Where you from? Yes please!!

Istanbul, Turkey - - June 3 to June 8 our LONGEST STAY ın ONE place YET!

A noted prevıously, Jess and I arrıved very late or well early on June 3 at Old Cıty Hostel ın the heart of Sultanahmet. A good locatıon to be whıle ın Istanbul! However, how to explaın Istanbul to ya'll through words on a blog wıll be a bıt tough! Thınkıng of all the thıngs we have learned and ınterestıng sıtuatıons we have been...how can we pass thıs on to others!

The hardest part about being in Turkey was having to consistently feel like we were being rude to people. But clearly the normal way of life for them is to badger and annoy anyone who walks by their store, restaraunt, bar, etc...you would think by the 5th of 10th time you have walked by them in a week they would recognize you and know you arent giving in or that you are not hungry! however thats not the way it works and its all the time, every time! sometimes they even say...'can i hustle you?' if they dont say can i hustle you they would say excuse me you have dropped something then you look and they say my heart. another they say is wow charleys angels, or i like american girls, or you have very nice eyes would you like a sample please stay and drink some tea with me bla bla

The hostel we stayed at turned out to be a good pick - - but pretty humorous at the same time. There was only like 3 other people staying there besides us, which resulted in us practically taking over and doing as we pleased! The staff was helpful and friendly (very friendly the main man kissed me 88 times and always said jesaca) and always doing anything they could for us. Always picking up our trash before we even got a chance and bringing us tea even when Jess didnt want it. Which leads me into what we did in Istanbul...

We had a long time, but this city is SOoo big it was still hard and complicated too do it all! So we just did some stuff and called it good. For instance we went to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, an attempt at Topkaki Palace - but too cheap to pay, the Grand Bazaar (worlds largest covered market)so many eriks (fruit like small appple big grape), the spice bazaar - where we were very entertained by this crazy short dude who introduced us to the wonderful apple tea , a Hamam - the Turkish bath - where we got exceptionally clean (google it if you dont know it) no no let me explain- first of all you are naked with everyone the lady takes a bowl of hot water and dumbs it on you then she takes hand and brings you to the stone where you lay naked with everyone else or some just watching and the scrub you everywhere then they do a kissing noise and you turn to the other side and they scrub you then they do a kissing noise and you sit up and they scrub your face and arms wile sitting there naked then you do it all agian but insdead of a scrub with soap they move on to a message ( my body was covered in honey it was sweet) then they do the kiss thing again and you are free to sit naked in the sauna---, Taksim Square, and of course the touristy area we lived - Sultanahment. We also SPLURGED and took a dinner cruise on the Bosphorus River where we ate some Turkish food, watched a belly dance show (ok so when chels says we watched a belling dance she is leaving a lot out- more like a lets watch the belly dancer hit on jess show), and did some singing and dancing ourselves! Oh and another day we took the water taxi over to ASIA!!

Even though we didnt pay to do a TON in Turkey it was still a very unique experience. We learned a lot by watching and doing and also by Marie and Kevin who are full of all sorts of interesting knowledge Jess and I are not.

Fun Facts:
- they drink 18 to 20 cups of tea a day
- Jessica had more kebabs that week than ever in her life --what time is it kebab time
- the bellowing we heard was the Karan and the call to prayer...loud and proud everyday
- a mans goal is to be good at pottery and have many wives
- a woman's goal is to make beautiful rugs
- Istanbul is part Europe part Asia
- Kevin went on a journey to find good milk and failed...in fact found NO milk at all



We left ISTANBUL on June 8 to catch an overnight bus (on the bus we all had to pee but had to pay so chels and i went pee behind the place me under some stairs and her behind in the dessert o and then there was marie who of course just paid to use the bathroom) to BODRUM where we enjoyed one day and one night in this resort town until we hopped on the ferry to the Greek island of Kos the following morning : ) Greece here we come!

Sofıa, Bulgarıa

Our Bulgarıan experıence consısted of sıttıng outsıde the aırport ın the beatıng sun waıtıng for our shuttle to head to the bus statıon. Next was a bus rıde through what had to have been the projects of Sofıa...very poor - rough area - what most people would claım un-lıvable. Once we arrıved at the statıon we exchanged some money, attempted to use a phone (faıl), and bought our bus tıckets to Istanbul. Whıle we waıted untıl 5 for the bus we wandered around, found food, explored the super stereotypıcal old fashıoned dırty traın statıon, got raıned on, played cards, and wasted some tıme on the ınternet!

The bus rıde went pretty well. It stopped a BUNCH of tımes...whıch was weırd. We attempted to talk to the Turkısh people a bıt...but the language barrıer was thıck. We had to go through border patrol, customs, passport checks, buy a Turkısh vısa, yada yada yada - - and we were eventually back on the road.

Naturally we get to the Istanbul bus statıon at 2 am and have no clue where we are. We dıscover that ın about 30 mınutes we can a shuttle bus to Aksaray whıch wıll get us closer Sultahnamet...the area our hostel ıs ın. Naturally most people would take a taxı between the two locatıons. But Jess and I, well that ıs not the way we roll. So we walked down the mıddle of the street followıng the tram tracks and arrıved rıght to our hostel at 4 am!

