European Road Trip!

Well, I'm done with my internship. It was great. I had 2 weeks from the day I was done to the day I fly out, so I decided to party it up! :) Alana's cousin Erin flew out a few days before the rest of her family so the three of us could go on a 

Road trip! 

Our plan of attack was as follows: Take a taxi from my apartment to the train station. Catch a bus there to Brussels South airport. Fly to Treviso, Italy (close to Venice). Rent a car. Drive to Croatia! :) 

Here's the players in the game: from left to right - Me, Erin, and Alana. This is at the airport at 6 am... 

Once we had rented the car, we had to drive through Slovenia to get to Croatia. Alana's boss had told her about a little town in Slovenia called Postojna where there were some caves. We decided to see what it was all about and happened upon the Predjama Castle. It was so awesome! It was built right into the mountain! There were caves that were part of the castle. It was unbelievable!

After our exploration of the castle, we headed to the Postojna Caves.  These caves are incredible! They are 21 km long, but we only say 3 km! You take a train into the caves and then go on a walking tour. Here's us on the train:

The caves are cool because of the thousands upon thousands of stalactites and stalagmites inside. I wasn't supposed to take pictures with a flash, so this is one of the only good pictures from that adventure. 

Our last stop in the cave was what is called the Concert Hall. They really hold concerts in here! It is huge! And the acoustics are so awesome!

After Postonja, we were on the road again. Here's the part where I tell you that we were in a little manual transmisison Opel Corsa... ahem.  I was the DD... :) 

Due to my recent exposure to DVT, I'm pit stop happy. We landed in Croatia and stopped to buy Magnum bars (The most delicious thing ever! Try them!) at a rest stop. The rest stop also had a playground... 

It was getting dark, so we (after a funny navigational experience) found a place to stay. We were close to the Plitvice Lakes. There are several people who just rent out rooms in their house for the night. We found a great deal, and stayed! This is the next morning as we were leaving. Our car is pictured here as well...

Destination (day 2): Plitvice Lakes National Park. Holy smokes, this place was unbelievable! The water was so incredibly clear and blue-green! It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen! There are over 90 waterfalls at the park, and you can see them all in a day. We hiked up, took a boat ride (included in the ticket price) and saw some more. Once you reach the top, there is a tram that takes you back down. We saw everything in about 5 hours! It was "simply stunning!"

We saw a guy with an SLR camera and figured he knew how to take pictures. We asked him, in our broken Italian, if he wouldn't mind taking a picture for us. He decided to get the best angle and climbed off the pathway, nearly killing himself, to get this picture for us!

This is the biggest waterfall in Croatia - 78 meters high!

The park is set up so well! There is a path you follow that leads you right onto the water. I think one reason it has been preserved so well is because of this. You are walking right next to the water falls, and right over the lakes! No one is allowed to swim in order to preserve the park, but you are literally right there! You can get a glimpse for this here:

I would recommend Plitvice to anyone and everyone. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!

Once we were done at the lakes, we headed to the ocean! We realized we had all put on shirts from our respective universities, so we stopped and took a picture in Senj. 

This was our first real view of the Adriatic in Senj, Croatia. It was incredible! It was so clear!

We stopped to touch it. It was beautiful!

We decided it would be fun to spend the night on the island of Krk.  This is the bridge we took to get there. Props to Alana for taking this picture while I was driving!

Krk was stunning! We passed some burros on the road. Instead of honking (like anyone that lived there would do), we threw the e brake on and took a picture!

Here's the middle of the island. 

We stayed in the city of Krk that night. Once we were situated, we went and got pizza. There was a full moon, so we ate our pizza with our feet hanging over the edge of the ocean! It just doesn't get any better than this!

We met a guy from Texas at the pizza place that had moved to Croatia about 4 years ago. We asked him for a recommendation and he told us to go to Baska, which is about 28 km from where we were staying. So, the next morning, we headed to Baska! It was incredible! We ate breakfast on the beach! It was so beautiful! 

This is a view of the beach where we wandered:

All three of us had Chacos. This provided many opportunities for pictures! :) 

As we wandered along, we were struck by the beauty of Croatia! The water was so crystal clear! Erin decided she was going to live in the house that had access to this cove: (I don't blame her!)

Every corner we turned we were in awe of the beauty! Here's Alana posing with her Chacos!

