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For those of you who know her or are just interested, Lucy and her boyfriend are traveling around the world. Here is what they have done so far:
hellow family and friends, we've arrived and are well
rested. we slept like 13 hours last night, it was a
long plane ride!! we're in a hostel on the pest side
of budapest. we've got dorm beds, but they're side by
side, so we can still touch feet while we're sleeping.
The city is realy beautiful, old buildings, adn very
cosmopolitan people. coffee shops everywhere, i love
that. we've learned how to use the metro system and
spend most of today walking all over in pest and then
crossed over one of many bridges and strolled all over
buda. we've seen some really old stuff, castles and
churches, it's really lovely. i feel a bit like an
idiot as i can't even say thank you when someone gives
us something. luckily most folks have understoon
english here in the city, so it's been super easy to
get around. we're going to try and find some yummy
hungarian food for dinner here soon. they like their
sweets here, there are little bakeries everywhere,
hum, i think i'll try some!!
anyway gotta go, someone's waiting to use the
internet, we've got one computer here at the dorm and
it's communal. \
love to all
lucy
hellow family and friends, we've arrived and are well
rested. we slept like 13 hours last night, it was a
long plane ride!! we're in a hostel on the pest side
of budapest. we've got dorm beds, but they're side by
side, so we can still touch feet while we're sleeping.
The city is realy beautiful, old buildings, adn very
cosmopolitan people. coffee shops everywhere, i love
that. we've learned how to use the metro system and
spend most of today walking all over in pest and then
crossed over one of many bridges and strolled all over
buda. we've seen some really old stuff, castles and
churches, it's really lovely. i feel a bit like an
idiot as i can't even say thank you when someone gives
us something. luckily most folks have understoon
english here in the city, so it's been super easy to
get around. we're going to try and find some yummy
hungarian food for dinner here soon. they like their
sweets here, there are little bakeries everywhere,
hum, i think i'll try some!!
anyway gotta go, someone's waiting to use the
internet, we've got one computer here at the dorm and
it's communal. \
love to all
lucy
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Columbus
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Re: Lucy Colton's round the world trip
Tue, December 6, 2005 - 3:22 PMWell, we made it out of Hungary, although, for a few
minutes last night we weren't so sure. I'll tell that
story in a minute.
Jim and I are doing really well, we're really seeing
some very beautiful places and feeling very much like
way more than 6 days have gone by. We've seen so much
and we're on our second country already. Although Jim
reminded me tonight that we're only 3.7% of the way
through the trip, that's the "official" number!
We really liked Hungary, the food was great, excellent
bread!! The only thing we had trouble with really was
the train system, it's very, very, and I mean very,
confusing. But once we got it sort of figured out,
after missing one train, almost getting trapped on one
train as it was splitting from the back half of the
rest of the cars, and than hopping off last minute and
on and on. Confusing!! In Hungary we were in
Budapest and then in a smaller town to the East called
Eger, which is a university town. Very quaint and Jim
would say.
Last night we took a night train across Hungary and
into Romania and that's when the excitement began. We
had a lovely 11pm experience haggling with a train
worker, in Spanish, our only common lanuage, which he
barely spoke, about payment for seat reservations.
Very intersting since we were already 3/4 of the way
through our trip, and then he started threatening to
throw our stuff off of the train. All I can say is
its a good thing the whole conversation was in Spanish
and Jim didn't understand, because he was about to
throw the guy off the train!! But I bribed the guy,
paid him and he left us alone, I'm pretty sure that's
what he wanted in the first place. That was our
welcome to Romania. But ever since then it's been
totally different!! We've only been here since 6am
this morning, but as soon as we got off of the train,
everything was so much better. People are very nice,
we're staying in a lady's house, in her second
bedroom. We went to see a fortress and the Bran
Castle, you know, Dracula!! Oh, by the way we're in
Transilvania (not Transexual Transilvania, for all you
Rocky Horror fans). So we plan to be here for at
least tomorrow, probobly we'll leave on Tuesday and
head to Bucharest. It's super beautiful around here,
really high mountains with snow, although the weather
is unusually warm right now, sunny and nice.
