Cuz I'm Free.... FREE FALLIN'... into the Corinth Canal!!!

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2009

So I experienced the most amazing/exhilarating felling in the world today! Here is the 10-step recipe for it.

• Take the 6.5 hour night bus to Athens with three other friends– don’t sleep for more than 30 minutes
• Then try to go to the bathroom at the bus station in Athens – and have the bathroom manager ask you for 1 euro so you can use the toilet paper she pulls off the roll for you
• Leave the bathroom and find some Kleenexes
• Then go back into the bathroom and use Kleenexes instead of toilet paper
• Oh, but be careful because you have to pee into the hole in the floor. There were no toilets in the stalls; just holes in the ground.
• Wait in the bus station for another 3 hours because you have to wait for the Zulu Bungy Jumping place to open
• Then hop on the bus to go to the Corinth Canal…

The Beautiful Corinth Canal!

Lea Isakson and I reassuring ourselves that we are going to jump off a platform and plunge toward a canal.

The Canal from where we jumped - the previous picture was from the bridge above us!

• Find Zulu Bungy after walking around for a little while

• Get suited up and make sure all of your harnesses are tight!

Signing my LIFE away!!!

Getting suited up and harnessed in!

• Now you are ready to bungy jump off a bridge into the Corinth Canal. Don't get nervous because of the height... The feeling is amazing!

It was a little bright out! Perfect day to go bungy jumping!!!

Me and my two instructors. The instructor on the right has been running this business for over 20 years and has bungy jumped over 2000 times!!!

Getting the rope hooked to my ankle braces!

Almost ready to plunge off the platform!

Leaping off the platform... I got a good push off the platform and was able to touch the water with my hands!!!

Look Everyone... No Hands!!!

Emerging from underneath the bridge, where the platform was! My adrenaline is soaring through the roof right now!

We all DID IT! We all Jumped into the Corinth Canal!!!

I cannot believe how amazing the feeling is! You don’t have a care in the world. I seriously thought I was going to chicken out the whole time. I kept saying how excited I was and how amazing it was going to feel but I just had this strange feeling that I wouldn’t be able to leap off the platform! BUT I DID and it FELT AMAZING!!!

Spring Break '09 - Stop #5 - LONDON, ENGLAND - "Would you FANCY an English Accent!?!?!?! - Yes Please!!!"

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2009

This morning was quite hectic as well because we had to check out and make it to the airport... Again, I wore 17 shirts through check-in and security! As soon as we found our gate, I B-lined it for the bathroom and started stripping off clothes. I still had to wear 5 shirts because I couldn't get those in my bag!

I don't remember any of the flight because I was out as soon as I sat down! We landed and then found the train station to take to get to the hostel. We found the hostel after walking past it and having to ask someone if he knew where it was. It was the upstairs of a bar in the ghetto part of London! So we weren't completely insane when we couldn't find it!

By the time we had all checked in it was about 6pm so we just decided to stay in our area by the hostel and found a grocery store. We got some food for supper and just went back to the hostel to relax and watch a movie!

It was lights out by 11pm because we wanted to get a fresh start the next day. We had to get up earlier the next day to meet a friend at the train station.


THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2009

Well, I woke up a bit earlier than planned today – about 2 am early. Not by choice though. Annie, Sarah, and I were talking in our room until about 1:45am. We laid down to go to bed, and just about the time I fell asleep, I heard someone fumbling with our door lock. I sat up and looked at Sarah and was like, “What Is GOING ON???” The maintenance man walked in and just froze when he saw that we were up. He just stood there and said “Ugghhh… Ohhhh… Uhhh… ” and then walked back out of the door. We all were a bit freaked out because it is not every day that someone walks into your room and then just stands there, makes a few noises and leaves again at 2 IN THE MORNING. We all went back to bed and woke up early in the morning to ask the manager/owner of the place what was going on. He said he didn’t know but would check with him. We went back upstairs and got ready for the day. By the time we went back downstairs to leave, he had talked to him. Apparently, the guy working at night had sold him the other bed in the room (there were 5 beds and 4 people), but because he is a worker, he stays in empty rooms or something. I guess he got the wrong key or something. Anyway, it was a bit freaky….

