South Gobi-Ice Valley & Dinosaur Eggs!

On this day, I slept much better than the three previous nights. I was awoken by the family bringing in breakfast and boiled water. Breakfast consisted of a sushi-like roll with rice, cucumbers, and cabbage salad. This did not appear to be traditional Mongolian food. Migaa later informed us that it was Korean. Jay informed me that last night he had a conversation with Caroline and Nick regarding suspenders. In England, pants mean underwear and suspenders mean garder belts. Not knowing the exact terminology, I said "my gran wears suspenders!" Caroline and Nick began busting out laughing and explained the two concepts to me. Now, I will never view suspenders the same way again. Sorry Gran!

The main focus of today's conversation was constipation. It appeared that everyone was having problems in this area. This could be due adaptation to the countryside. The journey for the day was traveling to the Ice Valley and a canyon where dinosaur bones and eggs have been found. The road to the Ice Valley was sandy and rocky with lots of bumps! However, the view was phenomenal. We walked down the grass valleys where we saw gerbel like creatures with mickey mouse ears everywhere. There were many holes that these creatures popped in and out of as they skirted across the grassy valley. Also, there were many cows and horses grazing the grassland. Jay and Nick found a cow carcass near a stream. This was extremely sad, we attempted to figure out how his death occurred. As we approached the ice valley, you could see layers of thin sheets of ice. This was extremely beautiful, but you couldn't concentrate too much on the view...you had to watch your step! At one point of this ice valley adventure, the ice had melted into two different sheets of ice. Nick decided to jump across one side to the next, while the rest of us rock climbed on the mountain to the other side. Today, was the first lunch made for the six of us. We had rice with tuna, green peas, and corn. Of course, additional Maggi and chili sauce were added. Jay and Nick decided that they would like to reverse the roles. Therefore, the law was made...boys cook and girls clean up. After lunch, we travelled for about two hours and winded up at a deep red Canyon where dinosaur eggs and bones were found. In the 1940s, Roy Andrews, an American archaeologist, found these remains. Migga also introduced us to the Sauxl shrub (much like coal), used for making a fire. These shrubs appeared to be extremely dry lying in the sand. Continued with the journey, and made our way to our ger. We made a sudden detour when Migaa informed us that there was a bar in the Gobi. As we approached the bar, we realized that it was in the shape of a turtle. We had to stop! Arriving to the ger, we were introduced to the family. The 5 of us, Caroline, Jay, Migaa, Nick, and me walked through the shrub forest. We stopped to admire the baby camel drinking milk from his mother. It was beautiful to see the communication between a baby camel and his mother. The family dog followed us through the forest and would randomly disappear. Jay called him over and he rubbed his camel pooped snout all over Jay's pants! Nick was obsessed with snakes as we ventured through the forest. Dinner consisted off pasta with tofu (very expensive for a family). That evening we watched the sunset and the sky fill with colors of pink, blue, and orange. Jay did not sleep well this night as he was in and out of the ger all night visiting the restroom.

Middle Gobi to South Gobi!

On this morning, for breakfast we had biscuits, much like crackers, with two pieces of goat cheese smashed together with goat butter. Also, we were able to experience goat milk, goat yogurt, and camel curd. This was a true culinary experience, but rather appalling. Jay and I began the day's journey with nausea. On first part of this day's journey, we saw herds of camels. Jay and Nick took many photos of these fuzzy, two-hump, beautiful creatures. Luckily, they didn't get spat on, but they surely were "Up Close and Personal!"

The road seemed to be more bumpier than the previous two days. I attempted to fall asleep, but I was afraid that I might miss the gorgeous scenery or a fascinating animal. However, Jay did not have a problem in this area! There were a couple times that Caroline, Nick, and I thought he might topple over. Four hours into our journey, we arrived in Dalanzdgad, the capital of South Gobi. There appeared to be many gers surrounded by fences and a couple of westernized buildings. In this town, we were able to go to the market, get a shower, and use the Internet. The market appeared to be in the shape of a square with an array of shops selling many specialized items. Migaa helped us purchase all items we needed. We loaded up on sweets... Nick's idea! The public shower was extremely reinvigorating. This was our first shower in three days! Gosh, were we SMELLY! The Internet was really slow, which was to be expected we were in the middle of the Gobi. For dinner we had vegetable soup with mutton. This was tasteful and unexpectedly good. Jay and I remained in the Ger that night while Caroline and Nick socialized with the people from the night before. I was extremely tired, and I had diffculties sleeping this night as well.

Central Province to Middle Gobi!

Today, consisted of traveling from Central Province to the Middle Gobi. The day started off with a flat biscuit sprinkled with sugar, much like a doughnut, and coffee for breakfast. Our journey began by first visiting the ruins of a monastery in the Central Province. This monastery was surrounded by herds of sheep, goats, cows, and horses roaming on rich grassland. Not far from the monastery was a natural underground spring. This was surrounded by a blue fence to act as a marker for all townspeople. Brief history about the monastery: the monastery was burned/destroyed during the Revolution/Liberation from China in 1921. This monastery was a gift for the local Lima's daughter. Approaching the monastery, there was a mountain of stones varying in shape and size with an array of colorful scarves, such as blue, red, yellow, green, and white. Migaa explained that this is an "o-wa," a stone temple made by a particular family from the Central Province. The scarves represents a different aspect of the Mongolian people. Blue represents the sky, red represents evil, yellow represents religion, green represents nature, and white represents the mare's milk. The religious tradition surrounding the "o-wa" is that a person selects three rocks, blows on them for good luck, and walks counter clockwise three times while throwing a rock each passing time. When throwing the rock, the person makes a wish and hopes that it comes true.

Continuation with our journey and Migaa gave us a general lesson about animals(cows, sheep, goats, horses, and camels) in Mongolia. All animals are used as a means of food on a daily basis. There is a 13:1 ratio of animals to Mongolians! Shortly after the overview about nature, we stopped for a picnic lunch. There was much sand and some mountain area with beautiful lizards and insects that were bright blue and green. We jumped in the van and continued with the journey. Before arriving to our ger for the night, we made a detour to a White Natural Stupor. Mishka drove in and whipped around to the edge of the stupor. It felt as if we all could fall out of the van...terrifying! The stupor consisted of various colors-red, purple, blue, and orange. it appeared to be massive from looking above. But, once we climbed below through the valleys of the mountains, it was quite an illusion. I was amazed at how the earth could develop such beautiful natural colors. This was something that I had never seen before....absolutely beautiful! I observed Mishka and Migaa participating in the sacred tradition of throwing the three rocks and making three wishes to the "o-wa."

We arrived to the ger and it immediately felt like a tourist establishment rather than staying with a real nomadic family. However, the family was still very welcoming and provided wonderful hospitality. Dinner consisted off dumpling filled with rice and dried camel. This was actullay quite tasty and I was completely surprised with how much I liked it. Also, I was introduced to Maggi(basically MSG) and now completely addicted to it. Thanks to Caroline! This is her favorite additional flavor to mostly all food. We spent the evening conversing with new friends from Germany, France, Holland, and Canada. Also, we had the luxury of trying Mongolian wine, which I will never recommend to others. The only way to describe this experience is to explain the ingredients of this fruitful wine: grape compound, sugar, and some chemical for fermentation. Sounds YUMMY, uh? And of course, I didn't sleep well!

Heading to the countryside!

Mongolian man smoking his pipe.

