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7qt, aligncenter, beer, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, budapest, caption, Chicago, environmental stewardship, fish friday, friends, funny stuff, great britain, honeymoon, lists, neil diamond, Odds and Ends, Poland, prague, reusable shopping bag, Saint Elizabeth, travel, vienna, zoo
Oh hey there hey! I’m back (and better than ever) from our epic European adventure. Obviously, I’m going to force you to read all about it in the weeks to come, but I wanted to pop in for 7 Quick Takes with a few fun facts and statistics for you.
Steps and Miles.
According to my beloved FitBit, I walked a total of 324,916 for 155.58 miles. Of course, we can’t necessarily believe what the FitBit tells us in terms of mileage but I do think that I could stand to put in a little more effort into my daily physical activity — because health and stuff.
Cities and Sites.
Over two weeks, we were in 5 cities that spoke 4 different languages. We took five planes and four trains to get there. I would tell you the number of churches, cathedrals, palaces and museums we visited, but we lost count at the double digits.
We visited 1 zoo, though. In Vienna. It was the best zoo I’ve ever been to.
Religious Experiences.
- 6 Masses.
- 4 Adoration of the Blessed Sacraments.
- 500+ Viewed Relics.
- 1 Saintly Relic Touched.
Catholicism — yea.
Slogans.
Most of the cities we went to had slogans — because tourism and stuff. Some of them were pretty impactful, like “Vienna. Now or Never” and “Vienna Waits for You.” (Yes, we totally noticed that those two seem to contradict each other.) There were also such gems as “Budapest: Pearl of the Danube.” and “Krakow: JPII’s Boyhood Home.” (“Budapest: Home of the Ballpoint Pen.” didn’t make it through the run-off elections, I don’t think.)
As great as those slogans were, we decided we needed to write some of our own:
- Poland: Where Everything’s Made Up and the Laws Don’t Matter.
- Vienna: You Can Drink Beer in Our Zoo.
- The First Rule of Post-Soviet Hungary Is That You Don’t Ask about Soviet Hungary.
- Central European Rail Travel — Seems Legit.
- Budapest — Hey, Have You Heard that George Ezra Song?
Fun Facts from Other Travelers.
One of the best parts of traveling is that you get to meet other people who are traveling. For the most part, we did what we could to avoid making new friends out and about (sosorrysointrovert) but, despite our best efforts, we did meet some friendly people who told us all about what life is like in Britain. Here are some things that I learned:
- Neil Diamond — yes, that Neil Diamond — is “a national treasure” in Britain. They also really enjoy the sweet, sweet musical stylings of Bruce Springsteen.
- Paid holidays are still a thing in Britain. When confronted with the concept that many Americans do not have paid vacations, our new British friends pronounced our system “archaic.” (Here, here!)
- According to our new dinner buddies, Chicago is either a 20 minute or a 8 hour flight from New York City. They were a little confused as to which.
Odd Objects.
Anytime you travel, you find all sorts of stuff that you never knew existed. For example, we greatly enjoyed the sesame goldfish crackers that were available for purchase in several countries. We were not quite as enthused by the ketchup-flavored Cheetos. The best weird thing we brought home by far is the Mike Tyson Energy Drink.
…honestly, it’s so good that it’s going to get its own post.
Odds and Ends.
- I read 7 books while we were gone (one of which will be reviewed next week). I left most of them in hotel rooms, coffee shops and airplanes, which is good because we bought ten books to bring home.
- Two weeks with no data plan taught me quite a bit about how I’ve been using my phone. Mostly, that I’ve been using it too much to kill time and procrastinate. I can’t say that I’m going to live my life with my phone permanently on airplane mode, but I am going to try to to cut back on wasting so much time.
- Everyone in Europe uses reusable shopping bags because almost every place in Europe charges for plastic bags. Since I’ve decided to take a good hard look at our consumption habits around here, I’m thinking that I need to get on the canvas tote trend. Because environmental stewardship or something.
For more Quick Takes, visit This Ain’t The Lyceum! Bring sparklers because Kelly can be a touch sensitive about her pyrotechnics.
Ann-Marie Ulczynski said:
Stopping by from 7QT. Your trip sounds fabulous. And beer at the zoo? Yes, please!
ekabby111 said:
Hi there, Ann-Marie!
Thanks for stopping by. Beer at the zoo really changed my whole perspective on what makes a zoo fun.
kmantoan said:
I’m not sure what excites me more, alcohol in the zoo or that fish sign. On Fridays, you’d better eat the fish BEFORE THEY EAT YOU!!! Or nibble delightfully on your pinkie.
And thus far, no one has shown up with sparklers so I’m being consoled with glow sticks my children shoved in our freezer in a last ditch effort to prolong their glowy-ness.
ekabby111 said:
Those Thai footbaths with the fishies that eat all your dead skin and footy detritus were super popular in the Czech Republic. We did not partake because fish and friends and food — not feet cleaners.
And glow sticks are a good first step — certainly safer than roman candles for children under six.
Beth Anne said:
I love Gothic Cathedrals. They are so pretty.
Looking forward to reading about it as I put my deposit down for Poland WYD 2016 this week!! EEK!
Savannah, GA has no open container laws as well. It was weird to see people just walking around randomly with drinks.
ekabby111 said:
I’m so jealous of your impending WYD experience — not even going to try to cover that up.
And I totally agree that it’s a little unsettling to see people just moseying around with beer, but it is really cool to drink beer at the zoo.
Lindsay said:
I will admit that I have taken advantage of that Savannah (lack of) law. That is all of that story I’m putting on the Internet. The Internet never forgets!
ekabby111 said:
Ha!
Lindsay said:
What horses? Is it just me, or are there no horses?
Catholicism: making touching dead people a holy experience since 33 A.D.
Austin passed a bag ban not long ago. It took a while to get used to. Reusable bags are far superior than plastic ones for groceries, though. Target gives you 5 cents off for bringing your own bag, which is clearly the best method, because Target gets all my money anyway.
ekabby111 said:
There are some Lippazaner stallions back there, I swear.
I would totally love it if more stores around here gave a discount for skipping plastic bags. I think lots of people would be more dilligent about using canvas if it saved them money.
Beth Anne said:
I totally agree! I think Target gives you a 10 cent discount to use your own bag…yeah NOT worth my time/energy for a dime.
CVS used to have a bring your own bag program where they’d scan this tag and you got $2 back for every 4 scans or something. They discontinued the program probably b/c people were cheating but it was cool while it lasted.
Lindsay said:
I only get 5 cents per bag at Target, but that’s more than zero. At HEB (a major Texas grocery chain), they charge 60 cents per bag. That would add up with 3 reusable bags (up to 5 if they were plastic) of groceries every week! Ultimately, I don’t like having had canvas forced upon me by law, but I can’t argue with the effectiveness.
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