Amsterdam/ Mystery land

My first music fest was freaking awesomeeee!!!!!

I was going to meet Bianca (the Aussie I met in Rimini) at the hostel but we both ended up getting on the same tram!

The hostel we stayed in was absolutely disgusting. In the middle of the night I heard a mouse running around in our room and some other girl actually saw it. Also we watched the guy clean the room and so there are blankets covered by a duvet. Did they change the duvets?? No of course not why would they ever do that. I swear I'm ending up with liceaidsrabies. I sent my mom a message freaking out because I didn't want to die in the night because a mouse was eating me. She thought it was hilarious and told me to get over it!! If it was her she wouldn't have even checked into this scummy place! Ughhhh it was so groosssss.

Anyways, we survived the night and Saturday was mystery land! Dub step type stuff is definitely not my kind of music but it was so fun! We tried to find liquor bottles to sneak in with us so we didn't have to pay for drinks. How ridiculous, you can smell pot everywhere you go but heaven forbid if you want to buy some small alcohol bottles to sneak in. The only time we even went into a coffee shop was to ask if they knew where we could find liquor. We ended up just getting some airplane bottles. She was brave and got four absinthes and I just had two tequilas.

We had to take a train and then a bus to actually get there and by that time we were covered in sweat. She had her bottles in her back pockets but when we got there they were actually patting people down so we threw them in my rain jacket and then we saw they were patting those down as well. Miraculous they only patted us down and didn't check my jacket so we got super lucky! I wish I had taken more pictures but the main stage was covered by this giant tent that looked like a circus tent. It was the coolest place! The had all of these balloons at the top of the tent that they let fall at the end of the night They don't actually take money so you have to buy these little token things to pay for stuff. We got ours and bought some coke for our drinks. We made it all the way to the front by the dj!! It was so cool!!
Bianca started throwing back her absinthe and ended up completely trashed. It was raining all day and we were in flip flops and she kept falling in all the mud. It ruined my buzz but I got her semi washed off and got us both tacos and her some water and we made our way back to the front for more dancing. We danced and sweated like pigs for 8 hours. It was amazing. We had the best time and are now even more pumped for outlook which is in Croatia. Also we have tickets to see the red hot chili peppers in Zagreb on Wednesday!! Everyone should be insanely jealous.

Oh, while I was getting us tacos this guy was like um is that your friend? Good luck. I gave him her last absinthe which she is still asking me if she actually drank it. Oops.

When we were leaving the festival we got on the wrong train and ended up way out of the way and we couldn't get a cab and no more trains were running. It was scat for a minute. Some local guys tried to call us a cab but they wouldn't come. We had talked to a security guy about how to get home but he left. When he came back he had found a cab! Thankfully we weren't the only stupid ones to get on the wrong train so we split it with these two Swedish girls. We made it back to our disgusting hostel safe and sound. It's probably cleaner to have slept on a bench by the train station.

On Sunday we spent most of the day figuring out how to get to Croatia from Amsterdam. It was such a pain. We finally picked a flight to Budapest and we are taking a bus from there to Zagreb. So we are on the plane right now and I'm excited for a night in Budapest!!

Oh!! I bought my first tent!! It was only 10 euros and I'm so excited. Not so much to use it because I don't think I've ever camped so I'm a bit nervous. But it will be absolutely amazing again. This week is going to be one of the bests! I'm bummed to think about coming home at the end of sept but I'm also excited to see my little man. And the rest of my family and everyone!

