July 7th - July 10th

We woke up very early to take down our tent and make our hike to the train station in Lucerne. There we caught our train and made our way to Italy. The train ride through Switzerland was incredible. The tracks took us right through the Alps, giving us wonderful views of the mountains.

It was at our first layover in Italy where we had our first taste of real Italian food. Amy got pasta and Craig got a pizza and all of it was absolutely wonderful. Plus, it was much cheaper than we had expected. For example, Craig's pizza (the same size as a Papa John's Large) was only 4 euros.

As we got closer to Levanto, our views from the train turned to the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

The campground's website informed us that it was within walking distance from the train station. However, what it neglected to say was that this would be the most dangerous walk of your entire life. We made the 2 km trek, mostly without sidewalks or any place whatsoever to walk, through the winding country roads of Italy. We arrived at the base of an uphill trail that would deliver us to the campsite. Amy was very hesitant to take this path at first, not knowing exactly where it would lead us to. Thankfully, it dropped us off at the campground with us swearing to never make that walk again.

At first glance, the campground was nice. Then it was time to go to the Toilet. Craig went first, and came out to tell Amy, "You won't believe this.." Amy knew what he was talking about, for having already experienced this at the train station. The "toilet" was not a "real" toilet. It was instead a hole in the ground and there was no toilet paper in sight. Here is a picture to give you a good image of what we are talking about..

The grooves are where you put your feet.... ewww

The next day we took the bus back to Levanto and wandered the streets of Levanto for the morning. We checked out some market places and then took the train to Monterosso.

Monterosso is AMAZING! You get off the train and there is the beach. We spent the rest of the day wandering the narrow streets and playing in the water.

Craig wandering through the narrow streets.

Amy posing at the beach in Monterosso.

Craig jumping into the clear water.

Taking a break with the best Cannoli ever!

When we arrived back in Levanto from our amazing day at the beach, we waited at the wrong bus stop for an hour and ended up taking a taxi back to the campsite.

On day 3 in Italy we bought Cinque Terre (5 lands) passes. These passes allowed us unlimited train rides and to access the Cinque Terre paths.

**Here is a little blurb on Cinque Terre courtesy of wikipedia.com:

The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Rivieria. "The Five Lands" comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The Cinque Terre is noted for its beauty. Over centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach it from the outside. It is a very popular tourist destination.

We ate delicious pastries in Monterosso and then began our hike to the second village.

Amy making the Cinque Terre walk.

There were A LOT of stairs.

After an hour and a half of strenuous treking through vineyards and olive groves, we arrived in Vernazza.

View of Vernazza.

In this picture you can see Monterosso (in the distance) and Vernazza.

We stopped here for a quick lunch of pizza, and then it was off to the third village. While treking to the third village, we heard a very loud noise. We looked up to see a helicopter hovering over us. We also noticed two men on the trail wearing huge orange "headphones" and reflective vests. Behind them was a pile of items the helicopter was picking up. Sounds okay.. right? Well, being on a side of a cliff with the force of helicopter winds isn't always the most fun. Amy told Craig that she wanted to get far away from the helicopter. They saw where the helicopter was dropping off the items and tried to time it so they would stay out of its way. Back and forth went the helicopter to pick up stuff from one side of the cliffs, over the water, and then drop it off. Unfortunately, we made it to where the helicopter was dropping stuff off the same time it did. We then started running to try to get away from it's powerful winds and the mess it was kicking up. Isn't there supposed to be a clearance of 'don't get so close to this helicopter?' We made it into a covering with trees and could hear the helicopter just on the other side. Amy was on the verge of panic attack.

Scary helicopter.

We made it alive to the third village, Corniglia. This village was built on top of the cliff far above the Mediterranean.

Corniglia

We stayed here long enough to take a few pictures and buy a bottle of water, and then we headed off. We were looking forward to the next stop because we had read it had really great swimming coves.

Craig posing on the suspension bridge.

Another hour of walking and we ended up in Manarola. Here we went straight for the water and cooled off.

If you look closely, you can see people lining the rocks. This is where they would jump off of into the waters. The locals were very impressive with how high off they were willing to jump--especially since a lot of them looked around 10 years old.

After cooling off in Manarola we made the short walk to the fifth and final village, Riomaggiore. Here we just wandered around, did a bit of exploring, and then took the train back to Monterosso.

In Monterosso we had dinner at a small alleyway restaraunt. The food was incredible. The meal began with a sald, and from there we moved on to the main course. Amy had spaghetti with red sauce and Craig had homemade spinach and ricotta ravioli in a homemade pesto. For dessert we shared a heavenly homemade tiramisu and Craig had a teacup espresso.