The beginning of our 12-day journey began on June 14th. I woke early to have an extremely cold shower, packed our belongings, and dragged Jay out of bed. Once we made it down stairs to our 4-wheel drive Russian van, we were greeted with eager and smiling faces from Mishka(driver) and Miga (translator). Mishka was from the North Province of Mongolia and has been driving with UB Guesthouse for over 11 years. He knew the roads the best(this is true, he proved himself)! Migaa is a professor at Ulaanbaatar University and teaches Mongolian and Russian language.
As we pulled out of UB Guesthouse, we were immediately stopped by the police. He appeared to be checking Mishka's passport and the safety of the van. Migaa informed us that this is normal and happens when departing the city to the countryside. As we headed out of the city, heavy traffic filled the streets and we witnessed two car accidents in less than two minutes apart. The ride started off bumpy and it only got worse once we hit dirt roads.
Migaa appeared eager to begin the journey with us and immediately began discussing the types of homes that nomadic people reside in. In the city, people live in apartments, houses, and Gers pronounced "gears." A ger consists of a circular wooden frame carrying a felt cover. The felt is made from the wool of sheep. The frame consists of one or more lattice wall-sections, a door-frame, roof poles and a crown. The felt is additionally covered with canvas or sun-covers. The canvas can be that of different colors varying in accordance with how wealthy a family is. The typical color of a ger is white. This symbolizes purity and the milk of the mare. The frame is held together with one or more ropes made from animal hair. The wooden frame is typically painted blue, representing the sky, and orange, representing religion. When entering a ger, you must walk from left to right, never walk in the middle. The left side of the ger is for guests, the center for the father, and the right side for the wife and children. In between the guests and the father, is a shrine dedicated to their religion, Buddhism.
About twenty minutes into our journey, four white-tailed gazelle sped past the van. Mishka sped up beside them and they were running at the rate of 70-80 km/hour! They ran in front of the van and Mishka honked is horn profusely. We were amazed at the rate these creatures could travel! Throughout the remainder of the day, we saw herds of cows, sheep, goats, and horses.
We saw the perfect photo opportunity of two goats that were standing in the middle of the road. Mishka stopped and as we approached the adult and baby goat. The adult goat went under the van for protection from the sun and wind. Mishka attempted to pull him by his horns for approximately 10 minutes. The goat appeared to linger around the van and Mishka threw cow dung at him!
We arrived at the family's ger at 5 pm and met the family by having traditional "salty tea" and biscuits. Migaa explained that the man of the house is usually shy, but very humble. This was very apparent as we had tea with him. After tea, we walked to the massive rock formations. We climbed to the top of one of the formations and looked over at the different shades of brown. For dinner we had delicious noodle soup with mutton. That night I had difficulties sleeping in my new habitat. My bed, as well as the others, had wooden planks underneath the thin mattress. Mongolians believe that you must sleep on a hard bed for a strong spine. This was the beginning of restless nights!

Get Ready...Here we come!

Caroline with her $4 dinner!

The past couple of days have consisted getting our excursion to the country side in order. Luckily, we have been paired up with our wonderful English friends, Caroline and Nick.
Last night, the four of us went to a Mongolian concert where traditional song and dance were performed. This was a real treat! But, the excitement begins tomorrow as we are headed for our 12 day tour of the southern and central part of Mongolia.
We will be out of communication during this duration, so please don't worry. We plan on arriving back to Ulaanbaatar on the 26th and heading to Beijing on the 28th. We will be in touch as soon as possible.

$5 apartment!

Well, the Mongolain border crossing was a breeze compared to that of Russia. The train only stopped for an approximately one hour. Jay and I did not get hassled by the Mongolian officials. However, the Mongolian wrestler appeared to get drilled by the visa inspector. We arrived to Ulaanbaatar at 7:30 am to find UB Guesthouse waiting for our arrival. They greeted us with wonderful hospitality and provided knowledgeable information regarding the tours to the countryside. At this lovely guesthouse, we get free breakfast, unlimited coffee and tea, free internet use, laundry services, free booking for train tickets and tours to the country side. Our room was not ready, so the recepionist said that it would be a good idea for us to head to the Chinese embassy to fill out our application for our visa. We agreed and this process was such a breeze, nothing compared to Talliinn. Our visas should be ready next week, which works out great because we plan on going on an excursion to the Gobi desert or the central part of Mongolia. When we arrive back to the guesthouse, our room is ready. We are staying in a dorm room with Nick and Caroline, the two English people we met on the way to Lake Baikal. The rooms has four beds, an extremely nice bathroom, and a stocked kitchen. SWEET! Did I mention it's only $5 per day per person!
Right now, we are heading to grab a bite of food and explore the city. We love and miss everybody!
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Border Crossing

Well, we are into the 5th hour of the border crossing process. The Russian officials are now destroying the train in search for contraband or maybe missed place warheads. It's amazing that it is so much harder to leave this country than to enter. After all this time, we are still not in Mongolia yet. Who knows what their border will be like!
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Lovely smell of Mutton

In Zaudinsky, the scenery was characterised by herds of cattle grazing across low rolling hills with the Selegna River flowing near by. Also, there was villages of wooden houses with bright painted window shutters. Then, the train passed a town called Zagustay. This appeared to be a tiny village with wooden houses and bright green grass. It was much like that of Zaudinsky. The train then followed the shores of Gusinoye Ozero (Goose Lake), which is surrounded by birch and pine trees. According to our book, this is usually prevalent further north, but can be seen here. The train crossed the Selegna River again before we arrived in Naushki. This was a small, uneventful town that is the Russian border post.
Right now, we are waiting to get our passports back and cross the border. When the Russian Visa Inspector came to get our passports, he had a staring contest with all of the people in our carriage. Well, more with Jay and I than the Mongolain wrestler. We wanted to bust out laughing during this competition, but we tried our best not to. I cracked a smile :). We got off the train to get a fresh breath of air and strech our legs. We walked to the store and attempted to buy some snacks, but the line was terribly to long. Guess who was sitting in my seat when we returned. I'll give you one chance...the Mongolian guy, who was sleeping in my bed. And our room stunk, because they were eating mutton dumplings. Only 12 more hours to go and I will be happy to get off this smelly train!
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Mongolian Wrestler!

Mongolian bound now! We get to our carriage and find a Mongolian man sleeping in my bed! The Provodnitsa kicks him out! We settle in and meet our neighbor, he happens to be a Mongolian wrestler that participates in the Naadam Festival. This festival takes place during July and has many games like, archery, ankle bone shooting, and horse racing. Too bad we won't be able to make this! We attempt to have a conversation with him, but he knows little English.
Finally, we fall asleep to the sound of the chuging train. However, I am woken up by the large wrestler sitting on my bed. What was he thinking invading my space? He eventually moves back to his side and I fall back asleep. Next, thing you know I am awoken by the Mongolain man, who was sleeping in my bed earlier, sitting on my bed. What was he thinking? He did not ask politely to sit on my bed. He moves and I wake Jay up for lunch. At this time, we notice the train stops at the cental station in Ulan-Ude at 5640 km. As we are eating lunch, we notice a massive amount of movement take place on our train car. The Mongolian people are moving their goods around. The aisles are full of random stuff and many people. Next thing you know the Provodnitsa is bringing goods to store in our room. Did I mention that the Mongolain wrestler has all of his goods spread about our carriage. Suprisingly, there is enough room for us! So after about 30 minutes, we attempt to head to the bathroom to brush our teeth, but the aisles are still full. We eventually make it to the bathroom and on our way back we notice a raw chicken sitting on a table of one of the carriages. How is she gonna cook this without a stove or oven? Once we get back to our carriage, the other Mongolian man (the one sleeping in my bed earlier) is sitting on my bed. I politely say excuse me and sit down. He leaves...hope I didn't offend him. I wish we had smell-a-vision to share with you all the different smells that we are experiencing...I simply can't put it into words.
Right now, we are in the town of Zaudinsky. Here you see, run down wooden country homes with rolling hills and mountains in the background. The sight is re-freshing as we attempt to pretend we are taking in the smell of the fresh air outside rather than the smell on the train.
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Olkhon Island

Later that evening, we had dinner with Caroline, Nic, and Kris. Did I mention that Nikita's Guesthouse provides us with 3 meals a day. Then, we all went down to the beach to watch the sunset and have some uber chilled drinks (we put our beer in the lake). The 4 day train ride and 7 hour bus ride was well worth this breath taking view. Here, you see the Shaman rocks. Our Lonely planet books says that they are nothing spectacular, but I thought they were amazing. Oh, thinking about it makes me want to go back right now. The next morning we ate breakfast and set off for a mountain bike ride with Caroline, Nic, and Kris to the other side of the island. We were ready for a swim! We begin our path thinking that it was going to be an easy ride with amazing scenery. However, we were completely wrong! Somehow we must have made a wrong turn, because we were cycling up massaive inclines, logs, swamps, and ice. We are sweating bullets and actually see snow. AMAZING! Needless to say, we never made it to the other side of the island. We all were completely exhausted and wanted to go back. During this trek, Jay thought that he was going to die. We didn't bring an adequate amount of water supply for the 5 of us. I think we all thought we were going to die. This trail is meant for the Kevin Barefields and Brandi Campbells of the world. I do beileve everyone slept quite well that night.
The next day we ate breakfast and lounged around on the shore of Lake Baikal.
The following day we set off on a five hour excursion to the North-the Cape in a mini-van. The three English guys, Nic, Rob, and Dave, that we met in Moscow. The excursion consisted of beautiful views of the Lake from different parts of the island on the way to the North. Also, there were massive rocks, which are called the 3 brothers, that Dave decided to climb. This was nerve wrecking watching him come down! The Buryat people of this village believe in many spirits and gods. A depiction of these spirits are in the form of dolls that are posted around the village. We were unable to get a true understanding of this, because all the information was in Russian. However, we participated in the ritual of making an offering to each spirit that we passed. Villagers offer money, cigarette butts, lighters, and empty bottles of vodka and beer. We offered small amounts of change. After dinner, all of us (Caroline, the two Nics, Dave, Rob, two guys we met through Nic and Caroline (Phil and John), Jay, and I) drank beers around a bonfire. We discussed current and past travels.
On the 9th, we said good-bye to all of the friends that we met and hoped that we would see them in the near future. We headed back to Irkutsk by mini bus (Did I mention Russian Techno music?) in hopes of getting a train ticket to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Guess what? We did and now we are heading on the train there! It's about 6 am in the morning and we are heading to sleep. We didn't sleep at all last night as we were waiting in the train station.
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Beautiful Lake Baikal!

