snsadventures

The Mean Egg

2006-01-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

On our last day with Kate and Devin, we all ate hard-boiled eggs for breakfast. Not so bad yet, right? Kate and I ended up eating ones that had been kept next to raw eggs in the fridge and...a few hours later we were hit in the gut with samonilla. So, it was an interesting 6 hour bus ride back to Madrid. Poor Scott was smashed in a corner because I INSISTED that I must splay myself across both seats. For the next week or so, I was completely out of it. I don't know if any of you out there have ever had this affliction... I won't get into details, but you can imagine. I didn't leave the apartment for many days, and the whole time I had a troupe of either knome miners, or an acrobatics team frolicking in me. They even kept me up at night- I had to drown out the racket by watching movie after movie (some advice- if you are ever feeling sorry for yourself because you are sick, watch a depressing war movie and you will be happy that you have both arms, etc.) Poor Paul and Jes, I was a bump on a log for so long, and eventually Scott dragged me to the emergency room. This was a very interesting experience. After laying on the waiting room floor for 10 min, I finally got my own stretcher in the hallway. This was my home for the next 4 hours. I remember just watching everyone go by, and eavesdropping on why they were there. A kid got the wrong leg X-rayed, a girl busted her ankle falling off her fancy Spanish heels (ha ha!), a grandma thought she had chest pains and then proceeded to tick off all her afflictions...it would have been more amusing though, if I didn't feel like something you scrape off your shoe, or if Scott hadn't been banned from the hallway. Finally, I was admitted and got to practice my Spanish by recounting what happened and how I felt. I naively assumed that once they heard that I hadn't eaten in a few days and hadn't had many fluids that they would RUSH to get me care, but as it was, they just nodded. Apparently, that isn't life-threatening. They did some tests and gave me an IV as I waited for my results. During this time, the shift changed, so I was once again in the hallway, right next to the freezing cold breeze of the cigarette-break alley, I had dropped my water bottle, my IV was done, I had a needle in my arm, and everyone was ignoring me. In short, I was ready to go home. Finally I reached out and grabbed a passer-by- hopefully they were staff but I loved them no matter what because they took the needle out. The lab stuff came back in a folder and I shuffled through it, looking for a bill. I asked the nice lady 3 times if there was anything else I needed to do, but she told me to go home. I shuffled as fast as I could without passing out to get Scott and scurry out of there, in case they realized that we hadn't paid or given insurance info. As is was, emergency treatment is free for all in Spain- good to know. I spent the next couple of days still trying to recuperate and not be a blob when Paul and Jes' friends visited from Ireland.

We were to head to San Sebastian after Madrid, and planned to take a night train up there. Here was another interesting transportation experience. We were all ready, with our tickets and after 2 hours of waiting, went down to board the train. Scott had called and asked three separate times to make sure that it was fine that we brought our bikes on the train. He was assured it was, each time so we were confident that we could cruise on this one. Not so. Some crabby man with a big belly grabbed our tickets and shook his head. NO! We told him that the people selling the tickets said it was OK, prompting him simply to say, "well, they're wrong". Scott ran up to the ticket counter again, to ask. They again assured him it was OK. The train man again said no. So, Scott ran up again and traded our tickets so we each had our own compartment- they said it was one bike per compartment. run run run. Not so! said the train guy. run run run. What do we do? run run run. The train left, without us on it. Thankfully we were able to stay at Paul and Jes' for that "night" (ended up being three hours) before we took a bike-friendly train up to San Sebastian...

More Visitors!!

2006-01-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

We were so exited when our friends from home came to visit. So exited were we, that we took pictures of ourselves, exited. Anyhoo, we had a blast for the week that they came and tried to cram in as much Espana as we could. We stayed at another great timeshare, thanks to Scott's mom, and participated in some of their activities. Scott took some more Spanish lessons and we all went to the wine education class. That was funny, while we were tasting through everything, there were a few groups of people from the UK, Norway, etc. who proceeded to get pretty tipsy. The whole thing kind of degenerated and by the end, we just watched as the ladies flirted with the teacher, and the REALLY tipsy Norwegian lady tried to help out by collecting all the paper cups, when really she was ramming into everything, spilling the wine.

We made a few day trips, one to Ronda which is the birthplace of modern bullfighting and has an incredible gorge, Sevilla and Jerez to try the sherry (ew)though I loved the cities and Scott picked up an awesome bota bag, and of course Granada to see the Alhambra and the town itself. That place was absolutely incredible, everything is so intricate and beautiful! As the day wore on, more and more tourists arrived- it was probably when we saw the most people from the states- packs of them coming off the tour buses and moving as one pushy mass through the place. It became a fun thing to watch as the guards regulated on the "no flash" rule. They mean it! And many of the self-important tourists can't imagine why these mean guards would deny them their RIGHT to have a photo of the old bowl in the museum. They came ALL THE WAY TO SPAIN... anyways, it was great to see a place that I have been wanting to see for so long.

We also were lucky enough to be able to share Thanksgiving with Kate and Devin...we made a HUGE feast, of course including some pork products (I think they were lucky enough to have pork EVERY day they were in Spain), we also had some cornish game hens, duck, it was very decadent. I can't remember if it was the same night, but we also practiced using the bota bag to drink wine and trying to get the most distance. Needless to say, shirts and even pants were ruined that night.

Cabo de Palos

2006-01-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

I know it has been too long, but I thought I would share a few moments of the last part of our trip, as well as photos. I forget even where I left off, but the last portion of our trip was a bit of a blur (or maybe that's because I am now back in the states and it seems so far away). We stayed for a week in Cabo de Palos with my mom and stepdad, visiting some family friends who live there. The water there was incredible- we snorkeled in Nov. and saw our first octopus- who would have thought! We also hiked in some incredible hills nearby where Roman coins had been found. Apparently they had all been scooped up (forgetful Romans, dropping their coins anyways...) we did however see alot of pottery sherds near areas that were probably sisterns- that satisfied the anthro nerd in me. The whole week was filled with good food, good wine, good company...we were sad when they left but we then met up with Paul and Jes at the resort...

Malaga

2005-11-18T08:16:00.000-08:00

This is unfortunately going to be a very quick entry- we are in a resort in Malaga now, which is great because it is far from a city, but also happens to be far from affordable internet. This place has been pretty fun, though Scott, Paul, Jes and I were the youngest here by FAR, but we have made many friends. Just today Scott and I helped out with a Tortilla Española lesson, and we have been taking Flamenco classes offered here at the club. It is like camp for those in their golden years. To be honest, I think they are kind of wondering what we are doing here. Dominating the ping-pong table, that´s what! I will try to write more if we can find a place that doesn´t ask for your bank account balance before you get online...

Cabo de Palos...

