A grand night of Italian fun!!

I think you know that I love my Italians... they have become like family to me. We have shared many a meal, many a chat, and we treat each other like brothers and sisters. On Friday night, we had our "Grand Night of Italian Fun." We started out at the Nike pub, then made our way to this yummy restaurant, Greenfield's, for some of the biggest burgers I've ever seen. Those guys brought my first "holy crap, I'm really moving" tears to my eyes by surprising me with some extremely thoughtful gifts. And then, we topped the night off with some disco bowling. More fond memories with people I will never forget. My secret plan is to help all of them get jobs at WHQ so we can continue the fun on the other side of the pond... we'll see. ;)

On the left: Rixt, Stefano, Fabio

On the right: Alex, KP, Claudia, Samuele

Heck yeah! A real burger in Holland!

Everyone pretended they were going out for a smoke break! But, they were really going outside to get gifts out of the car! :)

Silly Alex, how I will miss your funny little sayings... "Don't you worry" and "Easy, Peezy, Lemon Squeezy" (you have to say these things with an Italian accent to get the full charm of them!)

Rixty & KP... haha - they thought I would be good at bowling "because I'm American"... I had the lowest score of all of us!! :)

Disco Bowl!

Motion Shot...

Awww... sweet!

Little did I know when I moved here how quickly I could get attached to people. While I'm super excited to be going home, I'm also super sad to be leaving all of these people that have brought so many smiles to my face. This is just the first of many goodbyes. Ciao, ragazzi!! :)

Athens

Well, folks, this is it. Memories from my last trip during my time in Europe. Travelling to Greece took my official country tally up to 30, which I think is a fine note to end on. I officially made it to my goal of visiting 30 countries before turning 30... what's next? Good question. :)

The trip to Greece was about three and a half hours, and there was a one hour time change, so I decided that I should take a few extra days to see Athens, rather than my normal Friday night to Sunday night routine.


The view out of my plane window - beautiful Mediterranean Water and GREECE!

I got in on Thursday afternoon, and was immediately questioning my decision to go to Athens alone. The hotel where I was staying had received good reviews (unlike some others I had looked at - cockroaches - blech!), however when I got off of the metro to walk to my hotel, I started feeling uneasy very quickly. Now, I was once a naive little girl that did really stupid things when I travelled, but I have developed some good street smarts after travelling so often on my own. These street smarts were saying "get the heck out of here" immediately. I eventually found my hotel, and, despite the bad location, the staff was SO kind to me. It was something I looked forward to coming home to everyday... especially after walking through drug deals and prostitutes to get there - yikes!!!! If anyone is going to Athens, please contact me and I will tell you where you SHOULD stay - there was a much better area, but for some reason I got led astray there. :(

So, I dumped my stuff, grabbed a pita (Greek word for "pie" - basically phyllo dough filled with something yummy - spinach, cheese, meat, etc!) for a cool 1.50 euros (food was SUPER cheap here), and walked my way through the city. It's a pretty small city - I would say you only really need about a day and a half to see everything (unless you are total museum lover... but I, unfortunately, am not!). I wouldn't say it's super nice - the country was kinds of taken over by a lot of different countries, and didn't really get built to the way you see it today until the 1800's, so it feels not as nice as other European cities I've been to. Once I got closer to the "tourist area", the Plaka, I felt much safer. At one point though, I came to the main square, and there was some kind of scary looking protest with people waving Egyptian flags and yelling stuff in Arabic. Turns out it was a protest about some alleged killings of Egyptians by Greeks. Anyways, once again I was feeling like I wasn't safe, and I got the heck out of there. Seriously, I was NOT having a great start to my trip!! :(

Things started to get better after that, and continued to get better and better afterwards. Whew! :) I took one of Rick Steves signature city walks through the whole town - have I mentioned that I love that guy? Seriously - I think I have every guidebook he has ever written, and he very rarely leads me astray! The walk took me by some really cool sights, such as the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Parliament building:

Not sure what the kicking was all about, but it was cool! :)

