Weekend Trip: London & Cambridge

Good day! I am currently enjoying my half term break. If you don't know what that is, it is because you're stuck still teaching children in Canada. Ha. Take that. As we missed a lot of London when we were traveling back in May, we decided that it was the perfect time to go for a long weekend. Here's some interesting worth while (at least I think) things to do in London.

London

1. Tower of London
Jordon is more the history buff than I am but this is one thing you can't miss. Firstly, it's a castle in the middle of the city, don't see that every day and secondly, so many things happened here. You can see the Bloody Tower, the court yard where Anne Boleyn lost her head, some of the old torture devices...... okay so it has quite the gory history. We even saw a little boy running around yelling "Off with yer head!" You can join a tour every half an hour where they will share some of the immense history. If you plan ahead, you can find 2 for 1 tickets online making it only £24 for two people.

2. St Paul's Cathedral
A church is a church is a church...true most of the time, unless you are talking about this incredible building. St Paul's Cathedral has been home to many historic events as well: Nelson's funeral (his body is in the crypts of the Cathedral, which you can visit), Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding and Churchill's funeral. There is a Whispering Gallery that you can climb to and if you sit across the dome from someone and say something into the wall, they can hear it from the other side. There are two more galleries that take you outside. The picture right below shows the view from the highest one. An audio guide is also included in your admission cost. Again, if you plan ahead you can get discount tickets online. It ended up costing us £34. If you don't care about seeing the galleries or the crypts, you can go for service on Sunday or their evening song at 5:30 pm every night for free.

3. A Free Museum

There's that word again that I liked so much when we were traveling before. London offers a lot of free museums. There's the Natural History museum, The British Museum and The Victoria and Albert museum, just to name a few. The Natural History museum was packed as it is half term and it is probably the most kid friendly. We chose to go to the Victoria and Albert museum which had some pretty neat things, but I think we both agreed we would have rather gone to the British Museum to see things like the Rosetta Stone and mummies. That's next time for us. 

4. Take a Stroll in Hyde Park

Hyde Park is beautiful in the fall. The picture above with the yellow leaves was taken there. We went to see the Peter Pan statue and Kensington Palace, where William and Kate reside (the rare time they are in the city). 

5. A Free Walking Tour(s)

That's correct, MULTIPLE free walking tours. We did one of London (technically the City of Westminster, there are cities within the city, it's all confusing) where we saw Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and the alley that inspired the set of Knockturn Alley from Harry Potter. We then did a Jack the Ripper walking tour in the evening where they took you to Whitechapel where all the crimes where committed. There is a pub still standing there, The Ten Bells, that was around during 1888. Take advantage of these. There are multiple companies and they are easy to find online. 

Cambridge

On our way back home, we decided to make a stop in Cambridge, which I think we're glad we did but it is a total let down. You hear all these nice things about the University, and don't get me wrong, it's amazing, but they want to charge you anywhere from £3 - £8 to enter each COURTYARD. Not the building itself, just to the grass through the gates. It's ridiculous. We snuck through some door to snap a quick photo of Trinity College which is below but I didn't think it was worth £8. It seemed a bit pretentious to charge us simple peasants to walk the grounds of a university we could never get into. If you do decide to go there, let me know if it was worth it. 

It was a whirlwind of a weekend and now I am working at catching up on Netflix, learning how to make a proper Sunday lunch and relaxing for the rest of the break.

- Vanessa xo

Learning How to Teach in the UK

If you have me on Facebook, you may have noticed I started sharing wonderfully silly situations I've experienced in the school system here. I am not a great teacher, I still have so much to learn on this career journey, but I was getting good back home. I was getting requested back, I knew how to take attendance, I knew that if they had music I should be taking them to a classroom somewhere else in the school and I knew I could look at the timetable hanging on the wall to let me know what time I should be transitioning into the next lesson....

Well, if you ever want to mess with your confidence as a teacher, try moving to a new country.

Here's some differences between teaching back in Alberta and teaching in the United Kingdom that my teacher friends can enjoy and where my non-teacher friends can laugh at my mistakes. You're welcome.

1. Take their Lunch Order
What? This is such a weird step in my morning. After I've done the registration (NOT attendance) I have to go through a list and find out which students have brought a packed lunch, who's getting a cooked dinner, who's getting a Jacket Potatoe (I still don't know what this is) and so on and so forth. I'm pretty sure I forgot to even send it to the office one day but luckily the TA was on top of it.

2. They have Books for Every Subject
You know how your parents had to buy you those exercise books and duotangs and scribblers and as a teacher you always bought some extras to have on hand? Those don't exist here. Every school I have been to will have about six or seven coloured coded books for each child. Every class in the school will use the yellow book for English or the blue book for Topic. I really enjoy this aspect because you can clearly identify with books they need to be using for which subject.

3. They mark EVERYTHING
And you have to use specific colours for your marking... "Pink is for THINK"... oh man. I was unaware of this on my first day. The next day, when I went to the same school the Head Teacher told me I didn't mark anything.... I ended up staying an extra two hours that day to do all the marking from the day before as well as the marking from that day. Needless to say I walk around during the lesson with my green and pink pens now.

4. It's Head Teacher, not Principal
But you already knew this.

5. They Take Security and Safety very Seriously
Check out that alliteration... and I thought I was loosing my touch. Every school has an wrought iron fence around it with a gate entrance that is padlocked at night. Once you get through the gate and into the school, someone has to let you through the first doors. At the end of the day, you have to go to where the parents pick up your students, a parent will come up to you and tell you who their child is and then you call them forward.

6. There's no Bells and No One Puts Up a Timetable
I can not stress enough how stressful this is! I never know when they're suppose to be going out for play time or starting to pack up for lunch or when we go from music to assembly to English to Spanish.

7. It's Maths, not Math
Bet you didn't already know this

8. Religion Plays a Big Role Here
Back home, unless a school was in the Catholic system you didn't cross much in regards to religion studies. Here, I've encountered it in some way or other in every school I've been in. Now this is fine and dandy, but I'm not religious so it's been tough listening to what they're telling these children like "Gods the only one who will be there!" while I'm thinking "Mmmm partial credit..." It'll be interesting teaching a religion lesson. Stay tuned.

9. You don't realize How Many Words are Different
Here's just a few examples. Sweaters = Jumpers. Bathrooms = Toilets. Pants = Underwear. Trousers = Pants. Eraser = Rubber. Fries = Chips. Chips = Crisps. I'm constantly messing things up.

All in all it's been a fantastic experience so far. I really am grateful for the opportunity to explore teaching through a new lens and get a perspective on the profession I don't think I would have gained staying in Canada. I'm getting into the swing of things and learning new things every day.

- Vanessa xo

The Town of Gorleston

Well I've survived one week in my new hometown. We're slowly feeling like this is something we could get use to. We're still alone in the house but will finally meet the other young people with my teaching agency at a pub tomorrow.

You're probably dying to know what Gorleston is like so I thought I would share some information about this tiny town.

1. The population is 5548. That's not a typo. We now know the kind woman who cooked us curry when her kitchen was still closed, the nice phone guy who takes pity on us and Jordon met the cranky old print shop lady. Only 5545 to go.

2. It is the number one attraction on trip advisor for Great Yarmouth. Great Yarmouth is a bigger town about 15 minutes away that is filled with casinos and weird arcades. Our town/beach is the beautiful thing to see if you're there.

3. There is a beautiful old church that makes me wish I was the least bit religious... Wait, no. It's pretty enough from the outside.

4. There is more than one bus company which makes busing to schools very trying and confusing. Haven't gotten lost yet. Knock on wood.

5. Hannah Spearritt, renowned singer and member of S-Club 7 was born here.

6. You can in fact go swimming in the sea on hot days. I walked in the water a couple nights ago and it was lovely.

7. If you have recently got a FitBit and want to reach your 10,000 steps a day, move to Gorleston without a car and walk to get everything. I PROMISE YOU you'll reach 11,000 steps a day.

