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Surprise Visit, Ljubljana! Last week Michael and I decided that we had dedicated too many days to Salzburg in our journey, so we needed to think of a new destination to add in; we picked Ljubljana, Slovenia! And what a great decision. The expectations that I had of Zagreb I found in Ljubljana. Beautiful small city with red top buildings and just a great atmosphere. They even had a castle in the middle of their city, perched ontop a small hill. And off in the distance you're able to spot some gorgeous mountain tops. Ljublana was a great destination to spend our Tuesday. We met two Brits, Leah and Isabelle, in our hostel and grabbed a late brunch with them. First omelette (or even eggs) I've had since being home, and it was so delicious. From there we took a nice walking tour with a wonderful tour guide. We wandered through a park, saw a flash mob, got a great view from their skyscraper, and eventually reached the castle for more great views of the city. We spent a calm night just wandering around the city. If you ever find yourself in the area and you have an extra day, I would recommend Ljubljana! And with that, you're caught up with the Euroventure once again. We're currently on a train to Salzburg, Austria, where I'll be excited to get some more fantastic views of mountains. Shane 6/21/17

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Zagreb + Plitvice Lakes Zagreb may just be the smallest capital city that we've seen on this trip. It was a nice little city that didn't even feel like a city. Arriving Sunday, we followed our usual routine of seeking out a free walking tour to get a feel for the city. We quickly determined that Croatians in Zagreb don't eat at all, seeing as we walked for a good 1.5hrs in search of food to only find people drinking beer. I don't really have much more to talk about with Zagreb unfortunately. However, on the Monday, we decided to take a bus trip (at 5AM) to go to Plitvice Lakes, a national park 2.5 hours south of Zagreb. Easily one of the most beautiful things I've seen and definitely the best park I've ever experienced. It was just lake after lake, with tons of waterfalls and streams and a lot of nature. Really beautiful! I would highly recommend doing this if you're ever in Croatia. I'd also recommend going early in the morning to beat the crowds, because when noon hit the park was packed with large tour groups, which made it hard to walk around. And one of the best things about visiting this park is that while we waited for our bus to go back to Zagreb, we ran into our Aussie friends, Phoebe and Hayden, whom we met in Berlin, hung out with in Prague, and reunited (unplanned) at the Plitvice Lakes! Crazy! It was nice to catch up on our adventures since Prague. Although I wasn't too impressed with Zagreb, I still want to come back to Croatia and discover some of the other cities and definitely the islands. Shane 6/20/17

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Buda+Pest Fun fact: Budapest used to be two different cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the river in between. Buda is classier and upper class, whereas Pest is more of a lower-middle class city. Also, Budapest is pronounced like Budapesht. 2 fun facts for one day, you're welcome. Budapest is an incredible city that lived up to expectations and I'd highly recommend visiting if ever given the chance. I believe there's something to do here for anyone. There's sightseeing, views, bars, clubs, spas, etc., all of which would satisfy the taste of someone. Budapest is also known for it's cheap prices. I bought a medium sized pizza for less than $3! The problem quickly becomes that you buy a lot of things that are cheap and they add up and quickly become expensive. So according to my budget, Budapest was my most expensive city. Oops. We arrived on Wed just before noon and checked into our hostel. That afternoon we took a walking tour with a good guide that was well-paced and informative. She broke down the history of Budapest first and then went on to explain social life and the do's and don'ts. That night we reunited with Tom and Martin, both of whom we had met in Krakow. I also met 2 of Michael's friends from Duquesne and the 6 of us went on a party cruise. For roughly $20, we each got a bottle of champagne and admission to the boat. Had an absolute blast! Thurs was a slow morning but we eventually got up and out of bed. With Tom's recommendation we discovered the top place in Budapest to grab lunch called Bor's. We'll just say it was cheap and delicious enough for us to eat it 3 times. Thursday was our walking day where we walked all over Buda and Pest to see as much as possible. We walked just over 44K in steps, or 20 miles. That night we met up with the Duq ladies again (Noelle and Megan) and hiked a hill in Buda in order to watch the sunset. What a sight. Afterwards we checked out a couple ruin bars (old communist buildings/undergrounds that were converted into bars). Friday we decided to check out a touristy activity called the Labyrinth. This was a series of underground tunnels in Buda and had a story of Dracula inside. It was eh. Unless you find yourself really bored and trying to escape the heat or rain, I'd skip it. We later wandered back to Pest to go see Heroes Park just before it started to downpour. Friday night we participated in our hostels pub crawl, which was okay. Saw a few more ruin bars which was cool though. Saturday was a relaxation day spent at one of Budapest's famous bath houses. We went to Szechenyi, Budapest's largest bath. They had 3 outdoor pools and I think I came across 10 indoor pools. Quickly learned that baths during the day are home to old men that play chess. However, on Saturday nights, this bath in particular turns into the craziest and wildest sparty (spa + party). We did not partake. Saturday night turned into a recovery night for us and we just stayed in doing laundry. And here we are. Woke up at 430AM to roommates arguing over a random guy sleeping in their bed. Caught our train at 6AM to Zagreb. We had a run-in with border control at the border of Hungary/Croatia. In one way I like to think there was a convict or something on our train because I saw a heavy police presence on the train earlier, but at the same time, it was probably just a routine check. On the plus side, both country's officers checked our passports and stamped them! Now I actually have proof that I've seen other countries other than England and Switzerland, both of which I already have stamps for from previous visits. Also, a new destination has been added to our itinerary, so stay tuned for that! Shane 6/18/17