Oh I forgot about this morning. the only thing I actually wanted to do in Amsterdam was the Heineken experience which ended up being awesome. You walk through these rooms talking about how the beer is made and they have this giant room with the big kettle things. I tasted wort which is water and barley. It was kinda sweet but weird tasting. Then you go on this "ride" where you go through the process of becoming beer. It was pretty interesting. Then you can make your own label for a beer but I doubt it would make it for the next month. Either as an emergency beer or it would just break. Let's face it I'm really clumsy. One room had a tasting. So they gave you a beer and they talked about it and then you drank it! There was a really cool like party room with two walls made out of bottles. They give you this wristband at the beginning and you can either get two free beers with it or learn how to pour a beer and drink that. So I now have a certificate saying something about I can officially pour a beer. Yay me. Bianca doesn't like beer so she had one and I got to have the other so yay for three beers on an empty stomach!

we made it back to the hostel, printed off our boarding passes and took a train to Eindhoven where the airport is and are now on the plane!

Brussels

Brussels was ok. We didn't do a whole lot there but we did find a Mexican food place! Sadly the queso they had was like nacho cheese. Yuck. I think we were pretty tired so we went to bed early and when we woke up in the morning we met the guys in our room who were from Cyprus and Canada. They were pretty awesome! Erin went to do laundry so the three of us found a kebab for breakfast. When Erin was done we all went to the delirium cafe which has over either 2000 or 4000 beers I can't remember which. They have a list of all their beer and it is literally the size of a novel. So many awesome beers! I had one that was called cookie beer. It was ok but I definitely could not have more than one. We saw the statue of the little girl peeing. The little boy peeing came first hen the girl and now they have a dog. It's kinda weird. We had some Greek food for dinner that was good. We went and saw the Atomium that was built for the worlds fair in the 50s I think. We didn't go up in it because no one wanted to so I'm putting that on my list of things to come back and do.

We went back to the delirium cafe that night with a big group of people from the hostel. They were mostly nice. There was this one Australian guy who was just a giant jerk. I have met loads of awesome Aussies and he absolutely sucked. He kept saying how unfortunate it was that I was from there and could I even find certain countries on a map and could I name the Australian states. I wanted to knock him out. Erin had to get up early for her train to London so thank goodness we left early because that could have ended horribly.

Sorry the story about Brussels is pretty boring.

Paris

My trip to Paris was such a disaster. I had a grand plan of taking the train to chateauneuf du pape, which is chads favorite wine, and doing a little tasting and taking some pics for him. The train didn't go to that town so I was going to have to take a bus from Avignon. No one would help me find the right bus some were rude and some just didn't speak English. I finally figured out the next bus wouldn't be coming for like three hours and was so aggravated at this point that I gave up and was going to go to bordeaux. France is stupid with their needing a reservation for all of their trains. It's really frustrating since I haven't had to do this in any other country. The train people told me there were no reservations to bordeaux until the next day and also none to Paris. I was so frustrated that I gave up and jumped on a train to Paris anyways. I had kept getting kicked out of my seat bc those people had reservations on the way to Avignon that I just sat in the space between cars and it was very uncomfortable. Maybe like an hour before getting to Paris the ticket checker guy came by and was like there's a seat right there why aren't you sitting in it. It was nice of him and much more comfy than where I had been!

So I made it there found a hotel which was pretty gross but I just wanted to be in a room by myself. On Friday Erin was coming into Paris at like 5 so I had a day to do whatever. I made it to the louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. It was crazy how small it was and then on the wall behind it was this huge painting that took up a huge wall. I always wonder who decides what art is so awesome and valuable. There were some paintings that were just gorgeous and the colors were so bright. I guess that they have been restored or something but if those were the original colors then that was just wow amazing. I went to walk down to Notre dame but there was such a huge line of people that I didn't even care about going in. How sad that I'm so sick of sightseeing! I had about an hour until I was going to meet Erin at the train station and I just happened to stumble upon an Irish pub. So that's where I spent my hour! I picked up Erin and we took her stuff to the hostel I found that morning and got dressed and went back to the pub because they had live music that night. It was a good night and somehow some French guy ended up with my license because he sent me a message about it the next day.

