Travelling the Islands of Hawaii

More About the Big Island

2009-04-29T14:00:00.028-06:00

One of the coffee plantations we went to really stuck out in our minds. The plantation was beautiful! Full of coffee beans, plants and flowers, and other fruits.

These are some photos of what we saw there:

This is the coffee being roasted and the coffee beans on the tree starting to turn green to red!

Look at this awesome lizard we found while outside a coffee shop:

Here we are watching yet another gorgeous sunset.

Da Big Island

2008-06-19T19:19:00.014-06:00

Our Final Island

We've been on the island of Hawaii, also known as "The Big Island", for about 8 days now. Like Kauai and Maui, the big island has its own vibe and differs from the other two. We started in the Kona area, a place well-known for its delicious coffee. Apparently the Kona area is the perfect place to grow coffee; every day it is nice and sunny in the morning, cloudy with showers in the afternoon and into the evening. Perfect for coffee, not so perfect for us as we like to sleep in the mornings and beach it in the afternoons. There definitely isn't as much sun here but we are managing.

"Worlds Best Coffee"
Ok, so some more about Kona coffee. Thanks to the perfect weather and peoples love of coffee, much of the land is used to grow, dry, and roast coffee. There are dozens of companies in the roasting and selling business and pretty much every company lets you sample their coffee at their roasting facilities. Gotta love that. We spent a few afternoons travelling to different coffee plantations sampling their delicious kona coffee for free. Mmmmm. Pictures below show the coffee beans on the branch and a pineapple. Coffee beans are red when they are ready to be picked and are called cherries. You can eat the outer red skin but have to dry and roast the beans.

Our Resorts
So after spending most of the time in Maui in hostels, we are back in the tent. We camped first at Ho'okena campground. Nice campground, only had sand to pitch the tent on. We prefer grass but no worries. It was a decent campground. Had a little beach as well as a long-stretching lava coast where the waves crashed against. I spent hours watching the waves there. Probably one of my favorite things to do (this is Brian typing by the way). There was also numerous tidal pools in the lava. We saw the sun get swallowed up by the ocean a few nights and also saw dolphins off the beach. Check the pictures below for the waves and our campsite.

After Ho'okena we moved camp to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach that had exactly that, a black sand beach (made from lava). The beach was frequented by green sea turtles, locals, and tour buses. Good times. The beach was pretty cool, and it was a nice place to camp. It was grassy, well-lit, and fairly quiet. The area is pretty secluded, near the most southern tip of the island, and hence the united states. Near here was a green sand beach that we hiked to. That was pretty amazing. The "sand" was actually little bits of olivine rock which is a translucent green. On the way to the green sand beach we saw some HUGE waves. We actually went back the next day to just watch the waves. Louise and I argued about the size of them, I claim the big ones were around 18ft, Louise thinks they were less then that. Either way, they were the biggest waves I have ever seen. Pretty incredible. The pictures below show the turtles, the black sand, the green sand, and the waves.

The Volcano
The big island is home to the worlds largest active volcano. Awesome. We checked it out, it was pretty sweet. Actually, we didn't get to see much, mainly a mixture of smoke, steam, and sulfuric gases spewing out from a hole. Still, pretty cool. Further along, near the coast, there is a spot where you can see the lava flowing into the ocean. They don't let you get too close cause the combination of molten lava and the ocean produces some form of hydrochloric gas which is not good to breathe in. We couldn't see very much, but it was still pretty incredible. The pictures below show the lava flowing into the ocean.

We have a week left and are anxious to get back home. This trip has been alot of fun, but we are missing our family a friends. Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

SURFING MAUI

2008-06-19T18:36:00.008-06:00

Our last full day in Maui I spend the whole morning SURFING!

I got a 2 hour lesson to surf at the Kalama Beach Park where we've been watching people surf! I had my own private lesson because I was the only solo person that day! It was awesome! My instructor Brooks was really good. He surfed his whole life and grew up in Hawaii. I couldn't have asked for a better lesson.

First I had to get some land knowledge and tips, plus learn a few tricks before entering the water. He taught me how to get up on the board and where to stand and all that. Then we headed out into the water. Once we were out as far as the other surfers we started right away. The first few waves I was unsuccessful but after that I caught on. Then I was able to stand up and get the feel for it right away. It was amazing! The waves obviously weren't that big a couple feet probably but you have to start somewhere!

I imagine if you were on your own for the first couple times it would be really hard to catch a wave. Brooks made my first time surfing easy really because he would push me out at the right moment to catch it going the right speed. Then he would yell "paddle" at first and then "up" so I would catch it just right. This made it so easy for me to actually get up and surf. Apparently not all instructors do that for you. They also make you paddle back after every wave you catch. Brooks met me half way most of the time and pulled me back so I didn't get too tired so I could stay out the whole time. It was great. I had so much fun that I didn't want my lesson to end.

I will definitely surf again if I get the chance. I haven't had so much fun in a long time. I absolutely loved surfing!

Bigger waves here I come!

Kihei - Wailea Area

2008-06-10T20:42:00.020-06:00

Since we've left Lahaina we've been near Kihei area, close to Wailea and Makena.

The first day we went to the Iao Valley ("Valley of Dawning Inspiration" or "Supreme Light") and the Iao Needle. This is a beautiful area filled with mossy cliffs around the mist-filled valley. The Needle is a single spire that rises to a point 1200 feet above the valley.

During the three days we were here we went to a couple beaches: Kalama Beach Park, Makena State Beach and checked out Kamaole Beach Park.
We spent most of our time at Kalama. It had LOTS of grass to sun tan plus we were able to watch many surfers here. Makena was absolutely beautiful where we chilled on the nice sand watching people sand board. It was pretty sweet, guys were doing flips off the sand on their boards into the water. It was cool.

The following day we hiked part of the trails to the dormant volcano.
The volcano last erupted around 1790 and is at an elevation of over 10,000 feet. The crater floor is filled with cinder cones, lava flows and mini-craters. The drive to the summit of Haleakala is along one of the world's fastest climbing roads. And you really feel it! Along the road there are a few look out points where you can see the whole crater floor. It is absolutely beautiful. One of our favorite sights this whole trip for sure! I can't wait to see the volcano in The Big Island that is still erupting!

We hiked to the first crater base; which took us an hour to hike down to it and an hour to hike back up. We didn't notice the air much until we started to hike up hill...haha The air was so thin! It was tough but Brian and I did pretty well for not being hikers! haha It was so worth it though. We were able to hike right up to it and look inside the dormant volcano. If you really wanted a tough day you could do the nine hour hike of 12 miles and see all the craters. It would be cool but we decided that would be too much for us.

After the hike we stuck around for a bit to see the gorgeous sun set. It was the best one by far! The colors were amazing! We didn't want to leave........but it was sooooo cold up there that we did anyways! Sometimes the temperature can drop 30 degrees F. from what it was at sea level. Let me tell you it was very cold.

I know there's a lot of sunset pictures but there were so many beautiful ones I just couldn't decide! It was absolutely amazing.

After being in Kihei we went back to Lahaina for two nights, it was a nicer place to hang out. We are now back at the Banana Bungalo for one night since it's close to the airport. Tomorrow we leave for the Big Island at 9am. We are so excited to be leaving Maui. Maui is nice but we're a bit bored with it. It will be nice to have new scenery.

The next post will be all about our adventures today.

Lahaina Area

2008-06-08T14:17:00.012-06:00

Lahaina is really nice area. It's like the downtown of Maui; full of shops and night life. Most of the time when we were in Lahaina we just checked out the town and went window shopping.

The first day we went to the beach to sun tan and chill for the day. We went to a beach called D.T. Fleming Park. It was really nice; lots of grass and a very pretty beach.

The following day we went snorkelling for half a day. We went to two different beaches. First we went to Mokuleia Beach which has white sand bounded by cliffs and looks out on Molokai. The snorkeling was good here but we didn't see any turtles (friends we met at the hostel told us to go here because they saw lots of big turtles while snorkeling) unfortunately.
Next we went to Napili Bay which also looks out on Molokai and has a huge white sand beach. It was a very crowded beach but was beautiful. We chose this beach because the book said the snorkeling here would be "delightful". It was actually the worst place we've been so far for snorkeling....we saw maybe 5 fish altogether! It was very disappointing to say the least. After this we were done with snorkeling for the day.

After 3 nights in Lahaina we planned on camping for 3 nights at Kanaha but it was so windy that our tent kept blowing away! Seriously it was crazy! SOOO......we changed our mind and decided to look for a hostel. Considering we didn't want to go to bed right then (5pm) to hold our tent down we thought it would be best. We didn't want a broken tent; we need it for the Big Island!

We found a hostel right away. The first hostel we tried, Banana Bungalo, had room for us in the dorm so we took it. Since we've been staying in a hostel since being in Hana and will be for the rest of Maui we've been in the dorms because it's way cheaper. This does mean we're not in the same room even but it's been ok. It's been a nice change from camping and we've been able to cook food which is also nice. We did bring a small stove to cook over a camp fire but fuel is expensive and typically only comes in big bottles here. We would have to leave it on the different islands and then buy more each island. So we just decided we would rather have fresh, raw food like salads, veggies, fruit plus whatever else at the grocery store we can just buy. It's been good actually. But now that we have a stove at the hostels we've had different rice/bean noodles with seafood, pork, or chicken. The other bonus is that we have a fridge to keep stuff in. We've been just eating what we buy that day so it doesn't go bad. So that is also nice. More than that even we've had warm showers! I don't think I'll take a warm/hot shower for granted again. Plus having a private shower is also wonderful. It gets a little more than weird showering in public at the beach or the camp ground. This way nobody watches you shower. Let me tell you that was one of my least favorite things about camping.

We've defintely appreciated being in the hostels for these and many other reasons. But camping is not all that bad......haha It's really been better than I thought for sure. At least in the tent if you're careful you can be insect free! Don't tell Brian but a small part of me can't wait to be back in the tent..........

Hana

2008-06-05T17:01:00.019-06:00

Ever since Kauai we've gotten up really early in the morning. The sun rises so early, around 4am, so it's hard to sleep in at all when it's so bright out for so long. One bonus is that I've seen the sun rise most mornings; especially sleeping in the tent.

This was the first morning in Maui at the Waianapanapa camp ground and since I was awake I took a lot of photos of the sun rise:

While we were in Hana we went up to the Kipahulu Valley and hiked the Pipiwai Trail to the Oheo Gluch (Seven Sacred Pools) and the Waimoku Falls. These falls were awesome! They were worth the hike, so nice! The pools were beautiful and descend from above the Hana Highway to the sea.

During the hike the nature was amazing! There was a bamboo forest, smaller waterfalls, neat trees, plants and flowers, and views of the sea.

We left Hana on Monday, June 2nd and have been staying at the same hostel for the past 3 nights. We are heading to Kahana Beach Park to camp for 3 nights there and then we'll be back at the hostel for the last 3 nights in Maui.

The Road to Hana

2008-06-01T20:03:00.016-06:00

On Wednesday we took on the "Road to Hana".

We drove for what seemed like forever on the
Hana Highwayto a town called Hana.

This is a wonderful experience all in it's own and something every tourist must do in Maui. Gorgeous scenery the whole way (if you don't fall asleep) along a windy road that just keeps going. If you get car sick that pretty much ruins the adventure but it was still worth it. Plus it was the way to our camp ground where we stayed for 5 nights in Hana. Not only is the road really twisty and turny; it's extremely narrow. So narrow that you think it's a one way until a car comes towards you in the opposite direction. Lets just say I'm glad I wasn't driving; I don't know how Brian did it sneaking by, car after car. Not to mention the tour buses! But all in all it was pretty sweet! I would do it again in a heart beat. It was the most beautiful part of Maui thus far. We were able to stop some along the way too, trying to capture the beautifulness but it just isn't the same as seeing it yourself. But we tried!

