It's over!?: Matt

Well the time has come to fly home. Our plane leaves Frankfurt at around 2:30 pm. We have a brief layover in Chicago and then we will be back in Seattle at 11 pm tonight! I think we are all excited to get back home but for different reasons.

We have all learned more about each other during our travels across Europe. We definitely argued over what to do or see or how much to pay for something...I have found that to be common when traveling. Unfamiliar places with stress levels high tend to be breeding grounds for that type of thing. Thankfully we were able to work through it and get over it. I can't say the same for other random people we have passed in train stations or tourist sites. I remember at the train station in Florence a man screaming at his wife in front of their kids because of something to do with tickets. First I was in shock because he was doing that and second because it was in front of maybe 100 people (makes me wonder what happens when 100 people are not around). When we saw that it was just a reminder that even though we argue sometimes it could have been a lot worse between us, but thankfully it wasn't.

Tim and Mike have really impressed me as well on this trip. I don't think I ever realized how outgoing and talkative Tim is with people we have never met. I think all the fun people we met on this trip he somehow started the conversation with them. Tim is also good at solidifying decisions. I think I have mainly noticed this because I tend to be indecisive (something I am working on!). I have noticed Mike seems to be fine going along with whatever we want to do and will have a good time doing it. He is the last one of us to complain about something or get upset. He also is the one to step up when Tim and I won't for whatever reason. For example bungy jumping or even asking for directions to a place.

I am glad and thankful to have had to opportunity to go on this adventure with them because it is something that has and will continue to bring us closer as we will never forget it! The time has come for me to forget seeing them as just my younger brothers--they are my friends.

Thank you all for your prayers and interest in our trip to Europe! I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer and we look forward to sharing the many stories and pictures that did not make the blog. See you soon!


...and for your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of us in front of Mozart's birthplace and house in Salzburg.

Munich and Salzburg: Matt

It looks like our readership may have gone down a bit but that's ok! We (I should say I) love writing to the blog because it makes me feel at least someone out there is reading it and being entertained by it. The good news for those of you that don't want to read it anymore is that you probably aren't reading these very words and if you are then this will be one of the lasts posts. So here's what we have been up to recently...

On our last day in Munich we visited the town of Fussen, Germany. It is home to a couple castles. The most famous is Neuchenstein which was the castle in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (one of our childhood favorite movies). So for this reason alone we decided to take the two hour train ride out to see it. It was definitely worth it and the tours were fun. The inside looked nothing like what the movie made it out to be but that's because movies are always deceptive and shoot scenes in other places. The castle was really beautiful and weird (for example one of the kings hallways was made to look like a cave). We hiked up to a skinny bridge (it was a couple hundred feet in the air and a little wobbly) in order to get a better view. Unfortunately it was raining a bit and scaffolding covered that side of the castle.


On the way back to the train station we just missed the hourly train and decided to go get some food before the last train of the night to Munich left the next hour. We saw a sign for McDonald's so we asked some locals which way it was and they were nice and kept pointing us in the right direction...it seemed like it was close...until we realized it was about 800 meters away after having walked about 10 minutes. So we ended up walking about 20 minutes each way in pouring rain (I was lucky enough to have packed my rain jacket whereas Tim and Mike were in shorts and t-shirts) and wait in slow line in order to get some good quality food... We are soaked and cold by the time we got back to the train station and the locals looked at us like we were crazy (which I think may be an accurate assumption). But we did end up making our train, I just thought it was a good story to show our dedication.

On Saturday we arrived in Salzburg and met up with Gordy and Tabita. For those of you that don't know Gordy was our first youth pastor when we moved up to Washington and Tabita is his wife (she is from Austria). They offered to let us stay at their apartment with them. We went in and saw a little bit of the festival that is currently going on in Salzburg with them on Saturday night. On Sunday we went to church at the Baptist Church of Salzburg. That was a fun experience although it was completely in German and I didn't understand anything. I learned that God is Gott in German (or so I think...). But in all seriousness it was great to be there and we felt welcomed and there was definitely life in the church. After church, we went with Gordy and an Afghan guy to get some food. It was good talking with him as he understood some English and just hearing what life is like for him.