The 7 hour bus ride to the Olkhon Island was completely miserable! Before I explain the degree of the horror entailed, a brief description of the bus is needed. The bus was a vintage from the year 0f 1970. It had bright orange Arabian curtains with navy blue seats with sky blue plastic coverings. There was no AC, but three vents that could be used to ventilate cold air from the outside. Little did we know, this does not actually help when the exhaust vent is next to your leg!

The bus ride appeared to starting off to a normal start...everyone stood in line and presented their ticket to the bus driver. We were unable to figure out if we had assigned seats. Therefore, we sat at the nearest seats available. To Jay's luck, he happened to pick the seat where the exhaust ventilated. He had the HOT SEAT! For three hours, Jay complained about this seat. He was in constant battle with a woman that sat in behind the second vent and with a man that sat behind the third vent. Jay would open the vent and one of them would close it. Finally, Jay asked the man if he was cold. He said yes and they agreed to change seats. Jay was happy, because he was sitting in the back of the bus where it was nice and cool. However, he had no leg room and claimed this as the 2nd worst seat on the bus. Oh yeah, the bus appeared not to have any shocks. Therefore, the entire bus ride was bumpy and it got worse as we entered the countryside, because there were only DIRT roads. Despite these small details, we meet three very nice people, Caroline, Nic, and Kris. Kris was from Canada and was heading from Mongolia. So, he provided us with tons of information about accommodations and excursions in Ulaanbaatar. Caroline and Nic are from the UK and are traveling on the same route as us.

About 6 hours into our bus ride, we FINALLY captured a view of the Lake. Picture...snow capped mountains with the sun glistening off the crystal clear blue water. Did you know that this is the world's deep lake at 415 meters and hold a 5th of the world's fresh water...awesome stat...I know! We eventually cross a small portion of the Lake by ferry to get to Olkhon Island. After about an hour, we arrive at the village of Khuzhir. The village was lined with wooden shacks and cows roamed the area. Here we stayed at Nikita's Guesthouse, which was pumping with tourist.

Sorry! But, I will post later about the rest of our adventure at Olkhon Island. The computer technician just informed that he is closing!

If you didn't fly, then is it train lag?

5 time zones later...It's 4:00 am, Tuesday morning...yes, we can predict the future! Jay is bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to start the day. Where I am just plain sleepy. I wake up so, he doesn't have to sit here alone until its time to get up.
Yesterday, we roamed the city to find a place to eat dinner. We asked the hostess if she had an English menu. She replied no, but insisted that we stayed. Our waitress new English and helped us with the best entrees on the menu. We both ordered Borsch, which is a type of beet root soup with different kinds of meats and we split a pasta dish that had ham, egg, and parmesan cheese. It was all quite tasty!
Then, we made our way to a cellphone store to purchase a new SIM card. The saleperson tried to be very helpful by attempting to speak English to us.
Thus far, the hospitality of this city has been wonderful. But, you have to wonder why the streets are extremely dirty and why most of the houses and buildings look run-down. This is considered one of the busiest stops for travellers to get to Lake Baikal. Surely, there are tourist dollars put into this city.
Today, at 8am we will be taking a 7 hour bus ride to Lake Baikal. If Jays sleepy and I'm awake, then he will be staying up with me!
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Almost there-so close!

At 4377 km, the train stopped in the small city of Ilanskaya. Here there were street venders selling everything from chocolate to dry smoked fish. The next stop was Tayshet at 4515 km. Jay sprinted across the tracks to get us some soda. I was so worried that he was going to get left, because our book says this stop only merits 5 minutes. Luckily, Jay had a little bit more time. At 5185 km, we reach the Irkutsk river and 3 km later we arrive at Irkutsk station. The 77 hour, 5180 km train ride was such a breeze!
Irkutsk use to be nicknamed the "Paris of Siberia."(That's a far stretch). As soon as we stepped off the station, we realized that this town was not going to be like a charming, beautiful city. The city was filled with smog and cars hustling and bustling down the streets. The pollution smelt so horrible that it burned the inside of your nose hairs. We walked down the streets attempting to find the bus station. After about an hour, we arrive to the station and to our luck there are no buses leaving today to Olkhon Island. We don't want to stay in this dirty town.
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4322km

2428 km- Jay hurried off the train at Ishim to get a bag of potato chips. He failed at this task, because the provonista waived him back. He would have been left behind and I would have been very sad. About 5 minutes go by, a lady walks by selling something. For some reason, I thought she was selling purses, but actually it was food.. Jay purchased this potato looking ball. It was filled with onions and maybe pork. It was pretty tasty, but extremely greasy.
About every 15 mintues, an annoying lady walks by trying to sell you fur purses, scarves, and mittens. We constantly tell her "nyet," which means no! Hopefully, she will stop botherig us. She hasn't returned in over hours. Thanks goodness!
The train hasn't made any recent stops. We are just surrounded by beautiful greenery, farm land, and dachas (wooden country homes). And ofcourse, many horses and cows.
At approximately at 3035, Jay accomplishes his mission. He gets potato chips! We are at the town of Barabinsk. This is where many Polish Jews were exiled. Sad, but true! Our heart goes out to all that were exiled.
As we are leaving the station, we are surrounded by trains with coal from Kuzbas Basin. I just talked to my mom and Mr. Jimmy...I love and miss you guys very much! Hope Waffle House is YUMMY sleeping beauties!
Now, we are surrounded by stunning greenery that seem to be swaying back and forth dancing with the wind. Or is it just the vodka?
We go to the Resturant Car and met a Russian guy and girl and a lad from Holland. We also met our neighbors that are one cabin down from us, Sylvia and Rico from Garmany. Come to find out they are going to Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal as well. They are staying at Nikita's Guesthouse, just like us. While conversing with our new friends, shots of vodka are ordered one after another. Needless to say, we don't remember anything about that night, but not feeling good. We do know that we must have went to bed early, because we woke up thinking it was the same day as when we went to sleep. It was bright outside!
Today, we have been staring out the window at the beautiful country side of Siberia swearing to never drink vodka again.
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2373km

At 1553 km, we looked to our right and the train began to follow the Sylva River. We attempted to look out the window at 1777 km to see the white monument that represents Asia-Russia, but we see nothing because it is too dark. We fell asleep to the chugging of the train. When we awoke, we attempted to figure out where we were. In our sleep, we pasted the city of Yekaterinburg. This is the cultural and economic capital of the Urals. Also, it's famous as the birthplace of Boris Yelstin and the death place of Tsar Nicholas II. The train supposively stops here for 20-30 mintues. But, we were sleeping so we didn't get off the train. We also went through the city of Tyumen, which is Siberia's oldest Russian settlement and a dynamic oil rich city. Siberia offically begins at 2102 km. Right now, we are at 2373 km. So, its offical we are in Siberia!
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1434km

After 20 hours of riding on the train, we finally figured out where we are by discovering kilometer markings. They tell how far we are from Moscow. We just past the modern, industrial city of Perm. According to our book, most travellers pass this stop, because there is not much to see and do. As we pull out of the station, we realized that we are in Siberia country side and see many dacha (wooden houses) that look dilapedated. Behind the dachas you could see huge Soviet era buildings that all looked exactly the same. Somehow, this sight is extremely beautiful and re-freshing at the same time. We see the grass swaying back and forth as it is doing some sort of dance for us. Maybe it's trying to impress us and add to our jouirney.
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Moscow!

