ahhhoooo werewolves of london

current location: islington, london, united kingdom
local standard time: 23:10
buses taken today: more than one, less than 20...

and so my trip is slowly coming full circle! after delays in vienna (the computer system at the airport failed which resulted in being checked in by hand and then an hour sitting on the plane waiting for "the paperwork" to get done) i arrived in london, waited an eternity for my backpack, was sent to the wrong train, but eventually found my way to my cousin maria's house. the detour i took on the trains landed me at kings cross station and like a good harry potter fan i made my way to platform 9 and 3/4 (picture to follow). i had to ask someone working at the station where the platform was (it's been moved) and unlike in the books he was very helpful and pointed me in the right direction with a smile! it was nice to chat with maria and then i settled into bed happy to be one step closer to home.

i set out this morning without much of a plan for my day besides 'buy bus ticket. ride buses.' the weather was a perfect temperature: warm with a wonderful breeze to cool off and i, feeling decidedly bill bryon-esk (i read his 'notes on a small island' about his travels in england in july), was content to see where the wind blew me. my first stop was the info station across from st. paul's cathedral. i picked up a bunch of pamphlets and leafed through them on a bench across from the cathedral stopping at intervals to marvel at the building in front of me. i ended up not going inside because the price of a ticket was very high but i did sit for a little while in a small side chapel which was nice despite the dim roar of people in line to get into the main cathedral. i then headed to the museum of london which i had read had some interesting sounding free exhibits. turns out the whole museum is free and had some great exhibits including roman and medieval london, the great fire of 1666, the anti-apartheid movement, and a few others as well. i didn't go on the free tour but i did loiter near the group for a while and heard some interesting facts about the objects on display (did you know that rich romans basically had radiant floor heating!? yea, neither did i!). having worked in the science museum in boston i find it really interesting to look at what other museums are doing to engage children. the museum of london had a couple of different dress up areas relevant to what was in the section (different fireman helmets in the fire of 1666 exhibit, medieval clothing in medieval exhibit) as well as places to feel what the roman tiled floor felt like etc.

with a growling stomach i made my way back to the marks and spencer i had seen near the cathedral for the much anticipated egg and cress sandwich (i have actually been thinking/talking about how excited i am for one for a few days now). i emerged from the store after jostling my way through (it was packed!) with what is probably going to go down in the annals as one of the best ever supermarket lunches ever. not only did i come away with a 'free range egg & watercress' sandwich but i also found 'thai green curry (rice) crackers' and nectarines... close to perfect :) i made my way across the millennium bridge with my loot and had a lovely little picnic outside the tate modern and then made my way back across the bridge and got onto the first double decker bus to stop at the station i had found.

i spent the rest of the afternoon getting on and off buses when something caught my eye or my feet got tired (took a look at the london tower and bridge from afar) and then slowly made my way back to maria's. she and i had a lovely meal at a delicious vietnamese restaurant where we talked about family and i heard stories/the gossip about all the different cousins and great aunts/uncles.

tomorrow promises to be another full day: i am meeting up with another cousin, caroline (who i saw very briefly in vienna), and we are going to spend the day together doing whatever strikes our fancy.

and then: HOME! i only need to sleep twice more and then i will be homeward bound. yay yay yay yay!!

hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer.
peace
agnes

p.s. pictures to follow

epic fail on the update front

current location: vienna, austria
local standard time: 12.10am
return: t minus 6 days and counting

as can obviously been seen, i have not updated since the end of june for which i am really and truly sorry! i meant to update numerous times throughout the last two months (i even have a "blog about this" list) so please know that my lack of action is not due to unwillingness but rather distractions and in some cases scarceness of internet.

and so i will now attempt to fill you in on what i have been up to if at all possible... i realize before i begin that the attempt will be feeble and in no way make up for the void i left, but it's the best i got :) so here goes:

the end of june found me returning to vienna, my beloved city, and my god mothers apartment. i spent my first week back being a bum. i read and watched movies and napped until i began to feel a bit trapped in the apartment and decided i should really move my butt! renate and willie left for four weeks of vacation shortly after i arrived and were kind enough to let me stay during their absence, my only duties being to water the plants and bring up the mail... a wonderful arrangement if you ask me!

