My guest blog post at "Twelve Countries"

When I was in Florence a few weeks ago, I met this awesome couple who's traveling for a year with their 1-year old baby :)  Well, a few days ago, Emily asked me to do a guest post on their blog, www.twelvecountries.com.  Go over and check it out! http://twelvecountries.com/guides-reviews/meet-elizabeth-from-elizabeth-explores/

Thank Goodness the English Speak English

After spending 4 weeks in countries where I can't read the signs and understand what people around me are saying, it was such a relief to be somewhere I could understand what's going on around me.

I took a night bus from Paris to London.  I thought I’d take a sleeping pill to sleep through the night.  Bad idea.  I didn’t take into account customs and the ferry.  So around 3:00 AM, they made us file off the bus for customs.  When I got to the desk, they told me I needed to fill out a card.  That was difficult due to my grogginess.  We got back on the bus and a half hour later, they made us get off again for the ferry.  Funny thing…on the bus from London to Brussels, they didn’t make us get off the bus at all.  A customs officer got on the bus, collected our passports, did his thing, and handed them back.  Then, instead of a ferry, we took the Euro Tunnel, which goes under the English Channel.  Lame.

I arrived in London early Tuesday morning.  I went to my hostel and hung out there for a while.  Just getting to the hostel on the Tube cost me over $5, so I decided to only walk in London the first two days.  Bad idea.  I totally overdid myself.  I took off to catch a walking tour.  I didn’t catch it.  So I grabbed some lunch and headed to the park and watched the changing of the guard.  Spending the night on a bus is exhausting so I spent the day reading in the park.  It was a very sunny, unLondon-like day.  I did go on the later walking tour, and we saw Buckingham palace, Big Ben, Henry VIII’s residence, parliament, and Westminster Abbey. 

Sunset on my walk home

I woke up really tired on Wednesday, but decided to go check out Portobello Road.  It was so cool…lots of antique sewing machines, telephones, sports equipment, cameras, and so much steampunk jewelry!  Steampunk jewelry has been so hard to find in Utah, and when I do, it’s pretty expensive.  But here, it was pretty cheap!  I’ve been in want/need of a compass on this trip.  I get lost easily and look like an idiot when I try to figure out which way I need to walk when looking at a map (no mountains in the east to give me a reference point).  So I asked around for a compass, and I found one on a necklace.  It’s really helpful!  I wear it almost every day now.  I was physically exhausted so I decided to go back to my hostel and spend the day in my bed, which really helped.  I slept and watched TV, and fell asleep around 8:00 PM.  I woke up to a phone call from my cousin around 9:30 PM.  He had no idea I was in Europe, and it was really great to talk to him!  Surprisingly, I was still able to sleep great that night.

I felt much better on Thursday, so I spent the day exploring the city.  I gave in and bought a day pass for the Tube.  I saw Piccadilly Circus, Tate Modern, St. Peter’s, and I ate fish ‘n’ chips!  They were delicious!  I really enjoyed Tate Modern.  I met up with Cameron and we went to Chinatown and saw the London Eye.  We were on our way to see the London Bridge, but got sidetracked by a church, which turned out to be the church Shakespeare is buried.  We went to Institute that night, where Paul Cardall gave a fireside.  I should have been socializing, but wasn’t really in the mood.  I did talk to my friend Tom, who I know from a single’s ward in SLC, but he now lives in London. I got to go on a double-decker bus!

Piccadilly Circus

London Eye

Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross :D

I was planning on taking a train to Brussels, but the only one was the EuroStar, which was almost $200.  No thanks.  Luckily I found a bus for about $50.

Perusing Paris

This is embarrassing…I just got drawn into this dumb TV show…Suburgatory.  It was on in the hostel kitchen as I was eating a snack and, well, you can imagine the rest.

Paris definitely had its pros and cons.  The biggest con, I think, was that Paris is dirty.  There's trash everywhere and I saw a guy peeing in a tunnel…gross.  And the hostel I stayed in was probably the worst I've been in, but, as I kept reminding myself, I got what I paid for…and I didn't pay very much ;)

BUT…I met some amazing people in my hostel.  The girls in my dorm were gems, well, at least two of them were.  The 4th was a little psycho.  I spent most of my time in Paris with these girls, Suzie (from England), Bree (from California), and Bree's friend, Jordan.  Not to mention my friend from Utah/California, Cameron.  The food was also amazing…although my waistline doesn't agree.

I got in Thursday afternoon, met Bree, Jordan, and Matthias, and we set out to explore the city.  We walked along the Seine and saw Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, a lot of bridges, and finally, the Eiffel Tower.  We were starving, so we found a restaurant with a view of the tower, and I didn't have to give up my first-born to eat there.  I think I got lucky the entire time I was in Paris, because not once did I come across a snooty waiter.  All the people who served me were very friendly!  After dinner, we walked back to the hostel…we didn't realize the metro was available for so cheap…and we were exhausted.

Friday morning, Bree, Jordan and I met up with Cameron at the Louvre.  We took the same route we had the night before, but we would occasionally stop and relax.  We ran into Matthias in McDonalds (crazy, right?) and we saw the Arc de Triumphe.  While walking back down the Champs-Elysee, I saw a gated area leading to Abercrombie and Fitch and I had to check it out.  There was an amazingly chiseled man outside the store (I'm pretty sure he was photoshopped) and the store itself was like stepping into a 5-star hotel.  We found a crepe place for dinner and it was amazing.  We had a lot of fun talking to the man making the crepes.  He speaks 8 languages!  We met up with Susie and found a spot on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower to watch the sunset and watch the lights go on.  It was a perfect night :)

Inside of Abercrombie and Fitch!

