Those fateful words were spoken while we were on the train from Madrid to Seville, followed by Kubic saying "Better knock on wood".
We didn't knock on wood, but we should have.
Turns out Kubic's flight tomorrow night at 9:15pm is actually TODAY at 9:15pm. We realized this luckily when we were awoken to the beautiful sounds of jackhammers and construction workers. Kubic ended up going downstairs to check his email and his parents were confirming with him that he left today. We were planning on going to the beach all day, well, not "were planning", we still have every intention of going, but we'll just have to return earlier.
SO, I knocked on every wooden door I could find in the hostel on the way down to the lobby (might have woken up some people in the process...) but know I'm shooting not to miss my flight that is still tomorrow at 5:45pm.
To the beach and Kubic says high to the folks and that he'll be back in America soon... oh how he missses you (America... well, and his family too, but really America).
lunes, 6 de agosto de 2007
viernes, 3 de agosto de 2007
Back home... well, Sevilla at least
Wow, we´ve a lot to talk about. Lets start with the rest of Paris and go from there... hopefully you´ll stick with us...
SO, our last day in 2 days in paris were awesome. I (Lundborg) ended up sleeping outside on the terrace of our hostel because the 40 year old sweed that was in my room would give dad´s snoring a run for his money. Seriously, I thought there was a train that was going through my room. We got up and had your typical french breakfast, or so we assume, of bread and orange juice. Then we went on our way sightseeing.
Obviously, the first stop had to be the Louvre. yes, we know he Orsay or whatever it is is actually better, but who can go to paris without seeing the mona lisa?! That being said, we took a bunch of pictures outside of the giant glass pyramids and entered into the worlds largest and best known museum. We just went to one wing, I think it was the Dennon wing, which houses the Mona Lisa the the Kings crown (Louis the XV I think). It was fantastic, but there were tons of people taking pictures of the paintings, which destroys them... what a shame.
Then, we moved on to notre Dame. This was especially cool for me (Lundborg) because it was a gothic cathedral and we learned a ton about all of the gothic structures in my classes, so it was fun to go see it. We went inside and snuck into a free tour halfway through it and then left when the guide was losing control of the group.
After that, we ate lunch in the park, just behind the nortre dame. It was very chill and a lot of fun. Good weather by the way in Paris.
From there, we went up to the top of the eifell Tower. It was so high, much higher than either of us had imagined before seeing it. In fact, being cheap like we are, we said no to the elevator, meaning we take stairs all the way until the last bit which you have to do by elevator. We had to take a breather and watch some movie about the construction to catch our breath. On top, it was breathtaking (haha, did you see that literary prowness?? [by the way, that was actually kubics phrase... I don´t even know what that means...]).
After many pictures up top, we went back to the Arc De Triomphe. Its a memorial for the WWI veterans with a flame for rememberance. It is surrounded by a giant road with no lanes that circles the monument. Apparently, you can get to the monument underground without having to risk your live runing accross 50 yards of traffic, but we didnt´realise that until we´d already done that.
For dinner, we were lucky enough to be treated to an amazing meal of supple Lamb with french fries with good french wine, all with a business associate and friend of the Kubic family. He not only spoke perfect english which was great for us, he was also HILARIOUS. We didn´t stop laughing the whole time and now we might even have a little blackmail... sorry Mike!
After a tasty dinner, we went back to the hostel and fell asleep to the sounds of rain. I thought of you mom becaues I know you like the rain so much while you are sleeping.
The next day, we woke up early to go to Versailles. We took the train out there, and unfortunately had to wait in line for a while, but the wait was well worth it. Once inside, we were given an audio guide which gave a detailed description of almost every room in the palace. We saw more famous paintings by famous painters then we ever thought imaginable. It should also be noted that Matt Lundborg refused to take an english audio guide, but rather got one in spanish. Halfway through the palace, we went out to the gardens to eat lunch and see some of the amazing scencery.
