where's the sugar?? WHERE'S THE SUGAR!?!?!!?!?

we went to a fish festival. in Beograd. which you know as Belgrade. it was crazy and hot, but fun. there was a contest for the best fish soup, which Mina said is a classic Beograd dish. because of the Danube. these guys just take any kind of fish out of the river and throw it in the soup.



we also walked around a big fortress, Kalemegdam, and saw this amazing church. it's the biggest Orthodox church in. . . the world, i think. the exterior is finished, but the inside is years from being done. it will be gorgeous when it's done.

right now we're going to watch that jesse james movie. . . on a nice pull-out bed at Mina's.

mmmmmm. . . we are going to eat so well for the next two days. . .


note: the "where's the SUGAR?!?!?!" up there comes from us watching the final game of the Euro Cup in a nice little cafe in Beograd. next to us was a 7ish year old boy with the most annoying voice i have ever experienced, gabbing on and on about the sugar packets that were on the table. the sugar packets that he was pouring down his throat one after another after another. and then he dumped some on this expensive piece of cake that his mother bought for him. he was awful.

everything here smells like meat.

we're in serbia. and it's crazy hot. and Mina is going to pick us up at noon today. so we're going to the train station right now to try to book our frankfurt stuff.

found couchsurfers for both frankfurt and brussels, so that's a load off our shoulders. can't wait.

dinari is strange. so we got 2,000 of it....mom, i hope there's 2,000 in my checking account. you might want to look into that.


lovelove.

we only have seven minutes...

but this post needs no words. headed to serbia next, and sadly no spain, too expensive for us. . . sorry holly. . . we're bummed.

Train train go away...

but yet we're back for another day

We are in Lyon, France for a short stop off before we get on an overnight train to Florence

We will probably spend the night walking around florence because it is going to take us 10 hours on a train to get there

Then we get on a train to venice, we will be there for 2 hours (sad i know)

Then we will be on a train headed to belgrade for about 14 hours or more

It will be nice because we will spend some quality time with quality people there (Mina!!!)

The past few days in Bourg en Bresse have been amazing, such nice accomodating people and families we have really felt like we have been at a home away from home

We are however starting to miss hearing people speak English....and a bit of travel fatigue, but we are hanging in there.

We are resting at le biblioteque for about an hour. We were in Lyon for a day before so the past few hours have been familiar...that is a comforting feeling, familiar.

The people I miss: Apt 10 ; The Green Street Gang ; Kula man ; Turnstyle ; family both new and old ; Champaign Laugh Factory People

The things I miss: cereal, performing comedy, my bed, peanut butter, hard cheese, soy milk, dos reales (we are specifically going to come to champaign for this as soon as possible), turkey

Amanda misses: driving and aloe vera.

I know a lot more French than before I came here. Hopefully I will retain the 15 words I picked up.

Say yes to: eclaires, baguettes, and croissants, the chocolate cereal that looks like fritos, french pickles that aren't quite dill and aren't quite sweet gherkins

Say hi to: you.


K-k-k-k-k-kevi (you drop the last letter in every word in France when you speak)

just give ,e q ,inute

that is, just give me a minute...


this aint no qwerty keyboard.

we'll post in a few days. with pictures. these french keyboards are hard to manage.

.amanda.


I just really wanted to see some capital letters in this post. Therefore, I had to write this:

Benjamin Franklin was really a popular man in France during his later years, even if he wanted the Turkey to be the American national bird. Oddly enough...JFK must have been well liked in Europe as well. I saw a bust of him in England, and a street named after him in Bourg en Bresse, France.

Kiss Kiss Kevin

it was like speed dating, but with french fries on top.

After spending a night in a quality hotel in Calais-see photo…we validated our rail passes, got 5 croissants for 5 euro, and hopped on a train to Paris… which turned out to be a few different trains…and a few pieces of borrowed baguette from a youth hostel in Boulogne (which also provided free internet, always a plus)…and finally, Paris.