We have really enjoyed Salzburg...and we haven't even gone on the sound of music tour (I didn't want to make my mom jealous...)! A lot of why we have enjoyed it is just because we have been able to hang out with Gordy (unfortunately Tabita was only able to hang out with us for the first day due to a women's retreat). I am finding that the places I like the most are the ones where we meet fun people! Anyway, for those of you that don't know Germany is known for their board games (and Austrians speak German). Gordy has Settlers of Catan which we played a lot (hours and hours!) with him in the apartment. Today we got a new game called Zug um Zug (or Ticket to Ride in English). It's another cool game that basically involves making train systems across Europe. But don't worry we did manage to get out and enjoy the city and nice weather! Although we maybe should have stayed inside as I managed to slice my finger open at the park...but it's fine enough that I can write this update so no need to worry.


Tomorrow we are off to Frankfurt and then on Wednesday we fly home to Seattle!

Spelling: Tim

This is in defense of my spelling Mom. Though I may make a few errors here and there, I believe you and maybe a lot of other people will find this interesting...see if you can read this and understand what it is trying to get across...

O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, t he olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rgh it pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

This is the Cambridge Word Scramble Study that I learned about in Sensation and Perception.

P.S. We almost got arrested on the German subway because Mike brought the wrong train ticket and Matt was talking to the police really fast after the officer told him to slow down because he had trouble with English. Don't worry we made it home safely!

Germany!: Tim

We have arrived here in Germany! I must say I am pretty excited because I am part german (very small part) and my girlfriend is half German so she is excited for me to be here as well. I think we fit in the most in Germany and my proof would have to be that everybody speaks to us in German thinking that we know the language. Lucky for us though, they all seem to speak a bit of English.

Today we walked downtown and saw the gigantic Glockenspiel in the main town center

and were offered tours right and left by people who could tell we were not German. However we just went strait to the nearest Foosball-laden (football shop) and I picked up a Bayern Munchen jersey because they are one of the most successful European soccer teams and they come from Germany (there really weren't too many successful Swiss soccer teams, so I went with the next closest heritage). Then we headed over to the famous Hofbrahaus which is a gigantic German beer hall where there are traditional beer gardens with the bar maids as well. I tried the best beer that anyone could recommend me and it was the best I had ever had...but still a bit away from a nice cold class of water. I guess once I start eating vegetables I may be a step closer to being able to appreciate drinks made from plants.

After the Hofbrahaus, we headed over to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial site. This was quite a somber memorial as we saw images and heard stories of the many prisoners that had gone through the site.

It amazes me that something so atrocious could happen in the world and how credit was given to the United States for freeing the prisoners from the camp. I just think it is pretty amazing how such a young country is able to come over and show who's boss, and then be able to return the land back to Germany. It is crazy to think that around 60 years ago there were Nazis where I am today. Now anyone can travel here and I would say it is one of the easiest cities to travel through and get around in as well. I wonder if this is what Iraq will be like 50 years from now, it will definitely be an interesting place to visit with many stories similar to those from the Dachau concentration camp.

Oh and I'd better mention that we did manage to finally see Harry Potter in English once we got to Munich. Matt and I would probably get upset with me if I forgot to mention that. It was pretty exciting to be in a theater of mainly German speakers that could all understand English enough to want to watch a movie in it with no subtitles. I myself was not the biggest fan of the 6th movie though it did have its funny moments, but Matt and Mike may have different opinions so I will refrain from speaking on their behalf. Tomorrow we will be heading out to the castle from Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as well as the inspiration behind the Disneyland castle as well...