After coming to the conclusion that we need help with booking the Trans-Siberian tickets, we decided to ask the hostel for help. Boy, this was a mission! First, we asked the receptionist to help us. She seemed to be pretty organized and knowledgeable about the trains. We were to come back in a few hours and she would have all information ready for us. The decision was made that we would attempt to find a skin doctor, because my face broke out over 3 weeks ago and I was having issues. The first place we went to was the American hospital and they wanted over 4,000 rubles, which is over $200 US. We made an appointment and headed to the grocery store. On our way, we saw the American Clinic and decided to stop. They wanted over 5,000 rubles. How crazy? We attempted to negoiate the price, but no luck. They told us to go to the 3rd floor and they might be able to help. Well, it turns out that upstairs no one speaks Enish, but offers good prices. We decided to give it a whirl! Luckily, we met a nice guy named, Michael, who was able to translate the entire process to us. However, Michael left before the prescriptions were given to us. What a language barrier! Trying to ask questions and the doctor only responding in Russian. We eventually figured it out with the help of another doctor, who spoke English. Guess what? The presciptions works! It's like a miracle! After this diffcuilt day, we return to the hostel and to find out that the receptionist has not done anything. What a bummer and freak out! We decided to take matters into our own hands and go to two travel agencies that our book lists. Come to find out, one does not book Trans-Siberian tickets and the other charges a huge fee. Therefore, we had to rely on the receptionist to come through. So, the next day Jay sat with her for over two hours figuring out the entire ordeal. We were able to book two tickets for two parts of the trip. She was not able to book Ulan-ude to Ulanbaator for international reasons. So, this ordeal took up almost two days worth of our time. However, we did manage to see some sights and meet some cool new people. The Kremlin was absolutely stunning in size. It most have taken up one or two blocks. The Kremlin is the apex of the Russian political power. Here is where autocratic tsars, communist dictators, and democratic presidents have done their best and worst for Russia. The reason why we went to the Kremlin was to view the Armoury. This was a breath-takeing exhibit of treasures, such as silver, gold, thrones, crowns, armour for the knights, and carraiges for the kings and queens that have been collected over centuries. We walked around the Kremlin taking in it's beauty and fascination by the wall that surrounded it from the rest of Moscow. As we were walking outside around the Kremin, we approached St. Basil's Cathedral. We were amazed at the crazy confusion of colors and shapes. This cathedral replaced the existing church that celebrated Ivan the Terrible's taking of Tsar stronghold of the Kazan. Its design is a Russian design that had deen developed for building wooden churches. Jay claims this is one of the reasons he wanted to come to Moscow. And I can see why! It was compleltely unbeliveable with the amount of different colors that were displayed. Those are only the really two big sights that we were able to see. On the third night, we had to switch beds to an 8 bed dorm. There we meet three british lads from the UK. Come to find out they are on the same route as us on the Trans-Siberia. Hopefully, we run into them at Lake Baikal.
The 4 day journey to Iruktusk began last night at 11:25 pm.
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Celebration of Saint Petersburg!

As we approached the city, streets were lined with people on every corner. The parade had just begun and it appeared to look like some sort of crazy rave, but with American music. The crowds of people went wild and danced. Jay and I attempted to make our way back to our apartment for lunch, but this was nearly impossible. We fought through the crowd and made it to our flat. After we ate lunch, we headed into the city to see the aftermath of the parade. Crowds of people were walking in the middle of the street (Nevsky). This street is usually busy with zooming cars. Police were lined on each side of the road carefully watching and stepping in when needed. We walked around the entire city and there were mobs of people everywhere! It was crazy! Later that evening, we knocked on our neighbors door to introduce ourselves. The landlord told us that an American-Russian couple lived there. And indeed, this was true! Howard and Irena provided us with wonderful hospitality and interesting conversation. We made plans for dinner the next night!

The next day, we had a fun filled day of site seeing. First, we made our way to the Winter Palace where we went to the Hermitage museum. It was impossible to view all of the beautiful works of art and treasure presented. We roamed around the museum for about two hours discussing the armoury from different countries displayed. Then, we continued the path to St. Isaac's Cathedral. This church dominates the city skyline. It is open as a museum, but we opted to climb the 262 steps of the colonnade around the dome's drum to see the view of the city. This view was not as impressive as we thought it was going to be. We could only see the roof tops of the building nearby. This was somewhat disappointing. However, the cathedral was beautifully architectured. Next, we continued with a stroll through the Summer Garden. This is considered to be Saint Petersburg loveliest park. It was by far beautiful and lavishly full of blooming flowers. Later that evening we had dinner with our new friends, Howard and Irena. They took us to a restaurant called Blinni Domik, which means House of Pancakes in English. Here we had Russian Cuisine that was impeccable! (Jess you would have enjoyed this experience!)

On Sunday, we went to the local market to get fruit for our train ride to Moscow. The market was lined with many fruits, vegetables, cheese, potatoes, and meats. As Jay paided for the cherries and oranges, the lady behind the produce counter tried to rip him off. Jay got loud a couple of times and she eventually gave him some money back. Later we found out from Howard and Irena that we actually got a good deal for our produce. Negotiation....Jay is good at it even with language barriers. Later that afternoon, we headed to the train station to purchase tickets to Moscow. Howard and Irena came along to help us with this process. It took approximately one hour to get our tickets and we even had a Russian native speaker helping us. It was at this point that we decided that we would attempt to get our hostel or travel agency to book our Trans-Siberia tickets. After a couple of hours on the train, we ran into an American couple from Utah, Ashley and Nathaniel. To our surprise, we were staying in the same hostel and decided to walk together once at the station. They were extremely nice and we ran into them quite often at the hostel. On the train we also met two helpful Russian girls, Anna and Sasha. They helped with translation from the "Provodnitsa" (train attendant). Both girls, have the dream of visiting the United States. We arrived in Moscow late that night, made our way through the metro, and got lost. Luckily, the hostel was very hospitable and picked us up at the metro station. The next day our journey began in Moscow...

Saint Petersburg, Russia!

We took a night bus from Tallinn, Estonia to Saint Petersburg, Russia. On the bus, Jay met a very nice Russian man named, Evgeny. He helped Jay fill out our Immigration Registration cards and gave him tips about the trains. I'm not sure about everything that they discussed, because I was passed out asleep in my seat. Anyways, approximately at 2am we were stopped at border control. It was a breeze with no complications! Finally, we were lucky! Thanks to Evgeny and his hospitality. Once through border control, we attempted to try to get some sleep. This was impossible...the road was extremely bumpy and bus constantly shook. Could things possibly get worse? Oh yes, they could and they did! We arrived in St. Petersburg at 6am in the morning and found our way to the hotel that we reserved. The receptionist did not speak any English and therefore, we had to wait until the English speaking receptionist arrived. Once she arrived we inquired about our reservation. She explained to us that she did not have a reservation for us and did not know the company that provided our reservation. Imagine being sleepy and hungry as you are being told this. She sent us to the Moscow train station service center were another person was to help us find a room. Once again, bad luck...no one helped us. This could be due to the language barrier...I don't know. Next, we decided that our best option would be to go to Tourist Information. Here six women worked on finding us a room for over two hours. It comes to find out that there were no rooms available at any hotels, hostels, or guesthouses, because it is the celebration of the city until the 27th of May. However, they were able to find us an apartment to rent. This was our only option so we agreed. We arrived to the apartment and were greeted by a two Russian women, one spoke only Russian and other spoke English and Russian. The Russian lady, who only spoke Russian, explained how to work everything in the apartment in Russian while the other lady mediated in English. This was extremely interesting how renting an apartment with language barriers worked. We signed a rental agreement and were extremely happy with our experience. Finally, some good luck! The next day, we set out to see the sights of Russia. As we walked down the streets, we noticed the beautifully architected buildings. Each building must have taken up over half of a block! Nothing is small in Russia! The first sight that we saw was the Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood. This was by far our favorite sight so far. This church is the spot where Alexander II, the Emperor of Russia, was mortally wounded on March 1, 1881. The memorial temple was erected between 1883 and 1907. This building was designed in old Russian style and modeled on the 17th century churches of Moscow and Yaroslavl. The temple is particularly remarkable for the richness and variety of its decor. The mosaics, which cover a vast area of the outer and inner walls (7,000 square meters) make the church an international monument. Jay and I were breath taken by the amount of time and preparation in this monument. The mosaics were stunning and this was the first time we have seen something of this beauty. After spending about an hour in this temple, we made our way to the Russian Museum. Here, most of the painting were centered around self and family portraits of important figure heads and wealthy families, and Jesus Christ. We were not so impressed with this aspect of Russian culture. Today, we have spent most of the day in front of the computer catching you guys up on our journey. It has been a pleasure! Now, we are heading into the city to begin to celebrate the first day of the St. Petersburg celebration. (By the way the entire time that I have been sitting at the computer typing, I have been taken over by the smell of a Russian who has not bathed in quite some time!)