8. You know the classic romantic comedy with two older actors who have drifted apart but then move to a new town by the sea and have some ridiculous moments, like the man catches a fish and the boat tips over and then they laugh and fall back in love? I use to think "Man, I want to live in a town by the sea with cute houses and one main street." I now do.

Hopefully this paints you a better picture of the town I live in... if not, look at my pictures.

- Vanessa xo

So I Moved to England

What? Crazy I know. There have been many moments where I've thought "What was I thinking", but we've made it here and now the fun begins:

How the hell do I deal with living in a new country?

Moving to a new city or province is a pretty small step compared to moving to a new country. There are so many things you have to do to get yourself set up. Here's a bit of a break down with what we've had to do in our two days here:

1. Move into a house.
This one was fairly easy as we had a room arranged in a house with the agency I came over with. Luckily we were the first of five people to move in so we got to pick our room, successfully avoiding the blinding pink room. I don't think this place was cleaned before we came in as we've sent over thirty spiders and counting to their graves.

2. Get use to a new house.
It's not home, or at least it doesn't feel like that yet. Every power socket and appliance has to be turned on with a switch... which we discovered after our frozen corn thawed out while in the freezer. Who knew that a switch on the wall would turn on a fridge!? Also the shower gave me two options at first: freezing or depths of hell and then took me an additional 15 minutes to figure out how to get the perfect temperature. They also don't have dryers here so please enjoy the image of me hanging my clothes to dry.

3. Get use to a new town
We had to buy bedding and groceries and phone cards and internet and clothespins... but successfully found a pub before anything else. We knew what we had to get, we just didn't know where to go and without working phones, this seemed nearly impossible. Luckily we stumbled across a phone store where the nice guy pointed us in the direction of the post office to get internet (duh?) for the house.

4. Successfully buy all those things.
The phone plans were at least half the price they were in Edmonton so we're saving there. Internet will be cheaper as well. Having to restock your fridge and pantry with the essentials is NOT, though we got the biggest jar of Nutella possible as that was important. We still have a couple of things we need to get but we'll get there.

5. Discover your new surroundings.
Did I mention I live by the sea? It takes ten minutes to walk to the beach from our place. We keep going back and I am going to appreciate every moment there.

Moving was not an easy decision, potentially not a sane one either, but Jordon and I have each other and we're going to take this adventure one step at a time.

"No matter what happens, traveling always gives you a story to tell."

- Vanessa xo

Belgium

Bonjour, Guntentag... and I don't know how to say hello in Dutch. We came to Belgium because the couple who ran the B&B in the Dominican Republic were from here (and because we've seen the movie In Bruges). I was a bit sceptical at first but I'm really glad we picked this country as one of our stops.

Day 1: We arrived in Brussels around 5 in the evening. As I stated above, I was a bit sceptical about coming to Belgium and coming into Brussels was the reason why. It seemed dirty, grimy and didn't have anything that stuck out as amazing. Even the map our hostel gave us claimed "We know Brussels is dirty and we love it." We got to the hostel just before a big thunderstorm hit. After waiting out the rain, we ran to the grocery store to grab some food... hamburgers in a frying pan are no where near as good as on the BBQ. We decided to go grab a drink after as it was a Friday night. Brussels at night was like it was trying to be an Amsterdam, but without the scenic canals and houses. Needless to say, we were not digging this place. We went back to the hostel and were just tried and a bit frustrated that Brussels was a flop. I think we both wanted to kill this poor guy in our room because he wouldn't blow his damn nose!

Day 2: we woke up still a bit frustrated (with the guy still sniffling away). I'm glad we only stayed the one night there. We made our way to the train station to head off to Bruges. Once we got there, it was like a whole other world. Bruges is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Belgium and where In Bruges was filmed (how obvious is that?) We ended up getting a private room for the same price as two dorm beds (thank you someone for your error!) and were able to check in early. We needed lunch before the walking tour and seeing as we didn't get mussels in Brussels, we wandered off to find some shellfish goodness. They also serve fries with everything here, so we feasted on mussels and "french" fries. The walking tour we went on was really relaxed and not very serious. Our guide made us hide behind bridges over the canal and scare people on the boats. He also took us to the beer museum and a chocolate store to sample some yummy products. After relaxing back in our room, we ended up at a Greek restaurant for supper. It was a really good meal and cheaper than salads in Switzerland.

Day 3: we had to have our stuff packed up but weren't leaving Bruges until 3. We threw our packs into their locker room and went on a hunt for something I had been looking forward to: waffles. Belgium is known for their non-eggo, soft, gooey sugar dusted goodness and we hit the jackpot. Our guide had given us discount cards for a bunch of businesses and one was a waffle truck. We also received a discount card for a chocolate shop, which we stocked up for the fams back home. We then headed to De Hann where we were staying at a B&B for three nights. Imola was the woman who ran the place and she kept telling us "this is this" ... though we never found out what was what. The bed was so comfy we didn't move once we hit it.

Day 4: our B&B had a discount card to rent bicycles, so we went and grabbed a couple to bike along the ocean. Now I'm not saying I forgot how to ride a bike, well because it's like riding a bike, I'm just saying after not riding a bike for 4 years, you forget how sore you can get. We biked for about an hour and got two towns over where we ate our lunch by the water. There were people with towels and bathing suits, but even for Canadians it was not THAT warm. We went back to the B&B to relax a bit before supper because we had to bike there. The ride there was fine, but after consuming amazing fish, wine and french desserts our ride back was a bit more work. We were also biking against the wind the whole way back which didn't help. Needless to say, we slept good.

Day 5: we woke up to the worst task ahead of us: returning the bikes. I could hardly sit on the bed let alone back on the bike. It was a pretty sore 15 minutes but we managed. Once we were back to using our beloved feet, we took a stroll on the beach. It was really peaceful and a nice way to spend the morning. We wanted to walk around the town a bit but soon realised how small the town was. It was a beautiful place but not much to see. We did however realise we never got ourselves chocolate, so we headed into what was apparently the world famous something or other and filled a small box with our evening dessert. Jordon wanted mussels again before we left Belgium so we had them for dinner again. You will never have a problem finding mussels in Belgium.

We're headed back to the UK now via a ferry from France to make our way back to Glasgow. Only one more country to go and then we come home in 6 days!

-Vanessa xo

Zurich

Hi, we're broke. Well not actually but man, Switzerland sure makes you feel that way. We cut our 6 days down to 2 days in order to come home a bit earlier, which saved us some money.

Here's some things to keep in mind if you're planning a trip to Switzerland, specifically Zurich:

1. It's expensive. Take what you would spend on almost anything and double it (at least). For reference, a Big Mac meal here would be $15 Canadian.

2. They have free water! There are hundreds of fountains in Zurich spitting out really clean water, so put your bottle underneath every chance you get.

3. Bring food from another country. If you're doing a Europe trip, grab a bunch of stuff from wherever you are before you go to Switzerland. Food is a huge cost.

4. Take a walk. Hiking is a great free (or relatively cheap) activity and let's you see beautiful landscapes.

5. Sit by the lake. Zurich has a massive lake that you can go swimming in, rent a paddle boat or just people watch by.

Day 1: we got in at about 4:15 and it was HOT. Don't get me wrong, we appreciated the warm welcome (see what I did there?) but we had a hour walk ahead of us as we refused to pay for the train (refer to point number 1). After walking and now being drenched in sweat, we got settled, had some water, had some dinner that we prepped in Munich (refer to point number 3) and went for a walk. We came to the lake where we sat on the dock and watched the sun set. Once we got back to the hostel, we made our beds and fell asleep quickly. * The hostel provided a pillow case, duvet cover and what looked like a scratchy towel. We thought it was weird there was nothing to cover the mattress. This is important.