2005-11-05T03:59:00.000-08:00

...is where we now are, but so much happened since I last wrote in Madrid. Thanks to the hospitality of Paul and Jes, we have been able to experience many sides of the capital. We figured that we must include a Real Madrid game and saw them play Valencia- a very exiting game. The group of men in the row in front of us were so into the game that one cracked his head on the metal bar behind him from his uncontrollable spasms. Even though the players were quite far away, it was much more exiting than watching it on TV.
What else...we took 2 day trips, one to Toledo where the special minerals in the river there have been used to make swords for centuries. Every other window is full of swords and knives and makes every man regress to about 8 years old. Scott and Paul even had a choreographed sword-fight that ended up with 2 broken umbrellas.

Scott and I headed to Segovia for a day as well, to see the aqueduct and the castle while avoiding getting blown into the moat with the strong wind. In the city itself we also made it to the museum of anthropology which was very interesting, but I think even an anthro major like me gets to a saturation point when after a while, all the displays blur together into endless glass cases of chunks of pottery and shards of rock, with confusing maps and arrows. The better displays were that of the Mudejar art and architecture.

One highlight was going to a convent where cloistered nuns sell sweets. It was a mini-adventure, you buzz the button that says ¨nuns¨, then over the speaker a nun tells you how to follow the arrows in the dark corridors to find the place to buy the pastries. Once there, there is a lazy-susan type of thing, so you can´t see the nun behind it, but you can hear her and you spin the thing with your money and she spins it again and you get your treats. We took some photos and felt sort of bad, but, she couldn´t see us unless they have some sort of convent security-camera.

Scott and Paul finally opted not to get the leg of ham, mostly because they have fine taste, and the kind they wanted costs 130 Euros a kilo. These pigs get their own pasture and eat only acorns for the last 5 years of their lives. It really is delicious and luckily enough, we have been able to try some, though I must say I am slowly reaching my limit of pork products here. Scott on the other hand seems to have become somewhat of a porkivore, and justifies it by the avian flu. Sure.

We went to see two bands from Seattle and Portland, which was very fun- we ended up going to hang out with them after the venue was turning into a dance party of 16 year olds. Scott and I had a 7 am bus to catch the next morning, so we made the clear choice of staying up all night, watching Zoolander while we packed. I coninue to be amazed by these Spaniards- how do they stay up all night and function the next day?! At 4 am we saw people twice our age tottering home from the bars, and these were not ¨drunks¨either, they were the same older women who grumble about prices and cut in front of you at the grocery store, then you see them early in the morning, singing and having a great time. Maybe that´s why they are so crabby during the day. Anyways, Scott and I made it to the first metro of the day, at 6am on a Saturday and assumed we would be the only ones on it. Actually, the station was packed with teenagers returning from ¨Botellon¨, basically, drinking in the parks all night with hundreds of other teenagers. It was interesting to see these partying kids, most of them either still wasted or passed out by this point, on the same metro as people fresh from the shower going to work and reading the newspaper. I guess Scott and I were somewhere in between...

We arrived in Cartegena (after sleeping most of the 6-hour ride) and it was WARM! The day began and I was wearing jeans and a down jacket, and by the time we got to Cabo de Palos, I was in a tank top and a skirt. This area is interesting because it seems that many ex-pats have made their homes here on the coast. Because of this, the announcements in the grocery store, the menus etc. are in English- something we were not used to hearing. We also got a fun treat last night- we have been watching TV at times here just because it is a novelty, futbol, etc. Last night we saw a program in English that was hilarious. It was just like the Saturday Night Live sketch of the 2 NPR ladies. It was these 2 women from England, sitting in a room somewhere with a Spanish flag in the background and about 10 paper plates with indistinguishable blobs on them. It turns out it was a regular language program and it literally went like this,
lady #1- Which fish would you like to learn the parts on?
lady#2- well, I´m not going to touch them, but this one doesn´t smell so bad.
#1-OK, this is the head, and you will remember from our lesson of the body parts that it is called the CABEZA
#2- CABEZA
#1- CA-BE-ZA
#2- CA-BE-ZA
#1- Cabeza
#2- Cabeza
#1- right, Cabeza
#2- hmmm. Cabeza
#1-yes.
#2-well, I won´t be eating that.

Riveting. We watched the whole thing and now it is our second favorite European show after the life-size puppets and wandering news reporters.
In the next week we will be exploring the area more with my mom and stepdad, in a car! What luxury. Until later...now we are headed to the Mar Menor for some cleansing salt/mud scrubs.

Madrid, finally!

2005-10-18T03:10:00.000-07:00

We are finally here in the big city... our last stretch of cycling and we are adjusting to that. After leaving Barcelona we continued down the coast a couple of days. Since September has passed, finding a campground has been a bit of a gamble but on the coast we were pretty lucky. More scenic, hilly riding and pit stops that many times would coincide with viewing a Roman arch or ruin. We got to ride through the hometown of Gaudi and briefly saw the town of Tarragon. Our sightseeing has been a bit limited, as we have 2 bikes loaded down with everything and Scott´s had to ditch the kickstand. His bike was weighted down so much it was bending his frame. So, one of us would have to bikesit and take turns seeing something- same with grocery shopping- it has been so fun when we have actually gotten to pick stuff out together and figure out the mystery meats.

We turned inland near Reus and started up into the deserted hills. The whole time we went through this area we didn´t see any other tourists, let alone many people at all. The landscape many times looked like something out of a Dr.Seuss book, the geology is amazing- many times the hills looked to have been sculpted and small, incredibly old towns have been built up around these higher areas, with worn red rock showing through to become parts of walls, streets, roofs. There were also many Mesa Verde-esque cliff dwellings- some looked just as old and some looked like they may have heating and indoor plumbing!

Our map that tricked us about the camping before didn´t even try to pretend that there was camping anywhere near us, so it was interesting riding throughout the day, wondering where we would sleep that night. Our first was in a almond/olive tree farm. We had noticed (with not a little relief) that there were no cats really in this part of the country, then as the workers left and the sun set, we first heard, then saw at least two packs of wild dogs running around. They actually seemed harmless enough- just to be playing, but as Scott was outside fixing his spoke he did ask for the pepper spray. Other nights were spent in the forest, off the road and hidden from sight. I had read in our guidebook that hunting season here has offically started so Scott and I wore whatever our brightest clothing was, making interesting fashion statements when combined with out ¨woodsy¨look of not bathing for a few days, and riding pretty hard over the hills.

