hours on train number two, they were constantly talking to us as we were passing notes to each other trying to guess their names. We were wrong. Christine left a good impression as she fell off the second train. (Unlike her first wipe out, this time she managed to stay on her feet).
In Milan, I had to go to the bathroom...of course...only to find out that Italy charges for public bathrooms. The entrance to the bathroom was like the entrance to Disney World. We decided to hold it (ahhh)!
Then, we bought another ticket to go to ANCONA! After 3 and half more hours and much anticipation for the beachside dinner we decided we were going to have, we finally arrived in Ancona. What can I say? Ancona...how you say...there is no beach in Ancona! Nor much of anything in fact. We did learn something for our stop in Ancona, though: there is NOTHING open on Mondays.
After our two hour layover, we boarded yet another train. We finally figured out where we were headed when we received an e-mail from Cinzia saying she could pick us up in Spoleto. The ride was another three hours, but very entertaining with our head phones and karaoke session.
At 8 o'clock in the eventing we finaly arrived at our destination: beautiful Spoleto.
Yet again, we attempted to figure out what Cinzia looked like. I thought she would be an old lady with curly brown short hair, wearing a dress and an apron. Christine thought she would be a young woman with straight brown hair. ...and AGAIN Christine was exactly on point. Funny part is, her mother is exaclty what I thought Cinzia would be.
At the station, Cinzia and another women working on the farm, Angela, picked us up and drove us to the house. She owns a Bed and Breakfast called Le Rondinelle in a small town outside of Spoleto in the Umbria region.
Her family was extremely welcoming and they fed us a true Italian dinner...and then they fed us more. After tea with Cinzia, we are so excited to explore the area and work tomorrow!
-J and C
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Day 6: Maybe They Sell Socks Up There
You would think that we are doing some of these crazy things for your entertainment. But I think we are just crazy.
Today we had the day off because Hans wanted to reward us for all of our wood cutting. He bought us tickets to travel up to the famous JUNGFRAUJOCH (say that five times, fast). It is the TOP of Europe. It is a two hour train ride from Interlaken, uphill the whole way.
Because it was our day off, we decided to wear our casual clothes: jeans, a light sweater and flip flops. Silly Americans. Of course the TOP of Europe would be -5 degrees celsius covered with snow. NOT flip flop weather.
As we we waiting on the platform, Hans noticed our lack of toe coverage and began wailing. He said he would give us his shoes but he only had one pair! He said goodbye to us and wished us luck with our bare feet.
We always like attention. Boarding the train, every single person was staring at our feet. Good thing our toe nails were painted. We were the most popular people on the train, making friends the whole ride.
Two hours later, we reached the TOP of EUROPE. It was gorgeous (and cold). We ran outside to soak in as much as we could of the breathtaking views of the Alps. It is really a site to see, and we are lucky Hans was so generous to pay for us to go.
While we were taking many pictures, there were also many pictures being taken of us. People thought our flip flops were as great of a wonder as the beautiful views.
We warmed our frozen toes inside while still taking in the sights (through a window) and finally headed back to Interlaken. We walked around the touristy city for about an hour and decided it was time to head back to beautiful Brienz.
Once again, we asked Hans to join us at the lake, but this time for a REAL swim. We were in the water for a whole...40 seconds. It was a beautiful day.
Tonight, Henriette is making us a Creole dinner, while we attempt to figure out where the heck we are going tomorrow. Tuscany? Bologna? We will let you know tomorrow!
-J and C
Today we had the day off because Hans wanted to reward us for all of our wood cutting. He bought us tickets to travel up to the famous JUNGFRAUJOCH (say that five times, fast). It is the TOP of Europe. It is a two hour train ride from Interlaken, uphill the whole way.
Because it was our day off, we decided to wear our casual clothes: jeans, a light sweater and flip flops. Silly Americans. Of course the TOP of Europe would be -5 degrees celsius covered with snow. NOT flip flop weather.
As we we waiting on the platform, Hans noticed our lack of toe coverage and began wailing. He said he would give us his shoes but he only had one pair! He said goodbye to us and wished us luck with our bare feet.
We always like attention. Boarding the train, every single person was staring at our feet. Good thing our toe nails were painted. We were the most popular people on the train, making friends the whole ride.
Two hours later, we reached the TOP of EUROPE. It was gorgeous (and cold). We ran outside to soak in as much as we could of the breathtaking views of the Alps. It is really a site to see, and we are lucky Hans was so generous to pay for us to go.
While we were taking many pictures, there were also many pictures being taken of us. People thought our flip flops were as great of a wonder as the beautiful views.
We warmed our frozen toes inside while still taking in the sights (through a window) and finally headed back to Interlaken. We walked around the touristy city for about an hour and decided it was time to head back to beautiful Brienz.
