Brussels, Amsterdam and Frankfurt

So I'm on the bus headed towards Venice currently, knowing I have to really start hammering some of these posts out. I'm pretty much two places behind at all times, like Amsterdam and Switzerland where we just left. Time seems to be picking up and the days don't seem as long but we're still doing so many crazy awesome things it doesn't matter! As long as I can remember everything to put in here that is. A friend beside me on the bus is journaling too and we're kind of forcing each other to pull out our iPads or journals and at least jot some things down little by little. I have written down some bullet points on the towns so at least I have stuff to spark my memory.

So here's what up, after leaving Paris we took a quick stop in Brussels Belgium on our way to Amsterdam, for about two hours. Then we hit up Frankfurt Germany for a night. Since Brussels and Frankfurt were such short visits I decided to clump them around Amsterdam in one post.

Off to Brussels!

So we cruise into Brussels for a quick bite and a little jaunt through the town to see their famous statue. So for some reason, they're well known for their statue of a little boy peeing. I don't understand it either don't worry. As we were walking to see it with Deals we heard all the random myths and stories of how it came to be but at the end of the day no one really knows why it became their icon. Each legend or myth seemed to be as corny as the next from what I remember but sadly I don't have one I can truly remember to quote for you... Moving along... Brussels is known for its waffles and beer so we had to check those out! A group of us found a fancier waffle vendor on a side road and decided to let this place give us our initial impression on Belgium waffles. Now I didn't really know anything about their waffles and neither did anyone with us so when we all went to order we didn't realize how much cream you really got when selecting it as an option. I decided to get a waffle with cream and chocolate and boy was it a awkward monstrous sugary snack to try and eat. They literally put a mound of whipped cream on top of the waffle to the extent you can hardly see it underneath, then drizzle warm chocolate syrup over the entire thing. And what kind of utensil do they give you to tackle this massive mound? A fork that's about as long as a tooth pick and has two spikes on the other end, so not so much a fork but like a trident with the middle part missing, I'm sure there's a word for it but I don't know it haha. Anyway the way we tried to eat them was to use this little tool of ours to stab through the waffle in sections so that you could pull up bite sized pieces covered in whipped cream and chocolate. It was pretty darn good I have to admit but I could only finish about half before my hands were covered in a sticky layer of sweets and my stomach told me not to push my limits haha. Just way too much sugar. After that we had to find a bar to try a beer or two in the half hour we had felt before getting back on the bus for Amsterdam  and we were fortunate enough to find a place with not only wifi but also beer flights! The flight we had also came with a serving of French fries or chips as everyone calls them, but Brussels does them a little different for the fact that they deep fry them twice. This makes them twice as tasty! The flight included six different beers, a Primus, a Mystic White, a Mystic Ceris Cherry, Keizer Karel in Blonde and Amber as well as Tongerlo Blonde and Dark. I think my favorite was the Mystic white since it was a nice unfiltered cloudy beer. The girls of course liked the Cherry the most. After using up their free wifi and paying the tab we ran off to the bus to head to Amsterdam!

Now listen folks, Amsterdam is an amazing city; but it's a easy place to get carried away in. With all the liberties they have you could see why. Since this is getting published on the Internet for the whole world to read I may need to leave something's to in person stories haha

We arrived in Amsterdam and got to know the hostel we would be staying at that was named StayOkay. I loved the name of it and apparently there's more of them across Europe so that's pretty sick, I'll have to investigate that more once I'm back home, always have to think about more adventures for the future right? Anyway the first thing we did after that was go check out the Anne Frank household. Now I remember reading about Anne Frank and the tragedy that she went through but not until you're in the household and hear audio of parts of her diary while walking through the rooms she was talking about and seeing it, do you feel their struggle. It hit us all pretty hard and we came out of it in a little bit of a slump. But hey we're in Amsterdam baby! The tour of the house surely was good to see but it was time to liven up our spirits and hit up the town! Deals our tour guide showed us a little bit around the town and lead us through the interesting red light district. After that we all sort of split up into little groups and ended up hitting a pub up. It was a historic pub if I do recall, called The Bulldog; and was one of the first coffee shops. Well there were three of them. One was specific to drinking, one for smoking and then a third that was somewhat in between. They were spaced out each a block apart pretty much but in eyesight along the canal, it was cool cause they stood out so much. That night wasn't very eventful and we took the tram back to our hotel around one or two am. 

I woke up the next day shortly before we were to head out to have a walk around town and just decided I was going to get my rest instead. My cold was still hurting me and I knew I was going on a bike tour the next day so why not take a day to try and catch up. What's funny is 5 out of the 6 guys decided the same thing, or just didn't wake up in time so we all slept in except Andy. It was great, and it helped me feel a lot better than the day before, plus everyone who went on the tour said it was pretty uneventful and I didn't miss out on much of anything so my decision worked out pretty well in my favor! Once I did get up we all tried to throw laundry in and boy was it a process. Not only did we screw up and select our language as German on the washer but the dryers were complete rubbish. We had our clothes go through one cycle for about a hour and they were still quite wet, so we threw them through for another cycle that was a hour and twenty minutes long, they came out fairly dry unlike a lot of our travel companions. Tyler and I had so little so we both threw ours in together and it worked out to only be about $4 each and our clothes surprisingly didn't get ruined haha. We caught a bite to eat at a really chill cafe a couple streets off and relaxed while our laundry was drying. I had this awesome club sandwich and Tyler got a tuna sandwich that he said was pretty good. The coffee they served was amazing but they came in such a small cup that you had to just sip it and try and not finish it too quickly. Us Americans are so used to our massive Starbucks it was something to adjust to but the quality was superb. I can imagine it was more like am expresso shot even though we just asked for coffee, it definitely had some pep to it.

Later that night we had some dinner around the corner at a nice little place attached to the hostel and tried some good local brewed beer before heading back out to party. I gotta tell ya, I'm not in college anymore and it was starting to show. Plus we were doing things so non stop it starts to wear on you. But none the less we went out and it was Saturday night also so some people were going big. Luckily for us we're all pretty set on looking out for one another so we all got back safe and sound on a night bus. 