One thing we realized, a little too late, as it turned out, was that we couldn´t find supermarkets as readily as in other places, and therefore couldn´t get one day´s supplies at a time like we had been. Because of this, we ended up having some interesting meals, including stale bread and warm turkey baloney for breakfast, and stale bread with condensed mild (not reccomended, and possibly to be added to the weird food entry). Even when we did find stores, they had very little of what we were looking for. For example, one had every kind of oil you may ever want or need, and PLENTY of fresh rabbit, but that was about it. Many didn´t even have bread or produce, and we really wondered where the locals got this stuff. We figured there must be hidden places in people´s basements, dealing bread and carrots, making sure those dirty people on bikes didn´t see the transactions. We even tried to follow a few who seemed to be carrying fresh baguettes, but they just walked a little faster and clutched their precious bread closer to them. We did see a bread deal go down at a gas station, so maybe they are travelling vendors. We were sitting under the overhang waiting in vain for the rain to stop and we saw that alot of townspeople were milling around. It was not because of the Scott and Sarah show, which we were used to by then, but the bread guy pulled up and made deals from the trunk, then sped off while everyone walked home with their bread.

We decided that we deserved a night in a pension after many nights of camping in the woods, and a full day of riding in the rain. That was probably the most challenging day for me, and I ALMOST wished that we were back on the Barcelona freeway at night, on the wrong side. Almost. Poor Scott was trying to encourage me to just make it to the next town, but for a while I thought it sounded SO much more reasonable to huddle under a dirty tarp in the mud and feel sorry for myself. It didn´t help that the roadsign people don´t seem to share the same measurement system, so we would be riding and see that the next town was 25 K away, then 6 K later, it would all of a sudden be 32 K away. Just writing this, even now it doesn´t seem like such a big deal, but at the time I was thinking that there should be some legal action taken against whoever was responsible that hopefully involved them riding this distance on a bike in the rain. The rain itself was needed here, and the swelling clear streams and lakes were beautiful so I tried to be happy about it. I was happy that we had left Barcelona when we did though, we saw that the rains there were flooding the metro and washing cars into the sea, and in other parts of the country there was 4 cm of snow!

The area a couple days out of Madrid was really breathtaking, in many ways. There were many valleys and dramatic cliffs- mostly pine but everywhere there was the bright yellow of changing aspen set against the red, white, blue and purple of the hills. We had the roads to ourselves for the most part, so we got to look around, and breath deeply the smell of fresh rain and wild lavender.

The pension we stayed at was an interesting experience. It was the only place to stay in town, and run by a family who also ran the attached grocery store. We got a room in their house and the son, Ricardo did all of the transactions- it seemed that he was the little brother and was forced to do everthing. Five minutes after he showed us where to store our bikes, he took our money for the room, then 20 min. later was in the family grocery store chopping up a hambone, then picking out muffins for us, with a smile the whole time. We haven´t been able to make warm food since we have the wrong kind of stove here, so we feasted on canned peas and peaches while watching Spanish TV, in complete bliss. I don´t know if it was because we hadn´t seen TV for a while, but we were thoroughly entertained by a cooking show, and the way that Spanish news reporters wander around in frantic circles. We ended up staying in another pension the next night, we liked it so much (and REALLY didn´t feel like asking to sleep in someone´s muddy yard). We stayed in Tendilla, which I think must be some distant relatives, and stayed above a bar. We were thinking of going out to eat at the restaraunt, but it didn´t even open until 9:30 which was WAY past our bedtime, making us realize how much we would have to adjust! One funny thing about sleeping in the pensions was how out of place we felt. I felt like all of our stuff, including ourselves got 100 times dirtier and smellier as soon as we were indoors in a clean environment. The first night I could barely sleep and I described it as similar to when my family used to let our dog in on Christmas. He was an outdoor dog, and very obedient, so he would come in, but sort of cower in the corner and wait to go outside again. Being on a bed felt pretty foreign! I got over that pretty fast, though and now that we are in Madrid it feels so nice to be staying in our friends´cozy apartment. We plan on seeing and doing as much as we can here, and there is plenty. We hit the Prado the day after we got here, but will have to go again as we had celebrated our arrival the night before until the wee hours and all the potraits seemed to be looking at me and saying, ¨wow, Sarah- you should be in bed¨.

If anyone knows of places we must see or go to, let us know...there seems to be an endless supply, though I was dissapointed to see that Scott and I missed the international road sign convention here last week- (really!) I would have had some questions and perhaps some constructive criticism for them :)

Off to Madrid

2005-10-07T01:06:00.000-07:00

Barcelona was incredible. I only have 5 min. on the computer, so let´s just say that there was so much to see and do that we walked about 20k and still saw just a fraction. Highlights were, the olympic park, the food market, la Sagrada Familia, to quickly name just a few. Now we are heading off to Madrid- down the coast some more and then cutting in and over some mountains. We will see how the route goes because when Scott mapped it out, he thought the green part on the map was the mountains, but it is actually the flat part- perhaps we may have to change. We will be going through some of the most isolated, desolate parts of Spain. That´s about all the guide book says because I think they assume that after reading that, you will make the decision not to go there. It should be interesting and I am sure we will meet all the cats.

Barthelona

2005-10-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

We have arrived in this incredible city, after an eventful journey down the coast. We had elected to take this route because it was ¨flat¨ and ¨relaxing¨. I am not so up on my European geography, but apparently, the Pyranees run pretty much into the ocean. The ride was incredibly beautiful and challenging. The coastline was like Highway 1 times 5 which would make it Highway 5, but for all the Californians, it was anything but. The Med was exquisite and it was quite an experience to pass the border on a two-lane highway mountain pass. Scott has insisted that we have been in a James Bond movie since we hit the coast(For Your Eyes Only).

One interesting thing about camping when the season is all but over has been the pack of cats that lurk and emerge with the sunset wherever we go. They were presumably well-fed during the high season, but now that it is over, they are getting bolder and more desperate. At our last camping in France, Scott and I made friends with one of these cats, confusing affection with hunger. We bought it a bag of food, and this just created cat fights that we heard throughout the night. This cat was so grateful that it wanted to be associated with us, and showed us in the way that it knew, by peeing on our tent in the night. This was not the effect we were looking for. We were more hoping for a long purr and knowing grin, but we got the pee. From then on, even after diligent scouring, our tent has been the subject of curiosity and competition among the campground cats. Scott would like to add that is really smells like New Zealand Savignon Blanc, but after the Provence lavender spray we got, I think it smells like cat pee in the lavender bush. We did make a great friend at our second campsite in Spain, South of Girona (Haribo´s main factory, for those who are wondering) who Scott named Small Paws. She seemed to not be so interested in the pee spot as in us, for which we showered her with affection. While we were giving her some scratches, thunder and lightning surprised us all and after Scott gave me a sweet, pleading look, Small Paws spent the night in our tent, after Scott shoved her face in the pee spot and made her promise in cat language that she would NOT pee there. She didn´t and she spent most of the night in his sleeping bag, purring loudly. We miss her, and wish we could have taken her with us.

