First off, rach and i have added multiple new photo albums and actually added videos to our page, so definately check them out. i must suggest watching the video entitled "Rach is a lou mouth" because it'll give you a quick 30 second shot to let you know that rachel HAS NOT CHANGED ONE BIT mwahahahaha

Well, it has been officially a month since rach and i have started our journey to Europe, and it seems like things are just getting started...although so much has happened, we still have more than half of our trip to go! plus, we have made the executive decision to prolong our trip by 2 weeks to meet Mum, Dad, Greg, and Brad (our brothers) in Prague for the World Junior Hockey Championships...which means that we are going to be spending Christmas over in Europe, kinda sad - but we'll be seeing our family just a few days afterwards.

But we wanted to look at the past month and skim over some of the highlights, the people we've met, and the things we've done...just like those annoying TV shows that don't have new plots but instead, just show highlights from past episodes...kinda sum up our journey thus far and bring people up to speed on euro rach and euro jules

"backpacking" though europe: we've had a hard time with this one. we like to tell people we're backpacking, but in a literal sense, i don't believe we are - we have our little red suitcases that have wheels that can roll in any direction. amazing invention. we tell them our little backs can't handle a backpack for three months. anyway, i explain that i imagine ourselves running to trains because we're realy last minute and it's much easier to pull something than to lug it on our back. but then there's the whole idea about "roughing it"...which is hard when i'm trying to book a cheap hostel in france before i'm leaving and dad looks around my shoulder to see where we might be staying, and promptly calls his secretary and tells me he can "whip up" something for me in paris on points. next thing you know we have a four star hotel for two nights in the heart of paris. sigh. next up: a resort in florence for 6 days with mummy. we love our dad.

The "Splurge vs. Steal" debate: in keeping with the "backpackers" mindset, rach and i try to give up on the unnecessaries to last 3 months, but it seems like we keep getting confused: foregoing a blanket for a charge of 3 euro TOTAL for the three days we're in barcelona, but the next day spending 10 euro on "one size fits all" orange underwear with Holland written across the bum. Not getting a cab from the Finland Ferry to the train station and instead walking 20 minutes carrying three bags each and after having 4 hours of sleep. Rach and i splitting a chicken pasta salad for supper because we "can't afford" big meals and then me justifying a purchase of relatively expensive shoes for my "job" that i don't have and don't have for at least another 3 months...the list goes on...

Dansk Vodka aka "Wanna Dansk"? the vodka we purchased in duty free to save money that ended up being a close cousin of moonshine. this potent Danish vodka named "Dansk" has us now saying phrases such as "wanna dansk tonight?", "we're dansking" or "let's dansk the night away".

The "Typical Swede": The Swede we met in Stockholm, who we just refer to as "typical" or "typical swede"...mostly because we could not pronounce his name "Hampus". He is everything you would ever picture a swede: blonde hair, blue eyes, striped shirt, nice jeans, tall, and somewhat attractive, but a great personality. he is our model for future swedes we look for.

Copenhagen: the city rach and i stopped in for a half hour and then ran for the hills. originally, we were going to spend the day there, but early in our trip we took a night train into the city and rachel was convinced that every time someone came over the PA that they were yelling at her (it's a harsh language) so we got the H out of there

Jason Calvin: oh dearest Jason Calvin, why will you not go away? Mr. Calvin is the previous owner of our european cell phone, so while we try to use our phone for strictly necesseties, we have incoming calls we answer at the oddest hours asking for Jason Calvin. apparently, Mr. Calvin has an overdue movie that he has not returned in some time and Blockbuster will not stop calling with an automated response letting him aka us know that. This text also threw us off: "just an FYI rob made it a point to say he would be in our area today. Be on the look out. i'll let you know if i see him"

Euro Dad and Euro Jimmy: Euro Dad is the red wings swedish scout who lives in stockholm who was like a father to the four of us girls (me, rach, casey, and lauren mix). he took us out for supper, took us to a hockey game, met us for lunch to point out sights in the city, kept in touch via text to make sure we were alive, and also checked in with Real Dad to let him know when we had fun nights out at the bar. Euro Jimmy is a phantom "does he really exist" kind of guy that got our name on the list at all the Stockholm hot spots and pulled some strings to get us in to the bar Solidaritet without a hitch, then sent us a message that read "now that wasn't so hard was it? just call me if you run into anymore problems. i cant get you in anwhere you like"