Day 2: luckily our hostel provided a buffet breakfast. The quote "take what you can, give nothing back" really applies here. You really want to fill up to try and hold out for a later or lighter lunch. We then headed into the town to purchase the Zurich card (sound familiar?) These cards can be great if you can get your money's worth. We were able to go to Uetliberg which is a summit looking over the city. Once we climbed to the top we found a hour and a half hike called the Planet Trail. Every metre you walked was suppose to be like 1 billion metres and you'd come to all the different planets. Somehow we missed the first four and the last three but we did find the cable car to take back down. After our sweaty hike, we needed to find some lunch. We ended up at a restaurant on the lake. I ordered a chicken caesar salad and a small Sprite, Jordon had a salad with fish and a beer.... this cost us about $80 Canadian (refer to point number 1). I mean sure, it was a good salad but it was green leaf lettuce, not gold leaf. After we felt poor again, we walked to a park on the other side of the lake, close to where we were the night before. We wanted to go swimming and sunbathe, which everyone else thought of as well. We found a great spot and pulled out what we thought were the scratchy towels from the hostel...... Well it seems we found the missing mattress covers. These towels were in fact fitted sheets. After laughing our pants off and folding them so no one could see our mistake, we headed into the water. It was unbelievable! It reminded me a lot of Penticton. Once we were all sun-kissed we headed to the ferry port to cash in on a "free" (thanks Zürich card) trip around the lake. It took about a hour and a half and was a nice relaxing cheap way to end our time here.

We're heading to the Belgium coast now hitting up Brussels and Bruges along the way. It's suppose to be hot there as well so hopefully I'll get good use out of that dress!

-Vanessa xo

Mozart & Beer

Also known as Salzburg and Munich. As our stays are getting shorter in the cities, I've fallen a bit behind on the blog.

SALZBURG

Salzburg was a beautiful little city. We stayed in a campground within the city and sang "Rock Me Amadeus" continuously... well I did. People where asking me where Salzburg is so in case you don't know, it's a... "city" in Austria famous for the birthplace of Mozart and the location for the Sound of Music.

Day 1: we had a short train ride from Vienna into Salzburg. We purchased the Salzburg Card, which gets you a bunch of free things, and made our way to the campground. Once our little love shack was back up, we went on a food hunt. The guy at reception recommended this Italian place called L'osteria, or something like that, because it tasted like authentic Italian food. Well what he forgot to mention was that the pizza was the size of my body if I curled up in a ball (Jordon also forgot to mention this to me before I ordered even though he saw them coming out. This way he knew he would get some). After we had more carbs in our body than anyone needs in one sitting, we walked along the river back to the tent.

Day 2: Salzburg has the largest preserved fortress in central Europe called Hohensalzburg. Our Salzburg card allowed us free entrance so we headed there first thing in the morning. Once we made it to the top of the hill, there was a restaurant that had the most incredible view of the mountains. We decided to pay for the view and grab a pricy beer. After exploring the fortress we headed to the river for our next Salzburg card activity: a river "cruise." The nice thing about the card is that it allows you to do things you would never pay for. The river cruise was a let down as we didn't really see anything. Last thing on our list for the day was to get to the Stiegl Brewery where we were able to do a tour and a beer tasting, all for the price of $0 (we really got the value out of the cards). This brewery was once of the most... eccentric?... tours we had been on. Usually breweries just show you where they make their beer and get you out. This place had a cinema for a video about the beer brewing process, a history museum of beer around the world and a restaurant. We even got a free beer to take home with us on top of the 3 free beers for the beer tasting (... there has been a lot of beer on this trip). After the brewery we headed back into the old town to find supper and overpaid for some Indian food.

Day 3: now that we were aware of the monster pizzas at the Italian restaurant, we went back there to SHARE one for lunch. We used our cards again to take the cable car up Untersberg, which is a 1853 m summit. We must of spent an hour up there just walking around taking in all the views. These places just take your breath away. I can spend a long time just sitting and looking around. On our way back into the town, we stopped at Hellburn palace. The palace was okay, but what was really worth the stop was the trick fountains. Some Archduke put in all these little fountains in the sidewalks, statues and the walls, so as our tour group went through, these fountains would spray us out of nowhere, and it never got old watching others get sprayed so I get why this guy had them put in. We headed back to the town, went to a grocery store, got some pre-made salads and sat by the river for dinner. It was a nice way to end our time in Salzburg.

MUNICH

After an hour and a half train ride, we were back in Germany. Munich is home to beer gardens and Oktoberfest, but it's June, so that second point is mute. I think this is a city that we'll have to give a second chance as it reminded us of Berlin and we were getting tried.

Day 1: this will be the most uninteresting day I write about. We got to the apartment. We went to the grocery store. We made supper. We watched too many episodes of Doctor Who. The end.

Day 2: when we look up what to do in each city, it all starts to become the same. "oh! You can see a church!" "Been there, done that" "Hmm okay. How about an art museum?" "I can't do another one." "Oh I know, you'd like the zoo!" "Does it have a unicorn or dragon?" "Well no... but" "Then no." This is basically how my imaginary conversations with TripAdvisor go now. We did find a different type of museum though. We headed to the Deutsches Museum that was focused on science and technology. I think Jordon could have spent the entire day there as there was so much to see. They had full sized fishing boats and a mining exhibit where you walked through what looked like a huge mine. After the museum, I had found an ice cream shop that was supposed to be great: the massive line confirmed this. We got to try beer ice cream (when in Munich, right?) which turned out to be really good. We headed back to the apartment again to make supper and had a relaxing evening.

Day 3: I was finally able to Skype with my mom which made the home sickness a little bit worse. It's nice to see our loved ones though. Once Jordon was up we headed to the Viktaulienmark which is a famous market. These markets are cool to go see but unless you're buying groceries it's a pretty quick stop. We grabbed a pretzel and a coffee before heading to the English Gardens. This place was incredible. Take any park back in Edmonton, increase the size by 10 and have a surfing wave (seriously) and maybe you'd come close to the beauty in this park (that's probably a lie). We sat for quite some time before heading to the shopping area. It has been getting really hot lately and we both needed smaller shorts. I ended up getting a pretty dress instead of practical shorts but it serves the same purpose of keeping me cool. After our successful shopping, we headed to the central train station as we were doing ANOTHER beer tasting tour (they're very popular here). It's not about the beer though, it's about meeting others, seeing places you might not have found on your own and just general fun. They also served us German food... which I think I've had enough of for one lifetime. Only a foreigner in Bavaria Germany craves a salad and some water. I did eat all the radishes from the meat platter so I got some veggies. Once our tour was done, we went into the famous Hofbraeuhaus beer hall with a couple from Missouri who were on the tour with us. We listened to some Oomp-pa music and then called it a night.

Day 4: we were hoping today was going to be as warm as the previous day but it seemed cloudy in the morning. We ran to the grocery store and stocked up on food before going to expensive Switzerland. We wanted to go to the city beach but we actually ended up back at the English Gardens for some sunbathing. We did find a Mexican restaurant that served a vegetable enchilada so I was really excited about that (who knew carrots and zucchini could make me so happy). We had packing to do for the next day so we headed back.

I am now sweating like crazy on the train to Zurich, Switzerland. It's suppose to be plus 30 so hopefully the good weather holds out for us the next couple of days!

- Vanessa xo

Vienna

Hello from another beautiful city! Vienna has to be our favourite place so far! The people are nice, the streets are nice and the schnitzel is nice. Knowing what we know now, we both agree we would have liked more than 3 days here, so I'm sure we'll be back!