The big day I'm Amsterdam had arrived! On the third day we were going on the Bike Tour that I had been looking forward to since we booked the trip months before. And then after that we actually paid for a private boat ride through the city with unlimited alcohol, oh boy. First the bike tour though, this was fun. I don't think anyone skipped out on this one, we came outside our hostel and find bikes for each and every one of us and we started off from there. Now I'm not sure which ways we went since I didn't  have a map or anything but we rode around the town a bit and them ventured out into the countryside. It was such a relaxing time I threw on some music and put my cell phone in my pocket and just took in the surroundings. We rode for around two hours, saw some windmills and then stopped at a futbol arena for lunch. They had made us premade sandwiches that got a little soggy on the way there so it was nice we could grab a snack and a beer at the arena while we got ready for the next part of the bike tour. But at this stop one of our tour guides grabbed a soccer ball and took it down to a side field and was kicking it around for fun. Two of the other guys and I decided to go down and pass around with him and I even got in net and was attempting to stop them from scoring. It was pretty fun stopping them haha. After probably an hour we hopped back on our bikes and rode downtown where they store the bikes. 

It was time to jump on the tram and get back to the hostel in time to freshen up and head out for the boat tour! This was pretty funny to say the least. So apparently in Amsterdam people can get a license to sail a boat and then rent boats from companies that own them and give these tours. We were fortunate to get a young guy who was pretty talkative and put up with our antics and a brand new boat! It was her maiden voyage and we were gonna do it up right! We actually played musical chairs a bit on the boat since staying under the roofing didn't let you get a great view so every fifteen minutes everyone shifted five seats to their left, it ended up working out pretty good. So now the reason it was pretty funny was because Andy had a surprise for us all, it was a bit much but we all had to roll with it. He strips off his clothes down to a bathing suit that is reminiscent of borats if you've ever seen that movie. Basically it was pretty much a very thin piece of material covering up his goods and split off from there to go up over each of his shoulders and then back to his crotch. Not only was he wearing this ridiculous outfit but he put a pope hat on and sunglasses. We were blasting music and he was there at center stage on the boat waving to people on other boats and the sides of the canal. It was ridiculous. Anyway that night we went back to the hostel and partied there for a bit but it was pretty uneventful since we had to be up the next morning to ship off to Frankfurt for a night. 

On our way to Frankfurt we stopped at a small place that made cheese and clogs in Holland. It was interesting to see how they made clogs and how the guy described the fitting process since it made me think of fitting people for skates at work. The thing with clogs though is they don't come in wide so you have to go up sizes and have some extra room. That didn't sit right with me since I'm always trying to get people into skates with hardly any wiggle room. The man there then went on to tell us everything and anything about cheese. Apparently the cheese he makes you can keep forever as long as you flip it on the shelf once a weeks so that mold doesn't start to grow. After that it was off to the gift shop where one guy named George actually bought a pair of clogs for around $40 and they etched or burned his name into the side of them. I wasn't as adventurous as that but ended up getting some imitation slippers that said Holland on them for around the house. 

Then we were off to Frankfurt! 

We strolled into Frankfurt for only a night, so the only goals mainly were to try their food and beer and be ready to get back on the bus I'm the morning. I went with a group into a interesting looking older place to try and get the real feel of Germany and it paid off pretty well. I ended up trying a couple beers that were very good but the food is what stood out the most. This tomato soup that I and another girl got was amazing, for some reason they served it with a little whipped cream on top which was unique. I also had a side salad that was a mixture of salad and coleslaw but wasn't bad, the dressing saved it since I'm not always into coleslaw. Then for the main meal I got an assortment of bratwurst over sour kraut. The majority of them were good but this weird grey speckled one as well as the blood sausage kind of freaked me out. I tried them both but I didn't finish them that's for sure. After dinner we all head back to the hotel and invited people up to our room to drink and hangout. It was nice because the hotel had a cheap bar downstairs and we could take stuff back to our room. Wellllll being typical Americans we ended up being a bit louder than we should have. We had a warning by someone that worked there and then he came back a second time and once the door was open a crack he barged into the room and was screaming in a different language and forcing everyone out of the room. It was pretty funny looking back on it, one night in Germany and we did it right. 

Paris France

So sadly I've gotten a bit behind on my journal/travel blog writings as I'm just now writing the Paris edition while driving to Switzerland... And I've been to Brussels and Amsterdam and the Black Forest of Germany and have yet to even start those posts. Lucky for you the blog will be a bit less detailed since remembering back gets a little hazy with everything that's going on.  Aka less tangents and more to the point hopefully haha. I have to say this trip is already testing me in how much I can absorb and attempt to retain since we're constantly moving and have other things on our minds looking forward to the next day and forgetting a little of what happened the day before, waking up in one country and going to bed in another.

ALSO a heads up, I can't seem to upload pics or video from my iPad to this blog site so I'm sorry you'll have to wait till August!

Let's see how much of Paris I can throw your way though :)

Day 1-

We arrived into Paris via the Eurostar railway and immediately hop on a bus to take a bit of a tour before being able to enter into our hotel. So the story of Paris for pretty much everyone on the trip was that they despised it at first and then it grew on them, and the reasoning for this is because we started off driving through a rough part of town when we first got there and it really turned everyone off of the city. We were on the bus actually asking each other why we left London haha. Luckily that way it could only get better right? But the hotel was a very nice place located a bit away from the heart of the city in what is Paris's business district. It was somewhat nice for the fact that we only had two to a room in this hotel andddd that there were elevators! Haha no more walking up countless flights of stairs with a heavy as heck luggage. 

The highlight of day one was an optional dinner we signed up for that Delia/Deals set up as what she calls a "Delia Dazzler" and I surely am happy I coughed up a little coin for. We went into this pretty old restaurant on a side street somewhere in downtown Paris and actually came down some steps into what was pretty much a old cellar with stone walls and it arched over our heads connecting each side. The thing that made this dinner so special was the fact there was a native older gentleman playing guitar the whole time and getting people into it. He would have them choose songs that he might know and the whole room exploded singing lyrics along with him. Other times he would serenade a girl and make her feel so uneasy or grab ones hand and force them to dance with him while he played music and sang. It was really a good time, hopefully once I'm home I can upload a video. But that's without even going into the food! Well luckily being in a large group like this and everyone being pretty friendly we decided to try multiple things and share. I had probably the best French onion soup of my life, one person got escargot, one got a shrimp and prawn salad and another got some veil and I had the luxury of trying them all! The escargot was actually pretty good so I had two or three of those despite their saltiness, the shrimp and prawn salad was good as well but a bit bland I would say and the veil wasn't exactly for me, I think it was just a texture thing but I had to try it right? 

