Sue70

Here's the news of the last couple of days: Sat: Woke up to a beautiful sunny day for the wedding. Running late (as always!) I had to stop in at Mahrukh's room to help her zip her dress as she'd hurt her shoulder somehow. We zipped over to pick up Zeekid, and then headed to the church. We managed to get seats fairly close to the front, and on the aisle, hoping for decent photos. I still don't know that I got any. The ceremony was a little on the long side, but the priest had some funny anecdotes and kept things moving along. There were photos to be taken of family and friends, and I managed to get into photos of friends of both the bride and the groom. :) After the ceremony we headed ... read more

So I haven't been that great at keeping up with the blog on this trip; too many late night drives to motels and early rising mornings to head out to the next spot! Here's a recap of what I've done since I last posted.... Sat: I headed out to Columbia River Gorge, and got there at a decent hour, car packed and everything! I saw the octagon house both from a distance and close up, got some good views of the gorge, and made my way to Multinomah Falls. Was quite pleased to find a penny press to add to my ever-growing collection too! I headed out around lunchtime (actually an hour later than I had intended) but then saw an outlet mall on the way out. Another hour and $150 later, I headed to Crater ... read more

Hello from the West Coast! I've been meaning to write this for a while now, but have not had much time to do so. So here's the scoop: I arrived in Seattle on Tues. night, and managed to pick up my luggage at the carousel. I was worried with a connecting flight that it might not make it, so I planned accordingly. Apparently, when you do that, your luggage arrives fine. :) I hopped the Light Rail train into downtown, walked the 2-3 blocks to my hostel and only had to fend off two weirdos who spoke to me. The first guy I pretended I just didn't understand and told him "Je ne comprends pas." when he asked if I was okay. The other guy asked for money, but I just went into the hostel and ... read more

So I wasn't sure that I'd be able to find internet usage, but here I am. I realized that I wasn't certain of what terminal in Charles de Gaulle airport I was flying out of, so I'd better look it up. And here I am! Yesterday, Odile picked me up at the Lille Youth Hostel and we drove to Ypres. I was expecting to see more WWI battlefields and stuff, but instead, we saw a cute little city that had once been walled, and we walked the ramparts (tops of the old castle/fort walls) for a bit. It was quite pretty, and the ramparts seemed to be in fairly good condition, seeing as they dated from medieval times. It started to rain shortly after our walk around the city, and we went for lunch. First we ... read more

I arrived yesterday in Lille, and it's been go, go, go! I met my friend Valerie's friend Odile at the train station, and we walked to her friend's apartment where I was able to leave my bags. The three of us went out for lunch (I didn't mention that I'd had a sandwich on the train to Lille) and then Odile and I headed out to do a little walking tour of Lille. It's quite pretty! There is a Spanish influence to the buildings, and it used to be a cloth making city. It was also a fortified city, meaning walls around the (old) city and gates to enter/exit. We walked around pretty much the entire old city, and also saw the newer part, and the old university. Then we picked up my bags, and I ... read more

Getting to Bruges this morning was a challenge. I packed my bags (while everyone in my dorm room was still sleeping) and headed over to the Gare du Nord train station, about a fifteen minute walk. (Probably would have been less if I wasn't wearing 25kg of luggage, but anyway...) Bought a ticket for the train and went to the track to wait for it. I had about a half-hour wait. The train didn't arrive. It was supposedly running 13 minutes late, but it was certainly more than that. The next train going to Bruges arrived before that one did, so I jumped on. Funnily enough, I met one of my dorm roommates, Jess, on the track, so we sat together on the train. It was more like a commuter train (think GO train) as it ... read more

Not a terribly eventful day. Got up at 8am, showered, hung out at the hostel for a while (as my clothes were still drying!) and packed everything up by 11am. I left my bags there, and went next door where I had some yummy crepes at an amazing price! 4 little crepes (one cheese to start, then banana, then nutella, then cherry) plus Coke-like drink (actually had a weird taste to it) for less than 3 euros! Quite amazing! I headed to the airport, where I waited around for an hour to check in. I was first in line and went through a bit of worry when the woman behind the counter couldn't find my name in the computer. I was on her printed-out list though, and finally ended up with a boarding pass. Phew! A ... read more

Slept in a bit this morning, all the way until 8am! The noise from the street was a little much, so I got up, showered (hogged the double shower bathroom!) and got ready. I took my time, eating breakfast, surfing the net, and then around 10:30 I decided to "check out" and leave my packed bags at the hostel so I could go to the Jewish Synagogue and do some souvenir shopping. Walked to the Jewish Synagogue in the immense heat and took a few pictures. For the oldest synagogue in Europe (I believe that's what they claim) it wasn't THAT great. It was an interesting building, but I guess when I read claims like that, I expect more. Oh well. Decided to use the subway day pass one last time and took the subway back ... read more

It's hot here. Very, very hot. My room is stinking hot, and it's after 11pm. I think only one set of windows is open, and it's not enough. The day was also (obviously) very hot. I arrived in Budapest around noon, and proceeded to get off the train and go in search of a bank machine for some Hungarian forints. The first bank machine I went to decided that it didn't like my bank card. That had me a little worried, so I went off in search of another machine. Fortunately, that machine spit out some forints (to my relief) and I went to the subway, making sure that my zippable pants had turned into shorts. Got a daypass for the subway, and headed to the hostel. The directions to finding places are never as clear ... read more

My night last night was a frustrating one. I headed up to my dorm room, and discovered that at 10:45pm, everyone was already asleep and the lights were out. Okay.... a little early, but understandable. I tried to open the locks on my bags, and found that the one to the main compartment would not open. Not at all. I took the bag into the hall to try it, and still no luck. Even today, I can't open that compartment with my nice clean clothes. Fortunately, there is another way into that compartment, top-loading, but what a pain! Not an easy feat to get everything out that I need to. Anyway, I headed out to the Inner Loop around 11am this morning, and started wandering around. There were a few areas that I knew that I ... read more