Day 1: We came in at about 6:30 in the morning from Prague and were very tired from the night train. We lucked out at the hostel because they had beds ready so we took a nap. We also found out today and tomorrow were holidays. Holidays are great if you get them off work, but we've hit so many holidays on this trip where you can't even get groceries, so that sucked. When we got up we wanted to do a walking tour but of course, because of the stupid holiday, there was none....so we did our own. We looked up a self directed walking tour online, took a screen shot with all the numbers marked on a map and off we went. There was only one problem: because we just had a map with numbers, we had no idea what we were suppose to be looking for or seeing at each number. It turned into quite the entertaining scavenger hunt afternoon. We saw a statue around number 2 and thought "Oh look at that man. He looks important right? This has to be number 2" when it was the massive gardens around the corner. We did see St. Stephen's Cathedral, Mozart's apartment and some sculpture thanking the gods for not killing the entire population with the plague so we could probably make our own tour company after this successful walk. We had a coffee and a piece of cake (the famous Sacher torte) at a cafe right across from St. Stephen's Cathedral (where Mozart got married) which made for some good people watching. We saw the town hall afterwards which had a bunch of cranes in front of it taking down the Eurovision stage. We had no idea what Eurovision was but people made sure we learnt. It's basically American Idol where each country only has one performer competing. Apparently Australia was the wild card entry and apparently this was important. Apparently Sweden won and apparently everyone booed Russia. Needless to say I'm glad we missed it as it seemed like the city was crowded. We went to a Austrian restaurant after where Jordon finally got his real wiener schnitzel. Most places make there schnitzel out of pork so finding the veal was difficult, but worth it. We weren't ready to go back to the hostel yet so we went to an Australian bar (yes, you read that right). I think because people mix up Austria and Australia a lot places decided to cash in on that mistake. We did end up meeting Australians AND Austrians there and had quite a few drinks....Jordon maybe had a few more than I did but I was able to get him home safely.

Day 2: we only had one thing on our agenda today: the opera. The opera house in Vienna is one of the most famous and you could see a show for only 3 Euros per person. Unfortunately for us, tonight's show was 5 hours long and the reason the tickets are so cheap are because you're standing. The opera was called Götterdämmerung. It was the last of 4 operas about a ring with a curse. It was all in German but they had a little screen where it translated it to English. We got in line at about 1:00 for our tickets and were able to buy them at 2:30. Then we stood in another line to get into the gallery. After 2 1/2 hours we were finally standing at a railing where you had to tie a scarf to save your spot (it's quite the process). The show finally started and the sound was amazing. I didn't need an opera as I would have been happy just with the symphony. About an hour into the show I started to get really hot. I had to sit down on the little step behind me because I felt like I was going to faint. Oh hello dehydration. I had to get out of there and get some water. One thing you don't want to do is run to the bathroom and start drinking and slurping from the sink in an opera house where people in there have more money on their fingers than you have in your band account.... I didn't care. I must have stood there for a good 20 minutes getting fluids back into me. I had to wait for the next intermission to go back in but they had a TV I could watch it on. Somehow we survived the next three hours, though our feet were sore and our stomachs were growly. We walked to a Thai restaurant as we wanted to eat something a bit different and it was delicious. We called it a night after that.

Day 3: Things were finally open today! The main thing we were excited about was the Naschmarkt right across from our hostel. It had a ton of booths and restaurants but we knew we couldn't make a full day of it so we tried to find something else to do. When Jordon was reading off all the different museums, nothing really interested me. And then he said the most amazing thing, words that I never thought I'd hear but reminded me how amazing of a man he is and how lucky I am. "....or we could go to the zoo?" I was so excited. It was an incredible zoo too! They had pandas, aquariums and more than one elephant, which is a big deal to us Edmontonians. There was one part that was terrifying though: we were walking through this beautiful tropical pavilion with birds and fish and plants and bats. Bats that weren't in a cage. Bats that when you pushed the plastic out of the way were flying everywhere. They wanted you to walk across a bridge in a cave like thing with HUNDREDS of bats flapping around like some stupid Mario Kart level! We tried. We must have tried to open the plastic curtains ten times before I'd jump back. In the end we didn't walk through there. Austrians have a sick sense of humour. We lucked out with the location of the zoo because we were able to see the palace on our walk back home. Once we got back to the Naschmarkt, we found a Turkish restaurant that served up some tasty falafel. Our hostel had a really cheap bar that we went to after were we met up with some girls from Australia/London who we'd met earlier. They ended up being teachers as well who had done the move to the UK for work so I was able to pick their brains a bit and set up a drinking group if we move. After a couple drinks we headed back up to get a good night sleep.

We're on our way to Salzberg now which I hope is just as beautiful as Vienna but a bit warmer.

- Vanessa xo

Prague

Ahoy! It feels very piratey to say hello in Czech but I love it. Prague has to be one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. The different eras of architecture and the look outs over the city are incredible. We had three full days here after our weird train ride from Berlin.

A wonderful tour guide gave us some good advice about Prague:

1. Czechs don't smile. If they look like they want to slap you when you're ordering food, it's a good place to stay.

2. Restaurants and cafes will try to add things onto your bill or charge you extra if you're a foreigner. You shouldn't pay more than 45 crowns for a Pilsner or 170 crowns for some goulash.

3. Do not say Czechoslovakia. That does not exist anymore and they can get offended.

4. Avoid Charles Bridge during the day. It's too crowed so go later in the evening when it's lit up.

Day 1: When we got to our train platform and there was no train, I started freaking out about missing our train. Turns out German train conductors were apparently on strike so there actually wasn't a train. We ran up to the information center where they told us we'd need to take a bus to Dresden and then we can catch the train from there. Luckily a bus came in about 15 minutes but this caused us to get into Prague later than expected. I had booked us two nights at a campground but when we got to the train station in Prague, we realised how far from the center it was and decided to just find a hostel. We stayed in one of the nicest hostels I'd seen yet . They had one shower in a room with a locked door! You really appreciate this when it's usually rows of curtains. After we settled in we went on the hunt for Czech food. We found a busy place that was highly recommend by the internet and feasted on meat and dumplings... that's all they eat, a big piece of meat and various dumpings. It was really good but is it too much to ask for some broccoli? Anyway, after supper we rolled our way to a bar to grab a drink before bed. It was a tiny hole in the wall and was supposed to be the number one bar in Prague.... I didn't get it though. We walked the city a little bit before making our way back to the hostel.

Day 2: Free walking tour! We got up and made our way to the meeting spot for another walking tour. Our guide Callum was pretty hilarious and made the history interesting. The best part about the tour was the history behind the astronomical clock (which is rated the number 1 overrated tourist attraction every year). Okay, so it doesn't do much.. it rings every hour, a skeleton rings his bell, some figures move and a golden rooster flaps its wings. It literally lasts about 2 minutes. BUT hearing about how it was made and the math and science that went into creating all the different hands on the clock (one hand even shows what zodiac period we're in) gave us a better appreciation for the over rated clock. After our walking tour we needed a pick me up and found a Mexican place to share nachos as Jordon had been craving them for about three weeks now. After taking a quick break back at the hostel, we ventured out to Wenceslas Square which was pretty much a street filled with shops and restaurants. When it got close to supper we found the Olive Garden of Prague... not an actual Olive Garden, just a chain of restaurants that would be comparable, but they had stone oven pizza, which was good enough for us. We ended up getting dinner and a show because in the street below us some hip hop dancers were busking which was pretty entertaining to watch.

Day 3: Because of the success of the walking tour the day before, we decided to book the castle tour with the same company. Now a lot of people think the cathedral is the Prague castle but it is actually the collection of buildings underneath. It is the largest castle in Europe which sounds really cool, until you get there. Most of the buildings have been redone so it's not this cool 4 stone walls with towers type thing. Most of the time we didn't feel like we were in the castle. We did get to go inside the Gothic cathedral, which you could do on your own anyway. It seemed like we could have just walked and did the same tour ourselves. After our tour guide left us we went into this garden where they had peacocks, fish and 6 massive owls. It was a nice place to sit and relax for a bit. We had also booked the beer tasting tour with the company for later in the evening so thought it would be a good idea to have a quick snack before drinking. Now if you know me at all, you know I'm not a beer drinker and this woman put 7 beers in front of me.... Let's just say I held it together really well while the guide was giving us the history and low down on the different types of beer... and fell apart as soon as she left. We only had an hour and a half so 7 beers was way too many. We also hadn't eaten so we had to find some dinner after, as we were giggling down the cobblestones.

