Busy busy busy

I'm Home and safe and sound. Sorry it seemed like I dropped off the face of the planet. I got back on October 6th almost two weeks ago, which is oober weird to think that it was such a little while ago that I was sleeping on a board in Dublin having only bread and Nutella for sustenance. Well I made it through the pictures all the way up to Rome and I hope to slowly over the next few weeks put up the pictures from Paris, Munich, Cologne and Dublin. Being back has been very weird but I've had great practice in summarizing the story which I will do for you know with the highlights and adventures that are most significant.

Phase I. Thessalonik Greece, we got Josh all situated in his nice apartamant right on campus with his own kitchen and an agreeable roommate. Just a few days after arriving in Thessaloniki Daniel, Josh, and myself packed our three bags and went off on a tour of Greece. We did not go to the Islands we did not consider them worthy of our time when the remains of such mighty civilizations were awaiting our viewing. Highlight from this page, scaling an abandoned Byzantine Tower we found as we were driving along the coast.

Thus Began Phase II. We stopped off at Thermopylae where God held a public bus twenty seven minutes for us so we could make our connection and spend the night in Delphi. That was highlight number two. We toured Delphi, climbed a huge mountain for kicks then climbed back down and saw the ruins of the oracle. Went to Athens the next day saw the Acropolis and walked all over that stinky hot city looking for our hostel and a grocery store.

Phase III. We left Josh after Athens to return to school at Thessaloniki and me and Daniel continued on our way from Athens to Patras from Patras to Barri via ferry and from Barri to Rome via train. One of the lousiest traveling experiences ever. We had a fifteen hour overnight ferry from Patras Greece to Barri Italy, naturally our limited funds we were traveling worst class and spent the majority of the night bundled up in our two suits of clothing on the deck trying to catch some sleep. Arriving in Barri the next morning, cold, tired, hungry we discovered that our train had left early, the next one was full and one we could take we had to pay ten euros for while in addition to having to seven hours from ten to six when the train would leave. Finally arriving in Rome at eleven forty-five we opted not to wander through the city in the middle of the night and spent another sleepless night in the train station. The next day we found a campsite to stay in, we discovered how to use the public transport system and toured the city. Highlight seeing the Vatican, see previous post.

Phase IV. Being sick and homesick me and Daniel consulted and opted out of our plans to go to Venice and decided instead to go to Paris, where our missionary friend Miss Istoc graciously agreed to host us for a few days. We took an overnight train and filled our days seeing only a portion of what the city has to offer. I definitly think that Paris was the coolest city we visited on our trip. Highlight: we knew we wanted to visit Notre Dame and their just happened to be an organ concert the day we were there. So we heard an organ concert on the 7000+ pipe organ in The Notre Dame

Phase V. Germany: Visited Munich and Cologne where we stayed with Daniel's host brother and parents from when he studied in German. Went to the legit Oktoberfest for an afternoon. Saw Neuschwanstein Castle in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps. Highlight: Coming down from the top of the Cologne Cathedral, their was a young woman looking extremely pale laying across the steps, with her traveling partner leaning over her. Me and Daniel told the fellow we would help carry her and their bags downstairs, which we proceeded to do, down all 564 steps of the spiral tower. Quite an unlooked for adventure.

Phase VI. Dublin and home: When we left Daniels host parents we were both very ready to come home. Havng someone to stay with made it easier not to miss home but once we left the feelings all came back. We did have a succesful two day stay in Dublin though. We found our hostel and stayed in a ten bed room, which for anyone who's stayed in hostels is a potentially disastrous experience because you never know who is sleeping in the bed next to you. Fortunatly we were blessed in the fact that four of the seven people in the room with us were two Asian couples who with the exeption of saying "your welcome" when he opened the door for me, didn't say a word. and the other three people were very nice and everyone was always in bed by eleven. Coming home took much longer then we thought. We left Dublin at 12:00 noon and took a seven hour flight to JFK. Due to the time change we arrived at 2:30 in the afternoon and had to hang around JFK airport until 9:30 that night. When our plane finally got fixed and we flew to Bradly where we got picked up and driven home from. Highlight: coming home. :)


Well there it is, pretty neat and an experience that will last a life time. It was not a vacation but it was truly special, in that, now I have stories and experiences that will benefit me for ever. I've been ridiculously busy since I got home, hence the not posting but its been a good busy. Currently my schedule is in bed rarely later then midnight and up by six so I can do some pleasure reading before everyone else gets up. I'm taking Algebra II, Physics, Latin II, Writing a book and studying Church History.

Its so nice to be home and notice those little things that I never would have if I hadn't gone on this trip. I think my favorite part of being home is connecting with my friends again. The saying is true "you dont realize how much you have until you lose it." I did seriously underestimated how special all my friends are, until I left and spent the night dreaming about them, well them or a really really big steak. Either way, you guys are pretty special and it stinks having to eat and sleep and be limited to twenty four hour days so I can't make more of you.

Farewell for now pictures coming later.