For the main courses we did a bit of the sharing game again, I had a traditional beef that was epic to say the least, one girl got a chicken in a mushroom sauce and another had a different style of veil I believe it was. Like I said mine was amazing, the chicken I tried was also quite good since I didn't eat a mushroom with it haha and the veil for the main course was actually quite better than the appetizer, I'm not sure what kind of sauce it was covered in but it made a huge difference. After that we had some desert options and pretty much everyone went with chocolate moose that was delectable! It was very rich though so I don't remember being able to finish it, plus by that time we were all pretty full and loaded up with the free wine that came with our dinner. Well really we all paid 40 euros and it got us our three course meals and three or four bottles of wine per table and  champagne, so we were doing pretty good by the end of the night! I have a video of all of us singing Wonderwall by Oasis that's a classic and at one point Andy from our group got up and started dancing with the guitarist and ended up pulling his shirt over his head and twirling it in the air! No one saw it coming but I guess he was a little intoxicated and just going for it hahah it surely opened up Paris in a interesting way!

Day 2-

Day two started off a little slow, for me at least. See we started off the day going to a special perfume shop that made specialty perfume and cologne for purchase and we would be able to purchase for discount prices. It just wasn't for me so I ducked out after they gave us a tour of the facility and how it's made, but I did hear some girls did buy some perfume and one guy got some for his girlfriend back home. Some of us went outside and started taking pictures of all the stuff around us like the opera house that happened to be located very close by. The architecture in these towns are just something to behold since the United States is so young as a country and doesn't have anything similar! So I pulled off my best tourist impression and took pictures of everything during this trip haha. After a little time waiting around there it was off to the Louvre! 

This surely is one of the biggest buildings I've seen. It spanned multiple blocks and was just so grandiose that every time we rode by it or walked in its vicinity, each and every time I was in awe. The only problem with the Louvre is that it's a prime place to get pick pocketed, so we had to make sure to stay in groups and look out for each other. And boy was this place packed! We were pretty much always getting pushed or bumped by someone here so you really had to be on your toes. Once again I'm not the biggest art snob so I didn't know fully what I was looking at but we of course had to see the Mona Lisa and the Crown Jewels! But let me tell you, getting up close to the Mona Lisa would take either a large amount of time waiting to get to the front of the pack, or a large amount of shoving because there was a hugeeee crowd in front of it. We opted to stay a bit more towards the back and try and get some pics while zoomed in on our cameras. Even with my decent zoom lens strapped on my camera I still couldn't get a great picture :(

It wasn't the end of the world, I did see it haha but we then ran off to the Crown Jewels before we had to leave. Luckily with these guys I could get up close and personal and take some different types of pictures before leaving and heading towards the bridge with loads of locks attached to it!

The sad thing about the bridges with locks is that they're actually pulling the bridges down and breaking them! So for this reason the French government has had to cut off tons of locks to prevent the bridges from deteriorating. Despite warnings I know people did it in our group haha. There were people selling locks all over the place so they were readily available to tourists. I know Tyler bought one and made a wish as he locked his lock to the bridge and threw the keys into the river. None the less it was still a beautiful site to behold and I got a very nice picture of the locks that I'll have to upload sometime! But before we knew it we were off to see Notre Dame and go inside to see just how amazing it was. It looks like such a work of art from the outside with its architecture but is even more breathtaking on the inside where you can see its arches and ceiling towering above you. Sadly we didn't get to walk up towards the altar really but I did try and take some pics zoomed in so hopefully a couple of those came out good.

After Notre Dame we walked to the Eifel Tower and had the option of going up a floor or two but the group I was with decided against it since the lines were at least a hour long and we wanted to go to Point Alexander/Montemarte which is the highest hill in Paris to take on the view. 

First off I totally forgot to mention how much I love crepes! I got one earlier that day that was a Nutella and Banana slices and holy heck was it amazing! They're so delicious I can't even explain it, and for dinner I also got a crepe! This one though was filled with the works, a fried egg, ham, chicken, cheese and some seasoning. This too was an incredible meal, if I lived in Paris I surely would weigh considerably more than I do now! Anyway back on track, we had dinner and grabbed some beers and went to the top of Montemarte and sat down in the grass to watch the sun set. What we didn't expect was two pyrotechnic guys that come to this balcony sort of stage infront of us and put on an AMAZING show! I surely need to show you guys videos of this because these guys were incredibly talented and made the night that much more magical! 

Day 3-

Day three was pretty great as well, really there hasn't been a bad day on this trip despite the fact we're all getting sick. Today started off with heading to Versailles to see the grand palace and breathtaking garden behind it. This was a great thing to see but somewhat like the Louvre it was packed and everyone was pushy. That kind of killed the vibe a bit but it was really cool to see how excessively grandiose this place is. The rooms were covered in detail and had so much gold accenting it was unbelievable. The beds themselves in the king and queens separate rooms were huge! To be honest I think I would feel very weirded out sleeping in a bed that big with curtains closing you in that run almost all the way to the ceiling. Theres no way to even go into how magnificent they made everything without you seeing the pictures I took. Once leaving out the back of the palace we got to run around the gardens for about a half hour. There's never enough time! We're on such a tight schedule that it's hard to take things in sometimes but we did our best and as always I took a ton of pictures to reminisce later. They had very interesting mirrors around the gardens, one that made you look upside down, another was a shallow bowl of sorts and we got pictures from each side trying to see how we looked with the different angles and effects. As we made our way down the pathways we head towards a newer piece of art that they recently put in the gardens that getting quite the attention of the neighboring people that think it's out of place and doesn't belong. And in all honesty it is kind of out of place with all the older architecture, plus it's apparently supposed to be a women's vagina... So there's that... Apparently people broke in and painted it entirely white to show their distaste but it's still there so we'll see what happens. We grabbed some ice cream and hiked back up to the palace, we noticed that we only saw a small glimpse of the entire palace and the gardens. The palace spanned off to the left and right from where we entered and saw and then the gardens spread out in each direction behind the palace, it would have been cool to be able to explore more but at least we got a taste.

I think this trip if anything is just very eye opening, I'm seeing such things that I really didn't think about or care about before but it's refreshing and exciting. Also the nice thing about just getting a taste is that we have a reason to try and come back someday, to experience more and explore. Or on the other hand realize that we don't necessarily want to go back for more. 

In the afternoon we jumped on a tour boat that was quite lack luster. We were hoping for a exclusive smaller boat that would just be our group but we ended up going on a very large boat holding probably about 200 people and had glass roofing and walls around. It was alright I guess but we were hoping for something more personal. Luckily I brought two bottles of wine aboard and our row of six just kept pouring it and passing the one cup I had back and forth. No wonder we're all getting sick haha. Somehow it took us the whole 45min of the ride to kill those bottles and ended up being the perfect amount for our little group. 

