Chilling in my Onesie

Whew!  I am back home and I think I am finally getting back to normal…whatever that is!

The flights home weren't too bad, except for getting pulled out of line to be patted down and have all of my belongings searched-all electronics turned on.  I was the last person to board the plane because of this.  Why would I be suspicious?!?  I think I look pretty normal, don't you?

Just chilling in my British onesie

But seriously, everyone was staring at me in the airport and we got several compliments!  TSA just wanted a better look at me.

Once actually in the plane, it wasn't too bad.  Two meals, better than on the way over.  And I got to watch all of season 3 of Sherlock!  I was so entertained!  The 8 hours went by in no time.  The wait in Philly was a long anxious one.  We all just wanted to get to Indy, but we finally had 3G for the first time since we left.  Everyone was glued to their phones.

Finally in Indy, I was exhausted because it was 1 a.m. Liverpool time.  I fought to stay awake until I got home.  Up for almost 24 hours.  Woohoo!

I slept a lot the next few days just trying to catch up.  Besides finishing up homework from Liverpool, I have been relaxing and enjoying the Indiana summer.

Being back home is very bittersweet.  I am glad to be home, but the past 8 weeks have just sparked my wanderlust!  I want to continue to travel, but not right now.  I will just continue letting my dreams take me back to being lost in Europe, amongst the wondrous cities.

Thanks for reading and keeping up with me across the pond!  Ta and Cheers!

Lessons in Liverpool

My 8 weeks are up!  I can't believe I will be back on American soil tomorrow!  Time has FLOWN by!

This has been the most exciting, challenging, unique, exhausting experience, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I had an amazing time teaching in Liverpool and exploring Europe.  It is hard to explain how surreal this whole experience was.  I still can't believe I am actually over here.  It has all been like a dream.

I have learned a lot during these 8 weeks, about myself, teaching, and different cultures.  Here are a few nuggets that I have learned.

Wifi is precious:  I never realized how much I take wifi, or 3G for granted.  The wifi on campus is spotty, but as soon as I leave campus, my iPhone turns into a glorified iPod with no internet access, or ways to contact people or pull up maps.  This has proved to be one of our biggest problems while traveling.  We can't just look up where we are or where we need to go.  We get lost and we can't open the maps app or call for help.

Public transportation is not fun:  Busses, taxis, trains, metros/tubes, whatever it may be, I am not a fan.  I prefer to drive myself, and anyone who knows me knows that is saying something.  I don't like being on someone else's schedule and have to pay a lot for it.

You will get lost looking for you hostel:  It's inevitable.  Those things are not easy to find.  They are tucked away amongst the maze of streets, usually without signs.

Ask old people who aren't sketchy for directions:  Older people usually know the city better and won't scoff at you when you ask.

Ask young people who aren't sketchy to take your picture:  They will usually try to get good angles and take a good picture, whereas older people will just snap one shot and be on their way.

Water is hard to find:  Honestly, it is really hard to find water.  They have sparkling water, pops, wine, and beer, but water is harder to find.  And when you do find it, you have to pay big bucks for it.

Take away is always cheaper:  For some reason, take away (to go) food is always 3-4 pounds cheaper.  When you have a choice between sit in and take away, always do take away.

Drivers do what they want:  European driving is the craziest I have seen.  If motorcyclists, bicyclists, and people on mopeds want to pass, they won't use a different lane; they will ride on the line between two lanes of traffic.  Want to parallel park on the opposite side of the road?  Go for it!  It is a free for all.  Honking and weaving through traffic is a must

I could not live in a big city:  I knew this before the trip, but it was definitely solidified during these 8 weeks.  Yes, big cities can be nice, but not to live in.  I like having a lot of space and quiet.  You cannot get that in a big city.

You have to pay for ridiculous things:

• Using the bathroom
• Eating in vs. Take away
• Towels in hostels
• Sheets in hostels
• Cold water vs. warm water (cold water costs more)

These are just some of the minor things I have learned.  If I had to write it all out this would be a very long post.

It is so bittersweet coming home.  I can't wait to see my friends and family, but I would love to explore Europe more.  I am pretty excited that my feet won't hang off the end of my bed and that I won't have to constantly worry about bedbugs or other sketchy things in a hostel.  And I wouldn't be sad if I didn't see another potato or form of potato for a few months.  Free water and wifi won't be a bad thing either.

When I land in Indy tomorrow I will have…
Traveled ~15,792.37 miles
Taken 40 busses
Taken 19 Trains
Taken 17 Taxis
Taken 15 Flights
Visited 12 Destinations
In 7 different countries
And become 1 World traveler

Thanks to everyone who supported me and made this an amazing experience!  I am so privileged to have had this once in a lifetime experience!  It has been great even though I rode the struggle bus on many occasions!  Keep an eye out for any additional posts!  Ta and Cheers!

Cups Song (Pitch Perfect's "When I'm Gone") by Anna Kendrick

Rome If You Want To

Tuesday July 1

This plane was a small one.  And we got to sit in the back.  I wasn't complaining.  it was nice.  There was music playing when we walked into the plane.  And it was American music!  Whoot Whoot!  The hour went fast while I was reading.

We landed, grabbed our luggage, and then looked for an info desk.  None were open.  We saw a taxi company desk open.  We decided to pay the set price of 50 euros to get a good cab driver.

Seriously, that was the best cab ride we have had so far.  I really liked it.  We passed all of the important landmarks, at night.  It was still pretty.  He dropped us off where we needed to be.  

Inside the hostel, we paid and got things talk care of.  She explained to us that we were in an apartment a block away.  We asked the reception lady how to get to different places and what the best way to get there was.  She pulled out a map and literally explained everything.  She showed us how to skip the lines, the best gelato places, and all of that good stuff.  She was the most helpful person we have met on our travels.  We were all happy.  She showed us exactly where we were staying.

An apartment.  It had a bathroom, kitchen, tv, computer, and our own 3 person room.  The only bad side was that we had to share one bathroom with 12 people.  That is a bit not good.  

We went straight to bed.  We were so tired.  The AC helped with a good nights sleep.  

Wednesday July 2

We woke up at 8:45 to get ready before breakfast.  We had to go to the home base hostel to get our breakfast tickets and then go across the street for our breakfast.  We got our choice of croissant. I choose chocolate chip.  It was pretty good.

Then we headed out for the day.  We really didn't have a destination in mind, we just wanted to see everything.  That was fine.  

After getting lost, we stumbled upon Piazza della Republica.  This was comprised of two buildings in a crescent shape with a fountain in the middle.  It was a round about so there was about 4 lanes circling around.  

Piazza Minanelli.  This was a building with giant steps.  There were many people around there.  Including more creepy guys with roses. We stayed clear of them.  There were great views of the city here.  We were pretty high up.  Down the road from this was Villa Medici.  We couldn't reall see much, but yet again, there were great views of the city.  