We finished the rest of the tour of the palace by 3 and headed back to the city. Once back in Paris, we saw the Jardin de Luxembourg (AKA the garden) and watched little kids sail sailboats around a small lake. After that, we headed over to the pantheon, not to be confused with the pantheon in Rome. It was a large church completed at the end of the French Revolution to replace the ruined abbey of St. Genevive.
With Dan´s great recomendations we decided to finish the day by walking throught the adorssment of Marais which was really nice. We finished that with a nice dinner of duck and garlic potatoes in the Moulan Rouge area.
Today we woke up at 4 and began our journey to madrid. Airport security was horrid, and we were almost certain the plane would never get to take off, but we managed to leave only 20 minutes late. Then we arrived in Madrid 25 minutes early, which means our pilot must have been doing some serious speeding. Once in madrid, we took Ave to Seville which was the high speed train. The train ride was only about 2 hours which wasnt bad.
Now we are getting ready to go out and see some of the city. We will talk to yall later. Adios
SO, our last day in 2 days in paris were awesome. I (Lundborg) ended up sleeping outside on the terrace of our hostel because the 40 year old sweed that was in my room would give dad´s snoring a run for his money. Seriously, I thought there was a train that was going through my room. We got up and had your typical french breakfast, or so we assume, of bread and orange juice. Then we went on our way sightseeing.
Obviously, the first stop had to be the Louvre. yes, we know he Orsay or whatever it is is actually better, but who can go to paris without seeing the mona lisa?! That being said, we took a bunch of pictures outside of the giant glass pyramids and entered into the worlds largest and best known museum. We just went to one wing, I think it was the Dennon wing, which houses the Mona Lisa the the Kings crown (Louis the XV I think). It was fantastic, but there were tons of people taking pictures of the paintings, which destroys them... what a shame.
Then, we moved on to notre Dame. This was especially cool for me (Lundborg) because it was a gothic cathedral and we learned a ton about all of the gothic structures in my classes, so it was fun to go see it. We went inside and snuck into a free tour halfway through it and then left when the guide was losing control of the group.
After that, we ate lunch in the park, just behind the nortre dame. It was very chill and a lot of fun. Good weather by the way in Paris.
From there, we went up to the top of the eifell Tower. It was so high, much higher than either of us had imagined before seeing it. In fact, being cheap like we are, we said no to the elevator, meaning we take stairs all the way until the last bit which you have to do by elevator. We had to take a breather and watch some movie about the construction to catch our breath. On top, it was breathtaking (haha, did you see that literary prowness?? [by the way, that was actually kubics phrase... I don´t even know what that means...]).
After many pictures up top, we went back to the Arc De Triomphe. Its a memorial for the WWI veterans with a flame for rememberance. It is surrounded by a giant road with no lanes that circles the monument. Apparently, you can get to the monument underground without having to risk your live runing accross 50 yards of traffic, but we didnt´realise that until we´d already done that.
For dinner, we were lucky enough to be treated to an amazing meal of supple Lamb with french fries with good french wine, all with a business associate and friend of the Kubic family. He not only spoke perfect english which was great for us, he was also HILARIOUS. We didn´t stop laughing the whole time and now we might even have a little blackmail... sorry Mike!
After a tasty dinner, we went back to the hostel and fell asleep to the sounds of rain. I thought of you mom becaues I know you like the rain so much while you are sleeping.
The next day, we woke up early to go to Versailles. We took the train out there, and unfortunately had to wait in line for a while, but the wait was well worth it. Once inside, we were given an audio guide which gave a detailed description of almost every room in the palace. We saw more famous paintings by famous painters then we ever thought imaginable. It should also be noted that Matt Lundborg refused to take an english audio guide, but rather got one in spanish. Halfway through the palace, we went out to the gardens to eat lunch and see some of the amazing scencery.
We finished the rest of the tour of the palace by 3 and headed back to the city. Once back in Paris, we saw the Jardin de Luxembourg (AKA the garden) and watched little kids sail sailboats around a small lake. After that, we headed over to the pantheon, not to be confused with the pantheon in Rome. It was a large church completed at the end of the French Revolution to replace the ruined abbey of St. Genevive.