Capital of Estonia, Tallinn!

It has been a while since we have posted about our journey. So, here goes... We arrived in Tallinn and we were completely awe-strucken by the beauty of the town. The first day we set out for Tourist information to get directions to the Chinese Embassy and the timetable for the bus to St. Petersburg, Russia. We took the long journey across town to find the Chinese Embassy and much to our luck it was closed. It is only open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2pm-5pm. What kind of ours are those? We agreed that we would come back tomorrow between these times. Therefore, the next day was centered around the Chinese Embassy. We arrived to the embassy and talked to the consulate and he said that "it will be better for you to get visa at the Mongolian-Chinese border." Great, once again no luck! Beaten by the day, we decided to go to the African Kitchen to test the African cuisine of this region. Man, it was good! Then, we made our way to Hell Hunt, which claimed to the be the "first pub" in Estonia. There we met two Irish guys named, Brandon and Tommy. We hung out with them for a few hours discussing job opportunities abroad. The next day we were set on seeing the sites before we left on a night bus to St.Petersburg. First, we walked to the center of town called Raekaja Plats. Here we saw the Old Town Hall and the oldest working pharmacy in Tallinn. From there we made our way down the secret passage to the the church of St. Catherine. There are tombs located on the outside of the church that represented the Guild of the Brotherhood. These are men that never married. From there we walked off the beaten path down and across some side streets to the city's defence wall and towers. The wall and towers must have been over 50 stories high! To bad we weren't able to climb up to one of the towers and get a view of the city. Then, we continued with our journey to the cathedral of the Saint Virgin Mary. This was a grand building made out of white stone and took up one block of the street. From the cathedral, we walked to Toopmea's castle, which houses Estonia's Parliament. This castle was pink with a tower to the left side of it called, Tall Hermann. Boy, he was tall! We then, continued the path to St. Olva's church. This building was immaculate in size...some how we could not figure out how to walk around it. It appeared to have many fences surrounding it. We were only able to see the front of the church...it definitely looked huge! At the end of our journey, the last stop was Fat Margaret. This tower's diameter appeared to be about half the size of a football field. We no longer thought we were fat after visiting Fat Margaret!

Hot Chocolate Anyone?

Beginning our journey to the Estonian island, Saaremaa, was quite simple, we hopped on a 4 hour ferry and then an hour bus ride. We have spent four amazing days in the stunning town of Kuressare. First arriving, we made our way to the Tuule Villa, a nice guesthouse overlooking the Baltic Sea. Looking from our balcony, you could see the crests of the crashing waves. Later that afternoon, we walked the streets in amazement of how charming and beautiful the town was. We found ourselves in a chocolate shop, Kalev. It is said that Kalev is the best chocolate in all of Estonia. We decided to order hot chocolate and a piece of Strawberry Shortcake. To our surprise, the hot chocolate came out much like a hot creamed whipped topping and you ate it with a tiny spoon. IT WAS AMAZING! Hot chocolate will never be the same! Needless to say, we went back two times! (Jess, you would have loved this!)
The next day, we went to the majestic Kuressare Castle. The castle stands on an artificial island ringed by a partly filled moat. This is the best preserved castle in the Baltics and is the region's only medieval castle that has remained intact. We roamed through the passageways and rooms. However, we were unable to read much of the information about the castle, because nothing was in English. We walked around the moat of the castle that is the Town Park. The remainder of the day we relaxed on the balcony taking in the view of the Baltic Sea.
For the next two days, we had an luxurious time at the Spa Hotel Meri. Kacee had a MaltiSpa, where she was covered with a Sea Salt peel, wrapped in Chocolate mousse, and given a facial. A massage was also included in this package. Jay had an hour long massage with a lady named, Olga. Just kidding, the massage part is true. We were completely pampered! That's not all. The view from our balcony was completely breathtaking. To the right, you could see the Baltic Sea stretch for miles and miles. And to the left, you could see the stunning Kuressare Castle. This special treatment was due...man, Kacee needed a break!
We were somewhat sad to leave this beautiful island, but we know more great things lie ahead.
Right now, we are on a bus heading to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Yes, we are back on budget mode. Oh yeah, we plan on having more hot chocolate!

Sigulda!

We arrived in Sigulda on Monday morning. Relaxing was the objective for the day. Late that afternoon, we found a grocery store and made dinner.
The next morning we awoke to lighting, thunder, and rain. Was the storm raining on our parade? Yes, it was! We eventually got up enough courage to venture out in the rain. First, we walked through the city to the cable cars. The cable car took you over the Gauja Valley to the Krimulda Castle ruins. The view from the cable car was foggy yet stunning, but one of the other passengers had a gun straped to his side. That was a bit sketchy since one of the street vendors sais that was definetly not legal, but we lived through it. We took a wooden path to the ruins. The castle was built between 1255 and 1273 and once used as a guesthouse for visting dignitares. We climbed on top and around the ruins. Then, we headed east down 410 wooden steps and followed a wooden riverside path leading to Gutmanis Cave. On our way, we ran into a Japanese girl named, Miharu, who is studying Lativan culture. Miharu joined us for the remainder of the day to see the sites of Sigulda. The cave was covered in graffiti dating back to the 16th century. Legend says that the water flowing out of the cave is supposed to remove facial wrinkles. Jay immediately dipped in and asked "Did it work?" Back on the wooden path, we made our way to the Turaida Musem Reserve. Here we saw the Turaida Castle. This red-brick archbishop's castle was founded in 1214. It was blown up when lightning hit its gunpowder store in the 18th century. The word Turaida means "Gods Garden" in ancient Lativan. We climbed up the Donjon tower to see a panaromic view of the Gauja Valley. This view was breathtaking as you viewed the greenest trees and the Gauja River winding. We climbed down the tower and back through the wooden path to the Sigulda castle. When you approach the castle is looks newly built with rows of flowers on each side of the walkway. Here we had dinner in the castle's resturant. Then, we walked our new friend to the train station and said our goodbyes.
Today, we took an hour train ride to Riga and hopped on a 3 hour bus ride to Ventspils. We plan on taking a ferry to the Estonia island, Saaremaa. Here we will stay for three days, with last day being at a Spa hotel where we will get two Spa treatments. We're STOKED! Kacee's screaming PEDICURE!
We had no luck in finding an internet cafe to post our blog. Photos will be uploaded at the next place we find. Sorry, Ventspills has no Internet!
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Riga

On our way to Riga, we had an intellectual conversation with a guy named, Mic, who we met in Vilnius. He discussed his adventure on the Trans-Siberia Railway, two years ago. Once we arrived in Riga, we meet two new people, Mikko and Jackie. Mikko is from Finland and we ran into him a couple times in Klaipedia, but this is the first time that we actually had a conversation with him. Jackie is from New Jersey and is planning to travel the world for two to three years. We hung out together for the remainder of the night and discussed our future travels.
The next day, we set out to explore Riga. The first site was the Freedom Monument. This is located in the center of the park at the City Canal. The monument represents Latvian Independence. This massive tower has very detail oriented sculptures on both sides explaining the story of their independence. The next site was the Swedish Gate. This was built during the Swedish period and is the only remaining city gate. It looked like any other gate to us. Nothing too spectacular, but the history is great. Next, we made our way to Powder Tower. This is the only survivor of the 18 towers in the old city wall. The tower has served as a gunpowder store, prison, torture chamber, and now the Museum of War. The most exciting part of the museum was the exhibition of weapons. We were intrigued by the old guns, knives, swords, and cannons. Then, we went to the Dome Cathedral. This cathedral is the largest church in the Baltics and boasts the fourth largest organ in the world. We were unable to figure out how to get in side, but the outside looks HUMONGOUS! We stopped at a Cafe to admire the Cathedral and had a drink. The next stop was the House of the Blackheads. This architectural gem was an 800th birthday present to the city. Originally built in 1344 for the Blackheads guild of unmarried merchants. The house was lavishly and elegantly furnished. We then went to the yellow painted Cat House. This house was not impressive, but the history behind the house is quite funny. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Latvian owner of the Cat House had statuettes made of the back ends of his two black cats-backs arched and tails up. He placed them on top of the building facing the Big Guild Hall across the road as a gesture of defiance against the guild that refused him entry. The house is a restaurant that serves tasty food. To complete our site field day, we took a paddle boat on the City Canal that goes through the park. The color of the trees and the smell of the flowers in bloom made the boat ride even more memorable. It made you think to yourself, "I don't want to leave Riga." But, then you realize their are many more beautiful places to experience. To end our day, we went to the movies with Jackie to see 300. We definitely recommend seeing this movie for its great cinematography. But, be warned this is an intense movie.
To Jackie it was very nice meeting you. We wish you safe travels and maybe we will meet again in the near future.

