The Adventures of Erika and Luke

Pictures!

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:15:00 GMT

Hey all,

I have posted 3 albums of pictures on my facebook, but haven't yet had time to post the rest of our pictures on here. If you have facebook, go ahead and check them out. If not, I'll be getting the pics uploaded on here in a couple days or so.

It was an amazing trip and we want to thank all of you for following our adventures and for your comments. Love to all and good luck in this year's endeavors.

-Erika and Luke

Back to Paris, Back to Reality

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 21:05:13 GMT

Sorry for the truncated message from Munich, Erika realized we were almost out of time and had to post the message before the bases were covered.

The extension of Munich is as follows:

If you enjoy large plates of meat covered in gravy, pretzels the size of frisbees, delicious beer by the liter, and spending very little money for all of the above, take a visit there.

We spent the days sightseeing, and the nights hanging with a few fun-loving Austrians. You haven't seen club dancing until you've hung out with Austrians listening to house-music.

Like Erika was saying, we had to catch a lovely train at 5 this morning. It was a nice 7 hours of little sleep but beautiful countryside before seeing the familiar skyline ahead of us. Today has been mostly a lazy one once reaching Paris. We are both still overwhelmed by our surroundings, but have hit the traveling wall and realize how soon our flight will be leaving (T-minus 13 hours).

We are using our last 2 Euros (literally, I'm overdrawn and she made her last withdrawal this morning) to make this post. Tomorrow morning should consist of free hostel breakfast (bread, butter and coffee) and a bit of a tram ride into the airport for another lovely 17 hours of flying.

Frankly, it's difficult to speak about the trip as a whole at this point. All we need now is some time to unwind and realize the extent of what was done the past 6 weeks. Many a picture, many a friend, and many a memory. Hopefully we shall wrap up this travel blog from the familiar waters of Puget Sound in a day or two. We promise to upload a large batch of photos as we've been talking of doing for weeks now.

We love and miss all of you,
for those of you in Washington, it will be good to see you soon!

-Luke and Erika

I don´t wanna go home!

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 21:18:26 GMT

Hello from Munich!

We just want to start out by saying that Munich is amazing and everyone should get here sometime in their lives, preferably sooner rather than later. We have been having a great time running around, drinking amaaazing beer (sometimes by the LITER!), and eating some delicious food. Oh yes, and exploring the sights of course.

Our first day here we spent orienting ouselves to the city. We´ve done a lot of walking here, everything is pretty centrally located. The past few days, we´ve toured an impressionism museum, the Deutches Museum (which was completely awesome! Like the Seattle science center times a million! So many fun buttons to push...), toured some beautiful cathedrals, and seen some beautiful parks. Although it may be too early to say, we both are feeling like this might be our favorite city on this trip. We wouldn´t mind spending some extended time here in the future.

We were supposed to catch a train today to Paris but they were all booked. I can´t say we were too dissappointed to spend another day here. We are heading to Paris at 5 AM tomorrow morning (yuck) to head home. It will eb a somber journey, so many memories on this trip, but it will be great to see you all again soon. Much love to all friends and family.

-Erika and Luke

Vienna, feelings of home

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:45:05 GMT

After nearly four days of movement, we have settled in Vienna. Due to our shortsightedness, we only get to experience one full day here. This was regrettable as soon as we entered the city. Austria is a beautiful country, and surely one which we will return to in the near future.

The boat ride went smoothly, and we pulled into port in Venice at around 7:30 am in Venice. The train didn't leave until 2:30 pm, so we were able to explore a slightly-less crowded city. I've been noting the strange feeling of familiarity and it's effects on long trips. It had been 3 weeks since Venice, yet I felt strangely comfortable walking streets which I had previously visited, if only for a few days. It is my hope that I will experience the same effect upon returning to locations which I felt were rushed over (Vienna, Rome, Athens, etc.)

We arrived in Vienna after a six hour train ride in which I read the entirety of Dan Brown's Deception Point. I cannot endorse Dan Brown. Not that I ever did, but dear god, it was a painful read. It was nice to glance up at the beautiful countryside rushing past me. I will make a point to be more attentive on our trainride tomorrow towards Munich.