On our way down, we went to Dali´s exhibit/theatre in his hometown, Figueres. It was an incredible experience- exhibits that are a whole room- one whole room is a living room from afar, but when seen from a certain angle- a portrait of Mae West. Very unique. We are exited to explore Barcelona tomorrow and are taking a few days rest. For those who ever plan on camping in Barcelona, DON¨T. Every road becomes a freeway and I can´t tell you how happy we were to lay on our thermarests last night, after negotiating the city for 6 hours. We will be updating soon, and we appreciate all the feedback and comments!

A quick review

2005-09-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

I thought I would quickly go through the food that we love here and the weird stuff we have eaten. Our knowledge is a bit limited, seeing that we only eat cheap stuff from the grocery store and have not gone out to eat since Switzerland, so that explains our weird nominations. (This, in case you are wondering is the kind of thing we discuss on our bikes, or, like a few hours ago when we had quietly been riding and gazing at the Pyrenees and Scott says to me, "do you think that Justin Timberlake looks like Orlando Bloom" "Um, yeah, kind of...why" "oh, I was just wondering if they like to cycle" Clearly. They do look alike, though. But I digress...

Favorite foods

Belgium- the waffles, of course, with little yummy chunks of sugar in them
Holland- Fred and Ed Hazelnoot Pasta (hazelnut paste) Basically nutella in a squeeze bottle that, in an emergency, you can squeeze right into your mouth.
Denmark-the danishes, of course, each bit of it was like the best inside part of a cinnamon roll.
Norway-either the reindeer or the soup that Doris made
Germany- the potato pancakes at the Brewery, and the pretzels
France-the cheese and baguettes.

Now, the weird stuff we have eaten:

Malteaser- you may have though, as I did, that this is a tasty treat found in the frozen section that is like a malted yummy thing in a bite-size package. I bought one for each of us, and Scott took a BIG bite of his, and it apparently is some sort of yeast starter with the consistancy of water and corn starch. Not a treat.
Horse meat- well, we don't speak french and we are bargain shoppers in the meat section so put two and two together. What tipped us off was the it tasted WEIRD and there was a picture of a cowboy on the package and one had the Italian translation which Scott was sad to read. No more really cheap salami. Ew.
The grossest fondue chenoise ever- This was in Switzerland and Scott and I were treaing ourselves to our first dinner in a restaraunt, and we should have known because it was the one restaraunt so it didn't matter what it tasted like. The broth had a weird koosh-ball looking thing that was maybe seaweed but we were really far from the ocean, you get the idea.
Gross cheese- This is bound to happen, again refer to the bargain shopping. We were eating this one that was so slimy and it was a windy day and getting everywhere, even in my hair and after choking it down I realized why it was grossing me out so much. It smelled like goat poop. Insult to injury, there was no running water, so I had the smell on my hands for the rest of the day.
That is all I can think of for now, but I am sure there is more.

Right now we are headed toward the windy section right at the border. This part of France had been really interesting- flamingos and bull fights and beautiful beaches. Next stop...Espana!

Change of Luck!

2005-09-24T00:35:00.000-07:00

Since I last added to this, Scott and I have been making our way down to Spain in a round about way, strangely enough, we have been going through more wine regions. We hit a place in Rasteau that we were tipped off to by our friend, the webmaster. The winemaker was so nice and she showed us all around, answering all of Scott;s questions. Winemakers seem to like it when people come in who know a bit about the process, instead of just saying, mmm this one is good, so I usually stay quiet or say it to myself.

We then headed through Gigondas, which is fun to say anytime (or substitute for any noun...try it!) Then to the famous Chàteauneuf du Pape. All around us are tractors pulling loads of grapes, grape pickers; which look like something from Star Wars, and all of the people out in the vines. Many of them wave and it is funny to see the harvest workers and Scott look at each other and wish they could swap places. CNP itself was crazy! I was expecting to see another small village alive with the buzz of harvest but it felt like a souped-up Napa- showy, expensive stores and restaurants, TONS of tourists, more tasting rooms than you could shake a Gigondas at, and harvest workers cruising the small streets at break-neck speed, screaming out the windows. Think of that next time you drink a wine from there and you see the quaint castle on the label and picture old men stomping on the grapes with weathered and stained feet, listening to the birds chirp. Those grapes were picked by sleep-deprived teenagers with dreadlocks who could care less about the wine, their main concern is where the party is that night and what other drugs they can get to stay awake for the next day. OK, I am stereotyping, some of them didn,t have dreadlocks.(and I still like the wine!)

Yesterday we also cruised through Avingnon, which means that we tried to see as much as we could without paying an entrance fee or getting our bikes stolen. For those who haven,t been; it is a city built in the 1100s I believe, walled and was the hope of the Pope for a while a long time ago 1300s I think. That is the abridged Sarah version, but basically an incredibly beautiful city with amazing buildings and history. It was strange to see and hear other people from the states again, I:d say it was the most we have heard since Bergen, Norway.

Later, we decided to head again South and find a campsite in a town nearby that had the symbol (^), which supposedly means campsite. Turns out, in some cases, especially when you ride 30 K out of your way on a deserted road over big hills, that symbol means, ha ha Scott and Sarah, in your FACE there;s NO campsite even NEAR here, but heres a sighn for another town 15 K even more out of your way that may or may NOT have one, you decide what to do. We followed those signs for a while, water running low and light dissapating. After getting directions at the grocery store in the town (Montfrin), we head out there, weary from our longest day yet, 150K and can FEEL the thermarest and just being horizontal. We get there and its closed. That was not in our plan, and we cant even sneak in like we have before because it is fenced off with a sign saying private property. Completely dejected, we slowly rode back to the map of the town, hoping that there was another site nearby. It was after 7 at this point and getting darker. We got to the map and just looked at it for about 5 minutes, sometimes looking away, hoping that when we looked back, one would have miraculously appeared. This was what we were doing when our new friend, Gregory found us. Basically, he offered to help us and went so much above and beyond we could not believe it. He was going out of town for the evening and offered his home to us, people he had just met! It has been so great to be in a home, if just for one night. It is also an amazing place, the building is over 300 years old and 4 floors with 200 year old doors and stone tiles, you get the picture. We hope that he comes to California so that we can return the favor. This whole trip we have had to depend many times on the kindness of strangers, and this one tops them all.

No news on the replacement computer yet, the claim is being processed and understandably, we are probably not their first priority. Today we leave for the coast, which we will ride along part, or all of the way to Spain.

a small snafu...