The Hill of Crosses

Before our journey to Riga, Latvia, we decided to take a two hour train ride via Siauliai to the Hill of Crosses. The train left at 6:40 am! So, u could imagine that we were not bright eyed and bushy tailed. We arrived to Siauliai and attempted to ask the information counter how to get to the Hill of Crosses. It's amazing how hand signals become so useful. A bus took us 8km and dropped us off at some road. Kacee was feeling uneasy about this situation, because it looked as if there was no way to get back. We walked the 2 km to the Mecca of Crosses. As you walk up to the hillside, you see thousands upon thousands of crosses-large, tiny, expensive and cheap, wood, and metal. This view was unbelievable. You are able to purchase a cross at the bottom of the hill, but we decided to make our own out of tree branches and twine. This cross was dedicated to Kacee's Aunt that died last year of cancer. An alternative view of the crosses is from inside the chapel of the monastery. This is home to 10 Franciscan monks. Behind the altar of the church, the striking backdrop of the ceiling to floor window of the Hill of Crosses. How stunning! We were also able to take part in the Catholic mass. The words spoken by the monks were absolutely beautiful. There singing voices were moving.

Klaipeda and The Spit.

We first arrived to Klaipedia and set out to see the sites. Our journey began with Klaipeda's old moat protected castle. We assumed that finding the castle would be simple, but it was so much more complex. We looked for a high tower with the country's flag flying in the air. We should have looked closer to the description of the castle in our book. It said, "REMAINS of the castle." So, we were somewhat disappointed, but not because of the view. But, because of our stupidity. The castle was built in 1242 with a seaport surrounding it. From the 12th century to the 19th century, the castle was burned down numerous times and the towns people attempted to re-build it. There is only one tower remaining and the remains of a gunpowder room. We laid on the grassy area where a tower use to be centrally located taking in the breeze and the sweet smell of the sea. We continued our journey with heading to Old Town. On the way, we stopped by the market where there were pyramids of eggs, rows of fruits, and vegetables. We thought the display of the eggs were amazing. Heading on with our route, we found our way to the theatre square. Here we saw a fountain that was dedicated to Simon Dach, a famous German poet born in Klaipedia. On a pedestal in the middle of the fountain lies Aennchen Von Tharu, which was sculpted by a Berlin artist after a famous wedding song. The fountain was very simple and not spectacular at all. It was not what we expected compared to other fountains we have seen. We walked along the Dane River and found our way to the Martynas Mazvydas Sculpture Park. This park had over 100 sculptures from the 1980's to 2002. The sculptures were all made of granite. Everything in in this area is made of granite. The sidewalks, the streets, its all gorgeous slabs of granite. We now know why granite is so expensive. Lithuania used it all up!
The next day we took a ferry over to the Curonian Spit. The first town that we arrived in was Smiltyne. Here we saw an amazing dolphin and sea lion show at the Lithuanian Sea Museum. We have to say the sea lions were much more fascinating than the dolphins. The sea lions danced! As we were trying to figure out when the next bus left, a taxi cab driver began to hassle Jay. He attempted to convince Jay to take the taxi instead of the bus. They went back and forth for about 30 minutes. We ended up taking the taxi to our next destination... Nida (southern part). Here we climbed huge dunes about the size of a couple of football fields in length and diameter. At this time, it was rainy, windy, and cold. So, imagine climbing these dunes and feeling like at any moment you were going to be knocked off. Despite the weather, it was a blast. From the dunes, you were also able to see Kalinigrad's border. The view absolutely stunning.

Walking tour of Vilnius.

Yesterday, we decided to explore the city by taking a walking tour recommended by our book, Lonely Planet. We kicked off the tour by making our way to Vilnius Cathedral. This cathedral was the national symbol used to worship the thunder god, Perkunas. There are Lithuanian dukes on the south side, apostles and saints on the north side, and statues of St. Helene, Stanislav, and Casmir at the top. Then, we made a long hike to Gediminas Hill. Vilnius was founded on this hill and is topped by the 13th century a red-brick tower. The tower is now the Upper Castle Museum. It displays armour and weapons used during the 17th century. Also from this hill, you could view the Hill of Three Crosses. The story is that these three crosses are in memory of three monks who were crucified on the spot. The reason why they were crucified are unknown. We climbed our way down the hill and explored many side streets. Here we were able to see the remains of many original buildings, with the bricks and mortar, from during the Russian occupation. Next, we stumbled across Aukso Avis, the best of Lithuanian textiles. This shop had purses, clothes, and funky cool jewelry from local artists. We then ate lunch at Cili Kaimas, real Lithuanian cuisine. This restaurant had hens enclosed in glass and the waitresses were dressed up in farm dresses. We ate traditional mushroom soup that is served inside of a brown bread loaf. We also had cepelinai (thick potato dough stuffed with cheese topped with a sour cream sauce). Kacee couldn't get over the sour cream. We then walked more side streets and found ourselves at Vilnius University. This is eastern Europe's oldest university and is Lithuania's oldest library, 5 million books. We continued on our path to the Museum of Genocide Victims. The building that houses this museum was formerly the KGB (during Nazi occupation) and Gestapo (19th century). Memorial plaques honouring the people who died between 1945 and 1946, tile the outside of the building. Inside of the museum, you are able to visit the inmate cells and the execution building where prisoners were shot or stabbed. Walking down the halls and envisioning the amounts of torture that took place here was simply horrific. After the uneasiness of our stomachs began to disappear, we carried on with our journey. Next, we walked through the baroque archway of the Basilian Gates to the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit, which is the chief Russian Orthodox Church. North to this church, stands Catholic St. Teresa's Church, which is lined with early baroque on the outside and late baroque on the inside. Then, we continued the path to the famous 16th century Gates of Dawn. These are the only gates of the original nine in the town. Through most of this journey, we battled the rain and coldness. We needed some R & R (rest and relaxation).

Thanks to everyone who continues to read and make comments to our posts.

Interesting Facts!

While waiting for the overnight bus to Vilnius, we made friends with a Polish guy, Pawel. He worked at the Oki Doki hostel and is studying Pharmacy. We discussed our travels and he was completely intrigued by us. He asked many questions in regards to the preparations for the Trans-Siberia trip. We said our good-byes to Pawel and Warsaw and made our way to the bus station. After a eight hour horrible bus ride, we arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania at 9am. The hostel was uninviting and did not explain anything to us. Therefore, we gave ourselves a tour and decided to take a nap for a couple of hours. We somewhat explored the city and found some interesting facts for all to know.

1. You are not allowed to put USED toilet paper in the toilet. You must use the the small bin located beside toilet due to awful plumbing (YUCK).

2. Information counters at the bus and train stations do not provide any help. You are better off trying to figure it out on your own.

3. Try not to get a bed next to a large, old, snoring, Mexican man. Kacee was up for hours... Man, could he saw some logs.

Rain, rain go away

We awoke to the sound of raining hitting the window. Therefore, we did not want to get out of bed. So, we lounged around until about 2pm and decided to venture out in search for a bookstore. We loaded up in our rain gear and found 4 bookstores with nothing of interest. Cold and miserable, Kacee insisted on returning to the hostel. We stayed inside all day attempting to figure out our next plan of action with our travels. Today, Kacee missed her Aden and Toby very much, because on days like these everyone cuddled on the couch and napped. Well, tried to.
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Protector of the City

Today, we set out to find the Russian Market. We read the directions from our bible (Let's Go) and followed them on the map. As we were walking, we stumbled upon the Warsaw Mermaid. According to legend, a greedy merchant kidnapped the mermaid from the Wisla River. A local fisherman rescued her and in return she swore to defend the city. She now protects it with a shield and raised sword.
We continued with following the directions of the guide and map. We walked for over an hour. The Russian Market does not exist. We ended up in Old Town Square were we saw skateboarders, a tattoo artist, and break dancers. Then, we decided to go to the movies to see Spider-Man 3. Yes, it was in English.

Celebrating their Constitution

We arrived in Warsaw the night of the 2nd and made our way to the hostel. On the 3rd, we awoke and set out to see the sights. First, we went to New town to see the statue of King Zygmunt III of Waza. This statue honored the king because he moved the capital from Krakow to Warsaw. To the right of this statue was the impressive Royal Castle. Many Varsovians risked their lives hiding priceless works of art, when the Nazi's plundered and burned the castle in 1939.

