Berlin

Well, we made it to Berlin! And it's great! We're staying at a hostel in East Berlin run by a New Zelander guy. And it's super clean! woohoo! I tried to upload some pics, but it's taking forever, so I gave up! Everyone will just have to wait till I get back to Canada to see pictures, sorry. But anyway, what did we do in Berlin. Well, not much the first day, besides shower to get Amsterdam off of us. Day 2 we went on a free tour of the city, which was absolutly great, and did some shopping. Day 3, rain. Lots of rain. I woke up early and went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. After that Michael met me in town and we went on a very wet Third Reich tour. This trip has turned into a history of WWII, which is pretty cool since I don't know alot about it. And what better way to learn then in Europe with an army boy! We were supose to leave today (day 4) but since it was so crappy yesterday, we decided to stay an extra day. I'm going shoppping and Michael is wandering around. Oh, and I just found out that Jean (from BI) is in Berlin too! So I'm meeting him at 4 for coffee! Our next stop is Prague, I'll try to write again from there!

Paris, Amsterdam

Very quick update since I only have 15min left on my internet time.

Paris
GREAT!!!! We stayed with some friends of Michael's parents, Janet and John. Wonderfull people, they took good care of us. They live in Versaille (took us a while to find the place, but the story is too long to tell now) so we took the train into Paris in the morning. We spent some time at the Louvre, but definatly not enough (for me anyway). We also went to the museum at l'Hotel des Invalides. That was really great too. It had a history of war museum, which was my comprimise for visiting the Louvre. We also saw Napoleon's tomb. Wait till you see the pictures! And of course we went to the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. We walked around the Latin Quarter too, but apparently it shuts down in August cause most of the shops were closed for the month! Our last day we spent at Chateaux Versaille.

Amsterdam
Not as great as Paris. I somehow managed to book the scketchyest place ever! And right in the middle of the Red Light district. So frist impression of Amsterdam, very dirty. But once we wandered off out of the Red Light district, it's actually quite nice. We went to the Anne Frank House. What an experience. Today we are going to the NEMO (science museum). We walked around the Red Light district at night yesterday, and well, I lead a very sheltered life! It was cool though.

Anyway, out of time. Next stop, Berlin!

Lucerne and Barcelona

Hola from Spain! Just a quick note to let everyone know we're still alive and to let you know what we've been up to! We spent 3 days in Lucerne Switzerland with Michael's godmother. We got to take a cable car up into the alps, Mount Rigi, and oh my God, what an amazing view! Switzerland is so amazing! But incredably expensive! I was very happy we had a place to stay! The next day we just spent walking around town. We went to see a small castle by the lake, and then into town to do some window shopping. We left Lucerne at 6am to take a train to Geneva to then fly to Barcelona, which is where I am now. We got here yesterday afternoon. We just walked around town for a bit and then down by the ocean. The beach was very dirty, it was sad. I still want to go swimming though, maybe today. Today we're going up a mountain to a fortress where they have a military museum. That is once Michael wakes up! Anyways, that's all I have time for today. Sorry for no pictures, but the computer is really slow and I don't think it would work. Maybe next time.

No more internet, hence lack of posts

So, it finally happened... Our luck ran out... The unprotected wireless network has vanished! booooooooooooo! Audrey still gets it, but only on her balcony. Neither Sheila nor I have been able to find it. I even took my computer outside and walked around the parking lot! But really, I can't complain. I've had free internet for almost 3 months! I tried to find my USB key this morning so that I could post some pictures from work, but I couldn't find it! I've started packing and so my apartment is a mess! So here's another update post, minus pictures.

My dad and uncle Hoopy came to visit! They were suppose to arrive Friday afternoon (July 22) but got lost in France and only made it to my place on Saturday afternoon! They were suppose to only stay the weekend and go traveling during the week, but, being the old men that they are (wink wink) they ended up staying at my place the whole time. Luckily for them it was Schützenfest! What the heck is that you ask? The biggest party ever! For one week the population of Biberach triples! And I'm not even kidding! I've never seen so many people! But it was a blast. And I can proudly say that I managed to drink a liter of beer without getting sick! (I did end up dancing on tables, but so was everyone else, so it wasn't that bad) I took Friday off of work and dad, uncle Hoopy and I went to the Lake of Constance. We took the ferry over to Constance from Friedrishtafen (sp????). It was a nice and relaxing day, until it started to rain! ugh. It was still a nice day trip. After that since I had also taken Monday off, we went to Munich, where we did every walking tour imaginable! Saturday night was the beer tour, lots of good beer and not so bad German food. On Sunday we went on a Hitler tour and got a history lesson from our tour guide. Following that one, we went to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp. Very eerry feeling to be there, but glad I went. Monday we headed back to Biberach, and along the way it started to rain... And it hasn't stopped since!

Last week was spent hanging out with the other students. And getting excited about traveling! As I said before, I've started packing, but it's not going to well! I've lost half of my stuff, and somehow managed to accumulate about the amount that I lost! It'll be tight packing! And I'm almost done work! I found out that I had 4 extra days of holidays so I'm finishing work on Tuesday! WOOHOO! And Michael gets here on Saturday!!!!! I can't wait! I'm all giddy! And then we leave on our European Adventure on Monday!

This will probably be my last post before I leave, but hopefully I'll be able to post stuff on the road. For those of you that are interested, here's our travel plans...

Aug 14-16 Lucerne, Switzerland (to visit Michael's godparents)
Aug 17-19 Barcelona, Spain
Aug 20-24 Paris, France (staying with Michael's parents' friends, yay free bed!)
Aug 25-26 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Aug 27-29 Berlin, Germany
Aug 30-Sept 1 Prague, Czech Republic
Sept 2-3 Bratislava, Slovakia
Sept 4-5 Vienna, Austria
Sept 6-9 Rome, Italy
Sept 10-11 Lucerne, Switzerland
Sept 12-13 Munich, Germany
Sept 14 HOME!!!!!!!

So that's it! Hopefully we won't get lost! And then on Sept 18 I start my last coop term at the NRC with Dr. Pezacki! And then one more semester of school and I graduate! I can almost taste the freedom! mmmmmmmmmmm