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Vienna, home of the most delicious tap water We got into Vienna Monday morning just before 7AM from our overnight. The overnight was okay. I ended up falling asleep in the first hour surprisingly, but I woke up several times due to our conductor's need to come to a hard stop at every station..every 30min. Vienna has a different kind of feel to it. It's hard to describe, but it didn't really seem like a touristy destination, especially compared to our previous cities so far. A good example of this was the fact that I couldn't really find a souvenir shop to buy a shot glass (luckily I found one in a bookstore in the train station, 5 minutes before our departure to Budapest). The buildings weren't crazy special or anything, just your typical European style (maybe I'm just getting used to them everywhere..). We took a walking tour that morning from our hostel, which wasn't the greatest. Our tour guide just rambled to long at each spot and she didn't make things sound interesting compared to some of our previous guides. Also, the tour took 3hrs and we didn't see a ton. Monday night ended up pretty relaxed hanging out in the hostel bar. Tuesday we had an early start to the day with the palace being our main destination. Absolutely beautiful. Spent a good 3 or so hours just walking around the gardens. Also spent a few more hours wandering the rest of Vienna to some really cool buildings. Tuesday night we met SJ from Ireland, and Rocky (FL) and Sydney (AZ) from the states. We listened to some standup comedy at the hostel bar, which kinda sucked except for the last Swedish woman that just made fun of Americans, before hitting up a couple bars for the night. And here we are. Just over 3 weeks into my trip with just over 2 weeks left. Crazy how much I've seen and done in such a short period of time. On the train to Budapest now. This city definitely seems like it'll be a wild ride, so hopefully it lives up to expectations. Shane 6/14/17