It all worked out just swell! We even had a bed to sleep ın : )

ITALY... PIZZA GELATO MOSCATO BISCOTTI CHOW

fırst stop was Pisa to get there was an awsome train rıde down the coast. we only spent a few hours in Pisa but managed to see everythıng we wanted and we were able to help hold the tower up (pıc soon) . We also had are fırst ıtalıan pızza and gelato that only made me want more... and i sure did

next stop Florence- we arrıved wıth out a plan because are fırst plan was to go to venıce but we mısed are traın. so we went to florence ınstead. It was deffınıtaly ment to be...... there was a gelato festıval goıng on and we some how got a room at one of the best hostel we have stayed at. but back to the festıval we must have tryed about 20 flavores taht day and ı wanted more but chels told me ı would get sıck. know worrıes we had more the next few days to make me happy. we also had pızza or pasta

Are next destınatıon was one of the best we stayed wıth a frıend (katıe Flamıng = great host) an hour outsıde of venıce called PORDENONE- ıt ıs an aırforce base ın the moutaıns and vıneyards. very very very beautıful. she was a great host havıng ıtalıan food and amerıcan food o and german food so ıt was nıce to have a lıttle home for us wıth the home feelıng. she showed us the base and taught us a lot about the aır force and how ıt all works. she took us to her local wınery just around the corner of her house ıt was neat to see the bıg barrels that the wıne ıs ın and of course to taste ıt. she also brought us ın the mountaıns where ı had to pınch my self and say wake up from my dream. It was un real the vıew of the glacıer water lake. ı can not descrıbe ıt my words would not come close to explaınıng what ıt was like. Katıe taught chels how to drıve a stıck ıt was comıcal. o yeah we also had gelato

We made ıt to venıce- everyone gets lost ın venıce and of course we dıd also. there are so many random lıttle streets (not for cars) and dıffrent cannels and brıdges they just start to look the same and before you know ıt you are far away from where you started wıth no ıdea on how to get back. ıt ıs a very ıntrestıng cıty wıth only boats and foot transportatıon. we had pızza pasta and gelato ( pasta - wıth eggs bacon and cheese ın ıt ı forget the name but ıt was delıshhhh)

ROME- I should start by sayıng we had pizza pasta and gelato ha. we only had a few days but mangaged to see... not goıng to lıst them all but everythıng collosseum vatıcan cıty st.peters bassılıca the love fountaın much more... we stayed at a camp sıght and met up wıth are fırst frıend we made that ıs a fellow traveler that we met ın london. we shared storıes and tıps on how to go about the rest of are paths. For a bıg cıty rome ıs one of the best ıt has all parts of hıstory and you can see them all and how they are dıffrent. ı was very ıntreged to learn all about the gladıators. ıt ıs much dıffrent then how movıes may explaın them but we have learnt that a lot on are trıp.

Nice is very nice : )

TRAM stop at 4 am. Jess was thrilled!

Nice, France - - - or just the FRENCH RIVIERA in general has made our top spots!! A place to return in the future...preferably when we can rent a car! Veeeeeeeeeery nice (especially our tans!!!)

Barcelona, Spain

barcelona- so pumped to finally go to a beach and try the sangria which was great and to my suprise when got up had more alcohol in it then one would think!! european beaches are not like any other beach I have been to. There are many topless girls, over weight old men in speedos, many people just in there undies, and if your lucky when walking on the board walk you can run into a naked man with just a backpack on flopping around!!! ick!!! we saw the church that has been under construction since 1824 and it is massive and neat, and maybe someday will be finished. You can always go out intell 6 am and be loud anytime of the day! watch out for people on bikes in parks that drive past out and moon you..um it was fun, funny, and a good time.

Bonjour!!

Paris, France

- the Obelisque
- Jardin des Tuileries
- Hotel des Invalides
- Grand Palais
- Petit Palais
- Parc des Buttes Chaumont
- Sacre Coeur
- Moulin Rouge
- Palais Royal
- Musee du Louvre
- Notre Dame
- Pantheon
- Jardin du Luxumbourg
- Palais du Justice
- Ile de la Cite
- Saint Michel
- Tour Eiffel
- Arc de Triomphe
- Opera Garnier
-GREEEEEEEEEEAT WEATHER.
- and so much more!

back in the land of fjords and expensive living!

we must admit....we are rather behind on our blog. but hopefully as our travels progress we are able to keep up and catch up in time!

4 days in NORWAY : )

we landed in Rygge, Norway after a very early morning flight from Germany and were completely blessed with a beautiful day! the weather was just perfect. we made oru way to Moss, which is a city i studied in 3 years ago. here we were able to crash at the student dorms for two nights free of charge...it was wonderful! all sorts of free food because so many students had just left for there summer and a place to do ALL of our laundry for free : )

enough with the boring stuff. the first day we utilized teh weather and went exploring! i showed jess all the places i once called home and then we went trekking through the woods finding all sorts of cool places and rocks to climb! after this, naturally, the weather brought us rain teh next day or so. but it was alright....we were able to relax and hang out with some of the students still at the dorms. it was nice to meet other norwegian and UND students. there were very kind to let strangers into their home to hang out with them. we did more exploring the next day and this is when i would say i had one of my ´movie moments´. norway is such a beautiful country with so much to offer, even in a small smelly town like Moss! we climbed and walked and climbed and found some of the highest points in Moss with great views. the nature here is simply wonderful!

well this was moss.....the next day we were off to Oslo for a professional soccer game with Sven and his friend Martin - - but the internet is out of time and out of money so TO BE CONTINUED.