Day 4: today was a weird day. We had to be up early to check out of the hostel but weren't leaving Prague until midnight on a night train. We didn't want to do everything right away because then we'd have nothing to do to keep us occupied until our train. We went to Vysehrad which is where the first palace was before they moved it to the other side of the river. We climbed the stairs up to the top of what would have been the castle walls and spent some time taking in the views. We then headed towards a park where "lovers stroll" because we thought "Hey, that's us!" We didn't stroll, we slept. It was really sunny so we took a nap in the grass which killed time. We needed to get groceries after our cat nap but were on a tight budget. We had 1000 crowns left to our name to cover groceries and supper and didn't want to take out more cash because no where else uses crowns. This also caused our day to be weird because we were counting every penny. Groceries cost us less than we thought so we had beer money! Yay! Not only could we get a drink, but we could sit somewhere to kill MORE time (noticing a theme to our day?). Above I mentioned not going to Charles Bridge when it was busy, so obliviously we went when it was busy. To be fair, it was a Saturday night but I'm glad we went. The sun was setting and reflecting off the river with the castle in the background and it honestly took my breath away. I have a couple of photos on my Facebook but they didn't do it justice. It was the most amazing evening and probably my favourite moment on this trip so far. At last, it was time to grab our bags, head to the train station, eat some Burger King (your options are limited at midnight) and get set up in our little two sleeper train cabin.

See you in Vienna!

-Vanessa xo

Berlin

Guten Morgen! That as been one of two phrases I've learnt in German. We had a full week in Berlin, which is the longest we'll stay in any one city, and I'm glad we did. Berlin is huge and spread out. If you're walking everywhere like us, it takes you anywhere up to an hour just to get to the different areas. We really enjoyed our week here but are ready to move on.

Berlin is an incredible city. Here's some things to know or things that might interest you:

1. Unlike a lot of other cities/countries, Berlin really acknowledges their history, good and bad. They have numerous memorials for victims of the holocaust, the book burning and countless museums that talk about the negatives. Most other places only show things that state "look at all the good we did" while ignoring their negatives. It really shows that Nazi Germany is NOT a representation of German history.

2. It's very relaxed. We noticed that the city itself is not touristy. They don't have shops with keychains and T-shirts every 10 steps.

3. They claim to be a city that never sleeps, except on Sundays when stupid tourists need to buy groceries and everything's closed so you buy a 1 day old loaf of bread 😡

Day 1: After a 6 hour train ride from Amsterdam we just wanted to get to the apartment we were staying at. Berlin was our first experience using Air BnB. Unfortunately we didn't have time in the morning to screen shot directions to this girl's apartment. After running around the train station looking for WiFi and a bathroom, it was nice to learn her place was only a 10 minute walk from where we were. We got to Maximilla's place and collapsed on the bed (you miss the little things when camping). We cleaned up and headed out to find a supermarket to stock up on groceries now that we had access to a REAL kitchen (FYI some places here will claim that a microwave and a garbage can is a kitchen on their websites, tricky bastards). We found a place called Penny. It was extremely cheap but not a big selection (Europe is really missing out on a great thing called nachos). We headed to the till, pulled out our credit card and were denied. Cash only, which wouldn't have been a problem if we didn't use our last Euros for coffee on the train. So Jordon went on an ATM adventure while I stood in everyone's way not knowing how to say sorry or excuse me in German. About 15 minutes later, Jordon came running back in "flushed with cash." We gave our money to the annoyed cashier and ran out. After making supper, HURRAY for home cooked meals, we tried to figure out our next couple of days in Berlin

Day 2: We wanted to explore the city but have an understanding of what we were looking at. I found a company that offered "free" walking tours. They're not actually free, you pay what you think the tour was worth at the end, little bit more than tip-based tours. The nice thing about these tours are the guides are excellent because they want you to think it's worth a lot. We were put in a group where our guide use to be a history teacher in London and he was fantastic. There were so many incredible things we saw so I'll try to give you the idea without boring you. My favourite part was walking through the Jewish memorial. It was built in 2005 by an architect from New York for all the Jewish victims from the holocaust. It's these big cement blocks at varying heights in rows. I know this doesn't sound like much but I think it's more about the experience of walking through it. You have to go through single file as there is not enough room to walk beside someone giving you the sense of loneliness. People also disappear as you see them in front or beside you, giving the illusion of ghosts. There are no names unlike many other memorials because they were nameless victims. The really interesting part is the architect never said what it represents leaving you to make your own interpretations and to really think about it. Maybe the holocaust is something we can never truly understand so a memorial we can never truly understand is appropriate. There's some deep thoughts for you. Moving on! We were able to stand exactly where Hitler's bunker was, which is now a car park and where his staff tried to burn his body so the Soviets couldn't get a hold of it. There is a children's slide on the exact spot where they cremated Hitler to signify that good wins over evil... though there where no children playing on the slide (it looked pretty... beat up). We saw the last Nazi building that is still in use by the government today, one of the three original standing pieces of the Berlin wall and the exact balcony where Michael Jackson held his baby over for the world to see (end that on a happier note). After the 3 hour tour, we found a little Italian restaurant where we ate delicious cheap pizza. We headed back to the apartment with the intent of planning our next phase of the trip but the internet wasn't working very well, so I fell asleep early.

Day 3: Jordon and I had different schedules this morning. I was up at 6 and he snoozed until 10 meaning when he wanted breakfast I was almost ready for lunch. We decided to head to Alexanderplatz, the square where the big TV tower stands. Other than the TV tower, there wasn't much there except for the cheapest lunch of delicious bratwurst from a vendor. We did a bit of people watching while eating lunch, then made our way to Museum Island. There are so many museums in Berlin but unless you really love history, you probably only want to choose a couple. We went to the Pergamonmuseum where you can see ancient civilisation structures and artifacts. The main room with the Pergamon was closed for renovations but we were still able to see the Ishtar Gate which was pretty incredible. After the museum we headed back to make supper and then our plan was to go out after. Jordon's body had a different plan and he fell asleep early. Maybe tomorrow we'll be ready to not fall asleep at 9:00.

Day 4: We succeeded in getting up at a decent time this morning. As I stated above, Berlin shows all of their history, including Nazi Germany. With free access to the Sachsenhousen concentration camp, we felt it would be good to go see where these terrors happened. It was a very... interesting visit. We got the audio tours which walked you through the entire camp including the bunkers, the prison and the execution pits. We thought we knew what we were walking into, but we definitely left with a haunting feeling. You can't walk through something like that and not feel some sense of loss. It was extremely informative of what actually happened in these places and worth visiting. We needed to do something light hearted and not full of history so we headed to the Ka De We department store. The set up of this place is incredible! The first floor is all stores that make you feel poor, like Burberry and Louis Vuitton, but that's okay because as soon as you reach the next floor, it becomes more affordable tricking you into buying things. The next 3 floors were all clothes and accessories. Hit floor 5 and it was a paradise for children... and us. Trains, toys, stuffed animals and stationary lined the entire floor. We thought it couldn't get any better. We were wrong. The 6th floor was a true paradise. Walls lined with every type of food and drink imaginable. They even had a Canada section which of course only had maple syrup. You could eat on the top floor looking over the city, so we got some very expensive schnitzel for supper and enjoyed the view. Apparently we couldn't get enough of the city view because after supper we headed to a bar called Solar which had an amazing view as well. It was pretty pricey as well so we drank REALLY slowly. We finally stayed up past 9!

Day 5: we usually try to eat out only once a day and we hadn't done brunch yet in Berlin. I found a place about half an hour away so we headed off on a breakfast adventure. It is a really busy place on Sundays and they were booked with reservations. Luckily it wasn't too cold to enjoy our brunch outside. I wanted to see the East Side Gallery (another original piece of the Berlin wall with art on it) and since we had already started walking in that direction, we headed there. Both of us wore our new shoes which was a bad idea for the amount of walking we ended up doing. By the time we were done the East Side Gallery, our feet were killing us. We started the long walk back to the apartment... slowly but surely. We needed groceries as well but nothing was open. We found a little bakery with the saddest loaf of bread, but it was only 1 Euro, so we had bread, our good Gouda and left over pasta for supper. After supper we headed towards another area of the city we hadn't been to yet where there was a major shopping street. Berlin is really odd on a Sunday night because no one is out on the streets. We walked a bunch of major roads and it was extremely quiet. All the shops were closed on the big street but we found a restaurant to grab a cup of tea and free WiFi to book some more of our trip. Unfortunately no one's WiFi seemed to be working, but we did find ice cream for the walk home.