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Krakow, Auschwitz, and Salt Mines Krakow was definitely a city that exceeded expectations for me. I hadn't really done much research about the city beforehand, and I had only picked it as a destination on our trip because I wanted to visit Auschwitz. Staying in Krakow was 100% a great decision. We had to take an exciting 6hr train from Prague to Krakow Wednesday afternoon. This train was awful. We had a 1st class cabin which felt like a sauna with 6 people crammed in and no Wi-Fi or outlets. At one point I strolled over to 2nd class (peasants) to discover AC, outlets, and Wi-Fi! Also, this train moved at a snails pace for 90% of the trip. I thought about jumping out and just walking to Poland to get there faster. Nevertheless, we eventually made it. Wednesday night turned into our laundry night at some random cafe (and there was no cafe?) While waiting for our laundry we decided to eat some authentic Polish food. I ordered and expected a delicious beef tenderloin with fried egg on the side only to be served a raw meet patty with a raw egg on top. Immediately following laundry, I ran to McDonald's for some comfort food :) Thursday we took a tour to Auschwitz, just over an hour bus ride from Krakow. It's been a few days since that trip and I still haven't been able to comprehend what I saw or even what happened there. To think that nearly 1.5 million people were brought to Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II - Birkenau and murdered is impossible. At Auschwitz I we saw an exhibit that displayed various items that the SS had collected. One giant room contained hair that was cut off from the victims after they were gassed. So much hair and it probably only belonged to a couple thousand victims. And then in another giant hall were just piles and piles of shoes. Both of these rooms gave me a small visualization of just how many people were exterminated at these camps. If you are ever to visit, definitely make sure to see Auschwitz II - Birkenau! It's huge and it's what I visualized a concentration camp to look like. On another note, it almost felt wrong that the day we went to visit, it was such a gorgeous day. Friday we took a tour to the Salt Mines. I thought this place was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. You start by walking 386 steps into the Earth before wandering through the endless mines. There are 200 miles of paths. On our tour we saw less than 1%, experienced tour guides see about 15% and miners will only ever see 70% (they still mine down there). Everything down in the mine is made from salt (or wood for structural support). We saw a lot of sculptures and art work that was created by the miners as well. We even saw a couple lakes, one of them being even saltier that the Dead Sea. Highly recommend place to see, especially if you have Sebastian as your tour guide (hilarious). Saturday was a pretty relaxed day where we wandered around Krakow some more. To be honest, there isn't really much to see in Krakow. At least I wasn't really impressed by much. Then why did Krakow exceed my expectations you ask; bar crawls! Thursday and Saturday I participated in the hostel's bar crawl and on Friday night I did a city bar crawl. All three  were great nights! Thursday I ran into some Scottish guys that I had actually briefly met at a bar crawl in Prague! That night I befriended them, some Irish guys, a few American/Canadian girls, and some other random people. Our night ended around 5AM with a pitstop at McDonalds. Friday night I went on the city bar crawl with the Irish guys I met the night before. For whatever reason, this bar crawl and Krakow are the only places I have met anyone from Ireland on this trip thus far. Seriously, there were 150 people on that crawl, and I swear, at least 100 of them were from Ireland. Almost positive I adapted an Irish (or Scottish?) accent tthat night. And then came Saturday's crawl. Met some more great people and ended up spending all of Sunday just relaxing around Krakow with them (see the most recent photo I'm tagged in on Facebook). In conclusion, Krakow has an incredible nightlife! And don't think you're ever too old; I met a 40 year old woman from England that was outdrinking most of us Thursday night. Krakow ended with us hopping on an overnight train to Vienna on Sunday night. And by me posting this, know that I have safely arrived in Vienna where I am currently melting in the 90 degree weather. Shane 5/12/17 P.S. Sorry for the infrequency in posts for those that follow, I've been having too much fun :/

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Round 2 in Berlin As mentioned in my previous post, this was my second visit to Berlin. I previously visited summer '14 with my friend Josh from England and had a great time. Berlin is full of so much history, and unfortunately it's typically overshadowed by the events that occurred just under a century ago. It's also interesting to think that the current country of Germany is relatively new. Anyways, once again we took a free walking tour on our first day in the city and saw just about everything we intended to see. We saw the hotel where Michael Jackson held out his baby over the balcony, the Brandenburg Gate that now represents peace and passage between the East and West of Germany, Hitler's bunker which has been refurbished into a pretty crappy parking lot, and so many other things. I've attached a few extra photos to this post since it's my only one about Berlin. The first is of the Berliner Dom (right) and the Altes Museum (left). I'd have to consider the Berlin Cathedral as one of the most beautiful cathedrals I've seen, at least from the outside. It's unique and the style is different compared to most other European cathedrals that I've seen. The second photo is of the Brandenburg Gate at night, which I mentioned before. If you were there and looked just to the left of the gate, you'd see the US Embassy. The third photo is of the Berlin Olympic Stadium, home to the 1936 Summer Olympics. And unlike many countries that create new stadiums and venues to host the olympics, Berlin still uses this stadium for many events! The fourth photo is of the Oberbaum Bridge, which was just a 2 minute walk from our hostel. The fifth photo is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial is one of my favorites. It's one thing to see it during the day, but a completely different feel if you walk through it at night. 2,711 concretes slabs stand in this block, making it unavoidable, and therefore, unforgettable. What I liked best about this memorial is it's lack of description for it's meaning, which allows your imagination and interpretation of the concrete to be whatever you make of it. Truly breathtaking. The sixth and last photo is a picture of the sunset on the Oberbaum Bridge, which I thought was just pretty to see. On top of all these scenic views and history, I also learned why Berlin is one of the top party cities in the world. Making friends with my roommates Phoebe and Hayden (Australians), we decided to go out on our last night in Berlin (Saturday night). Berlin is notorius for having strict dress codes and rejecting many people, but also for throwing the best parties. The 3 of us walked to one club around 1230AM to find a long line (probably 2hr wait) and everyone wearing black. We heard about wearing black, but myself (wearing navy) and Hayden (wearing white) didn't believe it. We quickly decided to go to a different club. While leaving, we came across two British lads, Jaime and Joe, who ended up joining our group. Eventually we found ourselves at Watergate, which was just over the Oberbaum Bridge, and we somehow managed to get entry even though we didn't know who was performing (if you don't the name of the club or performers, you're not getting in, fun fact). We'll just say that we had a grand ole time before leaving the club at 630AM after we literally danced the night away and came out of the club to a morning sky. Crazy! Shane 6/5/17