Once again, we asked Hans to join us at the lake, but this time for a REAL swim. We were in the water for a whole...40 seconds. It was a beautiful day.
Tonight, Henriette is making us a Creole dinner, while we attempt to figure out where the heck we are going tomorrow. Tuscany? Bologna? We will let you know tomorrow!
-J and C
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Day 5: Here We Are Family
This morning we woke up bright and early to head to the market to buy food for our Surprise American Meal for dinner. Hans (who we figured out was the former mayor of Brienz, not preseident of Switzerland) has told us many stories of previous WWOOFers attempts at making food. We have heard about "feggin" pizza consisting of only pizza crust and sauce, and dry chicken and crispy green beans. We did not want to dissapoint.
When we returned from the market we ate a quick breakfast and went stright to work to cut more wood. This time we actually got to cut the wood and not just stack it! We chopped wood with Hans` handmade machine while simutaneously trying to get a nice tan. After trying to perfect our self sun-dialing we turned ourselves until our shadows were directly in front of us and declared it lunch time.
We headed home from a lunch made by Michigo, another WWOOFer who Hans named "hexe", or witch. Then it was time to head to Ferdi's (the Swiss Brad Pitt) house for more ice cream topped with more cream. Not only is Ferdi the most famous actor in Switzerland, he also was treasurer of Brienz for 8 years AND an amazing wood carver. Although we never wanted to leave the most beautiful view that we have ever seen dessert time was over.
We headed home and put on our swim suits only to find out it was not swim time just yet, but more wood cutting! We cut wood with our strong muscles for two more hours and stayed just long enough to learn why wood cutting should NOT be done in swim suits and shorts. When our sun dials showed five o'clock on the dot (because practice makes perfect) coffee and swim time it was. Hans and Henriette accompianed us to the lake where we actually swam a few strokes before running out.
Dinner time. After slaving over a hot stove to make the perfect American meal, burgers, frozen french fries and corn, we dined with the unusual appearance of many many napkins. The meal was absolutely silent, meaning they either loved it or hated it, hard to tell with such large appetites. Either way, we concluded the meal with the american take on fondue, where fruit "meet" chocolate.
Hans has assured us that there is so much more to do here and that we must return for a longer visit in the future as "we are family".
-C and J
When we returned from the market we ate a quick breakfast and went stright to work to cut more wood. This time we actually got to cut the wood and not just stack it! We chopped wood with Hans` handmade machine while simutaneously trying to get a nice tan. After trying to perfect our self sun-dialing we turned ourselves until our shadows were directly in front of us and declared it lunch time.
We headed home from a lunch made by Michigo, another WWOOFer who Hans named "hexe", or witch. Then it was time to head to Ferdi's (the Swiss Brad Pitt) house for more ice cream topped with more cream. Not only is Ferdi the most famous actor in Switzerland, he also was treasurer of Brienz for 8 years AND an amazing wood carver. Although we never wanted to leave the most beautiful view that we have ever seen dessert time was over.
We headed home and put on our swim suits only to find out it was not swim time just yet, but more wood cutting! We cut wood with our strong muscles for two more hours and stayed just long enough to learn why wood cutting should NOT be done in swim suits and shorts. When our sun dials showed five o'clock on the dot (because practice makes perfect) coffee and swim time it was. Hans and Henriette accompianed us to the lake where we actually swam a few strokes before running out.
Dinner time. After slaving over a hot stove to make the perfect American meal, burgers, frozen french fries and corn, we dined with the unusual appearance of many many napkins. The meal was absolutely silent, meaning they either loved it or hated it, hard to tell with such large appetites. Either way, we concluded the meal with the american take on fondue, where fruit "meet" chocolate.
Hans has assured us that there is so much more to do here and that we must return for a longer visit in the future as "we are family".
-C and J
Friday, May 21, 2010
Day 4: I Don`t Think You Understand That I Am 83
This is what Hans said to us after we asked him if he likes jumping off the diving board. Good answer.
Just call us the Lone Rangers. Today we walked for 2 and half hours uphill (both ways) with ELEVEN cows. We were warned to be careful of the cows "doing what we do in the bathroom."
Picture us leading a herd of cows uphill on a road, with cars, with full on tourist gear (cameras, camcorders and all). Now picture the cows running in the wrong direction, and us laughing and taking pictures while everyone else is chasing after the cows. It was a fun day.
After getting pooped and peed on, we were treated to delicious ice cream made from cows in the region. We were assured that the cows didn't make the ice cream themselves, rather, their milk was used to make it.