Hana is not a very big place. It actually reminded me of Lundbreck, AB. There were two general stores, a gas station, a school, some houses......ect. What should have planned it better and loaded up on some groceries to take with us. It would have been cheaper and gave us WAY more selection. It would be like buying groceries from Lundbreck's general store every day. You can get by if you have to but it obviously would be better to go to Sobey's or Safeway. We survived though. Our favorite meal right now is tuna mixed with Hummas (any flavour) and lemon juice on crackers. It's actually really good! We had a can of tuna and I had a craving for Hummas one day and Bri thought it would be a good idea to mix them. It really was a good idea and we love it. Everyone should try it. Even if you don't LOVE hummas I think you would like it. Try it with roasted red pepper hummas, that's my favourite.

So you might have guessed since Hana isn't all that big, there wasn't a whole lot to do for 6 days. There of coarse were a couple beaches; three for sure. We mainly hung out by the Hana Bay sun tanning, playing cards, reading books, eating, and what not. It was really nice there and typically quite hot but also got pretty windy a lot. Not as windy as Pincher by any means but too windy to play cards sometimes.

We camped at Waianapanapa State Park. It was a great place to camp, one of the best so far. Mainly because it was spider free.....haha.....but also because of the sweet beach and and caves located there. Not only was the beach really nice; it had BLACK SAND! It was sooo cool! The sand got really hot in the sun though. We sun tanned there once which was neat. The rocks and coves of the beach were also black. It was truly amazing to see. There was also a blow hole but we didn't see it shoot up water unfortunately.The caves were actually lava tubes called Waianapanapa and Waiomao caves. They were pretty cool.

More to come about our time in Hana...

Maui: The Valley Island

2008-05-29T20:56:00.012-06:00

Well we survived one Island and are ready to take on the second!

We arrived in Maui on Tuesday afternoon; the plane ride was less than an hour so that was nice!

Our first night was in a HOSTEL! It was awesome! We stayed at Patey's Place and had a great time. The first thing I did was shower. It felt like a new experience. Not that we didn't shower at all when we were camping; we showered when we could. But not with warm water. And not in privacy. It's different when you're showering in your swim suit with people almost always around you. To put it lightly it was a nice.

Then we roamed the streets of the Lahaina area near our hostel; walking around the gift shops, art galleries (one of our fav. activities) and restaurants. I bought post cards of coarse and we got snacks like usual. Then we chilled in our hostel after 9pm and fell asleep eventually. The bed wasn't anything special but it felt good to be in a bed.

The next day we went to the Maui Ocean Centre. It was amazing! Full of ocean life that live in Hawaii. What a wonderful experience, expensive but awesome all the same! Of coarse the pictures didn't turn out that well because it was through glass all the time but some are okay. There were unlimited types of fish; squid, crabs, octopus, turtles, and our favourite: SHARKS!
They were amazing to see!

Yeah, it was pretty sweet!

Celebrities...

2008-05-28T01:58:00.010-06:00

When we were in one of Kaui's many common grocery stores I happened to glance at someone who looked very familiar....

At first I told Brian I wanted to walk past HIM again to get a better look. So I did this and told Bri HE was definitely a Hollywood star but could not put my finger on who it was. I decided I needed to get another look to figure out for sure.

We got the few items we needed and headed for the checkout. Brian picked the shortest line and I headed straight for this MAN once again. I was a bit unsure of what I was doing because nobody else in the store seemed to think the same as me. No one else wanted to get a look or take his picture. But I continued to study his face (hopefully without him knowing...) and all of a sudden it came to me and I JUST KNEW!

Can you guess the mystery MAN I saw in Food Land....or was it Big Save?....

Ben Stiller...............Pierce Brosnan (James Bond 007)

Donald Trump......................Tom Cruise

Beaches, Beaches, and More Beaches

2008-05-26T22:59:00.017-06:00

Today (Monday) is our last full day on Kauai!

The first few days went slow and now this portion of our adventure is already over! Crazy!
Overall we really enjoyed Kauai though. It was just so beautiful! It makes us even more excited about going to Maui and the Big Island.

The past few days we haven't been doing too much but it's been fun and relaxing........exactly what a holiday should be like! We've spent most of our time checking out different beaches to just lay on the beach and soak up the sun.

The beaches we've been to recently or at least seen include:

Kapa'a Beach
Lydgate Beach Park
Nukoli'i Beach
Hanalei Bay
Hanapai Beach
Haena Beach Park
Kee Beach
Kealia Beach

The ones we spend the most time on were Lydgate and Hanalei. They were the nicest to us; which include having grass as well as nice sand plus have a bathroom and shower on the beach!

We also went to see the Ki'lauea Lighthouse and saw the Crater Hill Bay.

The nicest waterfalls we've seen so far in Kauai were the Opaeka'a Falls. They were not that big but were nice to see.

Okay tell me if you think this is a pineapple or not?

Canyon Hike

2008-05-26T21:59:00.012-06:00

On day 5 we went on a hike of the Waimea Canyon, so we could see it more close up

than a couple days earlier from the lookout points.

It was such a perfect day for the hike!
The sky was as clear as it will get - not many clouds and no more vog from The Big Island's volcano. We've been planning on doing this hike since we got here and have waited for this day to come. We did the Cliff Trail and the Canyon trail.

It only took us just under 2 hours but we didn't do the whole thing cuz we figured it would take at least 5. We didn't want to commit that much time to the hike so we stopped when we wanted and turned around. We got to see the Wai'alae Falls on our hike which was pretty cool. The canyon was so cool and really made us want to go to the Grand Canyon.......one day! Along the hike we were able to see the canyon quite a bit from different view points and different angles.

The scenery was just amazing. So green and all around us! We spotted another new and unique flower, which is always wonderful. Check out the green prods coming up almost an inch out of the flower! We also so a ginger flower/plant; it even smelled like ginger!

It was a great adventure!

Roosters

2008-05-24T20:34:00.013-06:00

Have I mentioned the roosters yet...........

In Kauai (possibly the other Islands too, we don't know yet for sure) the land is run by roosters and chickens. Literally. It's hard to believe that I know but everywhere you look there's a couple of roosters. Yes like the ones on the farm. When I thought of Hawaii I never imagined there being roosters here. Apparently there are no other animals to hunt/eat/kill the roosters so they just took over! They're everywhere!

Anyway I typically don't mind roosters BUT not only do they "cock-o-doodle-do" in the morning around 6am, they also make that horrible sound (and many other sounds) at all hours of the night and morning. They tend to quiet down around 10pm - 3am. Well we haven't stayed up past 11pm yet but haven't had a hard time going to sleep so i think they calm down. I thought that most roosters alarmed us when it was time to wake but..........but these ones just keep going from 3am until 10am. Some of them occasionally go all day long. I think they're confused. It wouldn't be so bad but when you're camping you can't get away from it in any way. Being in a resort or hotel I'm sure would be fine........but we're not.

Needless to say we haven't got to sleep in past 6:30am yet. Well Brian did once; he slept until 8:30am until I went and woke him up. Between the roosters and the spiders and the roaches I get up when I wake up. Sometimes I force myself to go back to sleep if it's before 5am but that's hard to do. Not wanting the bugs and spiders to attack me and just having hear "cock-o-doodle-do" all morning is painfully frustrating and creepy. Having a huge fear of spiders and not liking any instects crawling near me I'm having a hard time at night. As soon as I spot one I panic but Bri tells me I'm handling it really well... He's been super great about it and shakes out everything before we go to sleep and does a thourough spider check every night for me. I don't know what I would do without him! Well not that I want to get into it but I guess if you want to get technical we wouldn't be camping if it was my decision, so yeah.

The main spiders that are ridiculous here are called Cane spiders. They are really quite big, have a big body and long, thick legs. Hairy legs too. Here's a pic incase you didn't quite get the picture:

I want you to also realize that the post he's on is bigger than Brian's hand. With the legs he's bigger than Brian's palm for sure. We've seen 4 too many of these spiders on/IN our tent! They are discusting. I hope I never see another one. The Cane spiders are the main reason why Brian checks the tent for me. Even he doesn't like them.

There are also geckos; a lot of geckos. Everywhere. They are actaully pretty cool, a little creepy sharing the bathroom with but better than the alternative. Take a look at these ones:

By the way last night our tent was spider/bug free! (Possibly because we're in a different and better camp ground now.)

Southern KAUAI

2008-05-22T13:46:00.010-06:00

The last few days are kinda a blurr.........everything happened so fast, yet we've only

been here for a couple of days. Six weeks seems like a lifetime!

So far we have spent pretty much all of our time in the Southern
region of Kauai around Waimea, Hanapepe, Poipu, and Lihue.

The highlights of the last 3 days have been:

Drove up to the Waimea Canyon, taking a long (hour) windy road up 4000ft elevation to the top of the Kalalau Lookout. Unfortunately it was a really cloudy and foggy day way up there so we were unable to see that much. We plan on going up there again and actually hiking by the canyon but are trying to wait until it looks like it's cleared up.

Checked out the secluded beach, Mahaulepu, walking along the grassy cliffs along the shore. It was probably the most scenic beach we've seen yet and the ocean was amazing. The waves were too high and hard to go into the water but it was so nice to see. Brian went further along the other side on the sandy beach while I read my book by the water (which by the way I finished yesterday mum!).

We went to a few different beaches to sun tan, snorkel, chill and eat: Poipu Beach Park, Shipwrecks Beach, and Prince Kuhio.

We also went shopping in Poipu and Hanapepe checking out all the Hawaiian jewelery, art, and other souvenirs they have.

That's really all we did, we've spent a lot of time just on the beach which is what our plan is for a lot of the trip. I hope to do a lot more snorkeling and attept to try surfing at some point in Hawaii. We'll see if that happens! Take care and God bless!

KAUAI - The Garden Island

2008-05-20T00:55:00.008-06:00

For our Hawaii trip we will be travelling to 3 of the Islands:

Kauai, Maui and The Big Island

We landed in Kauai last night really late but because of the time change we are 3 hours behind. When we landed we rented our car and drove straight to our camp ground (yes, we're camping) to set up out tent in the dark. At this point Brian and I (mainly me though for once) were super stressed and exhausted. Let's just say we were really looking forward to the day to be over already.

When we woke up (at about 6am) we felt better already! Hawaiian people are all sooo nice and friendly! Today was an awesome day! It was very eventful; filled with sightseeing the beautiful landscape and gardens!
Coffee Beans!

Throughout the day we:
* sat on the beach at our camp ground (Salt Pond Park) listening to the waves crash against the shore and watching the crabs scurry across the sand!
* drove to a park to eat lunch
* walked around a nearby town (Hanapepe) checking out the shops and art galleries
* went to the coffee plantation where we were able to sample all the different types of coffee (well Brian did anyways :) )
* snorkelled at the Prince Kuhio beach we happened to pass by on our way to the Garden - this was so amazing! It was actually my first time snorkelling and I absolutely loved it! The fish were amazing and so colorful!
* went to the National Tropical Botanical Garden which was extremely beautiful; filled with an abundant amount of different plants and flowers of Hawaii
* beached it for a few hours going back to Prince Kuhio; it was such a nice beach we just had to go back there to relax and get some sun.......one of us got a little too much sun already but probably won't admit it....
* drove to Wailua Falls; which was a pretty nice waterfall
* had supper at the same park we ate lunch

This pretty much concludes our extremely busy first day! Hope to write again soon. The times will vary as to when we're able to find a place with the internet and if we have the time too! We are in Hawaii! haha

Next up....HAWAII

2008-04-29T23:29:00.006-06:00

We are now officially done blogging about our Switzerland trip!