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Prague

Prague What a beautiful city! I've probably said that about every city, but really, each of them are beautiful and unique from one another, it's exciting. I highly recommend Prague to someone that's looking for a laid-back and relaxed city. There really aren't a lot of new buildings, so most of Prague is historic. Prague is also a small city that can easily be traveled on foot without stepping onto a tram or metro. On our first night here (Sunday) we walked to the castle and saw the city skyline. Yesterday we took a tour and got a good feel for the city and all it's landmarks. Prague has the oldest astronomical clock, and it still works! Really cool. We also signed up for a bar crawl last night, which included a 2.5hr open bar. It was a lot of fun. The best part though was that we had the chance to reconnect with our Aussie friends, Hayden and Phoebe, whom we had been roommates with back in Berlin! The bar crawl allowed us to also meet a ton of British people, which we haven't really encountered on our trip thus far. We also befriended a few more Americans as well. I also might have a new scar (we'll see), but that's a story for a different day. Michael and I had planned to day trip to Terezin, a concentration camp an hour outside of Prague, today, but they don't seem to have transportation available on Tuesdays? Weird.. Today (Tuesday) became another mellow day where we wandered the city and saw a few more things on our lists. Note: I haven't posted my blog about Berlin yet because I want to include photos with it and the hostel we're at in Prague has the worst Wi-Fi. So I'm now posting out of order and tomorrows post should have some pics from Prague and a delayed post about Berlin. Stay tuned! Shane 6/6/17

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Amsterdam What an interesting city. Hundreds of canals, thousands of bridges, and a lot of activities that are illegal in most of the US. I had an incredible time in Amsterdam and enjoyed their laid back culture. There's so much to say about Amsterdam, that I'm not sure where to start, so my thoughts will probably be random. Our hostel. We stayed at the Shelter City Hostel, which is a Christian hostel, and to my surprise, a majority of the people that stay/work there are very Christian. The staff was friendly and respectful, and understood if you weren't the same as them in beliefs, so it was fine. Pretty good hostel too. But the best part about this hostel was it's location. Seeing as it was located in the heart of Amsterdam, it was also located in the middle of the Red Light District. The irony was just too great. On one end of our alley was the entrance to the Christian Hostel. The other end, 30 yards max, was a brothel with women standing in front of glass doors tempting every passerby to become their next victim, err, I mean customer. Too funny. The Red Light District. As just stated, we were surrounded by it as soon as we walked outside our hostel. Strip clubs here, brothels there, "live sex shows" around the corner, and sex shops everywhere in between. Quite the varity available. You just need to see it to believe it. Our tour and some fun facts! So in most the cities we've visited so far, we've taken a free tour to see the major attractios of the city and figure out where we want to go more in depth. The Amsterdam tour was great because we learned a lot about the social life of the city and some fun facts. Examples... - 150 bikes per week end up in the canals - 1 car per week ends up in the canals - to my surprise, marijuana is actually illegal in the Netherlands, the police just don't care - houses were taxed based on their width, which is why a lot of homes are narrow While in Amsterdam I was able to find some friends from Quinnipiac too! I found a brother in my fraternity (Andrew Marine) and some fellow ATs (Aynsley Gilbert, Michele Merwin, and Kayla Roddy). It was a good to spend a night catching up with all of them! Well, as I finish up this essay, I'm about to hop off a 6hr train journey to Berlin. This will be my second time to Berlin and Michael's first. We're both excited for what's to come. Stay tuned! Shane 6/1/17

