Beauty and the Beard:
Bound to Wander

The Worst So there we were, standing in a crowd on the wrong train with forty pounds of bags strapped to our backs. In between train cars, the ground was constantly shifting, making it hard to stand. We had no idea how long it would be until we could sit. Nobody spoke the language, everyone was angry, and we were right next to the restroom. This marked the beginning of our stay in Munich. Our train ride was supposed to be easy- Paris to Mannheim to Munich. One stop. No problem. Leaving Paris was surprisingly simple. Nobody checked our passports or luggage. We simply showed up at the train station, and waited to board. After the train left, a man came by to check our tickets. "Zis train is not running" he explained in an odd half French half German accent. "Sehr ist a strike in Germany." This is when we started to worry. But the man promissed there would be an announcement with more information soon. The announcement came. In French, then in German, then in poo...

We have officially woken up late every day in Paris. Don't judge us. We're walking like 20 miles a day. Well, more like 9, but we need the sleep. Our only plan for the day was to see the Louvre. With only a semester of Art History between us, neither of us are big into art. The only noteworthy pieces both of us knew about were the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory of the Samothrace sculpture. Here's the Mona Lisa, in all it's glory! The End Nah. Just kidding. The Louvre was massive, and gorgeous. It was also stuffy, crowded, and hot. There's way too much to see in a day, and like the Pantheon, all of the information was in French. There was a lot of wandering around saying "That looks cool. I wonder what it is." Honestly, if you're looking for a meaningful and informative Louvre experience, invest in the audio-guide. Also, it might help to buy the multiple day pass and break up your visit. We were easily overwhelmed, trying to find our way...

Ah Paris! The city of sleeping in. Well, for us anyway. We had another late start this morning. We ended up staying up with Virginie, so it was excusable. However, our late start did force us to re-arrange some plans. Virginie was leaving for a weekend trip, and we had decided to meet at her train station for some coffee around 5:30ish. We had planned to go see the Mona Lisa, but since it was already almost noon, we would have been rushed. It felt good to be able to say "Let's just go to the Louvre tomorrow." First on our list was to go see Sacré-Cœur in Montmartre. Sitting at the top of a hill, the church had an amazing view of the city. It was a short walk to the church via two walkways on either side. Regretfully, we decided to take the less crowded path. As we came to the top, we were met by a blockade of 4 gentlemen trying to sell friendship bracelets. Selling isn't the right word. Remember those scammers we wrote about? Kaylea picked up the pace and managed to...

Bonjour from Paris! We've had quite the adventure so far. On Monday we checked out of the Clink and locked our stuff up in lockers while we spent our last hours in London exploring the British Museum. It was an epic building, modeled after the Parthenon. Inside held artifacts from ancient ages in all corners of the world. Visiting the museum was pretty spur-of-the-moment; we had time to kill before our train and the venture wasn't too far out of the way. It ended up being one of our favorite experiences in London. There were actual sculptures from the Parthenon, amazing and incredibly detailed. There was a series of sculptures from the Acropolis in Athens that portrayed Lapiths combating Centaurs. The sculptures were so intricate that you could almost believe that Centaurs had existed. We were also able to participate in a "hands-on experience" where we were able to touch, hold and learn about artifacts from the early eastern world. We could go on and on about all...

Today was a lazy day followed by a great night. Last night, we played billiards with some Germans named Andre and Thomas. They taught Aaron some new German swear words. We also learned that Spaten, a German beer that's popular back home, is not very popular in Germany. We tried Absinthe - which was disgusting - and Kaylea found her new favorite drink! Its the British version of a snakebite: half orange wheat ale, half cider, and a splash of raspberry. We also danced together for the first time ever! Our first touristy item for the day was to visit the home of the famous and fictional Sherlock Holmes. It wasn't the best museum we've seen so far. The only meaningful perk of the museum was that people got to see what it was like to live in a Victorian home. It was cramped, but tall (5 stories!). Our bedroom is probably wider than the building. The most exciting part about the museum was the bathroom downstairs in the gift shop. Not sure why we're so interested in toile...

We got a pretty late start this morning. We had a lot planned for the day, but nothing was too time sensitive, so we got some much needed rest. However, it wasn't the best sleep of all time. The walls here are paper thin, and people were constantly letting this door right outside our room slam shut. Also, Aaron smacked his head on the bunk bed during the night but has no recollection of it.  Once we got up and going, the hostel was pretty much empty. Or rather, empty of kids, and filled with the cleaning crew, who didn't seem to like us being there. After they wouldn't let us into the kitchen to fill up our water bottles, it dawned on us that we're having a little bit of trouble communicating. First thing we did was head to the Tower of London. We didn't get to go inside the first time we visited, so we decided to go back. It was a pretty great museum (K - "meh"). It started to get really crowded towards the end, and the line to see the crown jewels wa...

Today was mostly spent on a tour bus, but it was still pretty awesome. We didn't realize how much of the city we were missing riding the tube. We got a lot of ideas for more things to do. Things like Baker St and The Globe. We didn't even think about it until the tour bus was on Baker St. The bus drove through the Royal Borough of Kensington, which was rich with Victorian architecture. Such a difference from the slightly run-down section we're staying in. The drive to Stonehenge was beautiful once we reached the countryside. Rolling hills with sections of farmland surrounded by small woods. Many of the fields we passed were bright yellow! Apparently canola is regular crop here. But instead of canola they call it "rapeseed". Again, weird. It took us a few hours to reach Stonehenge. We were disappointed that they didn't let us into the actual circle. It's been roped off since the 70's, due to vandalism. We still got close. Not lick the stones...