With Dan´s great recomendations we decided to finish the day by walking throught the adorssment of Marais which was really nice. We finished that with a nice dinner of duck and garlic potatoes in the Moulan Rouge area.
Today we woke up at 4 and began our journey to madrid. Airport security was horrid, and we were almost certain the plane would never get to take off, but we managed to leave only 20 minutes late. Then we arrived in Madrid 25 minutes early, which means our pilot must have been doing some serious speeding. Once in madrid, we took Ave to Seville which was the high speed train. The train ride was only about 2 hours which wasnt bad.
Now we are getting ready to go out and see some of the city. We will talk to yall later. Adios
miércoles, 1 de agosto de 2007
According to my clock, we only have a minute 30 seconds left on the computer...
Last we wrote, we had done the tour of the ancient city. The next day, we woke up bright and early at 9:30 and walked up to the top of St. Peter's Basicilca... it was something like 200 steps and the view was incredible. Afterwards, we went and bought a little bit of food and chilled in St. Peter's square until we had our next tour.
The tour was amazing. We skipped a line that was about 4 hours long and walked right into the Vatican Museum. We saw tons of sculptures and heard a LOT about Michalangelo (and yes I know that's mispelt, but thats how the ancient romans would have spelt it...). We saw so much and heard so much that we'll just have to show you pictures, writing wouldn't do the trick.
The best part of the tour was learning about the Sistine Chapell. We learned about who painted what, when, for how long, and averything else in between. You have to go if you haven't yet, unbelievable.
Our last day in rome was really chill. We went to Borghouse park, which is a 198 acre, 300 year old park. We took a few pictures, and read our books for a while. It was nice to chill and relax for a while.
We just got into Paris and are staying in the Moulon Roughe area (again, this is how Napoleon would have spelt this...). I think we told you that the Germans were a bit permiscuous. We still stand by that. But now, we realize that the Parisians are crazy sex freaks. No lie. We walked all the way from our metro stop to our hostel (20 minutes) and saw nothing but adult stores/museums/bars/yougettheidea (yes, I did say museums. they do have erotica museums. and no, we didn't go in.... yet... just kidding... want to make sure you're still paying attention...).
We don't know what we are going to do yet tomorrow and the next day (ahem... meghan/dan: this all rests on your shoulders!). But, we do want to let you know that some drunk people from the hostel have been having the most ridiculous argument with the receptionist because they won't shutup and he told them to go to bed. As I type, kubic is looking for a sharp object to... quiet them with.
The tour was amazing. We skipped a line that was about 4 hours long and walked right into the Vatican Museum. We saw tons of sculptures and heard a LOT about Michalangelo (and yes I know that's mispelt, but thats how the ancient romans would have spelt it...). We saw so much and heard so much that we'll just have to show you pictures, writing wouldn't do the trick.
The best part of the tour was learning about the Sistine Chapell. We learned about who painted what, when, for how long, and averything else in between. You have to go if you haven't yet, unbelievable.
Our last day in rome was really chill. We went to Borghouse park, which is a 198 acre, 300 year old park. We took a few pictures, and read our books for a while. It was nice to chill and relax for a while.
We just got into Paris and are staying in the Moulon Roughe area (again, this is how Napoleon would have spelt this...). I think we told you that the Germans were a bit permiscuous. We still stand by that. But now, we realize that the Parisians are crazy sex freaks. No lie. We walked all the way from our metro stop to our hostel (20 minutes) and saw nothing but adult stores/museums/bars/yougettheidea (yes, I did say museums. they do have erotica museums. and no, we didn't go in.... yet... just kidding... want to make sure you're still paying attention...).
We don't know what we are going to do yet tomorrow and the next day (ahem... meghan/dan: this all rests on your shoulders!). But, we do want to let you know that some drunk people from the hostel have been having the most ridiculous argument with the receptionist because they won't shutup and he told them to go to bed. As I type, kubic is looking for a sharp object to... quiet them with.
lunes, 30 de julio de 2007
Spiekense Deutch?.... When in rome....
