A good dose of humility (pictures added)

This trip has helped me to grow immensely in so many ways and I´ve been humbled many times each day, it seems. I thought I´d share a few of these "growth moments" with you....

Trip planning- I am such a planner but trips are a bit overwhelming. This is even more true when they are long and involve lots of places you´ve never been. In the midst of changing some things for the last part of our trip, we had several cancelations to make, train tickets to book, and new hotel reservations to take care of. I was in charge of Salzburg, the last minute place we decided to visit on our way to Munich. In trying to book a nice place fast and not being thorough enough, I ended up booking a hotel in a village about 20km from Salzburg. Oops. This would have been just fine if our train into Salzburg was anytime during the day as trains go there often. However, we got in at midnight and the only option was a cab. Yikes. I was prepared to pay dearly....we are two blessed girls and always have someone looking over us. We ended up with a cab driver who gave me a good price up front, was a sweet gentleman who reminded me of a kind grandpa, and was very impressed with the handful of German words I knew(thanks, Jake!). We ended up safe and sound at a goreous hotel with a view of the mountains out our balcony. Its a charming village surrounded by mountains with a slow pace, wonderful people, great food, and awesome hiking.

It turned out to be a good mistake to make....still humbling.

In most of the places we´ve traveled, the language hasn´t been TOO much of an issue. Knowing some Spanish helps in pronunciation and figuring out basic words. Germany is an entirely different story. It is incredibly humbling to ask for help for EVRYTHING including what to order for lunch because the menu is completely in German. People are wonderful and the food ended up being great....I didn´t know what I was getting but it was great!!


We very much missed our third travel cmpanion last night on the train as we were being serenaded and begged to polka to a couple of intoxicated guys playing trombone and accordian. It was quite the show and they were harmless but definately convinced that dancing with us would be the perfect welcome to Austria as they offered to share their whiskey. We always have someone coming to the rescue and the train supervisor came to hang out with us in our car and we were fine. The music was actually good but we could have done with a little bit more distance and less begging :) We miss Jake for more reasons than that but it was a great situation to have a guy in the group!!!

We´ve seen some incredibley beautiful man-made landmarks, memorials, churches, buildings, art, etc. But it is completely overwhelming to stand in the wonder of God´s masterpiece and gaze at the ocean, mountains, and beauty in what He created. Very humbling...our God is amazing.

As soon as I can, I´ll post some pictures of the beautiful villiage we are in now, Bad Reichenhall. It is on the border of Germany and Austria, technically in Germany. We´re here tonight, will tour Salzburg tomorrow, and then head to Munich for 2 nights. There were many people drinking beer already this morning which shocked me a bit so I may have to try this famous German beer.

God bless!

Tara

Italy.... Been there done that.

Florence was amazing. We have realized what small town kids we really are. Rome was busy and glorious all in the same breath but when we arrived in Florence it was fabulous, it is almost as if the world slows down there a bit. We managed to hit up a market and wander around all of the key sites, as Jake said countless times ´more old stuff` but by the end of the time in Florence Tara and I were ready for a change of pace. We managed to run from an art museum to a church (we have seen a TON of beautiful catholic churches, and we have yet to manage to run into a lutheran one) to the market to some gardens to a view just before sunset from the top of the city to a place where the lady we stayed with told us to go. FABULOUS! We also decided that we manage to find the best place to eat in Italy... about time since we have been here for nearly a week. So far we have only been able to rave about the dessert but this time we can rave about the GLORIOUS food we ate. Basically our diet has consisted of: bread of some sort, preferably a crossant for breakfast, pizza or pasta for lunch, gelato-ice cream for a snack, and pizza or pasta for dinner, and then either ice cream again or chocolate. Now dont get me wrong it is glorious to say the least but being good Dakota kids we are all craving a good steak fresh off the grill.
Venice is amazing. There are canals everywhere. Jake and Tara managed to take a gondola ride too while we were there. We spent one afternoon laying on a BEAUTIFUL sand beach along the ocean. We also navigated the canals, ate ice cream, pizza and pasta, and wandered around the tiny alley ways. Due to a tip from Jakes sister we manage to make a trip out to an artisan island today where they specialize in glass blowing. They make some beautiful creations to say the least, most of which cost way more money than we could even fathom but was amazing to see none the less. We also manage to squeeze in a few ice cream cones in Venice as well. Yes there is a trend in our ice cream consumption but we justify it by walking a handful of miles every day to explore the cities around us. OH SO MUCH FUN!!!
We are currently in Austria for the next couple days, then it is off to Munich, and back to Amsterdam completing our circle and whirlwind tour of Europe. Jake comes home the 15th, Sarah the 18th, and Tara the 20th. We rejoice that we are not finished yet and that Tara and Sarah still have a few more days to cause trouble in yet a few more countries and that it will be bitter-sweet to say the least to come home. Looking forward to catching up with everyone for sure!!
Love from Austria to ya all!

Italy in Pictures

One of the beautiful views in Florence

A bit of St. Mark´s in Venice

Enjoying the beach in Venice

St. Peter´s Basilica at the Vatican

The Duomo in Florence

Gazing up and the beautiful ceiling in the Sistine Chapel

LOVE the gelato!!!!