Finally, I know!
We're sorry that it took us so long to finish and
update our last post, but it is now completed.

Thank you everyone for checking our blog and for posting comments,
it was always nice to get messages!

Even though that is the end of our posts from our year in Switzerland we are definitely not done travelling by any means! We will continue to blog about all the trips we go on in the near future, so please keep checking it out and let us know what you think!

Our next vacation is going to be in HAWAII!!!

We leave May 18th and get back on June 28th.
Stay tuned for more of our documented travels. We will be blogging
during and of coarse after Hawaii, filling the posts of more amazing photos!
Hope you enjoy!

JAMES BOND BUNGEE JUMP

2007-07-31T20:16:00.007-06:00

Sorry we haven't posted anything in a long time.........we still want to finish the blog so we have it for our memories and keepsakes even if nobody looks at it now and if it takes us years! I typed this post when we were still in Switzerland so it will seem like we are still there. Sorry to confuse anyone.........we are for sure still back in Canada now!

BUNGEE JUMPING IN SWITZERLAND

I know a lot of you think we're crazy for doing this...........but it was PRETTY SWEET!

For those of you who have seen the James Bond Golden Eye movie then you know more than you think. The Bungee Jump that James Bond does is located in Switzerland. Basically he jumps off a HUGE dam in a suit. This is in the Locarno area in the Italian part way down south.

ANYONE is able to book a jump there on the weekends so.........

Brian and I went with 4 of our friends to attempt this jump.

Our friends Paul, Mike, Matt, and Guilherme all decided it would be a lot of fun to do this. Paul had already jumped it in the summer when we arrived in Switzerland so it was a piece of cake for him! haha For the rest of us, we just pretended not to be afraid. We took the train and then a bus to get to the Dam, like everywhere else we go.

It was WAY bigger than I even imagined! But I stayed calm and tried not to show the guys I was scared! ha It was nerve-racking for everyone though; I'm sure of it! When we got off the bus we walked over to the edge and looked over (maybe not the best tactic). It was insane how BIG and FAR down it was! First we all signed our lives away and paid our debt. Then picked our order to jump. Mike jumped first. He was stoked. Honestly his energy became my energy; that is the only way I stayed calm and pumped about it.

Before they let you jump you have to practice attaching your harness to the other bungee cord sent down to get you, just like in the real jump. If you are unable to do this you can't jump. Fair enough.

So during the practice you lay on this cot where they attach the harness to your ankles and then onto your whole body. It was really secure and really no way it could come off of you. When you are lying down they hoist you up into the air by the same harness and bungee cord they use in the jump. After you're hanging there you have to pull your body up with the rope into a sitting position. This is actually really hard! But we were all able to do it so we all qualified...

The order was:

Mike, Guilherme, ME, BRIAN, Matt, and then Paul.

Mike did awesome! He loved it so much and just got everyone pumped.

Gui screamed the whole way but had the biggest rush.

THEN IT WAS MY TURN....

Honestly I have never been so scared in my entire life. At first when I was getting all strapped in and even when I got up to the platform I was fine. I was so excited since the first two loved it, I couldn't wait for my turn. And then I looked over the edge......

It was SO FAR DOWN and not much to stand on. Plus they say not to look down...but to get onto the part of the platform you jump off YOU HAVE TO LOOK DOWN! If you don't you'll just fall off the edge, it was so small!

Finally after holding onto the railing for a while the guys convinced me I could do it. So I let go of the bar I was now attached to and took the last step out on the platform. The guys in charge said they would count to 3 and then I should jump or I probably won't. So they started counting, and when they said 3 I just jumped!

It was honestly the scariest thing I have ever even thought about! Unfortunately for me when the bungee yanked me back up into the air after the initial jump it pulled on my knee so hard that it really hurt during the whole thing. So of coarse the guys working the Bungee jump took me to the hospital to get it checked out. I was on crutches for a week or so but was totally fine after that. The problem was that if you have an injury to your body when you jump that weakened area is more prone to getting hurt. They told us that the only injuries they've had at their bungee site are knee injuries. Typically if a person has a bad knee already then they are more susceptible to hurting it during the jump because the strain on it is too much. If I knew about this beforehand I may have reconsidered jumping in the first place but oh well. Apparently they only have about 1 injury per year, lucky me!

Really unfortunately I missed Brian's jump because I was in so much pain and everyone was looking at my knee. :( Good thing we video taped the jumps!

Brian just stepped out onto the platform right away and when they said he could jump at any time he just did it! If you blinked you would have missed it! Crazy guy! Then after Brian's jump Brian came with me to the hospital and we missed Matt and Paul's jump. But we also watched those on video too so it wasn't so bad, I guess.

It was sweet to be there though. Even though I hurt myself, like usual, I am still glad I did it. I wouldn't want to take it back, the rest of it was fun.
It was such a rush and SO INTENSE!

Just in case me describing the jumps wasn't enough we have attached the video's of Brian's and my jump for you all to watch and enjoy. The angle of Brian's isn't the best but you still get the idea!

Let us know what you think! Even if you think we're insane!

Also for some reason if the link doesn't work just go to www.youtube.com and type "Louise's bungee jump" and/or "Brian's bungee jump".

Visiting Family!

2007-04-27T12:26:00.000-06:00

What a fun weekend!

I don't even know where to begin...

Brian and I visited my auntie, my mom's sister, Gill, my cousin Kate and Gill's husband Keith.
Honestly we had such an amazing visit. Right from the moment we arrived in Liverpool we just felt so close and comfortable with them. It was like we've know each other for years! I can't even explain how fantastic it was to finally get to know them and how great the weekend was!

First off they picked us up from the Liverpool airport and as soon as we saw one another we knew each other straight away. Both them and us were a bit concerned before if we would recognize each other or not. For those of you who don't know..........
I have only been to England to see my mum's family once when I was 1 or 2 years old; which I obviously don't remember at all. Other than that Auntie Gill has come to Canada to visit us 3 times, also when we were little so I don't actually have any real memories of her unfortunately. Her daughter Kate is 12 so she is the same age as my brother Ethan; whom I have never seen before! Crazy I know.

Anyways........Gillian is the SPITTING IMAGE of my mum, honestly they could be twins. And the more I looked at her and talked to her the more she reminded me of mum. It was actually so strange to be there because it was like talking to my mum but not, so weird. Just the fact that it was my aunt and cousin and I didn't know them at all before that!

But, getting on with our weekend...

They first took us to their house in the sub-burbs of Preston (close to Manchester) where we got settled into our room and chatted until our supper reservations. Then they took us to this very nice Italian restaurant that night. It was fantastic! It was the best meal we've had in a long time! Despite how full we all were we managed to have starters and a dessert! haha I haven't done that in so long. After supper we headed back to their house, continuing to get to know each other. It was hilarious because now we know many funny stories about my mum when she was young! Always good to have.

The first day Keith cooked us a wonderful breakfast, then we took off to a town called Chester. It was a beautiful place with a lot of shopping too! We spent the day there, seeing some of the sights and roamed the streets. It was a fun day. After that we stopped at an outlet shopping mall in another town on the way home to look for "trainers". (That is what British people call sport shoes for those of you who don't know.) I was looking for a pair but had no luck. :(

In the morning we went jet skiing! How fun was that! It was our first time to try it so this was pretty exciting! We got up early and drove out to a nice little lake. The weather was just perfect for it! Brian and I each got a turn riding with Keith. Brian picked it up really fast and took it for a spin on his own right away! I finally drove with Keith on the back but didn't take it on my own. I'm saving that for next time we go! haha I also rode with Auntie Gill driving; that was also fun. Kate was so funny because when Keith took her out she would scream every time they turned! Good times.

We headed back to the house around lunch time so that we could meet up with my mom's best friend from England, Elaine. Auntie Gill took us to Elaine's house and planned on meeting up with us later. It was really neat to see Elaine because we've heard so much about her over the years from my mum. Elaine also has a daughter that is 12; who hung out with us as well. She was hilarious; asking so many different questions curious about Canada and it's similarities and differences to England. It was a lot of fun being with them.

First they took us to Manchester where we were able to check out the Manchester Old Trafford stadium. This was sweet because there was a game about to be played there at the time so the area was full of football (soccer) fans. The game was between Chelsea and Blackburn. I don't know where the league is at or anything because I don't really follow it. I know for sure that Elaine will know; she is one of the biggest fans! She has seasonal tickets and everything! She goes to probably every home game for Manchester United. I WISH!

After that Elaine took us out for a late lunch/early supper to an really nice Italian restaurant. We had a wonderful time visiting and catching up, enjoying our great meal. When we were finished Elaine took us back to Auntie Gillian's where we all hung out for a bit, having tea. We did got some great pictures with Elaine and Laura before they went back home. I'm really happy that we were able to meet them and be a part of the life my mum lived when she was in England.

After that the weekend just flew by! We hung out together at the house, sharing stories and having a good laugh. We had to leave the next morning which was really sad, but Gill and Keith had to go back to work as well as Kate to school. So it was a good time to go back home but we wished we didn't have to so soon. It was such a short visit but a good one. I am really glad that we went.....I just regret not going sooner! We could have visited a few times over the year we were in Europe. More reason to go back to England now though! We plan on keeping in touch and visiting each other when we can. I already can't wait unitl the next time we see each other!

My mum is finally going to England again to visit her sister, neice, and Keith as well as her friends there that she keeps in touch with still. She leaves towards the end of June and stays for a month! I am super excited for her and know that she will have a wonderful time!

To Auntie Gillian, Uncle Keith, and Kate:

Thank you so much again for the wonderful time we had staying with you. We will cherish our memories and won't be strangers! See you soon!

Around Switzerland

2007-04-23T13:40:00.000-06:00

My friend Eugene decided to stop by on his way back from a course in Amsterdam. Him and his friend where planning to spend 2 days with us, touring around Switzerland; but unfortunately they had a delayed flight and only got to spend one day. But we made the most of it and visited Luzern and Zurich. We had a great time with Eugene, luckily the weather was pretty nice. Unfortunately Switzerland wasn't soo green when they came though. The snow was gone, but the leaves weren't all out yet. The leaves have come out since, and it is already super nice here.

Anyways, here's some pics from Luzern:

And pics from Zurich:

After we got back to Baden we went up to the castle that evening on the way home. Other than that we weren't able to squeeze much else into this short stay; but it was a good time for sure and we're glad they came!

Trip to Ireland (Trim)

2007-04-22T03:55:00.000-06:00

Like we said in the Dublin post; most of the Ireland trip revolved around being in Trim. It really made our trip for sure!

The plan was to meet my mom's friends Anne and Pat in Trim, Ireland. So when we were finished in Dublin on Saturday evening we met up with Siobhan, one of their daughters, where she works in Dublin. It just so happened to be really close to our hostel which worked out nicely. Siobhan took us to the bus station and we got on a bus to Trim. We arrived at their house and had a later supper with their family. Anne and Pat were so accommodating and kind to us the whole time! It was wonderful to get to know them and their family; we were really fortunate to have stayed with such hospitable people!

While we were their, other than enjoying many delicious homemade meals, Anne and Siobhan took Brian and I around Trim to check out the sights. It was absolutely beautiful in the country side of Ireland! We just loved every minute of it! For those of you who don't know, Trim's castle is one of the main castles filmed in the movie Braveheart. Not only that, most of their family were extras in Braveheart! So of course we saw the castle and even went on a tour inside it to find out the history and get a closer look. That was fantastic; what a cool castle it was! We also were able to watch the parts of the movie that each of them were in! That was neat, I can't wait to show my mom where they are.