During the walk, I also got my first taste of Greek and Roman ruins, and saw some really neat Byzantine-era churches. They are so cute and small... pictures to come. There were some really good stores in Athens that they don't have in Amsterdam, so I did a little shopping, and then had my first amazing meal of the trip... So, I travel alone a lot, and I never really get particularly special service. In Greece, however, every waiter I had seemed to have a little crush on me. Now, I don't REALLY think they had a crush on me, but I think it's the culture, kind of how it is in Italy. The men are super aggressive with women... not in a scary way, but just very quick to offer compliments (and free drinks and dessert!). This was kind of nice, but sometimes I wish they wouldn't have been so quick to bring me dessert, because there were certain things I wanted to try but couldn't, because I didn't want to be rude and say, "well, actually, I don't want that, but can you bring xxx?"... Not that I'm complaining, but, one can only eat so much baklava (my friend Kristin would disagree, but that's me!). :)

At dinner the first night, there was native dancing and the playing of Greek music by two guitarists... very cozy! :)

These guys were fun! :)

I had to start turning down the free drinks from my waiter, because I knew I had to walk back to my scary hotel, and I didn't want to be the least bit drunk - I wanted to have all my wits about me just in case I had to think fast. Maybe I'm paranoid, but when you travel as a single woman, I think it's always better to be safe than sorry.

I woke up bright and early to head out to see the sites of ancient Greece - the town of Agorra and the Acropolis. On my way there, I came across the local market, and just had to peek my head in... it was unlike anything I had ever seen before! :)

These are roosters... they guy selling them kept telling me that they are "good for sex"... uh, okay, thanks.

I think I was the only woman there, and certainly the only one with blue eyes, so, let's just say I stuck out a bit. This cute old man wanted his picture taken with me, and with his piggy friend Smokey. ;)

Note the smoking pig in the background... slightly disturbing!

After the market, I walked through the ancient city of Agorra. Now, the weather wasn't great in Athens - it was warmer than Amsterdam, but not balmy by any means. This was bad for my tan, but great to see the sights - at several of the places I visited, I was the ONLY person there. I hate having a million tourists in my pictures, so this was awesome!!! :) This site was kind of the city center of the old Athens... it's ruins are thousands of years old. It was cool to see, and I felt so strangely at ease. I loved it.

The main road, and ruins of the old "mall' on the right

The temple - the sky and the green just make me smile

A Byzantine church on site that was built by a different set of rulers

After spending a few hours in Agorra, I trekked up the hill to see the Acropolis, which is the place the ancient Greeks went to worship their city's namesake goddess, Athena. It's way up on the top of a hill, and can be seen from all over Athens. It was amazing to see something that was SO old.

Me with the Parthenon, probably the most famous of all of the buildings at the Acropolis

Loved this temple - instead of pillars, beautiful women held up the roof. :)

View of downtown Athens from the top of the Acropolis

More Parthenon... kind of hard to picture this in its original state - gleaming white marble, beautiful statues on the exterior, and a 40 foot high statue of Athena inside in gold plating

After visiting the ruins, I went to the newly opened Acropolis Museum. It houses all of the statues that have been saved from the ruins... however, I found it quite sad, as many of the marbles are actually in the British Museum, as they were taken by Lord Elgin in the early 1800's. There are just copies of these originals at the museum in Athens... feel kind of like they should be in their home, but it's a hot topic in Europe. I had another amazing dinner, more free food, and more fun guitar music. :)

I needed to get a good night's rest, because the next morning, I had decided to take the 7:30 am bus to Delphi, which is where the Oracle lived in Ancient times. I had chosen to take a taxi rather than figuring out the public transportation because I didn't want to risk getting lost that early in the morning, and I didn't want to get up much earlier than 6:30. Turns out I might have been better off taking public transportation... the taxi driver got lost, and I ended up making it JUST IN TIME! I had to sprint to the bus to catch it, but I made it! It was a three hour trip to Delphi, and it was nice to drive through a bit of the Greek countryside and mountains.