one of my first stops outside of vienna was to a little village called paudorf to visit friends friedl, peter, and sarah theresa. friedl was celebrating her birthday and i was lucky enough to be able to attend the party which ended in a camp fire in which delicious chocolate filled bananas were roasted! i then spend the weekend reading and catching up. we also looked at old pictures and i heard stories about my parents in their younger days which i always love! it reminds me that my parents had lives and existed before me... hard to believe but true! :)

i decided that a bike would help with motivating me to get out and see more and was able to find a really good used bike online which i picked up about the second weekend of july and had a wonderful time going for rides with friends thomas and rosi as well as exploring vienna on my own. i was so fortunate to get to spend so much time with thomas and rosi who fed me far too much delicious food, took me swimming and for bike rides, fixed my bikes rear light bulb and generally took wonderful care of me! thomas is another person i have known since i was a tiny pink thing! he baptized me and has always been an uncle in my mind. i feel so lucky that i got to see him and rosi so much!

another train ride landed me in maria anzbach where i spent several days with the amann family (lars, vroni, niko, toby, mathea, and lola) relaxing, sitting in the pool, reading, and enjoying getting to know the two newest members of the family: mathea and the puppy lola. Marillen Knödel (apricot dumplings) were devoured with delight as was harry potter 7 which i reread with a fury... two days is my personal record!

so i returned to vienna with niko who came with me to see the premiere of harry potter and the half blood prince in english. i absolutely loved the movie and was glad to have company as i was missing my little sis. i went to see it again a few days later with the same reaction... i am really not hard to make happy sometimes!
by a stroke of luck i was able to see the world/inferno friendship society (a punk/ska/rock-with-saxophone band and my favorite to boot) play live here in vienna. it was an absolutely amazing show which reminded me why i love their music so much and i can't wait to hear them play live again!

i made my way back to friedl and peter's in paudorf and then drove with them to their summer house in waidhofen. it was a hot couple of days and we spent a lot of time swimming in the ybbs, a very cold river that runs behind friedl's mothers house. we had a good time taking boat rides and going for ice cream to cool off and made it through the hottest day of the summer! On friday the 24th we all piled into the car and headed for linz to the pflasterspektakel, a huge festival showcasing street performances from around the world. we saw musical acts as well as acrobatics, clowning and juggling and many people on stilts. the main street was closed down and we were able to wander freely from act to act... a really neat idea done well and extremely enjoyable!!

i returned to vienna for a night before getting back into a train and heading for maria alm, about a five hour trip. i arrived at the farm of cousins who's main product is milk but who's real love is breeding horses. i spent an amazing week and a half there hanging out with cousins, helping as much as i could, riding when possible (something i have not done in a few years and have sorely missed), attending the weekend "musifest" (music festival... one of my cousins, andreas [picture], was played in the festival which i didn't realize until he walked by us with the marching band!), and even spending the night on their alm where i witnessed the birth of a calf and got to milk a cow! as it happens the calf was born on my pop's birthday... happy birthday dad and baby cow!! i really enjoyed my time in maria alm and the chance to be with family and plan to return soon for a longer stay as everyone begged me not to leave!

i was generously given a ride by another distant cousin, barbara, to my next destination: the attersee. i spent a few lovely sunny, warm days reading, swimming, and enjoying the company of more distant cousins, wolfgang, suzanne, and katy. there is not much to tell as we really spent time relaxing in the sun. i did get stung by a wasp which was mightily unpleasant but i survive and avoided a repeat incident. after a few days of yummy food and browner skin (despite frequent sun screen applications) wolfgang brought me to my final destination:

obertruan. i was thrilled to be back as i have many fond memories from childhood in obertruan including counting snails, and being taken for cart rides. i was visiting the rudolf family: christine, klaus, florian, and lukas. christine is my mums best and oldest friend. she is the daughter of my grandmothers best friend and her two boys are some of my oldest friends. klaus had a great time showing me the area as well as working on his english while christine ('matra substituta' as mummy would say) and i caught up. florian and lukas (three and one year older respectively) convinced me to try out the slackline, a sport they are both really into and good at, and even gave me a slackline kit (designed by florian) to bring home and set up at school! it's a really fun sport that everyone can participate in and i can't wait to share it everyone at home!!