Piazza del Popolo.  This was a circle with buildings and fountains and a large stick thing in the middle.  Walking was getting tough.  We were so tired.  We passed many high end shops.  Prada, Valintina, Louis Vuitton.  Stuff like that.  We had to get out of there as fast as possible because we couldn't afford even to look at that street.  

We found a little Pizzeria.  We all got Margherita pizza and 1 L of water.  I downed that water.  I was so darn thirsty.  I tried to save some water for my pizza.  The pizza wasn't the best I had ever had.  It was extremely thin and a little burnt.  I didn't finish the pizza.  From there we were headed toward the Colosseum.  

It was a long walk.  We got tired.  We did listen to our receptionist and went to the other ticket booth.  We didn't have to wait to buy the tickets or get in.  It was very nice.  We roamed around arce di Tito for a little bit.  We got tired and hot really fast, so we sat down on a bench in the shade for 20 minutes.   It was a nice time.  

Colosseum time!  I was really excited for this.  We got to skip the queue and go straight in.  Even nicer.  We had to start on the 2nd floor.  Getting up the steps was a real struggle.  They were high and deep.  Sweating and struggling.  When we finally made it, it was breath taking.  I loved it so much.  We sat down on some steps and just took it in.  We listened to some English tour guide for a little bit.  It was nice.  We walked back down to the lower level.  I honestly can't even explain how amazing and surreal it was to actually be in the Colosseum.  I was astonished.  It was more amazing in person.   

Leaving the Colosseum, we got lost again, big shocker there…  We just wanted some food.  Waiters were standing on the streets trying to lure in people.  We kept running past them.  Finally we heard one saying some things that we liked like 5 euros, free wifi, and no sit down charge.  That sold us.  We sat down.  I ordered lasagna.  It was pretty good.  The only way to finish off an italian meal-- Gellato!  I got chocolate chip and nutella!  It was delicious!!

Thursday July 3

Woke up a little earlier today because we had to make our tour time at the Vatican. 

I got a lovely chocolate filled croissant for breakfast. So yummy.  Then we headed off to the metro station.  

We found it no problem.  Got our tickets and headed to the platform.  There we were met with about 100 other people and a packed metro.  We waited for that metro to go.  It was too crowded.  3 minutes later, another metro came by, still very crowded.  We really tried to get on, but we couldn't fit.  We moved to where we were standing on the platform to try to get on the next one.  When it arrived, I literally shoved myself onto it.  The others were clinging onto me so they wouldn't get left behind.  It was soooo crowded.  I couldn't move.  

Several stops later, we made it.  We had no clue where to go when we got off, but we were close.  We followed the crowd.  On the street, we were met with many people trying to sell us tickets to the Vatican.  Still fresh off the Rose guy, we ran past them shaking our heads and saying "NO!"  We finally stopped when a guy said that we were going the wrong way.  We stopped and listened to his directions.  We got going the right way.  Finally we found our meeting place.  Giant stairs right outside Vatican walls.  Thank goodness we bought our tickets before because there were over 400 people in line waiting to purchase tickets.

We had to dress for the occasion too.  No shoulders or knees showing.  This wasn't good because it was a high of 90.  So hot and we had to be covered so much.  Luckily we were inside for the most part.  

We had to get through security since we were entering a new country.  We passed.  Thank goodness.  We were set on our own to discover the Vatican.  We started off in one direction.  There was so much to see.  All the different paintings and sculptures.  It was all so beautiful.  We walked around in awe.  I had never seen so many sculptures or paintings in my life.  The sistine Chapel was beautiful  I had a crick in my neck after looking up for so long, but it was great.  

We exited the sistine chapel and went to St. Peter's Basilica.  Oh my beautiful!  This was the largest church I have ever been in.  And so beautiful too.  I really couldn't believe what I was seeing.  Georgeousness all around.  We wandered amongst the domed ceilings, sculptures, and paintings in a daze.  After 45 minutes in there, we went to the basement,   It was really neat down there.  

I then wanted to explore the souvenir shop across the street.  From there, the Pantheon.  This was quite a walk.  So tired from all of our traveling, we were basically dragging our feet, not wanting to move.  Eventually we got lost (no surprise there), so we sat down in the shade of a building.  We examined our swollen feet and drank some water.  We then thought we should find the Pantheon.  Come to find out, we were sitting at the back of it the entire time.  Of course…

We went inside.  Man the Romans really do things right!  Amazing.  The oculus was incredible.  All of the gold and giant sculptures were great.  We found benches and sat for a long time.  

After working up the motivation to move, we headed back outside and to Piazza N…..   I really didn't know what was there, but if we were close, why not.  We got there and it was a huge oval of buildings surrounding a fountain.  It was pretty cool, but yet again, I was so stinking tired.  We took pictures and headed toward the Trevi Fountain. 

 Our hostel reception lady told us that this would be under construction, but I didn't expect it in that magnitude.  You couldn't see anything.  I was really disappointed.  There was scaffolding all over it.  You could only see the part where the water was supposed to be.  It was drained.  They did have a little think of water that wouldn't even constitute as a kiddie pool for you to throw coins into.  It was sooo small and there were tons of coins around the small tub of the failed attempts.  Lindsey threw her coin a little too hard and it went over the pool and into the now drained area.  I threw mine and it bounced and made it in!  Yay!  

As we were about to leave, a reporter came up to us and asked if he could ask us a few questions.  We didn't mind.  He asked us about how we felt that the trevi fountain was under construction.  We said that we were disappointed.  He asked several more questions.  We just thought it was funny that he choosee to ask us.  

Dinner was next.  We wanted to get closer to our hostel before we got our dinner.  We also wanted to make a stop at the gelato shop our hostel receptionist recommended.  If a local tells you to go somewhere, it must be good.  We found a restaurant across the street from the gelato shop.  We looked at the menu as the grouchy waitress looked on.  We didn't want to discuss our dinner plans in front of her.  We finally decided that it was a good deal.  We sat outside under an awning with fans.  

I ordered spaghetti and Karli and Lindsey ordered white pizza.  The waitress, who was grouchy gave them really weird looks when they ordered it.  She has been grouchy the whole time, so we didn't think much of it.  That was until they got their "pizza"  if you could even call it that.  It was literally just crust with a little garlic on it.  I couldn't help but to laugh out loud.  They were extremely disappointed.  I would have been to.  They each ordered a whole pizza for themselves.  They ate it all despite its off-putting taste.  My spaghetti was really good.  

