Saturday, April 4, 2009

13 more of my own European memories

Last weekend I shared 13 of my European memories in my review of Maureen Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes. It was so popular, I decided to share 13 more:

1. Relaxed on a deserted black sand beach in Iceland and watched puffins play in the surf.

2. Went to a nude beach in Noordwijk aan Zee, Netherlands. Because of my delicate skin, I covered up after about 15 minutes. It was disconcerting to see whole families hanging around nude together.

3. Backed our rental car up and got stuck on a ledge in Ireland. Fortunately, some friendly Irish folk stopped and helped us break free. We were frightened the rest of the trip that we’d have to pay a big fee to the rental car company, but they didn’t even bat an eye when they saw it.

4. Visited a church decorated entirely with human skulls in Poland.

5. Got on the wrong train to Brasov in Romania. The train we boarded was the slow, old train that didn’t have any internal lighting. When we went through the various tunnels, the train car was pitch black!

6. Heard that the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier was on a port visit in Benidorm, Spain. I was with a group of girls from Texas that flirted their way into a tour from a pilot. He showed us around and even invited us to lunch in the officer’s mess hall.

7. Got a private tour of a luxury cruise ship in Stockholm, Sweden from a friend who worked on one for a summer job.

8. Was invited by a Finnish family in Tampere, Finland to hang out in their sauna and drink wine. I’ve never seen so much wine consumed in my life!

9. Got my wallet stolen on the Greek island of Samos on my first evening there. Didn’t let it ruin my week though. We just went hiking a lot and only spent money on (incredibly delicious) evening meals.

10. Ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while enjoying the scenery of Lysefjord from Preikestolen, Norway. We camped out in tents and played Euchre under the stars.

11. Went to a cave monastery in Moldova that was filled with churchgoers that looked straight out of the middle ages.

12. Experienced the communist mentality first hand at a post office in Riga, Latvia. None of the four employees were with customers or otherwise busy, but they wouldn’t acknowledge me until I got a number.

13. Took advantage of the free bicycles in Copenhagen to ride around town and visit The Little Mermaid statue. The cobblestones ensure that you hobble around afterwards though!

24 comments:

Ana S. said...

You're making me want to pack my backpack and hop on a train or plane :) The puffins in Iceland sound particularly awesome.

Church decorated with humans skulls: we have one of those too. SO creepy.

Alea said...

Love this...... you should definitely do more and more posts about your travels :)

Bunny B said...

You definitely have seen a lot! I'm so envious!!

Unknown said...

Wow, you have some great memories - and it makes me want to adventure in Europe! :)

Darlene said...

Your memories are awesome. I'm really enjoying them. Not being a world traveller myself, these are just great Lenore. Too funny about the ledge in Ireland-that would have scared me silly. Not sure about a church decorated with human skulls-very creepy indeed. I hope you'll do this again.

Erika Powell said...

i love this list. sounds like so much fun. you should post some pictures with it too!

H said...

The thought of nude families is creeping me out a bit! You seem to have had an incredible time. Jealous =)

MySharonAnne said...

oh wow I want to hop on a plane to Europe right now! I would love to be able to travel like this someday despite my fear of flying.

How brave you are for doing the whole nude beach thing. I would never in a million years be able to take all my clothes off in public. uhuh not happening!

Bookworm said...

Oooh...good times. I really want to go to Europe now! I love reading books about travel and adventure in foreign countries....maybe I should pick up 13 Little Blue Envelopes!

Jen said...

I love hearing about your travels ^_^ the puffins sound particularly cute!

Becky said...

Wow! What cool experiences and memories. Those Greek islands are the best thing ever!

Ladytink_534 said...

Wow! What incredible experiences (well, except for the nude families, yuck)!

Staci said...

I would find the nudies a little disconcerting too!! I believe that you've lead a very fun and interesting life so far!! What fantastic memories and again, thanks for sharing them with us!! I'll have to make sure that I get that rental car company name when I get the chance to visit Ireland!! LOL!!

Linda said...

Nude families? Now that's just gross!

You're such an adventurer! I love reading about all of your memories. You should post 13 memories every month. I bet you've got enough to fill a year (or more).

Nurin said...

Stop making me so jealous!

(But, of course, keep on posting about your travels! It's so interesting.)

Beth Kephart said...

Hmmm I wonder what is more disturbing—the galavanting of nude families or a church full of skulls.

I shall ponder this!

I'm so travel hungry I can' hardly speak.

Amber said...

I. Am. Jealous.

Never knew you could be such a great flirt either ;)

Ever thought about writing a book? I would read it!

bermudaonion said...

I want to travel with you sometime.

Ali said...

We love riding our bikes around here, but on cobblestones? Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Steve said...

Hahaha. I would pay money to see you on a nudist beach just to watch the reaction on your face, especially when looking at everyone around you, haha. And to think you wouldn't even go to the sauna with us at FitnessClub! :)

Melissa said...

I love to travel and since I don't get to much anymore, I love reading about your adventures!

caite said...

Ireland is very, very rough on rental cars.
Which is why no credit card insurance will cover the insurance there anymore.

Alix said...

Your travels sound so good. You went to so many more places than we managed I'm jealous!

Anna said...

Thanks for sharing these. I've always wanted to visit Europe.

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric