Our Russian Relatives

Moscow

St. Petersburg

#37 -- Finland

#36 -- Sweden

#35 -- Czech Republic....PRAGUE

We took a train from Vienna to Prague. I am pretty terrible at reading military time. When I booked the tickets I remember thinking that the train would be 4-5 hours, but when we got to the station again I looked at the times and realized it would only be 3 hours. So we all sat in our compartment playing games and having a great time. After three hours we packed up our things, got out into the hall and ready to exit the train as it was slowing down. Well, no one else was getting off, and we looked like we were in the middle of nowhere, so we asked a conductor. He informed us that we can't read military time, and indeed the train would be another 2 hours. I am lucky that everyone was so nice and in good moods. We just laughed about the whole situation, unpacked our stuff again and started another rousing game of Phase 10. It was pretty hilarious.

Prague itself was gorgeous. Our hotel was in walking distance of the train station and every place in Old Town that you would like to go. We dropped off our stuff and walked 5 minutes to the main square that houses the oldest functioning astronomical clock in the world. We sat right next to it in a lovely cafe and ate dinner. The next day we spent wandering up to the castle, finding the Little Prince (first try) and eating more great food. Highlights: finding a KFC with AC, bathrooms, and FREE REFILLS!!! Diet Pepsi has never tasted so good. They even had ice. It was wonderful. Other great food was a shiskabob on a baguette from a farmer's market that looked more like a Christmas village. Fab.



One of the last activities was a 6 person circular bicycle ride. Ty was insistent that we went on it. We all dragged our feet, but in the end this was the funnest thing we did. We had a driver from the States who drove us all at break neck speeds through crowds of people fearing for their lives. It was quite a challenge to hold on, pedal, no kill anyone and not laugh so hard that I had bladder control problems. It was awesome!!!

Friday morning we woke up at 3:00 am to catch a 3:30 taxi to make a 6:10 flight that landed in Brussels and put us on an 8:15 am bus that took us to a train station where we took the metro back to my apartment. Exhausting.

Vienna

We spent 24 hours in Vienna. There was some great window shopping and food. Ty and I also went to a classical concert with a symphony, ballet dancers and opera singers featuring music by Mozart and other Austrian composers. It was definitely a highlight. I also got to return to the DeMel chocolate cafe I had visited three years ago.

#34--Slovakia

We took a late train from Budapest to Bratislava, Slovakia. Our hotel reminded us of an old Vegas casino where mob deals went down. The rooms were huge, the view amazing and breakfast was fantastic.

In the morning we wandered the city looking for a Slovakian copy of "The Little Prince" (which we found in a nearly empty book store). Then we wandered the old town of the city and got some authentic food before taking the hour-long bus to Vienna.

#33--Hungary...Beautiful Budapest

On Sunday night we flew into Budapest. It was absolutely gorgeous. We spent the night wandering the stunningly lit city. The next morning at 5:00 am we woke up and went to the Bath Complex. It was really like swimming in a bunch of palace fountains. There were over 20 pools over varying temperatures...from freezing (there was a snow machine producing the ice) to hot tubs. We also sat in many different saunas, the hottest being from 80-100 degrees celcius...which is rougly 200 degrees farenheit. Yikes!!



The rest of the day we spent on a Hop on Hop Off tour that tooks us to the Castle, Opera House, and over-look points. We also made sure to stop for some authentic Hungarian Goulosh and pastries.

Paris

 

I picked up Liz and Shannon in Paris on Wednesday. We took a great boat tour of the city and then spent Thursday at Disney Paris. It was amazing! We got into the park for free thanks to Liz's cast member discount and were totally surprised by how intense the rides were. Space Mountain pretty much should have required helmets.

#32 -- Luxembourg

 

Today I visited country #32...Luxembourg. We drove to Luxembourg city and took a fun (and highly dramatized)tourist train through the old city walls. Then we walked around the down town shops. That really was all there was to do in Luxembourg. The country is only 5 minutes away from Tim's house, so they always go there to buy gas, coffee and other things that are way cheaper than in Germany. Luxembourg city was about a 40 minute drive from Trier. After we had toured around I took a 3 hour train from Luxembourg City to Brussels.

#31 -- Germany

On Saturday I drove to Germany with Harry, Lucy, Steffi and Tim. We really had the royal treatment...amazing food, super nice car and house...everything we could dream of. Germany is the 31st country I have visited. We were in Trier...a beautiful town of about 100,000 people situated right along a river in the tall hills, forests and vineyards. It was so beautiful. I could have stayed forever.

I also had a very popular dish: spaghetti icecream...which is really just icecream put through a pasta maker and topped with strawberry sauce to look like spaghetti. We ate an amazing meal at Steffi's house...spaetzel, Hungarian meat, some other kind of skewered meat, potatoes, mousse, pudding, coca light, herbal tea...the works.

At Tim's house, the best part was breakfast each morning...a huge assortment of fresh breads, cheeses, jams, meats, etc.



