home home home!

we made it back to seattle in one piece. getting out of barcelona was a bit tricky. we got on the wrong train to the airport, but took a cab and made it onto the flight a few minutes before it took off. we had a day in paris to walk around and saw dead people. the catacombs had the bones of 6 million people, and it was creepy. stacks of bones in various stages of decay, nels picked up a skull and caught the plague. there was a pile of confiscated bones near the door that people had tried to take with them. we also saw another cemetary and jim morrison's grave. dude.
claire's mom picked us up from the airport and fed us cookies and salmon. beauty.

thanks to everybody that helped us out and hung out with us over the last few months: topher, chanell, eddie lo, the bradleys, and the bungies from chicago, hannah R, moms and dads, friends who kept in touch, doug and maddie, slovenian fishing guide for the ride, simon, frank, philip, stephan, andy and veronika, gil, mary burns and steve, neal, jack and ira for free floors and good times.
you are awesome and stuff.

just realized that this computer wont let us post pictures, so look again soon for spainish views.
nels and claire

thieving theives will thieve you

we got robbed, but other stuff happened also. our last days in berlin were fun. we had a lebowski party, with white russians, wine and bowling. then on to florence, italy to be tourists. lots of art and good food. mary burns was our adopted mom for a couple days, which was nice. it was also nice to be around native english speakers again. it made for easier jokes. after a late night and a 4am start, we made it to barcelona on sunday morning. ten minutes later, nels' backpack was gone. we did not see anyone take it, it just disappeared. we were sleepy and looking at maps. cameras, ipod, nels' passport, gifts purchased the day before, travel diary, and a lot of little trinkets from the places we have been. all gone. but a new passport should be ready friday, and the other stuff was just stuff. annoying, but we have been really lucky over the rest of the trip.
barcelona is really nice, and we have great hosts again. WI guys who like to sing karaoke and play cards and skateboard. we are looking forward to home and friends back there, but will post a couple more times.
see you soon-

gluhswein

snow day! our days here are numbered, so we've been running around this week, trying to get to all the cool berlin things we want to do. we saw a huge collection of picasso's work, and took a bunch of photos around town. thursday was cold. we went to a fussball match at the olympiastadion, where jesse owens rocked the house, and hitler got grumpy. there was less action while we were there. no goals, boo. it was still a good time, and we learned about the joys of hot spiced wine, gluhswein.

claire woke up friday morning to steady snowfall out the window, and proceeded to harass nels for 45 minutes before he managed to rise and shine. we got up and scurried to the park to play as the sun came out. then it was time for nels and phillip to see turbonegro rock, and claire to find her chilly way to kai's birthday party at simon's house. nels was happy he had makeshift earplugs to protect his ears from the punkrock onslaught. claire was distressed that she left her camera unattended in a room full of german boys. grab-ass ensued. there was also a reappearance of gluhswein, a six liter reappearance. nels detected the wine from everyone's purple teeth.
five more days in berlin. it's really sad that we have to leave, but we're getting ever more excited to see everyone at home. see you all soon.

more stamps

this saturday we decided we wanted to go somewhere. die bahn offers this great deal called the 'happy weekend ticket' that would take us anywhere we wanted to go for 30 €. unfortunately we did not (could not) read the fine print, which said that the ticket was only good for the slow trains to nowhere. so we went to poland, which apparently counts as nowhere. sorry poland, we liked you. the train actually didn't make it into poland, so we got off at the german border town frankfurt der oder (the other franfurt?) and walked across into slubice. it was a smokers paradise, with cartons of the good stuff for 35 ztl. how much is that? we don't know. what does ztl stand for? nels thinks it's zolar, and claire is pretty sure it's not. oh, and we didn't actually stay at hotel relax. everything was closed and it was really cold so we mostly just walked from one restaurant to the next, buying pizza and beer. then we walked back and took the train home. the passport stamps alone were worth the trip.