Ok. So we had free access to the internet in Germany, and took that for granted... its about €6.00\hr here so we do not really take part in that. So back to Germany. We got up before the sun came up in Dublin and jumped on a plane for Frankfurt. Turns out, this time RyanAir was not so great. The airport in Frankfurt was not actually IN Frankfurt... about 1.5 hours outside of frankfurt. Thankfully, the bus dropped us off only about 2 blocks from our hotel, making it EASY to get there. And yes, I did say hotel, and not hostel.
Do you ever think about how great it is to have your own room sometimes? We realized that and LOVED it. We spent the first day mostly sleeping, watching german tv and eating sausage. We went through the cultural district (right next to the red light district) and ate a bunch of german food. Check list 1 complete. There must be somehting about those germans becuase... how do I put this nicely... there were prostitutes and adult stores EVERYWHERE. Very different from the states and everywhere else we have been so far.
The next day we walked down to the river and made it to the historic downtown. It was impressive and exactly what we pictured old german houses to be. It was a little deceiving though, because every building we saw (except for the churches) were completely destroyed during WWII. We saw some pictures and litteraly, the only things standing were the churches. We were told on a tour that the allied bombers used to use the churches as points of reference when going on bombing runs, which explains why they are still standing. Also, we figure that would have been bad karma.
Basically, Germany was fun, but we did not understand german, so us speaking anything in german gave us responses that we did not understand... thankfully just about everyone spoke english.
We got up at 1:40am the following day to go to rome. After a 2:30 shuttle, and going through airport security, we were on our way to Rome. We got there at about 9 and dropped our things off at the hostel/campground/intersate exit in the outskirts of rome. We jumped on the metro and went to St. Peter's Basillica in the Vatican. The line wasn't too bad and we were actually able to go inside and attend the noon mass. We were like the first in line and so we had great seats, sitting in the second row.
Dad: take note. I know we are'nt catholic, but hey, we all have similar roots, right? The mass, with at least 500 people, took only 35 minutes, WITH a choir, WITH a sermon and readings, AND with communion. Not bad... just an idea.
Afterwards we met up with Kiron, our tour guide for St. Peter's Basillica and Ancient Rome. It was fantastic. We were with her in the basillica for about an hour or so and then went out to eat. By the way, the food here is just as amazing as you might think. After eating, we went to the ancient city... including Piazza Venezia (A monument that symbolizes the unification of Italy, built by Moussolini), Foro Romano (Dating back to 7th century b.c., was the political and economic center of the roman republic, Monte Palantino (said to be the birthplace of the rome the city when Romulos killed his brother with a shovel and founded rome on top of the hill where they were found as babies floating down the flooded Tevere river), Vistel Virgins (where the 6 chosen virgin girls ages 6-10 lived for the next 30 years, all to be untouched, but were holy and attended events that no women could, except the emperess... sometimes they were a bit permiscuous, which led to the dude getting stoned or wipped to death and her being buried alive, with a glass of water, milk, a piece of bread and a book by which she could read by candlelight...), the Coluseum (I refuse to explain this one to you... you should know better. However, we did figure out that there was a chance that over a half a million people and a million animals died in this area, which is the size of a football field. That is more dead people/animals per square foot than ANYWHERE on earth), the jail that housed St. Peter and Paul immediately before their execution, many temples' remains, and many other original roads that were used back in the times of the emperors, 2,000 years ago. Oh, and we saw where the city provided free games and races (other than at the coluseum) that was on a track that is 2,000 feet long, seating nearly 380,000 people.
Finally, and most importantly, we saw the worlds oldest sewer. They like it so much and are so proud, they made a god for it... the God of the Sewer system (or as we call it, the "God of Shit"). The most incredible aspect of this sewer system is that they still use it today in conjunction with whatever other sewer system they have.
That night we got lost for about 2 hours and ended up taking a taxi after finding out the metro stops at 9pm. Verdict? Rome metro sucks.
