http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/jewel89/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from jewel89 en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:28:02 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:28:02 +0000 I canrsquot believe tomorrowrsquos my last day here in Plovdiv Time really flies when you do these volunteer camps itrsquos crazy. As much as Irsquom looking forward to coming home itrsquos still sad to think of leaving here.Wednesday pretty much cemented the fact we're all going crazy w these kids everyone of us girl volunteers has been molested by these kids. They're not shy abou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-419211.html So we met the new bunch of kiddies yesterday world of difference bw the two groups.Three of the girls came into our kitchen introduced themselves and asked if we'd go play football. We had just woken up it was like 11am haha so we told them later. Even though it was supposed to be our 'day off' we still didn't mind. When we finally went downstairs they all came over and were like shakin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-418117.html I'm currently sitting by the window watching a lovely thunderstorm. There is nothing better than reading a good book sitting curled up on the couch and listening to the rain. It's not quite as good as the one we had the other day where we lost power about 10 screen windows blew out into the backyard etc but it's still a good storm. It's a nice break in the weather too it's not boiling for http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-417426.html The kids have calmed down a bit since we began... or maybe I'm just getting used to it I'm not sure haha. It's funny because that's the one English word they ALL know how to say COME COME A couple know please which is nice but very often you just have them run up to you take a flying leap for your chest or just grab your hand and pull come come Come comeYesterday morning we played out http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-417117.html So first off a bit about our schedule first week we're with 15 orphans aged around 610yrs all with either physical or mental disabilities. Second week we're with older kids 1115ish but we don't know how many or if they're disabled. Our daily schedule is usually 9301130am outside w the kids sometimes 3060min inside on the comp as well a well deserved break where we literally eat http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-416400.html I took another lazy day today. I woke up to a bit of thunder and was not at all motivated to move. Also I could hear the street dogs barking all last night and wasn't too keen on meeting them in person. So instead I decided to take today to upload a bunch of photos organize some travel stuff and just relax. Oh and I had no local currency yet and I didnrsquot really feel like roaming the s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/West/Sofia/blog-415212.html I had the most bizarre encounter as I left Frankfurt. I truly have skill.Bus ride last night was alright I didnrsquot sleep much bc Irsquom so excitednervous about Bulgaria but I still managed to get 23 hours. I hate passport controlhellip again at 1230am as we pass into Germany we get the guards. At least they were friendlyhellip but we got stuck there for an hour. Sigh.Rest of th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/West/Sofia/blog-414781.html Well I have finally found a smell worse than the peesoaked stationshellip Mustek station in Prague smells like puke. At first I thought lsquoman what bad timing for it to smell this wayhelliprsquo but no itrsquos permanent. I had the misfortune of using the station once yesterday and then 3x today. Ew.Anyway on with my day. The plan was to do that 6hr day tour followed by the ghost http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/Old-Town/blog-414780.html Sigh a second year in a row that I miss Canada Day in Ottawa.But thatrsquos ok.Today I enjoyed the ability to sleep in for once yay for 2 nights in a hotel and then I headed out to Kutna Hora an hour east of Prague.I went to the bus station first to confirm my ticket to Frankfurt for tomorrow night minor detail considering I have a flight later that day and then I trekked back to the tra http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Central-Bohemian-Region/Kutna-Hora/blog-414186.html Well last night was interesting.After my bratwurst I metrorsquod down to the soccer stadium to catch the bus to Prague. I was super not looking forward to this bc itrsquos in the middle of nowhere. I get into the station and 4 drunk teenagers show up and start heckling a group of Asians. Definitely reminded me of Wonderland haha who wears short shortsssss This went on for about 5min befo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/blog-413797.html Ok I must share my morning experience. I was getting ready when I hear ldquohouse keepiiiiiiiingrdquo No joke it sounded exactly like the Family Guy episode where Peter is a maid. He repeated it again ldquohouse keepiiiingrdquo I actually burst out laughing.Anyway On to my day. As much as I wanted to see ldquoMadrdquo Ludwigrsquos castle I didnrsquot want to pay around 100 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Berchtesgaden/blog-413776.html Second part of my day Before I get into everything I must share my sadness in the fact no one in Europe seems to be aware of the City of Ottawa. I guess I'm not overly surprised I mean you travel in the States and everyone assumes you're from Toronto but still... I thought maybe just maybe that would be different in Europe. But so far no.When Sophia and I were chatting on the bus ride to Da http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-413681.html I split today into two entries since I couldn't exactly link the two parts of my dayI woke up this morning to a very cloudy sky how fitting it rain the day I go to Dachau. On the Sbahn ride to Dachau I met a girl Sophia traveling by herself shersquos from Taiwan studying in Boston doing an internship in Bohn Germany. How epic. We talked pretty much the entire way there and made suppe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Dachau/blog-413680.html I arrived in Munich today in the middle of nowherehellip think ScotiaBank Place in comparison to downtown Ottawa For such a large city with a great number of tourists their bus station is incredibly crappy. I managed to figure out how to get a ticket to get into the city itself though and off I went.This hostel is beyond amazing. Itrsquos kind of on a sketchy street but thatrsquos fine http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-413109.html Today was a very very lazy day. So lazy in fact I did absolutely nothing and it felt great.I bussed to Brussels but we arrived ridiculously early 530am instead of 630am so I decided to hop right on a bus to Paris at 9am to kill a few hours. Ah the joys of a bus pass. I had to wait a bit though so I walked down to the supermarket where I got interviewed by some Brussels radio station about http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-412579.html Ok itrsquos decided Irsquom coming back to Berlin next time Irsquom in Europe and Irsquom spending at least another 3 days herehellip Berlin is by far my favourite city so far if only for the history of the place. I took the best tour I have EVER been on today and it was a walking tour for free. Our guide Adam was hilarious and full of interesting info.We started in ldquoParis S http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-412574.html Well we finally encountered customshellip at midnight. England France Belgium didnrsquot bother to check us but the Germans have to check at midnight I wasnrsquot pleased to be awoken by guards yelling out ldquoPASSPORTSSSSSrdquo haha. Not cool. People joke there's nothing more frightening than being yelled at in German and I would have to concur. Again I didnrsquot get a single http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-412225.html I didnrsquot do much my last day in London I just headed out to Abbey Road. starts humming variety of Beatles songs What shouldrsquove been a 5min walk turned into a 30min adventure since I didnrsquot bring my map with me and instead of simply turning right I went about 10 blocks out of my way haha. But I found it. I must say today was the first time I actually didnrsquot like being al http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-412218.html I started things off pretty slow this morning my feetlegs are still in pain from climbing the Eiffel Tower haha. Of course by slow I just mean I took the tube everywhere I went but I still saw a lot.I started at King Cross Station to go hunting for Platform 9 and Yes Irsquom a Harry Potter nerd and then headed off to Buckingham Palace. The plan was to see the Changing of the Guard http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-411268.html So my clever plan to gain an extra hour of sleep by taking the earlier bus to London backfiredhellip since we took the ferry I had to get up and get off to go through border patrol and get on the ferryhellip at 3am guh. One plus I got to see the Cliffs of Dover although it was too dark to get a decent photo. Sidenote why are American border guards so grumpy in comparison to everywhere e http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-410908.html