the stories we love best live in us forever.

And that goes for cities as well.  As I sit here, crying a little bit about the thought of leaving Bath for what will be a very long time (and probably annoying all the other people in our room), I can't even begin to put into words what these past six months have done for me.  Five months and nineteen days ago, I was sitting in my room, feeling a little sick and packing up all my belongings and wondering how on earth I would survive six months abroad.  Not because I was afraid, but more because it just seemed like such a long time, and that was daunting.


Now, of course, I wish I could stay six more months.  Don't get me wrong--I'm VERY excited to get home and see everyone, but there's so much here that I will miss so much it will hurt.  The pound, tea time, Linley House, British accents, cider and black, pubs, the countryside... I could go on forever but I feel like I should stop typing so as not to be murdered by our hostelmates (we will, after all, be leaving at 2:30 am... yikes).  So, five months ago, I said this:

I still am in a state called Denial.  I can't believe I'm actually going.  Once I'm there it might hit me.  Although even then it's still likely that I think I'm dreaming.


And really, it all does feel like a dream.  The best dream I've ever had, I'd say.  Part of me still doesn't believe that it happened, that I am this lucky.  But it did, and I am.  So thank you a trillion times to everyone who made my experience what it was. 


Bath, I love you. Cheers.
-LPRO

the end of an era...

Not to be dramatic or anything... but OMG I'M SEEING HARRY POTTER AND THE END OF MY CHILDHOOD (part II) tonight.  I don't know what I will do with myself after.  Probably see it again. And again.  And again and again.  Then read the books over, and get excited for the movie to come out on DVD so I can watch all the special features.  I just want to say, right now, that I will miss the excitement and anticipation that this series has brought to my life.  It's impossible to imagine my life without these stories--I truly owe so much to JK Rowling.  Without her, I would not have spent twelve hours standing in the rain in Trafalgar Square, not been the co-captain and co-founder of the Denison Quidditch League, and probably not have wanted to be a writer of children's literature.  And so maybe have not gone to England and found Bath, a city that I love SO MUCH and cannot bear to leave. It will be so hard to step on that plane at 8:00 in the morning... So, all in all, I would be a different person I think.

THANK YOU JK ROWLING.  Like we chanted at the premiere... Thank you.

Can't wait to see the movie (just one hour and forty five minutes left!).  I will be in tears for most of it, I imagine.  PS--I'm watching part I right now, as it should be all one movie... I hope you all enjoy the film as much as I'm expecting to.

You are all the happy thoughts I have when I cast my patronus.  PS my patronus is an ostrich.  Maybe a penguin.
-LPRO

in which i stood for twelve hours

At the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II world premiere in Trafalgar Square. In the same spot.  Without a break.  We didn't even leave to go use the bathroom (it was all the way on the other side of Trafalgar Square, after all...). But I have to say... IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.  Seeing all my favorite characters at the same time was something I will not soon forget.  Nor is singing along to pick-up Potter Puppet Pals chants.  We really became a little family with the people standing around us (though we would have killed each other had we been close enough for autographs...).  I LOVED hearing all of them speak and saying how much they would miss each other, and how Hogwarts will never really die because the stories we love will live in our hearts forever.  PS I think I nearly fainted when JK Rowling arrived.  

Anyways, I will attempt to talk about something unrelated to Harry Potter--we'll see how far I get.  So, Logan and I got to Paris safely, after an extremely cheap overnight train ride, and had very nice plans to reserve tickets for the chunnel and go and see the Eiffel Tower and other touristy things.  But, as we all know, life is not that simple.  The first woman I asked about chunnel tickets, said none were available and had no clue where I could go to buy ferry tickets instead.  So we walked to a new train station, where they told us the cheapest tickets were for 440€.  Not pleasant.  So we naturally did what anyone stuck in a city with no way out and no where to stay would do: we called our mother.  At 5 am Chicago time.  

Because she is an amazing woman and can solve any situation, she somehow managed to find us tickets for much cheaper than the train station was offering.  Superwoman.  So all we had to do was print out the tickets and get to the station.  It actually turned out to be quite easy--only it took up all our seeing Paris time.  Poops.  