The funny story for this trip (well, one of them) was our stumbling upon a "Naturist Camp" AKA nudist beach. At first, we didn't know what was going on. It isn't tourist season yet, so there were only a few people there. However, a few things caught our attention: this sign, and a few rocks that weren't actually rocks... ;)

Our discovery of the beach led to the invention of the Crudar. This stands for a Croatian Nude Beach Radar. 

There are little stripes that will lead to you certain beaches. Different colors mean different things. We came to the conclusion that red = fishing, blue = swimming, yellow = sunbathing, and green = nudist beach. (Information that might have been helpful earlier...)

Driving back onto the mainland we found a glorious statue. It looks like a fork, but don't be deceived. In fact, it is the first letter of the old Croatian Glagolitic alphabet. That's right, folks! This is an "A."

Our last stop on the glorious road trip was Venice, Italy! It was pouring rain, so we bought umbrellas and then gelatos. :) Here's Saint Mark's square.

Like I said, it was pouring rain. Chacos actually was a wonderful shoe choice for the day. You'll notice our soaking wet pants and our dark colored sandals... :)

In Italy, we stayed with some friends of Alana's family. This is Ilenia and Igor. They are so much fun! They made us pizza with homemade tomato sauce the first night. The second night, Ilenia's mom Lucia made us Artichoke Risotto. Holy smokes. It was SO tasty!

They live on a vineyard. This is the day before we flew out from Ilenia and Igor's driveway. 

So, pretty much, this was the best road trip ever. We had a blast! We laughed for four days straight, and quoted Elf more than we'll admit! :) It was absolutely delightful... 

"Simply Stunning"

:)

Mathathon at My School!

dear family
I wanted to let you know that I'm doing a thing at my school. it is for the children at st. jude hospital.
we are doing a mathathon. it is a booklet that you write answers; that is the thing I do;
how you can help is you be a sponser for me. you pledge some dollers and I do the math problems to earn your pledge.
if you can, e mail me at
ninadile@aol.com
and let me
know how much you can pledge. I need to turn in the pledge money by this friday the 25.



thanks alot and I love you all
kristina

The Things I've Missed...

I realized that a few very important things have been overlooked as far as blogging goes. Totally my bad. :) So, here's what's been going on in my life the past little while that I forgot to add to the blog...

Item #1: I am blood clot free!!! I had another ultrasound done on my leg and the clots are gone! I was able to complete my "anticoagulation therapy" (Coumadin) on April 12 and I feel great!!! As far as the flight home goes, I just have to take some precautions: lots and lots of water, a fast walk before (to get the blood pumping), laps around the plane every hour, and compression stockings. :)

Item #2: I'm going to Israel in June! My boss asked me to speak at a seminar on the topic I have been involved with all semester. He initially wanted me to stay in Belgium for another 3 months, and go to Israel during part of that. That didn't feel right, so we worked out a deal that involves me preparing for the presentation from Utah. I'll head to Israel for about 2 weeks the last part of June!

Item #3: Other than the whole Israel thing, I'm done with my internship! w00t w00t! April 15 was the day of glory... It feels good to be done!

Item #4: Traveling. Of course! I'm here... Why not? :) The weekend before Italy I went with some friends to Liege, Belgium, and Maastricht, the Netherlands. It was a fun Saturday trip! Last weekend Alana and I were able to go up to a concentration camp in northern Belgium. That was incredible. Pictures from these two adventures are below with more detail...

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but 4 is enough for now! Enjoy the pictures!

~

The sight to see in Liege is a big staircase. I'm not really sure why. I didn't do my research. :) I do know that we climbed to the top. My travel buddies were James, Mindaugas, and Alana.  We had such a great time! We laughed all day long. We passed a sign that read: "Dead Ends 'All streets that are only accessible from one side are to be dead ends.' But this measure of the Municipal Council of the 6th March 1863 was not constantly applied..." Wait, what? Yeah, we laughed about that one all day long!

Here's Alana and I on the stairs. We didn't exert a whole lot of effort, as you can probably tell by the smiles on our faces. We took our sweet time!

This is the view of Liege from the top of the stairs...

BREENDONK

Fort Breendonk is a prisoners of war-turned-concentration camp. It is one of the best preserved concentration camps in all of Europe. It was in use from 1942-1943. In that time 3,500 people suffered there. Of those, according to a sign at the entrance, 164 were shot, 21 were hanged, and about 100 died of torture and exhaustion.

