It's Like A Remake of Bill & Ted's...

Day 5. Crazy. So much has happened already and so much is left to come. I don't even know how it came to be really; planning our trip through Europe or catching all of our trains! So gather around the campfire (or brightly shining computers), it's storytime!

London, England. First it should be known that I had an excellent daz spending last minutes with incredible friends back in the States. I appreciate you guys so much. The flights to London went smoothly, getting to see the Halzmers at our gate in the Tulsa airport was a great way to start off our trip! Plus, I got to watch the new Star Trek on the plane (excellent, though would probably be much better with some sound system other than plane-provided earbuds). Anyway, Drew and I encountered our first struggles pretty quickly in London. First off, the place to store our luggage was literally on the other end of the train station from where we were boarding to go to Brussels. Second, the cost to store luggage was crazy high, so Drew and I crammed our stuff into as little bags as possible, so we each ended up only paying for 1. After that, the Chunnel was very cool though.

Brussels, Belgium. Can you say lost? Our first real trek on foreign land, and we had no idea where anything was, much less our hostel! We ended up touring pretty much the whole city in search of our hostel, which completely turned into a great experience. We walked through a carnival, a couple parks, the Palace of Justice (freakin' awesome), and a massive dance party! Finally, we were approached by this wonderfully nice French lady, who noticed our state of confusion and helped us find our hostel. This first hostel experience was good, though our roommate, Andrew, came in late, drunk and muttering. He turned out to be a cool guy the next morning though. That following morning, we had our first eurail train ride, which again produced some confusion. We didn't realize we needed our passes validated until 5 minutes before the train was supposed to leave, so Drew flew through the station coming back with a minute or 2 to spare.

Amsterdam, Netherlands. We arrived to Amsterdam with only the knowledge that we would be meeting up with Drew's cousin, Calley. After a run in with a bathroom attendant, we got ahold of Calley, and upon her arrival with Drew's friend from JBU, Liz, off we rode on rented bikes fearing the weight of our packs would overturn us. Calley is researching possible Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in women who are trying to get out of prostitution in the Red Light District (how cool is that?). Anyways, because of that and her connection with YWAM, we were able to stay at the YWAM base. We had a great time touring the city, enjoying a park, Van Gogh museum, and other excited events such as clubbing! This wonderful tour was made possible by our lovely tour guides Calley, Liz, and their roommate Lauren. We also got to witness a wedding Sunday morning at church at YWAM! It was there in Amsterdam that I encountered a great deal of conversation with God, and both Drew and I thank you and continue asking for your prayers. Thanks again Calley, Liz, and Lauren for your incredible hospitatilty! It was truly a blessing to meet you.

Munich, Germany. So wanna here more train difficulties? Once again soon to board the train, we discovered that it was necessary to reserve seats/beds on night trains...who knew? So Drew, who is a pro at this now, grabbed our reservations just as the train was pulling in. We ended up sleeping in a coach with some new-age hippies from Brussels, which was great and sparked interesting conversation. Arriving this morning with no real agenda, we were surprised to be inspected by undercover police searching for drugs being smuggled from Amsterdam. After that, we randomly met some kids from Montana at Burger King, where we acquired some German phrases from one of the girls who spoke the language. Our aimless journeying proved to be quite the tour of Munich! We saw the Olympic Park, the BMW Museum, St. Peter's Cathedral (and climbed its crazy high tower!), another massive cathedral, and many other sites. We also walked through the Englischer Garten, which was an incredibly massive park...Tulsa should take notes. We ended the daz with going to a German restraunt, where we randomly ordered meals, because we couldn't read the menu. Turned out pretty good.

You all are caught up for now, more to come! I hope everyone is doing well, miss you all already!