A great view of the city of Rome

Testing the mouth of Truth in Rome

Wandering along the water in Florence

A view of the Grand Canal in Venice from Rialto Bridge

Mozerella and Tomato salad-YUM!!!!

One of the glass sculptures on the island of Murano

This place was SO cool-thanks for the suggestion, Jen!

One of the side canals in Venice

Gondola ride

Garden path in Florence

This picture is dark but gives you an idea of the

amazing view we had of Florence

When in Rome....

...do as the Romans! We've definately enjoyed our time in this crazy city that was't quite what we expected! We are definately enjoying the local experiences. Well, except for the scooters we were determined to rent....after walking the city for less than 4 hours, we quickly decided this would not be a carefree experience but rather a pretty stressful one. The roads tend to be an area for outrageous parking, honking, walking in and out of cars, crazy drivers, and pretty much anything else you can imagine! We dediced to stick to public transportation and of course, a lot of walking!!!

Pizza, pasta, bread, pasta, ice cream, pasta....and so on describes my diet since arriving in Italy. You wonàt hear this carb lover complaining, but I am hungry for a steak...or some chicken:) The food has been good, and much better than a few other cities. The ice cream is FANTASTIC. I've enjoyed an afternoon treat almost every day....probably doesn't surprise most of you!

We've definately seen our fair share of ruins. Jake now refers to those areas, museums, memorials, and many other things as "more old stuff." It's facinating and very different than the US.

Of course, we've seen some BEAUTIFUL Catholic churches filled with art, relics, and just awesome places of prayer. I could list several but by far the best experience was our day today at the Vatican. We were pretty sure we'd missed our chance eot get a blessing from the Pope because we weren't able to get here Sunday, but ended up being able to sit (pretty close) in on a papal audience. It was such a cool surprise and blessing! Although most of the speaking was in various languages, I enjoyed every minute and we were within 5ft of the Holy Father.

The hotel is GREAT and we've definately enjoyed some quiet time to get away from the constant flow of people! A few more stops in Italy and then we'll be on our way to Germany. Still having a blast but starting to miss my closet, my truck, American food, and always missing family and friends!

Love from Roma!

Tara

back tracking to Spain

Here are some favorites from Spain....wish we could upload more but it tends to take FOREVER...we miss our laptops!!! Sorry for the lack of explanation of all the pictures...just wanted to get a few more up. We volunteer to tell all the stories one can take in once we return home!

Love you all!!!

-Tara and Sarah

apologies for the side-ways pictures!

Due to limited time and resources, we gave up on trying to have the pictures right side up....we'll try to limit those....

Smiles from Italy....and numerous other European countries

Just wanted to share more pictures....upon request, here you go!

Fun in the Sun

We are currently still enjoying the sun in one of Southern France's costal cities, Nice. Although we had only planned to stay a day or two, we extended the stay a bit because of our dread of another LONG train trip to stay a short time in another city. We definately enjoyed our day in the sun yesterday and the slow, relaxing pace of Nice is very...nice:) We arrived to have Jake waiting for us at the interesting hostel we are staying at. This was a huge relief (to me especially) because we planned the meeting without having communication for the day or two of travel and several flgihts/train rides/other things that could have gone wrong....I now realize how dependant I really am on my cell phone. But, needless to say, everything worked out perfectly and we've enjoyed our time together. We had to rearrange our trip some so we'll be heading to Italy tomorrow (a day early) and because of the change, we also changed some reservations so we will be staying in a HOTEL for four nights!!! I feel a little like a spoiled brat but I am VERY excited about that fact. Clean rooms, our own shower, space to ourselves, and so many more things so easily taken for granted sound like a dream right now....
We promise more pictures soon....
-Tara

Sarah´s ramblings...

I love traveling. (full stop, end story) I love the cultures, the people, the food (at least trying it, not always good but at least worth trying), and the experience as a whole. I am not sure why I am so addicted to traveling but if it is possible I definitely am. We have seen so many things that I think of in the National Geographic magazine and such that it is crazy to be standing before such landmarks, places, and experiencing the world in ways beyond what I can read about and look at pictures about. The smells, one thing that magazines and the internet never quite informs us of. My nose has been going at about ten thousand miles an hour trying to decipher what it is exactly we are smelling (sometimes I think it is better not to know). It is glorious. We have had adventures to say the least. Last night´s bullfight was outstandingly strange. I enjoyed being there in the midst of 22 thousand people.

I think that every time we finally get somewhere and get the transportation system figured out we move onto another place. Although that is great it is also fun when we can finally hold our heads up high and know where we are going, I use the word ´know´loosely but I would say it with some confidence. Madrid is crazy and the streets run all over, and our map is less than labeled fully. But we have achieved a great victory in finding everywhere we want to be, with some humility and asking people where to go. We have also found that our spanish skills though small have been amazing, now if only we knew languages for the rest of the places we are going.