On Saturday, we went exploring. We saw where Napoleons tomb is. Of course it's in an outrageously large coffin thing under a giant dome. We went to the eiffel tower and we were laying in the grass next to it before going up when this group of 5 or 6 8 yr olds came running over making a big ruckus. After they left we were just like wtf was that about how weird. Only when we went to go get in line to go up the tower did we realize that Erin's iPhone had been stolen. We had both jumped up to grab our purses but her phone was laying in the grass and they grabbed it. So we had to go to the police station and it took forever and kinda ruined the day.

Sunday was so much fun! My most favorite boss ever had told me her daughter was in Paris at the same time so I got a hold of her and the three of us went out to Versailles. It was the largest palace I have ever seen! It was so beautiful and covered in gold. There were so many people there so it was frustrating to have to fight against all of the people but the inside was pretty. The only thing I didn't like is that most of the rooms we saw weren't how they originally were. The parts we saw had been turned into a museum. We got to see the kings room and a few others that looked like they maybe did back then. We only saw the palace and I was kind of sad that we didn't see Marie Antoinette's estate that were way back on the property but it just took so long to go through the palace. There was also an art exhibit going on in the palace and it was strange things that spun around in the air. There was one tho that was amazing! A giant pair of shoes made out of pots and pans!!! Holy cow they were so cool.

When we got back to Paris, Erin wanted to go to an art museum and Britt and I definitely were sick of going to museums so we went to the pub again to wait for Erin. We also finally got a hold of Colette and she came out that night and we met at the pub. It was pretty dead since it was Sunday but we had fun just hanging out talking. Britt had heard about a jazz bar that she wanted to go to so Colette tried to find it for us. We ended up getting lost for a while and when we finally made it it was closed. It was like 2 by that time so everyone just went home. It was still so much fun tho.

Monday Erin woke up and went to the louvre and I went to see the moulin rouge because I had been dying to see it the whole time. I really wanted to go to a show so I think I am going back to Paris after Croatia next week and Colette and I are going to go see it!

Bruges

Bruges was so much fun! When we left the train station to find the hostel we met these English brothers who were the most ridiculous and hilarious people I've ever met. Instead of finding the hostel we found some beer and after a few hours we decided we all needed to find our hostels and get rid of the bags. We met up with them like an hour later and went to a local bar with a friend that they had met on the train. Bruges is really quite pretty. There's a giant fountain in the middle of one square and in another a really big church with the most beautiful bells I've ever heard. We all stayed out pretty late and this club off one of the main squares.

When Erin and I woke up the next morning we met this 19 yr old kid from Sacramento. The three of us went to breakfast because of course we had to have a waffle!! While sitting down eating the two brothers and the girl that one of them picked up came walking by! I guess it's a really small town because we just kept running into them. We had breakfast and a few beers and decided to just drink our way through the city. The girl that one of them picked up and was very eager for her to leave went to the beach with her friends so the guy was pretty happy. We did a really good job of that. I mean there's something like 4000 beers and all five of us Kept ordering five different beers and passing them around so everyone could try them. I'm pretty sure most of my pictures from Bruges are just the different beers we had.

The older brother got absolutely drunk so the younger one was going to take him back and put him to bed. Erin left to go call her bf thing and never actually came back. Both of the brothers came back under the condition that Jaime was cut off! That lasted for about a half hour. It was such a fun night and so many things happened.

The next morning Erin and I and the guy from our hostel went to get breakfast again before going to the train station and guess who came walking by again!? Such a small world. We had a few beers and it turned out we all had to catch a train to Brussels. The brothers were going back to London and the 19 yr old was going to paris. We made it to Brussels were we just bar hopped until everyone left. It's probably kind of sad but I'm at the point of I'm sick of sightseeing and being touristy and now I'm just drinking my way through towns. I'm definitely glad that I will be home in a month. Tomorrow marks my three month anniversary of traveling and it's been an amazing time. I've learned so much and met so many different interesting people.