We explored much of the city via foot and underground today, and were talked into purchasing tickets for a Mozart/Strauss performance tonight including various ballet and Operatic performances. Doing a little quick laundry at the moment, and we just ate an amazing (and cheap) Austrian meal of delicious meats and even more delicious beers. I am already looking forward to what Germany has to offer, but again, sad to be leaving this country so early.

Not sure what is in store for us in the next few days. We are on the last few days of our trip, have our lodging almost completely secure, and it looks like the pocketchange will not run completely dry. Good times, good times.

We really do love and miss all of you, that will be one good aspect of our return home!

-Luke and Erika

Watching the waves crash into the Santorini shore...

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 11:03:59 GMT

Not a bad gig, I'll tell you that much. Our trip has been very balanced in the aspect of supermarket meals to restaurants and such, but everytime we end up in the tropics I feel as if our whole trip may have been based around this. I will need a serious reality check when we end up back on the train up north and get my head out of these clouds. It is amazing here in the Grecian islands. The whole summer is based upon the tourism industry, however, so I am more than happy to be heading back to the hostels and the colder streets (and beers). That said, we caught a miserable yet memorable boat from Athens to Santorini and ended up at a wonderful little joint called Anny Hotel. A quick bus ride from the major spots, we have had our fun hitting the beaches and taking an amazing boat tour in which we hiked the still active volcano in the center island, jumped off the boat and went swimming in the natural hot springs, ate delicious seafood in a small fishing village, and finished out on the peak of the main island watching one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world (literally) which went down to the applause of all viewing.

It is near 2 in the afternoon here, prime time for a mid-day siesta in our books. In the near future for us is a much-anticipated 3 days of straight travel as we have to catch a ferry back to the mainland, a train to the other side of Greece, another ferry to Venice in northern Italy, and another train to Vienna. All in all, catching up on our sleep here was a very good idea.

In the near near future, we are running somewhat low on funds, but there may still be a seaside lunch for us if we play our cards right (meaning me convincing Erika it is a most-necessary idea). Greece has proven to be slightly cheaper, which was relieving, though the madness which will be Vienna, Austria and then Munich, Germany and finally into Paris is sure to balance out whatever pocket change we may have clinging in the bottom of our bags.

Abby and Greg, we may have gotten a pretty close shot to the one you took from Cinque Terre, I know we have been terrible about posting pictures but our transfer device is painstakingly slow. We may have to wait until we return to the states to do a full picture update and all of that.

We shall update again upon our next major city stop, hopefully that means Vienna in a few days. Hope all is well from wherever this is being read.

All the love in the world from these sandy shores,
Luke and Erika.

Still Alive and Kicking...

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:13:59 GMT

Hello from Athens!

Man its been a crazy week or so. One of the best so far I'd say. We ended up staying in Positano on the Amalfi coast in Italy for 5 days. Not only is it one of the most photographed fishing villages in the world (and for good reason!) but it is also one of the longer term residences of one of my favorite authors, Steinbeck. We spent our days primarily lounging on the beach, swimming in crystal clear water, and meeting some amazing people.

The first day in Positano, we headed down to the beach to have a look around and grab some tasty gelatto. This town is built right into the cliffs, so since our hostel was near the top of the city, it was a good 30 minute stair climb back up for some much needed resting. While we were huffing and puffing our way up the stairs, we ran into a couple English guys who were staying at our hostel. Sam and Tom ended up being the beginning of an unforgettable group we stuck with throughout our time in Positano. Added later days, our group consisted of the two of us, these two fine blokes, a girl from Australia, and a couple from Canada. Great kids, great times.

A couple of Positano highlights: We may have looked like complete dorks wearing little kid's snorkeling masks but I'm pretty sure those were some of the finest purchases we made on this trip. We saw a lot of little fishies and beautiful underwater scenes. We also took a boat tour to Capri with our group. That was simply fantastic! We spent a little too much money indulging in the best seafood I've ever eaten and some handmade pasta. We even ended up staying an extra day for a big festival that rocked the town well into the night.

We set out our last day and tried to make a straight shot for Bari, so we could catch our boat to Greece. After suffering a nauseating bus ride, two long and sweaty train rides, and another bus ride, we missed our boat in Bari by only 30 minutes! We stayed the night in a little hotel with another unfortunate soul who happened to miss the boat as well. Lemme tell you, the port at Bari isn't exactly the best place to be stuck for a whole day. But we finally caught a boat last night at 8 pm, rode deck passage for 16 hours, took some very confusing train rides, and finally ended up here, in Athens this evening.