i am currently back in vienna enjoying my last days here, visiting as many people as i can and generally enjoying myslef! i spent yesterday with my birthday twin, lukas, at a water ramp ski place where you ski down and land in the danube. it's used to practice free style ski jumping and although i didn't try it myself it was fun to watch... plus there was a trampoline so i was happy! it was fun to hang out with one of my oldest friends and catch up on life. today was once again great and spent with another person who has known me literally my entire life: my god mother renate. we went to Orth where we enjoyed the exhibit on the nature found along and in the danube (except for the section entitled life and death which, believe it or not, included dead smelling animals... i kid you not). We enjoyed and amazing fish lunch and then went to visit renate's niece, katy who works near the (blanking on the name) lake where we had a nice swim.

although i am looking forward to being home, i also know that i will have a hard time leaving! i am already planning my return which makes leaving easier. to be honest though, i have been missing my family and friends terribly in the last few weeks and going home at this point feels just right :)

thanks for reading!
peace,
a

n.b. i realize nothing is capitalized as it should be but i am feeling rather lazy at this late hour and may correct it later!

Every night during the summer at the Rathaus (city hall) platz there are
foods from litterally all over the world. the iranian food is next to the austrailian stand, smells from India are wafting over everyones heads.
people meeting and talking. not a great place to meet someone if your directions are not very clear!
roller bladers in force

have a bike!


Found this unfinished post from last summer... thought i would put it up even though it is obviously unfinished :)  (06/12/10)

"...a rock, also sand and water... i just built a beach!"

location: vienna, austria
time: 21:56
number of mannerschnitten eaten: an embarrassing number...

well hello there!
apologies on my utter failure to keep this puppy updated! lots to report on so lets get to it!!

when last we were together i was in freiberg, germany. its a wonderful small town with an amazing mineral museum and beautiful church in the center of town. we left freiberg after two nigts and made our way to berlin by bus.

in berlin we were once again blessed with wonderful hosts! we spent quite a bit of time lost on the trains which never seemed to go the same way twice! we visited the brandenburg gate, read the time line billboard at checkpoint charlie, saw where the wall once stood, visited the jewish musuem (we spent most of our time in an extremely interesting and horrifying exhibit called 'deathly medicine') and went to the zoo, visited the huge dinosaur skeletons at the natural history musuem, and even went to the movies! at the zoo we were able to see knut,
the baby polar bear who was rescued and raised there. he's not such a baby anymore but very cute none the less! after a rather harrowing night in the berlin airport we boarded the plane and were on our way to italy!

we arrived in milan on the morning of the 28th. we took trains to lake como where we eventually met up with our amazing servas host, lilli. We spent our only full day in como riding the funicular up to brunate which gave us a spectacular view of como! we also went to a dress rehearsal for lilli's choir and then went out for pizzas. we met so many wonderful people and enjoyed the restful time in como immensely!

a train ride later and we were back in florence where gemma spent last semester studying. we were lucky enough to find a very cheap cute little apartment for the four nights we were there. we had a great time visiting all of gemma's favorite spots and also got to see arielle (another friend from dana hall who is studying in florence at the moment also) which was so wonderful! i got an amazing platypus key chain at the market in the center of florence :) it was very hot and there were some episodes of torrential rain but nothing too serious... we enjoyed our fair share of gelato to battle the heat, marveled at the domo, and wandered around florence before packing up our bags for the last time. on gemma's last night all tree of us went out to dinner at a little restaurant where gemma knew the waiter and had a great meal and fun spending time together.

gemma flew home yesterday and i left for vienna in the evening by train. these past two months have been fantastic. we saw and learned so much, met wonderful people and adventured with the best of 'em! i miss gemma already but am also excited to get the chance to catch up with friends and family here.

as for the blog... i am not really sure what i will do with it from here on in... i might update randomly on what i have been up to slash where i am. and other then that it will go into hibernation until the next time i strap on the backpack!!

much love to all,
peace.
a

gummy bear wars enter into peace negotiations

Location: Freiberg, Germany
Time: 23.02
Slug Count: to high too remember

Hello,
Since my last update Gemma and I have stayed with Servas hosts in Radebeul and now in Freiberg (a small town about 40 min outside of Dresden).