2005-09-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

This blog will unfortunately be a bit abridged for a bit... our computer got stolen in Condrieu, France. We are insured, but we don,t know if it can be replaced while we are here. It was an interesting experience filing a police report when we spoke no French and the nice officer spoke no English: There was alot of miming and Scott and I felt like we were on a gameshow, every time we got something across, we felt like we won that round: We had a dictionary that we had borrowed, but it was printed before computers were around, so it was not a huge help:

Quickly; we loved Chamonix, it is truly breathtaking and especially rewarding after the long ride over the pass. We are currently making our way down the Rhone and visiting some of Scott,s favorite wine spots: We tasted at a cellar yesterday where the family had been making wine there since the 1500s. Fall has come to France; we are crunching over leaves as we ride and the mornings are getting chilly. Also; most of the campgrounds that we go to are deserted. It is cheaper, but sometimes a little spooky.

We will add when we can, Scott is trying hard to get the computer replaced over here; so hopefully we will up and running soon. If that is the worst thing that happens to us on the trip; then that is OK; though we may never drink wine from Condreiu again; it may just taste like sour grapes :)

Torgon, our town

2005-09-11T04:02:00.000-07:00

Switzerland by Sarah

2005-09-11T03:15:00.000-07:00

This little town in the mountains has felt like our home- we have been here now 9 days which is by far the most time we have spent in one spot. As Scott said, the ride up here was epic- you know you are going up fast when your ears keep popping. It has been so nice to be able to cook and read and play ping-pong and do our laundry (even if it is in the bathtub). Most of the people our age are the staff here so we have made friends with them and Scott has been practicing his Italian with the bartender, Pascual. We are trying to convince him to move to SF in North Beach- he would fit right in.

We have been filling our days with unencumbered rides (you can see our load on the photo from Denmark)- it feels like flying without all of the stuff. We've also been hiking around and exploring the mountains- the first exploration we didn't have a map, but everywhere you go around here is so beautiful. I feel like Heidi in the alps! This is a ski resort but now there are cows grazing up here, all with big bells around their necks making the valleys echo with sounds like loud wind chimes.

On Fri. we hiked up to a lake which involved a short cut that ended up being just a lot of bush-whacking. We finally reached the main trail when we saw a woman hiking the opposite direction from us. We heard some bells and then a pack (gaggle?) of about 15 one year-old goats turned the corner- they appeared to be following her on her hike, and she seemed to be trying to escape them. Scott and I of course, stopped and gave them some scratches, though they were actually more interested in the salt on our legs. After a couple of minutes we decided to continue on, and the goats came trotting along, some of them leaning up against us for more scratches. We had this entourage for the next 15 min. or so. They would stop sometimes to eat, but then one would realize that we had continued and would RUN toward us, causing a few mini-stampedes. We finally parted ways but I wish we could have taken a few with us.

The trails up in the mountains here are an interesting combination of backroads, cat-tracks, pasture, stream bed, driveway, etc. You also have to be a detective to follow them because some are marked only by yellow squares or diamonds painted on some rocks and after you get to a certain altitude, the signs even disappear. One nice thing is all of the natural spring troughs that you can fill your water with- I think it's also where the cows get their water too- it's nice of them to share.

So, we are here an extra 2 days, waiting for our digital camera to arrive. We had packed up and checked out yesterday and thought it would arrive then, but Joss the desk-guy called and said it wouldn't come until Mon. Scott and I were debating camping in the hills here, making a side trip...but the staff here said that we could stay these 2 days for free. It is so nice of them- we have made friends with many of them because they are the closest in age to us and they are from all over. We also would bring them cookies and offer to help so I think they were appreciative. Also, we got to help out Joss with a very interesting job!

Turns out, 17 years ago, Slash's mom (yes, from Guns'nRoses) needed a place to stay in Spain. Mutual friends knew that Joss was going to be living abroad, so she ended up living in his house for 4 months. For those who do not know (as neither of us did, though you can find out on many G'nR sites), Slash's mom is a dancer/fashion designer who has designed stuff for David Bowie, the Pointer Sisters, and others. She told Joss that to repay him the favor, she would design his wife's wedding dress, when the day came. They lost touch though, and 17 years later he is getting married to another employee here (they are both very nice). He asked us if we could help find her information- he sees us here in the lobby on the computer all the time. We were on it! Of course we googled her, etc. but that just turned up lots of Guns'n Roses fan pages (which are pretty interesting). We ended up paying a fee to get her information on one of those people-stalking/searching sites. I have always been dubious but it worked! He talked to her last night and she was so exited, though she did wonder how he got her information. He told her that we were detectives and she has now invited us over to thank us as well. That is something I think we might have to do!

So, now we are waiting for the camera, and for the rain to stop, filling our days with watching the US Open and feeling inspired and playing ping pong. We will hopefully head out to Chamonix on Mon and then down the Rhone into France and the land of Euros again. We are so close right now though, that on 2 of our hikes we went into France. No passport stamps though. We only have gotten one so far, and that was because I ran back and begged the customs guys at the airport when we arrived. We got really exited one time when we crossed over into Switzerland and the conductor was checking passports, but not ours. We even tried to track down a stamp in Norway in the freight dept. at the ferry, to no avail. We are thinking of making our own stamps and putting them in- though that may be against the law.

Geared up at the Ferry in Denmark

2005-09-10T03:04:00.000-07:00

Skanavik- The Tendal property...

2005-09-10T00:37:00.000-07:00

some Norway photos

2005-09-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

Holland...life on the bike begins (yes, out of order)

2005-09-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

This blog may be irksome to those who like up the minute stuff. I know that I am though Sarah could care less. With that being said let us go to the magical land of wooden shoes, pomm frits, and dikes. Let us also add to this list one of the best bike road systems anywhere. The "fietspad" as these paths are called can take a rider all over Holland. Through cities, fields, farms, and land that once was under water but know is lush country side...we can thank the Dike system for this.

After the Bruges fiasco Sarah and I found ourselves entering the Netherlands from the western border. We headed north toward the islands of Zee land. The weather was exceptional and there was little to no wind. The campground was great too! (Side note: they were cooking some dish over an open flame in a skillet that has the size of a kiddie pool. There was meat, mushrooms and potatoes simmering in a beef stock/cream sauce. Sarah and I opted for beers instead. "Heineken tastes different here"; so true, Sarah so true. Later would find where they hide all the regular Amstel, it's in a campground out side of Amsterdam.) As we crossed over to Middleburg the weather started to turn for the worst.
The next few day were filled with morning and afternoon showers. We got used to being damp and could not differ between rain dampness and personal dampness. Thank God for Cappeline and the rest of our Patagonia gear though damp we were but stayed comfortable. I digress, we trudged on toward Rotterdam enjoying the rich green foliage brisk breeze that was always in our face. Stopping to refill our spirits with Gouda cheese, sweet waffles, and Hazelnutt paste (aka Fred and Ed...brand name). Though the weather was dreary, the beautiful country side and the hospitality warmed our hearts. I have met Dutch before and could only tell them that I had been to Amsterdam...for an hour. (No, I was not getting high I was in route to Ghana.) However I think that being able to see the bread basket of someone's country says a lot. I hope you get what I mean.