After this we took a drive through the country side, which was amazing, to a place called The Hill of Tara. This is another touristy spot where everyone comes to see the statue of St. Patrick and the famous hill where the high kings were crowned. According to legend, the stone would scream if a series of challenges were met by the would-be king. At his touch the stone would let out a screech that could be heard all over Ireland. So....that's the story there.

The rest of the time we spent hanging out at their house, drinking tea and eating very well! What a great time! We're so happy that we were able to meet these friends of my mom; it was a wonderful experience to remember.

Trip to Ireland

2007-04-17T13:25:00.000-06:00

So we where in Dublin, Ireland for a bit in March. A week after St. Patricks day...not the best planning, but oh well. Dublin is a pretty nice city. Really cool atmosphere, about a million pubs and full of a lot of nice people. We went with Pat, Andy, and Jan; although we didn't stay with them the whole time because we stayed with some friends of Louise's mom for half the time. Their place was outside the city in a town called Trim. More on trim to come. Here are some photos of Ireland. Really, being in Trim was the highlight of the trip and the post on that will be much bigger...and better! But Dublin was nice. Here are some photos of the city:

Geneva Motor Show!

2007-03-27T13:33:00.000-06:00

Weekend in Switzerland

This weekend we went to the Geneva Motor Show; which is the 2nd largest in Europe and is the oldest to date.

All I have to say is cars, cars, and more cars!
It may sound boring to some people and after a whole day of looking at cars...I'm not going to lie, they all looked the same after a while. But altogether it was super cool and a lot of fun to see.

We could fill this page with car pics but we'll spare you and just put some of our favorites from the show and ones that stood out to us.

Louise's Fave's:

Brian's Fave's:

The cars ranged from top of the line to ones you see on a regular basis; it was neat to see a variety. It took place at the airport and was absolutely packed! So many cars, which was great and so many people..not as great, but a lot of fun!

The cars included: Mercedes, BMW, Bentley, Ferrari, Lexus, Rolls-Royce, Opel, Peugeot, SAAB, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Hummer, Porsche, ect.
Basically, you name it and it was there. Also if it was good enough, I guess. All the companies had a small section to show their best products and display them how they wanted. These two were my favorite way of presenting the cars to the viewer; even though I really didn't like the cars themselves at all...

And of course these two since they're literally off the wall...

Almost every car company were giving away bags to sell/promote their products. So most people were walking around with a huge handful (or 2) of their favorite car companies bag. HAHA It was so funny.......so I of course joined in! I tried to pick up ones because I liked the specific cars but it may have gotten a little random. Brian thought I was lame and thinks they're just going to go into the garbage...but I'll show him! haha

The types of cars varied to normal every day use, to fancy, to race cars. These ones just reminded me of Bat Mobile cars more than anything...they were sweet. I think when I get a car it has to have doors that open in a crazy way for sure now!

There were a lot more nice cars that we really liked as well but some of the pictures didn't turn out since the cars were so shiny and there were so many people in the way. But I think you get the idea!

London

2007-03-12T07:31:00.000-06:00

Finally a country where people speak English as a first language!

This was the first time we would be in an English country in 10 months; it was great. Our flight left Friday night and we were to return Sunday night. Not that long for a city like London, but Brian is running out of vacation days so that was all the time we had.

Buckingham Palace

London is a wonderful city; really cool and so much to see for sure. Friday night was pretty much a write-off since we arrived so late unfortunately. We just settled into our hostel and looked at maps and etc. to plan the weekend. Saturday we got up early, had some hostel breakfast and headed out for the day. We saw the Buckingham Palace and the infamous guards who don't move, the parliament building and Big Ben. Big Ben is actually the bell inside the clock tower not the clock tower...just to clear that up. We wandered along the river bank checking out the Millennium bridge, Tower Bridge and London Bridge. We wandered into the Tate Modern Art Gallery; which was the first modern art gallery for us to see. It was kinda cool. I can't remember what we had for lunch, but it was OK.

After a glorious day of wandering around London, we headed back to our hostel to meet up with one of our friends, Alyssa Michalsky. By pure chance, she was in London on the same weekend with her University art class and we found out about this only 2 weeks beforehand! Unbelievable! Anyways, we met up with her and her friends to go out for supper (Italian) and hung out with them for the night at their hotel pub. It was so wicked to see one of our friends again! We still can't believe how that worked out.

On Sunday we ventured around the city again. Our friend Mike was going to some exhibition at the National Art Gallery so we wandered around the gallery, since it was free to get in. That was really cool. We don't like most art, but we both like impressionist stuff a lot. Art by Van Gogh, Monet, etc... It's pretty sweet. Brian's favorite painting was this one by Pissarro:

Millennium Bridge

After checking out the Gallery we went for an

English Breakfast which includes eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, baked beans, and tomato and is delicious. Washed it down with some tea and we were definitely feeling mighty English. From here we headed to Cambdon Town which has a huge market catering to hippies and alternative fashions. We got to see some crazy mohawks and just a lot of "unique" people. It was interesting. From here we headed to Speakers Corner at Hyde Park. Basically it is a place where people come, stand on a chair, and rant about anything and everything they want to. Most of the topics dealt with the U.S., Religion, and Racism. It was kinda cool for a bit, a really different experience for sure. From here we went back to the airport to fly home.

Clock Tower with Big Ben

Parliament Building

Our flight home was delayed by an hour or so and by the time we got to Zurich we had missed our last train back to Baden. Luckily there was a special train that night but didn't leave until 2:00 in the morning so it was a pretty late night.
Great time though. Loved London.

Tower Bridge

Snowboarding in Zermatt

2007-03-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

Yet again another weekend dedicated to snowboarding...

but not just any old place...

Have you ever eaten a Toblerone chocolate bar?
Have you ever looked at the picture of the mountain on a Toblerone package?

Well, let me tell you!

That mountain is, of course, located in Switzerland.
It happens to be called the Matterhorn.

The Matterhorn is one of the world's most famous mountains! It is 4478 meters high; towering over the surrounding ones, almost standing on it's own. It lies between the towns Gornergratt and obviously Zermatt; located on the border between Switzerland and Italy. The name Matterhorn comes from the German word "matt" meaning valley or meadow and "horn" which means peak. How perfect.

Being in Zermatt gave us the best view of this glorious mountain; plus it is one of the most famous resorts in Switzerland to ski/snowboard at, because of the Matterhorn.

So we bought a 2 day snowboarding pass for the weekend and headed down there Friday night. It takes about 5 hours to get to from where we are so we definitely had to be there the night before. We actually even stayed in a hostel called The Matterhorn Hostel! Not that it was a good hostel at all unfortunately...possibly one of the worst we've stayed in all year...but oh well.

Friday night after the long train ride we found our hostel and got settled in. Then we took off and ventured around the town a bit. We went to a pub with our friends for a while then a few of us ducked out early to get a good nights sleep for the big weekend. It turned out that we got the worst sleep in the world that night though. Other than the many loud disturbances of random people coming in and out of our room at all hours of the night, we also witnessed the most peculiar and dreadful snores ever! This guy in our room had the strangest and loudest and most annoying, sleep disturbing snores I've ever heard in my life! He kept everyone awake basically all night. It was ridiculous. So that was our lovely night.

On Saturday morning we work up early (Bri and I were already awake obviously) to have our hostel breakfast and get a head start on the day at the hill. Brian decided to stick with me again this day, which was super nice of him. We had a really good morning too. I was really picking it up even more since last time and was improving already. My turns were going really well; same with boarding on my toe edge. I was even starting to carve down a bit too. And then it happened...

Somehow I managed to catch my heel edge, while turning from heel side to toe side, when I was going pretty fast and ended up having a bad fall. I guess I flipped a couple times and some where in there banged up my shoulder. In my defense there was a guy in my way and I tried to turn sooner than I was prepared to do so. But long story short...Since I couldn't move my shoulder at all someone stopped to help us and called the medics. I was taken down the hill on a stretcher and then by ambulance to the hospital. Apart from my shoulder hurting soooo bad and being unable to move it and my whole body while wrapped in the stretcher - it was quite a fun experience! Haha! As most of you know I have had my fair share of injuries and even ambulance rides so it wasn't too bad at all. Plus Brian stayed with me the whole time so that was nice.

The most disappointing thing about this was that we obviously had to call it quits for the weekend and go home early. It was upsetting and I am still sad about it but what can you do. We were having so much fun and I was doing even better snowboarding this weekend so of course something like this would happen! Oh well though. Next season I will be back at it in Canada. And Switzerland, well Europe really, is having one of the worst years for skiing because of the lack of snow everywhere! Plus how many people can say they learned how to snowboard in Alps of Switzerland!

I got x-rays at the hill in Zermatt and it is for sure not broken so it was nothing too serious. So either it was a small/hairline fracture (they don't show up on x-rays until at least a week later) or I injured the joint. Who knows because when I went for the follow up here they said it was too soon for more to show up still on the x-rays so I guess I will never know! My shoulder is doing a lot better now though just once and a while it bothers me and restrains me from doing certain things but I can live with that for now!

At least Brian is still snowboarding and having a lot of fun...maybe even more fun now because he doesn't have to wait for me anymore!

Belgium Jan. 26-29 - Brugge

2007-03-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

BRUGGE

So from Brussels we took the train to a smaller town called Brugge. We spent a whole day here exploring the town, just wandering around.

On the train we met a nice couple from Brugge who told us what area to check out and where to go once we get off the train; so that was really nice!

There wasn't a lot of sightseeing to check out, which we were ok with. Honestly we just walked around all over looking at the amazing brick buildings, sampling Belgian chocolate and enjoying new scenery.

There was a city square like every other European city/town so we saw that for sure. The buildings were very cool there and it included a tall Clock Tower; which we climbed to get a sweet view of the city.

After that I bought some Belgium chocolate to bring home and then we caught a train back to Brussels for the night. In Brussels we found another pub to try another Belgian beer and that was that.

This concludes the weekend in Belgium, we hope you enjoyed the posts! We will be sharing our weekend in London and more snowboarding trips soon.

Belgium Jan. 26-29 - Brussels

2007-02-22T01:35:00.000-07:00

WHAT AN AMAZING COUNTRY!!!

Brian and I went to Belgium for a weekend in January with some of our friends. Belgium is just gorgeous and very unique. We went to Brussels and then took a day trip to Brugge. Brugge was really neat because most of the buildings are made of brick and the streets are cobble stone. Brussels was nice too just not as authentic; a lot of cool buildings, especially in the city square.

Jan, Brian, Pat, Brian C. and Guilherme

Also on this trip was Darren and Andy but I don't have a photo of them.

BRUSSELS

On the first evening we explored the city, getting some nice night photos of the Grand Place (market square). We also made sure we got fries with mayo (European mayo, not Canadian); which is so super good! Then a few of the guys hit up a pub so we didn't see them the rest of the night.

The next day we all went for breakfast at a Belgium waffle joint. The waffles were so delicious, I wanted to try them all. This is what I got though:

Wow...I know!

Then the rest of the day Darren went off exploring on his own with his agenda and the rest of us went sightseeing together. We walked around a lot of the city seeing most of the buildings and areas that we planned. Along the way we came across nice parks and streets as well.

Of course we went back to the Grand Place to get more pictures. This is considered one of the most beautiful medieval squares in Europe, full of baroque and gothic architecture. It was pretty sweet. The square included the King's house and City hall, located below:

We saw a lot of popular cathedrals and basilicas: St. Micheal & St. Gudula Cathedral, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame Church of Laken and the Sablon Church.

Basilica

The monuments and areas we went to consisted of the Atonium, Sablon Square, and the Royal Palace and park. I know there was more that we saw but I don't know the names of much more. The Manneken Pis (a weird statue of a little boy peeing - it seemed strange to us that it was a main attraction but whatever) was one of the monuments we saw.