It was an incredible experience that I hope I will never forget. It was like walking through a ghost town. I can't really describe the emotion that was felt as I walked through the hallways. I felt such a deep sorrow for each person that suffered there. At the same time, I felt such hope for the life I have right now. It was fascinating to look at the pictures they had around the fort. You could look into the eyes of the victims and see such light and such life, even if the rest of them was skin and bones. It was such a contrast to members of the SS. There was a room where you were told about what certain guards did to people, and how they enjoyed the killing. In their eyes there was only black. No light, no life, simply death and hatred. It was so amazing to see that captured through a camera. It was extremely moving and inspiring to me. It made me all the more ready to live life to the fullest extent!

This is the entrance to the fort.

This is the inner courtyard of the fort. Breendonk is surrounded by a moat, and set up in true fort-style. (The layout can be found at the site http://www.breendonk.be/EN/index.html.) The red brick building on the right is the building where the prisoners were checked in.

This is what is called the Execution Place. The harsh feeling was softened slightly by the bouquets of flowers wrapped in white paper at the base of each pole.

The doors in the long corridor gave an eerie ambiance to the rooms behind them. This is one that remained closed.

Here is the corridor I mentioned. It was long and unwelcoming.

Breendonk was an experience to be remembered. It would be hard to classify it as a "fun" Saturday, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything!

Italy

Once upon a time, I had the most incredible opportunity to go to Italy! I had one 4 day weekend, and this was it! Jordan, Rachel, and I were headed to see some sunshine! The 4 days I spent in the country were some of the most inspiring days yet. Italy is exactly like I imagined it would be... so, without further ado...

ITALY!

Our plane left from Brussels South (Charleroi) at 6:30 in the morning. It is an hour drive there, so our dear friend Mindaugas got up early to make sure we caught our flight! We flew (via Ryan Air) to the Venice Treviso airport. We caught a bus upon arrival and were headed to Venice!

I couldn't believe it. I've heard and dreamed of this city, but to see it with my own eyes was unbelievable. The roads were literally canals! Those that weren't filled with water were so small you could walk down them and touch buildings on both sides with ease. There were personal boats all over, and gondolas everywhere! Here is one of the larger canals, and a sweet gondola!

This guy was my favorite. He fit the part perfectly... and he earned a picture on my camera because of the shiny silver swoosh on his shoes! :)
In Venice, I experienced gelato for the first time. Gelato is simply Italian ice cream, but there is definitely a uniqueness to it! Everyone said I had to try the ice cream and the pizza. I did, don't worry. And I had a gelato a day. :) This one is mint... go figure!
Walking the streets was inspiration for movies aplenty. I only wished for a few things: a few cameras (strategically placed), a few guns, and an attractive hero to star in my movie. Seriously, I wanted nothing more than to film a high-intensity gun chase down those streets. We rounded a corner and came upon a dead end. It was pretty. Hence the picture!

One of the coolest things I noticed about Italy was the smells. I walked down these tiny streets and a gust of wind would blow. Instead of a typical "wind" smell (dirt, leaves, something nasty, etc.) it would smell like Oregano or Basil. It was unbelievable!
This is the Grand Canal of Venice. I'm standing on the tourist attraction Rialto Bridge. Notice the sunny day. It was gorgeous! I came home with color in my cheeks!




After spending a few hours in Venice, we headed for Florence! We briefly stopped in Bologna, but saw nothing picture-worthy... We got to Florence after dark, so we checked into our hostel and hung out there for the evening. I met some fun people! The next morning, the hostel offered a free walking tour of the city. Jordan and Rachel weren't interested, so we split and I headed to the tour! This is the river Arno. You'll notice some ripples in the water: There was a rowing team out practicing! If I were ever on a rowing team, I'd want to be the drummer...
The David Statue is housed in Florence. Unfortunately they wanted 8 euros to see it, so I got a picture by the copy that is situated where the original used to stand, in front of the Old Palace.
After the walking tour, 7 of us decided to head and get some pizza and gelato. We had a blast together! Pictured (L-R) back row: Tom (Ohio), Alex (Wisconson), Roxy (Utah), Ian (New Zealand), Brad (Sydney, Aus.); front: Amber (Chicago), and Lauren (Chicago).
About a week before my grand adventure, I got a package from "The Crew!" In it was my flat family. (Some of you are familiar with Flat Stanley...) My mom was smart enough to laminate it for me! They had quite the adventure this weekend! (They even fell out of my pocket and got lost on the train! Fortunately, a nice lady helped me find them, They are currently safe and sound in Brussels!) Here's Flat Dad, Flat Mom, Flat Toph, Flat Daniel, Flat Nina, Flat Midnight and the city of Florence from the Piazza Michaelangelo lookout.
I climbed the famous Duomo in Florence with Tom and Alex (pictured above). This is a view from the top of said Duomo... Gorgeous, huh?