Ali met us at the Vivier underground station, took us back to her dorm where we dropped off our bags, and off we went! We left her place and started out tour around 3:00. We were finished by 7:30. Yeah. We saw almost all of Paris in 4.5 hours. All the important stuff anyway…L’Arc de Triumph, Champs-Élysées, Napoleon’s Dome D'or, the Louvre’s pyramids, Pompidou, Notre Dame, Kabobs (which were big gyros with French fries on top that you rolled up altogether and slammed into you mouth because they were amazing), the building with the most statues on it, metro to the Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge, Montmartre, & Sacre Coeur. Wow. It helped have a tour guide who knew where to lead us. It was awesome-lots of walking-but awesome. And the kabobs were huge and intense and filling and real good.

Ali was great at telling us what everything was. and its importance to french history...even with the drizzly rain.






After being touristy, we headed to a bridge near the louvre with Ali to meet her whole group of foreign exchange people. They were having a picnic, so we got to snag a couple free cookies and some cantalope. Then, we jumped back on the metro to head to the austerlitz train station. And there we stayed.
Until 12:54pm.
The following day.
When we finally got a train to Lyon. And we’ve pretty much been walking around since we got here. Went to a beautiful park this morning and took a long nap in the warm sun. Figured out some train tickets and stuff yesterday, but we’re going to go try to do more in a little while. We’re at the library right now, charging my computer because it’s illegal to charge it at the mall, but there’s not internet here…so I’m Word-ing this until I can post it later.

Maybe after we go buy that chocolate éclair we saw in that store earlier.
Mmmmmm French pastries.

It looks like Serbia is going to be the hardest leg of the trip (big surprise), but hopefully one of the most rewarding as well. We have a lovely friend Mina, a U of I TheaHistGrad, and her family waiting for us. In a recent email Mina wrote, “MY GRANDMOTHER IS GETTING READY…MEAT EATERS.” we cannot wait. Especially since we’ve been living off of baguettes and the occasional apple for the past few days. Give me beef.
But I can’t really say that, because we just ate at a fairly disappointing “Mexican” restaurant here in the mall. Mind you, this is one of two, maybe three, Mexican places we’ve seen the entire time we’ve been overseas. While we were with Vicky, she said Mexican food just doesn’t really exist over here. And, after having lunch at Suelta Verde, I’d have to agree. But it was still exciting.

Guacamole.

Next: to Bourg en Bresse this evening to couch surf with our friend-to-be Lena. The thought of showering brings a tear to mine eye.

Soap.

mcdonald's free wifi

is. the. best.

(mom, the ferry was kinda like the titanic....but not really)

our "ish-plans" for the rest of the trip. tada! don't hold us to anything.


20: Lyon.
21: Lyon → Broug en Bresse
21-24: Broug en Bresse
25: Broug en Bresse → Lyon (in the AM)
25-26: Lyon → Dijon Ville (overnight-19:22-21:23)
Dijon → Florence (overnight-21:37-07:16)
26: Florence, all day + one night
27-28: Florence → Venice (16:38-19:17…2hrs)
Venice-Beograde
28-3: with Mina in Serbia
3-4: Beograde-Frankfurt
4-5: Frankfurt
(4-7: stay the weekend with Kevin, leave Monday in the AM)
(6th, after 7pm to B-haven…then to Brussels in the afternoon)
7-10: Brussels
10: Brussels → Vicky’s (via Ville Europe→Calais→Dover→London/Swindon)
11: Vicky’s
12: babysit
15th: go home…via Vicky, hopefully…flight at 1pm, Heathrow.

ooh la la
-amanda-


You get what you pay for:

Here's the thing about France. It's true. You have to pay to use the toilets. Some places are more expensive than others. Personally, I refuse to pay to pee. However, we invested 1 euro for Amanda to use the bathroom. I'll pinch it. Thanks. But I have learned, that the bathrooms that you have to pay for are worth it.

The free ones are hard to find, and they are few and far between. Let's just say I had to 'hover' and not everything flushed, even after a few attempts.

But the nice thing is that the doors are from floor to ceiling, so you don't feel like someone is going to pop their head under the stall. (There's an inside joke for you, Jacob.)

The difference here in France is that you can have unlimited toilet paper. In France, they use a lot less water. And sometimes you'll pay the price. Or rather, the next person will pay the price.