Yummy..

After our delicious dinner we took the train back to Levanto with hopes of being able to take the taxi to our campsite. The workers at the train station had left for the night and all that was left was the bartender and a guy eating an ice cream. We went in to ask her how to call a taxi, but unfortunately she spoke no english. She did manage to make out that the taxi driver would be very hard to track down even though his car was outside. She convinced her friend, the ice cream eating man, to drive us to the campsite. And, the nice guy that he is, he did so. He wouldn't even let us pay him. For any asprining traveler reading this, especially you young ladies out there, NEVER do this.

July 4th - July 7th

***hint: if you click on the pictures it makes them reallly big****

It was 5 a.m. and we were at the tram stop. Stepping on board we were surprised at how full it was. Why would so many people be up this early on a Saturday? They haven't gone to bed yet.

Twenty minutes later, we sat on the train and we were on our way to Lucerne, Switzerland.

Eleven hours later, we pulled into the Bahnhof at Lucerne, Switzerland wondering whether or not we had a place to sleep... we were pretty nervous. The campground we had contacted before-hand said they do not accept reservations, it is a first come first serve place. This is also the only place to camp in Lucerne. We raced the storm clouds to Lido Camping, which turned out to be about a 30 minute walk from the train station. To our delight, we beat the rain by just minutes and discovered an empty spot for our tent. However, the rain arrived just minutes after we did, which meant putting up the tent in the rain.

After our tent was set up, the rain stopped, and we went to find a late dinner. With this, came the realization of how expensive everything in Lucerene is. Switzerland does not use the Euro like the other countries we would be visiting on our trip. They use the Swiss Franc. However, even with converting from Euros to Francs, everything was very pricey. For example, 3 Swiss Francs equivalent to 3 US dollars, will buy you a coke.

At the start of Day 2 we went to the grocery to pick up breakfast and lunch and then began our journey towards Mt. Pilatus. We started with a boat ride which lasted around an hour and a half and gave us some wonderful scenery. We then continued up the mountain on "The World's Steepest Cogwheel Train."

The ride up offered us some beautiful views of the surrounding mountains.

A half hour after starting our train ride, we came to a stop at 7,000 feet. The views from the top were spectacular when we first arrived. Not long after, we found ourselves walking around in a cloud.

View of Lucerne from Mt. Pilatus.

Craig making his lunch.

While on Mt. Pilatus, we got to see a father and son go paragliding. It seems like a really cool hobby.

A few minutes before we left, a group of middle school aged youth and their leaders arrived. This was not the only school aged group on the mountain, but the were different because they were the only ones to run around and yell to one another. This behavior was very surprising to us because we had not seen it since we arrived in Europe. To no surprise, these students and their leaders were Americans. We are starting to see why Americans have such a bad reputation :(. Some advice for those wishing to travel abroad: try to blend in.

Once it became cold and rainy, and became obvious the clouds were not going anywhere, we decided to head back down the mountain via cable car. This 5 minute ride was pretty scary as we dangled high above the ground.

We made a stop at the Tobaggon Run before boarding our second cable car to continue our trip to the base of Mt. Pilatus.

On day 3 we spent our time exploring Lucerne. We saw the Lion Monument, which was sculpted as a monument to the 1792 fallen Swiss Guards.

After the lion monument, we found a castle wall to explore. We walked the length of the wall which offered really great views of Lucerne. Afterwards, we wandered around the Old City and ate some chocolate.

Everyday Life

We are starting to become accustomed to the everyday life here in Leipzig. One big adjustment has been carrying cash with us everywhere we go. We have yet to find a place that will accept a Visa debit/credit card. For example, we were in IKEA on Friday, which is a really cool place, and we went to check out. Well, we noticed that the self-checkout lanes were empty so we just trotted up to one. After ringing up our items, Amy went to pay with her Visa card, thinking that at a big place like IKEA they would accept it. Well, we were wrong, and turns out the self checkouts only take German bank cards and no other form of payment. A little embarrassed, we made our way to another checkout and managed to dig out just enough cash to pay for our purchase. So, if you are planning a trip to Germany, don´t plan on using your credit card to make purchases. Luckily, we will be setting up a German bank account on Tuesday.

Also, grocery stores are a bit different. The cashiers sit in chairs while ringing your groceries, and there is no one to bag your groceries. You also have to bring your own bags with you to the store. However, this was something we tried to do even when we were in the States--much more eco-friendly.