The breadbasket of the Netherlands is full of classic little farm houses that can be seen in many early Van Gough paintings. Also there are countless windmills, both classic and modern. While riding through Rotterdam through to Gouda we ran into a little bit of an annoying situation. We were trying with all of our wit to ride around the city so we would not need to ride through the heart of a congested city. As we rode the south west we were intersected by interstates, canals, and rivers. We had already rode 70km this day and just wanted to be through the city. However we ended up riding two hours more then if we would have just busted through. Also we could not find a campground for the life of us. So with the aid of a man riding with a basket full of zucchini, tomatoes, and onions we made it through Rotterdam and on the way to Gouda. 1850hr and Sarah and I are tired still looking for a campsite and run into another friendly biker. In full spandex he rides with us 15km to Gouda, and to our favorite campsite. It was free and looked out onto a pond with a stone bridge, a place reminiscent of MonetÂs Garden. This (Sarah writing now...) was probably my favorite spot that we have camped. There was a small family there, and it USED to be a campsite- the woman living there felt so bad, she brought out water for us, and showed us how to use the bathroom in the old, condemned farmhouse right next to us. (a little creepy at night :) The grass was so soft and we set up right under a tree, not 10 feet from the calming moat and families of ducks swimming by. We awoke in the am to chickens wandering the lawn and the father playing outside with the 2 year old. It was one of those serendipitous events that I wouldn't replace with any campsite. And it was FREE!

There is something very interesting about the houses in thecitiess and themannerr that they are landscaped. First they almost all have moats. These moats are covered in a smallLillyy pad like plant that gives the illusion of a putting green. The moat is something that should be implemented world wide. No mowing, no watering, and no unsightly fences. The cats would stay in and no need to worry about the dog running away. People throw trash into the yard and it just sinks. Put a few fish in there and youÂre an aquaculture establishment. Finally, the basement would become an aquarium for thneighborhoodod. Perfect! Oh wait, where was I?

After Gouda it was off to Haarlem and spot just north of Amsterdam. The route was lined with fields and fields of flowers, and the huge estates of the flower barons who owned the fields. It seemed to be gladiola season when were passing. That night we stayed at the campground of Amstel, I also believe that itÂs also the largest camping area for angry-mixed up youth in Europe. When we arrived, after a long day of riding we were greeted by a tractor pulling a trailer filled with little kids. Was it Children of the corn Holland? Scared, I asked Sarah if she really wanted to stay, but we had very little option. This was also the site where people had set up there campers and brought with them couches, carpets, desks, garden gnomes, old wheelbarrows filled with flowers, and set up for three to four months. I thought we were fancy with the laptop.

Sarah again...
I think after here we were heading for the dike to go east towards Germany. We figured, by looking at the map that we could do the remainder of the penninsula and the 30k dike the next day. Well, nope. Those Northern winds proved to still be set in their ways and were trying to skid us back down to Belgium. In this land of flat, harvested fields with no trees or bushes in sight at times led me to try to invent some sort of light, portable bathroom for ladies. Mostly, I was just envious of Scott. There were many more quaint Dutch villages, many of them with vegetable or honey stands outside people's homes. There would be a sign with the price per bunch, bottle, etc., and you would just put the amount in the basket. It was so cool, and made me wish it could be done back home (we did wonder where everybody was, though). We just made it to Den Oever that evening and stayed at yet another cute campsite with lots of vacationing Dutch families. This is where we REALLY saw the clog. From our tent it sounded like there were 55 secretaries rushing around in their high-heels to wash dishes or hurry to the trampoline...it was actually pretty cool to see. Even the grown men and the little kids (even though they could barely WALK in them!) We sat and tried to plan the next day and soothe our wind-burned faces while the families around us played Bingo. Apparently, we missed a rager at about 4:45 am, two tents from us- it sounded like they were all having a great time, celebrating the fact that they didn't have to cycle across the 30k dike early in the morning.

The next day we crossed the dike...a good place to contemplate life, given the unchanging scenery and steady rhythm of riding. I shall have to save the rest of the journey that connects us through Denmark for another day...the ping-pong table is calling and we are leaving here soon...

Norway!

2005-09-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the completely disjointed timeline. We apparently write things that we are thinking about at that time and hope that those who are reading this can piece everything together. Such as, wait...I thought they were in Holland...didn't they go to Norway at some point? YES! You will hear and see some of this adventure now to get us updated.

We met up with my dad and Doris in Hirshals, a port town on the Northern tip of Denmark, after riding up from Arhus for three days. We can't say that we "saw" all of the countryside because we arrived there after midnight and decided to ride out of town and set up camp in some field. Apparently, Arhus is a bit larger than we had presumed and we proceeded to ride through crowds of drunk University kids, then kilometer after kilometer of city and industrial buildings. Scott started proclaiming any land that was somewhat flat to be PERFECT to camp at, however, as tired as I was I thought that the farmer whose house was 30 feet away from that area in their own cornfield might not appreciate it come morning. We proceeded on, and through other senses than sight can confirm that one of Denmark's industries is pig farming. I started remembering every Steven King book that I had ever read and got just a LITTLE nervous whenever Scott's blinky taillight got too far ahead. The remedy was, pedal faster and sing Beatles songs to myself. We finally set up camp at 4:45 am and got a nod from the very cute and old watch dog at the campsite when we rolled in.

Anyways, Denmark was awesome, the rolling hills and sunshine were a welcome after the chilly winds of Holland and we visited a Viking burial ground of over 700 and utilize our patch kit for the first time, for Walter- a nice German man from Kiel. It was funny watching Scott and he show each other how to fix a flat. I think I caught Walter say, "I know!" and swat Scott's hands away.

So...we met up with my dad and Doris, after only having the name of the hotel they would be at, it was fun to see them on this side of the world! The ferry ride was like a cruise and we spent much of it exploring the 8 levels of theatres, duty free shops, slot machines, etc.

We got to Olso and met up with Kristoffer, Emma, Ali, Krystal and my uncle Kris. It was great to hear everyone's adventures thus far. It appeared that all of us were happy for a warm, clean bed, dinner and a good night's sleep. We did go get our first Norwegian beer on none other than a floating bar, though...