But we did get to London, and we made it to the apartment where we were staying with Katie, which was absolutely phenomenal.  PS we each had bought some Ben's Cookies for one another, because they are fantastic. So we sat for a while and caught up with each other, after which we went out to get some groceries and I made some stir fry for dinner.  We then woke up around 8 to get to Trafalgar Square to get wristbands (another thing I can add to the shrine... just kidding I don't have a shrine... that would be crazy...) and we met a lot of fellow crazy Harry Potter fans.  (I'm not the only one.)  Then we decided that instead of camping out, we would do some touring, and so we went to the Camden Markets.  It was AWESOME.  

Also, it was SO NICE to be able to stay with Katie.  The family she was living with was so kind and welcoming and the bed was SO comfy... God it was sad to leave.  But we will be reunited soon.  Anyways, lots of other things happened, but we eventually had to leave Katie and head out on our own.  So, on our own, we saw Much Ado About Nothing, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate.  Now, let me tell you all something.  David Tennant was The Doctor.  The tenth Doctor of Doctor Who--a show I now love. Also, Catherine Tate is not only a BRILLIANT comedian (and on a recent episode of the office), but also The Doctor's companion for awhile.  So, after having spent so much time traveling with these two people, it was GREAT to see them in person, especially in a Shakespeare comedy.  Seriously--I have never found Shakespeare more enjoyable.  I wish I had it on video.  AND THEN because we each got a souvenir, we went around back after the show (the years of the Bigfork Playhouse autograph collecting finally paying off) and got their autographs.  Mine's on a mug though, so I have to find a way to have it not wash off by the time we get back... we'll see. 

Anyways, to sum up--I am extraordinarily happy and just loving life.  Although, I do wish I could stay just a little longer.  Like maybe one more semester in England.  Yes.  That would be nice.  

Love you all and don't worry--I'll see a bunch of you in a little over a week. 

Hugs from Hogwarts,
LPRO

but that was just yesterday...

HOLY MOLY!  It has been almost exactly a month since we have last spoken, blogosphere!  Rats, I have always meant to be more on top of things.. but you know, even the journaled tales have only just left Croatia... so, let´s see... prague was last? Yikes.  Since then, we have been to Vienna, where we walked around, saw a few palaces, met up with our friend Adam we met in Copenhagen, saw a classical concert in a venue smaller than the hall we had piano recitals in, and acquired some bed bugs.  Next we took a train to Croatia, and Split in specific, where we spent a day, and then took a ferry over to Korcula where we spent the next few days in a hostel called Dragan´s Den.  A hostel where we rid ourselves of the bedbugs by doing three loads of laundry that we may or may not have paid for... But it was absolutely fantastic.  We went cliff jumping (yes even Logan) and swam in the gorgeous Adriatic sea.  Next we headed to Dubrovnik, where we stayed with a wonderful woman and her family who had a gorgeous view of the Gruz bay.  We walked around the old town, went to two spectacular beaches, and had a tour of three of the surrounding islands with a captain who insisted that you couldn´t drink fanta without a little bit of brandy, even at ten in the morning (and by a little bit I mean a little bit more... yikes).  But it was fantastic.  Then we took an overnight ferry to Bari, where we learned that chairs are not so comfortable, and took a train and then two busses to find our hostel in Positano, which was absolutely gorgeous.  I´m telling you, we were going from spectacular view to spectacular view... In Positano, we took a day trip to Pompeii and then skipped over to Naples for some pizza (an experience that was not so transcendental as Eat, Pray, Love made it out to be... though that could have been because the entire town was covered in garbage...).  Then we spent a day on another amazing beach, and another day relaxing on Capri and taking a boat tour around the island.  THEN we got to Rome, where we stayed with the wonderful Susanna and were able to truly relax for a few days and just enjoy being with friends and italian food.  Truly, we were spoiled rotten with all of the amazing cuisine... grilled zucchini and zucchini flower pizza type thing... caprese salad with the most delicious tomatoes I´ve ever eaten... amazing bread... artichoke lasagne... tiramisu... kiwi and pineapple and raspberry sorbet... pasta.... ahhhhhh..... To go back...  Though I would go back just to see Susanna and all her housemates again.  Everyone was so kind and fun and funny, and we had a great time playing cards and just sitting around the table talking.  It was really one of the highlights of the trip--Logan and I were both very sad to leave Rome.  But we luckily were also able to spend the night with the Angelinis, where Livia showed us around the city and told us all about the little cars that Italian teenagers drive (they´re like smartcars but with the motor of a scooter and you can drive them when you´re fourteen).  It was so nice to be with them--Nicole even helped us figure out our travel plans.  It was great, and I even got a little teary when we said goodbye to her at the train station. 