Today, we went to pick up Ellen, a friend from UWEC, at the train station. She was studying in Harlaxton, about an hour north of London, and was done for the semester so she was going to show us around London and then travel back to Thessaloniki for a bit before she went home to the States. We took her stuff back to the hostel and then went back into the center!

Platform 9 3/4, just like on Harry Potter, at Kings Cross Train Station!

First, we went to Big Ben and the Parliament Houses, saw the London Eye, Westminster Abby, a celebration for St. George (there were a bunch of drunks with the English flag wrapped around them like a cap dancing and singing in the streets), a protest for the genocide in Sri Lanka ( a hunger strike – they hadn’t eaten in 17 days), many metro stops, Buckingham Palace, Picadilly Circus (basically the same thing as Times Square in New York), and a SUBWAY!!! I had my usual sub and it tasted amazing!

Big Ben isn't that big right? Only a few feet taller than me!

Big Ben, Parliament Houses, and a Double Decker Bus... Can't get more 'London' than this!

The London Eye

See I really was there!

Westminster Abby Church

The Classic Red Phone Booth Pic!

Buckingham Palace - the Queen's House... She is home too! If the flag is raised, that means she is chillin' in the palace - rough life!!!

Me, Ellen, Sarah, Dewey, and Annie at Buckingham Palace!

Picadilly Circus - London's Version of New York's Times Square

We went to Chicago, the musical, at Cambridge Theater and it was very good!

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009

We had a picnic in Hyde Park this morning – well late morning! The sun was shining and it was beautiful! So of course we laid in the grass for a while and soaked up some rays!!!

Laying in the SUN in Hyde Park in London, England!!!

We saw some more sites and went to the National Gallery of Art! There were so many paintings that we studied in art class this semester so it was cool to see them in person!

After the National Gallery, we went to Abby Road and walked across the sidewalk (5 times – because there were so many cars and it took that many times to get a good picture) that is on the cover of a Beatles Album!

Classic - Looks just like the cover of the Beatles Album... well we had a few more cars in our pic and Paul McCartney was barefoot but still, it is pretty close!

We got to sign the wall outside of their recording studio as well!!!

I left my mark on the wall outside of the Beatles' Recording Studio!

We went out to eat tonight and I had the classic meal for London - Fish and Chips!!!


SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2009

This morning was a bit hectic as well because we had to be checked out of the hostel at 10. We had the ‘included breakfast’ after we checked out… It consisted of toast and jam…

We finally left the hostel and made it to the train/metro station to go to the center! Our first stop (after a few detours using different lines because the main one was under construction for the day) was the Portabella Market. It was in Notting Hill area – YES the place where Notting Hill, the movie, was filmed! There were so many antiques and the best part – 10 pence postcards!

We made our way to the Camden Market, the biggest open market in the world. We had the most amazing chicken fajitas!

Camden Market - The fabulous chicken Fajitas

We went to Harrods, a major department store that sells just your basic handbags… Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Versace, and a few others. Obviously we were not here to buy anything but just to look around. Oh and to use the bathroom… free squirts of perfume, amazingly clean stalls and a decently nice bathroom manager.

From here we headed back to the National Gallery to meet up with another girl from UWEC that was studying in another area in London. She was on a long break and was just traveling around England for a while!

We went out to dinner and I just about destroyed an entire table because when I got up (well tried to get up), the chair didn’t scoot back like I thought it did. It fell backwards and knocked over the condiments on the table behind me. A little embarrassing but hilarious all at the same time!

From there we went to Tower Bridge, which looked amazing lit up at night.

London Castle

Tower Bridge at Night

We had to be back to the hostel by 10:00/10:15 in order to make it to the train station to catch the last train to the airport. Lets just say, we spent a bit too long at Tower Bridge and didn’t get back on the underground until 10:15. We reached our hostel at 10:45 (after running from the train stop for 8 blocks). We got our stuff and headed straight back to the train station. The train for the airport left at 11:41pm and we made it there at 11:40pm. The best luck we have had on this entire trip.

SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2009

The airport was basically empty so we repacked everything to go under the plane. We could only have 20kg and we had 17kg. The first time we have ever been under weight with luggage.

