Kiev (Ukraine)
Lviv
Bratislava (Slovakia)
Athens (Greece)
Cairo (Egypt)
Aswan
Luxor
.... and the night Bus...
I learned a lot when I was in University, and so far traveling has confirmed it all. For example: in University we were sure that the processed meats were a little... old, at best - and I just learned that the embalmers used most of the same chemicals to mummify the pharaohs. I learned that if you want to stay single, you should stay away from the girls' dorm - like in the desert with all the Bedouin men. Most importantly, though, I learned that when you're too far behind in your writing to catch up, you should give up and talk about something completely unrelated to what you should be writing about.
Do you remember Where's Waldo? As a kid, my brothers and I would spend hours and hours scanning through those books, trying to find that funny-looking traveler with his red striped shirt. Hours upon hours of strange sights and weird people, instead of more practical things like, oh, say, school work. Maybe that's why we're traveling instead of in school right now... but I digress.
Usually, along with finding Waldo the mesmerized child is required to find those belongings that Waldo, out of forgetfulness or a kind of malicious carelessness, has left lying around in each of the places that he's visited... as if the hours upon hours spent looking for his silly four-eyed face weren't enough...
Well, ladies and gentlemen, witness a fantastic and very real living Waldo, in the person of Andrew Hoffman. I don't know how I've managed it, but there is an impressive and ever-growing list of things that I've left behind in the countries that we've visited. Feel free to take out a map and match the items on the list with the country I left it in. The really ambitious will follow our tracks and try to pick them all up.
If you decide to do the latter, make sure you bring an extra suitcase. It's a lot of stuff.
Ready? Here's the list:
Wide-Brimmed Hat
Outside our hostel in Cancun, Mexico.
Wide-Brimmed Hat #2
On a bus in Tegucigalpa, Honduras (I gave up on hats at that point).
Pair of Sunglasses
Torn from my face and broken by a vicious foot-tall monkey in Pisco, Peru. No lie.
Pair of Shoes
Hostal Familiar, Cusco, Peru. That one sucked.
Pair of Pants
Destroyed by volunteer work in Pisco.
Pair of Shorts
Destroyed by my girth in Panama City.
Volunteering T-shirt
Disappeared in Concon, Peru. I stole someone else's though, so it's okay.
Volunteering Work Gloves
See previous.
Pocketknife
Bought in Pamplona for the famous hill and wine incident, I had to turn it in at the Beauvais Airport in Paris, France. Don't ask.
Digital Camera
Jacked on the Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Bank Card
Left in an ATM in La Paz, Bolivia.
Anthony's Sleeping Bag
Lost at the airport in Barcelona, Spain. Somehow, this is still my fault...
Anthony's I-pod
I refuse to take responsibility for that one.
My Mind
Opinion is divided. Anthony thinks I left it in Edmonton. I think that it's somewhere at the bottom of my pack.
Travel Towel
Hung up to dry in our hostel in Bratislava, Slovakia. It should be dry now.
That is the complete list to date. Don't worry, I'm sure there will be more as we continue.
There have also been a couple of honourable mentions as we go on - these things were lost briefly, but recovered:
My Money Belt
Includes my passport, bank card, credit card, travellers cheques, money... everything that we can't go on without. This one, I left in a locker at our hostel in Lisbon, Portugal. Anthony was upset.
My Glasses
After the death road incident, during which I was wearing my contacts, our bus left to take the injured girl home... taking my glasses with it. Scary.
My Money Belt
On a train in Paris. I've never seen Anthony's hands go so quickly for my throat....
My Waldo Toque
Some of you may remember a certain hideous pink and white winter hat that I would insist on wearing. The more observant of you will note the connection between this toque and another living Where's Waldo... Anyways, I lost this once in the Tatras mountains during a snowball fight, and most recently at a Bedouin camp in the desert. Both times it was returned to me. I can't get rid of the stupid thing. I think Anthony's upset about that, too.
That's it. Like I said, if you plan to follow us and pick everything up, you'll need to bring an empty bag. Luckily, if you find it all, you won't have to pack anything of your own...
Salaam from Egypt!
Andrew
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
From the Tatras to the Danube - Or, From cold water to hot pyrogies!
Naploi (Italy)
Capri
Pisa
Rome
Venice
Poprad (Slovakia)
Kiev (Ukraine)
Europe. Home of the Euro. Home of pizza. Home of really, really well-dressed people. Home to SO much history in such a small place. AND, home to something I wasn't aware of...