In London, they have means of making it harder to wipe. Like, dispensing two pieces of tp at a time. It makes one realize how few pieces of paper they can actually use. But at least in London I could sit down.

Quality maybe. But I'm still not paying.

-Kevin

it was like the titanic!

kinda. not really, actually.

but we're in france now! in the tiniest hotel room i've ever seen! and we just had amazing french vanilla ice cream sundaes with chocolate fudge! but here, that's just vanilla! because everything is already french! and yummy.

as promised, here are some photos from vicky's. including the sheep (mainly for allyson).

move your bloomin' arse

we're headed to Dover.

then over the rive and through the woods to France.


ooh, la, la.

fine then

if i walked up half, then he only biked 1/4.
(and the road leading up to the parking lot, in my opinion, is longer than the trail to the top of the hill after the parking lot. maybe we should go back today and measure it.)

The Journey, differences, footbag.

I agree with said journey. Not how I would have typed up my version, but fair and accurate.

Also, it sounds cliche, but I'm not that bad at directions. She's just better. Not to mention, I never have to pay attention when she's in charge of directions. Because, well, then...she's in charge. And I can't really combat that can I?

Also, she walked half way up the hill. The top of the hill we walked up to together, after our reunion.

Also, I've never been as happy to see someone as I was to see her in that moment. Momentous occasions in our lifetime excluded, of course.

On a completely different note, here are some differences I've noticed while being in the UK:

take away = to go
love bite = hickey
nappy = diaper
brollie (sp?) = umbrella
well done = good job
cheers = thanks, your welcome, have a good day
wellies = rubber boots (they were worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and fashionable among the British aristocracy in the early 19th century)


On a completely completely different note:

Watch my friends play footbag:

or as they would say:

shred the gnar

The song featured in the feature is Oh Yoko, by John Lennon. These two footbag artists have captured some distinct moments in the footbag world. The way that these two men, who are friendly competitors, push each other forward in their journey towards greatness is highlighted by the film's delectable underscoring and select editing visions. A short film must see!

Father's Day (UK style)

dear jeff & keith,
thank you for being our fathers. and for feeding us. and for paying for all the stupid stuff we wanted when we were eight. we appreciate it.
love,
.amanda&kevin.


SO. i'm here to clarify. today is sunday, england's father's day. on thursday we drove up to see White Horse Hill. photos to prove it will be provided tomorrow.

on friday we drove to Stonehenge. which was cool. and just as big as i had expected, i guess. i feel like, with big famous things, they always turn out to be smaller when you see them in person. but, these rocks were real big. just how i'd imagined they would be. so that was nice, and not disappointing. the £6.50 it cost to go inside the gate, however, was disappointing. so, we admired from behind the fence.

on saturday morning megan, vicky, and the babers went to london to be touristy, but since kevin and i had been there already (and had no desire to spend more money to go there, eat there, and come back from there) we decided to man the fort back at vicky's place. and what better to do while man-ing a fort than to take a nice leisurely bike ride, right? right?

our little trip started with kevin in the lead. we rode for about an hour and then went back to vicky's because we had gone in totally the wrong direction. (because kevin was in the lead) So. we started over, going in the opposite direction. there it was in the distance, our destination: White Horse Hill. we rode and rode and rode. finally we got to the bottom of the hill, right outside of the pub we stopped at the last time we were here. at this point, i was in front, but gave the lead back to kevin to head up the hill. he started ahead of me, i looked down to put my foot in the strap thing, looked up, and he was gone.

this is where our individual stories start. i'll begin with my side of things:

well. i thought, looking at the fork in the road ahead of me with trees and curves all over so i could only see 50 yards in either direction, i wonder which way he went? i headed down the left fork about 20 feet. down. down doesn't make sense. we have to go up this giant hill. obviously he would have gone up. i'll just wait here for a minute, and he'll come back, wondering what is taking me so long. yeah. i'll just wait a minute.

maybe two minutes.

well, maybe he's working so hard going up that hill that he can't look back, and even if he did look back, he'd assume i was walking so he wouldn't want to turn back just to ride up the stupid hill for a second time. right. i'll go up.