We headed upstairs where I tried to catch up a bit on my blog, but I kept falling asleep – every time I dozed off I woke up and this was on my screen alskfoaiyuaopiWEurp9uruuuuuuu. I finally drifted off to sleep on one of the benches, but after what felt like 15 minutes, Dewey woke me up and it was time to check in and get our boarding pass. We boarded the plane and again, I was out instantly and didn’t wake up until the flight attendant tapped me on the shoulder to open my window and see if my seat belt was buckled! I dozed off again and before I knew it we were back in Thessaloniki!

I was so glad to be back in Thessaloniki! I took all of my stuff out of my bag and just threw it on my bed just because I knew I didn’t have to live out of a duffle bag anymore. I swept if off of my bed and took a nap for about 5 hours.

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Overall, Spring Break ’09 was AMAZING! It was the trip of a lifetime, unforgettable memories, and the best time of my life! I cannot wait to travel more around Europe more in the future!

Spring Break '09 - Stop #4 - DUBLIN, IRELAND - "Gotta Love the Irish!!!"

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2009

Once we arrived in Dublin, we made our way to the city bus stop to go into town. We got on the bus and sat in the back so we could figure out which stop we had to get off at. We looked at the map a few times but didn’t find Marlborough anywhere. Dewey and I continued to look when the man sitting next to us asked if he could help. I didn’t hear him completely at first… I am used to not understanding people when we are on public transportation that I tend to zone it all out. He asked again, and then it was like I “OMG I am actually hearing English, FLUENT ENGLISH!” He was super helpful and showed us which stop we had to get off at and which way we had to go when we got off of the bus. He was an architect and was just returning from Chicago… Random!!!

We finally found our hostel but we weren’t able to check in until 4 – it was 10am. The let us put our luggage in the luggage room for the day and then we all tried to decide where we were going to go first. Majority vote was for the Guinness Factory. It was pretty cool because we got to see how Guinness beer was brewed. If we kept our entrance ticket, we were able to get a free glass of Guinness from the Gravity Bar (on the top floor of the building). It was interesting to see how it was brewed and then actually taste it. However, it tasted like beer (understandable – it is a beer) and coffee – my two least favorite beverages in the world. But I tried it so that has to count for something right!

Dewey, Me, Sarah, and Annie at the Guinness Factory

View from the top of the Guinness Factory - Gravity Bar

After our tour, we went to St. Patrick’s Park and had a picnic. We had some left over bread so we fed the pigeons… bad idea… it was like attack of the pigeons once we threw one piece. There were about 4 around us before and after wards, I think 20 showed up… It was pretty funny though because all of the little kids in the park would laugh at them once they tried to eat some bread!

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Beautiful Sunset!

We went back to the hostel to check in and then headed out to the oldest pub in Ireland, “The Brazen Head.” It was kind of cool – there were dollar bills all over the walls with people’s signatures on them. We left early to get some sleep for the free walking tour the next morning. I gave Sarah my alarm because I knew I wouldn’t hear it because I was really tired.

The Brazen Head - Ireland's Oldest Pub - with a drunken Leprechaun in the window!

TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009

Well Guess what – I didn’t hear it and was supposed to get up at 9 to make the walking tour at 11 (4 people had to take showers). I didn’t crawl out of bed til about 9:45 and my camera was completely dead, so I had to plug it into my computer – but that was dead too so I had to go down the kitchen to plug it all in. There were no plugs in our room. I never got back up to the room til 10:30 and we ended up being a bit late to the walking tour – oh well – they were still at the meeting point. We just missed the introduction to Dublin.

We started at city hall and then headed to Dublin Castle, where our tour guide pointed out just how terrible Dublin is at planning things and just how original they are at naming monuments and tourist attractions.

Dublin Castle - The only remaining part is the round tower (The Records Room)... The top decoration was added recently to make it look more Castle-like!

At Dublin Castle there is really only one part that still exists from the 18th century, when it was built. It used to be the records room (it was called the “records tower” – how original huh?) but was a bit to large so it was turned into a prison. No one had escaped the building for over 500 years mostly because the walls were 4.8 meters thick and there were no windows. There was only one way out besides the front door. It was through a drain pip that led into the river that led up the mountains. It seemed like the perfect plan for Red Hugh O'Donnell; however, this man decided to take this perfect escape route in the middle of January (not so perfect anymore). Our tour guide had many many more stories for every stop we had – if not more ridiculous – it made the tour go by so fast and it was so much more interesting.