Going on a tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine chappel today. Ciou!
Do you ever think about how great it is to have your own room sometimes? We realized that and LOVED it. We spent the first day mostly sleeping, watching german tv and eating sausage. We went through the cultural district (right next to the red light district) and ate a bunch of german food. Check list 1 complete. There must be somehting about those germans becuase... how do I put this nicely... there were prostitutes and adult stores EVERYWHERE. Very different from the states and everywhere else we have been so far.
The next day we walked down to the river and made it to the historic downtown. It was impressive and exactly what we pictured old german houses to be. It was a little deceiving though, because every building we saw (except for the churches) were completely destroyed during WWII. We saw some pictures and litteraly, the only things standing were the churches. We were told on a tour that the allied bombers used to use the churches as points of reference when going on bombing runs, which explains why they are still standing. Also, we figure that would have been bad karma.
Basically, Germany was fun, but we did not understand german, so us speaking anything in german gave us responses that we did not understand... thankfully just about everyone spoke english.
We got up at 1:40am the following day to go to rome. After a 2:30 shuttle, and going through airport security, we were on our way to Rome. We got there at about 9 and dropped our things off at the hostel/campground/intersate exit in the outskirts of rome. We jumped on the metro and went to St. Peter's Basillica in the Vatican. The line wasn't too bad and we were actually able to go inside and attend the noon mass. We were like the first in line and so we had great seats, sitting in the second row.
Dad: take note. I know we are'nt catholic, but hey, we all have similar roots, right? The mass, with at least 500 people, took only 35 minutes, WITH a choir, WITH a sermon and readings, AND with communion. Not bad... just an idea.
Afterwards we met up with Kiron, our tour guide for St. Peter's Basillica and Ancient Rome. It was fantastic. We were with her in the basillica for about an hour or so and then went out to eat. By the way, the food here is just as amazing as you might think. After eating, we went to the ancient city... including Piazza Venezia (A monument that symbolizes the unification of Italy, built by Moussolini), Foro Romano (Dating back to 7th century b.c., was the political and economic center of the roman republic, Monte Palantino (said to be the birthplace of the rome the city when Romulos killed his brother with a shovel and founded rome on top of the hill where they were found as babies floating down the flooded Tevere river), Vistel Virgins (where the 6 chosen virgin girls ages 6-10 lived for the next 30 years, all to be untouched, but were holy and attended events that no women could, except the emperess... sometimes they were a bit permiscuous, which led to the dude getting stoned or wipped to death and her being buried alive, with a glass of water, milk, a piece of bread and a book by which she could read by candlelight...), the Coluseum (I refuse to explain this one to you... you should know better. However, we did figure out that there was a chance that over a half a million people and a million animals died in this area, which is the size of a football field. That is more dead people/animals per square foot than ANYWHERE on earth), the jail that housed St. Peter and Paul immediately before their execution, many temples' remains, and many other original roads that were used back in the times of the emperors, 2,000 years ago. Oh, and we saw where the city provided free games and races (other than at the coluseum) that was on a track that is 2,000 feet long, seating nearly 380,000 people.
Finally, and most importantly, we saw the worlds oldest sewer. They like it so much and are so proud, they made a god for it... the God of the Sewer system (or as we call it, the "God of Shit"). The most incredible aspect of this sewer system is that they still use it today in conjunction with whatever other sewer system they have.
That night we got lost for about 2 hours and ended up taking a taxi after finding out the metro stops at 9pm. Verdict? Rome metro sucks.
Going on a tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine chappel today. Ciou!
jueves, 26 de julio de 2007
Guess who went back to jail...
First of all, Avenue Q is the funniest musical I've ever seen. Kubic wanted to see it because the review said it was the musical for people who hate musicals... I do have to say that it was very foul mouthed, but hey, thats probably why we laughed so hard anyways. Seriously, go see it. It was like the muppets and sesame street mixed up with south park.