"There we were, Paris, France, on top of Notre Dame Cathedral having tea with Quasimodo, the chimeras and gargoyles, peering out over the city, playing 'I spy' for the famous landmarks. The tower, the arc de triomph, Champ d'Elysee, when what to my wondering eyes should appear...No! Yes! It couldn't be! But it was! A yellow and white sign nestled between two buildings in the distance in plain eniglish:
Subway!!!!
(For those who don't know about my obsession, know that a footlong Southwest Steak and Cheese on Italien herb and cheese bread will be my first meal when I return to Canada... then for a snack, a 7-11 slurpee with Sour Patch kids.... dang I miss those...)
So, there it was in the heart of Paris and equally placing Paris in my own heart. God bless the French. For this I will even forgive their invention of the beret.
Paris was a success.
To follow we flew to Rome to do as Romans do. Only without togas. I know, and I'm sorry.
What an impressive religious epicenter! At the Vatican, we saw where faithful Christians have prayed at the tomb of St. Peter for thousands of years; and at the Roman Colisseum we saw where thousands of years ago, Christians prayed to not get eaten alive by the savage lions...
Oh, and I was reminded of my theatre friends here too. See, Christians weren't the only wild cat fodder back then. In between gladiator matches, local actors would enter the ring to perform; only with this show, if the audience doesn't like your rendition 'Hamlet,' out come come the extremely hungry beasts.
Actor: "To be, or not to AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Lion: "Mmmmmm, Big MACbeth!"
(That pun was for you dad!)
From Rome we trained it down to Napoli for the next checkmark on our list: The Blue Grotto. This is a series of caves in the Capri Islands that the Romans used to use as a bath in the summertime. The way the light hits these tunnels in the morning actually lights the water from underneath, giving it an incredible turquoise colour. A must-see for the two of us that ended up taking some serious must-ing.... (Look, if you write your own blog, you can make up your own words too OK?)
The day we arrived in Napoli a girl in our hostel explained to us her botched Blue Grotto experience and warned us to make sure that there will be nice weather before going all the way out to Capri. No sunshine, no blue watery-beauty. So we checked online and the next day was supposed to be cloudy. No biggie, spend the day in Napoli, eat pasta, but day one down. Forecast for the following day: sunny. In the morning out we go, we spend our money and get all the way out to the Capri Islands. Once there, we find out that the Blue Grotto is closed that day on account of the tide being too high (the opening of the grotto is only about one meter by two meters and you need to take a small rowboat inside). Day two down. Learning from our mistake, the following morning we CALL the islands to see if the grotto is open. Nope. Day three down. Call again next morning. Day four down. Day five is our last chance because day six was a Sunday and the grotto is never open on Sundays; day seven was Christmas eve and we wanted to be back in Rome by then. We HAVE to see this grotto! So we call in the morning and it's OPEN!! We race to the train station and through a series of bad metro directions and sporadic boat schedules, we get to the islands around 13:00.
Apparently, the grotto is only open from 9:00-11:00 in the morning... So we found out upon arrival...
Picture two lonely souls sitting on the edge of the dock in silence. Staring into nowhere as a boistrous Italian man tries to sell them a boat tour around the "beautiful Capri Islands, you see everything but the Blue Grotto, my boat only pass by de entrance." Reluctant to waste another trip to the islands, we coax the man down a few Euros and take the tour.
The islands ARE beautiful. The cliffs, the coral, the caves, the green and white grottos, the lighthouse. A real photogaphers dream. At the end of the tour, we pull up to the small one meter by two meter opening in the rock.
The Blue Grotto.
Too far away for being so close. Andrew and I exchanged glances as the guide joked about the only way inside at this time of day was to swim...
SPLASH!! One Hoffman.
SPLASH!! Two Hoffman.
Through this experience I've formulated the opinion that the Mediterranean Sea in the winter time could wake the dead. Honestly, just throw them in!
Was it worth it?
Absolutley.
Checkmark.
Sorry, there will be no pictures from the inside. Swimming ,plus cold, plus cameras does not equal happy Anthony. You'll just have to come down and write your own crazy grotto story.
A quick day trip to Pisa was next to see an architectural mistake (honeslty, if my mistakes were this glorified I'd be famous!) and to eat a 'Piece of Pisa Pizza' and we were back to Rome!
Christmas at the Vatican was cool. The pope wore his party hat. We got to watch 'A Wonderful Life' on a laptop at the hostel, and we even made our own eggnog (it actually even surprised US that it worked...). A roasted ham and pasta dinner and a call home capped this birthday celebratrion for us nomads quite beautifully.