Also, in the “I Amsterdam” picture, I was trying to make the “a” into an apostrophe, “I’msterdam”...

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Adventures in Antwerp What a great place Antwerp, Belgium is! This place has a relaxed city feel, which is definitely needed after a fast-paced week. It's crazy to think that we got to Europe just a week ago. Yesterday in Antwerp we made the decision to hire (rent) bikes for the day on the recommendation from our hostel, which turned out to be a great decision (at least for me). Michael's first attempt to retrieve a bike ended in failure, which meant he had to re-register and pay again. Womp womp. Antwerp is definitely a bike-able city and we were able to see most of it at a nice pace. I've been trying to stick to 3 photos for each of these posts, but I don't feel that just 3 pictures can do it justice. One is of their city cathedral that has a magnificent golden clock atop the tower. Another is of a small fort along the river (which is rumored to be the old home of 2 giants). Then there's two skyline views of the city. One is from across the river, which was cool because we biked to the other side in an underground tunnel underneath the river! The other was from the rooftop of a museum on the same side as the city. The last two photos were from a wall that spanned about two blocks and each year there's a graffiti festival where artists are invited to come and graffiti over the previous wall. It was amazing! Also, pictured with me and Michael is Natalia (another Aussie..) Antwerp is a laid-back city that was needed at this point in the journey. Later today we'll train into Amsterdam, but that's dependent on us figuring out how to activate our Eurail passes.. Shane 5/29/17 HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

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Day trip to Bruges and 2nd/last night in Brussels Saturday was another early morning to wake up and get down into the center of Brussels for our day trip to Bruges. Bruges is considered a hidden gem of Belgium (even though there are thousands of tourists..) and it's also considered to have the best preserved medieval architecture in Europe. I thought the small city was great! During the tour we learned about the rise and fall of Bruges and just how important it was to trading within Europe hundreds of years ago. At one point Bruges actually had a higher population than Paris, which was considered the biggest city in the world. After the tour we went back to one of the cathedrals which contained a Michaelangelo original sculpture, which I thought was pretty cool! While in Bruges, I finally had some Belgian Frites (french fries). Fun fact, fries were actually invented by the Belgians, and of course it was the Americans that renamed them French Fries, because the Belgians spoke French and we're just dumb. Later Saturday night we also made it to a Jazz Festival that was going on for the weekend in their main plaza in Brussels. It was pretty fun. While in Brussels I met a few more people including Amelia and Emma (Philly), Macie and Erin (Sacramento), Jane (New Foundland) and Quentin (France). Michael and I are on our way to Antwerpen, Belgium for the day/night before we head to Amsterdam on Monday. Woo! Shane 5/28/17

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Our First Hiccup and Day 1 of Brussels

I want to start this post by saying that I have made it safely to Brussels! Just had some unforeseen obstacles, that can definitely be blamed on me.. oops..

As I mentioned in the last post, the last night in London was a pretty wild one for me with plenty of apple juice to go around. So I got back to my hostel at 4AM, with the intentions to take an hour nap, wake up at 5 to shower and then head over to the train station to catch our 615AM train to Brussels. Well, that didn’t happen. Woke up at 545AM (still in that altered state of mind..) to Michael shaking me. Somehow we were both able to throw everything in our bags and run to the station for 605AM. However, the gate rejected our tickets because we needed to check in no later than 30-minutes beforehand... So, we had to buy new tickets for the 8AM. Money wasted. I was so pissed. And tired. The hiccup was just an inconvenient morning really, nothing too bad. I’m still feeling the repercussions from the night before as well, but definitely doing a lot better!