Delphi - seeing all of these beautiful mountains made me really homesick

The ruins at the Temple of Apollo - I actually couldn't quite get up there because it was closed due to a rock slide. I could see enough though. Being there alone was a magical experience.

The cities of Greece used to build treasuries nearby the temples to offer their riches to the god Apollo - this is the re-built treasury of the city of Athens - cool to see it so re-constructed

I found a really amazing store while I was in Delphi - they had not just the typical cheesy souvenirs that you normally see, but real museum-quality replicas of some of the ancient artifacts. I used to love Greek mythology in school, so this was a rare find. I spent an hour talking with the shop owner, and, before I knew it, it was time to make my way back to Athens. It was a lot of travelling for one day, but well worth it!

Sunday was my last day in Athens, and I took it pretty easy. I took a tour of an ancient Greek cemetery (again, you know I'm kind of weird... I love going to old cemeteries!), and then went to the Greek Archaeological Museum - which houses all kinds of cool artifacts from Ancient Greece.

Greek Archaeological Museum - a nice place to be on a rainy Sunday! :)

Instead of posting individual pictures of food this time, I made a big collage (click to enlarge)... left to right, starting at the top: a cheese "pita", Greek yogurt with honey and walnuts, Greek donuts, fried cheese (local Delphi specialty). Middle row: chicken souvlaki, Tzatziki sauce, chicken meatball soup, chicken souvkaki. Bottom Row: "Drunkard's Snack", appetizer sampler with spanakopita, grape leaves, and zuchinni/eggplant croquettes, mousakka

Even though the trip started off a little shaky, it got better and better as it went. The people were so, so kind and helpful, the food was amazing, and the sites were like nothing else I have ever seen. I would love to come back someday and see the Greek islands... but that, for now, will have to go onto my ever-growing "Places I want to visit list". :)

The Never-Ending Journey

As I returned home from Athens on Sunday, which will be my last trip (sniff, sniff) before coming home, I came across this article in the airline magazine. I know that this grand adventure of mine leaves some of you with questions about why I travel alone a lot of the time or how I have the energy. Well, this article just sums up my feelings about travel completely. So, if you are wondering, here you go (by Peter Alatsas):

In the famous novel, "Zorba the Greek", by Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba is full of dreams and a zest for life that includes misplaced optimism. This fictional character is a metaphor for the appreciation of joy and sadness that co-exist in life. Hardship and disappointment are a function of everyday life, but their effects can be minimised with travel and restoration. Travel offers a change of scenery. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a mere change of scenery is both relaxing and therapeutic, and helps restore one to a state of well-being, much like the effect of a good cry. Such is the complexity of life. Maintaining a positive mental attitude even in the worst of times is essential. A pathos to keep on going when all else fails or when things can't get any worse is easier said than done, but not impossible. Positive words, in a way, acts as catalysts or as coping mechanisms. Often times, certain negative words like "loneliness" and "boredom" become self-fulfilling prophecies in that you get the behaviour you expect. Imagine a world without these words. Let's take them out of our vocabulary altogether. Let us not become a manifestation of the very negative words or ideas that we think and speak. On final reflection, perhaps it's the beauty of a place that brings out the best and worst in us. The mythical gods blessed Greece with an abundance of beauty, words, and stories to inspire and invigorate the body, mind, and spirit. And, of course, without a past there is no future. Perhaps this is why the relentless pursuit of meaning is an endless endeavour in such a place, as well. Nowhere is this more prevalent, at least in my view, than in Greece. You will invariably enjoy the trip. The journey, however, never ends.

Wishing you all a beautiful journey that includes whatever makes you happy. :) For me, I know it's travelling. :)

I know I owe you a post on Athens... I'm working on it!! :)

Pork-a-palooza AKA a weekend in Luxembourg

I spent this past weekend with my friends Leslie and Erik (of Carnavaal fame), in Luxembourg. We had planned on going in December, however Les and Erik both got sick, so we had to re-schedule.