We both seemed to become instantly rejuvenated after settling in here, with energy we haven't seen since the beginning of this journey. We are really excited for what is to come in the next couple of weeks. Tonight, we had a couple drinks at a bar right under the Acropolis! We head to tour some of the major sights tomorrow and the next day, and will probably head for Crete sometime in the near future. We'll keep you posted with our plans as we make them.

Our love to all friends and family!
-Erika and Luke

Farewell to thee, fair Roma

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:40:53 GMT

We just booked Amalfi coast, google image search it if you feel like being a very jealous person.

ACDC is blasting through the lobby here, and me and Erika are about to set out for a good cheap dinner near the Spanish steps. We were definitely overwhelmed with the sights here, but I imagine I will be returning someday to fill in the blanks.

All in all, great times. A larger update and more pictures soon, tried doing it earlier and everything got all pissy and I threw my arms up in despair and took a nap instead.

We love and miss EVERYONE. No exhaggerations on this trip.

Kevin and Emily, start planning Erikas birthday, she was thinking 80's workout theme (think call on me)

Erika has a pretty smile.

When in Rome...

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:44:54 GMT

We made it, well, we're making it.

We last updated everyone from Florence, in which we had a lovely time exploring, getting lost, throwing money around and generally having a great time. We hit a few major spots, the Uffizi and Gallerie de Academia, 'twas everything we had expected and more. Quite amusing to realize your jaw has dropped open for a few minutes traveling between pieces. Once again, Brady, you are going to have a hell of a year here. Bring some extra cash and expect to update your wardrobe, apparently shoes under a hundred euros aren't very posh.

We booked a few locations ahead, and after sadly departing from our lush hotel, we travelled to the beautiful Cinque Terre. We found a spot for a few nights in a small town called Biassa, a short bus ride away from the first of the 5 villages. Met quite a few folk, Canadians, Americans and Aussies seem to be the most prevalent at these locations. We hit up a hike which took us from one end of the coastal stretch to the other, ending up in a town called Monterossa, in which we hit the beach and got ourselves properly burned. By the way, Erika has passed her first section of swimming lessons and will soon be moving on to the advanced course!

We spent a few days hiking around, exploring the local wine and eating cheap, delicious pizza. Our last night in Biassa was spent with a large group making due while the town fixed its water supply, good times talking and snacking and drinking. We spent our last night within Riomaggiore in an apartment-styled hostel with a few aussies and a few americans. A great sunset was had by all, and it was a sad farewell after another rousing night of fun and enjoyment. We will keep with the bandwagon and reccommend Cinque Terre to all, old and young.

We caught a train out this morning towards Rome, got ourselves slightly turned around and checked into our place around five thirty or so. Dropping our bags off, we set right out for the Colesseum, a loop around the ancient stretch and to the Trevi fountain. Making a few reccurring mistakes, such as paying to sit for overpriced pizza when we're hungry (you would think we could get used to this starving business) but it seems to be balancing itself out. Our last stretch took us by the Pantheon, where we latched on to a tour group that was standing by to get a free history lesson. We will probably swing by to view it in the daytime in the next few days.

Tomorrow brings us to the Vatican, where we can get our Catholic souls waxed, buffed, and generally scrubbed to pieces. Looking forward to an early rise and a nice full day. Our hostel is advertising a pub crawl that we might explore tomorrow night, so it should be the best of both worlds.

There is much in the way of pictures to come shortly, it's difficult to find available USB ports in this place.

Mom, I am going to do my best to convince you and Dad to get your butts over here in the next few years.

No Worries,
Once a Cardinal, Always a Cardinal,
Love,

Luke and Erika

Sigh of Relief

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:43:10 GMT

Today has been a much better day. So the whole hotel situation worked out pretty well I guess. We're paying way too much for our place and its not in the city, but hey, its pretty nice. Word for the wise...never book a hotel until you know where it is haha.