The picture is hard to read, but it says "255 km/hour" which is roughly 159 miles per hour. We reached this speed on the German Autoban like it was nothing.

GPs in Brussels

 

On Friday the GPs (German People) came to visit Brussels. My cousin Harry, his wife Lucy, and their two German friends, Steffi and Tim, drove from Trier for the weekend. We all camped out at my cat apartment. Our first order of business was to visit Maison Antoine...the shack boasting the acclaimed title of "Home of the World's Best French Fries." Steffi and Tim had seen a TV show on the world's best food a few months ago, and this place showed up for the #1 French Fry place. And, truly, they were amazing! We wandered around Brussels, ate waffles, fries and kebaps...saw the Grand Place and Manekin Pis, had a cat sleepover, french toatst for breakfast...then we visited the Atonium and left for Germany. Brussels in 20 hours!!!

So you think you want to go to Russia?

Number of Trips to the Russian Consulate: 4
Number of Different Documents Needed: 5
Number of Hours Standing in Line: 9
Number of Hours Spent on Public Transportation: 10.5
Number of Days for the entire proccess: 24
Number of Dollars spent: $158

Obtaining a 10-day Tourist Visa for Russia: Priceless.


Monday, July 4:
We had the day off of work so I decided to go to the Consulate to apply for my Russian visa. I knew it was a process, so I had spent the previous week gathering all of the required documents including: application form, photos, official invitation obtained from tourist agency, copies of train tickets into Russia, copies of flight plans out of Russia, and certification of health insurance. I got the consulate to find a mob of people outside the door. There were no directions, signs, or anything organizing the mob. Just a mob. Every five minutes or so a large Russian guard would open the door up a sliver and stick his head out, and in Russian he would say, "Who is here for a visa?" The whole mob began jumping up in down and waving there documents. The guard let one person in. This repeated for the next two hours. I made my way to the front of the line, but after 2 hours the guard stuck his head out again and said, "that is all." We all went home.

Monday, July 11, 2011:
I returned to consulate better prepared this time. I arrived at 8:00 am (the door doesn't open till 9:00am). By the time I arrived there were already 10 people in line. Within 20 minutes there were another 20 behind me. The same process began. The guard would open the door to the mob, take one person, then shut the door again. I stood in line for 5 hours before being let in. I was the 10th and last person they allowed in for a visa...the other 40 behind me were all sent home. Getting inside was a Christmas Miracle! Once I was in I was sent to a kiosk with my paperwork. Good thing I speak Russian. However, I was told that because I was an American, this Consulate could not issue me a visa, and I would need to obtain one from a Russian consulate on American soil. I said that wasn't posssible and pulled out my State Department and NATO badge and said that I needed a visa. When they found out I was with the embassy they said that they might be able to help me if I could get an official letter from the US Embassy stating that I was working with them in Brussels...and I would need to come back again. So, I left to get my letter.

Wednesday, July 14, 2011:
I obtained my official letter from the U.S. Embassy and made my way back to the Russian Consulate. This time I didn't show up till 10:30 am and made my way straight to the closed dooor and knocked. The guard answered and let me in, by passing the 50 people waiting in mob. The kiosk girl looked over my documents and said that they would probably work and that I needed to pay. So, I went over to the cashier to pay...but they only accepted European bank cards...no cash, no credit cards. Well, I was in a jam, because all I had was cash and American credit cards. The stern looking woman at the window had little sympathy for me, so I stood by the cashier and started asking people if they would pay for my visa on their credit card and I would give them the cash. Unfortunately, my American visa was a lot more money than their European ones, and the first two people I approached didn't have enough money on their cards to cover it. Keep in mind that there aren't a whole lot of people to ask, since very few are actually let in. I asked a couple of people who were there with tourist agencies doing multiple visas, but they couldn't help me either. I finally asked this very nice young woman, in Russian, and she said she would be happy to help me. Wahoo! So we went to the window together to pay...and they wouldn't accept her credit card. So now we were both in the same bind. Luckily, another very nice woman overheard our distressed situation and offered to pay for both of ours if we gave her cash. The first woman who offered to help me didn't have cash, but I had enough to cover both visas, so I gladly made the deal. Once we were paid for, the first woman and I left together, and we drove to an ATM and she got cash and paid me back. We had a great time and became good friends. She is actually from Moscow and had also lived in the States. Anyway, the consulate told me I now needed to wait 2 weeks, and then I could come back and get my visa.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011:
I returned to the Russian consulate for the fourth time, and was eventually let in to collect my visa. They warned me over and over to double check everything before I left the room because once I was gone it was out of their hands. I was so afraid they were not going to issue me the visa...I nearly cried when she handed my passport back to me and I found a clean, perfect Russian Tourist Visa glued inside. A true Christmas Miracle!!

By the way:
I considered paying a courier or agency to do this work for me, but because I was an American they wanted to charge me 4 times as much as they charge Belgians...a whopping $150 just for the service. Boo.