It is crazy to be living out of a backpack and packing it up everynight and taking it somewhere else. Tonight we are going to do laundry which is welcomed that our hostel has machines so we don´t have to do it all in the sink, as fun as that is, a machine is a glorious thought. Today is a bit of a lazy day and allowing our muscles to relax a bit after all the walking-hiking-stair climbing has been crazy. Glorious as it is, our legs are more than happy to take a bit of a break, but with this I would still be after walking around gardens this morning and traveling around the city we still manage to walk a few miles.

Hostels are quirky places to say the least, i thought seminaries are special places with all sorts of people but hostels are even more so and make all of us seminarians look completely normal, despite the psych eval to make sure we are crazy enough for seminary, hostels are great. we have met people from all over the world doing all sorts of things and have agendas of a variety of things. it is fun to meet people and to hear their stories and exchange a little of ours. Ode to learning from others.

I must admit that i miss being able to call people and catch up. I feel a little disconnected having to rely upon internet (good at times, craptastic at others) in order to communicate, but it is only for a month so it is do able. I look forward to catching up with everyone when we get back.

Chocolate and wine have been standards of most of the places we have been. The chocolate and wine is OUTSTANDING and actually fairly cheap for the local and good stuff. We appreciate it for sure. On the strange food list: last night we ate a bread roll that was hallowed out a bit and filled with eggs cooked with potato chips and cheese, not sure what it was, but it was pretty good, strange, but good.

Alright I am rambling. I will go. So many stories we could share.

Tara´s thoughts....

Hey everyone! We finally found an internet cafe that is cheap, clean, not painfully slow, and in a nice area of the city!! I never imagined it would be so hard to find computers but nearly everyone is carrying their own as they travel. However, I´m proud to report we also have much less luggage than most people we´ve met! You can check out us with ALL our luggage in one of these pictures (I can officially say that one time in my life I packed light!) Since we have such a nice place to type, we both thought we´d leave some thoughts and experiences....

Today we´re having somewhat of a lazy day which was much needed as I am feeling a bit wiped out! This isn´t suprprising considering the schedule we kept-I´ve been up BEFORE 5am twice to catch a train! It´s always a struggle to relax when each new city is so exciting and there is SO much to see. We usually get up early and go go go all day' LOTS of walking!!! The trip has been such a whirlwind but that has been a fun part about it as well...it seems to have been much longer than a week because we´ve seen so much in a short time. So, today we are enjoying the outdoor cafes and drinks and tapas in Madrid. I had a WONDERFUL glass of sangria and worked on some journaling this afternoon. We have a few more things to do today but for the most part are wandering the cities streets, eating, and enjoying their great (and cheap) wine!

Some of my favorite experiences so far:

• successfully navigating these large cities with complex metro systems. I am definately a ND girl who hasn´t really had to deal with finding my way around a large city without a vehicle (and GPS)of my own. While the European metro systems are impressive and convenient, I miss my truck! Every new city is a bit daunting but by the time we leave, we are always smiling and we feel like we know exactly where we are going or can figure it out without a hitch.


• the food is so different...and so good!!! My favorite thus far is probably trying the different local wines (Erica, you´d be so proud of me!) and the CHOCOLATE!!! They definately know how to do dessert over here and my sweet tooth and I have definately enjoyed dessert....


• Every city we´ve been in has had several huge, incredibley beautiful churches. Usually we run into several just walking around town and a few have brought tears to my eyes as they are so GORGEOUS and come with so much history....we´ve been able to go to mass in both Amsterdam and Madrid and it´s been incredible to pray in each of the churches we´ve seen.


• I´m by no means a history buff, but the history is so interesting and fun to learn about as you are in the actual places you read about in textbooks throughout school...it´s surreal.


• Ordinary buildings here are often several hundred years old...such a different world than the US. Just wandering city streets and seeing apartment buildings or houses that are so beautiful in their own right....not to mention the art they have in museums....so fun!!!


• The bullfight last night in Madrid was also a ton of fun! We were told it was sold out but tried to get tickets anyway and ended up meeting some great guys from Spain who helped us order seats and sat by us. They narrated the entire thing and taught us so much about the tradition and sybolism of the fight. It was great fun!


• Of course, seeing the famous landmarks has also been a huge treat-Big Ben in London, the Eifel Tower, Notre Dame, the Prado, etc.....

I´ve definately learned to appreciate free public restrooms, my closet that actually does have a HUGE amount of clothes (I´ve realized since living out of a backpack), and easily being able to communicate with family and friends. Thanks for reading...I DO miss you all and although we ARE having a blast, looking forward to catching up via phone or in person in a few weeks!!!

the keyboards are differant

and we have a hard time typing. So......

if pictures are worth a thousand words here is a long post for you, and we will let these photos speak!

The most important part of our days...

We have seen so many amazing buildings, famous art, and just very cool places. However, food is definately one of the highlights and we have definately had fun trying the local favorites so far. From stoemf in Brussels to fish and chips in London to crepes in Paris, the food has been interesting, and great! And thanks to my buddy, Fred, we had some amazing ice cream after touring the Notre Dame Cathedral! Here are some pictures, convienantly with beautiful background scenery as well!!!