LAST NIGHT IN PARIS LETS GO!!!

It was time to bring it all together and we had a plan! Stock up on drinks and go to the Eiffel Tower and drink in Paris herself. Most of us got champagne and wine to enjoy and we had a fun time popping our champagne with the tower in the background, I actually have a video of me popping mine. For about a hour we just chilled in the grass and played music and talked and took pictures and took it all in. Also, sorry mom, but I think this is where I lost your Anker tube charger :( I've been searching for it while in Amsterdam but no one can find it! And I just found a video showing it laying on the ground next to my bag at the tower, so I'm guessing it's still there, I'll get you another one I promise!! Xoxo

We then started searching for another group of friends that are on the trip with us and I literally ran completely around the tower and somehow, by the grace of God somehow heard a voice and noticed one girl named Audrey and found their group! Dani and I who were searching actually walked past them and then I somehow looked over my shoulder and found them, it was awesome! But first I had to run back and get everyone from our area and let them know where we were moving to. Once we had both groups combine as one is when things got interesting. So around the tower there's hundreds if not thousands of people walking around trying to sell wine and champagne to tourists. Well as soon as we got there the police showed up on Vespas and shined their lights on a guy selling drinks right beside where we were sitting. He immediately dropped his bag and wandered off and the cops followed him. Immediately one of the other guys in our group George grabbed the bag! It was full of alcohol! We didn't tap into any of it but we asked these Canadians we met to take our picture and gave them a bottle as thanks from this sellers bag. Well what do you know, the seller guy comes back and is demanding his bag! George ended up throwing it behind all of us and said look there it is! The guy grabbed it and started counting, then started screaming at us that a bottle was missing. He was getting pretty heated saying he had friends in the area that would come help him and started looking at all the stuff we were drinking and trying to go through our bags until the smallest girl in our group Kellyann, snapped and put this guy in his place! It was awesome! She started to threaten to get the police and was screaming at him for being rude and the guy immediately stopped when she said police, and then he tried to sell us wine and champagne for half price hahaha

Oh Paris.

London England

So as I sit on the Eurostar train and depart London for Paris France I have to sit here and take it all in. I just spent three days in London England and I have to admit it felt like about two weeks time! We just were always moving, always going, always trying to do more, except sleep more. I'd say the average hours of sleep we got each night was usually around 5 and we just made do. I'm starting to wonder how our bodies will last with how we always grab some drinks and stay up late telling tales and meeting new faces but only time will tell. The problem is you don't want to miss out on anything! Anything and everything, that's what I want to do, that's what I want to see. I've already accumulated 500 pictures/videos in three days in London!! 

Leave no stone unturned.

Let's try and start from the beginning shall we? It's the night before my flight and I'm frantically trying to actually find out what I should take and then after covering my bed in ideas of clothing and backpacks and electronics as well as their accessories, I think I'm set. Well.... If it all fits in my bag.. You see we had this plan that I would only take a small carry on and backpack so I could travel as light as possible, but boy did it pose a problem between want and need. I mean seriously a small carry on and backpack for 30 days?! What the hell were we thinking! Wait... I have everything I need so far and don't need to lug as much around as everyone else is, good look Mom and Dad and Jason! No one on the trip has less luggage than me so I'm kind of amused by that. Anyway next day we set off as a family to go get lunch and send me off to the airport for my first every flight alone, and internationally. I was blessed to have my Godparents Aunt Kathy and Uncle David in town tagging along and it made it even more of a special occasion. As I enter into the airport and use a self service to print out my ticket I head to processing and see a familiar face, Carly from work whose shipping off to Vermont to enjoy the Fourth of July with her college buddies and got to hangout with her for a bit before departing for Charlotte North Carolina. Everything went successful on the first flight, got to North Carolina and immediately as I get off I luckily overhear that my gate to depart from there got switched to the opposite side of the airport! So I sprinted there only to realize I had forty-five minutes to chill before departing for Heathrow and grabbed a beer and tried to keep the nerves calm before departing for this amazingly unknown trip that I had no clue what was coming up before me. So the plan is pass out on the plane and have tons of energy to attack this first full day in London since I'd be arriving at about 8am their time, and it didn't go at all as planned. The guy next to me kept coughing and I couldn't sleep, eventually I decided to watch a movie, and then another movie.... I may have gotten 45min of horrendous sleep in on the entire flight, but I really did enjoy The Red Army (a hockey documentary film) and Chappie (a interesting scifi flick).... But finally, I was in England, the place I wanted to study abroad in and had it fall through. This was the destination I was jonesing for the most and her I was, walking out of the tunnel to find new friends, looking disheveled and taxed more than ever.

Day 1-

 After finding a couple other people that were part of the group at a meeting place we got assigned, we set off for our Hostel and meet our Tour Director Delia. First things first, riding shotgun on the left side in a car driving on the left side of the road surely freaked me the heck out! Heck crossing the streets and looking the wrong way each time was weird and somewhat dangerous. But we made it safe and sound and all sort of ventured into our hostel with puzzled looks on our faces praying we weren't lost. DELIA!! I wish you could meet this energetic amazing tour director of ours, she's always sparking, just lit up with a smile and a story to tell. She surely made us feel more at home and gave us some details on the day's schedule before letting us loose on London! See we couldn't check in till 4 and it was only 10am or so, so George, Talia and I set off to explore and get lost and who knows what. 