This was part of the backside of Dublin Castle... The different do have some meaning behind them - however, not anything historical... They were the architect's favorite colors!

Well, Rome has the Spanish Steps... so Dublin has their own version! These stairs consists of 40 steps and guess what it is called... "The 40 Steps"

O'Connell Bridge - O'Connell Street is the most famous street in Dublin!

We went shopping after the tour – bad idea… I did buy a lot of things for other people but still, I had a little fun shopping in Irish Country!

These are just friendly reminders for the tourists... People in England drive on the opposite side of the road so you have to look the opposite way when crossing the street! Thanks for the reminder!

Spring Break '09 - STOP #3 - PARIS, FRANCE - "The Beautiful Paris"

PARIS, FRANCE

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2009

I climbed to the second level of the Eiffel Tower (only about 600+ steps – No I didn’t count, they were numbered every so often)! The view was simply amazing – you could see for miles and miles (oh excuse me, kilometers and kilometers). The climb to the second level was well worth it! You are not able to climb any further so we took an elevator to the very top!

Dewey, Sarah, Annie and I had a picnic on the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower! It was so epic! I couldn’t believe that I was sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower. I was talking to Dewey and I told him “I am afraid to look away because if I look back it will be gone.” Now obviously people were not going to just pick it up and move it to the next block but it just didn’t seem real to me that we were in Paris, France!

At our picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower!

How big is the Eiffel Tower... really?!?!?!?!

View from the Top!

Paris, France - from the TOP of the EIFFEL TOWER!!!

Just out 'sightseeing'!!!

The Louvre Museum is free to students on Friday nights so that was the next stop after climbing the Eiffel Tower! We made it there but it was after 7:30pm and they closed at 9pm. We were going to just look at the main things we wanted to see because the museum is HUGE and then if we didn’t get everything in tonight we would come back another day while we were there. In order to get in free you had to have a student ID that showed your age on it because you had to be under 26 years of age and only two of us had them. So two of us were going to have to pay to get in and then if we didn’t see everything, they would have to pay again; so instead of paying double, we all decided that we would just come back on Monday to see everything that we wanted to!

We were all pretty tired so we went back to the hostel and went to bed so we could get up early on Saturday to go to the Palace of Versailles!

SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2009

We took the train to Versailles today; it was a long ride so I brought my journal with so I could get caught up… Well, that really didn’t happen, I ended up doing the ‘head-bob’ thing for quite a while but still thought that I could attempt to journal… When we got to Versailles, I woke and found that I had managed to write all over the dress that I was wearing that day! My pen had slipped off the page so many times that I had a nice new design going on!

The Palace of Versailles was beautiful! It was so picturesque – golden gates, and a ‘U’ shaped palace with old stone! We stood in line and waited to buy our tickets and when we got up to the ticket booth, we really didn’t know what we wanted to all see.

The Golden Gates of Versailles

The first building we walked through was “The Chateau.” The Old Chateau was built by Louis XIII in 1623 as a ‘hunting lodge, a little gentleman’s chateau.’ The King, Louis XIV, liked it so much that he enlarged it. The New ‘enlarged’ Chateau wrapped the old chateau in a second building and the white stone facades now served as a garden setting.

The Hall of Mirrors is the main attraction of Versailles. The Hall consists of 17 windows that overlook the garden and each window is matched with a mirror along the wall. The Hall of Mirrors was the place where the First World War officially ended when Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors. Hungary signed the treaty the following year in the Grand Trianon (another area at the Palace of Versailles).

The Hall of Mirrors

We toured the Grand Trianon next and this is where Marie-Antoinette’s Farm was built. The Queen’s House was composed of two parts joined by a wooden gallery. The part that was roofed with tiles was the house and the other parts were the billiard room and a suite. The houses in the village were built so that they looked rustic as seen on farms in Normandy, but the interiors were endowed with the latest technical and decorative refinements. The other buildings include a Mill, Warming Room (dining room), and the Guard’s House (currently occupied by a grounds gardener).

THE QUEEN'S Farm

The Queen's Hamlet - The Queen's House

The Queen's Hamlet - The Queen's Tower

Overall, the Versailles was amazing! Everything was beautiful.

The train ride home was basically the same thing as it was on the way to Versailles; except I didn’t attempt to write in my journal.

After getting back to Paris, we took the metro to see the Moulin Rouge!

