.random memories Europe 2008.

So I have decided that my blogs have been somewhat boring...mostly a list of the things I have been doing. And really I have been having a lot more fun, but whenever I have a few spare moments to write a blog, the fun things fly out of my mind and I rapidly attempt to summarize my trip.
So...this is my solution. I will continually add to this post throughout my time here whenever I have a chance and share little anecdotes or comments or whatever I found funny or random and maybe you can enjoy that. You may not understand or enjoy them, but oh well.

Ok...In Rome...
Roz accidentally locked her bag with her key inside so she had to knife into her bag to unlock it, and then sew it up. This was only about our second day in.
Some Italian lady got really mad at BethL in the Sistene Chapel, and we think it's just because she was younger than everyone else taking pictures (with flash, but Beth did NOT use flash)
When we were lost trying to find Villa Borghese we accidentally stepped onto the property of an elementary school and an angry overprotective teacher kicked us off and refused to give us directions...we continued walking and we acted-out communication with very very broken Italian with a cleaning lady at a restaurant, but she didn't know how to get where we were going either (it wasn't actually on the maps...it was just cut off the top)
On the metro back that day, a random lady asked me if I dye my hair or if it's natural and told me how much she loves it.
On the metro there that day we brokenly communicated with an old man through a young boy and I think pretty much all that was said is that we're students and we think Italy is beautiful.

...in Florence...
my towel got stolen. Thankfully I still have my MEC towels...but they cover about as much as my public bathing towel that I had in Japan...hmm.
We talked with a guy selling leather jackets in the market for a long time. He really liked my dimples for some reason, and tried super hard to flirt with us so we'd be interested in a jacket...which none of us were.
Our first night there we were walking around and we got a flyer for a bar...which said girls night...and had a picture of 2 girls kissing...and as I was throwing mine out, another guy (not girl this time) was approaching us to give us the same flyer.
When walking down a street some man said to me, "Hey Baby-Face, want some free wine or beer?"
Another said "Just ask for me and get a free shot"
A man kissed at me as he went around the corner
Roz got told "I love your sunglasses" and called Sweetie
I was talking with Roz about how many souvenirs she had gotten for her family, saying "done, that one, done" etc. and this man at a booth overheard me and thought I said "gun" not "done" so he stuck his hands up and was like "You have gun? I have scared!"

...in Cinque Terre...
Our roomate was named Ryan, but Beth always thought he was Brian or Mark for some reason. I don't really know why, but he always made me laugh, even when he was trying to be serious...he reminded us of a really laid back artsy stoner dude with a goofy smile. If he were a cartoon, he would be Donald Duck.
One morning I had a banana and gelato for breakfast. It's really unlike me...but I saw all these people eating gelato in the morning and it looked so good...so I did it. Our train was, of course, delayed, so we were sitting on these seats by a fountain waiting for it. I had my banana peel and gelato bowl sitting next to me to throw out when I got up. A man watering the plants motioned for me to throw them out, and I indicated that I most certainly would. 5 or so minutes later he came up to me really close, pretended to take a picture of my trash, and motioned that I needed to throw it out RIGHT NOW. I wasn't quite sure what the problem was because I was not ever planning on littering, and I obviously had not gotten up and left without it, but I just threw it out to make him happy.
In Biassa there were church bells. Pretty much there are church bells everywhere, but in Biassa they rang the hour twice every hour, and at 7 am they rang like a wedding. One morning I counted 72 rings, the next I counted 78. I guess it's the city's alarm clock. Not so nice when we wanted to sleep in!!
We were walking along via dell'amore one night and a little boy was with his family heading the other way. He was about to throw a hissy fit, and Beth tried to circle around him, but he bounded into her and bounced off her legs onto the ground. She was horrified, thinking she had knocked the boy over, but people behind her reassured her it was not her fault at all, and also she successfully distracted the boy from having his hissy fit!