Day 6: Jordon wanted to go to a new area in the North East. We had reservations to go up the Reichstag parliament building at 2 so it was another early morning. I ran to get the groceries we couldn't find on Sunday, made breakfast and off we went. They had an old brewery that had a bunch of shops and restaurants but of course they were all closed (no 9:00 opening times here). We eventually just stopped for a coffee because there wasn't as much to see as we thought there was. We walked back to the city center, found free working WiFi at Starbucks (of course) and made our way to the Reichstag. It has a glass dome at the top where visitors can go up and look around. Part of the idea was that if the government ever forgot who holds the real power, they just had to look up and see who holds it....American tourists. It was a really nice view but we had laundry to do. We went back, threw all our clothes in a bag and went to some fancy laundromat. There wasn't anywhere to sit down and eat while waiting for our clothes but lots of donar places. We grabbed our heart clogging meat meals and went back to the laundromat. With clean clothes in hand, we went back to the apartment, kicked up our feet and had a drink. When you're traveling, you start to miss the simple things like watching a movie. I was able to download Netflix on my phone and we watched some Daredevil on the tiny screen in bed.

Day 7: it is our last day in Berlin and we head for Prague tomorrow. We are going to a place called Potsdam which is suppose to have a beautiful palace and gardens. We have a huge supper to make and packing to do so today won't be too exciting.

Being done Berlin means we are officially half way done our trip. Berlin offered us history, food, amazing architecture and some rest. It truly is an incredible city that let's you stand where some of the most defining historic moments took place.

Catch you in Prague,

-Vanessa xo

Amsterdam

The land of sex, drugs and stroopwaffles. Weed is just a permanent smell in the city. We're heading to Berlin on a train right now so I can give you my low-down on this... interesting city.

Couple of things we learnt:

1. It smells like weed. It you can't handle walking around looking disgusted at all the people smoking pot, it may not be the city for you. It's legal here and everyone is doing it.

2. Anne Frank's house has a huge line. We didn't even go in because the line up was too long. Get there early in the morning.

3. The Red Light District is exactly what you have heard it is. No more no less.... well there was a bit more clothes than I expected. Sex shows, women standing in windows with old men thinking they're being sneaky taking a zoomed in picture from across the road and lots of sex shops.

4. There are two distinct types of coffee shops. They might both serve coffee but one would have... higher... quality brownies.

Day 1: we arrived in Amsterdam pretty early in the morning. As it is usually our first task getting into a new city, we set off to find food. A lot of the streets look the exact same in Amsterdam and they have a H&M every 10 steps so it doesn't help trying to remember where stores and restaurants are. I'm usually very good with directions but I got turned around in this city quite frequently. We found a little cafe where I ate the fanciest looking piece of toast. It had chicken, guacamole, avocado and more stuff I had no idea what to do with. They don't warn you about trying to eat a 20 cm high piece of toast delicately. We headed off to the campground where we set up our tent surrounded by people getting high. Again, it's everywhere. We figured trying to go out in Europe in hiking boots wasn't a very fashionable decision so we found a big shopping street (with 3 H&M's on the ONE street) to buy some shoes. After going into a bunch of stores with shoes that were too expensive for me to justify shoving into a backpack, we found a store that was comparable to Payless. I found a cheap flat and we were on our way to dinner. Eating out in these cities can be a hit and miss. Sometimes you feel like an idiot sitting on Trip Advisor trying to find a good restaurant and maybe you should have just winged it. Well we didn't wing it this night and I'm glad we didn't. We went to a restaurant with no menu, thirty seats and high reviews. They told you what they were serving that night and you chose from the 5 dishes. Both Jordon and I agreed it was one of the best meals we had ever had. We had mussels, salmon and a curry chicken. It was incredibly priced too. Jordon said he would have paid double for that meal. We headed back to the campground to make sure our tent didn't fly into the canal.

Day 2: the nice thing about our campground was it had a little supermarket where you could buy freshly baked croissants and spreads for a couple of Euros. We grabbed some breakfast, showered and ventured off into the city centre again. We wanted to go and see where Anne Frank's house was. What should have been a 15 minute walk turned into a 45 minute walk because I think the city streets physically change every 10 minutes. It's probably a hilarious trick to play on tourists. Anyway, get to Anne Frank's house, see the lineup, look at the outside, think "huh, there's that"and head to a park for lunch. I did the inside of her house back in grade 10 and Jordon didn't seem too interested so it wasn't a big deal to us to skip. If history interests you though, it is worth the lineup. We went to the Rijksmuseum after lunch where I was much more impressed with the outside and the gardens than the inside. It was the museum to see in Amsterdam though. We saw a couple pieces by Van Gough, Waterloo and Nights Watch by Rembrandt. I was highly entertained by the tourists taking a picture of EVERY SINGLE ITEM in the museum... " oh here's a picture of a piece by... I can't remember. OH! And this was painted by... a guy... in a village... depicting that... devastation." We definitely needed a drink after our hard museum day and found a nice spot on the canal to sit outside. We had an early night at the campground.

Day 3: our campground had canoes you could rent for an hour but only on weekends which sucked because it was 25 degrees and being in the water would have been nice. We went back into the city and did a canal tour instead. It took us to "100 top sights" and I think 95 of those sights were the different canals. It was enjoyable regardless. I also found out walking 6 days in a row makes you loose weight. My jeans had been falling down on me so we went back to the shopping street to find some jeans. Once I was all decked out we went back to our tent to have a drink and relax a bit. At some point, it became clear that having an experience was a thing in Amsterdam. While relaxing back at our tent, we looked into a live sex show (sorry Baba). They were incredibly expensive for something to just "have an experience." In the end we decided to just have a drink and people watch ON the Red Light District and put our money towards a bus tour the next day. Also we got ice cream.

Day 4: we headed into the city early to grab breakfast before our bus tour. We found a place that did Dutch pancakes which could have been called Heaven. It's this thin round pancake the size of a clock which you can fill with anything they have (I went for bananas, blueberries and nutella). We were on a sugar high (I promise), so we walked back towards the museum as the buildings around there looked really nice, before getting onto our sun visor, fanny-packed, classic tourist filled bus. There was also an adorably naive lady who kept asking "What's that smell?" Welcome to Amsterdam. We headed out to Zaanse Schans which is a windmill village where we went inside a working windmill that chops wood. The windmills were pretty incredible to see from the inside. Next stop was the fishing village of Volendam. The houses were amazing with their bright red roofs. We went into a cheese factory where they showed us how they made Gouda and we ended up buying some for supper later. We took a ferry across the lake to another little town called Marken where they showed us how they make the wooden clogs. Both of us were pretty tired from trying to walk at a slow pace with all the lovely old people who just want to get their pictures and were oblivious to anything around them.... okay maybe annoyed is a better word, so we called it a day and ate our Gouda back in our tent.

Amsterdam is a must see city. Even if you don't enjoy the smell and the Red Light District, the houses and canals are a sight to behold. We didn't see a live sex show, but maybe next time Amsterdam.

- Vanessa xo

Edinburgh

I'm typing this post on an hour of sleep while in the air on route to Amsterdam. We're pretty tired right now due to the early flight and loud Edinburgh Friday nights, nevertheless we enjoyed the old city of Edinburgh.

Some things to consider if you're visiting Edinburgh:

1. A tourist is a tourist is a tourist. Coming from the quiet country side in the Highlands, see all the tourist shops again was... annoying? Edinburgh was a big tourist stop, but one worth it.