Switzerland!: Matt

Hey everyone we are currently in Gimmelwald, Switzerland! It's a remote town located about an hour from Interlaken. We had to take a cable car/gondola to get up here and have enjoyed the quiet relaxing atmosphere. Switzerland as a whole has been a great change of pace and we have been treating this part more like a vacation. We have been relaxing more, enjoying each other more and of course spending more (although Switzerland is more expensive anyway...)! Canyoning in Interlaken was a lot of fun but of course I managed to fall on my knee which hurt a lot! I am still recovering from that one but I am well enough now to enjoy some casual hiking.

Yesterday we arrived in Gimmelwald and it was a fairly clear day so we decided to take the gondola up to the top of the Schilthorn. The Schilthorn is located at an elevation of 2970 meters (just shy of 10,000 feet). The Schilthorn is also famous for being the site where a good portion of a James Bond film called "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was filmed. They play that fact up quite a bit...something that is definitely cool but in my opinion that movie was the worst Bond film of all time...by far! But the Schilthorn has a gorgeous view of the Swiss Alps which we were lucky enough to see thanks to the nice weather. I took my recently purchased Swiss flag up there as well.


We took the cable car/gondola ride to the top which took about 30 minutes and was a bit high at parts... Once up there we walked around and enjoyed the view, took lots of pictures, and watched some scenes from the James Bond movie in one of the rooms. The Schilthorn also has a rotating restaurant which also happens to be the highest rotating restaurant in the world. We actually paid an enormous amount just to sit back and enjoy lunch with an insanely beautiful view. The hot chocolate at the end was a great addition as well because it was quite cold up there (5 degrees Celsius or so).


Last night we also met some awesome travelers from Seattle and Portland. We had a lot of fun sharing Toblerone with them and talking late into the night...well by the Mountain Hostel standards (like midnight.). It has been fun making connections with people that live close to us back home (and work like 100 yards from where we did). Anyway we took a picture outside the hostel as they were leaving...they are somewhere cool now like the Matterhorn (don't get me wrong Gimmelwald is cool too!).


Today we hiked up past the town of Murren to see what kind of views we could see just from hiking around (but my main objective was to find some photogenic cows!). We saw beautiful views, had fun hiking around (tons and tons of great hikes around here!) and saw some creeks and waterfalls. We drank some water straight out of the creek (could be a bad idea...but I think it's fresh) and it was the best water I have ever tasted in my life. I could seriously live off it and no other beverage, forever! We also found some cows (thanks to those ingenious bells they have around their necks) just hanging around. One of the cows walked over to us and was really friendly...it was licking us up and down actually. We discovered that a cow's tongue feels like sand paper. Cows in the Alps are great, partly because their bells sound exactly like wind chimes which reminds me of relaxing on my favorite porch in the world (...Cape Cod).

Being here has definitely reminded me a lot about our grandparents who made this trip possible via handing money down to my mom when they passed away. The sites (swiss flags, antique swiss things) and smells (like farm smells...) remind me of going to our grandparents house in Oregon. I miss them, but being here reminds me that I will never forget them.

Wilkomen Switzerland!: Tim

So pretty much Switzerland has been the most exciting part of this trip for me. It feels like we have been traveling for so long though! The Wimbledon post feels like it was ages ago, which I believe is a sign that we are ready to come home. However, I am extremely glad that we came to switzerland even if it so incredibly expensive. You really have no idea how expensive it is until you come here!

We have decided that Switzerland is kind of like Seattle except on Leavenworth steroids, meaning that it is an incredibly outdoor-sy town and by that I mean every other shop seems to be like a mini REI. And I have yet to see a single pair of high heel shoes anywhere. This is in stark contrast to Italy where it seemed like everyone seemed to dress up to go everywhere. Hiking boots seem to be the fashionable shoe even on girls in this wonderful alpine country. Huge mountains and cliffs just seem to take off out of the middle of nowhere. I think it is absolutely beautiful!