On this day Poland was celebrating its constitution, which was a link for their independence from the Soviet Union. The streets were lined with people awaiting the parade. The parade consisted off all military services dressed up from each colonial era. This was an amazing experience to be a part of. After the parade, we went to see Warsaw's oldest church, St. John's Cathedral. This church was destroyed in 1944 and was re-built after the war. Then, we walked the streets of Warsaw and made our way to a park and had lunch. That evening while hanging out in the hostel bar, we met three new people. Matt from Australia, Leina from West Virginia, and Mike from Baltimore. We discussed our travels together and got some important information from Matt. Leina and Mike left shortly to go hit the clubs for some dancing while we stayed at the bar hanging out. Matt attempted to teach Jay a song by Ben Harper on the guitar. Around 2:30, we decide to call it a night and go to bed. Kacee immediately started feeling sick and was up all night. The next day we were suppose to head for Vilinus, Lithuania on the night bus. The receptionist informed Jay that there is a 24 hour virus going around in Poland. Kacee was still feeling horrible, we decided to stay in Warsaw. The next bus to Vilinus does not leave until Monday night, so we will stay here in Warsaw and soak up some more of their culture. Kacee is feeling better today and wants to go to the Russian market in Praga.

City of Kings

We arrived in Krakow, Poland on the 29th of April. It took us approximately one hour to find our hostel...something must have been wrong with our map. We swore we were reading it correctly!
The next day we decided to take a day trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau. An estimated 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered and thousands more suffered unthinkable horrors in the Nazi concentration camps, Auschwitz and Birkenau. At Auschwitz, smaller of the two camps, are inscribed with an ironic saying " Work will set you free.". Inside Auschwitz you get a taste what life was like for these people. As you walk past the remainders of their lives-suitcases, shoes, glasses, and kilos of women's hair-the enormous cruelty of this society begins to come into focus. After viewing this camp, we walked a 30 minute journey to Birkenau. Birkenau was built during WWII, when the Nazis developed a more brutally efficient means of killing. Little is left of this camp today due to the Nazis retreating and attempting to destroy or demolish all buildings. However, the ruins of the crematoria and gas chambers are still visible. The size of each one of these is the approximate length of a football feed. Also, at this camp there is a monument dedicated to all of the different nationalities that died due to the horrific concentration camps. Near the monument lies a pond with gray ashes-the pond was used for dumping people's ashes from the crematoria-deposited over 60 years ago. This was a very sad day for us, but an experience that we will never forget. We ask that you take a moment of silence for all of those who have been murdered and treated horribly from these Nazi concentration camps.
From the concentration camps, you must take a bus in order to return to Krakow. While waiting for over 45 minutes for the bus, we met three very delightful people, Andrew, Daga, and Mel. Andrew is from California and is studying abroad in Poland. Daga is a native of Poland. Mel is from Scotland and is also studying abroad in Poland. Once the bus finally arrives, about 25 people get onto the bus. The bus only had 16 seats. Therefore, the other 10 had to stand up. Oh yes, all 5 of us were standing. This occurred for about two hours. While on the bus, we made plans to meet the next day for a day trip to the Salt mines in Wieliczka. The tiny town of Wieliczka is home to a 700 year old salt mine. The Pious pokes carved immense underground complex of 12 chambers out of salt. The most spectacular caverns is St. Kinga's Chapel. The chapel had salt chandeliers, an altar, and relief work. This cathedral was absolutely stunning. The remainder of the day we spent hanging out with and getting to know our new friends.
On the 2nd of May, we met our friends to see the Wawel castle and the Dragon den. The Wawel Castle, one of Poland's top attractions, is an architectural masterpiece. First, we ate brunch at a restaurant located in the glorious castle. After, brunch we made our way to explore the castle. We did not actually go into the state rooms or royal chambers. However, we opted to roam the Wawel Cathedral. This cathedral once hosted the coronations and funerals of Polish monarchs. Daga explained every detail of Poland's history as we observed the cathedral. We also were able to see the tombs of all the kings of Poland. Daga also gave us a brief history lesson about each King and the attributes that made him a prosperous or bad king at their time of ruling. Then, we made our way to the underground cavern, Dragons Den. Legend has it that a Shepard left a poisoned sheep outside the cave as bait; the dragon ate it and became so thirsty that it drank it self to death at the Wisla River. After the cave, we went to a Japanese museum that explained the process and numerous techniques of making a kimono. These pieces were very detailed oriented. As a group, we went to the train station to say good-bye to our new friends and go our separate ways. We are now on our way to Warsaw, Poland.
To Andrew, Daga, and Mel- We will never forget the experience of enjoying to get to know you and exploring the city of Krakow. Hopefully, we will get to meet soon in our future journeys. Always remember, the world is your playground. Have some fun!

Hail to Czech Republic!

We arrived to Prague and were greeted with rudeness. Should we stay or should we go? We decided yes and finally figured out the Metro. This took approximately one hour. The hostel was ultra modern and super clean. Jay claims that this was the nicest hostel in the world.
The next mission was to see the sites of Prague in three days. First, we went to Old Town. We entered the Old Town Square and was surrounded by eight magnificent towers. Crowds of people were gathered around to see the astronomical clock, which is located at the Town Hall. The clock chimes as the skeletal death empties his hourglass and. a procession of apostles march by. In the center of the square was a bronze statue of Jan Hus, the country's most famous martyr. Across the street was the magnificant cathedral of St. Nicholas's. Second, we made our way to the Prague Castle. To get to the castle, you must cross the Charles bridge. This is Prague's most recognizable landmark. Prague castle is one of the biggest castles in the world. It has been the seat of the Czech government over 1000 years. Now, the Czech's president resides there. Inside the castle walls stands the beautiful St. Vitus's Cathedral. The stained glass paintings depict the legend of Wenceslas. This is about the Czech ruler and patron St. Wenceslas. He represents the country's turmoil and triumph. Beneath the cathedral is the Royal Crypt, which holds the tomb of Charles IV. Third, we made our way to Josefov, which is the Central Europe's oldest Jewish settlement. We experienced the Old-New Synagogue. This is the oldest operating synagogue in Europe, 700 years old, and is still the religious center of Prague's Jewish community. We also went to the Old Jewish Cemetery. Between the 14th and 18th centries, 20,000 graves were laid in 12 layers. This was a very diffcuilt site for us to see. The next day we took a train to Olomouc to visit our friend, Jiri. To give you some history on Jiri, Jay met Jiri on his last world tour crossing from Israel into Egypt and they traveled together for 2 or 3 weeks. In 2001, Jiri visited Jay in Fort Lauderdale for 2 or 3 months. They haven't seen each other for 6 years. Olomouc is where Jiri goes to school studying Humanitarian Aid, its a fun college town with a ton of history. It was formally the capital of Moravia. Jiri's flat was very spacious and his roommates were great. Jiri took us to a play in the park and to our suprise it was naked old men on skis. The play was pantamine and very very funny. Jiri tried to claim all European plays were nude, but we didn't buy it. The next day went to a crazy music festival, which lasted all day. Then, Jiri took us to Chateau Lendnice. He use to be a tour guide and is still good friends with the inn keeper. So, he got keys to the place and we actally stayed in the servant's wing. Jiri also gave us a VIP tour and we were able to go places other tourists would not be allowed. To give you a brief history lesson, the chateau was a summer home for the noble family, the Liechtenstein's. The chateau consisted of four floors and many rooms with special tapestry brought in from different parts of the world. However, the most stunning characteristic about this place was the amazing wood work throughout the entire house. This was very beautiful and detailed oriented. Now, only some remenants are left at the chateau of the Liechstensteins due to fleeing when the Nazi invasion begun. This was truly an amazing experience because we were able to be a part of nobility for one night. The next day, Jiri took us to his home town Havirov. Here we were greeted with open arms and were instantly part of the family. We ate like kings and queens due to the delicious meals that his mother and father cooked for us. We were able to experience Czech cuisine at its finest. However, there is a special moment that we will never forget and that is the Slivovece, plum brandy. On the last night with Jiri, we had a barbeque with his family and friends, Brett and Thersea. Czech would have not been the same without the hospitality of Jiri and his family. They will always be in our hearts. To everyone else, we love and miss you all. Pelas ecxsue any sepllnig erors, we dno't hvae sepllcehck on the BcalkBrrey.
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Dancing Jiri

Sorry, we have not been able to post due to lack of available internet. We will attempt to post from our new blackberry (thanks to Jess and Mom) while on the train to Krakow, Poland. Check out the pictures we have uploaded. We miss you too, Jessi!