Brussels is beautiful. It seems to have a gothic style to it, and many of the buildings are coated with gold leaf. We took a walking tour of the city this afternoon (best decision) and our tour guide, Mick from Ireland, was fantastic and knowledgeable. The pictures I’ve including depict the town hall with the beer guild, the 3rd most famous statue in the world, and Michael and I witha decent view of the city witha WWII memorial garden in the background too. To clarify, the 3rd most famous statue in the world is Manneken Pis, a little child peeing. 

Tonight I think Michael and I are heading back into the center of Brussels to see a free jazz festival that’s happening in their main plaza. And tomorrow we’ve decided to take a day tour of Bruges, which should be great.

Shane 5/26/17

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Conclusion of London

Yesterday was our last day in London. We decided to walk the east side of London that we hadn’t seen yet. Joining Michael and I were two women that we had met at the hostel bar the night before. Alexa (blonde hair) from Austin, TX, and Dafney (brown hair) from Mexico City, Mexico, were both a lot of fun. Alexa came with Michael and I to a club called Tiger Tiger (which was bumping) the night we met. We also walked 4+ miles back to our hostel that night because the tube was closed by the time we left. 

So back to what we did yesterday. We saw the London Tower and the Tower Bridge (often thought to be named the London Bridge). It was beautiful and magnificent! We also went to the Shakespeare Globe, only to realize there was a decent price tag to actually tour it, so we didn’t. 

After that walk, we had really seen everything that we needed to see. I spent the rest of the day in a park and in the hostel, while Michael went back to the British Museum. That night I hung out at the hostel bar again while Michael went to reconnect with an old friend of his. I met another Australian guy, Harry, who I ended up chilling with for the rest of the night. During this time I may have also had a few too many “apple juices”, which burnt a nice hole in my wallet. It also caused me to get back to the hostel at 4AM, which wasn’t ideal, seeing as we had a 6AM train to Brussels to catch that morning... More about that in the next post!

Summary of London:

I really love London. This was my 4th time in the city, and each time I see more and more that I love. The people are great, the atmosphere is fantastic, and I just love every second of it. I could truly see myself living in London one day, who knows!

Also, since I’m typing this post at our new hostel in Brussels right now, I can confirm how great our hostel in London was! Convenient, comfortable, fun.. unlike this one..

Shane 5/26/17

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Wandering London

Day 2 in London was a beautiful day. Woke up to a continental breakfast in the hostel, which only cost 2lb (my keyboard doesn’t have the currency symbol). After breakfast, we had planned to take a free walking tour of London, but it quickly seemed like we had missed the pickup. So instead, we decided to go see the British Museum, which was awesome!! Some of my favorite things from the museum included the entire Egyptian collection, the Rosetta Stone, Samuri Armor, the oldest and most famous game of chess, and an Easter Island statue. 

For lunch, I was able to meet up with my English friend, Josh, whom I haven’t seen in 3 years. It was great to catch up with him and congratulate him on his new baby girl. Unfortunately he had to go to work right after lunch and a pint, but it was still great seeing him.

After lunch, Michael and I wandered around Hyde Park, which was beautiful. From there we continue walking south, seeing WWI and WWII monuments and statues. Eventually we stumbled upon Buckingham Palace. While talking to a policeman, we learned that when the Queen’s sigil is hoisted upon the top of the palace, it means she’s currently in residence. And as you can see in that first photo, the Queen was home! The second photo was a gold statue in the middle of Buckingham Palace’s courtyard.

Continue walking and we came upon Westminster Abbey, the House of Parliament, and Big Ben! As you can see in that third photo, the security in London, and the rest of the UK, has been greatly increased today, due to the bombing in Manchester. The UK’s security level is currently at a “critical” level, which is their highest threat, meaning another incident is imminent. Luckily for us, we leave for Brussels on Friday morning, so we shouldn’t be around...

Also, in a review of last night: we went to our hostel’s sister hostel, Clink78. There, they have a bar, pool table, and it’s really just a great spot to hangout (and great deals on “apple juice”). So far I’ve met people from Chile, New Zealand, Switzerland, West Africa, India, and of course, England. It’s great to hear their travel stories and make new friends.

Shane 5/24/17 

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Windsor Castle and Regent’s Park.