Gelato shop time.  We had seen a line out the door the entire time we were at the restaurant, so we knew that it had to be good.  We couldn't have imagined the greatness that was inside that shop.  The line was still long inside.  But we got to stand by the cake refrigerator.  I did not mind.  Just looking at all of the delicious pastries made my mouth water.  Go big or go home, I ordered 3 scoops.  Then you go and pick out which ones.  

First, they ask you if you want chocolate in the bottom of your cone.  There are two faucets with chocolate flowing from them.  One milk chocolate, the other, white chocolate.  Only a crazy person would say no to warm chocolate in the bottom of their ice cream cone.  Then I got to pick out my flavors.  This being my 4th (I think) gelato in Italy, I am starting to know which flavors I like.  I got the italian version of cookies and cream and a hazelnut thing.  Then they ask if you want whipped cream on top.  You could have chocolate, regular, coffee, or something else.  All the options!  This made for the most delicious ice cream ever!  I loved it!  So scrumptious! 

Back to our hostel to chill the rest of the night. 

Friday July 4

No 4th plans this year.  We really didn't know what to do today.  

We woke up with just enough time to get dressed, go to the hostel for breakfast tickets, and eat breakfast.  After breakfast, we went back to the room to look up things to do today.  

We thought Scala Santa and Chapel of San Lorenzo sounded interesting.  It supposedly houses an important staircase.  Legend says that St. Helena, Constantine's mother, brought the step back with her from Jerusalem.  They were marble stairs from the palace of Pontius Pilate and were said to be the stairs that Jesus ascended in order to appear before Pilate.  People climb the stairs on their knees and say a prayer at each step.  We thought that would be fun.

We went to the metro station and got our tickets.  The car we were in was pretty crowded, but we didn't have to go too far.  We got off and found the church.  It is then when we realized that we were dressed "inappropriately" to go inside.  It was 90 degrees, and I was dying in shorts and a tank top.  I wasn't about to cover my shoulders and knees again.  So we went to the building across the street.  We were again met with a dress code.  Defeated, we sat down. 

We states sitting for a while. It was really hot and we didn't want to move. Eventually, we ventured into the flea market thing that was outside. We really didn't find anything we needed, so we moved and sat down again. Lindsey and I still wanted to go inside because we came all that way. 

We headed toward the lady positioned in front of the doors to get in. I asked her wht all I would have to cover I get in. She looked confused. She pointed inside and told us it was free. She said Lindsey might have issues with the guards because she was in a sleeveless dress. We decided to risk it. We all went in. 

I'm sure glad we did!  It was amazing  on the inside. Lots of gold and it was huge! After exploring and not getting caught, we leave ad head toward our dinner destination. Yes, I did say dinner even though we haven't had lunch yet. We wanted to eat at a certain place for dinner so we planned our day around that. 

Eating, shopping, and taking breaks pretty much summed up our afternoon.  We were all dragging. Around 5 we headed in the direction of dinner. We had a rough heading, but the roads got a little confusing. We whipped out the map to examine it when an American family walked up. They asked where we were going. I showed them on our map. They didn't know. He tried really hard to find it. Then he pointed us in the direction we were going. We kept walking and then we found it. 

Obika motzerella bar. Sounds fabulous. We knew going into it that it was more expensive. We decided that we should split two main courses and hit up the fabulous gelato place on our way back to the hostel. We ordered a motzerella calzone and lasagna. Oh my delicious! Best meal I have had over here! It was so good! I wanted more. We finished just as a massive crowd rolled in and a massive tv rolled out. The World Cup. Obika showed the World Cup on TV fr customers. We left completely satisfied. 

It's gelato time! Since July 5 is Lindsey's birthday, Karli and I decided to buy her a cake from the gelato place and present it to her in the morning. It was no small task trying to concele the purchase and carrying of a cake. We made sure Lindsey ordered gelato first and I went last. Karli served as a distraction. Once tey ordered, I stepped up and over to the side f the counter. I asked the cashier if I could have a cake from the freezer, in a hushed tone, I went on to explain that it was Lindsey's birthday and I needed to keep it a secret. The cashier don't understand me, so she called over another worker. I explained to her want I needed. She fetched if while Karli sang to Lindsey. The cake was packaged and handed to me. She asked if I wanted a bag. I said no because it was a surprise. I then attempted to shove it into my purse. There was an American couple behind me in line that heard the entire exchange. The lady asked if I needed help. I said yes. He helped me put the box of cake in my purse. Lindsey hadn't seen. While waiting for my ice cream to be scooped, the American lady started talking to me. She asked if the gelato was good. I told her absolutely ad that we had had it the other night. Then then told us how skinny we were for eating so much gelato. We stayed in the ship and ate. 

Back to the hostel. We quickly shoved the cake into the fridge and went to our room. Another boring night. 

Saturday July 5

Lindsey's birthday. We had to wake up at 5 to make our train and then plane. While Lindsey was in the bathroom, we put the box of cake on her bed. She was really surprised. 

One 2 hour train ride and one 3 hour flight later, we landed in Liverpool for the last time.  What a bittersweet feeling.  There are still a few more posts to come.  Stay tuned!  Ta and Cheers!

Struggle Bussing in Venice

Sunday June 29

We got off the plane, grabbed our luggage and headed toward the taxi line.  The taxi in front was a bigger van thing instead of a car, so we debated on what to do.  We eventually gave in and went into the taxi.  Luckily, he knew where we were going.  I watched as our meter passed 20…30…40… and finally settled on 59.00 euros!! You have got to be pulling on my leg! That is the most expensive taxi ride.  I watched the meter it went up 10 cents every 2-3 seconds.

At least our hostel looked nice. It was huge 400 rooms.  Crazy!  Tents and bungalow.  We got the bungalow.  It is really small, but nice.  It has AC.  The first AC we have had in 8 weeks!  Wow! I have really been roughing it!  

Then off to bed in our air conditioned room.

Monday June 30

We woke up after a nice sleep.  We decided to go to the convince store that was at our hostel.  We got a package of muffins and downed them.  They were really good.  

After getting ready, we went to reception to book a spot on the shuttle bus to the center of Venice.  The bus ride was quick but we had to catch a people mover to actually get into the city.  7 euros later, we were in the heart of Venice.  We passed up the maps because they cost 2.50.  We eventually caved.

We wandered over the bridge and got extremely lost.  I mean beyond lost.  It was crazy.  We were walking down back alleys with no way to know where we were going.  The streets were twisty and ended at random spots.  Ended in water.  The buildings were so high on each side that we couldn't even see the sun.  It got a little scary at times.

We stumbled upon a pizza shop and Gelato shop.  Thats when we knew that we needed to stop.  That was the cheapest meal I think I have had here.  It was also delicious!!  We sat on the steps of a church and ate.  It was a nice time.  While lost, we stumbled upon the cutest shops.  