We decided to go to Versailles on Saturday.  Cameron was feeling sick, so he didn't join us.  We picked up some food on the way to eat in the gardens.  Versailles was beautiful, but it was a little hard to enjoy while imagining the peasants that were starving while it was being built.  Not to mention, I also did not feel very well.  It took 4 weeks to really hit, but my body was starting to feel the exhaustion of living on the road.   We took a nap in Marie Antoinette's village.

Sunday I met Cameron at church, although I did get lost and somehow end up under the Louvre on the way.  But I eventually made it!  After church, Cameron and I grabbed lunch at a Turkish restaurant and then wandered around.  We found Victor Hugo's house!  Unfortunately it was closed :(  I still wasn't feeling great, so I spent the rest of the day resting.

The LDS church in Paris

Victor Hugo's house

For my last day in Paris, I visited Notre Dame, the Sainte Chappelle, and the Sacre Coeur.  All were very beautiful!  I walked back to the hostel (such a long walk!) and had dinner with Susie at another crepe place.  I caught a bus to London that night.  It was a mistake taking a sleeping pill before we left, though.  They made us get off the bus for customs, and then again for the ferry.

Chilling with Bears in Bern

Wow I am tired!  I’ve been in Paris the past few days, hanging out with people in my hostel, and they just keep going and going! 

So!  Bern, Switzerland.  I went to Bern because of the LDS temple there.  I stayed in temple housing most of the time, but while I arrived in Switzerland Sunday, I couldn’t check in until Monday (because the temple isn’t open on Sunday).  So I stayed in a hostel my first night.  My first impression of Switzerland was…expensive.  A big mac cost $12!  I could barely find anything under 10 euros, but I shopped at the grocery store the whole time I was there. 

Monday I explored the city of Bern.  It’s small and easily walkable, not to mention beautiful and charming.  I saw the clock tower, the prison tower, and Einstein’s house.  At Einstein’s house, I ran into a dorm mate from my hostel, Ashley.  We hung out the rest of the day.  Einstein’s house was actually quite inspiring.  People were constantly telling him he wasn’t smart enough, and he worked as a professor for most of his life.  After Einstein’s house, Ashley and I visited the clock tower and the bear park.  The bear park was so cool!  Bern actually means "bear." They have fenced-in brown bears wandering along the river.  After the bear park, I grabbed my stuff from the hostel to move to temple housing and settled in the rest of the night.  I was in a six-bed dorm with only one other woman the first night, then by myself the last two nights.

Bern Clock Tower

Einstein's House

Ashley from New Zealand

I was up early Tuesday morning to go to the temple.  I tried to make an appointment, but they told me to just come in at 8:00 AM.  So I did, but they still had to assemble a team of temple workers to help me.   The Bern temple is beautiful.  The rest of the day, I mostly explored the city and relaxed.  I went up to the rose garden, wandered around, looked at the skyline, read Harry Potter, and took a nap.  It was fabulous!  I meandered around the street market.  A nice Peruvian man gave me a scarf!  He got a little too flirty after he gave it to me, but I left quickly.  One of the missionaries I met at the temple told me about institute Tuesday night, and he and his friend gave me a ride.  I walked into the room and, this guy immediately stood up and welcomed me…how sweet :)

For my last day in Switzerland, I decided to check out Lauterbrunnen, a little village Ashley told me about.  I had told her I was disappointed I couldn’t see the Alps from Bern, and she told me all about Lauterbrunnen and its mountains and waterfalls.  I took the train using my Eurail pass, but I didn’t see the signs on my last connection that Eurail wasn’t valid on the last train.  When the woman came by asking for tickets, she informed me of this, and I expected to get hit with a huge fine.  Luckily, she just charged me for the ticket back.  My favorite days so far have been the ones where I find a beautiful little town, and just explore it for a day.  What a gorgeous place.   It has waterfalls coming out of the mountains, an amazing view of the Alps, and the oh-so-charming little church.  I kind of wish I had taken the tram up to the higher villages, but it was over 20 euros.

Behind the waterfall!

I really enjoyed Switzerland!  The next time I come, I definitely plan on visiting Interlocken.

Eh…Vienna

I didn't love Vienna.  I got in and, though my hostel was very close to the metro, there was also a strip club next door.  I went to a laundromat and paid 11 euros to wash and dry my very small load.  I thought city center might be redeeming, but not really.  But it did have a pretty chapel.  By the way, throughout this trip, many of the big landmarks have had scaffolding on them.  In fact, that's how I've begun to pick them out from a distance…"That building has scaffolding, must be important…"

It did have a lego store! 

On Friday, I took a day-trip to Prague to drop off my luggage at the school.  Prague is beautiful and inexpensive, which I'm excited for.  When I got to the train station, I only had about 20 minutes before the school closed and I could drop my stuff off.  I didn't have enough time to figure out the public transportation system, so I had to take a cab…ouch.  I had a few hours to kill before my train back to Vienna, so I wandered around the city, and ate a lot of food.  An hour before my train left, I hopped on the bus…but it was going the wrong direction.  And I missed my train!  I had to wait until midnight for the next one and sleep on the train…ugh.  When I walked into my hostel the next morning around 7:00 AM, my dorm mates asked me if I had gotten lucky.

Saturday, I wandered around the city, and I have to say, my opinion of Vienna improved.  There was actually some cool stuff going on.  Although, the highlight of the trip was……A burger!  There are two guidelines for finding amazing food while traveling:  1.  Find a place with a long line and 2.  You only hear the native language being spoken.  The locals know where the good stuff's at.  

There was a sports carnival in the palace square…cool!

Bubbles!

There was a parade of people praising Jesus.