Yesterday we borrowed two bikes from our hosts in Radebeul and took a great bike ride to Meißen where we ate a lovely picnic and then took the train into the city. We spent a relaxing afternoon calling family and haning out in a bookstore as the nice weather we had enjoyed in the morning turned to rain. With the rain showing no sign of letting up we decided to start our trip back to Radebeul by bike as we had planned. Although we were soaking wet by the end of the ride we had fun on the way. We were biking on a lovely path called the Elbeweg which runs from Prague to Hamburg (which i would love to do some day!!) and ended up biking about 25km or so... a lot for two people who haven't been on bikes since last fall!

Today we changed hosts, a process which takes a while because it includes packing up, traveling, and then getting aquainted with the new hosts. We took a train here and while waiting at the station ate far too many gummy bears to be healthy... but in our defence, they now have current flavored gummy bears and they are, without a doubt, the best gummy bear flavor i have EVER eaten!!! The host family here in Freiberg is great! They have twin girls (eleven years old i think... its making me miss you Helly and Pilar!!) and are all very kind and working hard on their english so Gemma can be part of the conversation! We ate dinner all together and then went on a walk with Manuel through the town.

Time for me to brush my teeth and then get into bed!
I hope you're all doing well and many hugs!!
Peace,
Agnes

the fourth defenestration of Prague

Location: Dresden, Germany
Local time: 21.31
Alert level: Orange

Hello faithful blog readers,
Agnes here.
Gemma and i made it safely to Dresden this afternoon. We arrived at our Servas host, were fed delicious rubarb cake and tea and then were taken on a hike to a panorama. I don't think my heart has reached that rate since we realized we may never get out of Greece, but the view was amazing!

Prague was amazing and has stolen my heart. I would love nothing more than to study there! Our best Servas hosts to date were there and have learned that hosts really have an effect on how good the city is. We were able to see so much including: the Charles bridge, all of the Jewish quarter (old-new synagogue, spanish synagogue, cerimonial hall, pinkas synagogue, ect.) we also went the mucha musuem and the prague castle. i really wanted to go to the postage stamp musuem but sadly could not find it.

I realize that i have not written about Hungary yet, and so to placate my darling mother: Budapest was great. We had the chance to see the musuem of fine arts (which incidentally had a Mucha exhibition), heroes square, the yellow underground (oldest in Europe), st. stephens basillica, parliament, and many wonderful panoramas of the city. the national gallery was closed on the day we triend to go, but the funicular ride up the hill was very fun regardless!

Up next: six nights in Dresden and then the zoo in Berlin! just kidding... sort of... :D

Hope you are all well
Peace
Agnes

p.s. my last entries title was borrowed from a líne in 'The Office' (US edition) for those of you who are curious (mami).

why'd you do it? did she spurn your advances?

Location: Prague

It's been too long since my last update and for that i apologize! We are in Prague and i am loving the city. there is so much to see and do! today we visited the Pinkas Synagogue, the Old Jewish Cemetery, and the Klaus Synagogue. We also walked the St. Charles Bridge and saw the John Lennon Memorial wall - a really neat wall covered in graffiti dedicated to John. It was a really busy day with tons of walking but well worth it!

Yesterday was much lazier as we arrived at 6:30am after an overnight bus ride from Budapest. We spent the day wandering and getting to know our new Servas hosts.

Hungary was a great place to visit and i promise a more extensive update in the next few days!

hoping everything is going well!
best,
a

free at last!!

we are finally in vienna!

as expected, leaving greece did not go compleatly smoothly... on the way to the airport the bus slammed to a stop and we were then directed to passing bus. after much confusion we were told that a truck had opened its door into the road and that our bus had hit it. luckily there was no visible damage and no one was hurt! the bus change was a blessing in disguise as we met a wonderful couple also on thier way of greece who told us about some great places to visit in prague and budapest.

after an hour delay we were finally in the air and were met by Renate (my godmother) at the airport. she fed us schnitzel and gemma and i then took a little walk around the pedestrian zone where Renate lives.

the next few days will be spent exploring and enjoying vienna and then we will be off to our next few servas hosts in budapest and prage and dresden!

hope you are all enjoying the beginnings of summer!
much love,
agnes

"Even if I was shot in the leg, I would get up and finish doing the dishes..."