We started off with a walk up the street to Hyde Park that was such a awesome place, all of the parks we saw while in London were pretty awesome for the fact that they were superbly clean despite not having trash cans throughout and just were so spacious and inviting it was really cool. After making our way out the other side of the park we decided there's no time to waste let's find some fish and chips and get acquainted with a local favorite. We ended up at a place called Geales, well, pronounced more like Jill's. Here we got some awesome Harrod Fish and chips as well as tried some Fried Squid and Tampura Crab. I actually ordered the squid because the heck with it I'm trying new things! It was actually really great, it itself was decent with light seasoning from being fried but the somewhat sweet and sour sauce they served it with, that also had a little heat to it, made it exquisite! The crab on the other had wasn't bad what so every but I just didn't see anything special about it really, I'd prefer my crab a more traditional way. After this we took our first stab at catching the tube with our Oyster Cards. Haha this is Delias term for our train/tube cards atleast, not sure if everyone calls the, that but boy she's a colorful character I love it! I call her Deals as a nickname which apparently her friends do as well and she's come to call me Ali which wouldn't be my first choice but it's fun haha. Well our first tube adventure was a success and we got back to the hotel to wash up and get ready to meet the whole group and head out for a small bus tour to downtown and off to a pub that we were set up to get some free drinks at. We didn't see too much of the town on the way to the bar but enough to get a small taste of the town and all the stuff we were going to be doing or have the opportunity to do. Once we arrived at the pub we were allowed to get at least two drinks for free and go from there. Most of us ended up getting around five and some people actually needed up getting a bit sloshed. A fun new word we learned meant getting a bit drunk, but in a positive way apparently. Well we decided to head back to the hostel around 10 and try and get some Cards Against Humanity going and surprisingly I took charge and tried to round people up and make sure the group that was coming with didn't get split up or lost. I had a bit of help from this girl Ashley that's pretty cool though, it took two of us to get one of the more sloshed fellows to come with back to the hostel safe and sound. Once we got back though everyone pretty much said they were too tired and wanted to sleep, which is understandable since we had all been awake for pretty much twenty four hours straight if we couldn't sleep on our planes... So what did I decide to do? Go down two blocks and check out the local pub all along and try to meet some English people! Did I mention our hostel was in a very very rich neighborhood and super safe? Hahah I still was a tad worried but the sense of adventure and experiencing the culture on my own was enticing but I surely was on edge and keeping my head on a swivel. I posted up in the bar and grabbed a 1664 beer that wasn't bad and watched England's Women's National Futbol team beat Germany in two extra time periods on a penalty kick as the bar erupted! It was a pretty cool thing to witness I have to say, and the experience was all mine that no one else got to experience! I thought I would maybe get s second beer but was on the fence sine I wanted to be safe when all of a sudden Sarah, Rocky and Tyler stumble in and find me all alone, let's get a table!! I was stuck, and I didn't get to study the culture while in the wild anymore this first night. So we stuck around till midnight when the bars close down in London usually, bummer, and made our way back to the hostel to pass out and prepare for our next big day.

Day 2-

7:30 came fast but I popped up, showered and got ready for breakfast in the kitchen area at the bottom of our hostel. The shower helped but I was surely still a walking mess, mentally. But everyone was to an extent. We met up in the basement of our hostel that had a kitchen and enjoyed a light breakfast of cereal and coffee. When I arrived down in the kitchen there wasn't any brewed coffee though so I decided to be a tad adventurous and make some instant coffee. I asked a woman how much to use and she said around a spoonful so I scooped up that and a tad more and ran it under hot water. Ten minutes later when it cooled I found out that my coffee to water ratio was completely off and boy was this coffee bitter as heck! 

From there it was time to jump on a bus and get a bit of a tour around London and drive by all the big tourist attractions like Big Ben, The London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. We heard a little bit about each place and then they let us off at Buckingham Palace after seeing the changing of the guard, or at least the tail end of it, to wander and gave us some ideas of what we might be interested in doing but it was all up to us. So what did four of us guys decide to do? Rent city bikes and ride around town seeing everything we could before having to be back before our London Pub crawl. Our strategy pretty much was to stay close to the river and use it as a guide to eventually lead us to London Bridge and check that out since we had only stopped at Tower Bridge since London Bridge isn't quite exquisite or flashy like Tower Bridge. We started off riding down the main road that leads up to Buckingham Palace and is surrounded by a park on most sides, it was surreal how chill and relaxing it was and to just try and realize we were in London baby! It was still crazy to just think about it. So we got to the river and started following it towards London bridge which we found out was a couple miles or it at least felt like possibly 1-2 miles. All the while I have my camera strapped around my neck taking pictures and video looking like a idiot  since it was pretty risky. But I'm so doing the same thing in Amsterdam when we have our bike tour because it was pretty sick. After having to cross bridges from the sidewalk or river walk ending, which we realized we weren't supposed to be riding on in the first place, we made it to London Bridge! It's literally your everyday bridge  but we got some pics and were pm our way, but like I said we weren't supposed to be on the sidewalk with these bikes and started riding on the road a good bit. Now I said before I'm not used to it but I'm also not used to doubLe decker buses flying past me about a foot or two to the right of me to pass me. The first time it freaked me the heck out. But the most exhilarating part was when we had no idea where to go other than through a tunnel, and this tunnel had a bend in it so we couldn't even see the end! But we could see some light coming from around the bend and the traffic was about to Let up so we went for it. We were hauling ass through this thing and about half way through a guy on a sport motorcycle came flying up on us! His exhaust was amplified from being in the tunnel and heck is was a bit scary! After that encounter we made our way back to the National Gallery and ran in to check out some art we knew nothing about. We got some pictures and the art was pretty neat but we surely didn't know enough, even when we got up to the Van Gough Sunflower painting one of the guys George in our group goes "Oh that's not even that good! Look at how crappy it was painted" while a older woman beside us scoffs hahaha. We were out of our element to say the least. But it was time to catch the tube and head back to the hostel to freshen up for our Pub Crawl! 

Here's where things got a little hazy as you can imagine... It was five bars that we were going to and at each they gave you a free shot and a reduced price on Stella Artois. The first one we got to a little late from catching a bite to eat but we got our shot and were on our way to the next one. It was pretty cool because we weren't the only people in the pub crawl and had some people from New Zealand and I think Wales with us as well so it was kind of cool to hangout with those people and get drinks with them. The second bar was a bit fancier and more relaxed so we had time to get a beer as well and talk, which we couldn't do so much in the ones to come! The third was "Zoo Too" and was the first place we started dancing... It was a mess, the girls were getting so much attention but it was a really fun time. The fourth bar we walked to was great because it was upstairs in a building and they had a balcony that we could drink on and look down over a square at people and shops. After this we headed off to a bar connected to Zoo Too that we went to before Nd made our way downstairs to the dance floor in the basement. In all reality it was just a bar space but a large portion of our whole pub crawl was down there pretending like we knew how to dance. We were dancing with locals even, they were eating it up from how different we were, even the New Zealanders felt a bit out of place. At about 1am they shut the place down and we found a cab ride home to our hostel to prepare for tomorrow.