When we came back down the mountain, we asked Hans if he would join us for a swim in Brienzersee. Hans was very excited to swim in the 15 degree water (celsius, that is). We didn't know what we were in for. A few minutes later, we found Hans ready to go in his swimming shorts and bright blue robe, chest exposed and all. We walked down to the lake (practically in his front yard) and waited a while to soak up the sun before getting into the cold water. Finally, we stuck our feet in the water and were very close to not going in any further, but Hans jumped right in and began swimming around, so we ran into the lake up to our shoulders, and ran right back out.
It was a fun day, full of once in a lifetime experiences. Now we are waiting to see if anyone plans on making dinner tonight...if not, more bread and granola bars.
-J and C
Just call us the Lone Rangers. Today we walked for 2 and half hours uphill (both ways) with ELEVEN cows. We were warned to be careful of the cows "doing what we do in the bathroom."
Picture us leading a herd of cows uphill on a road, with cars, with full on tourist gear (cameras, camcorders and all). Now picture the cows running in the wrong direction, and us laughing and taking pictures while everyone else is chasing after the cows. It was a fun day.
After getting pooped and peed on, we were treated to delicious ice cream made from cows in the region. We were assured that the cows didn't make the ice cream themselves, rather, their milk was used to make it.
When we came back down the mountain, we asked Hans if he would join us for a swim in Brienzersee. Hans was very excited to swim in the 15 degree water (celsius, that is). We didn't know what we were in for. A few minutes later, we found Hans ready to go in his swimming shorts and bright blue robe, chest exposed and all. We walked down to the lake (practically in his front yard) and waited a while to soak up the sun before getting into the cold water. Finally, we stuck our feet in the water and were very close to not going in any further, but Hans jumped right in and began swimming around, so we ran into the lake up to our shoulders, and ran right back out.
It was a fun day, full of once in a lifetime experiences. Now we are waiting to see if anyone plans on making dinner tonight...if not, more bread and granola bars.
-J and C
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Day 3: Life is Too Short to Drink Water
According to the former president of Switzerland life should be spent drinking creamy smoothies and blended watermelon, not water. Coffee is also a regular four-time-a-day kind of drink, but I'm not talking about any mild American coffee. This stuff is serious (or so I hear from Jaime). During the morning, midmorning, afternoon, and nightly coffee breaks I sip on delicious tea blended from wild plants found in the mountains (heaven forbid I hold a glass of water in my hand during coffee time). Our host and fellow WWOOFers are shocked by how little we eat as Americans (although they are unaware of how many slices of bread I sneak throughout the day). At every meal they remark about how they expected us to come hungry, requesting seconds and thirds. The food has been quite good thus far, and we are especially fans of the hand-made dressings and creams. We cannot wait to make a huge feast for everbody here on out last night. They are in for a big surprise, one consisting of a lot of ground beef and french fries.
-C
-C
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Day 2: A Rocky Start
After sitting on the runway for two hours, struggling to sleep on the plane, running through Zurich Airport and getting on the wrog train, we finally made it to Brienz. During our long travel we came up with a picture of what Hans would look like. I thought he was around fifty, Christine thought he was around sixty and we decided he would be wearing jeans and a flannel shirt and that every night he would sit on his rocking chair smoking a pipe and petting his dog. Well, maybe we were a bit off...or more than a bit. As we stepped off the train we saw a big old man, whom we have learned is 83, wearing shorts with suspenders. He looks like Colonel Sanders. He was accompanied by a younger woman, Hemnriette. Hans speaks German and French and Henriette speaks French. They both speak little English. Very little. The language barrier is difficult, but interesting. To add to the mix, there is another woman in the house named Michiko. She speaks Japanese and English.Michiko and Henriette do not get along well because they cannot understand eachother. Well, that's our temporary family. Though there is a little bit of drama between H and M, they are all really nice people.
After we settled in and ate lunch we went with Henriette on a long windey drive up to Axalp. We walked around and picked many flowers and plants that we will use for a salad and butter tomorrow. It is really beautiful here!
Finally going to bed after missing a whole nights sleep!
-J
After we settled in and ate lunch we went with Henriette on a long windey drive up to Axalp. We walked around and picked many flowers and plants that we will use for a salad and butter tomorrow. It is really beautiful here!
Finally going to bed after missing a whole nights sleep!
-J
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Day 1: The Departure
So, we are sitting at the terminal in chairs even more uncomfortable than airplane seats...maybe they want it to seem like the airplanes are really comfy once we finally get to sit in them. We got to the airport a little...well a lot early...
Anyways...we are waiting to board (at 4:25) for Zurich!!!! Gonna need some food or entertainment in the meantime...or maybe both.
Can't wait to meet HANS!
-J
Anyways...we are waiting to board (at 4:25) for Zurich!!!! Gonna need some food or entertainment in the meantime...or maybe both.
Can't wait to meet HANS!
-J
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