To go along with this outdoor-sy atmosphere, Switzerland seems to be an extreme sports headquarters with options for skydiving, hanggliding, bungee jumping (as you already saw), paragliding, zorbing (you should really look that one up), river rafting, and canyoning. We partook in the latter which I hadn´t even heard of before Matt suggested it. It is kind of a combination between human river rafting (floating down rapids), rappeling, and cliff jumping.

We were all pretty excited as they came and picked us up from our hostel and took us out to the base camp where they suited us up in wetsuits, harnasses, and helmets.

We drove up to the mountain with a group of about 12 people and then hiked up even further where we began our adventure. It was pretty exciting jumping off of waterfalls into key points where the water was deep enough for us to land safely.

The instructors were very good and able to tell us exactly where to go without babying us. That is one thing I love about Europe in general. People expect you to make smart decisions as you cannot sue willy nilly because you made a dumb choice or because you think the country/state should pay to have safety railings at certain points.

Anyway there were a number of jumps off of waterfalls that we did, and one rappel

as well as one "pendulum swing" where we pushed off of a cliff and then swung around a rock wall. Though all of us were able to complete all of the jumps and rappels safely,

Matt was able to injure himself just trekking through the river when he came across a rock and fell directly onto his knee. Ever since, he has been limping a little bit and at least complaining about how much it hurts. Though everything seems to function properly, so don´t worry Mom. It is probably just a nasty bruise.

We ended up being in the canyon for about an hour and a half and by the end of it all of us were wishing for more. Even Matt was pretty bummed that it was over, though I doubt he could have done much more after bumping his knee. Overall it was a great swiss outdoor experience and I can´t wait to do it again...I hear canyoning is pretty popular in New Zealand too (Next vacation idea!!!). Anyways I will leave a little more for Matt and Mike to talk about...If you are still following us I hope you are still enjoying the stories.

The Leap of Faith: Michael

Today was definitely and eventful day. Well it was for me at least. I did a 700 foot bungee jump and it was so awesome. First I have to tell you about how I was feeling about this whole thing. Obviously on the way there I was telling Matt and Tim that there was no way that I was not going to jump. The only thing that could stop me would be if they were not jumping do to the thunder in the area from bad weather. Of course my tune changed a little when we got to the dam. I don't know if any of you have ever been to it but it is huge. It is crazy to think that people even jump off of it. However, I had already told everyone that I was going to do it so I could not chicken out.



Then I got to see someone do the jump and they were just fine afterwords so I knew that I could do it. I was still a little hesitant but I went and signed up after a few more minutes. They immediately got me all strapped up and ready. After briefly explaining a few instructions as to what I needed to do after the jump to hook myself in to the pully, the instructor strapped the bungee to my legs and asked me if I was ready. Of course I was thinking no way I am crazy but I told him YA IM READY. So he scooted me out to the edge so that my toes were just over. At this point my heart was already beating fast and my knees were shaking but I knew this was it. The instructor started counting down 3...2...1... and then I jumped.



The first second in the air was not bad at all. It felt like I just sort of hovered right where i was at the peak. But then I started to fall. I think it was around second 4 when i thought I must of been crazy to do this. The wind was rushing past me and all I was thinking was God I hope this bungee holds. Well luckily it did hold and I am still here today to talk about it. The only other scary part in the whole thing was when I was hanging upside down trying to pull myself up on the rope. The rope had gotten twisted around my foot and when i untwisted it the Velcro part of the ankle brace that the bungee was on came loose. I was still able to get up though and the view was amazing from where I was way down the dam. When I got two feet back on solid ground I felt so good I could not help but smile.



I had such a great time doing it. It was such a thrill and I cannot wait to do more crazy things like this in the future. I would love to bungee again and I recommend it to everyone. It is awesome. I don't know what else to say but I did it. Matt and Tim did not want to but I did and it was great!