Another great day for weather in England; mid 60s an partly cloudy. Seems that Michael and I brought the good weather with us from Boston. Today we said goodbye and thanked my Aunt Elaine for her lovely stories and hospitality (she’s pictured with me above). 

She was kind enough to take us to the Windsor Castle (pictured 2nd). This was my second time touring the castle (the first being with her 3 years prior). What an incredible place! This castle is almost 1000 years old and it’s still in great shape. The Queen frequents the facility just about every weekend, according to some of the security. They also said that Windsor Castle has only been inhabited by monarchs, which I thought was really interesting. 

After the castle, Michael and I took the train into London and wandered over to our hostel for the next few nights. After checking in, we decided to walk over to Regent’s Park. Since it looked close enough on the map (maybe 5 minutes), we decided to walk, rather than metro. Turns out it was about a 30 minute walk, oops. The park was beautiful though! Beautiful gardens, really nice grass fields, and a lot of people taking advantage of the weather! The 3rd picture is of a nice little spot in the middle of the park.

After the park we found a fish&chips shop and decided to try it out. Michael liked it, I did not (no surprise really..). So I settled for McDonald’s :)

And here we are, back in the hostel at 945PM, where it’s just now getting dark. 

Shane 5/23/17

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Day 1 is officially in the books. After a long journey through flights, customs, and baggage claim, we finally made it across the pond to England! My cousin Michael was kind enough to pick us up from the airport and bring us to my Aunt Elaine’s beautiful home in Fifield, Berkshire.  Today was a pretty relaxing day with myself and the two Michaels (travel friend and cousin) heading into Windsor to walk around the small city. Pictured above are some of the shops with the Windsor castle in the background, and another with a channel running through the town. The second picture is of me and my cousin in front of Elaine’s home.  It’s just after 1030PM here in England and I’m completely exhausted from a long journey and time change. Tomorrow, my friend Michael and I will be wandering the Windsor Castle before training into London for the rest of the week. Should be exciting!

Shane

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Over the Pond

May 22, 2017 at 4AM England time. Hello everyone! First and foremost, I'd like to thank you for showing interest in my life and adventures to be reading this right now! It's truly an honor. Since this is my first post of my "blog" and really the first time that I have ever written a blog or journal, I want to apologize in advanced because I have no idea what I'm doing haha. I have a few goals and reasons for writing this blog. The first, I want to share my European backpacking adventure with all of my friends and family. Without their support, my dreams and a journey like this would be non-existent. So thank you again! The second, I want the ability to relive my journey in the future. For those of you who know me well, my memory is awful. Which is really sad because I've already experienced so many incredible adventures, and unfortunately I can't remember every amazing detail. So I'm hoping this will fix that problem! My third goal is hoping that my writing ability is somewhat decent that these blog posts are legible and make sense. I've never been a writer so I'm sure some English-savy people may cringe (sorry Mrs. Bergeron if you're reading this haha). I'd say my final goal for this blog (at least that I can think of at the moment) is that you're able to read this and hear my voice saying it in your head. This blog is supposed to be fun and what's more fun that hearing Shane's beautiful voice? Nothing, that's what! Now that a little background has been provided, let's talk about what's happening! I'm currently typing this post on my flight from Boston to Lisbon at 11:15PM EST. I'm exhausted and would absolutely love to be sleeping right now, but I think I'm just too excited for this journey to do so (trust me, I tried). Just 24hrs before tonight's departure I was walking across the stage at Quinnipiac University receiving my Bachelor's degree in Athletic Training! Crazy!!! I was honored to have my family (Seth, Amy, Dave, Uncle Kevin, Pepe, Aunt Donna, and Uncle David) and friends (Michael and Mr. & Mrs. Makar) watching the ceremony. So as I just mentioned, currently on a flight to Lisbon, which is where Michael and I have an hour layover before flying up to London Gatwick. There we will be picked up by my cousin Michael and brought to my Aunt Elaine's house. And that's where the fun begins! I'm thrilled to see both my cousin and Aunt for the first time in almost 2 years. It'll be great! I think that's more than enough writing for my first post. Thanks for reading if you've made it this far. My goal is to make a post at least once per city, if not everyday. We'll see. Shane