so. i went back the way i came and turned up the hill. i proceed to walk up said hill with vicky's bike for the next 20-30 minutes. i thought about simply riding the bike, or even just tossing the bike across my shoulders and sprinting up the hill instead, but for some reason i just kept on walking. oh, that's right. because it's a ridiculously big, steep, ridiculous hill.

i arrive at the top of said hill somewhere between 4-4:15pm. and there i wait. i cannot be sure of the time because kevin has the watch. i cannot be sure of the time because i cannot find kevin anywhere in the parking lot full of children with kites for flying, and an ice cream truck with ice cream for eating, and an information booth for information to be learned. i don't know the exact time because kevin isn't there. he isn't there waiting for me with a funny comment about how long it took me to reach the top, or how long he's been waiting for me, or an ice cream cone.
he isn't there at all.

so i wait. patiently. 4:30. . . . . 4:40. . . . . . . .4:45. . . . . . and then.
a red helmet.
trudging up the hill.

cut to: his side.

i let him take the lead, and he sped off. down the left fork. down. and down. he rode on without looking back for about 10 minutes. then he stopped and realized i wasn't behind him. he waited. for about 2 minutes. then he started riding back towards the pub & the fork in the road. but i wasn't there. so he waited there for about 5 minutes. but i didn't show up.

i had the keys to vicky's house in my bike. surely, he thought, she must have gotten tired or scared and gone back. she must have thought that i would go back, too. so. he then proceeded to ride the 3.7 miles back to vicky's house. once the front door was in sight, his fears subsided. the front door looked like it was open. so he rode up and opened it.

except it was locked. because i had the keys. and i has 4 miles away, climbing up a ridiculously big, steep, and ridiculous hill.

so he got back on gary's bike and rode the 3.7 miles back to the pub. and then, i assume, thought to himself, oh, maybe she rode up the hill because that's why we went on this bike trip in the first place, maybe.

so then he began to ride. (he said that he got about half way before he started walking, which is impressive. . . even though vicky can make it to the top without stopping. vicky is a machine. she spins.)

he made it up to the parking lot. the good ol' familiar lot that we had been to not 2 days before with vicky and megan. but now there was an ice cream truck there that hadn't been there before. and kids. with kites. and a beautiful girl walking towards him. with a bike. and a beautiful face. that looked kind of mad, but a little relieved, and a lot confused.

where have you been?
-oh. oh, baby. i was so worried. don't be mad. i wish i brought money to buy you an ice cream cone.

it's okay. because i found 50p in the grass. when i was waiting. for 45 minutes. on the top of that ridiculously big, steep, ridiculous hill. but it's not okay because an ice cream cone from that truck would have cost £2.50. so i didn't get to have one after all.

happy father's day.

On being cold...

The UK and Ireland are chilly. And there isn't anything silly about that.

I left my maroon hoody (hoodie?) in Dublin. I left it in the hostel room we were staying in. Now I am quite sad, and quite chilly.

In other news: the lawn looks great and Amanda is memorizing her lines for Much Ado!

Bicycle Adventure

Let's just say that we rode around on Vicky's bikes yesterday for five hours. For one hour we lost each other in the country hills of England. Found each other, and kept riding for more hours. It was a great lot of fun. This morning, our butts really hurt. But it was worth it!

There was one point in time when I rode all the way back to Vicky's house, and then back to the White Horse. Needless to say I was worried. Amanda on the other hand knew I was an idiot.

More sheep. A little sprinkling of pee. (That's rain)

And then we went to see the Wayward Smithy which was down and up the White Horse hill. Photos to come!

I'm going to go mow a lawn. That's holiday for me, since I never have to do it otherwise. Not to mention it's small. Really small. The lawn that is, and the mower for that matter.

We washed some of our clothes at Vicky's, then hung them outside to dry. Now we can smell like the fresh English country air.

We'll be heading to Paris soon!

Canola

Which is also known as Canola.