We started out our day with some delicious chocolate pasteries from a small bakery near the Duomo. They were very tastey indeed. We then headed over to walk through the church. Although fantastic in size and very impressive in architecture, we were stunned by the lack of interior decoration. We decided to tour the museum for the cathedral and discovered that one of the church reformers decided that the artwork in the church detracted from the gothic influence so the pieces were displayed in the museum instead. My favorite piece was Michaelangelo's Pieta.

We decided to head out on an adventure, just walking around the city. We stumbled upon a natural history museum so we stopped in there to give Luke his anthropological fix. When we exited the museum, it was POURING rain. We ran to an overhang and witnessed one of the most impressive and awesome thunderstorms I've ever experienced. We ran and got some delicious sandwiches at a cafe when it started to clear up. We then continued our walk about the city and ran into some sweet sights along the way. Brady, this city, while very expensive, is going to be a fun time!

We got in line to see the "David" only to be stuck in line behind the stupidest girl ever to walk the earth. She was ruining our experience so we got out of line and are headed over there early tomorrow morning. For tonight, our plan is to go listen to some monks in a church, drink some wine on the steps overlooking the whole city, and run for some delicious egyptian food before we catch the shuttle to our hotel. Good day, good times ahead!

P.S Emily, thanks for all your sweet comments. I miss you and love you girl!

Link to our pictures

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:25:22 GMT

http://pics.livejournal.com/lukeanderika/gallery/00005ee0

You can see up through Marseille here. When we aren't pulling our hair out we will upload more.

Everything turned around fast

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:13:47 GMT

Oh god,

We are in Florence and ended up screwing up our hotel. Guess we're gonna spend 65 Euros a night for a room a half hour outside the city. Learning experiences, ah, so much fun.

In other news, we just might run out of money at the rate this is going! We can write a book on travel advice in a 1 page summary = if you are going to travel to major cities in the summertime ALWAYS BOOK IN ADVANCE.

Hopefully a happier update will arrive once we finally explore the city tomorrow. Until then, we love you all and wish the best.

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:20:28 GMT

Bonjourno!

As I sit here in Cafe blue, a small bar in venice, Erika is on the other computer updating for her parents. We are both sipping on absinth, which is delicious by the way. The past few days have been hectic, glorious, and very eventful.

We left you all at Marsaille. From that point, we caught a train to a small town in the French alps called Chamonix. Pulling towards the place, views of the mountains appeared from both sides. I would definitely reccomend this place to anyone who enjoys views, hiking, and climbing. We spent three days there, and in the process caught a gondola which carried us 1,000 meters above a glacier, saw the biggest mountain in Europe, dined and drank with a sweet aussie named Doug, and two Bostonians the next night. The place was hard to say goodbye to, but we were so early in our trip that we knew it was time to move on. This was especially difficult due to the incredibly cheap room rates coupled with a wonderful owner where we stayed.

After some much needed chores, we caught a train to Milan. It wasn't in our original gameplan, but all the trains to Florence were booked. We showed up after dark, and heard a story immediately from another American saying all of his important documents got stolen, so watch our backs (thanks Thomas.) We used this as motivation to catch a cab to our hostel as opposed to walking around aimlessly. Worn out and wary of our surroundins, we checked into a crazy hostel which could have easily doubled as a hospital (or a prison) due to its barred in enclosure. We took a train out of Milan the next day after visiting the 3rd largest church in the world. It was breathtaking, and one of those sights which would have never come upon us had our trains not gotten mixed up.

We pulled into Venice yesterday without a place to stay (which seems to be a common theme with us). After finding everything full, we decided to go to a campsight which was advertised at the train station. In the process, we met up with two mexican guys and two dutch girls. As we watched our original bus pull away, we decided to embark on a great journey which spanned two city buses, a couple mile walk along the roadside, and an extended ride through outer Venice with an incredibly kind guy possessing a van that fit us all (I think he was a paper delivery driver).

We checked into our tent, fought the mosquitos, and headed back to meet up with everyone for a few hours of drinking, dancing, and exchanging dirty words in our own languages.