Luxembourg was a lovely country with lovely people. Only 450K people live there, and about half are ex-pats living there to work in the banking industry. That said, it's pretty amazing that they have their own language. If you listen to someone talking and don't listen to the word - the lilt of it is like French. But, if you listen to the words, it's very German in nature. Quite interesting. :) And a very useful language to know, I'm sure. You know, just in case.

We all had the same idea in mind - a nice weekend with good food. :) We drove down on Saturday morning, which took about 4 hours. That day, we just kind of walked around and got the lay of the land.

We stopped at this amazing chocolate shop, called Choco Shop. They have the most amazing little set up. They give you a cup of steamed milk, and then you pick the flavor of chocolate you want to stir into your milk to make hot chocolate. Yum city! :)


My hot chocolate in the making...


View across the riverbed to the big bank.

We just wandered around then until dinner-time. I managed to find a pair of black sparkly boots that I couldn't live without. :) We had a few drinks over in a part of town called Clausen before dinner. This place was amazing! It was an old brewing district that had been converted to new themed bars. We were at one that was a Flinestone's theme - sounds hokey, I know, but it was amazing! :) The only bummer is that they still allow smoking there - I can't stand smoke!

Dinner that night was the pork-a-palooza! Every single dish was some sort of pork! Erik, Les and I all ordered different dishes and shared. I was about porked out by the end! :) Another important moment in my life happened over the weekend - I lost my snail virginity. I seriously thought Erik was joking when he suggested ordering escargot, but he told me he was serious - it's one of his favorite things. So, I have the mindset that I'll try anything once, so I did. And I LOVED them. Just had to pretend they were mushrooms - much more do-able with that in mind. ;)

Escargot


Moment of truth...

Pork-a-palooza

Erik, Les and I at Mousel, where we had dinner

We had a nice night out, just going from one bar to another and checking out all the locals. Not too crazy of a night - we were in bed by midnight. :)

The next morning, we just wandered the city. It used to be a fortified city, with big walls all the way around it. For some reason, a lot of these walls were torn down in the mid 1800's, but there are still enough around to get the idea. It was beautifully picturesque.

Beautiful abbey in the city

Les & Erik with Lux

You can still see part of the wall in the left

I truly enjoyed the weekend. It was a nice, laid-back break before this weekend... Athens! :)

Hel-a-cold Helsinki!

I'm on track to hit my 30 by 30 goal... I spent this past weekend in Finland, which was country number 28. I will go to Luxembourg this weekend (take two - Leslie and Erik, please don't get sick this time!), and then my 30th country will also be my last trip here (well, we'll see... I have a strange itch to see Paris one last time...) will be to Athens, Greece. Greece was tops on my list when I arrived, and, somehow, I never went. I got all of my plans together last week, and I'm excited to achieve this (somewhat silly) personal goal. :)

Anyways, on to Helsinki... I flew in on Friday night, arriving to the city around 10:30pm. It was bitter cold there... as in, so cold that my snot was frozen in my nose instantly when I walked outside. It was -18 C... I'm not sure what that in in Farenheit (my, how screwed up my mind has gotten with temperatures, clothing sizes, times, etc!), but it was REALLY COLD!! I made it to my hotel, no problem, and then crashed into bed!

When I was packing, I had found hand warmers in my cold weather drawer... now, I'm not sure when or where I bought them, but, I must say that they were a LIFESAVER on Saturday. I like walking around new cities, but it was so cold in Helsinki that I opted to take a bus tour. Before that, however, I wanted to try a local breakfast (did you really think I wasn't going to mention food?!?). I went to the Old Market Hall, and tried some of the local fish. It was a different kind of breakfast, but yummy and filling.


Salmon and shrimp on toast - yum!