Boxing day saw us in Venice, which is by far the most confusing , maze-like city we've been in so far. We got lost. We even found cars.... In a city of canals and boats, that's where you KNOW you have gone too far. Beautiful city to get lost in... Felt wierd though... Felt like.... oh, I dunno, like being in one of the most romantic cities in the world without your significant other...
So we left.
Headed for the mountains in Slovakia. We were invited by a Slovakian friend we met volunteering in Peru to spend New Years with her and her family at a cabin in the mountains. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to be shown Slovakia by a group of charming Slovaks.
We spent our days hiking and XC-skiing in the mountains and our evenings with tea around the fireplace. A true White Christmas.
Our friends father, who didn't speak a word of english knew exactly how to communicate with us... Homemade brandy with 52% alcohol will tear down ANY language barrier!
As intimidating as it was sometimes as the family sat and conversed back and forth in Slovakian, occasionally bursting into laughter while Andrew and I sat clueless, I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. This was Slovakia. Nothing near what you would find staying in any hostel, or following any guidebook. Our english speaking friend smoothed over the language barrier and was a superb host. We are forever in that familys debt. Now, I find myself madly in love with home-made Slovakian food...thanks.
We are now in the Ukraine. Home of our ancenstors. As soon as I sat down for that first plate of pyrogies... I knew that this is where I came from. We even caught the Nutcracker Ballet at the theatre here (About five bucks for both of us to get in!). Beautiful, however I am pretty conviced that every girl who watches the ballet thinks "I wish that could be me," while every guy that watches the same ballet thinks "Thank God that isn't me!"
Tonight after pizza Sunday, we have tickets for Carmen the opera.
Oh, and for everyone back home I gloated to about beating the snow and cold, I sincerely apologize. They actually wear those huge Russian looking fur hats here to keep warm. It's bloody freezing. So we're leaving. Athens is just around the corner.
Keep Smiling!
Anthony
Ukrainian lesson for today:
"більше Варуннкн будь ласка"
"More pyrogies please!"
Capri
Pisa
Rome
Venice
Poprad (Slovakia)
Kiev (Ukraine)
Europe. Home of the Euro. Home of pizza. Home of really, really well-dressed people. Home to SO much history in such a small place. AND, home to something I wasn't aware of...
"There we were, Paris, France, on top of Notre Dame Cathedral having tea with Quasimodo, the chimeras and gargoyles, peering out over the city, playing 'I spy' for the famous landmarks. The tower, the arc de triomph, Champ d'Elysee, when what to my wondering eyes should appear...No! Yes! It couldn't be! But it was! A yellow and white sign nestled between two buildings in the distance in plain eniglish:
Subway!!!!
(For those who don't know about my obsession, know that a footlong Southwest Steak and Cheese on Italien herb and cheese bread will be my first meal when I return to Canada... then for a snack, a 7-11 slurpee with Sour Patch kids.... dang I miss those...)
So, there it was in the heart of Paris and equally placing Paris in my own heart. God bless the French. For this I will even forgive their invention of the beret.
Paris was a success.
To follow we flew to Rome to do as Romans do. Only without togas. I know, and I'm sorry.
What an impressive religious epicenter! At the Vatican, we saw where faithful Christians have prayed at the tomb of St. Peter for thousands of years; and at the Roman Colisseum we saw where thousands of years ago, Christians prayed to not get eaten alive by the savage lions...
Oh, and I was reminded of my theatre friends here too. See, Christians weren't the only wild cat fodder back then. In between gladiator matches, local actors would enter the ring to perform; only with this show, if the audience doesn't like your rendition 'Hamlet,' out come come the extremely hungry beasts.
Actor: "To be, or not to AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Lion: "Mmmmmm, Big MACbeth!"
(That pun was for you dad!)
From Rome we trained it down to Napoli for the next checkmark on our list: The Blue Grotto. This is a series of caves in the Capri Islands that the Romans used to use as a bath in the summertime. The way the light hits these tunnels in the morning actually lights the water from underneath, giving it an incredible turquoise colour. A must-see for the two of us that ended up taking some serious must-ing.... (Look, if you write your own blog, you can make up your own words too OK?)
