Eifel Area

Monday was a long day of travel, after two hours of sleep we caught planes, trains and automobiles to Eschweiller, where Jasmin's parents live (the high speed train hit 290kmhr). It was great actually living the German life the last couple days. There were some language issues as Joseph speaks no English, Tanja speaks a little and Helga does speak some. Our first 3 hours were spent with just Joseph and Tanja, it was like charades. Turns out, eating is different here. Breakfast is bread and cheese and meat. Dinner is in the midday and a small lunch of bread and cheese and meat is had at around 7pm. But it has been really great staying here.

Tues we took a trip to Aachen, the western most German city. It was amazing, the old town is...well really old. The town hall and the Dom (catherdral) which are still in use were built in the 700's during Charlamagne reign who made Aachen his empire's center. All King's were crowned in Aachen for 600 years after that. It has been important ever since the roman times, where the romans made it a spa due to it's thermal hot springs (smell like sulphur, taste like rotten eggs).

Today (Wednesday) we went visiting castle's and small towns. The first was Munschau. Talk about stepping back in time 200 years. We were just giddy walking through there, the only way to describe the feeling is an 8yr old on Christmas day. Words cannot explain how beautiful Munschau was. In the bottom of a deep valley, along a raging river Run was a picturesque town of old style houses from the days when Munschau was a thriving textile industry village. On the top of the hill was a beautiful old castle. You'll just have to wait to see pictures to say any more.

We then visited another castle in Nidiggen. Another huge castle that has slowly been restored after 100's of years of neglect. It is still not quite up to it's previous glory but was still amazing.

This is our last night here with family Hanh. Tomorrow we head for a trip down the Rhine river before heading to Munich.

Until then

Logan, Cory and Damien

Pictures

We've added some pictures. Click the photo gallery link on the side. or click here
http://www.uncasvet.com/cgi-bin/emAlbum.cgi

London

Thoughts
At first we figured London was just a quick stopover on the way to the rest of the trip. We weren't expecting much from London. Turns out London was really really cool. The architecture is a great mix of old building mixed with modern, head turning styles. The touristy sites such as Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge are simply amazing. The transportation system is by far the best i've ever seen. You can get from anywhere to everywhere in no time, either by 'the underground' or by bus. Even coming out of the bar at 3am we were able to catch a bus within 10minutes that took us across town to within a block of our hostel. Incredible.

The park here are beautiful and seem to go on forever. We went walking in St. James park, then crossed the street into Hyde park and it went on forever. We walked for over an hour and never saw the end of it. Beautiful gardens, huge trees and monuments and statues, open fields where there is always a soccer game, huge manmade lakes to fish and boat on. They have everything and there was tons of people in it. Best parks i've ever been in.

Overall London was awesome. Much much more then i expected. A really great city despite the fact it was always cloudy.

What we Did

So what did we actually do.
Friday: we got to London and found our hostel after a little while. Put our bags down and just started walking. We walked to Buckingham Palace, Westminister Abbey and Big Ben. On the way home we stopped at a good ol English Pub called the Barley Mow. Tried a couple of the traditional ales, I had some good ol Fish and Chips. Was a good night. After that we bought some beers (6 tall cans for £5) and drank at the hostel. Cashed in fairly early around midnight.

Saturday: We get up early (9am) had the free (i.e. not much) breakfast at the hostel. Then we took off sightseeing. We rode the London Eye (the big slow ferris wheel) then walked for miles in the drizzle. Then we bought a day pass for the underground and went to King's Cross where platform is 9 3/4 is (Harry Potter fans know). We then weren't sure what to do, so we hopped a random bus to see where it'd go. We ended up at the Elephant and Castle pub which wasn't much. From there we hopped another bus to go to the Tower Bridge (most people think it's the London Bridge). That was also very cool. After that we headed back to the hostel to change into our clubbing clothes. We hit the Ministry of Sound one of the most famous night clubs in London. Other then the £15 cover charge, the club was actually pretty cool. It opens at 11am and closes at 6am. We didn't close the club down, but we stayed until 3am, met some folks from New York, who figured the £15 cover was just about right. I've never heard bass like that, all of my organs shook!! that was it for Saturday.

Sunday: We slept until 1pm, then just decided this was a good day to lounge in the Park. We threw the football around for a little bit then started walking....and walking....and walking. The parks went on forever. They were incredible as stated above. We thought about just coming back and going to bed... but then we met some girls from Edmonton, how about that. It was there first day so we took a little walk around London, then came back to the hostel and drank a couple more beers. Now i think i'll stop writing and get two hours sleep before we get up to go catch our plane to Frankfurt.

Cheers,

The Three Amigo's

well we made it. got a little lost on the way to the hostel, but eventually after some walking we found it. got to see a couple sights today including buckinham palace and big ben. also stopped by a good ol english pub. not much else to say

\cheers

Two Days Left

48 hrs is all that's left until we hop on a plane to Europe. All these plans I had for the month off, but I didn't get much done. Just way to busy. Oh well, maybe when I get back in 6 months. For those wondering here is the itinerary.

• May 25th - Leave for London
• - Spend 4 days touring London
• May 29th - Fly to Frankfurt - hop a train to Aachen
• -Spend about 3 days in Aachen
• Tour down the Rhine, either by ferry or train. Stay in a hostel that's actually an old castle.
• - June 3rd - Go to Munich for 4 or so days
• Head to Berlin for 4-5 days
• June 11 - Stay in Amsterdam for 3 days
• June 14 - Stay in Paris for a couple nights
• Head to Barcelona and stay there for 5 days
• Cory and Damien leave for home
• I go to Malaga in southern Spain and stay with a friend from school in a timeshare for 6 days
• I don't know. Left this part open. Maybe Italy, maybe Greece. We'll see
• July 5th - fly to Sweden and stay with an old friend for a couple weeks
• July 19th - train to Norway and stay with another old friend for a couple weeks

• August 10th - start work in Denmark
• December 2nd - Fly home

Thats it! So see you in 6 months