Atonium Model (you can go inside all of the "atoms" where there are different activities in each one, ex. restaurant, children's play area, ect.)

Other than that we spent our time at night in getting fries with mayo and sampling different Belgian beer at a local pub. We were able to try a couple different beers that are in the top 10 in the world, so that was cool.

On the following post you will find out all about Brugge - check it out!

Snowboarding in Flumserburg

2007-02-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

For our second snowboarding trip we went to a smaller hill called Flumserburg. It was just a one day event and Brian and I just went on our own. This meant that I would get a whole day of entirely 1 on 1 instruction and guidance by Brian! Awesome!

Overall the weekend turned out really well in my opinion....

Even though the snow conditions weren't the greatest, there wasn't much snow altogether and after lunch it was getting pretty icy, I still had a lot of fun and learned more than I thought I would. Brian taught me how to turn both ways, from my heel edge to my toe edge and vice versa, right in the morning when we first started! It was a great accomplishment for me; I was, and still am, pretty proud! haha I also worked on going down the hill on my toe edge - which is actually quite difficult considering you basically have your back to the bottom of the hill. I got better the more I practiced of course but am still way better at snowboarding down on my heel edge for sure!

So all in all this was a successful weekend for me actually. I worked on the things that I was unable to do before and am definitely getting better at the whole thing in general. I had a really good time with Brian all day too so that is always great! I think this day was a lot less stressful on him as well compared to our last snowboarding experience in Disentis....

This coming weekend (Feb. 17 & 18) we will be snowboarding in ZERMATT!!! We are very excited about going to this popular place just to see never mind snowboarding there! It will be such an awesome adventure!

Our next blog post will be about our Belgium trip...

Perogyland Jan. 19 - 21

2007-02-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

So we made the trek to Poland, the land where perogies where invented; or at least, readily consumed. Being in eastern Europe, Poland provides cheap and really nice hostels, relatively cheaper food, perogies, and nice people. Poland also has some beautiful places to visit, older parts of cities that date back hundreds of years and are full of history.

We had a fairly large travel team, including fellow praktikants Pat, Andy, Brian Cox, and Jan Owoc. Jan was actually born and raised in Poland so he also served as our Polish guide, Polish translator, and shared some Polish trivia along the way. This made the trip really easy as communication was no longer a barrier and we could just enjoy our time.

Our travel plans included flying into Warsaw on Friday night and staying the night at a hostel. In the morning, we got up fairly early and took a train to Krakow. Warsaw is the capital of Poland, but during WWII the city was levelled to the ground; and even though most of it was rebuilt, it still does not have the history or beauty the Krakow does.

Also, very close to Krakow are the Wieliczka Salt Mines, which was our first stop before Krakow. The mines are 100's of meters below ground and stretch for kilometers. It is full of statues carved out of the salt-rock, churches, and now a restaurant, gift shop ballroom and so on. It was very impressive. Apparently you can lick the salt right off the walls; we never tried though....well maybe Brian C. did. Unfortunately we would only bring one camera into the salt mine between all of us and it didn't happen to be ours.

If we get those pictures any time soon we will post them on here for you all to see because it was pretty cool!

After the salt mines we wondered around the old town of Krakow which held many cobblestone streets, churches, clock towers, McDonald's, and our hostel. It was a very impressive old town with a lot of character. We had a great time enjoying the atmosphere and strolling the streets.

On Sunday we took the train back to Warsaw where our flight left in the afternoon. It was a great trip; we really enjoyed Krakow!

Up next: Belgium!!!

Tobogganing

2007-02-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

We finally got a bunch of snow here a couple weeks ago so that was wonderful. It really started to actually feel like winter here in Switzerland. This also gave me a chance to go tobogganing with the children. I took Emma and Leo once and also I was able to take the other children that I help out with as well. (More to come about the Larkin boys soon!)

Leo - supposed to be getting ready to go.....

Unfortunately I did not bring my camera to the Larkin's house the day we went snowing so I was unable to take pictures of them tobogganing. But here are some great ones of Emma and Leo:

There is not much else to say about this fun day - but the pictures speak for themselves!

Christmas With "Family" Away From Family!

2007-02-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

Christmas with the Kohler's

Before we left for our big Christmas adventure in Eastern Europe we had three Christmas celebrations here in Switzerland.

Our first celebration was at our church here that we attend pretty regularly (whenever we're here and not traveling). Christmas masses are always nice and comforting; even when you're not at home with your family for holidays!

The second one was with the Kohler family and the Larkin family. I work for Janie and Herald Larkin on Wednesdays now, looking after their children and cleaning as well. They have 3 young boys: Kyle - age 5 and the twins Scott and Dylan - age 3. They are a lot of fun and I definitely have my hands full with them!

Emma, Leo, and I decorated the tree together:

We all got together at Murielle and Robert's for a nice dinner celebration; it was very chaotic, but a lot of fun!

Here are all the children: Kyle and Leo in the back;
Scotty, Dylan, and Emma in the front

The third Christmas party was again at the Kohler's house with just their family and Brian and I. This was very nice; we had dinner and exchanged gifts with one another.

Here are some of the photos from this night:

For Christmas Emma got a jump rope and a hoola hoop and Leo got a bowling game from Brian and I. Brian and I got Swatches (Swiss Watches) from the Kohler family. We gave Robert a Circa hat and wrist bands for tennis and Murielle a bath and lotion basket.

Christmas was very different this year but still a lot of fun!

Snowboarding in Disentis...

2007-01-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

Our first snowboarding trip finally happened!!

Switzerland didn't have much snow for a long time...well still doesn't have a lot but yeah...but a few weeks ago there was a bit in the mountains so we decided to go. There was 6 of us who went on this trip and it was a lot of fun!

Matt and I ready to go!

First of all I guess you all need to know some of the details........

Brian is a snowboarder and is good. I on the other hand have tried it a couple times years ago. Therefore am not that good. But there was a HUGE SALE on snowboarding equipment here so we bought all the gear that I would need and some new stuff for Brian. So now I am determined to learn and get good while I'm here....or at least get ahead start here. And Brian has volunteered to teach me! YAY!

Photos of the hill and chair lift

On January 13th & 14th we went to Disentis (a town and ski hill here in Switzerland), with a few of our friends here, for my first attempt!

We went with Pat, Mike, Brandon, Paul, and Matt. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Disentis, which was super nice and definitely worth the price, so we could get in 2 days of snowboarding! On the second day our friends Taryn and Tom also joined us. We even got a Suisse fondue meal for supper made by the cook there; that was sweet!

Fondue supper @ B & B

View from B & B balcony

Let me just say it was an amazing weekend for me! I really enjoyed snowboarding and am starting to pick it up pretty fast. Of course there were many of negative moments and a lot of falls but I was still having fun whether Brian thought so or not! Brian had a good weekend too; I'm sure he would have enjoyed it way more just snowboarding down the hill with the other guys that are good but he was very patient with me. He said that he would rather stay with me now at the beginning so I can learn faster and then eventually I'll be joining him as well and he would rather that! So that worked for me. I was and still am very thankful he is helping me and sticking with me because he doesn't have to at all; so I am happy about it for sure!

The snow that weekend wasn't the best but the first day it was pretty good at least. The second day it was starting to melt quite a bit. It was either icy or slush after lunch, but oh well. Other than that it was a beautiful, sunny day....probably even too hot and the scenery and view was so amazing that is was worth it just to see the area! The mountains and valleys were just gorgeous!

I can't even tell you how stoked I am for our next snowboarding trip!

Our Christmas Vacation (Part 5)

2007-01-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

LATVIA

Riga was our last planned stop on our grand excursion and it was pretty nice as well. It really reminded us of Tallinn in some ways...mainly the old town...which is a good thing!!

So in Riga we walked around the town a lot in the old town and the new areas. We went to the Latvian Occupational Museum which was good as well and very informative. Other than that we didn't do a heck of a lot; just checked everything out.

Here are some pictures of the old town:

Here are some Christmas pictures from the old town and the new town:

Since we were here for more than enough days we decided to go to Lithuania for the day to a town close by. We got on a bus earlier in the morning and headed to Siauliai. This was a very small town and not that touristy but it was quite nice and just great to squeeze in another country! It was a really nice change in the scenery and change of pace for us compared to Latvia. In Siauliai we just walked around a bit....not that much to see, hung out in cafe's to warm up a bit and that's all really! It was fun though.

Here are a couple pictures of what we saw there:

Brian and Louise hope that you have enjoyed the pictures and info from our Christmas adventure in Eastern Europe and look forward to hearing your comments about it and see what you think!!

Soon to be posted are photos from Switzerland, our first Snowboarding trip here, and the Poland and Belgium trips! Also there will be photos of the children, Emma and Leo, soon as well!

Our Christmas Vacation (Part 4)

2007-01-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

RUSSIA!

Out of our whole trip we think St. Petersburg was the best for many reasons.
The New Years celebration was amazing and so cool to witness! The main parts of the city were incredible; the buildings were so beautiful! The churches and cathedrals were so gorgeous and different than everything we've seen because of the Russian style of architecture.
Well those are some of the reasons!

Here are some nice pictures of the city:

These are some of the different styles of churches and cathedrals in St. Petersburg that we saw:

The famous Church On Spilled Blood - extremely cool and unique on the inside and out:

St. Isaic's Cathedral - This is my favorite cathedral out of all that I have seen in Europe so far. It is so amazing on the outside...we didn't go inside it but it was just sweet to look at:

These are pictures of neat buildings we saw around the city center:

On the right is the Winter Palace/Hermitage Museum
(the rest of the buildings were neat but we don't know what they are....)

And this is us during the New Years festivities; what a gongshow that was!

Last, but not least - Riga, Latvia is up next with Lithuania as well!

Our Christmas Vacation (Part 3)

2007-01-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

ESTONIA

Unfortunately we didn't take as many pictures in Tallinn as we would have liked to but here are some of the ones we do have.

We found some "look out" points with the help of our hostel and saw the most amazing views of the old town.

It was really beautiful everywhere because of how Christmasy it was. We enjoyed that a lot; seeing all the decorations and Christmas trees like this one.

Tallinn was a very relaxing part of our holiday. We wandered around the old town a lot admiring the cool buildings that reminded us of good old Switzerland. Other than that we hung out at the nice hostel we were in and did a lot of saunaing! That was great! What a good and fun way to warm up from the cold.

Here are some more pictures of the old town in Tallinn:

Next to come is St. Petersburg, Russia - Where we spent New Years!

Our Christmas Vacation (Part 2)

2007-01-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

FINLAND

Even though we did not enjoy Helsinki as much as the other places it was actually still a nice place looking back at the pictures. We saw some of the most amazing sunsets and sunrises since there was only sunlight with us from 9:00 - 16:00. I guess that was a sweet bonus to only having light for so long.

Here are some pictures of the nice churches we saw:

Senate Square Cathedral ----------------------- Uspensky Cathedral
(Where we sang Christmas
Carols on Christmas Eve)

Temppeliaukio Church (Rock Church - where we went for morning mass)

Sibelius Monument

These pictures are from the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress:

Here are some more pictures from around the city:

Now here are a couple photos of us in Helsinki:

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Stay tuned for Estonia!

Being Homesick

2007-01-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

I think the worst part about this whole year in Europe is being away from family and friends. Even just being away from familiar things and traditions we are used to. Switzerland is a different country. So rich, reserved, and just unique. But I will post more about Switzerland soon enough...