Day 3-

Day three started off pretty rocky with everyone just trying to function and get someone in their systems before either departing for Oxford and Stonehenge like myself, or go out and about and take in more of London setting their own course. I jumped on a bus and headed way out of town to Oxford to start the day. Luckily for us it took about two hours to get there so we all zoned out and slept on the way there. Once we made it into Oxford we started learning about the history of Oxford and how it's progressed to have many schools of Oxford around the UK that are pretty much what we would consider branch campuses. And how back in the day you could graduate and either continue to learn to earn a masters  or wait long enough, around five years; and Oxford would offer you the chance to buy your masters for about 50 euro. So every time you met someone with a masters you would have to ask if they truly earned it or bought it. The school itself was a pretty grandiose and had a lot of character. We took a slightly dumbed down tour of it I feel since we didn't get to see some of the coolest rooms, I'll come back to how I know that in a second. But our tour director knew his stuff and ended up taking us to a tree which was a scene from one of the Harry Potter movies that I knew very well. After taking some pictures and taking in the scene, right before we left I asked the tour director of we were allowed to climb the tree.... He looked a little caught off guard and said that no one had ever asked him that before... And that he could probably look the other way but make it quick!!! I'm not sure how I actually pulled it off since there's nothing to grab down low but I was determined and found a way! I then got so,e pictures of myself standing up on one of the branches about 15 feet off the ground. It was pretty sweet that I just took a chance and got to do something not too many people probably have. So back to how we were missing out on some stuff, our tour director I guess just gave us the quick walk through and Tyler and I were craving a little more and ducked into a open room off to the left and ditched our group for a couple minutes. It was a wise decision because we got to see an amazing room that had hundreds of statues lining the back wall and desks of so,e sort in rows that looked like they would be used in delegation of some sort. We turned around to see the largest most beautiful organ I've ever seen! Well I'm a church at least... I think Tampa Bay Lightenings arena had a pretty huge one but I've never seen that one close up. Anyway we ran back to our group and they actually were leaving without us just expecting we'd catch up haha. Off to Stonehenge I guess! 

Sadly this was another two hour ride just to get there, and then once we were there we only had a hour to take pictures and enjoy Stonehenge and its gift shop! I feel like we're always in a hurry on this trip but it's all good since it's keeping me on my toes. So we arrive out in the middle of nowhere and hear all about the known history and the fables of how this piece of art was made. Apparently some of the stone used to make it is only found on one quarry that's 150 miles north of Stonehenge's actual location. Somehow prehistoric man moved them here and sculpted them without even having the invention of the wheel. Another somewhat surreal realization was that the process of building this it took around 5 lifetimes to complete. So your great great great grandfather or so started the construction and you still might not get it done or see the results of lifetimes of work. And why did they even want to make this in the first place? No one knows. Maybe ALIENS!!! But probably not, who knows...

After another two and a half hour ride back to town we got ready to go ride the London Eye! This was something I wanted to do for so so many years after my study abroad plans fell through by Rmu in England. It was finally time and I was pumped! It was a good time with a crew of around 8. There's nothing crazy exciting about it since it's a Ferris wheel and moves extremely slow but it's the largest one in the world! We got to see some great views as the sun set and got some great pictures. After we left there we went to The Shard, which is a pretty cool looking glass building that come to the top at multiple points. The thing though was instead of paying around 30 pounds we went to the bar a couple flows below and grabbed a beer since it was free entrance. It was a great way to take in London for the last time before shoving off for Paris in the morning on the Eurostar train that goes beneath the English Channel, in the Chunnel.

The "Calm" before the Storm

Hey there friends, family, randoms!

Well today's the big day, holy heck! So I'm writing this from Charlotte Airport waiting to board and head off to London!! This isn't real life!!!

Anyway I clearly didn't catch up with all my Hockey travels in this blog and surely have to add Buffalo and maybe another Columbus one in once I get back, sorry they won't be in chronological order anymore!

Also a heads up that I don't know how easily I'll be able to put up pictures on my travels abroad because of wifi and transferring pics from my camera to iPad yadayada. Please be patient! I'll do my best haha and at least update it once I get home with pictures! Ps. Putting pics up by the texts a painnnnn on blogger so I'll sadly continue to clump them at the end.

Hope EVERYONE has an amazing Fourth of July back here in the States and I'll have a beer or many for our independence across the pond, in the nation we succeeded from... Whoops!

Cheers!

-Alex

Smashville

A year or maybe more before we departed for this awesome city of Nashville I became friends with my good friend Chris Habazin. He happened to be my goalie while I played at Robert Morris for a year or two and happens to be just as weird and into the sport of hockey as myself, so a friendship came pretty easily. On day shortly after we because friends he mentioned how he always wanted to go back to Nashville, his place of birth; and see a Predators game at Bridgestone Arena but no one ever seemed to be interested. Being the person I am when it comes to opportunities to road trip for hockey games I said hey man I'm down. I have a tendency to commit to these sort of things and then just have to figure out a way to actually have the money to pull the trip off once I realize how soon its approaching. Luckily Habz and I took around a year to plan it and make sure it fell during RMU's spring break in March. So about two weeks after coming back from Chicago from our Stadium Series trip I suckered him into coming along for, we were packing up to drive West once again.

For awhile we weren't too sure what vehicle we would be driving in but it just so happened that I started my lease on Dorothy my Nissan Rogue three days prior to our departure hahaha why not break her in right off the bat! This trip actually turned out to be how Dorothy got her name through some aggravation and hilarity along the way to Nashville. Being the geniuses that we are we somehow decided to start driving around midnight in hopes to bypass the majority of traffic and give us extra time once we got there. Welllllll Alex sort of needed to take a nap before departing and slept from about 11pm till 2am. As I awoke to countless missed calls and texts I dialed Habz and chucked while saying "Heyyyy buddy whats up?". Just so happens that Habz made a whole pot of coffee and drank the whole damn thing around midnight to prepare for the trip HAHAHA Alright so I throw my stuff in the car and head over to his place, grab him and set off for Smashville around 3am with a projected drive of about 9 hours, without stops. She turned into about a 10 and a half hour drive with how many times we stopped along the way. About a hour in Habz passed out, somehow; for about three or four hours. Pretty sure he woke up somewhere around Cincinnati. Finally I had someone to actually talk to and could listen to louder music to keep myself awake haha 

We ended up passing through Kentucky and started seeing signs, out in the middle of nowhere; for The Kentucky Speedway. It was coming up on lunch time so why not stop at the Subway close to it and check it out while we stretch out legs. Now I've never been into Nascar but it was pretty sick to see and take in. I actually have to admit that it would be something to try and see one of these days just to see the whole spirit of it. The Speedway itself was pretty massive, as well it should be with how fast those guys are driving but I guess I never really gave it a thought until I took it in with my own eyes. We perused through the gift shop and I got my dad a Mustang license plate since they've kind of become the family go to fun car ever since I got my first one in college and he recently got one for retirement. After that it was a straight shot to Habz's homeland :)