We circled for ever.  Then we saw it… Where we started!!  It was a miracle!  We made it back to where we started without even trying.  Literally I have no idea how that happened.  We were all relieved.  We ran to the tourist desk to book our Gondola ride.  We found out the ride started at the other end of the side we were on.  We booked it for 5, giving us 2.5 hours to get there.  The lady told us that it went right through some good shopping areas.  That was good since we wanted to get some good shopping in.  

We searched those streets thoroughly.  It literally took us 2 hours to get to the end when it should have taken 40 minutes.  We had a good time.  And we had delicious smoothies.  They were really fresh!

We reached the gondola place, but they said to go to the garden for the meeting place.  We went back to the garden and waited.  A man came up and gathered all 15 of us.  He assigned us to different gondolas.  We got gondola 2.  We were in it with 3 other people. A couple from Florida celebrating their 25th anniversary and a lady alone.

We started out in a large water area.  Definitely not the grand canal.  This had lots of big boats creating lots of waves.  It was kinda scary.  We were siting really low in the water and the waves were moving us around a lot.  Our driver told us we had to lean different ways at times.  We eventually moved into the canal.  It was really pretty.  We gilded through the heart of Venice.  Seeing all of the houses and buildings that surrounded the canal.  I liked the ride a lot.

After the ride, we looked for more shopping and food.  After walking in several smaller circles, we found a restaurant with good prices and an awning because it was starting to rain.  I got ravioli.  It was pretty good.  It had ham and cheese.  With white sauce.  After that we got nutella gellato.  

A little more shopping and we were on our last leg toward the people mover.  We were walking across the bridge when we noticed the sky was beautiful.  As we were taking pictures, a man approached us with roses.  He threw them into our hands.  Then he wouldn't leave us alone.  He was talking to us and then as we were walking to get more pictures, he started asking us for money.  We didn't want to give him any so we told him we didn't have any money and we tried to give him the roses back.  He wouldn't take them.  We were practically running away from him now.  He snatches the roses out of our hands with a lovely scowl on his face.  Creeper.  We ran as fast as we could away.  

We got more lovely pictures with the sun and then departed.  We reached the people mover in good time.  Then we had to sit outside and wait for the bus.  Not all bad because we had free wifi.  

Back at the hostel, Karli ran to scrub her face because a pigeon ran into her face earlier in the day.  She said her face was burning now. We were a little worried about her.

Tuesday July 1

Oh man was it an interesting day!  We were just planning on staying by the pool and laying in the sun.  

We woke up and had to pack up and be out of our room by 10.  At 9:45 Lindsey starts freaking out.  She can't find her wallet anywhere.  We literally tear the entire bungalow apart looking for it.  She is on the verge of breaking down.  I was freaking out for her.  We checked out and sadly left the room.  We went for breakfast at the convenient store on the campsite.  We moved into Caio Bella (the restaurant on the campsite).  

This is when I finally convince Lindsey that she didn't lose it, but someone pickpocketed her. We think back to the day before. She had it when we got gelato. Then we started leaving. Then it hit us, the creeper on the bridge with the roses. It was him! He or an accomplice must have taken her wallet out of her purse when we were taking pictures. 

Several texts and phone calls later, we walked into reception asking if we could use their phone to call. They told us no and sent us to a call center with a poor map.  We reluctantly headed off, leaving Karli behind to guard our stuff.  Lindsey and I walked through a tunnel into a sketchy town.  We were a little scared.   We stopped and asked for directions about 4 times.  No one spoke English.  I kept putting my thumb and pinky in the phone sign trying to communicate.  They all pointed us in different directions.  We followed each path, but to no avail...After about 1 hour into our adventure, we stumble upon this sketchy looking shop.  Sure enough, it had 3 phone booths.  

Tunnel leading to the city

Phone booth

We tried to talk to the man working the desk.  He spoke little english, and by little, I mean none.  This made the situation even better.  Eventually, we get Lindsey settled into a little booth with the phone number.  She tries calling 4 times.  Nothing. 

We leave without calling the bank and return back to the campground.  

We just sat there in silence trying to contemplate our next move.  I decided to go an ask for a shuttle to the airport.  Surprise, surprise, that wasn't available any more.  I was told that we would have to walk to the bus stop and take the bus 45 minutes to the airport.  Yay!

We left at 3 for the airport.  That would get us there around 4.  Which gave Lindsey enough time to try and use a phone at the airport.  

We got to airport with enough time.  She ran to the phone.  After 4 attempts, we considered that a failure and moved on to a sitting area.  Luckily, we reached Lindsey's mother and she got her cards suspended. We sat until we could check our bags at 5:26.  That was fun. 

Bags checked and through security, we went for food.  The first food I had had since breakfast.  I just got a croissant and fruit bowl.  Oh how I have missed fruit!  We sat and waited.  I kept looking behind me at the line forming.  I thought it was our gate, but nothing had been announced.  Then Lindsey, coming back from the bathroom, comes running up saying that our flight is boarding.  45 minutes early.  We all run up to the boarding area, which is now vacant.  We then follow the corridor down the stairs and to the stupid shuttle thing.  I really don't like that thing.  We wedged ourselves in and away we went.
We got the last seats on the plane.  I actually kinda like those seats.  It was a small plane.  But it was really nice.  Short flight too.

Gorgeous Geneva

This is the beginning of our last travel week :(  It is really sad.  We decided to drop by Switzerland for a few days.

Friday June 27

We are actually getting the hang of this booking flights thing. We were smart and booked out flight for later. We got to sleep in and enjoy free breakfast from the school. So nice. 

What is not nice, we had to pack all of our things up again and move them to a different room! Already stressed out before a week long trip and now we have to clear out or room on top of it! NOT COOL ROBERT FROST!!! 

Breakfast and then off to the library for printing.

Back in my room, I scramble packed and made lunch. I gathered my things and prepared myself for the spiral descent with 4 bags this time (1 50 lb suitcase, 1 25 lb suitcase, 1 backpack, and 1 purse).  I successfully got everything down in 2 trips. Lindsey still had a lot of packing to do at that time, and it was almost time to go. Karli went and retrieved the key for the security office and took one load. I helped Lindsey with her loads down the stairs. By that time, Karli was back. I convinced them that we could take everything in 1 trip. They weren't so sure. There wasn't time to argue. We mad it in 1 trip. Slowly, but we made it. Apparently, there was a conference in the place we were taking our bags. Even though it was only 200 yards away, we were all sweaty and disheveled. It was sad. With our bags safe, we went back to the security office and called a cab. 

This airport thing is old hat to is now. We knew exactly where to go, what documents to show at what time, and the best places to sit. Check in and security proved to be no problem for us master travelers. We moved to Boots for some water. 

We got food and shifted to Starbucks to eat. We scarfed our food and waited to board. 