Being homesick is not fun. Brian and I would both never trade this year for anything; it has been amazing and unforgettable being overseas. Yet no matter how much we travel and how many countries we visit and all the amazing sights we see...we're still just homesick and longing to be in Canada. It's funny because when you graduate from high school and move out of your house (maybe), leaving your parents for the first time for real, it's scary at first but eventually you adjust. It's like home away from home...but when you do find yourself homesick you just go home and visit when you want typically or at least see your family for the holidays. Being here has really made me realize how much I love my family and how much I really do need to be near them......... or at least in the same country.

There's many different reasons for being homesick. Most of the time for me it's missing my family, missing my friends, missing my job at the day care, not being able to speak English, and just being away from familiar people and things. So far I have done fairly well being able to deal with the people and things I miss. Obviously I miss my family the most. Most of my friends and the people that know me know my mom as well. It's funny how that works...but if you know my mom she is on the go 24-7 and is always busy doing something. Whether she's taking one of us kids somewhere, watching 1 or a few of us even play sports, or at school with the children, or just doing something. So basically she's everywhere and knows everyone that we know (small town also). I really miss that. My mom was always there for me...well still is...haha. It's hard to be away when we're so close. But whenever I miss my mom I just call her. It's hard with the time change but I am able to talk to her a lot so it's nice. Sometimes I just listen in the conversations so I can just hear her voice. I never thought that I would miss her so much but I know now and am just looking forward to the day we arrive in the airport and see my family waiting for us!

My dad on the other hand is a whole different story. Unlike my mum, not as many people know my dad. He is pretty much the opposite of my mum actually. Some people think of him as shy but I like to say he's reserved. He doesn't say much but when he does it's usually a funny remark or a wise comment that I should be listening to. My dad is hilarious; and I didn't notice it as much until Brian started hanging out at my house. Either I just didn't realize it enough before unfortunately or it was just Brian and him together being funny; which just encouraged my dad even more. Not only is he funny because of the lines he says out loud or under his breath, but also because of some of the things he regularly does. There are many things that my dad does that make me laugh...but maybe my mum not so much. When he falls asleep on the couch or floor in the living room when he shouldn't be sleeping and then when my mum finds out he says "I was just resting my eyes" every time. The way he leaves the knife in his apple cores on the table. That his typical snack is eating out of the cereal box, specifically mini wheats or frosted flakes, in front of the TV - the fact that he buys the cereal for that reason. My dad is just funny in general and I just miss being around him. I'm just sad that we weren't able to hang out as much as I would have liked to before we left. And unfortunately my dad works so hard that he isn't in the house long enough for me to talk to him on the phone as much as my mom while we're here. I really admire my dad and don't give him enough credit for all the work he does, especially on the farm. The things I realize when I'm gone I guess. So when I miss my dad I open up a box of cereal and just snack on it like he would. Or I just think of all the funny things about him that I love and can't wait to be around when I'm home. I guess that's all I can do.

In Calgary it was different not being around my family everyday and not seeing them much; but we were still able to see them. And when I phoned home it wasn't a big deal. But when I call home from Switzerland the excitement in everyone's voices is so overwhelming and relaxing at the same time; every time it's a huge deal. It's pretty cool and each call I'm always thrilled about that. There are so many people I want to see and visit when we're home and we are definitely counting down the days until then. Only 112 days left now!

Soon to come - Christmas Trip Posts!

Our Christmas Vacation (Part 1)

2007-01-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

Brian and I had such an amazing time on our Christmas and New Years holiday!

We have so much to say about it and so many pictures we want to share with you all so we will be breaking it up into different parts. This first part we will talk about our trip highlights as well as other important info that we feel are worth mentioning. The other parts will be broken down into the different countries that we visited along the way.

Part 1:

We had most things planned and booked for the whole trip including transportation and accommodation months in advance. We were very prepared, and even though we didn't pack until the night before, were ready to start the adventure.

This is our initial planning for the whole trip:

Zurich, Switzerland --> Helsinki, Finland (by plane)
Helsinki, Finland --> Tallinn, Estonia (by boat)
Tallinn, Estonia --> St. Petersburg, Russia (by bus)
St. Petersburg, Russia --> Riga, Latvia (by plane)
Riga, Latvia --> Berlin, Germany --> Basel, Switzerland (by Plane - stopover in Berlin)

So on Saturday morning, December 23, we set off to the Zurich airport to begin our 2 week vacation. We departed around 13:00 (delayed until 14:00) and arrived in Helsinki by 18:00 Finland time. We were in Helsinki from the night of the 23rd until the 27th.

Exciting highlights/sightseeing from Helsinki:

Uspensky Cathedral
Senate Square Cathedral (sang Finnish Christmas carols here on 24th evening)
Temppeliaukio Church (Rock Church - went there for morning mass on 24th)
took a boat to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress on small Island
Opera House (couldn't get tickets)
Olympic Stadium/Tower
Sibelius Monument

Helsinki was a little disappointing overall. It wasn't that nice of a city and while we were there almost everything was closed from 24-26, including supermarkets, stores, and most restaurants. So that was too bad but we saw a lot of cool sights, buildings and went to some nice churches. Since most things were closed it was hard to find places to eat, but with the help of our hostel we were able to find something.
On Wednesday, the 27th, we got on the boat around noon. She was called Rosella! The boat ride was only about 3 hours and we were able to watch TV for some of the time. It was a lot less swaying and tippy as we imagined so that was great.

Tallinn was beautiful! We didn't even leave the old town; it was so nice, clean and cottagey! Our hostel was great; really cool people, very new and classy place and had a free sauna! Perfect. The whole time we wandered all over the old town checking out all the neat buildings and cathedrals. Most of the time we bought food from the supermarket and cooked it in the hostel kitchen. We did eat out a few times though - went to a Pancake house twice (supper filling or dessert filling) and to "The Oldest Tallinn Pub" once; that was really good. Tallinn overall was a great city to visit, we really enjoyed everything about it.

We got on the bus early Saturday morning on the 30th and traveled until the Russian boarder. Everything with customs and our Russian visas worked out great; there were no problems for us at all the whole time. So that was great and such a relief.

Exciting highlights/sightseeing from St. Petersburg:

Winter Palace / Hermitage Museum (2nd biggest in world - we only spent a few hours there unfortunately)
Church on Spilled Blood (very cool and unique on both inside and outside)
St. Isaic's Cathedral (gorgeous on the outside)
Paul and Peter Fortress (Cathedral/Buildings from/Museums about the history of St. Petersburg)
Opera House/Mariinsky Theater (saw The Nutcracker ballet performance!)

We really enjoyed St. Petersburg; the "down town" area was beautiful with really cool and nice buildings all over. There was a lot there for sightseeing at night and during the day. The opera was wonderful; such a good first ballet for both of us! The Hermitage and Winter Palace were the same building just one part is called the palace and the other is the Museum. St. Isaic's Cathedral is the nicest and most modern Cathedral I have seen in all of Europe; it is for sure my favorite. We didn't go inside cuz it cost a lot of money but it was cool. The Church on Spilled blood (also called the ) was so neat and fancy. We did go inside here since it is very famous and it was definitely worth it. It was so amazing; every inch of the walls, ceiling, and floor were covered with beautiful and colorful mosaics and patterns on the floor everywhere. It was honestly incredible. This Fortress wasn't really worth seeing in our opinion. It was pretty boring and the buildings and cathedral weren't really that nice. The museums were sort of interesting about the history but not enough to say we enjoyed it a lot. But overall St. Petersburg is a must see for sure. There is so much to do and see and it is very beautiful. Of course other than the main parts of the city the rest is very run down and ghetto like and basically scary (where our hostel was) but I guess it is to be expected in Russia.

Last, but not least, we visited Riga. Riga is a lot like Tallinn, very nice old town; but the city has a lot of very modern parts as well. It reminded me of Calgary actually; the nice parts of Calgary anyways. Riga had some of the best restaurants with amazing food for a good price, we ate out quite a bit here. We hung out in the old town a lot during the day, taking pictures but our hostel was in a different area so we were able to see both a lot. It rained a lot in Riga so it was harder to see as much as we wanted and to take pictures. We did go to the Museum of Occupation about how Latvia was taken over by USSR and Germany and how they finally survived to become/stay their own country. We went to a similar one in Tallinn as well about Estonia's history; which was neat as well.

While we were in Latvia we decided to take a day trip to a town in Lithuania called Siauliai. Since it rained a lot in Riga and we had more than enough days there to see everything we thought this would be nice. So we took a bus for a couple hours and spent a whole day here. It wasn't the nicest town and not a lot to do but it was nice to get a scenery change and see another country! It felt good to just be relaxed and not have to rush around too much here. We enjoyed ourselves and when we needed a break from the cold we went to a cafe and had a hot drink and a dessert.

Our plane ride home was fine, long because of stopping in Berlin for 4 hours cooped up in the airport, but okay nonetheless. Our Christmas trip overall was absolutely great for both of us. It wasn't too cold and unfortunately it only snowed once in Russia for New Years but that's okay too. We were able to see 5 countries altogether and we are happy with our choices for sure. We got a lot of sightseeing done and were also able to relax and enjoy ourselves as well. So really we couldn't have had a better trip for Christmas and New Years this year!

All about Helsinki, Finland next!

Traveling Switzerland 2

2006-12-17T02:38:00.000-07:00

Weekend Continued in Switzerland...

The rest of the weekend; after the day in St. Gallen.

On Sunday we went to the church in the Zurich area we have been attending almost consecutively for the past 2 months or something. Then we went home to eat and go to the gym; which is also a regular routine for us now. Sunday night we went back to Zurich with Pat the see the downtown area all decked out for Christmas. We also walked through the Christmas markets while we were there as well.

Zurich was definitely the most decorative and had the nicest displays for sure. They also had a major Christmas market inside the train station. This was kinda nice since we didn't have to be in the cold the whole night wandering around. There were also small set ups outside around the downtown area of continued from the market. And of coarse many roasted chestnut stands available all around as well as lots of gluehwein.

Traveling Switzerland

2006-12-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

Before Luxemburg...

Since it's Christmas time...well getting closer to Christmas anyways...we decided that we better check out the Christmas markets around Switzerland. Apparently Switzerland (as well as everywhere else in Europe I'm assuming; especially Germany) is known for these markets that occur every year around December until Christmas I guess. So Brian, Pat and I randomly picked a place and ended up going to St. Gallen for the day.

St. Gallen was a pretty nice village; I don't really know how big it is or anything because we basically just stayed around the Old Town area. This is where the majority of the markets take place and where all the best Christmas decorations are.

Unfortunately we didn't go at night so it wasn't that dark; therefore the Christmas lights didn't look as good as they would have but that's alright it was still neat. The markets here, like all the other markets we have seen so far, consist of lots of different stuff. Everything Christmas of coarse; ranging from candles, to knitted sweaters and mittens, to jewelery. Also every market has many food/snack tables where you can sample different things...if you are thinking about buying something, and of coarse they have Glüwein. Glüwein is spiced wine; which is a special Swedish drink. Everywhere around Switzerland there are venues set up selling roasted chestnuts; apparently they have these as soon as it starts to get cold outside. Every train station you get off, Christmas market you go to....and street corner basically there are stands selling roasted chestnuts. It is actually a pretty tasty little snack; they taste like potatoes almost with a bit of a sweet taste too. We get them often since it's the thing to do!

Here are some pictures of St. Gallen at Christmas time:

In St. Gallen we saw something very unusual and had to take some photos of it. Even though this has nothing to do with Christmas:

Luxembourg in December

2006-12-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

So we went to Luxembourg, on a really short notice. We booked the plane at 7pm Friday night and flew out at 9am the following morning. Found cheap tickets and thought, why not?