We just stuffed ourselves on Goulash soup and beet
salad for me and bean soup and tomato/feta salad for
Jim, with of course yummy bread. I've been trying to
identify all spices I taste, such good flavours.
Anyway, we're well, we feel a million miles away from
Hood River, and can't believe it's only been 6 days.
Jim's been doing his best to take photos of things,
you know me, I only bring the camera out when hell
begins to freeze, but I am writting all of our
experiences down in our journal, so that's my
contribution to future enjoyment of these days.
Anyway, Hope all's well with everyone.
Love Lucy -
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Re: Lucy Colton's round the world trip
Tue, December 6, 2005 - 3:23 PMSo yes, we're with Kate now. We've been with her since
Friday morning. htey picked us up at the train
station in Sofia at 7am, our train was an hour late,
oops. We spent that day and most of the nextwalking
around Sofia and eating at several Bulgarian food
restaurants, it was fun, it was a very modern city
from the down town part that we saw. Bulgarians seem
to be very stylish adn fashionable. The latest in
clothing and hair styles!! Saturday afternoon we took
a bus up into the Balkin mountains to a town called
Kalofer about 3000 people. We got there at night and
it was a very sleepy town, we were walking all over
trying to find the house that we were going to stay
at. It was a Bed and Breakfast type of place. REally
nice, yet super cheap. Kate and Brian had one bedroom
with bathroom and we had our own, very fancy. But it
was in this old farm house by a river. Mom you
wouldhave loved it. It was very idilic, Kate and I
were oowing and awing at everything. We had a
traditional Bulgarian meal in the peoples own house,
they sat with us while we ate and we talked adn
talked, well,Kate and briand talked and translated to
us. We drank home made Rakia, local liqour, Grape
made and apricot made. We had a pickled cabbage
salad, white bean soup, and stuffed peppers, home made
bread, everything home made, even the cheeseprobobly.
It was a very "home stay" type of a feel, like we were
guests in there house, not just renting aroom for the
night. We had ohome made wine wiht dinner, Rakia with
the salad, and the dinner took 21/2 hours, typical
Bulgarian dinner. Kate says eating can take a very
long time. We all were so stuffed that we could
barely roll back up to our beds at the end of it. Jim
and I were so happy to be full, it seems like on our
trip so far being full is not something that's
happening too often.
This place we stayed was also a working mill, htey
harness the power of the river and use it to run an
old fashioned mill, grinding grain between two huge
stones, all hydro powered. They also make Rakia and
have a big tub, huge, htat has river water running
through it where people from all over bring their rugs
to be washed. They also Felt wool in this huge
boiler. Very well operated place, likely opperating
as it has for 100 years. Well, almost, they said
their family had been on that property since 1910.
The next day we went hiking in the Balkin mountains in
a national park, super lovely. We followed a river
and up cliffs, so beautiful. We walked back into town
and had a lovely view of the countryside and peoples
farms.
In It was really beautiful out htere.
Back in Plovdiv that night we got to see Kate and
Brian apartment, super homey and wonderufl, but very,
very, very small. They've got a full on life here.
Kate made us a yummy dinner of healthy food, which we
were needing.
Today we walked all over Plovdiv with Kate as our
guide. It's a very lovely city. we spent a good
amouont of time at the market as well, I'm oging to
make dinner for us tonight. They had somany fresh
veggies and beans and nuts and fruit, all from
someone's yard.
Anyway, it's been great to see Kate, we're chatting
none stop and doing lots of catching up. It's been
great to get a taste of their life here. But it's
also been great to see Bulgaria in a way that we never
could on our own. They've been great tour guides.
We'll be were until Sunday night when we're off to
Istanbul.
Anyway, off ot make dinner. Oh, for all you at home
enjoying snow, we're in spring-like weather, so warm
and lovley, I can't believe it, it's not winter here
at all.
Take care.
Lucy
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