View of the Finnish Orthodox Church from my breakfast spot - think it might have been cold? ;)

The tour guide on the bus was awkwardly funny. He really wanted to talk to me, but then he kept saying strange things about me finding a Finnish boyfriend and nonsense like that. Oh boy! I tried to stay as far away from him as I could! :)

We stopped at this really cool church, which in English is just "the church in the rock". It was carved out of stone in the late 60's, and was so naturally beautiful. We only got 10 minutes there, which was not really enough for me, but I enjoyed it.

The Church in the Rock

The ceiling was made of 13 miles of copper woven together.

Natural Beauty

Our next stop was at the Sibelius Monument. This was a famous Finnish composer, and his monument was really cool (remember I dig sculptures). :) I enjoyed looking at this as well - all the pipes welded together were impressive. :)

Think it snows much??

Sibelius Monument

Sibelius Monument - from underneath

After the tour ended, I went from coffeeshop to coffeeshop, taking in sights in between. I had a really great book to read, so I didn't mind the somewhat relaxed sight-seeing. :)

Lutheran Church - prettier on the outside than on the inside, to be honest

After I had done a little shopping, I decided to go the experience something quintessentially Finnish - the sauna. Okay, now, over time, my comfort level with nakedness has gone something like this - 1. immediately after arriving in Amsterdam - "must not expose skin, even in locker room" 2. a few months later "well, maybe it's okay to get dressed in the locker room without covering myself up entirely with a towel", 3. "aw, screw it - who cares who sees me in the locker room", 4. "Maybe I'll go topless in the hammam in Istanbul", 5. "maybe I'll go sans bathing suit to the sauna in Helsinki". Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I've finally got over my American phobia of nakedness. True, I did kind of keep my towel around me the whole time, but THERE WERE NO CLOTHES. :) So, in other words, I've come a long way. :) The sauna was quite an experience. Lots of naked women speaking Finnish. It was quite the social experience. The men were in a separate room, but at intervals, they would go outside in only their towels to drink beers in the snow and socialize. I kid you not. It was something unlike anything I've ever seen before!

I had had my heart set on getting a massage at the sauna, but unfortunately, the massage therapist was not in that day. I'm honestly not sure WHAT I was thinking (okay, I think I was thinking "I really want a massage"), but I decided to go to a place that had a neon sign with the words "Thai Massage" written on it. Again, what the hell was I thinking? First indication should have been that I had to ring a doorbell to go in. A Thai woman in a very short skirt with a lot of make-up on answered the door and invited me in to her HOME, to reveal another scantily-clad woman smoking a cigarette on the couch. This was not the nice spa I remembered from Bangkok - no, I'm pretty sure this was a front for a prostitute's house!!! I quickly thanked the woman and got the heck out of there! I will NEVER make that mistake again! Oh boy!! :)

The sauna...

After the sauna, I went back to this lovely cafe I had found (or rather Rick Steves had recommended), and just relaxed with The Economist for a few hours. It was just so nice to have some time to myself.

Helsinki by night was beautiful! :)

That evening, I had dinner at a really fun place... it had a tractor theme (not really sure what that was all about, but, hey, I'm a country girl!). I tried local beer and, sorry, Rudolphy, but also tried sauteed reindeer. It didn't taste so different from ground beer, but was a unique item on the menu that I couldn't pass up. :)

Rudolph on a plate - with pickles of all things!

It snowed overnight, which made the city even more beautiful. I made the trek out to see the Finlandia building, in honor of my lovely friend Suzie back in PDX. :) She's an architect and likes Alvar Aalto, who designed this building. Wish she could have been there to help me "get it", but it was a nice walk. ;)

Finlandia Building by Alvar Aalto

The snow was beautiful!

After yet another coffee stop at a cafe, the churches I wanted to see were finally open. I went to see the grandiose Finnish Orthodox Church and the stark Lutheran Church - amazing to see the contrast between the gilted alter of the Orthodox chruch and the white-washed walls of the Lutheran one. Always keeping my brain open... I take in so many new things on these trips!

The Lutheran Church

The Finnish Orthodox Church

I ended my trip at Finland's department store, Stockmann. I made a few purchases, and then made my way back to Amsterdam, where it was a balmy zero degrees. :)