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a super small country, squished between Belgium, France, and Germany. And when I say small, I mean small. In fact, it would fit twice into Prince Edward Island. We went to the main city, Luxembourg and it was an amazing little city. It was a nice mix between old and new buildings; although we didn't hang out in the newer area because it was out of the way and was mainly the business center. We mainly hung out in the old town, which was beautiful. The city used to be a huge castle and the castle walls, turrets and churches still remained. We took soo many pictures, and a lot of it looked like it was out of a fairy tale, and not a real city.

Luxembourg is a rich country as well, but luckily we found a hostel which was cheap and very, very nice. Also, because it was Christmas, the town square held their Christmas market and was filled with Christmas booths selling, candy, ornaments, soup, sausages, Gluehwein (hot, spiced wine), waffles and other delicious treats. We hung out at the Christmas market a lot because it was such a nice atmosphere with lots going on. Besides that we also wandered around through the cobblestone streets, appreciating the European buildings and life.

Without knowing it, we had booked this trip on the weekend that Luxembourg hosts a fireworks display on their bridge, Ponte Adolph which spans over a huge valley. After a lot of walking down paths late at night, we found the perfect viewing point for the fireworks display in an uncrowded area in the valley. The fireworks where great, not quite as good as "Thunder in the Valley" in Crowsnest Pass, but they where really good.

We flew out Sunday night at 18:45, the flight home only took 35 mins. We were barely in the air and the pilot already announces that we are starting our decent to land. We got home by 9 and started getting ready for the Christmas party we are hosting on Tuesday, December 12th; which is also dads birthday!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Linked to Friends

2006-12-07T11:18:00.001-07:00

If anyone still checks our blog periodically here is a quick little update.

We want to explain our "links" list on the RHS. Some people know the people on there, some don't. So since we are linked to these sites, we figure we should explain to you who these people are, and ENCOURAGE you to visit some of the sites.

The obvious ones are:
The Brian List: Brian's way of using spare time at work....
James and Heather Boldt: Brian's older brother and sister-in-law
Johnny Boldt: Brian's younger Brother
Miriam DeCock: Louise's sister; whom was in Uganda at this time.

The not as obvious ones are:
Gord and Janice Mills: Our friends from Calgary that we used to go to church with. We now go to a different church. For those who where at our wedding, Janice was the amazing singer!
Mike Birdgeneau: Brian's good friend from Engineering, classy guy, classy webpage.
Kelsey Plowman: Will and Kelsey are friends of ours; Brian met Will in his first year of school, and Will helped him out a lot. His wife Kelsey is an amazing singer also. You can here her sing on her website. Please go and listen, and check out when she sings in Calgary....and then go watch her!
Kate Stam: Louise met Kate her first year of school and we have been friends ever since.
Kurt Pearson: Could be the worst role model Brian ever had....haha! Mohawks are cool, and so is punk music. He lived in Pincher Creek in the winter, working at the ski hill. Brian hung out with him a lot back in the day.
Becca: Went to school with Miriam in Briercrest. During her blog she was in Korea to teach English.
Beth and Jeff Beer: Bethany used to live in Pincher Creek and her family was good friends with the Boldts and hence, Brian and Beth where good friends. She has since gotten married to Jeff. Louise also knows Beth quite well through high school sports; playing against each other. Now they live in Pincher Creek and Jeff is now the Baptist Church's Youth Pastor. They also just had a baby!

Upcoming Plans.......

2006-11-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

So as you may have guessed we haven't been doing a heck of a lot this last little while but we have a good reason...

This post is basically just a heads up as to what we will be doing trip wise that we know of at this point, from now until the end.

A lot of you know our plans already so I'm sorry for those of you who have emailed me in the past little while and are aware of everything in this post already.
And for everyone else...........

We have no trips planned out officially from now until Christmas but we intend on doing at least one in December for sure before that. It may or may not involve Germany but if it does we are planning on going to Berlin. We want to see this city at some point while we're here so if we can get a cheap night train there, that is what we will do. I think there are supposed to be some really nice Christmas markets there as well so that would be cool to check out.
We also want to see more of Switzerland like usual; especially in December because apparently most cities/villages are decked out in Christmas decorations and full of markets as well. It should be pretty sweet.

The main reason as to why we are not doing much right now; or at least why we are staying in Switzerland and haven't planned anything for December yet is because we do not have our passports at the moment!
Brian gets a 2 week vacation for Christmas and I get a 3 week one. Because of this and since we're not coming home during this time we want to make the most of it. So.........
For the holiday we are going to 4 different places all in the same area. We will be flying to Helsinki and then hopping on a boat to Tallinn. Next we will bus to St. Petersburg and from there we will fly to Riga. We will also be flying to and from Zurich to get there and back. So we will technically be in Finland for Christmas this year and Russia for New Years.
(For those of you who don't know Helsinki is in Finland,

Tallinn is in Estonia, St. Petersburg is in Russia,

and Riga is in Latvia.)
If you don't know much about any of those cities then....well....then we're on the same page! But seriously just google any of them with the words winter or Christmas and look at pictures; it should be gorgeous. Cold, but gorgeous. We will have to pack heavy though

unfortunately because it will be so cold and the fact that we'll be gone for 2 weeks. Wow! We're excited though.

So back to what I was saying earlier about our passports. To enter and leave Russia you have to have a Russian visa; therefore we had to apply to get this visa. In doing so we had to fill out a bunch of forms, photocopy our documents, plus whatever else, and send our passports. At least they're still in Switzerland though. We had to take all of this to the Russian Consolate in Bern and then we will find out in a week or 2 whether or not we get to go! We could have mailed everything but we didn't know if we filled everything out correctly and if we had everything we needed for sure so we thought we would just go there. Even though this was the biggest waste of time to do so at least it's done and over with. So hopefully we will get the good or bad news soon, get our passports back so we can leave the country, and get to go to Russia. If not I guess we wasted some money and cut our trip short; but I'm sure it could be worse, right?
Haha, anyways we'll let you know.

After Christmas we have 4 trips planned already for the new year:
In January we are going to Brussels in Belgium

and Warsaw in Poland. Then in February we are going to

London (everyone knows where that is)
and in March we are going to Dublin in Ireland!
We are super excited about all of them; especially Ireland. Unfortunately we will be in Dublin the weekend after St. Patrick's Day but maybe it will be better this way and not such a gongshow! Other than that nothing is booked but we plan to see 1, preferably 2 places each month after Christmas. Outside of that we want to see even more of this Suisse land and snowboard a lot. Well I don't want to speak too soon but if I like it and if Brian can find the patience to teach me we will be going as much as possible......or as much as our bank account will allow us!

This week we also took a day off of our regular work out routine (Pat, Brian, and I have been consecutively going to the gym most days of the week for over 2 months now) to catch the new James Bond Movie: Casino Royal. Great movie by the way. We have been attending an international church we found in Zurich that we really enjoy, so that is nice. The people there are great; we even almost feel at home. We have had a few supers at different families houses even already so it's great that we're making some more friends here; even though not many of the people who attend are Suisse! I am even going to be singing in the worship team at some point as well which will be super! Anyways now everyone will be forced to read the blog actually rather than just look at the pictures for once! Well hopefully that's not the case but if it is that is fine as well. Take care, God bless, hope to hear from some of you on the posts or via email!

Tchüss, Tchüss, Ciao!

More About Amsterdam

2006-11-18T04:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few key photo's that didn't make it into the last post and thought it is only right that we share them with you.

The first picture : A weird car and an even weirder public bathroom. Like really, what the heck?? It's wiiiiiiide open, in broad daylight. Too much for us... The midget car looks pretty hilarious as well.

The second picture: Yes, you can still live in a trailer if you live in Amsterdam. A little harder to get that "trailer park" atmosphere, but you can get close. Anyways, pretty ridiculous, I couldn't imagine living in a house boat for my whole life.

Picture three: Look closely, cause this bike is decked out. Windshield for the front child(yes that is a kid seat right after the windshield), you can also trap a kid on the back, basket in the front, and a nice paint job. The Amsterdamers love their bikes, sooo many bikes there, all old-school bikes as well, quite funny.

And here are some more pictures of the beautiful city.

Amsterdam

2006-11-16T02:19:00.000-07:00

So The Netherlands is another country added to the list of countries we have visited after we spent two days in Amsterdam. Let's just say Amsterdam was an "interesting" city. Nowadays, it is basically famous for its legalized prostitution and marijuana. We don't really fish from that pond if you know what I mean; so we weren't really sure what to expect. But Amsterdam is actually a beautiful city, and because that sorta stuff is legal, it is all concentrated in one small area of the city, and the rest of the city has nothing to do with that (except for the "coffee shops" which are sporadically spread throughout the city and sell weed).

So, here is how the trip went down:
Flew from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam; arriving around 11:30ish on Saturday morning.
Found our hostel and dropped our stuff off.
Wandered around the city a bit, found some cheap food.
Stumbled upon the Red Light District and discovered our Hostel was on the very edge of this.
Went for a free walking tour of the city given by a Canadian from Vancouver. This was pretty cool, we learned a lot about the history of the city and the different sites to visit. Walked around a bit more, and then back to the hostel.

On Sunday we got up and had the hostels free breakfast.
Went to the Anne Frank Haus, which is the house in which Anne Frank was in hiding before the Nazi's captured her and her family. This was quite the experience and definitely worth seeing. Found a place for lunch, checked out the shopping district in Amsterdam, also saw the Jewish quarter, and the port.
Other than that it was raining the rest of the time (and a bit in between stuff) so we didn't do too much else.
Lastly we flew back to Basel around 9:30pm; then finally caught a train home to Baden around 12:00am and got home by 1:30am.

It was a long weekend but so much fun; Amsterdam is a beautiful city!

Hockey Night In..........Switzerland!

2006-11-13T02:39:00.000-07:00

Robert Kohler told Brian, Pat, and I about a national hockey game coming up between Switzerland and of course Canada. So needless to say we were there like cheese on a pizza. We gathered up the Canadians and almost everyone came plus some of our other friends from different countries as well...Robert came too. We all dressed as Canadian and red as possible (even though Swiss colors are red and white also) and brought all our flags we could fine; to have a huge cheering section for Canada.

The event was a lot of fun and were actually more Canadian fans than we expected to see.
Here are some of them that we saw near us:

The team wasn't the real national team just a team of Canadians playing in Europe right now and it wasn't the real Swiss team either. So obviously it wasn't the best game to watch; a little slow and not as good but there were some really nice goals by both teams.

Also European hockey is very different than the NHL that we're used to....especially when it comes to hitting! The game was also very quiet in comparison; the fans weren't really crazy and loud but there were a lot of Swiss flags waved when they scored. Then when Canada scored the few cheering sections stood up and yelled but it wasn't enough to make a huge difference.

Unfortunately the Canadians lost 6 - 4 in the end but it was a fun night anyways. We were all very disappointed but were glad that we came out to cheer on our country.

We traveled to Holland this weekend to see Amsterdam
so stay tuned for the post about this trip!

Australia Here We Come......

2006-11-06T01:49:00.000-07:00

Well not exactly!.........

When we arrived here in Switzerland there were so many Canadian praktikants, old people and new; but there were also many other praktikants from all over the world really. In particular there was one guy that we hung out with a lot, mainly playing sports. His name is Naveen Nadesan and he is Australian. Nav had the coolest accent and we had so much fun with him while he was still here. Unfortunately he came 6 months before us and then stayed for a year. So as of late October his time had come to an end here and he was heading back to Australia.

Before he left we tried to play soccer and basketball as much as possible to make the most of it while he was still here. Nav, Bri and I would play basketball most nights and while Mere and Mir were here it was great cuz we could actually get some games in. Now without Naveen it's not as fun for Bri and I because there is nobody who will play basketball with us as much. We actually wish now that we hung out with Nav more; he was quite similar to us and we miss him being here for many reasons. It is really too bad he wasn't here during the whole time we were but at least we were able to meet him and enjoy our time together while he was still here.