But now we are in Barcelona, after a very long boat ride across the mediterranean.  It was rather rocky...  We´ve now been here for three nights and are leaving tomorrow night on an over night train to Paris, to avoid paying for a hostel as they are very expensive and also all booked up.  We´ve had a great time in Barcelona--we went to the beach, saw a lot of Gaudi´s architecture, made a really good friend, and were robbed.  Don´t worry--we´ll survive, they mainly took our foreign money (as in Kuna and various Kroner) and only got a few pounds.  It´s actually quite a surprising and slightly amusing story... I´ll have to tell you in person, cause you won´t believe it if I just write it down.  Let´s just say we were not pickpocketed, in the normal sense (I´m much too smart for that...).

Also, in other news, I have now booked every hostel we´ll need until we leave for home.  Sad, but I have to say, it´s kind of a relief.  Just knowing exactly where we´ll be over the next few days is great feeling (and so is knowing that I¨m going back to England).  Sometimes I feel like I canNOT wait until I get back home and can hug everyone again, and sit in the shade of the Chicago buildings and have a picnic... but tonight was not one of those nights.  Tonight was one of those nights that I wish I could be traveling forever and just keep on meeting people and seeing new things and having fun.  And the strange thing is, we didn´t really do anything that exciting.  We went to the beach, had some fun finding chorizo and cheese for our pasta tonight, only to realize that we´d forgotten to label the pasta and someone else had eaten it.  So we just used the left over pasta from last night, someone´s left over red pepper and zuchinni (I like zuchinni now!) and made one of the most delicious pasta dinners I´ve ever made myself.  It was absolutely fantastic. 

But, that doesn´t stop me from looking forward to a good turkey barbecue and corn dinner when we get back... Also, for some reason, I have been REALLY craving a root beer.  So, I don´t know if I´ll be able to post again until I get to my computer in a week (YIKES really, I¨ll be in bath in a little over a week! Shikies!), so just know that I love you all and think about you often. 

Prague, Krakow, Vienna, Croatia, and where has all the time gone?

Hello all. I realize we have become rather estranged, and I fear this post will be far too short to assuage all the curiosity you are feeling about our trip. But, I will do my best as I sit in the gorgeous Croatian sunset. So, Prague:

It has probably been our favorite city to date. On our first day, we went on the ultimate tour, which included a boat tour with a free drink (and by free I mean included), a three course meal, and a lot of information. It was absolutely fantastic and we learned things like that. The city of Prague paid a LOT of money to build a statue of Stalin back in the day (enough money to build eight hospitals) before they realized what a total jerk face he was. They stayed in denial for around two years, when they could no longer ignore it, and then they put him in a wooden box... Basically a cone of shame. Then, one night, the statue just disappeared. There was no mention of it in the papers, nothing. It just disappeared, leaving a fifteen meter tall pedestal behind. Eventually they put. New statue up there- one of Michael Jackson. Only people didn't really like putting mj up On the same pedestal as Stalin, so that didn't last long. Now there's a cool statue of a working metronome, which serves as a reminder that time is always changing. Sweet.
So the next fun thing that happened in Prague was that Aunt Barb and Uncle Craig came! It was such a great surprise that we were able to see them. We were able to walk all around the castle with them, and have a drink by the most beautiful view of Prague. It was really amazing. Then Logan and I went to see the Mucha museum (awesome),and then we went out to dinner at the cafe louvre, where both kaftka and Einstein have eaten. It was a delicious dinner, and we could not have been more sad to say good ye to Aunt Barb and Uncle Craig. Then we went on a ghost tour and had a few drinks with some other Americans we met. And next is Krakow, where we stayed in our favorite hostel yet. It was called the soul hostel, and all the people staying there were awesome. We went out to dinner our first night with two ca Diana, Jess and Kate, and two Norweigans, jaquim and Oscar. It was such a fun night. The next few days, then, were filled with AushwitZ and the salt mines. Very depressing, but the salt mines were awesome. Anyways, sorry, but that is all my fingers have energy for, especially since I think the rest of the hostel is sitting by the pool at the moment... I'll try to update again soon. Love you all!