2. Live music is not necessarily good music. Almost every pub had live music every night. Walk by places once the music starts so you can hear a bit before committing to a place.

3. Edinburgh Castle is a long stop. There is so much to see in there! Don't let it stop you from going but give it the time it needs.

Day 1: it took us about 4 hours on a bus from Aviemore to get to Edinburgh. Every time I thought we'd turn onto a highway into the city we would go around the round a bout into some little village. Some of them were quite beautiful, but we were ready to get off the bus. Once in Edinburgh we got terribly turned around from the bus station. We were starving and looking for our hostel as to not take our tiny human sized bags into a restaurant with us. Thanks to the gigantic Edinburgh Castle looming over us, we finally realised we had to turn around. We checked into our hostel and went on a hunt for Indian food (you can only have so much pub food before you are sick of it). The place we wanted to try was closed until 5, so to kill time Jordon got a new do from a nice Turkish man. After supper we explored Edinburgh a little more and found a pub with live music...well the real reason we ended up in this pub is the 20% off drinks for us poor people, but also live music. We listened to this man with an eye-patch for about an hour before heading off to bed.

Day 2: Edinburgh Castle was first on our stop this morning. When we walked outside the sun it our faces which was literally a warm welcome. We walked down to the castle, paid with our right arms to get in ($60) and made our way to the FREE tour (I love that word). There was a lot of items from wars that the Scots fought in. My dad would have loved this place while dragging us along. After 3 hours in the castle, we headed to the People of Scotland session where you could spend two hours looking up your family history. We found out Jordon's great great great (great?) Grandfather was a shoemaker. So there's that. We explored the city a bit more before making supper and packing our bags for Amsterdam.

The plane is descending now and before I make it explode with my phone, I'll call it a day.

We'll see how well I can write a post while in Amsterdam.

- Vanessa xo

Inverness

We are currently sitting in a sitting room (what an obvious name) at Jordon's second cousin's place. Irene was so welcoming and picked us up at the Inverness bus station on Monday. It is now our last night out in this little village called Kochando before we bus to Edinburgh in the morning. There's not much to do until Irene gets home from work, which is awesome for our poor healing swelled feet and awesome for you lovely people as I can update you!

Day 1: We arrived in Inverness at about 12:30 in the afternoon. We thought we were going to have some time to take a breather, but like any respectable older person, Irene was half an hour early or "on time." We hopped in her car and she took us to a garden centre with her daughter Louise for a coffee and to see if we were criminals before letting us into her house. I'm not sure why they call them garden centres when you can purchase everything under the sun from there and I didn't see many plants. Either way the scone and tea were yummy. She then took us out to the house about an hour outside Inverness. Looking out the back seat and realising you're on the wrong side of the road and there's nothing you can do about it was nerve wreaking and took some getting use to. Once we were settled in, we went to the farm to meet the others who were extremely busy with lambing. So Jordon got to take us on a joyride in a Range Rover through the fields trying to shift with his left hand. We had a lot of booking to do for the next leg of the trip so we went back, did some laundry and relaxed.

Day 2: The house is empty by the time we get up here. We're left to make our own breakfast, which is totally fine, but you always have to wonder if hosts actually mean "eat whatever you want." Like, really? I can have this whole box of cookies that were stashed all the way in the back of a cupboard I couldn't reach without a chair? So I had toast. We headed off to the Chardu distillery right up the road and got an intimate private tour. By that I mean we were the only suckers paying for a tour. It was interesting and you got a taste at the end. Once Irene got home, she drove us to some different sights in the area. It was a rainy day so it was a car tour. Jordon got to see where his ancestors lived and a war memorial with his great uncle's name on it. We went on got dinner at a hotel where both Irene and her daughter had their wedding receptions (maybe it was a hint?) I finally had the fresh fish and chips I deserved. We went over to Irene's sisters and drank more whiskey as she works at the Glenleivet distillery which means we got sent home with a goody bag of scotch, vodka and fudge.

Day 3: We packed up all our nice clean clothes this morning and are heading to the farm again this afternoon. I want to touch at least one lamb. Jordon says he's going to feel a little bad the next time he eats lamb stew, but only a little. There are so many in the fields all over Scotland right now so it's hard not to be reminded how cute they are before they are turned into your dinner. 

The last three days have been very relaxing after that ridiculous hike, but we're excited to head off to a new place tomorrow. 

Catch you in Edinburgh,

-Vanessa xo

The West Highland Way

I have just completed walking 93 miles over 6 days on the West Highland Way in Scotland. It was one of the most trying experiences of my life, physically and emotionally.

Here's some advice in case you're thinking of doing a hike like this:

1. Do some training. We put on our packs and did a bit of walking in the river valley but it was no where near enough.

2. Don't let the first day deceive you. The first 20 miles was lovely. Simple rolling hills, flat easy fields and beautiful forests.... we spent the next two days walking along slippery cliffs by the lake and then climbing steep hills.

3. Pack light. We did wild camping all along the trail which meant we were carrying everything on our backs. People thought we were insane. Pay for the service to have your bag transfered from town to town if you can't pack light.

4. Treat it as one big bar hop. When I had times of doubt and wanted to give up, knowing there was a town with a nice warm pub up ahead kept me going.

5. Do the hike with someone you know you work well with. I doubted every life decision I ever made on this hike because some points were so draining. If I didn't do this with Jordon, I could have never completed it.

Day 1: we started in Milngaive which is about half an hour out of Glasgow. We looked like eager little idiots who had no idea what they were getting themselves into. We had bought our dehydrated food, protein bars and were ready to go. The weather in Scotland is a joke. One minute it's raining then sun then snow... yes, we walked through snow on our first day which I have to admit we were not expecting. The sun came out quick enough though. We pushed through to Drymen, which was about 16 miles. Once we dried off there, we decided to go a bit further as we had a late start in the morning. We went another 4 miles and found a beautiful place in the woods to camp. It looked out onto Loch Lomond and was quite isolated. In that moment I was sure we had made a good choice in doing this hike.

Day 2: that moment didn't last long. When I woke up on day 2, I was wet, cold and tired. I didn't get a good sleep, I was cold all night and everything was damp in the morning. I couldn't even make instant oatmeal properly and broke our jetboil stove. Things were looking bleak. We walked about 26 miles and I was exhausted by the end. My body was extremely sore as well but we did end up catching up to the 6 day schedule instead of the 7 day which was a good thing. We ended in Inversnaid that night (in case you're looking up this hike on a map, which you should. Be impressed by how much we walked). We met a couple from Glasgow at the hostel/campground we were staying at who confirmed that we were insane carrying all our gear.

Day 3: I had a shower. It was lovely. I woke up warmer because our hostel linens that we had can actually go into your sleeping bag (why I didn't think of this on the first night, I'm not sure). Jordon thought he lost his Iron Ring though so we had a later start because we were looking for that. Day 3 was shorter mile wise. We only did about 13 miles to Crainlarich. We decided to treat ourselves to a proper meal to celebrate being done day 3 out of 6. We found another place in the woods to set up and in the middle of the night, we think we found out what the fox says. It was so annoying and neither of us could sleep through this hackling.

Day 4: another miserable morning for me. My right shoulder was killing me and I honestly wanted to hop on the train and just go straight to Fort William, but alas, I pushed on. We knew the next day was going to be a 21 mile day, so we went an extra three miles on day 4, for a total of 16 miles, to shave off some of the miles for the big day. We had an early night which was awesome because we could actually stretch out before just crashing for the night.

Day 5: I was so excited this morning. One more night in a tent then we'll be done. We had to do 10 miles before we hit the next town and we conquered it in 3 hours and 40 minutes. We were getting good at this. Day 5 was definitely my best day. We got to our last town, Kiolocleven at about 5:30. The only problem is we wanted to stay in a room but everything was booked full because of some stupid motorbike crap. Once our lovely abode was set up again, we went to a local bar who had live music. The couple from Glasgow ended up there too and bought us drinks (always the benefit of talking up older people).