The next week+ was filled with scenic car rides, meeting closely related Tendalls, touring Norwegian towns, eating new meats and fun times. We initally met the Tendalls in Oslo, then drove across the country to Bergen, a beautiful fishing village with lots of history and weird-looking fish in the market. You may want to pause to Google image "wolf-fish" or "monk-fish". We had a delicious Norske meal of seafood, fish, reindeer and whale meat

I'm sorry, I have to break in here to share the pain- we are in a lobby of a place in Switzerland and Scott is singing the guitar solo to Hotel California with all the motions, serenading the DJ on the synthesizer. Ok, it has passed. I digress...

Sorry about the placement of the photos, I haven't figured out how to place them in the correct place. At least I think they are in the right order.

After a fun evening in, where Scott and I were introduced to the "little man" rule in kings, we perused the thrift stores of Bergen, after the tip from Scott's mom. We left for Skanevik well stocked with jewelry and whale beef.

That ride was just as dramatically beautiful as the previous. Photos cannot do justice to the landscape. I'd also like to give a shout out for my brother's driving around the crazy twists and turns of the one lane road we were driving on the whole time. Oh, another funny part about the first drive was that my dad's walkie-talkie was set to VOX- voice activated, so in the car behind, we heard about any car announcements as well as conversations- such as, "OK, it is time to roll the windows down" and , "...look in the glove compartment" and a discussion of Norwegian socialism. It was actually very entertaining, but we had to put a stop to it for the sake of the batteries and any Norwegian truckers that happened to be nearby.

Skanavik was an incredible experience, on so many levels. We got to stay in a whole house almost to ourselves for two days. All but the troll who the owner neglected to mention lived in the basement. He had good intentions, I think he was just very lonely and had lost some social skills such as knocking before entering my Uncle Kris' "private" quarters at 7 am, or dragging conversations on and on until he was dragging them in the dirt. It made me think of that movie, I forget which one, but when someone needs to leave a conversation and says, "It's going to look like I am walking away right now, but I am really listening" Scott had to basically close the car window on him when we were leaving once- he had actually stuck his head INSIDE the car and was telling us about who knows what. The house itself was beautiful with a rope swing, a small orchard with ripe plums, bocci set, washing machine (ye-ah!), kitchen, photos of the owner's dogs and ex-girlfriends...in a word, homey.

After Doris made the best onion soup ever and we had a great home-cooked meal, we slept like babes. Ali and Krystal tried to go down to the town "dance" which ended up a bust. If I hadn't mentioned earlier, Skanavik is a pretty small town- one bakery, one hotel, you get the picture. It was weird knowing that we were directly related to many of the people that we saw about town.

The next day we met some of the Tendalls who still live on the original property dating back 100s and 100s of years. For those who I haven't bored with the story already, dall is an adaptation of dal- meaning valley, so my last name comes from this large piece of land that I got to explore. The land itself was breath-taking! It goes from the shore, where there is now a salmon farm my relatives used to build boat, much like the ones that took the first Norwegian immigrants to the U.S., up through a beautiful valley with a meandering stream. At the top of the property the woods give way to 2 dramatic ridges on either side and ahead. It looked like some great climbing and hiking and Scott and I invited ourselves back for future adventures. The other incredible part of this visit was sharing family history, photos, etc. It is not many who will open their home to 9 strangers-who cares if some claim to have the same last name. We were so graciously received, they made us lunch and had baked the best cake I have ever had! We even got to meet the Tendall dachshund who barks at her own echo in the Ten"dal".

After this, we went back to Oslo in the car with Kristoffer Sean (my brother), Big Kris, Emma, Scott and myself. We stopped at many scenic points and Scott and I went on a quest for an I "heart" Telemark T-shirt when we drove through the region. No luck, but we saw some more beautiful towns, valleys, and buildings.

Back in Oslo ( Ali and Krystal had to leave a day earlier), Scott, Emma, Kristoffer and I went to the folk museum where they have transported many traditional buildings, the Viking Ship museum, and the Con-Tiki museum. The next day, Scott and I went to the ski jump and most extensive ski museum in the world. As you can imagine, this took almost all day. We got to have a little training as well, because the lift was out of order.

We got onto another cruise back to Denmark, reduced troops, just down to my dad, Doris, Big Kris, Scott and myself. It was sad to say goodbye to Norway but I am sure we will be returning there soon, most likely in winter. We also got to get an early taste of Spain when we went out to celebrate my brother's b-day at a Spanish restaurant. As you might imagine- Norwegian-Spanish food is kind of like Spanish food taken down 5 levels and add some potatoes.

We then embarked on our Germany adventure...we got to meet one of Big Kris' friends who was an interesting and fun woman- super-witty in her eighties and fluent in multiple languages- I could only hope for so much. We were in Lubeck which was an incredibly interesting and beautiful city- home of Marzipan as well so we stocked up.

We next went to Wolfsburg to meet and stay with my dad's high-school friend who has married, lived and taught there for years. That weekend was a festival of some sort that we visited after going to a brewery that has been there for over a hundred years, using the same recipe for beer the whole time. We even got a tour from the brewmaster- it is quite a feeling to be toasting in front of a fireplace that has seen millions of toasts, songs, and drunken speeches.

I was suffering from a bit of a cold that I had been given by my sweet sister, Ali...she somehow had acquired it in her earlier travels in Holland, Sweden and Italy and had been dubbed "The Infector". I soberly watched the dancers and the oompa-bands in the many tents there. It was pure entertainment, if you leave out the part where I almost sat on somebody's lost bacon and got yelled at in German by a drunk lady. The funniest thing I think I have seen this whole trip happened that night- there were two girls about 14 or 15, dressed in traditional dresses walking around and selling shots from a barrel for
.50 E., we think for some charity. Well, one of the girls had been apparently sucking off the bung of the barrel and was a giggle-machine. They came up to Big Kris and offered him a shot. He, being the nice gentleman he is, obliged and spoke to them in German. This struck the funny bone of the giggle-machine and it started up an episode that became laugh-fest 2005, Wolfsburg. She COULD NOT TAKE IT! I saw her cross her legs, grab her stomach, avoid eye-contact like the plague, all the tricks and it did not work at all. All the while her buddy was talking with Big Kris trying to ignore her exploding partner. I was ready to see a dark puddle beneath her traditional dress, but she held it together, at least as long as we were there. My dad and I were laughing that she would get in trouble for stealing booze from the orphans or whatever cause they were collecting for.

Scott and I headed out the next day, saying goodbye to my family and our new friends...another train adventure which we are getting relatively good at, I might say. It depends on what kind of terminal and what kind of train, but we have gotten the transfers pretty much down now. We have been depending upon the kindness of the strangers we happen to clock with our bags or bikes, but it has worked out so far. We almost took my dad with us on the first leg, but besides that we have only missed one train and I have realized that if I KICK my bags down the stairs, they get there much quicker, and then maybe a nice person will feel bad and carry them for me. I know it is cold and calculating, but it has worked.

