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Published: September 11th 2008
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Today is our last day in Tunisia and thus, our very last day of our European/North African Holiday. Very sad! However, I think both David and I are ready to go home see our friends and family and eat some of favorite (and missed) foods. I have been craving REAL Mexican food for about a month (as real as it gets in Seattle anyway!).
We have learned a lot throughout this entire experience; not only about traveling and other cultures different than our own, but also about each other. Spending 24 hours a day, for eight weeks straight with another person really illuminates not only the other person’s best qualities, but also their worst. I know David can testify to that! Both David and I agree though that even with those frustrating and terrible moments, we both have grown in our love and understanding of each other throughout this trip. It’s been fun to watch each other change too. David will now drink white wine because of the prodding of our favorite sommelier, Rosario Palumbo. I think I am a little less controlling (hopefully) after being forced to let go of my expectations and go with the flow. I think
we are both a little more comfortable with flies landing on our food.
Please enjoy our Top 5 rankings below!
Top 5 Cities:
5. Cork, Ireland: The all vegetarian coop kept Chelsea happy in the land of beef and Guinness.
4. Rome, Italy : Solely because of the gelato (fine, the museums and history were good too)
3. Rothenburg, Germany: The Night watchman showed us the REAL Leavenworth. We loved all the medival buildings, the abundance of leiderhosen, and many a good prezel. However, The Museum of Capital Punishment employeed the two rudest and bitter curators we have ever met. Never have we wanted to deface property more!
2. Interlaken, Swizerland: The best rugged scenery and diverse adventure activities.
1. Vernazza , Italy: Rick Steves was right about this one! We can’t wait to go back.
Top 5 Beer Countries: (David’s choice)
5. Tunisia - Decent lager, good for cooling down in the hot sun.
4. Swizerland - You can’t be this close to Germany and not make good beer.
3. Ireland - Guinness, Murphy’s, Beamish, and Smithwick’s. All great beers.
2. Germany - Not to big on innovation, but darn good on quality and purity.
1.
Austria - St. Augustine’s beer……one liter was not enough. Soooooo tasty.
Top 5 Weird Moments:
5. Tunisian waiter at our resort randomly fed Chelsea a bite of couscous on a fork (what do you say to that? “Thank you?”)
4. Watching the enthusiasm of the locals cheering on their favorite racing donkeys in Tolfa.
3. The little girl who attacked David on a train in Norway. After he got her to laugh and say her name in Norwegian, she got REALLY hyper and started hitting him!
2. Taking an unlicensed taxi from the Tunis ferry docks to our resort in Hammamet. Not only did we get extremely ripped off, but we learned it was illegal later… oops. Chelsea was sure she was minutes away from being sold on the human trafficking market.
1. Seeing everything from camel meat, cow heads, and cheap Libyan fuel for sale along the roadsides of Tunisia.
Top 5 Most Striking Contrasts:
5. Car Rentals in Ireland vs. Germany. In Ireland they ran out of cars and had to shuttle us to another office, in Germany we got a free upgrade to a BMW with GPS in under 10 minutes.
4. Driving in
Norway vs. Naples and Tunis. Norwegians are all about following the rules. In Naples and Tunisia the only rules are honk, yell, and be the first one there.
3. Beaches in Ireland vs. Beaches in Cinque Terre. Both rocky, but the climate was DRASTICALLY different.
2. Cost of travel in Norway vs. Tunisia. A bottle of Coca Cola cost about 5 USD in Norway and 1 USD in Tunisia. Many thanks to our Norwegian relatives for making our stay in Norway financially possible.
1. Shopping in Germany vs. Tunisia. No haggling allowed in Germany or Frau Helga will boot you straight out of the store. In Tunisia if you didn’t haggle you would paid 3x to 5x the actual market value, but made the shop keeper very very happy.
Top 5 Unforgettable Experiences:
5. Dachau concentration camp outside of Munich.
4. Our day in Salzburg, Austria.
3. Skellig Michael in Ireland. A remote 6th century monastery and thousands of puffins.
2. Canyoning down waterfalls in the Swiss Alps. I am still very grateful we survived!
1. Riding a camel (albeit feces obsessed camel) in the hot and sandy dunes of the Sahara.
Top 5 Foods:
5. French fries
in Ireland. Those Irish know how to fix up a good tater!
4. Gelato in Rome. We had 18 different flavors in less than a week. Egg Nog and Cinnamon was our favorite combo.
3. Pizza in Naples. Nobody makes better pizza. Nobody.
2. Pesto in Cinque Terra. Two meals a day of pesto and pasta was hardly enough.
1. All the food we made at the cooking school! Buono!
Top 5 Biggest Mistakes and Challenges
5. Not converting dollars to Euros 2 years ago. What were we thinking???!!!?
4. Living for 2 months out of only backpacks. We did laundry in bathroom sinks, and a few wonderfully helpful people along the way did some machine loads for us. Thanks!
3. Keeping within our budget. With the fluctuating dollar and our inability to predict every single expense, it was a balancing act to not come home broke!
2. The pressure of being with a person 24/7 for 2 months. One of us is a sinner and the other one is really obnoxious, but I can’t say who is who.
1. Keeping this stinkin’ blog updated for all you wonderful folks. A few times it was a REAL hassle.
You owe us big time.
We had the trip of our lives, and have found some places on earth that we really want to visit again and again. Thank you all for reading our blog and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. God took good care of us on this trip, and we thank him for that. I can’t tell you how great everything really was, you all should go and have a look for yourselves. Just try not to get ‘Poop Eater’ when you go to the Sahara. Drop us a line and say hi.
Love,
David and Chelsea “Team Little Kiss”
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edmonds mom
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final thoughts
Your blog made me laugh. Your blog was not shy. Your blog even brought a tear to my eye. But mostly your blog made me miss you and sigh. (I am so glad you are home!)