for your viewing pleasure....

....we hope to be able to get some pictures in soon.
photographs say a thousand words : )

but we havent had any access to do this : (

chocolate and beer = BELGIUM

On Monday April 26 we left Fanny's place in Rotterdam, Netherlands and grabbed a bus to Brussels, Belgium where we continuued on to Bruges, Belgium.

Bruges was a woooonderful city where I hope to return someday - - and I am sure Jess agrees...well she actually admits she would have rather experienced it with her mom and dad instead of me : ) we stayed at our first good hostel and actually made some friends who we spent the evening with chatting about all our travels and where we sit in our lives! later on we went out and about and roamed the cobblestone streets with a couple locals - - only to later leave the pub reaking of smoke. wooo hoo! none-the-less a good experience. In Bruges we enjoyed our first Belgian chocolates and I (Chelsey) enjoyed some classic Belgian brews.

Only later on the next day in Brussels were Jess and I BOTH pleasantly surprised to discover a raspberry beer that was delicious. so YES Jessica Lynn Bye drank a beer and LIKED it. In Brussels we stayed with a Belgian girl named Claire, along with her Italian flatmate Sandra. That evening consisted of our worst supper yet - - Belgian fries and beer. hmmm OOPS! so good, but so bad. good thing we have to walk everywhere : ) The girls were very nice and also very funny. It was nice to spend the evening with them on the streets and in the pubs of Brussels, Europe's capital city!!

Today we left Beglium on a absolutely BEAUTIFUL, hot, and SUNNY day only to spend most of that time wasting the weather while we were in transit on our way to Wroclaw, Poland - - which is where I write you from now : )

Amsterdam Life

reeks of pot naked girls yep your in amsterdam

a very interesting city. we stayed in a hostel with 300 people and only 4 bathrooms. this is because in amsterdam everyone pees in the streets well besides girls unless they are protesting on a bridge. they literally have little bathrooms set up in the middle of the street where guys pee they do this to prevent guys from peeing on the buildings. you can find a coffe shop on every crorner. if you didnt know they dont cell coffe.

of course you want to know about the red light district--- we took a walking tour and found out all about it so this is how it works there are hundreds of window with hundreds of diffrent kinds of girls. They range form 18-82 haha yes 82 but but we heard she doesnt have teeth?????!!!!!!!!!! ok so you go up to window and if the girl wants your $ or you she will open it and you say whatever it is you want to do and pay but first i guess you shower and the lowest pay is 50 for 15???? its rather disgusting if you where to ask me.

other then sex and weed there are lots and lots of bikes that are much more dangerous then a car or train. the buildings are all leaning in out and on one another. it loos very odd but very cool ( and no we are not high this is for real)

the Highlands of Scotland

After a couple days in Edinburgh Jess and I jumped on a tour up to the highlands of Scotland...where the true beauty and history lives! Our group was small unfortunetly because of the volcanic ash keeping the travelers from arriving at their destinations. However, of course Jess and I tried to make the best of it. Keeping our loud voices, singing, dancing, and laughing to a minimum.

Our tour guide did a lot to help us learn about where we were and why the Scottish our so proud of their country. We also saw many famous spots where movies have been filmed or where famous people have passed through. Some movies being Braveheart, PS I Love You, Stardust, and the Highlander to name a couple. We also enjoyed a 'Clansman' show in which we learned how to properly where a kilt and how the Scots fought their wars....it is important to note that the proper way to wear a kilt is comando : ) (leading to Jess deciding on her halloween costume for next year).

As beautiful as it was, i cant imagine it in its prime! How green it would be with blooming flowers and sparkling lochs! However, we got to experience rain, snow, hail, wind, and cold cold temperatures! We felt very fortunate if we saw some sun.

Overall it was great and we would love the time and money to see even more. Good thing we have the future.....

Edinburgh, Scotland

Beautiful country, amazing architecture, and a sense of gothic history! (but no gargoyles...dang) Oooooh and ALOT of walking.

we arrived in london found are hostel ate some food ( they have baked beans as a side for there breakfast) and crashed for 4 hours. awoke at around 6 : 30 and went out walking to see some sights. We came back and met some sweet aussies and a Canadian. we had supper on the floor of the hostel and chatted! then attempted to go out with the 2 aussie girls but we didn't have an oyster card. so just went back and slept. day 2 london we took free walking tour and saw the main sights but it was freezing COLD! at night we went to a west end show LION KING! it was great and a great experience! day 3 London toured London bridge and the markets. we had are lunch from the markets because of all the free samples ha ! it was great some good bread, chocolate, oils, ........ night time we went to a pub crawl with 12 people it was fun but small and we had troubles because we had no money. the atms were not working. lucky for us the aussies saved us and payed.

NYC! Time Sqaure.

we made it!

hello all!
we are safe and sound in London!
we had to go through a ghetto in New York to get here, a stop in Iceland, and then jumped on a train and here we are!
so.........wish us luck! a lot of walking and taking 'the tube' is to come.
gotta see all the sights : )

the adventures have begun.

Well we have now made it safe and sound from Minneapolis to Philadelphia, where we crashed at our old/new friend Karim's place at U PENN. Which is a very beautiful campus! In Philly, Jess and I realized we do not know near enough about our countries past as we should : / We walked all day and saw a lot of the sights such as the Liberty Bell, US Mint, and a bunch of other old Constitution stuff.

From Philly we hopped a train to Harrisburg and moved onward to Shippensburg after being picked up by Katie and Brittany. We stayed two nights in Ship and made a day trip to and thru other old fashion, stagnant out-of-date towns such as Hazleton. Gettysburg got a late night visit as well! No spirits or ghosts though.

Next it was time for NYC. Britt, KB, Jess, and I headed out early for the big city but with a quick pitstop in Jersey first. Jess visited a HealthQuest here as well as her NPTI friend Brian. We carried on towards the city! Our stay in NYC was unique and uncertain...lets just say we intended on winging it and hoping the pieces would fall into place and eventually they did! Jess went to Connecticut for the night to visit another NPTI friend Ryan and the rest of us were on to Brooklyn to stay with Brits old friend Megan. The second night Jess and I stayed with a girl from back home, Ali. This night involved experiencing a fire escape, Time Square in the dark, supper with Jess NPTI friend Bailey at Chat n' Chew, and standing on the roof of a building across the street from one that was burning down a block from our place. Very tragic, very unexpected, and quite the experience.

Lets just NYC is wonderful and crazy and absurd and brand new all at the same time! Things we did and saw:

Time Square...plus all it entails!

Brooklyn Bridge

NYU

Skyline/Horizon

a free Cab ride

Central Park

United Nations

the Subway

Twin Towers Memorial

Brooklyn

Grand Central Station

Harlem

Chinatown

....and so much more!

less than one week!

GLOSSARY:

MVP = Chelsey 'the rockstar' Smith
Rookie of the Year = Jessica 'the allstar' Bye

PRE-TRIP agenda:
April 5 - meet with Ingrid to discuss Sweden...and pack.
April 6- call Marie to discuss Denmark...and re-pack!
April 7- fly from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Philadelphia...stay in Philly
April 8 and 9- head to Shippensburg, PA to see Britt and Katie : )
April 10 and 11- explore NYC!
April 12- leave the US of A
April 13- land in London, England!