The plane ride was 1.5 hours. I read and then got sleepy, so I fought my droopy eyelids. I didn't get much sleep. It was fine. 

Landed in Geneva. We had a list of things we needed to do. Customs, collect bag, get money, and find a way to our hostel. The info booth told us to take the train that was attached to the airport. That was nice. We followed the path and ended up on a train. First stop, next to our hostel. We stepped out of the station and got our barings. It was a short walk. We made it in no time. 

It looked like an office building from the outside. Interesting. It was very modern inside. We checked in and got our bed rolls. We are on the 5th floor, so 6 flights of stairs. We make it to our 6 bed female dorm and crash. We were so tired. Karli and Lindsey dozed off for a little bit. The view from our room is amazing. 

The view from our room

Food time. We backtracked and went to a small shop. We all got paninis. They were delicious. Then we say that they had Nutella crepes. We HAD to get one. Since it was $8 we decided to split it. Good life choice. That thing was amazing! So delicious. We waited forever and we didn't get a check. We headed inside. The worker didn't speak much English, the guy that took our order did, but not this new guy. We knew Lindsey's total was $16. He told her $21. We argued for about 10 minutes. We pointed to the menu to here the prices were. He was not understanding. It sucked. We eventually got it all settled. 

Nutella crepe 

Since we were close to the lake, we walked over to it. It was breathtaking. So beautiful. Lake and mountains in the background. It was so clear. We sat for a long time. Just soaking it all in. 

Around 8 we headed back to our hostel. We arrived in our room and discovered 2 new bedrolls. NOOOOO!!!! We had to share the room. Soon after the two girls walk in. Americas. At least they spoke the same language. They were both from California. And they had just graduated. 

While getting ready for bed, our 3rd roommate moves in. Florida. She seemed nice. 

Saturday June 28

The alarm went off at 8:20 so we could make it to breakfast. Free breakfast! It was pretty good. Yogurt, cereal, toast, and fruit. We had to sit in a huge dining area with others but it wast too bad. The. We went upstairs to finish getting ready. 

We wanted to go to Chillon Castle. There were several ways to get there. We decided to try boat. We walk up to the boat taxis. I ask a man which one we got on since there were 4. He gave me a deer in the headlights look and started speaking French. He pointed  so we followed his point. We reached a big boat. It was really cute. We get in line to get on. Before getting on, we asked some of the crew members if we were on the right boat. Yet again met with no English. This was becoming a big problem. Eventually we figured out that this was a good boat. We board and marvel at its adorable charm. While looking for a seat, we were approaches by a person who looked like the captain. He asked for our tickets. We showed him the tickets we got from the hostel. He told us those wouldn't work. Awesome!

We leave the adorable boat and head for a train. We had no clue what train we needed to be on. The info desk was our first stop. She told us that we needed to but tickets because the ones that we receives from our hostel didn't work. We go in and buy our round trip tickets and enter acne into the castle at 57.60! Holy moly! That was expensive. 

We boarded the train and switched stations no problem. Soon we were in a very small town which consisted of beautiful views and the castle. That was about it. We were starving so we hit up the little shop thing outside the castle. We all got sandwiches. It was so stinking expensive. While eating outside, it started raining. We ran for cover in the castle. 

Chillon Castle

It was huge! And had so many different rooms. It was very confusing. We wandered about winding through the rooms for a while. It was pretty neat. Build out of stone and overlooking the lake. Beautiful! 

After the castle, we snapped many pictures around the area. Then headed back to the train. Vevey was our destination. Why? We wanted to see a giant fork. Honestly, that is the only thing we really planned to see in Switzerland at all...I know, we are strange...

We arrived in the adorable town and went straight for the water. Where else would you put a giant fork?! We couldn't see it from our position as we walked up, we decided to head right. There were so many curves in the shore that we had to keep following it to see  we were going the right way. Eventually, we reached a little park area with a pool and playground. It is there we asked for directions. We approaches an older couple. They saw that we were holding out a phone. So they said no pictures. Pictures?! We weren't going to take your fricken picture. We showed them the destination. The pointed back the way we came, but named a different own. I think they were confused. 

I found free wifi and got a rough address. It was back the opposite way. Go figure! The rain started coming again. Not fun. We still trudged on. We wanted to see that fork. We literally passed the place we came in at and saw it. The 26 foot fork. We were so happy. They even had complimentary seats stuck in the rocks for people to sit on. How nice. We sat there for a long time. I liked it. The sun was beating on us. Until it started raining again cit was just in and off. Continuously. 

The fork wasn't just randomly placed in the lake. It was across from the food museum. The only one in the world. Well I is museum. Don't mind if I do. We walk up wondering what it was all about. We found a lady ad asked her f we got to sample food there. Sadly no, you learn about how food is made, changed over the years, and how it is digested. Cool... We left there in search of chocolate. Sadly, we got lost on our way, but found ourselves back on the main road. 

We walked to the mall for some food. Nothing. We went back on the streets for food. Too expensive. Starbucks. They never fail us. Well they had food, still somewhat expensive. Water was 4.50 and a frap cost 7.60, more than the sandwich. We ate them while heading back to the train. 

We had to wait a little bit, but we eventually got on the train headed back to Geneva.  As soon as we got off the train, we were starving.  We wanted dessert.  But we didn't know where.  We started winding down the streets.  We finally found an ice cream shop.  Hallalujia!  I got a chocolate truffle scoop.  Holy cow was it rich!  It was worth it!

We walked back to our hostel.  Upon arrival, we discovered all of our roommates were in there.  We got out as fast as we could.  We headed to the fountain in Lake Geneva.  We sat there for 2 hours.  Talking, creeping on people, and taking pictures.  It was nice.  Very relaxing.  We moved back to the hostel and used the free wifi. 

Sunday June 29

Breakfast again at 8:20.  Really good free breakfast.  We went back up stairs to our sleeping roommates.  We packed everything up and headed out for the day.  In the rain…  We just wanted some shopping.  We bought a locker for 2 Franks and left all of our stuff in there.  We then asked the people at the front desk how to get to shopping.  We were crushed when they told us that everything in Geneva was closed on Sundays…. You're killing me smalls!!!!  Not cool Robert Frost!!! GRRRR.

Still, we headed out in the rain, to the only shops open, in the train station.  Yes, we shopped in the train station for over an hour.  We didn't buy much, we just wanted to be out of the rain and find some souvenirs.  

Soon we grew restless and we still had 7 hours in Geneva left.  What to do.  We decided to take the boat taxi across the lake to see what was over there.  The ride was very short.  Soon we were at the other side, with nothing to do.  