Nice

I finally made it here and it's back to ridiculously hot weather. Since I ws so sweaty and gross the first thing I wanted was a cold shower so I open up my bag and guess who left alllllll of their shower stuff in Geneva? That's right this girl. So the stuff my mom just brought to me is now gone so I was pretty ticked. So I had to find a store and stare at everything for a while to figure out what was what.

After I had calmed down and had my shower I decided I deserved a drink so I walked down near the beach and found a restaurant. There were people next to me speaking English and I guess they heard me talk to the waiter because they eventually asked me where I was from. It turns out they are from vegas and just absolutely so nice! When they found out I was over here for my birthday they bought me a birthday dessert and lots of wine. I think we stayed there until 1am just talking and having a great time. they have two kids that are 4 and 7 and they are with the grandparents because they are here for work. So now I have more friends to go see in Vegas!

When I woke up the next day I went to see if I could stay at this hostel n extra night. He made me wait and then was like no you have to check out so I hadn't had a shower and had all my stuff and then he tells me there is no room. I was pretty pissed so I left and tried to find a hotel or hostel to check into. I finally found one and the guy said I couldn't get in the room yet which was awful because the showers are in the rooms. I was wearing a grey shirt and he asked if that was the color of the shirt or if I was that sweaty and gross which made me feel awful. It turnsole there is one shower not in a room so he let me use that. When I went back to the desk with my stuff he didn't recognize me and said I looked like a whole different person. I guess I'll take it as a compliment.

My plan was to spend the day in Monaco. I think I have always wanted to go there and my love of Grace Kelly just made me want to see it even more. I got there about one and went to the palace and they have like 15 or so rooms that you are allowed to walk through. They had this gorgeous painting of grace Kelly and I almost cried! I think i might have finally had that moment of holy cow I worked so hard and I'm finally here and it's amazing. Buying the ticket to the palace also gets you into the aquarium which was small but good. They had lots of fish and a few sharks. I'm dying to go diving again. It's been since Belize last yr! I hate going so long without diving.

I found princess grace avenue and of course the casino! I have officially donated money to Monaco's economy. I was so nervous the whole time I was gambling which is weird because I'm decent at blackjack and have played a lot. I was sad you couldn't take pictures inside the casino because I wanted one of me gambling there!

I met this girl from holland who was staying in my room and we went and got a drink. I think it was some sort of holiday for France because when it finally got dark there was a huge fireworks display! They did a really good job. The waiters at the bar we were at told us of some good places to go but we couldn't not find any of them so we ended up at an Irish pub and the bartender gave us some free shots!the girl was pretty boring and didn't want to stay out so we went home pretty early. Which was lame!

Zermatt where everything sounds like Santa

This was definitely the coolest place we went in Switzerland I think! It was a pain to get there and it was nighttime when we finally did get there so we didn't see much. The next morning was just breathtaking with the views of the mountains and the Matterhorn. Zermatt is in the middle of this big valley surrounded by mountains.

We had a Swiss pass which covers you for everything like the lift to the top which turned out to be so expensive when I went back to zermatt after they had left. It takes about thirty minutes to reach the very top but we got off the lift about half way to have a half way drink! So the top of the mountain is over 9000 feet tall and had amazing views of the glacier that's up there. There were a lot of people skiing and I was reallllllly jealous! I think it's been since high school since I have gotten to go skiing but I think I'll fix that this winter! We stayed up there for a little bit but since we weren't skiing here wasn't a whole lot to do. We went back down to the town to find some food because I was starving and we went to this Italian place. Zermatt is right night to Italy and you can go on one side of the mountains and be in Italy. It was literally the best tortellini I have had since Italy and I actually think I might have cried a tear or two it was so good. We went to talk with the paragliding guys and set up to go flying again the next day.