OK folks, I am blogged and synthesizered out for now, but we are pretty much up to date so it should be more EXITING from now on. Sorry if this is incredibly boring, I am kind of just journaling the trip too. Let us know in the comments. We get exited when we see postings but they are usually ads :) Hasta Pronto

What's up now? 9/3/05

2005-09-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

We just arrived in Switzerland and are just of south of the western tip of Lake Geneva in a place called Torgon. The area is amazing not only for the mountains but also because it is in the French are of Switzerland so we are getting all of the great wines and cheeses...oh and don't forget butter! Yeah!

However, all of this did not come for free. Sarah and I had a brutal 11km ride where we climbed 1100 meters in the beating sun with all of our crap on the bikes. So more butter and wine. We are on a step that looks west onto huge granite spires that look unreal, they seem to have defied gravity to be carved in such a manner.

The past week we have been traveling in Germany. We left Sarah's dad, Doris, and Uncle Kris in Wolfsburg and headed west to Koblenz. Here we started a tour of the Mosel Valley, seeing where the worlds greatest Reislings come from. Such a dramatic a landscape, it's hard to believe that vines can grow on 60+ degree of shist. The weather was hot as hell, and if tails off a little and no rain, 2005 will be a great year for Mosel Saar Rawer wines. Sarah and I did run into some punks though our first night.

We had got into a campsight right at sun down and quickly set up camp. I was engrossed in the latest Harry Potter as Sarah was reading the Jungle. Next thing I know some punk 15 year old tuff guys start throwing rocks at our tent. I get out of the tent, and they run away. This process happens another 3 times and I decide to tell the Camp Keeper. He could give a rat's ass. I resolve to sneak up on them and ask what the hell they think they are doing. I find them and they say, "I German". Meaning they don't know what I am saying. I try to convey to them that they need to grow up. They stopped.

We ended the 4 day ride in Saarburg and felt the need to soak in the medicinal waters of Baden Baden...but we will pick up that story in another blog. If you are wondering why there are not loads of photos it is because we are waiting on our digi to arrive, I (Scott), accidentally smashed it at Sarah D/G's wedding. Soon though. But for the time being here are some photos of Norway...which is also the topic of another blog.

2005-08-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

Some well desearved beers in Oslo! 8-16-05

The Beginning: French Pronounciation....

2005-08-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Though we have been travelling for a bit, I feel that we should share our first real adventure that we had after a whirlwind departure for Europe.

written 6:53 pm Vierzon, France. 8/5/05

French Lesson #1

Scott and I embarked on the long journey today- final destination: Bruges, Belgium to begin our bicycle trip to and through Holland, etc. After an incredibly hilarious display in Charles De Gaul while we figured out how to carry all of our gear we were ready to go! Realize that by our "gear" I mean 2 big boxes containing our partially dissassembled bikes, 2 critical mass bags (utilizing them to their fullest) and two HUGE duffles containing 4 panniers each with all that we needed and then some.

So, we were off...well, at least we were off in the sense that I waited for Scott to purchase our tickets to Bruges while I perched atop our mountain of belongings for 45 min. , watching the other non-natives try to figure out the ticket vending machine.

Scott had impressed us both with his effortless purchase of the tickets, thanks to his great French accent and apparently accurate sign language. We were in good spirits as we negotiated (not for the last time, by far) how to get through the metro/subway turnstiles with everything, as rush hour approached. We made it on and off the first metro fine...only a few looks here and there. It was very confusing from that point, however. After we got off the first metro the jet lag and sleep depravation started to set in. We walked UP stairs, saw a crossed out sign, down again, UP again, asked a man where to go...OH! Down again, then we saw no signs, back UP again, asked the miffed by this point metro workers, ...OK, down again.

Remember, during all of this S. and I are carrying everything on stairs or escalators during commuting hours. I started by gently picking up my bike in its precious box, by the last round of the stairs I kind of wished that that clanging sound caused by dragging the box meant that my bike was broken and I would get to ditch it in the subway.

ANYWAYS...

We finally get to the correct subway transfer station...with a small pause when I was waiting with our stuff and a Danish girl came up to me and started asking me directions. In Danish. I was so delirious at this point that I thought it was a language I should know. Scott was the one that had to say that no, I was not Danish and we did not know where to get a taxi.

We crammed all of our stuff through sliding doors, pushing bags and jumping over boxes that we jammed in between to keep the turnstiles open, like we were frantically packing a ship that was pulling away from port. We did the same into the next subway, through a little more quickly on this one because we only had about 15 sec. to get everthing on. We shoved it all so fast that thank god the doors weren't open on the other side or they would have ended up on the tracks. We had not even gathered ourselves by the next stop, but Scott leaned out the window and saw a sign with our final destination and said it was GO TIME! I THREW my duffle out and tried to slide my box...we were in the last car at the end of the station, it is a wonder that nothing fell into the abyss. The buzzer sounded and Scott and I panicked. He tossed me his bag then threw his box out- projecting me into a box/bag/Sarah/bag/metal wall sandwich at an amazing speed. It was corrugated metal too- so if our panic-induced yelling wasn't enough to attract the attention of the people at the subway, the Sarah/box gong surely did, as well as the exclamations it produced.

Scott barely made it out and we were in a heaving, aching pile- assessing the damage when we realize that it was not our stop, ours was a few down. I voted to let the next one pass to give us tome to collect ourselves and be ready to pounce on the the next subway. That is what we eventually did, we had that part finally down...though not able to avoid the gawking. I'd like to think that they were impressed with out eficiency, but I doubt it. I would have stared too. It looked like we were moving everything from our apartment in a subway ride.

So, after a last trek up the stairs we make it to the train. I relaxed into the seat as Scott locked up the bikes in the bike compartment. As I listened to the announcements we pulled away and I closed my eyes, ready for the 2 1/2 hour trip to Bruges. I don't know what it was, but it sounded for some reason that we were not heading in the right direction. I REALLY wanted to just relax and catch some sleep, but something made me look at the map. We were cruising along towards...Bourges. France. South of Paris, the exact opposite way we wanted to go. When Scott came back from rigging up some McGyver lock system with our stuff, I dropped the bomb and he looked like I had just punched him in the stomach and then told him he was a bad cook. An hour and a half later the train finally stopped and we stayed in the first small town (Vierzon) just to get up at 3:30 the next morning and do almost the same in reverse!!:)

Sorry this description is so long and negative, actually it was pretty funny even then, though Scott still has a bruise on his bicep from the heavy bag. We have had an incredible journey thus far and will fill in more as we can...wireless connections are not what we thought they would be in rural Holland- imagine that!

The Adventures of Sarah and Scott

2005-08-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

This sight is a work in progress of two lovers named Sarah and Scott and their adventures. The first and current adventure takes us to Western Europe in August 2005...more to come