We stopped and checked our map.  There was a giant flower clock near by.  Why not!  We had time to kill, so we might as well kill time by watching a giant clock.  That held our attention for 10 seconds.  Soon we were bored again and needed something else to do.  Yet again, we looked at the map and saw a church was near.  We weaved through the cobblestone streets of Geneva.  Then we heard singing.  Church singing.  We headed toward it.  It was coming from a Lutheran church! Of course!  We stood outside and listened for a while.  It was nice.  Then we decided to look for the church we came to see.  St. Peter's.  You could see the steeple from a long ways away, but we took the long way round to get to it.  It was pretty and free to get in.  We went in and just sat there for the longest time.  It was nice.

Food was on our minds next.  We passed several cafes with overpriced sandwiches.  We decided to stop at a cheaper cafe.  We walked in and saw 7 frank sandwiches.  That was actually cheap.  I got a ham and cheese quiche.  It was delicious.  Then we headed back toward the boat to the other side of the lake. 

We made it back to our hostel with a few hours to spare.  We grabbed the laptop and got on youtube and watched Mary Kate and Ashley: When in Rome.  We thought it was fitting.  

To the train we trudged.  Not a long train ride before we were at the airport.  We then made it through security and we were hungry.  I decided to pay 7 franks for a ham and butter sandwich.  That was the cheapest thing they had.  And 5 franks for a water.

Goodbye Geneva-Hello Venice!  Ta and Cheers! 

Goodbye My Cherubs

This was the last week with my cherubs. It was a long week with 2 lessons, 2 field trips, and 1 hoedown. I would call it a pretty successful week.

Monday June 23

We started out with morning assembly. It wasn't head teacher talking this time. They talked about courage and faith. She threw it together last minute so it wasn't very good.

We got back to class and started maths. We started reading a 24 hour clock. I was really confused because they use a 24 hour clock when reading digital and 12 hour clock when using analog. I helped the lower group again. They were really confused. I felt bad for them. I tried to help as much as I could.

Play time. I used this time to set up for my lesson.

My lesson. This was American fun facts. I started off a game of fact or faked. They got really into it. They had some troubles with certain ones. I asked "Fact or Faked: Americans write their date day/month/year" After that I moved onto talking about the flag. We discussed the stars, stripes, and colors. Then the national anthem and pledge. One student could sing the American national anthem but not his own. It was really funny. During my lesson, I had students write down facts. After the lesson they had to turn those facts into trivia questions. We played the castle game. The person trying to get into the castle said "sir oh sir, please let me in. I must get in or I'll be late". The castle responded "give us the code, give us the code. Or we will leave you on the road". They then asked te trivia question. If they got it right they got to go into the castle. Wrong answers sent the back in the line. They got really loud and rambunctious during this. Three children even started shoving each other. My cherubs did not work well together. It was bad. I think they liked the game though. I guess that was good.

Lunch time.

After lunch, my students went into class 10 for a science lesson. I was told to stay back and help in class 9 with the other Year 4 teacher and Abby. This was good. I got to help them work on their maths. The same my class worked on earlier in the day. They were struggling as much as my class. It really is hard to understand when they have to know two different clock systems. That is not easy for me, let alone children. Some of their questions were like "Write how this would be written on a 24 hour clock- 17 to 10 in the afternoon" They actually talk like that too. I have had to pause wen teachers have told me that lessons would be "20 from 9 until 10 to 10." It really keeps you thinking.

Play time.  I went out and walked around

We came back in from play and read the world cup story

Tuesday June 24

Today was the day of the dreaded Dr. P observation. We started off the day with Maths. We continued with time. My students still did not understand it. I tried really hard to explain it to them. It did not work well.

Then they switched to the world cup story.

Play time.

They came back in and worked on their Egypt booklets. I had to help multiple people find their papers because they misplaced them.

Lunch time.

My lesson was after lunch time. Yay! It was about US history. Started with Pilgrims went through the Revolutionary War. All of my children kept talking during my lesson and not playing attention. Dang it. Then we used what they learned and another summary paper to create a skit of an event. We had 4 different groups. Pilgrims, Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere and the Shot Heard Round the World, and the Declaration of Independence. These skits didn't turn out very good. Whatever. They got done and I am done teaching my lessons.

The lesson had to continue after play time. They got all of their skits done.

Wednesday June 25 

Today was field trip day! Whoot whoot! All of my cherubs came into the room with their packed lunches and put on their reflective vests.  Haha.  They were so darn cute.  Lindsey was recruited to help with my class on the field trip.  

Lindsey and I were assigned 8 students. We got a pretty good group.  Thank goodness.  After a few minutes we headed out to the double decker bus.  We got on the top level.  We took off and my class started scream singing happy birthday to one of my girls.  It was cute.  My teacher yelled at them to stop.  Rude!  We got to the museum and we were ushered into a room to put our lunches.  All of the cherubs dropped off their lunches, jumpers, and cardigans.  We were off.  

First thing on the schedule, hands on activity.  We got to go and handle real Egyptian artifacts.  I was intrigued.  They had little activities for the children to partake in.  I worked at the hieroglyphics table.  It was really fun.  We all had to wear white gloves.  

After that we headed to the Egypt trail.  This took us through an exhibit.  The children had to find the trail and answer the questions on their sheet.  My cherubs worked pretty fast.  They had really mummies on display.  One even had its head unwrapped.  It was fascinating.  I liked looking around, but I couldn't stay long because my cherubs were all over the place.  We were the first group in and the first group done.  After we finished, we took them to the toilets.  As soon as we all got back from the toilets, the fire alarm went off.

You have got to be kidding me!  I ushered my cherubs down the stairs, making sure all 8 were accounted for.  Of course, we were on the 5th floor (6 floors in America).  We raced down the stairs.  As we reached the lower level, we could actually smell smoke.  Our group was the first ones from our class outside.  I gathered them and we headed across the street.  Everyone else caught up.  My kids kept asking what was going on.  I told them we didn't know.  Some were mad because their lunches were in the building.  We were outside for 15 minutes.  They called the all clear and we went back in.

We headed to the Aquarium to kill some time before lunch.  It wasn't the best aquarium I have seen, but the cherubs seemed to enjoy it.  After browsing at the fish, it was time to go to lunch.  The room was packed with cherubs from other schools.  There were probably 100 children in that room.  My class sat on the floor and ate.  Lindsey and I waited for a table to sit at.  

With a little more time to kill, we went to the bugs section.  They had creepy crawlies all over...

Meet the mummy was next.  It was in the theater.  An 'egyptian' was going to prepare a body for burial.  He choose three students from the audience to help him.  It was a good show.  It was factual and entertaining.  

After the show, we went to the dinosaur/extinct animals exhibit.  This had many stuffed critters.  They ran around looking at all of the animals.  