in other news, it snowed the other day. the blizzard lasted a full 25 minutes and by the end of it, the chickadees were willing to risk their lives for a few crumbs. maybe they were tamed to begin with. we don't know.

chilly-willy

berlin grocery stores are weak. we had to go to three different supermarkets to get popcorn, tuna, and whiskey. and not because one place is cheaper, or better. they each decide not to carry certain things. unexplainable. we spent most of the day chasing down our special needs. also fresh mint for mint julips. mmm...vacation.

we have made plans after berlin. it is going to be back to italy for four days in florence, staying with mary burns, a reese family friend. then off to barcelona for sangria and rain, and more floors of friends. should be fun.

mullets. they are connosieurs of them here. and sport-hawks, and bad buzz-cuts. most of the mullets have sweet moustaches to go along, and are meticulously groomed until maximum puffiness is achieved. but lets be serious, at least they are not fat.

we go to the baltic sea this week, and also bowling.

berlin in 5 photos

this is our life these days. we go to parks, take pictures of eachother, and play ping-pong. the rest of our time is devoted to planning, creating, and consuming meals. a few weeks ago we had a museum marathon, with 20 museums in 3 days. new art, old art, modern architecture, ancient babylonian architecture, and some holocaust memorials. photos: mirrored pillar in the reichstag dome, nels slain in battle, murders of crows over berlin, tiergarten, us walking on water (which we do sometimes).

Jaws vs Zorro

the germans were reluctant at first to cast their dignity aside and wear costumes, so we weren't expecting much going into the costume party. lo and behold, upon arrival we were greeted by garth and seven babes dressed as pippi longstockings. drinks were drank and makeouts were inevitable. anonymous simon met anonymous german lady and the rest is history. we hear he made it home at around 8 the next morning (after sleeping through his stop on the s-bahn). simon is the tall-dark type in the first photo, next is nadine, who we don't know very well. frank was humphrey bogart, but only because he wasn't allowed to take his 19th century aristocrat costume home from work at some weird tv show. frank and simon are our pals from croatia, and they've taken us out about town a lot. nels was cleverly disguised as zorro. claire was jaws. we were savage. we were the only ones with hand-made costumes. garth was cool too. he rocked out when bohemian rhapsody came on.

pumpkins en fuego

halloween is catching on in germany.
we decided to carve up punkins like real 'merican folk. "the dude" and scrunchy face. mmmm...pumpkin seeds. too bad we did it two weeks before halloween, as soon as we saw pumpkins for sale.

berlin

these are both photos from slovenia, in the alps. claire got sick on the busride through those mountains, and we got really lost hiking on the way to and from the waterfall.


well, we got here safe and sound. we've been seeing the sights, and playing the ping-pong (it's like a national sport or something...tables in all the parks and everything). it rained the day we got here and hasn't even been overcast since. sunshiiiiiine. tierpark, the east berlin zoo, was awesome. especially the big cats, but the giant pelicans running loose all over the place take a close second. this city is perfectly flat. no hills. none. nobody pays attention to laws here, which has a good side and a bad side. the awesome part is that we get to drink whenever and wherever we want. on the street? fine. in a bar at 5 in the morning? go ahead. on the train? of course. the shitty side, there's shit everywhere. we've heard that you're supposed to clean up after your dog, and every single berliner has a dog, but no one has ever picked up a single turd. landmines! we promised pictures, and tonight is (hopefully) the night. we're trying.

runny noses

bone church, remains of 40,000 people artfully assembled for our viewing pleasure. creepy. wine in a box, going into a waterbottle. and nels is hella metal.

we are in the czech republic. we've got colds, and a nalgene full of wine. hallelujah. four more days of prague should give us enough rest to be healthy and homeless in berlin. beer is cheaper and better here than anywhere else in the world. so good. we met a couple guys from the states at a bar last night, and one had lived in seattle, in ballard. they live here and told us about some cool things to visit, but the names are too confusing to remember, doh! i see the packers are having trouble this season, probably because I forgot to pack my favre jersey. I will wear my packer socks next monday.