So leading up to this trip we sort of booked the cheapest hotel we could find in the vicinity of downtown Nashville and thought we were being all suave and smart approaching the trip. Wrong. Day's Inn surely isn't a company we shall be booking through again haha. So we pull into this establishment and firstly notice that theres a truck with its tires slashed out in the parking lot by the hotel rooms and then once attempting to check in notice the Indian fella giving us our hotel room cards is safely situated behind a thick pane of glass.... boy howdy did we feel optimistic about checking out our hotel room!! Now I'm sure some of the Hostels I'll be staying at in Europe will be a bit intriguing but this was rough. First off our door closed, but there was a draft coming through the side and bottom that was such a gap you could look outside to the parking lot. Once investigating the rest of the room a bit more we noticed cigarette (hopefully cigarette) burn marks in the sheets and blankets that were on each of the beds. Stellar. And then there was the great kicker of the bathroom. above the shower there happened to be some beautiful Black Mold coming through the ceiling that seemed to have been tried to be patched over in the past. I'll tell ya, they surely made us feel right at home......

After about a half hour contemplating if we could live here for three days and not get mugged or freak out about the bed sheets we were supposed to sleep under and the ceiling caving in during a shower and covering us in unknown drywall mold fragments we decided to do the only logical thing and call our parents to try and help us out. Little did we know ahead of time but apparently a large amount of people from St. Louis made the trip to Nashville to see the same game we were going to and hotels were booked all throughout the city. We came up with a plan that Habz and I would pay a third of the hotel we could find and then my parents would pay a third and then his parents would pay a third. The best place we could find for the price happened to be on Broadway herself but about 1-15min walking distance from the arena and all the action. It was perfect!!! Except the price. We ended spending over a grand staying at this deluxe Hilton. But looking back on it, I sure as heck will save up to go back to that hotel when we visit Nashville again someday. The hotel was awesome from the staff they had bartending to the food to the room itself being awesome with adjustable memory foam beds and a personal Keurig. 

So we start off our first night in Nashville by having a few brews at the hotel bar and pregame going down to the heart of Broadway via a shuttle the hotel runs till around midnight. Being overly talkative we made friends with a older couple in their 40's or 50's and jumped on the shuttle for downtown and to follow them to some of the must see bars and live music. Jump off the shuttle and start heading for our first destination called Tootsies that apparently pretty famous. Get in line and start our check in with the bouncer, walk inside, turn around, Habz is missing. I'm standing ten feet inside the bar looking around in bewilderment and immediately a woman introduces herself to me and then introduces her daughter to me. What a wingman mom was trying to be! haha But at the time I was so out of it thinking about my friend I said hi and immediately followed the couple we made with on the shuttle. We made our way upstairs and got a round and bought each other some drinks while I texted Habz and called him to try and find out what in the heck was going on. Apparently the bouncer received Habz's i.d. and immediately knew it was of the Fake variety. Told him you need to get out of here while Habz immediately pulled a 180 and started swiftly walking down the sidewalk haha. We were screwed. 

First bar we attempt to get into and my buddies fake gets nabbed. What in the heck is there to do now? We made our way to a techno club place that was 18+ but it was $10 or $20 to get in so we declined that place and kept walking the streets thinking of a plan. Now I'm sure theres these types of people in really any busy american town but I have to say I and Habz were caught off guard with this one character. We're standing on a corner contemplating getting a cab and just going back to drink at the hotel when a very tall fellow wearing a trench coat, multiple piercings and contacts that happened to make his retinas look completely white and like that of a snake. Comes up to me and goes "hey buddy you into SHROOMSSSSS" I start freaking out and feel my heart pounding. Guess I'm a tad sheltered, but somehow don't freak out other than probably my face probably torquing into a uneasy state and saying uhhhhh no man were good, as his buddy that he's with comes walking by and slaps me on the ass. They both head off down the sidewalk and I'm just all out of sorts making sure his buddy didn't nab my wallet hahaha. So we start walking up the street in the direct opposite direction of those characters and I spot a bar just opening its doors to the masses at 10pm. This place, Honkey Tonk Central, is three stories tall and people are entering about 4 people wide with only one bouncer on the right side, I grab Habz and start pushing him in that direction. He starts tweeking out thinking theres going to be hell to pay if this guy cards him but I force him to keep going and hear me out. "Habz, walk on the far left and just keep walking, I'll talk to the bouncer" "Oh hey buddy hows it going! Yeah just here for the first time from Pittsburgh taking it all in you know, hoping this place is a good time?" Notice over the bouncers shoulder that Habz is in and proceed to enter myself. Habz runs straight to the back of the bar and starts smiling, we pulled it off. Alright, whats on specials? Bud Lights for $2 okay. "Hey bartender! 4 bud lights!..... Habz you ordering anything?" 4 more bud lights hahahah We walk away with two beers in each hand, hey if he's getting caught we might as well enjoy ourselves while we can!!!

A band starts playing and we post up to the right of the bar on the first level so we can have a view until I notice a table with two older women and ask if we could rest our beers there while trying to polish off 4 beers each. After a couple minutes I'm making friends with them and getting to know their life stories haha. They happened to be friends back in high school and college and ended umpiring quite far away from each other but decided to start a tradition of meeting up at least once a year and hanging out for old times sake! By this point I pulled Habz into the convo and we were telling them about our adventure and what brought us to Nashville and then started buying each other drinks and shots of fireball!! It was pretty funny in hindsight. But the friend making was far from over, I was standing at the bar trying to order another round of fireball shots when I met another older woman trying to get served as well. We joked about what wed have to do to actually get some service! We decided whoever got served first would instruct the bartender that the other person had been waiting so that we could help each other out. Things worked out and we both got our shots and wet back to our parties to partake. Little did I know this woman was sitting at the table right behind ours with her daughter and all her college friends. It couldn't have been more perfect! I noticed and called her out and then got introduced to three or four of her daughters friends and her daughter haha I'm not really sure how this all transpired but I ended up getting the number of Vikki, and her daughter Lindsy and was texting them all weekend haha. They all happened to be from Chicago, ironic since we were there two weeks ago; but Lindsy was currently living in Mexico City working as a teacher. Crazy stuff. Well after indulging probably a bit too much, Habz and I shoved off and started making the walk back to the hotel. All I know is Habz was struggling and I had to hold him up a bit at times haha. We even stopped in a gas station on the way back and somehow they happened to be playing Habz's favorite song ever "Everybody Want's to Rule the World' which he somehow remembers. The one thing I remember was walking through the lobby of our hotel at 3am(ish) holding this fellas up and waving the the check in dish as if everything was A-OK hahaha Not only that but when I checked in earlier I put myself down as a single room with no other people supposed to be in it haha they didn't care. Thank God.