We will probably be grocery shopping every day or every other day. We do not have a freezer, so we will have to shop for our frozen foods that day. Also, since we do not have a car to load up all of our groceries, we can only buy what we can carry. Thankfully, the grocery store is only a couple of blocks from our apartment.

Along with no freezer, we also have no dryer. Dryers use up a great deal of electricity, and from what we have heard, would be a high cost to use. We have a rather large drying rack which during the summer we will keep on our balcony to dry our clothes.

If you have any comments or questions, be sure to post them!
We are anxious for visitors...

Until next time,
Craig and Amy

One Week in Germany!

So here we are, at the one week point. We´ve actually done a whole lot so far. There are a few things that stand out among everything else here in Germany.

First off, there´s the level of activity of the people here. It´s awesome! We just ate dinner outside and at least once every two minutes someone ran past. Then there´s the people that ride their bikes, which is almost everyone. The people are so fit!

Another thing that sticks out is how fast the trains go. A week ago we were going 200 kilometers per hour! That´s crazy! And traveling is so easy, the trains go everywhere.

Then, there´s the bureaucracy. Here in Germany there is paperwork for everything. And fees. You have to register, and pay taxes on, tv and radio here. Insanity.

Most of all, it´s how our city doesn´t always feel like a city. A block away from our house is a massive, wooded, and very green park. Also, at night, our block is incredibly quiet. The only sound you can hear is the tram going past on the other side of the building.

Until next time,

Craig and Amy Goodwin

(oh, and leave us comments! We want to hear from you!)

Our First Adventure

Today we are off to Nuremburg. For those of you who don´t know the significance of this destination, prepare for a very brief history lesson:

After World War Two, the Allied forces (Great Britain, USA, etc.) rounded up the Nazis who commited war crimes (very bad things). They brought them to Nuremburg. In Nuremburg they faced a military trial to figure out if they were innocent or guilty and what the punishment should be.

Learning part done.

Recent events in our lives:

-We went grocery shopping. This was an experience for a few different reasons. One: Everything was, obviously, in German. We don´t know German. Two: Amy discovered she needed to specify COOKED ham when she ordered it. That could have been bad. Three: We still aren´t too good with our numbers. When we pay, it´s like we´re playing a game on the price is right: How close can you get to the actual price without going over? Usually we win, sometimes the cashier just sits there with her hand out, waiting for more money.

-Amy went to a ballet type performance. Apparently it was very modern--aka, no tu-tu involved.

-Craig is slowly learning some German words, but promptly forgets most of them within two minutes.

-Apparently German mailmen are very trusting. A neighbor was out, so he gave us one of their packages for them to pick up from us later. A note of this was dropped in their mailbox.

Hello From Deustchland!

After the craziness that is taking eight large pieces of heavy luggage through multiple forms of public transportation we have made it safe and sound to our new home in Leipzig, Germany. It´s wonderful! For a city the air is so quiet and so clean! Everyone takes their dogs everywhere, even inside stores and the mall--and they´re so well behaved! We can´t wait for our pups Mika and Bella to come over.

The lifestyle here is fantastic. Everyone walks, runs, or rides their bike to where ever they want to go (and, of course, their dogs go along with them). Because of this, the people are so fit! There´s hardly any overweight people at all in Leipzig.

Just down the street is a main entrance to a HUGE park that we´ve barely begun to explore. Apparently, we can follow the trails south all the way to a lake with a beach.

We´re currently trying to learn the language, which is going to be tough, but not quite as tough as we thought it would be. Why? Well, before coming, people told us--"Everyone over there speaks english, so it will be pretty easy to get around, but that will make it a bit hard to learn German, because everyone wants to practice their English." NOT TRUE! We´ve encountered, in the past 3 days, MAYBE four people who spoke our language. This means that, although right now it´s quite difficult, learning the language will happen quicker than we thought. It will have to.

Until next time,

Craig and Amy Goodwin

Preparations

Well.. now we are married and excited for the next big event. We are currently in the stages of packing all of our life "items" into just a couple of suitcases. Thankfully, we have discovered Space Bags which really are space savers :).

Unfortunately, we have made the decision not to bring our precious pups when we first fly to Germany. Dogs are not allowed to fly in cargo if it is hotter than 85 degrees on the runway which is 10-15 degrees hotter than what the actual temperature is. In Nashville next Tuesday the forcasted temperature is 85 degrees which would mean 100 degrees on the runway:(. So, the dogs will stay with their friends at Amy's parent's house and we will ship them over when it gets cooler. If anyone is planning a fall visit to Germany, let us know, we might have a favor to ask of you...

We leave on Tuesday. Expect our next update shorlty thereafter.