Hallö!

So, we left Trier and made our way to Koblenz. At Koblenz, we stayed in the Jugendherberge Koblenz Hostel, which is in a fortress, that had breathtaking views of the Mosel and Rhine rivers. The next day, we took a boat ride from Koblenz to Oberwesel. The boat ride was three hours long with views of castles on the left and right of the Rhine. This was AMAZING! Words could not describe the breathtaking views. Once in Oberwesel, we made our way to the Schonburg castle. By the way, Jay was convicned that we were staying in a Hostel. Little did he know! Once we made the long journey up the hill, we stopped in front of the doors of the castle and shouted "Happy Birthday!" Jessi explained that the castle is really a four-star hotel! We saw the JAY SMILE immediately. Yes, a night of luxury! Each room of the castle was very detailed and gorgeous. We had an awesome four course dinner with three bottles of wine. Each dish prepared was stunning and complimented one another. That night we did not have to make any decisions on dinner, because our wonderful chef, Jessi, ordered everything. Great job sis! This dinner took approximately four hours...we had to take our time to savor every bite....what a culinary expereince. The next morning, we made our way back to the boat to head down the Rhine river to Rudesheim. Once we arrived in Rudesheim, we made our way to our hotel. The staff greeted us with sparkiling wine. At 3 pm, we met Miss. Breuer for a wine tour. This was awesome! We learned many things about Reisling! We walked thorugh the vineyards for 2 hours and arrived at the wine cellar for the tasting. Later that evening we had dinner at the hotel. Once again, dinner was fabulous and took 4 hours long. The owner, Georg Breuer, assisted us in our selections of wine for dinner. We had four bottles of wine with the last wine being from 1982 (Jay's birth year). The last two days were exceptional and would not have existed without Jessi. She planned and organized these days to celebrate Jay's birthday! The rest of us were just lucky to be apart of the celebration! The next day, Mom and Jessi left to return to the states. We made our way to Rothenburg, which is the most romantic town on the romantic road. Rothenburg is a walled city with gorgeous paths, gardens, churches, and gates. We are here for two days and will be taking a train to Prague, Czech Republic! We love and miss everybody!!

Volia!

We have not been able to post due to lack of available internet. So, it's time to catch you all up! Day.....ummmm....well we have no clue! After we left Brugge, we took a train to Brussels. When we arrived in Brussels, we had a horrible feeling. The town of Brussels was dirty and smelly...not charming at all. However, we decided to make our way to our B & B. The B &B did not meet expectations. First, of all the room that we thought we were staying in appeared to be the two dog’s domain. When we arrived the dogs posted up on our bed and growled at us as we tried to sit next to them. We all looked at each other and came to a consensus that WE NEEDED TO LEAVE! So, we immediately left and took a taxi to the train station. From there, we made our way to Rochefort, Belgium. Rochefort was absolutely gorgeous! We fell in love with this small quiet town. Nobody in the entire town spoke English, only French. So, you could imagine how difficult it was communicating with the family at our hotel. Despite this, the family was very nice. We explored the town and stumbled our way to a park. While on this journey, we noticed blue dots on every other tree.....we swore we were on our way to a cult meeting. We walked....walked....walked and finally ended up at the top of the mountain of the park. This was a breathtaking view of the town....you could see for miles and miles (picture above). The next day, we explored two caves the Grotte de Rochefort and Grotte de Han. Both caves were incredibly amazing. However, we all agreed that the Grotte de Han was by far the best. This cave was considered the most beautiful in all of Northern Europe. It puts the Marianna Caverns to shame! Today, we made our way from Rochefort to Luxembourg to Trier, Germany. We had to stop in Luxembourg, because Jay wanted to add this country to his already long list. Therefore, we had to make our way to the tourist center to get our passports stamped. Oh, but that was not it! Also, according to Jay, we had to have a beer in order to claim Luxembourg as a country visited. So, of course, we did. By the way, did I mention that we had less than an hour to catch our train to Trier? We had to sprint from the bar to the train station...it felt like we ran a marathon. We made the train and arrived in Trier, which is the oldest city in Germany. Trier stood 1300 years before Rome, so they say. Mom arrived at 4pm and we had a taste testing with the chocolates bought in Brugge. Most were very Yummy! We plan to explore the city tomorrow and shop for Birthday outfits for Jay's b-day! Just so you know, we must love you all very much...because German keyboards STINK! The y and z are in opposite places and don't even ask were the shift key is! XOXO!

Just for Chocolate, Waffles, and Wine!

First of all we were woken up by the annoying neighbors above us making some weird noises! We made our way to the Choco-late museum. This is was incredibly awesome. We were able to learn the history of Chocolate and witness an actual demonstration. Yes, we were given a free sample. From there we made our way down the streets of Brugge to the top 10 Chocolate shops. As we approached the stores, we stopped at a cafe for the square waffles with powder sugar and butter! These were amazing! This is the one of the type of waffles that you must taste while in Belgium! We had the luxury to sample a piece from each store (Thanks to Jessi!). We also purchased numerous chocolates from each store! This was phenomenal! This was Jessi's favorite part of the chocolate festival! Part way through touring the shops, we had an amazing dinner at a local restaurant were we had: mussels, salmon, and Belgium fries (Jay did not like the mussels....yuck!). We made our way to the rest of the chocolate shops and purchased more chocolate! Right now, we have more than 6 boxes full of chocolate! Don't you guys wish you were here! After the long tour and being chocolate our, we made out way back to our rooms and rested. After about an hour, we made our way to a famous restaurant Rock Forte. Dinner was incredibly amazing. But, one thing. don't order "fish and chips" in Belgium...literally you will get a fried little fish...YUCK!!! Once again, thanks to Jessi! Tomorrow, we make our way to Brussels and the Chinese embassy. Oh yeah, by the way, did I mention that we had three bottles of wine today? Absolutely beautiful!!

Shout out to Mom in Boca!

This is mom's patio furniture after Aden devoured it. By the way, on this same day Toby made it to Delray Beach, which is 6 miles from Boca! Wow! Hotdog was truckin it!

Thanks mom for taking care of our WONDERFUL animals! We would not be able to be on this trip without your support! We love you! You definitely are nominated for #1 mom of the year!

Note to Chocolate Lovers

This swan is made entirely of chocolate!

Ok, so we know that is has been three days since our last post. Therefore, we will take some time to get you up to date. On Day 4, we set out that morning to explore the markets of Delft, Netherlands. The market was incredibly awesome...the streets were lined with cheese, bread, and waffles. We also checked out Delftware, which is blue-on white earthenware...basically pottery custom to that region. After we got our lunch and dinner for the day, we made our way to Arnhem to visit the Hoge Veluwe National Park. We were unable to see the park due to the weather. As we were trying to figure out whether to risk the weather or go to our bed and breakfast in Zevenaar, a dude in a golf cart came by so fast that Kacee got knock to the side. But, luckily only hit her backpack. We ended up at our lovely B & B, DeRoase. Karin & Ico De Roo couldn't have provided us with more hospitality; tea and biscuits to welcome us followed by an incredible european breakfast with the best fried eggs and ham that we have ever had. After a full day of traveling by train at no cost (don't ask how), we arrived in Maastricht. We roamed the streets to find the best food yet at two separate local joints. Then, we made our way back to our blue-hue rose colored rooms. Amenities... blow dryer, fan, and big comfy bed made for a great night sleep, all followed by a champagne breakfast to make our approach into Belgium. After a three hour train ride, we arrived to the famous hostel in Brugge. Yes, back in hostel territory! Finally, the Chocolate Festival, Choco-Late, is here! We were so excited to arrive at the Chocolate Festival, we tasted our first two pieces of chocolate and we saw a wine and chocolate paring, "Oh, what fun let's try!" To our surprise, with no hesitation we ate our chocolate covered asparagus lollipop. Yeah, no...BIG MISTAKE! Just because it's covered in chocolate does not mean its going to be good. To all you chocolate lovers, never say you will eat anything with chocolate! We laughed it off and enjoyed day 1 of the Chocolate festival. Next, was a horse and buggy ride that gave us a history lesson on the medieval town of Brugge with a church dating back to the 10th century. Down the narrowest street, we found a pub with over 100 Belgium beers; we have learned that when you ask for a beer ask for a "normal" beer, and you will get the best! Then, we made our way back to out hostel to enjoy beer at the bar and update you with the latest. We love and miss everyone! Don't forget to check out the photo gallery....we update it every time we make a post!

To all the Tolar Kids, especially K L, K R, and FB, I miss you!! :*