The next day we woke around the early timeframe of about Noon and walked downstairs to partake of the hotels brunch buffet. To this day we still look back in it pretty fondly, the Mac and Cheese was the best Mac n Cheese either of us have ever had for sure and the Catfish was a new experience to me that I knew the south was pretty into. After getting seconds of pretty much everything we shoved off to purchase supplies to pregame that night and before the preds game since Habz didn't have a i.d. anymore. While we were out we decided to go hit up some sights that Chris wanted to check out including a We Believe in Nashville Muriel(?), a sweet t-shirt shop and also try and go look at his house where he grew up. The shop and muriel were pretty cool but the best part of the afternoon was checking out Habz's childhood home. We strolled up and I parked my car at the end of his old driveway so we didn't seem like intruders and started taking pictures before slowly walking up the driveway to possibly meet who was living there now. Surely a woman came out and asked if she could help us or what we were approaching her about. After explaining that he had grown up there and just wanted to come by and reminisce and see if anything changed she was still hesitant to actually interact with us which was perfectly fine and we we started to head back to the car. After a second she actually called back to us and asked if Chris would like to take a step inside and see the renovations that had done over the past ten or so years since he lived there. It was really nice of her to give us a tour and have Habz explain how the whole place was when he was growing up and seeing how everything had changed. It was sweet experience for me so I can only imagine how much it meant for him. 

After grabbing a bite we head back to the hotel to pregame the night ahead. Since we weren't

exactly sure where Habz would be able to get in we went the extra mile before jumping on the

shuttle to downtown. Our hopes really were to find a place where they had the game on. You see

the Nashville Predators were in Chicago the night before we would see them taking on the Blackhawks, so we wanted to catch it locally. What started off as a bar hunt turned into a fun filled and unexpected night. So we get dropped off by the shuttle right beside Bridgestone Arena, where we plan to see the Preds play the next night, and a scalper approaches us trying to sell tickets. Little did we know Billy Joel was in town and we both knew one song by the famous magician haha. Well, $20? Why not, we'll only regret not doing it in the long run, plus they have to have the game on somewhere in the arena they call home! 

We make our way to the section entrance where were supposed to enter and a nice flat screen has the Preds game on vs. the Blackhawks and we post up. The concession stand right beside us actually served us both and we started taking in the arena while watching the game and hearing Billy play right through the opening not twenty feet away. During the first intermission we took a poke to see where our seats actually were located, I mean hey we only paid $20 and it was Billy Joel. We happened to be positioned directly behind the stage at the highest point possible hahaha! No worries, as long we heard Piano Man we were happy, and we got to watch the Preds all the same!

What came as a surprise though was the usher we met. She was probably in her 50's and happened to ask us where we were visiting from. Who would have thought we would meet a woman who grew up in Pittsburgh and still bled black and gold. We talked to her for probably two twenty minute sprints and heard about how she planned to take her granddaughter back to the burgh and drive her through the tubes to give her the full effect! And that she even wore a Steelers jersey to games whenever the Pens came to town because she didn't have any Penguins gear. I promised her that at some point I would return with some Pens gear or ship her some! Theres something to mark off the bucket list.

After a very much less eventful night after the concert we arose to try and attempt a 5k around the city of Nashville that we paid for months in advance. First off I suck at running. Not just because of my accident, which doesn't help; but I've always sucked at and loathed running. So why not run 3+ miles while hungover. It was a great time. Seriously. We got to run throughout the whole city and take in some views at a better pace and most would just driving through on their own. And to be honest my body rose to the occasion and I didn't suck as bad as I would have assumed and finished it all in about 28 minutes. For me thats surprising haha. It happened to be only about six minutes after Habz pulled it off and we were greeted by the part I found most memorable, a charity event for shelter dogs! We went around petting dogs that they were trying to have people adopt, as I sent pictures to my parents, while they told me I wasn't allowed to return with

a furry friend; as well as meeting dogs that people brought to join in the enjoyment. We actually ended up playing frisbee with with one dog and I got Habz on camera throwing the frisbee to him/her before we settled down and grabbed some grub. We ended up trying some southern pulled pork from a food cart they booked and it was surprisingly nice because they served you the pork on two mini sandwich buns and you got to choose which space you would prefer put on top. We posted up and enjoyed our sammiches before walking back to the hotel, grabbing some interesting whipped creme liquor along the way and a cool pic by a Nashville building painting. At this point we geared up in what we needed for the game and had some drinks before heading down in case Habz couldn't get served again. The shuttle dropped us off at our destination and we joined the crowd filtering into Bridgestone Arena. Now this game was a bit disappointing to us but there still was a great deal of enjoyment. Usually when I visit each new arena my thoughts are singled out to a picture of the entrance, a t shirt and official puck and a picture center ice with me recently wanting panorama pics of the inside of the arena from our seats despite the glow of the ice lighting up the entire picture. But this time we checked out professional player equipment during intermission and a Xfinity couch that we sat on to get free rally towels that somehow just happened to be run by a girl who graduated from RMU! Small world again! And she happened to know someone we worked with before.

The game wasn't as bad as the score dictated though. The Preds gave themselves a chance throughout the game but they were clearly not surrounded by a majority of fans. As I stated before the town was a bit preoccupied by people that happened to be from St. Louis. The arena itself probably had about 60-70 percent Blues fans that made the trip down from St. Louis to ruin our time!! But it still had its sparks. At times the Preds faithful had such a voice that it overcame their adversary and when they scored it erupted in a chorus that we can only hope to join in on again in the future. The Blues may have taken the two points in this one outing we got to witness live but we still got to meet the hometown faithful, take in Bridgestone Arena and see some of Habz's favorite players in person on home ice. After all that it only gives us that much more of a feeling of urgency to make a road trip back to the city of music to witness a Predators victory on home ice, see our favorite bartender at our hotel, destroy some hotel mac and cheese again, explore Nashville some more and also be able to see Habz enter a bar legally haha.

 

 
 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Ps. This looks nothing like how it did when I wrote it or edited it, no clue why the pics are all over the place, sorry.