#30 Holland

 

This weekend I checked off country #30...Holland. Lovely windmills, friendly people and delicious food. I'm going back this next weekend.

Temple Road Trip

 

The Price family from my ward let me hitch a ride with them to The Hague, Netherlands, temple for our stake temple day. It was wonderful! I got to perform the work for my 8th great grandmother, Marjeta, who was born in the late 1700s in Slovenia. Afterwards we all went to Burger King for lunch.

Gouda, Holland

 

After the temple we stopped in Gouda...yes, that city that gave us the famous cheese. There was cheese everywhere, and we just wandered around tasting it, eating strupwaffles and enjoying the town. It was quaint and gorgeous. So far Holland takes the cake over Belgium.

Knight in Shining Armor

 

We wandered to the center of Brussels tonight to watch a Jousing Tournament and a pardae of hundreds of people dressed in medieval royal court attire. After getting a pic with one of the knights we opted for a Lebonese buffet and Australian gelato. What a Knight!

Mont St. Michelle

This past weekend 8 of us rented 2 cars from Brussels and headed on a road trip to Normandy, France. It was quite the adventure, but when the GPS was working it wasn't so bad to drive. All rental cars in Brussles are stick shifts...and apparently East Coast people don't ever learn to drive them. We lucked out that I could drive a stick as well as one other person. Tolls were very expensive, but gas wasn't so bad. The first day we drove down to Mont St. Michelle.





Mont St. Michelle is an old abbey that sits on an island that is surrounded by water at high tide,and dry ground at low tide. It's amazing. We had to be careful with our car because after 7:00 pm our parking spots were under water.

The abbey was gorgeous. It was just like Hogwarts.

KGB Recycling

You know, when I was living in Russia I thought it was probably the most communist-reminisant place I'd ever call home...well, that was true until I moved to Belgium.

Specifically today I am talking about the KBG enforced, mandatory recylcing. They MAKE you recylce here. Ugh. Yuck. Nothing against recycling, but please stay out of my trash. I'll save the planet if I want to. Here's how they do it: The garbage men will only collect trash that is placed in special bags; four colors: blue, yellow, white and red, for each kind of recycling. Well, you have to buy them from the store and they are massively expensive. As in, more than $1 per bag!!! They charge you up the wazoo to throw trash away, and if you don't put things in the right bag they will stick a big red "rejected" sticker on the bag and just leave it on your curb. They actually go through your trash to make sure you are recycling. Kill me now. I'm ready to buy a shot gun and a plot of land and just move to Wyoming. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a planet-hater or anything like that, but I prefer to be inspired and motivated to recycle rather than absolutely forced. 4 Different kids of bags, and 6 different types of glass that MUST be separated or they won't touch it. Not even at $1 per small bag. Not even inspite of the nearly 55% in income tax that people here pay for these benefits.

So, the next time you're in Belgium remember to shred everything remotely associated to yourself and recycle meticulously because the government WILL be going through your trash.

The Only Place I'd Rather Be...

My life is just too good for words. Living for free in Belgium, just got back from England and Spain with plans to visit 8 more countries before I go home... so what could be better than this???

The hot tub at my mom's with all the grandkids. I'd trade places in a heart beat!

Inspiration

Bad Day Better

Today was not the best day in the world, but then everything turned around...I went to the army garrison and bought a real can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. It was a tender mercy moment worthy of a general conference address.

Bad Spanish Fashion

 

#29 SPAIN

 

Friday I took work off and flew to Madrid to meet up with a few friends from BYU. My Ryan Air flight was only $70 (round trip with taxes). We all met up in Madrid and had a fabulous time.

Highlights:
The Prado Museum (lots of Goya & El Greco)
Authentic Tacos al Pastor
Les Miserables (en espanol)
Sunny, 90 degree weather

Crying with Cats

 

I decided to stay in tonight, by myself, and watch a chick flick. One of the best (and most depressing) girl films out there is "Becoming Jane"--the true story of Jane Austin and her short and tragic love life. In short, she fell in love, but because of the culture an the time was unable to marry the man she loved, and she remained unmarried for the rest of her life. Her love eventually married and named his first child Jane.

Anyway, so I'm sitting on my couch just as the film starts to get horribly sad. I start to cry and say out loud, "Why am I watching this?" Then I look to my left, and both of my cats are sitting right next to me on the couch arms just staring at me. Then I cry even harder...because I realize that now I am that woman home alone watching chick flicks with her cats. Sob.

My name is Debbie, and I love cats.

Guilty Pleasure

 

I wasn't planning on buying all seven books of the Harry Potter series... but there they were... the original Brittish versions with different art work, spellings, etc. I'm sold. My new goal is to read all 7 books before the final movie comes out in 29 days.

Dirty Dancing

 

Life changing. Only $35.

Stonehenge

 

This picture does not do justice to the misery of the weather. Pouring rain, sideways, violent wind and freezing temps. I spent 10 min running around the rocks and $20 on hot chocolate and a pair of socks I'll never wear again.