...in Nice and Monaco...
Roz and I had to pay 2 euro 50 to change at the beach in Monaco.
Beth saw a carboard cutout of an author because there was a huge book festival in the park, and then she saw the real person signing books a few minutes later.
We were walking along the beach road one night with Shady Donair Man and Chef Cook Map Guy and we saw a white party on the beach...this huge blow-up white man smacked me in the face! We have a picture of the thing, so I'll show it later when I can.
In Monaco we saw Sunburn Lady who was still out in the sun which we didn't think was such a great idea. We also saw Speedo Man who actually did muscle poses on the beach in his red Nike speedo.
We were in the "chill out room" in our hostel and 2 pretty boys fixed their hair in the window!
One of the girls in our room had just washed her towel and was thinking about throwing it out, so she gave it to me!

...on the 4 trains from Nice to Padova...
We saw Prince Charming.
A little piece of cheese fell off my cracker, so I fished it out from between the seats and was going to throw it out. Beth told me to throw it out the window, so I threw from 3 seats away because I'm known to be athletic and have a good shot. The cheese bounced off the top of the window, onto Beth, and back inbetween 2 seats. Beth was quite upset, and I wasn't allowed to fish it out and throw it out for real. Also, that train was hot and muggy with no air con so we opened all the windows and could hardly hear each other talk. Kind of fun for a few hours.

...in Venice...
We got caught in the rain! I loved it, but Roz was a tad miserable...even with her hideous 5 euro poncho to keep her dry!
The rest of the day was beautiful, and we even found the cartoon stick duck restaurant Ryan and Christian had recommended to us. There were 2 Argentinians sitting next to us at dinner who tried really hard to flirt with us. Beth was patient with them, I mostly ignored them, and Roz was really annoyed. They offered to marry Beth. Also, the one guy refered to himself as a "nasty duck" when we were talking about the superhero ducks decorating the restaurant...interesting...I had a little laugh at them because when they first poured their beer they had only foam and no beer for the first 2 glasses.

...in Innsbruck...
I got dubbed "mountain goat woman"
We had strange bugs buzzing in our room, which Beth and I tried to kill be shoving paper to block their nest. The buzzing woke me up one morning, but I didn't hear them the next morning, so maybe they had already died?
We saw people bridge jumping into a fast moving river...it looked both cold and fun. There was a skidoo there to rescue them, and they had helmets and wetsuits and everything, so it was pretty safe looking.

...in Salzburg...
We were in a tourist shop and when the guy found out we were from Canada, and me specifically in Calgary, he proudly told me that Stampede was on because "I'm a cowboy, I know"
Roz and I saw a strange "party" parade of different drink companies with people dancing on trucks going by. We left as soon as we saw a guy in a thong. eww.
We then went to a park where there were a bunch of hippies having a "save Tibet" concert. They are the weirdest dancers I have ever seen. Roz wouldn't let me take a video, which is too bad. But if you ask really nicely, I may attempt to imitate them. We saw Ab Man and Cute Guy there, but even Cute Guy was really unattractive while dancing, haha.
Roz said "I hope I get married someday. I've always wanted a hedgehog." It actually made sense in context, but it still sounded really funny.
We found an English church on Sunday, and Roy met a girl who lives in Hong Kong who will take her to an English church there! So cool.

...in Neuschwanstein...
Our train was delayed causing us to miss the bus to the base of the hill leading to the castle, and the next bus wouldn't be coming for over an hour. Another man who had been on the train with us was quite upset at this discovery, but quickly decided to just take a taxi...and offered to drop us off on his way! Super nice German guy who was there because apparently it's one of the best places in the world to go para-gliding. Anyways, he wouldn't accept any money from us and gave us clear directions for where to buy bus tickets and castle tickets before continuing on his journey. A nice welcome into Germany, we thought.

...in Munchen...
Really good weiss wurst. Almost good enough for vegetarian BethL to take a bite...she was tempted, but didn't want a bad reaction from eating meat that her body is really not used to.
Tina came!!!
The Glockenspiel is amusing, but definitely over-rated.
Travis the Australian free walking tour guide is possibly the best guide ever. Learned so much about the city...

I don't remember what city it was in, but we heard a lady calling for her dog somewhere, yelling "Ricola! Ricola!"