Hello dear friends!

Tonight is our last night in Greece! We are back in Athens after an amazing stay with a Servas host family in Galixidi, a small town about four hours out of Athens. We got to know many wonderful people, ate and cooked wonderful food, enjoyed the sun and water, and were generally thrilled to have many relaxing days with wonderful weather.

Today has been very hot and we spent the first six hours on a bus back to the city (it took a VERY long time!) We then met up with Gemma's friend from home who is in Greece for a few weeks to study.

About to be kicked off the compy!
much love
-A


p.s. a picture so you can see that we're alive and well!

the day we realized we might never leave greece...

hello dear people!
so much has happened since i was last with internet that i don't even know where to begin!

gemma and i spent our last full day in turkey in the spice bazaar (a very cool place where everyone was trying to sell us everything from t-shirts to spices by the kilo). we then went on a six hour boat ride up and down the bosphorus. the boat ride yielded lots of great photos and was our first time in asia! we met another american staying in the hostel who didn't know much about istanbul and ended up tagging along with us. he didn't know anybody and was grateful to have people to talk to, and it was nice for us to have someone to chat with on the boat ride!

we left istanbul on the fourteenth after a day repacking packs, visiting the grand bazaar (much larger and harder to navigate!) and meeting up with jess in taksim for dinner. we then boarded the friendship express and made our beds in the sleeper car we were staying in. the ride was fine although we were rather harshly woken at both the turkish and greek boarders. the train was late arriving in thessaloniki but we hopped onto the city bus and luckily made it to the bus station where we bought our tickets and boarded the bus to volos with five minutes to spare. once finally in volos (the ride was about two hours) we jumped into a taxi and were able to catch the two o'clock ferry (with fifteen minutes to spare) to alonnisos. we were finally only three hours away from our greek island! needless to say it was a long day but we had luck on our side!

the stay on alonnisos was amazing! we stayed in a great room at a rooms to let place near a beach. luckily because we are here during the "off" season it was super reasonable and fun to be there on our own. we had a lovely little deck with a view of the ocean and were about a minutes walk from the beach. we did a lot of walking and swimming and enjoying nature. gemma and i both sustained sunburns on our first day but were fine from then on! we found a great little market and gyro store (the best kind of sandwich!) and had fun being two of very few tourists!

we left alonnisos by ferry yesterday and made our way to athens. this time the trip only entailed a ferry, bus and taxi ride. we are now in the san remo hostel (the least nice of the places we have stayed so far, but still livable) and spent a nice day wandering around the old part of athens. we visited the parthenon in the acropolis which was breathtaking. we also ate an amazing gyro and enjoyed the weather and the chance to stretch our legs!

tomorrow we head on to our first servas host near delphi. plans have changed a bit seeing as the ferry we had planned to take from greece to italy is actually a 28 hour trip... we have thus decided to fly directly to vienna and will hopefully be able to make a side trip to slovenia later on (a side note: my dear viennese friends and family... i will be calling/emailing soon :D). we are also hoping to pay a visit to france but are still in the planning stage.

i hope you are all doing extremely well! thank you so much for the comments and emails and phone calls! i miss you all and am always glad to hear from you.
stay well
peace
agnes

Ten Cent Meltdown

N.B. Through gross negligence, I forgot to mention in my first post that I will be visiting/staying with as many friends and family as I can!!

Day two in Turkey. Still amazing to be here! Gemma and I went to the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque this morning. We walked ALOT!!! Met up with Jess. Saw a random Turkish pop show. Ate a wonderful meal. I had a bit of a meltdown, mostly because I am homesick, but all is well! Feeling much better again.
Grand plans for tomorrow!
Sorry for the rushed post.
More to come soon!
- AB

Turkey!