Day 6: this was it. 13 more miles and we were done. The excitement I felt was unbelievable! And then dread kicked in. We walked through the worst rain and wind ever. If we had known it was going to be like that we would have caught a train. You get to these points on the hike where your only option is to turn back or push forward. There's no where to go and wait it out. Somehow we did it. I literally cried when I saw Fort William come into view. We got a hotel room, pulled out everything from our packs to dry (everything was soaked) and watched bad television for the rest of the night.

It's now the next morning after Day 6. My body feels better, we're about to have a great breakfast and then bus to Inverness. I pushed myself harder than I ever have before and completed something I thought was impossible at times. It is a great way to see the varying landscapes of Scotland (and the varying weather), just prepare properly for the West Highland Way.

- Vanessa xo

Iceland

Hello from the land of ice! It's our last night in Iceland and we had a fabulous four days. It was definitely colder than we expected and were shivering our first day here. Luckily we bought 30 dollar gloves to keep our hands warm.

First off, here's some things we learned about Iceland:

1. Buy liquor at the duty free when you get off the plane. Liquor is extremely expensive because it has a high tax to deter people from drinking. Liquor stores are cheaper but are only open for small amounts of time

2. The nightlife doesn't start until at least midnight. Seriously do not step outside your hotel until midnight.

3. Everything is expensive. It's just the way it is. Go to Bonus supermarket and buy your breakfasts and lunches.

4. Rent a car. It's much cheaper than paying for three tours and you can explore more.

5. Go to a local swimming pool. They are all outdoor with geothermal water. You have to get naked in the showers though, but man up and do it (if you don't, they have people making sure you do).

6. Elf experts are a real thing. They need to come communicate with the elves when the elf rocks (where they live of course) need to be moved.

Day 1: we were extremely tired. Neither of us got any sleep on our 6 hour overnight flight. We were lucky and could check into our hostel early. We then went on a hunt for breakfast. The day we arrived, April 23, is the first day of summer for Icelanders and marks a national holiday. I'm not sure they know what summer means. Anyway it was early and a holiday so a lot of places were closed. We found a bakery that served coffee and fresh baked goods.  We had a good laugh trying to order from the Icelandic menu until the waiter pitied us enough to bring the English one. After breakfast we explored the city of Reykjavik. We found a cool graveyard by an old church, went down to the harbour and back up their main shopping street. We found a free, yes FREE, city walk tour that lasted two hours with this great guide. He knew his stuff because he was a history major. Definitely recommend him, City Walk, if you're ever there. Then we went shopping for some groceries to make supper and had an early night.

Day 2: we took up two girls on their offer of going in their rental car with them. We drove the entire peninsula on the west side of the island. We saw amazing cliffs, waterfalls and even did a bit of off roading (not on purpose). We did a two hour hike to see the second tallest waterfall in Iceland, Glymur, which was probably the best experience we had here! We drove around a national park as the sun was setting and crashed as soon as we got back.

Day 3: we slept in pretty late as we were tried from the all day driving. We decided to go see the big church, Hallgrimskirkja. When the elevator doors opened, who walked out but John Slattery from Mad Men. Roger god-damn Sterling... at least we're pretty sure. Being from Canada, seeing a celebrity is a big deal. We fan-girled (new verb) all the way up to the 8th floor. There were some amazing views. We took in a free concert in the church after but wasn't sure what the hell was going on. I'm certain one girl's piano "song" was just scales. We grabbed lunch at Prikid and had some of the best fish ever. Seriously it was amazing! Then we headed back to the hostel for some relaxation and to research what bars would be okay with hiking boots. We missed the liquor store hours like chumps (so don't do it) and were debating whether we wanted to go out or not. We ended up going to the Lebowski (yes, from the Big Lebowski) bar. Iceland has been stuck in the 80's since the 80's. It was really gold old music. We met a local who took us to another bar where we met up with a bunch of his friends. We did some Icelandic liquorice shots that us foreigners agreed could cure any cough, went a got the best hotdog from Baejarins Beztu Plysur at 4 in the morning and stumbled back to the hostel.

Day 4: again, we slept in like crazy. We wanted to do a hike but it was way too cold. We walked to see the Perlan which is some big dome thing overlooking Reykjavik. If you're John Slattery you could probably afford to eat there. We could afford to go in there for free and use the bathroom and get out. Then we found our way to a local pool where we sat in the warm water for two hours. We wanted to try SOME sort of Icelandic food before we left so we headed to Cafe Loki where we tried the Icelandic meat soup and Rye-Bread ice cream. We didn't have the guts to try shark.

Iceland was a first great stop on our adventure. We have to be up at 3 in the morning to catch our flight to Glasgow. So with that, I bid you adieu.

-V xo

Good Eats: Lentil Chickpea Burgers

Happy Wednesday Saturday! ... Apparently it takes me 4 days to actually post on the blog. My recipe share this week was put on hold as I needed to take a picture of the burger. You know how a lot of blogs that deal with recipes take photos along the way, each one perfectly staged making you feel terrible about how your blueberries aren't organic and shiny like theirs, or when they have half the sauce splattered over the dish in some sort of Jackson Pollok-esque way... you shall find none of that here. You get one crappy foggy picture taken with my phone with some shitty filter. I forgot to take one when I made them, so you also get a photo of left overs at work!

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with vegetarian burgers. It's a "don't fix it if it ain't broken" type of situation. If I'm going to make burgers, I usually wait for one of our meat days and make the real thing. Last week however, Jord's contribution to the meal plan was a vegetarian burger. So I threw together these Lentil Chickpea Burgers. If you're going to make these, definitely take the time to make the Avocado sauce as well, as it really made these fake burgers delish. 

Lentil Chickpea Burgers

Burgers                                                      
1/4 cup grated carrots                              
1/2 onion chopped                                    
3 gloves garlic                                            
1/2 cup chickpeas                                      
2 eggs                                                        
1/2 cup rolled oats                                    
1/2 cup cilantro                                        
1 tsp chili powder                                    
1 tsp paprika                                            
1 tsp chili sauce
S&P
2 cups cooked green lentils

Avocado Sauce
1 cup mint
1 cup cilantro
3 jalapenos
1 lemon, juiced
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp salt
1 large avocado
                                                 
1. Combine all burger ingredients into a food processor... I used a blender because I'm cheap and have refused to purchase a food processor. If you do use a blender, don't let the disgusting texture deter you. Add some breadcrumbs until it is a workable texture (these burgers are a bit more on the sticky side).
2. Put some oil in a pan and fry the burgers, about 4 minutes each side.
3. While the burgers are cooking, combine the avocado sauce ingredients into the food processor. Add olive oil slowly while mixing.
4. Top your burger with lettuce, pickles, whatever you want.

If you don't like the vegetarian burger part, make the avocado sauce and top your meaty hamburgers with it!

-Vanessa xo

Happy New Year - Blueberry & Honey Overnight Oatmeal

2015! The year of the... goat... & resolutions I can't keep... yet again. Guess what my first resolution was? To blog more... yet again. 14 days in I decided to go back. My other two resolutions, however, have been going well so far. Jord and I decided to find a work out plan that we can do together that amazingly, we've kept up. My other resolution was to try a new recipe each week. I figured what better way to stay accountable than to post the new recipe!

The working out resolution came from the plan to do hiking this summer... learning to eat oatmeal was the other outcome of this hiking plan. I've come to really enjoy it and it is incredibly easy to make your own (none of that packaged crap here!)

Blueberry & Honey Overnight Oatmeal

Servings: 2           Calories per Serving: 259

1 cup rolled oats (not instant)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup frozen blueberries (or fresh)

2 tsp honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. The night before, combine all ingredients into an airtight container. The oats will soak up the liquid overnight.

2. Take out the next morning and heat it up in the microwave, mixing in between to a consistency you like (I do 30 seconds at a time). You can also have the oatmeal cold... if you're weird. 

That is it. How simple is that!? I hope you can find a new recipe to enjoy over this next little while to add to your food rotation.

- Vanessa xo