It was a long day, but really fun.  We went down stairs, gathered their jumpers and cardigans and loaded back on the bus.  We were on the bottom this time.  My little cherubs decided to sing some real songs this time.  They belted out some songs.  I recorded their voices because it was too cute to pass up.  

Thursday June 26

Today was my last day in the classroom.  I was attacked my hugs upon my arrival in the classroom.  They were all exclaiming 

"Why is today your last day?"  

"Do you really have to leave?" 

"Cant you stay?"  

"I don't want you to leave!"

My last day was at least going to be a great one.  I started off my going to the local high school with my girls for a dance and theater workshop based on the musical Matilda.  They were so darn cute.  I was having a great time watching them.  They learned a 2 minute sequence in just an hour.  They performed it.  Abby, the assistant teacher, and I were the X-Factor judges and got to judge how they did.  I video taped their adorable dance.  It was actually a somewhat complicated dance.  I was surprised.  We only had one accident.  Not to bad.  After the dance, we got to do theater.  They acted out the Bruce cake scene.  How ironic…  

I had a great morning watching them dance and act.  It was amazing. 

We returned back to school in time for lunch.  I ate, went back to the classroom and set up some things for my students, and went out to play time.  

At play time, my children attacked me.  I had 5 kids hanging on to me the entire time.  Holding my hands, hugging me, jumping on me.  They would not let me go.  

After play time, it was time for the surprise Abby and I had planned.  We started off with a mini review quiz of everything we covered in our lessons.  With each correct question, the students got to move their piece to a new state.  We ended in Tennessee, so we could have a hoedown.  

After the quiz, the cherubs were rounded up in the hall (gym) and we put them into lines.  We proceeded to line dance.  It was such a great time.  Even the teachers got into it.  my normally stern and angry teacher was dancing, singing, and acting like she has a a lasso.  I was really surprised.  

Play time.  I went back outside.  More cherubs clinging one me.  I took out my phone and started snapping pictures of the cherubs.  All of them started screaming take a selfie with me.  

Back inside, my students gave me gifts and cards and I gave my gifts to them.  The were really happy.  It was a great day.  

Being in the classroom has been a great learning experience.  I had some good times and other not so good times, but my students were great.  I loved being with them and teaching them a little about America while learning how the British school system worked.  

Check back here regularly the next week, I will be traveling the whole week and posting more frequently until I come back to America.  Ta and Cheers!

Frivolous Bath, What the heck Wales: Day Trips

Karli, Lindsey, and I made the executive decision to do day trips this weekend to Bath and Wales in the UK.  We had a lot of things to get done for our last week of teaching and our last week of travel, so day trips seemed like our best bet.

Friday June 20

We awoke at 5:30 to make our train at 6:46. We all met up and headed to the security lodge. We asked them to call a cab. A few minutes later the can arrived. 

The ride took about 15 minutes. Our cabbie was actually really nice. He was asking us where we were going and seeing. He also gave us some suggestions on where to go around Liverpool. He drove us past Liverpool's smallest house and the tunnels under Liverpool. I enjoyed the ride. We wasn't a crazy driver either. We made it to the station in good time.

We had to wait a few minutes for the train, but when it came we were able to board and get really good seats. We got a 4 person table. I life those. It makes everything so nice and roomy. This ride was 1.75 hours long. I read and tried to keep myself awake. Then we had I get off the train and board a different one. We had to wait a little longer for this one. I was fine with that. The second train was more crowded we had to sit 2 and 1. This was also about 1.5 hours. I tried to read. But then gravity for the best of my eyelids and I bobbed in and out of sleep. I awoke to Karli sleeping on my shoulder. Ha. We transferred trains again. This one was only 11 minutes long. Then we arrived in Bath. 

We got off the train and looked for a tourist office so we could get a map of the city. We had to pay for maps, so we left and tried to navigate on our own. 

It actually didn't go too bad. We first spied the river and then the steeple of Bath Abbey. I knew everything was centrally located around the abbey so we headed in that general direction. In 5 minutes we were in the heart of bath, surrounded by roman buildings and architecture. It was beautiful. It was a cute little town. We first went into the Roman Baths. This held many old roman bathing areas. There were several different pools. The main pool still held its full water and lead lining. It was 1.2 meters deep. Perfect for swimming. I absolutely would have jumpped into the hot spring, except it was considered "bad water" and we were told "not to touch it". Really telling me not to touch water is like telling me not to eat. It's just not done. Algae floated on the surface if the water, but it still looked more inviting than the lakes in Indiana. We spent about 1 hour exploring the baths. 

Then we walked about the town and found some cute shops. Expensive, but cute. We spied an ice cream cart and joyfully skipped to it. We like our ice cream. Vanilla with the chocolate stick thing. Yummy! We still had a few things we wanted to see, like the circus and the Royal Crescent. Our navigation skills have greatly improved and we found the circus in no time. When we arrived, Lindsey asked where it was and when we were getting there. I pointed to the circle area around us and told her we were there. It was not that impressive. I thought it was going to be bigger or more important or something. We walked to the Royal Crescent next, again, a little let down. Not much to see. There was some construction and what looked like a wedding reception. We were really tired by this point, so we sat in the street. 

Royal Crescent

Plutony bridge was next. I knew what streets we needed to be on. It was Bridge Street and then changed to Argyle Street once we crosses the bridge. I kept a look out. Then I saw it Argyle. Dang flabbit. How in the heck did we miss walking over a bridge. We started backtracking. That's when we saw a building sticking a little further out than the others in the row. It has the marking Pulteney Bridge and has stair steps walking down. We descended the swirly staircase and hit water. We looked back where we came and that's when we saw the bridge. It was not a bridge that you could view the water from. Buildings lined the edge of the bridge, virtually making it invisible. The bridge and water was pretty.  

Pulteney Bridge 

We hit a few more shops. Nothing that great. Then we decided it was time for food. We had been seeing these calzone looking things in the shop windows so we decided that we should try it. I got a chicken, cheese, and ch... Something. It meant spicy sausage. It was actually really good. Food finished, and shopping finished, we found our way back to the train station. 

We got there in great time. We budged our way to the front of the line so we could get on fast and secure an awesome seat. Karli got on and went to sit down in a row. I screamed table table! And she rushed to grab it for us. Luckily we got it, because the train was pretty packed. A stranger sat next to Karli. The 1,5 hours went really fast. We approached the station ever so slowly, and were even at a stand still for a while. This ate up our 13 minutes we had to make it to our next train. We ran off the train and looked at a monitor. The train haven't left yet, but was due to in 1 minute. We bolted up the stairs, following the signs to platform 5B, except there was no 5B. We were sprinting up and down the corridor. We saw 5A and decided to try it. We basically trampled an old man as our flip flops quickly hit each step descending toward the platform. We arrived at the bottom, a train staring at us. We didn't know if it was our train or not. Then all the sudden, we hear that dreaded sound of the doors closing. I quickly asked a worker lady if that train was bound for Liverpool. She confirmed it. We started frantically pushing the open door button trying to get on. At last the door spring to life and let us in. It was absolutely crowded, but we had made it. Sitting in three different rows, but bound for glory... And Liverpool. 