After our grand adventures in Florence, we headed to Pisa to spend the night. :) The highlight: the Leaning Tower. We got there fairly late, but saw the tower in all its glory at night, then real quick the next morning before our train headed out of town!
I was told all there was to see in Pisa was the Leaning Tower. To prove that theory wrong, I took a picture of a bridge we crossed to get there. Pretty, huh?
Yes, the tower really does lean. It is amazing! This is my picture tribute to the movie While You Were Sleeping... its leaning... :) The tower was initially constructed to be the belfry of the cathedral situated next to it. Now it's just a tourist trap, but a fascinating one, for sure!
Here's Flat Family with the tower... Aren't they cute?



After our short stay in Pisa, it was off to Rome! We arrived just after noon on Sunday. We checked into our hostel, and then were off to see the city! This is the Fontana di Trevi. It is said that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, it ensures your trip back to Rome... Don't worry, I didn't hesitate in throwing my one cent piece into the fountain!
The site to see for the day was the Colosseum. It is HUGE!!! Here's Flat Family in the Colosseum. If you look on the left side of the picture, you can see a wooden stage. This is what covered all the cages for the wild animals. Remains of those cages can be seen on the bottom left of this picture. There were trap doors in the stage where slaves would pull up animal after animal in winch-driven elevators. According to the tour guide... "The crowd would go wild with enthusiasm, hoping for more gore and blood!" Hmm....
Here's another shot inside the Colosseum. You can see the cages a little better here...
This is me (in case you couldn't tell...) with the Colosseum in the background.
It's crazy... You're walking down a regular street when Bam! Out of nowhere, there's this huge sports arena that is thousands of years old! It's amazing!

We went exploring the Palatine Hill. It is the most sacred of the Seven Hills of Rome. Ancient legend says this hill is where Romulus killed Remus. (Check out your Roman mythology for further information.) It was at one time the most prime real estate in all of Europe. All the Emperors of Rome wanted to live on this hill. There were exquisite gardens on top. This picture is taken there.
My gelato for the day came from a place called Blue Ice. This one was close to the Trevi Fountain. If you ever go to Rome, get gelato here! Huge portions for very cheap! And it is good gelato! This picture was taken by the Ferrari poster in honor of Tom. :) Ice Cream flavors today: Mint and a dark chocolate. VERY tasty!

Remember how I said I was told to try the ice cream and the pizza? Well, here it is: my Popeye pizza from Italy. It was tasty! Not quite what I expected (silly American...) but still very good.
The next day we explored everything but the south part of Rome. This is the Castel Sant' Angelo and the Ponte Sant' Angelo (Castle and Bridge of Saint Angelo).

We made it to the Vatican! We got there early enough that our line was only about a 45 minute wait! :) It was beautiful, and very interesting to see. We were able to go into the Sistine Chapel and see the famous ceiling. They asked that you not take pictures, so out of respect I kept my camera in my pocket. It was amazing to see, though!

This is a distant shot of the Vatican. This is taken from the Palatine Hill close to the Colosseum.

After exploring the Vatican, we hit a few other highlights. This is me with the Pantheon. This church was built about 2000 years ago for the gods Venus and Mars! There is a hole in the ceiling instead of a duomo (dome). It's pretty interesting!
The other famous site we stopped at was the Spanish Steps. They were pretty sweet. We ate more gelato on them! :)

After exploring the "tourist-ey" sites, we headed up to the gardens in the northern part of Rome. They were absolutely beautiful! It reminded me a little bit of Central Park in New York City. This is a view of Rome from the outskirts of the gardens.

We stopped at a little pond with a small fountain. It was so picturesque, I couldn't help but take a picture! Check out the purple trees!

This was another interesting thing to see... This is a real guy! They are all over Europe, generally at the famous cathedrals. They stand really still, appearing to be statues. When you tip them, they will move. Most of the time they look like Egyptian mummies and will bow when you tip them. This guy was cool because when you tipped him, he would spin his camera around like in an old movie! He was amazing!
My last shot of Italy was on our bus ride back to the airport outside of Rome. The sun was setting peacefully. It was an incredible four days!