jmackey24

ok so i've been bad so far this trip. Been to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and surrounds so far. first I forgot that my computer has a three pronged plug and my adapter doesn't take those - just regular two prongs. so i had no computer for hte first few days. Then I finally got that fixed (fixed=scraping out the adapter and then jamming the plug in. That was a couple days ago and I just had two busy days in Copenhagen and was too tired to blog. Also, my small bag (manbag) the zipper broke the first day! I'm so rotted. I can still open adn close it but the zipper is separating from the bag so one of these times its just going to conk out. Hopefully it'll last another week. Anyways, guess I'll start ... read more

a bit pressed for time this morning but wanted to take advantage of the free internet to get one last entry in. staying at the babelfish hostel in Würzburg. great location right across from the train station. 6 bed dorm rooms, and worst part is i had to switch rooms between the two nights. grrrr. and its so hard to tell what people are going to be like when you meet them lol sunday night i figured it would be a long night, with 2 groups of two and a solo plus me, and the chicks were pretty chatty, the guys rustling around in their bags, etc etc figured little sleep. fell asleep and never woke until 6, feeling refreshed so i got up! then last night i move to this room with south korean family ... read more

so had trouble getting to sleep last night. not sure why but was still awake after 12 and i was dead tired too. didn't help that i had to get up at 6 to get ready and head to the train station. anyways got up on time, and went down for the included breakfast. well yesterday there were croissants and breads and boiled eggs and such. today, because its good friday, just some stale bakers bread, yoghurt and cereal! i felt gypped! luckily i still had some bread and apples from the grocery store yesterday (glad i thought ahead and bought extra, victory!) so i ate them on the train after taking the bus to the station. one train to mannheim, quick change and another to cologne. right so easter weekend = bad travel time. train ... read more

woke up this morning to the alarm around 845, but dozed off again to wake up around 930. was super tired after the marathon day yesterday and not getting to bed till around 130 - latest night of the trip by far! i also managed to smash my right thumb in the bathroom door and woke up around 3 with that throbbing so bad i had to take some advil before i could get back to sleep. today the bottom third of the nail is a nasty purple. hope it doesn't fall off! lol anyways got up and went for hotel breakfast, included of course. croissants, breads, ham, cheese, cereal (with warm milk ugh), coffee, tea, juice, yoghurt. the usuals and ate heartily. forgot to bring my bag down so no stealing for lunch hehe got ... read more

what a long few days. sitting on a train right now between geneva and bern in switzerland, its around 1800 wednesday. but i’ll get to that in a few mins. get ready, this is a long one. so yesterday was an amazing day! my room at the majestic hotel in nimes was pretty dark, and i slept in until close to 1030. couldn’t believe my eyes when i looked at the time, most days i’m up before 8 so i don’t even bother setting an alarm. i figured i’d be up half early to get a start on the day so i could visit the roman arena in nimes before heading off to carcassonne for the rest of the day since carcassonne was about 2 hrs away by train each way. anyways had to skip the ... read more

so before going to bed last night found a good deal on a hotel in Nimes, France, so decision on where to go next made! wake up call at 7 this morning to get to the train station nice and early. was hoping to get on the TGV (train a grande vitesse) the french high speed train. but those #*&$#@ french railway people limit the # of tickets they'll sell on a train to railpass holders. so my 4 hour journey turned into 6 with two changes so i could go for 'free'. oherwise gotta pay the full fare. no thanks. but super annoying. i have a feeling when i go to head back towards frankfurt and my flight home i'll run into the same problem. anyways, managed the trains no problems, easy changes in lyon ... read more

well maybe not bliss, as geneva is kinda boring really. not that much to do, but had great company so it was definitely worthwhile! had a lovely breakfast at the hotel this morning. cereal with cold (actually was cold) milk, croissants, breads, toast, jam, juice, and of course a couple of croissants/breads stuffed into my bag ("purse" lol) for snacking later! loaded up all my dirty laundry (and had to wear dirty clothes as i should have done laundry a couple days ago - i brought six outfits and today is day 10 since doing laundry at jeff and jennifers before leaving hehe yes i'm a dirtbag. so anyways loaded up the clothes, caught the train downtown and met up with emily and curtis at their hotel. decided to leave the laundry till the afternoon siesta ... read more

well i guess its been a few days! so much for having a laptop making me update more often lol where did i leave off... so it was way too hot in milano for me, got a sunburn, and sweated out a few bottles of water. so i got up early the next morning to catch a train further north. spent the afternoon on the train going through the swiss alps. beautiful!! it was interesting to see the houses/buildings change from italian to german style along the way. lots of alpine lakes too. got in to Basel in the the afternoon. stored my big bag in a locker for the evening and got a nice map from the tourist info place at the train station and went straight to the zoo! I love zoos and i’d ... read more

So up and ready yesterday morning for wedding festivities starting at 11. Meet and greet and snacky foods with wine (didn't start that early - too much for me!) in the hotel restaurant then on the bus for 12 to get everyone to the church just a few minutes away. What a beautiful little church! Just outside Azzano Decimo in a field, I heard it was possibly over a thousand years old, but no way to check my source! lol Paolo showed up in a cute little yellow car, then natasha in a flashy BMW shortly after. only 7 or 8 pews inside, so family and closest friends sat in there while the rest of us waited outside. Not that i'm complaining - standing under the trees was the only way to stave off heat stroke. ... read more