On Saturday, while waiting to go to the shop to go fly we just kept stopping at fun different bars for drinks and watched some of the diving from the Olympics which was pretty awesome. I wish I did anything half as good as those guys can dive! We got to the shop and waited for a while but they said the winds had picked up too much and we wouldn't be able to go then we had to wait til after 5. We were leaving for Zurich because mom and dads plane left at like 10 am and since it was 3 hours or so to get there we decided not to wait because then we would get there so late. While waiting for the next train to leave I decided I was going to come back to Zermatt on Sunday after they left and go paragliding again. I went back to the shop and set it up to fly from the very top that we had been at the day before! I was so excited! We went to Zurich and stayed at a renaissance. By the way the only Marriott hotels in Switzerland are in Zurich and Lucerne. I definitely wished there had been more but my employee discount card definitely came in hand for those nights!! Switzerland is ridiculously expensive!

We had dinner at the restaurant there because there was a really big festival going on in the center of town and we didn't feel like dealing with all of those people. It was an Asian restaurant and it was really good! Mom and dad tried to eat with their chopsticks but eventually gave up. The waitress even tried to teach them how to hold them.

They left at like 8 the next day and their plane had been delayed an hour so they got a little bit more sleep. I left about an hour after them and went walking through Zurich for a while. I got back on the train and went back to zermatt. When I finally found my hotel the guy at check in said there was a live music concert with beer and food going on in the middle of town. I had seen some parade when I had gotten thereby wasn't sure what it was about. When they say live music out here they mean like bands dressed in what looked like to me to be what they wore in colonial days. I'm sure it's the traditional outfit from forever ago. Either way it was adorable. So they had all these different bands playing for some festival that they have every yr. it was super awkward to be alone so I just started drinking. I tried to ask one of the guys from on of the bands where they were from and what the festival was for but he only spoke French. One of the other guys spoke a little bit of English so he tried to answer my question. They had to catch a train but were going to get a drink and when they found out that it was just me they felt bad and asked if I wanted to come. We went right across from the station and had a few beers before they left. They kept trying to talk to me so I think the one guy was sick of trying to translate everything. They all left and I went to my hotel.

The next morning I was to be at the shop by 8 to go paragliding around the Matterhorn! I got there and we went up as fast as we could because he said the winds were supposed to pick up and make it do we couldn't fly. I loved this guy Phil! He was awesome. He's from Australia of course because who have I met that isn't canadian or Australian. He was putting on sunscreen but he just put it on his nose and he looked just like Larry the lobster from sponge bob and I started cracking up. So we got to the very top where mom and dad and I had been a few days before so it was all snowy. Her wasn't much wind up there so he said we were going to have to run. If you've met me you know I'm pretty clumsy. Me running on snow hoping not to trip and slide down the side of this giant mountain. I thought he was crazy! Well thankfully I didn't trip and we got off the mountain and had the most amazing flight! It was gorgeous being up there. He told me about how he flew one day for like 8 hours! And another time he flew into Italy somewhere and had to catch a train back! Next yr sometime he gets to go fly off Kilimanjaro. It's usually illegal to do but there are 200 pilots who have to raise 5000 each for a charity and it's like the only time the mountain will be open for pilots to fly off of so he is super excited. The flight was awesome but the landing not so much. It was more of a crash landing but it was hilarious. I think I tripped when trying to stand up to land and so he fell on top of me and it was just so graceful. I could not stop laughing and I even have it on video! I bought the pictures he took and put them on a card that I bought at the grocery store next door. However when I tried to put them on my iPad they won't show up for some reason so I have to figure that out before you can see my awesome crash landing!!

I left zermatt with the hopes of getting to nice France but when I got to geneva they told me it wasn't possible and I would have to go the next day. I got up at 5 am this morning to catch a train and have been on two different trains since 6 am. It's currently 1 and I won't be there til 5. It actually hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I'm just ridiculously sick of sitting down. I bought some popcorn from the store and when I went to eat it I realized I miss everyone in accounting so much!! I haven't had popcorn since leaving concord :(

I am however in France right now so that's pretty exciting!

Oh I also found dr pepper!!!!! It was the best tasting dr pepper I have ever had in my whole life! It only needed some soco . . .