Ps I went cliff jumping today. In Croatia.

guten tag: a blog from prague

Here we are, in Berlin.  I have to say, it is quite hard to imagine this city during WWII, as right now (and for the past two days), it is about 70 degrees and sunny and lovely.  So, to sum up two days in a few minutes--Logan and I are hoping to go out tonight and experience the Berlin nightlife at this place called the AstroBar, and our feet need to stop throbbing first.   So, yesterday, we got a late start (lovely) and headed out to find the free walking tour.  The mysterious walking tour that leaves from the even more mysterious Dunkin Donuts that we never found.  Which meant that instead, we walked around the zoo--literally around, not through--and found a gorgeous little cafe where we had some bratwurst and Radler.  Now, Radler is like Summer Shandy, only sweeter.  So naturally I'm in love.  Then we walked some more, until we found the building with the dome that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of but it has what looks like a beehive on top and you could walk around it.  (It's called the Reichstag.) But we didn't--instead we bought a pretzel and walked down to the gate.

So now I am in Prague.  There was a slight time lapse between this paragraph and the last, only because the people waiting for the computers at our Berlin hostel made me nervous and jumpy.  But now I'm sitting with a Czech drink and not a care in the world (except what time the pool closes...).  So, Berlin:

We took a picture with Yoda in front of the Brandenberg gate (mainly we did it for Dad, but I found it quite amusing when Yoda leaned in real close to Logan, and whispered, "It costs one euro for a picture..."), saw a bike bar (where you pedal and drink beer from a bar at the same time), and ate a lot of sausages.  But more than that, we saw some amazing things--most of them surrounding the holocaust and the fall of the Berlin wall.  We stopped at the Holocaust Memorial, which was 2,711 different sized blocks standing tall along sloping ground in the middle of the city.  It was awesome--it cost 27,000 euros to build, and it is painted with an anti-graffitti paint.  This, however, was controversial at the time, because the company who makes the paint also once was a Nazi supporter--so the feeling was that a company who benefitted from the Holocaust should not now profit from it.  I don't remember if the paint ended up being donated, but there you go.  (PS we learned all this from lurking behind a english speaking tour lady.)

Then we walked to where the Gestapo Headquarters once were, and learned just a lot about Germany during WWII.  Did you know, for example, that Berlin held the Summer Olympics in 1933?  I feel like the world should have seen what was about to happen... And that 70,000 people who were "incurably ill" in the hospital were killed?  It's just so awful. 

Anyways, after that, we walked to the Jewish museum, which was just cooler than cool.  They have done such a nice job with this museum--it really immerses you in the horrors of the Holocaust.  There was this one room, called the Holocaust Tower, which was basically a HUGE triangular dungeon with just a slim sheet of light pouring through at the very top.  Then there was another room with 10,000 metal screaming faces lying on the ground that you were encouraged to walk on.  This was really eerie because it echoed like nobody's business and it was like we were creating the noise and the screams of metal on metal... it gave me goosebumps.  It was very effective. 

So, there you have it--that's it for today.  Mostly because I spent the five hour train ride writing a SEVENTEEN page entry in our journal covering these exact things... I could upload that, if you would prefer... but not right now.  I love you all, and I cannot wait to go and explore this pool... (This hostel is AMAZING.)