The Moulin Rouge

We headed back to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up at night and the flashing light show was amazing! We didn’t know that the lights flashed so as we were trying to get the Tower to focus in our cameras, they just came on. We all started screaming like the American tourists that we were! The lights were AMAZING!

All lit up at night!

The Light Show that happens every hour on the hour!

So HAPPY!!!

SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2009

We went to the Louvre this morning and it was AMAZING as well! A lot of the paintings I saw were ones that I studied in my art appreciation class here so I knew more about the different elements and techniques that were used in the paintings!

The Louvre!

My future bedroom - I just need to move to Paris and live in the Louvre!!!

The Real Mona Lisa

After the Louvre we went to Sainte Chapelle and saw the most amazing stained glass windows I have ever seen - there was a room upstairs that every wall was mainly all stained glass! The sun finally started to shine and the colors were really bright and vivid!

Sainte Chapelle Church

Stained-Glass Windows

The 'Rosebud' Window

Next we explored a few more blocks and came to Notre Dame. The outside had the gargoyles and everything. The inside was just as beautiful as the outside! There were stained glass windows lining the top and an alter in the middle of the church. The alter was surrounded by walls on three sides and there were a bunch of smaller alters around the semi-circle behind the walls. Each smaller alter was dedicated to a different saint.

Notre Dame Cathedral

The 'hunchback' of Notre Dame

Notre Dame Cathedral - inside view

My favorite altar of all of the ones around the main altar.

We headed back to the hostel to get our things and head to the airport. We had the perfect plan: we were going to go to the airport at night and just sleep there. However, our perfect plan was not so perfect. Our genius travel agents (a.k.a. Me, Sarah and Dewey) never thought that an airport would close. Well guess what, it did and we had to get a hotel room. It was only 36 euro a night for 3 people but we had 4 so, we snuck Dewey in and gave him the single bed. Sarah, Annie, and I slept in the queen size bed. We tried sleeping the long way but it was way too small so we un-tucked all of the covers and slept the short way so our feet were all hanging off the sides! It was pretty hilarious.

The closest restaurant that we knew we could afford was McDonalds so we set off to find those fantastic Golden Arches. The register woman did not speak English very well at all. Found this out when I ordered a “Royal Cheeseburger” (Paris’ version of a regular cheeseburger) with a side salad and a Fanta and did not quite get that. She set 2 royal cheeseburgers, a bacon cheeseburger, orange juice, and no salad. I guess I could have messed her up when I said a cheeseburger with only ketchup and pickles. But that should not have given me 3 sandwiches. She finally understood what I was trying to say and I got the cheeseburger, with a salad and orange juice. I was fine with that even though I had a cheeseburger with plenty of onions and mayo and mustard. After I got my order, I decided to take my chances and ask for some salad dressing. She was like right away… I got an order of 5 chicken nuggets. I was like nope, never mind and I really understood what a language barrier was!

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2009

It was about 5 am and we were sitting in the Paris-Beauvais airport waiting to check in for our flight to Dublin. This airport has to be the strictest airport I have ever been in – when they say they carry-on can only be 10 kg, they mean they can only be 10kg or else you cannot take the extra weight onto the plane.

I really wish I would have had a camera – well I did but it was in the pocket of my first shirt. I had so many clothes on; I had a shirtdress, jeans and a jacket (my original outfit) with a sweatshirt and every shirt I owned on my body. I literally had 17 shirts (3 swimsuit tops, 5 tank tops, and 9 t-shirts on) and a jacket. It was working out perfectly. I had to leave my computer with Dewey because my bag was still overweight with that! Oops… I over packed just a little! I needed to wear my belt to keep my pants up because I had all of my change and electronics (camera and iPod and phone) in my pocket. I looked ridiculous but I did make it past the flight boarding check in!

It worked perfect until I got to security and I had to empty my pockets and it looked ridiculous (coins, camera, iPod, phone…) my belt had to come off, which I could not get back on because of all of the clothes I had on! It was so funny. Once I got past security, I jetted to the bathroom and stripped off 16 shirts and a jacket! It was so much colder in that airport without a whole wardrobe on. Our flight finally boarded and we were on our way to DUBLIN!!! Again, I was out as soon as the plane took off and didn’t wake up until we landed, just as I had on our way to Rome.