Bath was too easy, I could not say the same for Wales.

Saturday June 21

We slept in a little and headed to catch the bus at 8. The bus took 15 minutes to show up and it was a 20 minute ride. That ate up our time. By the time we walked to the station, we has 15 minutes to find and board our train.

We went to a monitor that had the train platforms. We didn't see our train or correct time. We were a little worried. Lindsey went and asked the ticket office where we would go to get the train. He told us down. Da heck! Down?! There is a down? She went back up and asked where down was. Luckily a girl was standing there and overheard Lindsey. She said that she would take us there. We followed her down the stairs, through the cooridoor, and to the platform for the metro. So now we are taking a metro to the train station. While waiting for our train to pull up, an announcement came on and said that the train would not go all the way to Chester, which is what we needed. The girl told us she was headed to Chester too. We followed her.

The ride was 40 minutes long to Hooten, the place we would change for Chester. We start getting off and are yelled at to get back on because everything was fixed. We finished the ride to Chester.
There, we scrambled toward the platform and was greeted with a delayed and cancelled train. We asked workers. They so as that we could chance it and stay at the station to see f a train came in, or take a bus to Ryel. We decided to stop in the cafe and get in line for the bus. We were last in line for the bus. We waited for 10 minutes before a bus even pulled up. It was nice that it pulled up at the end of the line, meaning we were first. The bus unloaded and we attempted to board. We were then told we couldn't board because they needed work from the top dogs before we could do anything. A worker was trying to calm the queue. The crowd was yelling at him and asking him questions. He didn't know the answer. He told us he had 0 busses to let us get on. He had some humor in this situation.
We were finally allowed to board the bus, and we were first. We went to the top and in the front row. Beat seats on the bus. We settled in for what we thought was a short ride. Lies! I was singing softly to myself for an hour! I burned through my arsenal of Disney, musicals, and other genres of songs. Getting mad and fed up, we finally arrived at Ryel. We followed the masses toward the platform and, yet again, met with a delay. It said the train would arrive at 12:31. It was 11:58. We had roughly 30 minutes. We pulled out our packed sandwiches and waited. At 12:23, the screen updated and said the train would come at 12:55. A worker came and talked to the crowd, the train hadn't even left Chester yet. He then proceeded to tell us to take a coach to Llandudno Junction.

We ran out if the station to whatever a coach was. We saw a bus with Llandudno on it, wrong bus. Then we saw the charter bus with a queue of people we recognized. Those were the other people who wanted to go to Llandudno. We were in the back of the line once again, but we made it on, with 7 seats left.
1 metro
1 train
2 busses
And still not there. We were just done with the whole thing. It was 1 and we were supposed to arrive at 11. Not cool Robert Frost! We got off the coach at Llandudno Junction, not where we wanted to be, but in Llandudno. Some old ladies weren't happy that we got dropped off there, so they made the driver drive to Llandudno.

Finally in Llandudno. We had no clue where to go. We walked around trying to find a map, but to no avail. We headed down the street. We eventually stumbled upon a tourism office. We asked where the ski resort was. They pointed us past the coast and up a mountain. They said it would be a .75-1 hour journey. We were ready.

We past the coast and garden area and then were faced with a steep hill. We knew this all too well. We took a deep breath and began our ascent. I was huffing and puffing my way to the top. By the time we reached the ticket booth, we were all pouring sweat and breathing heavy. We bought the ski tubes and toboggan rides. We had to wait 20 minutes for our tube time. We didn't mind. We had been waiting all day and we still needed to cool off a bit.

Our instructor came to us a few minutes late saying we were still waiting on 2 people. While waiting, we saw a guy completely wipe out in the toboggan. He took the curve too fast and felt off his sled, off the track, and onto the grassy area. We waited another 15 minutes, they never showed up. We got private tube time. We could see the hill in the distance. It was white. We weren't quite sure what it was made of. Ice? Whiteboard? Snow? It was 66 degrees. We doubted snow or ice. Once standing on the hill, we knew could tell all of our guesses were wrong. It was like spongy with water misters spritsing the sponge like material.

We put our purses down and all grabbed a tube. Lindsey went first. He gave her instructions and shoved her down. She screamed. We all went through the easy, fast, and super fast spins. When he got to me, he said "Ah yes jeans" then proceeded to roll up the cuffs of my pants.  He grabbed onto the cuffs of my pants and that is how he flung me down the hill.  He said he gets more leverage that way.  The super fast spin made us all extremely dizzy. We then had to tow our tubes to a flat area and wait for everyone before we could climb the hill. I think I got whiplash, but it was worth it. Then we had races. We had to lay on our backs, head first peddling ourselves down the hill. That took up 4 turns. Next, Karli and I went together. I held onto her rope and was told to pull and push her. He demonstrated while we were sitting there and he broke the rope. A new tube was issues and we were off. It was hard maneuvering Karli while trying to stay in mine. My arm was stretched and pulled, but it was awesome. We were spinning and bumping into each other. Our last spin down the slope, we were ties together. It was a great human chain. We had so much fun doing it. We got our money's worth. He said people normally only got 3 runs down the hill. We got 9! Whoot whoot!

We relaxed a little and then went to the taboggan area. We waited in line for an hour and then we were up. We mounted a piece of plastic with wheels and a stick to steer. We hooked on a chain that pulled us upward. The view was great. Then we were released steer our way down the windy metal path. I went a little slow the first time because I didn't know what I was doing. The second time around I went a lot faster. Flew around the curves. Careful not to fly off.

After our two runs were up, we decided we should climb the rest of the mountain to get a good view of the city. It was beautiful. We could see the coast and mountains and city. We could have stayed there for hours. But we had limited time and were getting hungry.

We approached te city only to find everything was closed. It was a Saturday night and all of the shops and cafés closed at 5. We were just 30 minutes late. We eventually found one store selling post cards. We bought some and got some take away fish and chips from a restaurant. We ate in the park.
We decided to head toward the train station to try to make sure we didn't end up like we did this morning. We arrived and found all of the doors were locked. Awesome. A taxi driver then told us to go around the side and enter that way. We got in and discovered our train was on time! Hurray!
We talked the entire ride to Chester. We found our second train in no time and had a lovely ride back to Liverpool.

Even though our morning was rough, we had a great afternoon and made it safely back to Liverpool.  It was a good relaxing weekend.  Bring on the busy week!  Ta and Cheers!