Love from Praha,
LPRO and LMRO

ps--is that how you spell guten tag?

velkommen omboard

velkommen omboard

Norweigan Fjords

Copenhagen is absolutely gorgeous.  Although I could just be saying that because right now it is almost 70 degrees and sunny out.  Ridiculous.  But I actually have a computer for once, so maybe I can do a more official blog post.  So, when we last left, we were still in Flåm where we had an adorable room in the most beautiful hostel in existence.  It was set in the valley of the fjords, had keys without keys, just little pieces of plastic that you pushed up next to the keyhole thing, a wonderful kitchen, and our own bathroom (that we shared with two women from Singapore).  Now, these women we lived with were a treat.  Especially one of them, who I now realized we never asked the name of, would not stop talking almost the entire two days.  She even asked to borrow Logan's hairdryer and then proceeded to blow out the circuit.  Yikes.  Anyways, she was so interested in absolutely everything we did--they tried to go on the same hike as we did but OMG would you believe it? there was a dog barking so they had to turn back (I heard this story three times) and they were also very interested into why we were traveling, do a lot of americans travel? they see a lot of americans traveling, you're norweigan? Why on earth would your ancestors have left? Norway is so rich?  Did they follow their husbands over?  Things like that.  VERY amusing, though less so when I am trying to subtly get into bed as she is still talking to me...

Anyways, our only full day in Flåm was spent on the fjords, to Gudvangen and back on a boat.  It was lovely and gorgeous.  Except for the part when a bunch of Asian tourists started throwing bread up into the air so the seagulls would swoop in and eat it all.  It made one very nervous that they were going to be pooped on... But then Gudvanger was great. We did a sundance, played egyptian rats (which is a game like war that usually goes on forever... only I won THREE TIMES in ten minutes... winner), walked around the little viking town they had set up, and explored the town (although it was quite small...). Then we headed back and spent some more quality time in the hostel, as the night life in Flåm is, predictably, non existent.  So instead we watched the series finale of Smallville before going to bed.  Good times.  

So then we woke up early to catch the first train out of Flåm, so we could make an early train to Oslo, so we could catch the ferry to Copenhagen.  Now, one: I cannot believe this all worked out, and two: they use the word ferry here very lightly.  Logan and I were on a hard core CRUISE SHIP.  I kid you not.  It was fabulous.  We sat by a cafe and shared a weinerbrod (I don't make these things up) and a lemon and ginger smootea.  It was delicious, and helped with the seasickness, in the beginning at least.  We also realized that being on this nice cruise ship meant that we would not be eating very much... so we purchased a bottle of champagne for ten dollars and then had some appetizers instead.  And even though we were so excited to be able to be on this boat, we were close to getting sick, as it was rockin like mick jagger.  SO HARD CORE.  So we called it an early night and went back to our bunks to stop our own heads from spinning.  Admittedly the champagne might not have been the best idea...  

But then yesterday morning, we arrived in Copenhagen.  It was partly sunny, which is so much more sun than we had been experiencing in Norway.  So, first we walked to try and find the train station, an endeavor which failed when we discovered we had no Danish money, and then decided, well, what the hell, let's just walk.  So, we walked about two miles with our packs on, and somehow (it's still unclear as to how exactly this happened), found our hostel.  But, we couldn't check in until two thirty, and it was only about eleven, so we immediately headed out again to find The Little Mermaid Statue, the King's Gardens and the castle there, and everything in between.  I think we walked about ten miles yesterday.  Needless to say, we were both very ready to get back to the hostel and cook up some pasta and pesto and mozzarella and peppers... only we realized after grocery shopping and getting all excited that the hostel doesn't have a kitchen.  RUDE.  So, instead, we just cut up the pepper and mozzarella, put one on top of the other, and then smeared pesto on top.  It was a good alternative.  Plus, we had strawberries and juice, so all was well.  Then Logan went to bed and I stayed up talking to a frenchman.  Good night.  So, today we are headed to exchange money, reserve our tickets for Germany, and go to Tivoli Garden) and then... go out for dinner for the first time in forever.  Don't worry--we'll find somewhere cheap.  

Love from Copenhagen,

LPRO and LMRO