The night before he went home Pat, Andy, Bri, and I all went out for drinks with Naveen to celebrate his departure and the time we spent together. That night was a lot of fun but really
sad as well. But it wasn't a "goodbye" party for him though because we will see Nav again one day. We don't know when but we do know that Bri and I will be going to Australia one day; hopefully sooner rather than later to visit him. I have always wanted to go to Australia and now I get the chance to do so; we really can't wait until that day comes. We will greatly miss Nav until then and cherish the memories we made here in Switzerland with him. He is a great friend to both of us; full of character that we will one day see again!

A Praktikant Thankgiving

2006-11-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving was very interesting for us here in the land of the Suisse...

If you can believe it, Switzerland does not really have an official Thanksgiving holiday. They do have harvest festivals and meals to celebrate but not exactly "Thanksgiving" like in Canada and the US. The Suisse don't really celebrate Halloween either. A few (or maybe more) years ago they didn't even know anything about the occasion. They have recently begin to incorporate it into their lives; mainly because of the people that have moved here from the States, but still it is getting a little more popular here... Not so much that people dress up in costumes or go "trick or treating" but you know.

Natalie (N. Carolina) Kim -------------------------- Pat (Canada), Krispin
(England), Darren (Canada) --------------------------- (Canada), Kim
- our roommate, Matt (England)

Anyways we decided to have our own Thanksgiving celebration
within the Canadian praktikant group this year and other fellow Alstom and/or ABB praktikants we hang out with. It was a potluck so we made a list and everyone decided what they wanted to bring and share with the group. This was very interesting because some people don't know how to cook and others have never been to a Thanksgiving dinner before and didn't know what to bring. It was our new friend Guilherme's, from Brazil, first Thanksgiving ever and he brought us different Brazilian candy which was really neat...it was very good but super sweet. Brian and I got my Auntie Flora's mashed potatoes recipe (my favorite) and also made an apple crisp from an internet recipe and they were both a big success (we think)! Of coarse our potatoes weren't as good as when my Aunt makes them but we tried! The dinner was hosted at our friend Taryn's house; well our other friends live there too but it was put on by Taryn basically so she gets all the credit for the great evening.

Andy and Taryn (Canada) ---------------------------- Mike (Canada)

Overall it was a hilarious night and a lot of fun hanging out with everyone again. Most of the food was really good and then there was some sketchier stuff but I tried most of it anyways. I definitely didn't have any cow tongue but I think that speaks for itself...
Brian on the other hand... But it was a successful night; we were all very full and satisfied so that's all that matters.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

The Kohler Family

2006-11-01T01:42:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I talked about my nannying job and shown you pictures of the children so this is way over due. When Miriam was leaving we got a few group photos with everyone so I can show you pictures of the parents (Robert and Murielle) now as well since we don't have any yet! We took many photos of all of us when Mere was leaving too but they are on Robert's camera and I keep forgetting to get them.

Here is the whole gang with Brian, Miriam and myself as well:

I have been having a lot of fun with the children and we are just getting closer and closer each day it feels! We are all very attached and right now I can't even imagine saying good bye, it will be a very emotional day...well month and will break all of our hearts when we leave. It has been great because we've been going over to their house for supper quite often if feels; when Mere left and when Mir left. Then also last week Brian and our friend Pat went for a tour of Robert's company and we stayed for supper as well. That was fun because Pat could now put faces to the people I talk about all the time with funny stories with the children.

So here is Emma (6 years old) :

Here is Leo (3 years old) :

More photos of Emma and Leo playing outside and having fun together:

Obviously it is getting harder to get the children motivated to do activities because of the crappy weather and some days are quite tiring but we still have so much fun and no matter what I wouldn't want a different job while I am here.

Suisse Adventures with Mere and Mir

2006-10-13T13:24:00.000-06:00

While both Meredith and Miriam were visiting us here in Switzerland we were able to accomplish some Suisse exploring to several different destinations on my days off. This was a lot of fun and actually quite relaxing. So these days we took the train where ever our hearts desired...or where the weather was supposed to be the nicest...and went on our way.

We didn't take many photos of any of these places but here are a few for you to enjoy as well!

I couldn't find a good pic of Mere and I together in Switzerland so here are 2 random pics of us separately!

First Meredith and I visited Montreux (where the Jazz festival took place). We spent an afternoon here only because it takes about 3 1/2 hours to train there but it was nice; we even splurged and got some Movenpick icecream...so delicious!

The second trip we went on was to Lausanne. This trip was actually on one of my working days because Murielle (the mom of the children I nanny) asked Mere and I to take Emma to her cousins house there. So we took Emma and Leo on the train, dropped Emma with her Grandpa and cousin, and then we were able to venture around Lausanne with Leo in the stroller. We actually didn't spend much time there because we didn't have a map and didn't know what to see there or how to get to the lake....so with Leo sleeping we walked around for about an hour, found some food and got back on the train to go home.

The third place we visited was Interlaken. We spent the whole day here; wandering around the town doing nothing inparticular for the most part. The houses here are very typical Suisse and most of the yards are covered in flowers and vegetation. It is a really nice looking town with a lake and a great view of the mountains. We also saw the biggest sunflowers we've ever seen in Interlaken; in someone's yard on display.

Mere, Bri, and I were also able to check out Geneva for an afternoon when we got back to Switzerland from our Spain trip. We flew in to Geneva in the early afternoon so decided to stay there and hang out. We ended up taking a boat ride up Lac Geneve (Lac Leman) to a town called Nyon; then we took the train home. While we were in Geneva we were able to see the famous fountain there; it is one of or the tallest fountain in the world, so that was cool to see.

On my last day off while Meredith was here I had to work unfortunately but Brian volunteered to take a day off work and spend the day with Mere so that was really nice. Brian took Mere to Luzern where they went on a long boat ride on Lake Luzern and wandered around the town. Luzern is a beautiful place, probably one of my favorites still.

My first trip with Miriam was to a place called Bellinzona. This was a really neat town that was new to me as well. I have been to areas near Bellinzona but not actually to visit that town so it was cool for both of us. There were at least 3 castles still intact that you could climb to, so we climbed up 2 of them to check them out (actually we took an elevator up to one!).

For our second visit we went to Interlaken but this time we went on a boat ride for most of the trip. First we walked around for about half an hour then we got straight on the boat. We took the boat all the way to a place called Thun and then took the train back home when we arrived. The boat ride was a few hours for sure but a lot of fun; the scenery was amazing!

On one of the weekends Miriam was here all three of us took the train to Zeigelbrucker and set off to find the lake. We didn't have a map so we were just guessing where it would be and went the wrong way but ended up at a different lake called Walensee. So instead we spent the day on this lake and went for a mini "hike" in flip flops on one of the trails there. It was quite exciting for all of us since it was a new place for Brian and I as well.

Well those are all the different adventures we went on with my sisters, I hope they had as much fun as we did while they were here. We will always cherish these precious moments that we shared with them and are really thankful that they came to visit.
Special thanks to Mere who raised the money on her own to come all the way over here, miss school and leave everything at home for a whole month! Thank you Mere it was really appreciated by Brian and myself! Love you both so much!

Prague Trip...Sept. 7 - 11

2006-10-01T04:42:00.000-06:00

For our last trip with Meredith we went to Prague in the Czech Republic...just Mere, Bri, and I. It was quite a fun and relaxing trip so that was nice. There was not a lot of sightseeing to do which was also nice because we did a lot of that in Rome. There were a couple different things we wanted to see but that is about it.
We were able to see:

1. Charles Bridge

The bridge is lined with statues the whole way and there are also street vendors who set up all over the bridge with really cool stuff to buy. There is one statue/plaque on the wall of the bridge that you are supposed to rub for good luck - so of coarse we did...

2. Prague Castle

Within the walls of the castle were other historical monument buildings such as the Basilica of St. George and St. Vitus Cathedral. Pictures of the Cathedral:

3. The old town/Mala Strana (newer town)

The rest of the time we spent walking around the city and shopping for friends and family. One of our favorite parts about this trip was that we were able to eat out at restaurants for every meal because it was so cheap to do so. That was nice for Brian and I to be able to do that for once rather than get food from grocery stores.

Here are some photos of random things we came accross on our trip:

Jarmir Jagr is one of the Czech's most famous hockey players ever and we coincidently ran into his Sports Bar one night. It looked really fancy and a bit intimidating so we didn't go into it but fortunately got a picture (this is for James Doerkson):

Visit this website if you are interested:

http://www.pragueexperience.com/places.asp?PlaceID=856

And last but not least...

Now that's style!

Meredith is always demonstrating a new fashion idea...haha (sorry Mere!)

Our next post(s) will cover the many daily trips around Switzerland that we adventured on with Meredith and Miriam...STAY TUNED!!

SPAIN - La Tomatina Festival....or Disaster?!

2006-09-25T04:52:00.000-06:00

The main objective of this Spain trip, other than to see the coast of Spain, was to go to La Tomatina Festival in Bunyol. This is a famous festival that is known world wide consisting of approximately 30,000 people cramming into this tiny town to throw tomatoes at each other for about an hour. Unfortunately we personally were not able to take any pictures of it because there was no way we even considered bringing our cameras to this complete gongshow but we were able to snag other people's; it was quite the adventure. All we remember about the whole experience was how weird and disgusting it was, especially after the fact. We had to ride the train home covered in tomato paste all over our clothes; the stench was unbearable. Needless to say we bought clothes for this specific event and then threw them away afterwards. We didn't get into the thick of things in the fight because it was absolutely crazy.

Not only was it just a tomato disaster, people were throwing sandles and wet shirts and ripping people's shirts off; it was insane and basically...unnecessary. At the beginning of the fight there was a ham placed at the top of a greased pole where people have to try to get it down. So... if anyone went near the pole they would get attacked by other people that were getting the ham; it was pretty lame but hilarious to see people go so crazy over something so stupid!

Another group of practikants went on a similar Spain trip who also went to Tomatina and we actually were able to run into them there after the fight. Luckily they brought their camera and ended up getting some ok pictures. Here is one with all of us that were there for Tomatina and of a couple of our friend during the festival:

After the tomato fight was over everyone was all literally hosed down to get most of the tomatoes off before leaving the town. It helped people for the most part anyways! After this interesting experience I am having a hard time even smelling tomatoes right now...I can just smell the horrid stench that I did during and after La Tomatina. Hopefully that changes sometime soon so I can have tomatoes in my food once again!

Meredith's comments and thoughts about La Tomatina:

La Tomatina... Human Sun Dried Tomatoes! This festival was probably the most crazy thing I have done or ever will do in my life! I have been in my share of food fights in my life, but none of them even touch this one! Who seriously thinks of having a massive tomato fight in the street of a town! That person is so wicked! It is so intense that the locals who live on that street have their entire house covered with plastic so it doesn't get destroyed! It's crazy! At first we were a little hesitant to get into all the crazyness but once we did, there was no going back! Haha It was so fun to throw tomato and then watch the person's reaction that you hit! My favorite part was when the big trucks came through and just dumped out loads and loads of crushed tomatoes!! Everyone was just covered! It was actually one of the worst smells that has ever entered my body and at some points I felt like I was going to get sick from the smell. mmm...rotten tomatoes! Looking back at the experience, I think that I would do it over again... as long as we didn't have to take a half hour train ride back to Valencia with dried tomatoes on us! Stinking soo bad! But...the entire trip was a blast! I had such a wicked time with Louise and Brian, going to all those places!! I was starting to miss them, and now that I am home I miss them even more!

The following blog post will be about our last trip with Meredith: Prague, Czech Republic.