It has been a very busy few days! I left Boston without a problem and promptly fell asleep. I was lucky enough to be in an aisle seat and to have the middle seat empty so I was able to be somewhat comfortable, although I kept waking up because it was very cold! I landed in Reykjavik and headed through security (I had to go throgh the line twice because I had put water into my water bottle so I had to dump it) and made my connecting flight with plenty of time. On the way to London I again napped and then had very nice conversation with the woman sitting next to me. I was in London by noon.
A long tube ride later, I made it to London and found my friend Annie after a bit of searching. We walked back to her dorm where I was able to take a shower and settle in a little bit. We then went for a pint (my first time ever drinking in public legally!) and then went to meet her family friends who she was attending a play with. Annie then spent the weekend with them helping to set up an art show while i stayed in her dorm. Friday night I took a nice walk (saw the outside of the National Gallery and Trafalger Sq.), ate an egg and cress sandwich and was asleep by eight pm.

Saturday I was able to catch up on my sleep and after a nice lunch in Regents Park (another egg and cress sandwich, my new favorite!) I was on my way to visit family friends: Chris, Nikki, and Iain. I arrived and after chatting for a while went rock climbing with Chris and Iain at The Castle. It was the most amazing indoor climbing center I have ever been to and I will be back to visit it! We then biked past where we lived when I was eight. We ate a wonderful dinner (with lemon mirange pie. MMMMM!!) and chatted about life. I was sad that I missed Kate and Imogen, but it was so great to catch up and get hugs from good friends :)

On Sunday I repacked my backpack for the evenings travels and then met up with my cousin Maria at the Tate Modern for delicious fish and chips! We took a walk through the museum and finally took a boat across the Thames river to Parliament where I had planned to meet Gemma at Big Ben. Unfortunatly train repairs meant that Gemma's train was delayed, so I got the chance to take a lovely walk along St. James Park and saw Buckingham Palace again. Gemma and I were finally reunited and then met up with Annie. We grabbed sandwiches (they were out of egg and cress :( a sad thing indeed) and Gem and I then got on the train to Gatwick Airport.

After a sleepless night in the airport and another flight we are in Turkey and loveing it. We have met up with our friend Jess and can't wait to explore more tomorrow!

More to come.
Miss you all!
Cheers,
A

t minus 22 hours until take off

And so the time of my departure is rapidly approaching! I am set to leave tomorrow (Thursday May 7th) at 9:30pm from Boston's own Logan International Airport! With that said, Welcome to my blog! Thanks for reading! I will (hopefully) be updating this regularly with tales of grand adventure, reports of my meanderings, and stories of all kinds.

And now for the question and answer portion of this update! My answers to the questions I am SURE are burning in your minds :)
> Agnes... why are you doing this? To best answer this question, I will begin with a story or two. In 2002 (a freshman in high school) I began attending Dana Hall. It was not entirely my decision and I was upset that I could not continue school with the friends I had made in middle school. In my usual stubborn fashion, I decided that I did not need to bother with friendships because I would not be staying long.
Enter Gemma.
We were in the same history class and I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but suddenly I had a friend (the best laid plans, eh?). And so it has stayed. A year after meeting we both went on a school trip to Italy and that is what solidified out bond :) Skip forward several years to the two of us in hysterics (as we often are when together) in a coffee shop getting funny looks from other patrons. One of us wishes aloud that we could travel through Europe together.
And so a plan is born.
This trip has been a long time in the works. Plans have changed, hundreds of lists have been written, travel books perused, and money saved. In short, it is a labor of love.

Where will you stay? We will mostly be staying with Servas hosts (see link for more details). We will be staying in a few youth hostels, but Servas gives us the opportunity to meet new people as well as see the country through the eyes of someone who knows it from the inside out and can give us more information than a tour book can!

Where will you be going on this Grand Adventure? As I mentioned, tomorrow kicks off the adventure with my flight to London, England where, in a few days, I will meet Gemma. From there we fly to Istanbul, Turkey. Next on the agenda: Greece, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Italy. We will be traveling together until the end of June when Gemma returns home (She will at that point have been away from home since January of this year when she began her study abroad in Florence). I will stay in Europe (mostly Austria) until August 20th when I also will be flying back home.

Thank you again for reading! I will miss you all terribly! Please feel free to comment!! (If you are not a member, no worries!! just please fill in the name portion or sign the comment so i know who it came from). If you would prefer to email or skype me, please do so, i would love to hear from you!


Peace,
- A