We woke up today and caught an early bus to the city, in which we explored by foot for a few hours right off the bat. Fueled by cheap and delicious calzone (Nice and meaty), we caught St. Marks, which was breathtaking. We then moved on to the Venice Guggenheim collection, which was interesting. Seeing an arrangement of Picassos and Dalis mixed with others and a nice guided tour gave me a newfound appreciation for surrealism. We walked around for quite some time, but seeing as getting lost in Venice isn't too bad our spirits stayed pretty high. I heard from a guide that absinth was a tasty endeavor, and as I type this and sip it, I must say I agree. Erika might throw some supplements in here later on, but for now I am going to figure out our gameplan for our next stop, FLORENCE! I'll be sure to figure out some choice spots for you, brady.

Thanks everyone for your comments, it's nice to know people are thinking of us back home. We miss and love all of you and will try to update this more regularly when possible.

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:07:01 GMT

We uploaded a handful of pics in my scrapbook, I'll try and link them to the main journal for the technologically impaired when I can.

Day 5: Marsailles

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:26:58 GMT

Bonjour from Marsailles!

Turns out Paris is very expensive and we weren't quite making our budget. It
also started getting pretty rainy on monday so we shot down to warmer climates.
The rain wasn't so bad Monday since we spent the day in the Louvre (totally
amazing) and it cleared up enough at night for us to buy some bottles of wine
and drink them under the eiffel tower with some cool people we met at our new
hostel. We finally had a cheap and filling delicious
pasta dinner we made at our hostel with those kids as well.

The next morning (yesterday) we headed to the catacombs in the morning and got
on our train to marsailles at about 4. We splurged on a wonderfully amazing
lebanese dinner last night and found a hotel that actually has air conditioning
and a clean shower for only 35 euos per night!

We spent the day today walking around and getting to know the city. We climbed
up to the tallest point in the city which happened to be a beautiful church
called Notre Dame de la Garde. The view was spectacular! We continued on our
journey and stumbled on a park that we decided to take a quick breather in. It
was peaceful and shady (thank goodness). We continued down the road to find the
beach which is nice but extremely crowded. We only stayed for about 15 minutes
today since we forgot our sunscreen but plan on returning for a good portion of
the day tomorrow.

The day after tomorrow we are heading to a small town in the alps called
chamonix. Because it is a small town we may not be able to
give you an update till we get to italy but thanks for reading about our adventures so far and much love to all friends and family.

Day 1 and 1/2

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:40:20 GMT

I am typing this from the Aloha hostel in Paris. A very sleep deprived Erika and I are taking a breather after the longest two days of exploring I can remember.

As usual, we showed up for our first flight a few hours ahead of schedule, only to realize it was delayed. Cut to Newark airport with over an hour before our next flight is supposed to leave to hear, "Final boarding call" before we had reached our security checkpoint. A mad dash and quick strip later put us on our plane, where we sat... for an hour and 45 minutes. Nevertheless, I have little to complain about air India as they got us there on time as well as providing delicious foods.

Cut to Paris; a small train ride and we were in the thick of the city. We hiked around for a bit before dropping our bags off at the hostel. We then proceeded to walk for Sacré Coeur to the Leuvre to the Eiffel tower, hitting most of the major landmarks in central Paris. A cheap bus trip (thanks Rick Steves) from the tower to pere lachaise to hit a few famous graves before Erika treated us to a delicious dinner. We climbed the Eiffel for sunset, hit up L'arc de triumph and ended up back at the hostel around midnight, expecting to crash. Noises from the downstairs kitchen persuaded us to meet up with a few fellow travelers, upon which we celebrated Pedro's birthday and went to Sacré Coeur to drink wine on the steps and sing along to drunken guitar ballads, a great end to my first night abroad.

We woke up to a cheap hostel breakfast, then hit the road again for the next place to toss our bags before hitting the streets today. Had a few chances to brush up on my french, though most were laughable. Museé D'orsé today; into the Leuvre tomorrow, and as for tonight (it's about 8:40 pm right now) we're hoping to find some fun anywhere we can. I'll try and post some pictures if possible soon. Hope all is well back home!

A bientot

Last Minute Preparations

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:08:12 GMT

Exciting times behind me and exciting times ahead. We just got back from my Sister's wedding today and are making last minute preparations for the trip. I created this journal in an effort to keep anyone interested updated in our progress. I'll have Erika's e-mail listed shortly, but feel free to reply to any of the posts made here or e-mail either of us. We're going to try and keep in touch whenever possible through e-mail. Wish us luck!