The day we arrived in Napoli a girl in our hostel explained to us her botched Blue Grotto experience and warned us to make sure that there will be nice weather before going all the way out to Capri. No sunshine, no blue watery-beauty. So we checked online and the next day was supposed to be cloudy. No biggie, spend the day in Napoli, eat pasta, but day one down. Forecast for the following day: sunny. In the morning out we go, we spend our money and get all the way out to the Capri Islands. Once there, we find out that the Blue Grotto is closed that day on account of the tide being too high (the opening of the grotto is only about one meter by two meters and you need to take a small rowboat inside). Day two down. Learning from our mistake, the following morning we CALL the islands to see if the grotto is open. Nope. Day three down. Call again next morning. Day four down. Day five is our last chance because day six was a Sunday and the grotto is never open on Sundays; day seven was Christmas eve and we wanted to be back in Rome by then. We HAVE to see this grotto! So we call in the morning and it's OPEN!! We race to the train station and through a series of bad metro directions and sporadic boat schedules, we get to the islands around 13:00.
Apparently, the grotto is only open from 9:00-11:00 in the morning... So we found out upon arrival...
Picture two lonely souls sitting on the edge of the dock in silence. Staring into nowhere as a boistrous Italian man tries to sell them a boat tour around the "beautiful Capri Islands, you see everything but the Blue Grotto, my boat only pass by de entrance." Reluctant to waste another trip to the islands, we coax the man down a few Euros and take the tour.
The islands ARE beautiful. The cliffs, the coral, the caves, the green and white grottos, the lighthouse. A real photogaphers dream. At the end of the tour, we pull up to the small one meter by two meter opening in the rock.
The Blue Grotto.
Too far away for being so close. Andrew and I exchanged glances as the guide joked about the only way inside at this time of day was to swim...
SPLASH!! One Hoffman.
SPLASH!! Two Hoffman.
Through this experience I've formulated the opinion that the Mediterranean Sea in the winter time could wake the dead. Honestly, just throw them in!
Was it worth it?
Absolutley.
Checkmark.
Sorry, there will be no pictures from the inside. Swimming ,plus cold, plus cameras does not equal happy Anthony. You'll just have to come down and write your own crazy grotto story.
A quick day trip to Pisa was next to see an architectural mistake (honeslty, if my mistakes were this glorified I'd be famous!) and to eat a 'Piece of Pisa Pizza' and we were back to Rome!
Christmas at the Vatican was cool. The pope wore his party hat. We got to watch 'A Wonderful Life' on a laptop at the hostel, and we even made our own eggnog (it actually even surprised US that it worked...). A roasted ham and pasta dinner and a call home capped this birthday celebratrion for us nomads quite beautifully.
Boxing day saw us in Venice, which is by far the most confusing , maze-like city we've been in so far. We got lost. We even found cars.... In a city of canals and boats, that's where you KNOW you have gone too far. Beautiful city to get lost in... Felt wierd though... Felt like.... oh, I dunno, like being in one of the most romantic cities in the world without your significant other...
So we left.
Headed for the mountains in Slovakia. We were invited by a Slovakian friend we met volunteering in Peru to spend New Years with her and her family at a cabin in the mountains. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to be shown Slovakia by a group of charming Slovaks.
We spent our days hiking and XC-skiing in the mountains and our evenings with tea around the fireplace. A true White Christmas.
Our friends father, who didn't speak a word of english knew exactly how to communicate with us... Homemade brandy with 52% alcohol will tear down ANY language barrier!
As intimidating as it was sometimes as the family sat and conversed back and forth in Slovakian, occasionally bursting into laughter while Andrew and I sat clueless, I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. This was Slovakia. Nothing near what you would find staying in any hostel, or following any guidebook. Our english speaking friend smoothed over the language barrier and was a superb host. We are forever in that familys debt. Now, I find myself madly in love with home-made Slovakian food...thanks.
We are now in the Ukraine. Home of our ancenstors. As soon as I sat down for that first plate of pyrogies... I knew that this is where I came from. We even caught the Nutcracker Ballet at the theatre here (About five bucks for both of us to get in!). Beautiful, however I am pretty conviced that every girl who watches the ballet thinks "I wish that could be me," while every guy that watches the same ballet thinks "Thank God that isn't me!"
Tonight after pizza Sunday, we have tickets for Carmen the opera.
Oh, and for everyone back home I gloated to about beating the snow and cold, I sincerely apologize. They actually wear those huge Russian looking fur hats here to keep warm. It's bloody freezing. So we're leaving. Athens is just around the corner.
Keep Smiling!
Anthony
Ukrainian lesson for today:
"більше Варуннкн будь ласка"
"More pyrogies please!"
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