Hop On Hop Off tours: the bus tours rach and i attempt to go on that allow us to get on the bus and get off the bus as many times as we would like all day...they give you headsets so you can listen in to a recording that explains the history of all the major sights - they are in every major city. it's an open top bus which is nice if the weather is nice, but when you're in france and it's pouring rain, and we're hiding underneath a paper map...it's a little chilly. then there's the spanish tour who would prompt the recordings to start when you were still at a stop light and wouldn't see the actually monument for another good 5 minutes and by the time you got to the sight, they were already talking about the next big thing. also the "and to the right you will see the Amusement park, we will be stopping for anyone that wants to see it...............it is also closed for the season" and "this is the stop for anyone wanting to see the Royal Park............................once you get off it's another 20 minute walk from here" and then there were the recording that would explain something that would be behind 10 feet of forest so you couldn't even see what they were talking about...so we've pretty much abandoned the Hop On Hop Off idea....

Skulls: for some ODD reason, this is the newest craze in fashion. Skulls on shirts, shoes, underwear, scarves, toques, gloves...you name it, they make it. I HATE IT, i have hated it for months, and then i show up, and they are everywhere. i don't understand it, it's stupid, it's for both men and women, and it is the worst thing i have ever even thought could hit the market. SKULLS. scary skulls on kids clothing, babies clothing, and people are eating it up. this needs to go away, fast.

the "Side Trip" to Barcelona: we ran into a little problem while our first time in Sweden - we were supposed to be going from Kalmar, Sweden to Oslo, Norway, spend the week there, and then meet our friend in northern sweden at the end of the week. that fell through sadly because our friend's friend passed away, so we had to replan our trip - so rachel has a GREAT idea to make a quick side trip...not a few hours away, not even a neaighbouring country, but the most SOUTHERN country in europe - Spain. so we have the great idea to fly there and train back (because we can't afford a round trip - remember, we're backpacking)...it'll be a two day train ride back, but hey, we're backpacking, and this is what it's all about!

but then FRANCE goes on strike....to continue the drama, the day we're supposed to begin training out to meet our friends, the whole country of FRANCE goes on strike, and there aren't any trains going north until it's over (which i believe just ended actually). so we're in a panic trying to figure out last minute how to make it as close to sweden as possible, and then God taps my dad on the shoulder and whispers in his ear that he should probably check up on us, so we get a phone call mid-anxiety attack and tell him the problem and super dad to the rescue, we end up at the Oslo airport 24 hours later.

Speaking of Oslo...because the flight got in late, we missed all the last trains, so we have our next train leaving at 7 am. we decide to spend the night in the train station because hey! this is what backpackers do!! and we're having a blast at the internet cafe (rachel loooooves the internet) and then some norwegian tells us in norwegian, then in english after he sees the twisted look on my face, that the station is CLOSING at 2 am and will repopen in 2 1/1 hours...ummmmmm okay....so we're kicked out in the streets of norway at 2 am, ask the attendent where the hotels are, and suggests not to go to a budget one because they are too far away. so we go straight to the nearest hotel which is a little out of our budget, but we definately enjoyed the huge bed, hot showers, nice little robes, and tasty continental breakfast that morning. it was our best sleep of the trip

the odd "Twin" debate: to wrap things up, this is one thing we can't figure out. NO ONE in europe thinks rachel and i are twins, let alone sisters. they just don't see it. when we finally explain it, they say "oh, you have the same eyes" but other than that, euros just don't see it. however, all north americans do...we were getting on a train and we hear in this annoying american accent "oh don't tell me, twins" and turns out, definately american. but that night, we have to explain to the euros again that we're sisters. so odd...maybe the euros can't get past the hair.

i think that's a good wrap up for now, it turned out to be rather long, but shuld bring everyone up to speed. Next blog: Lappeenranta, our new friends, and the STUPID costume idea that ruined Halloween. hahahah but makes me laugh when i think about it.