We got to Dublin just fine 2 nights ago. We are staying at a hostel that houses about 330 people, so there is never a dull moment, although we're never there. We've seen st. patricks cathedral, Chist Church cathedral, Trinity College, the Dublin Castle, Malahide caste, and the National museum of archeology in the last 2 days. The Dublin castle was really cool because it is kind of like the white house, but smaller and no guards... but it is still used as the official government building. We learned alot oabout the history of ireland there. Did you know that they've been independent for only 80 years or so?? We didn't.
Everything else rocked. Very green grass here, big nice buildings, but the whole city smells like the hops being used to make Guinness at the Guinness factory in town. We went on a tour and see how they make the beer, which was very informative and they gave us a free pint on top of the factory, the highest point in town. We also went to the Old Jameson Distillery to see how irish whiskey is made. They had a bottle there older than we are.
We really miss the tubes of london, because the bus system here is awful. Yesterday, we had to have walked 8 miles, all over town being lost. But hey, we are getting in shape for Rome, right?
Ok, so about the jail thing... sorry mom and dad, we didn't realize that it was against the law to.... aww, who am I kidding, we just went on a tour of a jail. No worries, we are being good. The jail is where they executed the 16 fathers of the revolution in 1916 that lead to the independece of Ireland in the early 20's. We know a ton about their national history now. Really neat place.
Probably the highlight of Dublin was going to hear true Irish music at this pub. Me and Kubic describe it as being like that scene in Titanic when all the irish people are dancing and partying int he hold of the ship. Sounded a lot like that. (By the way, we've never seen Titantic, we just heard about that scene. WE think the movie is girly.) Back to manly things, we we met some accountants for Deloitte and Touche at that pub and they were really nice to us. We talked about all sorts of Irish things like red hair, brawling, hurling and Irish football. It was a BLAST.
Well, thats about it. We are on our way to go eat Irish Lamb stew now... should be really tasty. Meghan, pretend it isn't lamb, prentend it is beef or something.
Tomorrow morning we leave for Germany at 7am, so we'll be up around 4. Speiken se englisch?
We got to Dublin just fine 2 nights ago. We are staying at a hostel that houses about 330 people, so there is never a dull moment, although we're never there. We've seen st. patricks cathedral, Chist Church cathedral, Trinity College, the Dublin Castle, Malahide caste, and the National museum of archeology in the last 2 days. The Dublin castle was really cool because it is kind of like the white house, but smaller and no guards... but it is still used as the official government building. We learned alot oabout the history of ireland there. Did you know that they've been independent for only 80 years or so?? We didn't.
Everything else rocked. Very green grass here, big nice buildings, but the whole city smells like the hops being used to make Guinness at the Guinness factory in town. We went on a tour and see how they make the beer, which was very informative and they gave us a free pint on top of the factory, the highest point in town. We also went to the Old Jameson Distillery to see how irish whiskey is made. They had a bottle there older than we are.
We really miss the tubes of london, because the bus system here is awful. Yesterday, we had to have walked 8 miles, all over town being lost. But hey, we are getting in shape for Rome, right?
Ok, so about the jail thing... sorry mom and dad, we didn't realize that it was against the law to.... aww, who am I kidding, we just went on a tour of a jail. No worries, we are being good. The jail is where they executed the 16 fathers of the revolution in 1916 that lead to the independece of Ireland in the early 20's. We know a ton about their national history now. Really neat place.
Probably the highlight of Dublin was going to hear true Irish music at this pub. Me and Kubic describe it as being like that scene in Titanic when all the irish people are dancing and partying int he hold of the ship. Sounded a lot like that. (By the way, we've never seen Titantic, we just heard about that scene. WE think the movie is girly.) Back to manly things, we we met some accountants for Deloitte and Touche at that pub and they were really nice to us. We talked about all sorts of Irish things like red hair, brawling, hurling and Irish football. It was a BLAST.
Well, thats about it. We are on our way to go eat Irish Lamb stew now... should be really tasty. Meghan, pretend it isn't lamb, prentend it is beef or something.
Tomorrow morning we leave for Germany at 7am, so we'll be up around 4. Speiken se englisch?
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