"oh, that's rape"

said vicky, as she pointed to a bunch of yellow flowers growing on the side of the road.

nice.

it rained today, thanks to my mother for wanting to know what the weather was like. nice, mom. real nice.

other than that, vicky's place is lovely. it's a cute little english house with a cute little english backyard, and a cute little english dog named Angus, and a pull string for the shower. brilliant. we went on a short hike today, despite the rain, to go see a famous horse. on a hill. and a castle that isn't there anymore. Angus came with. there were lots of sheep. lots.

sheep. sheep, sheep!

i'll put pictures of that up later, as i'm not sure how to do it on vicky's computer here. she made us a wonderful chicken curry dinner last night, with spaghetti bolognese on the menu for this evening.

awesome.

it's good to see megan, too. a nice familiar face to hang out with, and someone to pay for our pints.

family is an important part of life. as are pints.

for my mother

the weather:

is normal. there is a sun. and it shines most of the time. sometimes there are big puffy white clouds. it hasn't rained. it hasn't been hot. it hasn't been cold. it's just normal weather.

except for that hurricane in ireland. and the blizzard in glasgow. and the forecasted volcano eruption in store for tomorrow, here at vicky's. by oxford, not by swindon. yikes, who would ever live in swindon. white. trash.

cross your fingers on that one. the volcano, that is. not the white trash.

Pop, goes the Easle.

I personally gave up drinking pop aka soda aka sodie aka Coke aka tonic (if you're from the greater Boston region) when I was about fifteen. However, in the past week I have had a can of Coca Cola on the train to Glasgow --thank you guy from Southern Scotland. I also imbibed a Coca Cola fountain drink from a Subway in Glasgow. Wow. A lot I know. I also noticed something rather interesting about the varieties of pop in Scotland and Ireland. There are four. Literally. Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Diet Coke.

So on a walk to Neil's in Glasgow, I decided to make a little photo journey.














































































I promise that none of these photos were of the same can.

Also...RAAB: look what we stumbled upon while in Glasgow.
















K - we're going out to try and find ice cream in Dublin...which is REALLY hard to do.

we watched gaelic tom & jerry

ice cream in london! . . . . . . ."spittin' rhymes" on the streets of london!













. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . glasgow university! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .




our friend neil & his fancy scotch whiskey!



jim, kevin, the robby silver & me @ Cheers!

Dublin

6.8.2008 (A Poem, not all of the following information is true)

Oh Dublin.

I'm sick of sitting in hallways.
I'm sick of humming Coke Machines.
I'm sick of people walking in front of me.

I'm not sick of euro mullets.
I'm not sick of euro mo-hawks.

I'm sick of freezer burn.
I'm sick of sun burn.
I'm sick from euro ice cream.

I'm not sick of museums.
I'm not sick of my wife.

I'm sick.
I'm stuffed nose.
I'm nasally.
I'm congested.

I repeat. I'm not sick of my wife.

My wife is sick of Dublin.
Scratch.
My wife is sick in Dublin.
Scratch.
I am sick of Dublin.

It's time to take a Bath.
It's time to be refreshed.
It's time to take a rest.

Dublin. You are so Dublin.





Kevin M. Reader

dubbers

change of plans, as always.

neil said we could stay another night, so we booked a flight to dublin tomorrow morning at 9am. neil is going to drive us to the airport at 6. and we're going to try to drive through stewarton on the way. that's where my family comes from. way back in the day. before we lived in america.

he said he'd wake me up in time to see the sign, take a picture, and go back to sleep.

he showed us all around town today. we got lunch at subway for a taste of home & people-watched as we ate. we went to a museum of scotland...kelvin-something. then we walked through Glasgow University, which was beautiful. then hopped back on the bus and rode back to his flat. decided to get dinner at neil's favorite indian restaurant. we ordered it, and then went to pick it up in his wrong-side-of-the-road car. which was exciting.

my nose is real runny and i keep sneezing. i'm looking forward to making a little home-nest at vicky's in a few days. that'll be nice.

also, discover Red Dwarf.

.a.

Long day...but well worth it.

We spent much of today traveling from London to Glasgow. We walked to Euston station in London in Westminster village and then took a 5 plus hour train to Glasgow, Scotland.

Upon arriving we fell in love with the city, but we didn't know what to do or what to see. So we met up with a now good friend, Neil. He gave us innumerable insights as to the history beauty and culture of Scotland. He welcomed us to his home and really made us feel like a part of his family. We watched some CSI, Red Dwarf (a hilarious UK comedy/sci fi show) and drank some single malt scotch with a stand up Scotsman. He fed us, housed us, and bathed us. Well...not personally, but he's a good person and a true friend. We're likely to travel across the strait tomorrow to Belfast, Ireland.

Pictures to come sometime soon!

K

Something I've learned

Stay out of the cleaning ladies way.

Curry makes you smell funny, respectively.

Toothbrushes are a good thing.

Wide awake

Well, after a long day of flying, training and walking. Here it is. 5:30 am London time. It's a six hour difference than in the states. It should be 11:30 pm there...and by there, I mean central time, USA.

London is a huge city. Period. It is also a multicultural mecca. It's also really expensive. Considering the value of the pound to the dollar. So, we are trying to be creative as we can.

Good news is that we'll be meeting up with Robby Silver and hopefully the wonderous wonderful Megan. Good luck with getting your flight Megan.

Plans for today include: going to a wholesale market that opens at midnight and closes at 8 am. Walking up to the London Museum. All city museums in London are free. Private ones cost $.

After that, we'll meet up with Robby and his friend Jim and go from there. Maybe go to a show tonight. There's a booth somewhere that sells half price tickets to theatre productions the day of the show. Thank you Rick Steves best of Europe 2008. And thank you Matt Kula and Michelle for buying us that book. It has been most helpful in our travel thus far.

London is a beast to navigate. It all makes sense as far as history goes. People locate and relocate according to the area they wanted to be, close to the river. Spread into their respective districts and economic stratospheres. However, it's all mixed up by contemporary standards. Streets don't go east west or north south. There is no city planning in that regard. The streets change name on every block.

It's not unusual here in London to come across people from any ethnicity or nationality. It could be that we are in a particularly youthful district.



We ate at a great little spot yesterday.








This is a mini breakfast that I had. Baked beans, an egg, a sausage, and bacon. THICK bacon. I don't really like bacon, but you have the have the local fare. It was really salty. And the beans were bland. Mixed together: not too bad.





Last night's hostel that we stayed at is named St. Christopher's Inn. A high rated, and cheap hostel located just blocks south of the London bridge. This is a view of the city off the bridge viewing west.





That's it. I'm going to go wake up Amanda so we can start off this great day. It's supposed to rain and I'd like to get a moving. Also, breakfast starts at 6am. Which it is now. And let's face it, I know she's hungry. Well, I'm hungry.

See, insomnia is good for something.

Tentative plans for the next week to week and a half: to Liverpool to Dublin back to London to France.

Kevi-poo.

london

is nice.
















and fun.





















but tiring.














...and it's only been one day....oh boy.

Safe and sound, but not the Puget Sound

Sound off, we are sounding off and signing in. Not American sign language, but like our names.

We are here, in London.

Staying at the St. Christopher's Inn aka HOSTEL. Everything is super expensive in the London.

You can practically take $1 bills and wipe your butt with them.


What else to say...we have seen many a great things thus far. Met some cool people. Ate McDonald's at O'Hare. Managed and walked the streets of London. Strolled along the Thames River. Saw the Globe Theatre, the St. Paul's Cathedral. We're going to head there for a free mass at 5pm. Which means free entry. Which is ideal. We'll probably buy some fruit from a street vendor for dinner.

We are hopefully meeting up with the one and only Robby Silver tomorrow in London. Then headed to Ireland for a few days, and then maybe, just maybe MEGAN Mileham will be in London by Tuesday so we can hang out with her and the Wrights. (Maybe that's a week from now, we'll see, and probably come back.)

Yay! Time for dinner and sight while the sun is still bright.

K of the K and A with the approval of the A.

Departure

Last night was great. We ate at Thai Orchid...more details to come on that later. But everything was delicious.

We leave for London, approximately: NOW.

K

the eve.

my mother just informed me that tomorrow is not only my father's birthday, but also her parents' wedding anniversary.


we chose wisely.