Longest. Day. Ever.
I woke up yesterday at approximately 7:30 am. And let's just say that I haven't gone to sleep since then. And it is 6:30 pm in Vienna right now (7:30 is Israel). I did take a couple short and not good naps on the plane ride this morning... at about 6:45 or so.
But, let me fill you in on our last adventures in Jerusalem (sad) and our first adventures in Vienna.
We started the day yesterday bright and early. I think we were like the first ones to leave the Center (okay, not really true since a whole group went to Mass at 6 BUT we were the first ones who were at breakfast...) and we left at about 8:30... I think.
We walked down and across the Kidron Valley and over to the Garden of Gethsemane. We wanted to go to the grotto which was a quick little trip and it made us feel super productive because we had finished our first item of the day before 9:15.
The three Musketeers on their final day in the city: Kidron Valley.
We then headed to the Garden Tomb, which is where we had been the day before but also the first real site that we went visited on the trip. Just bringing it back full circle. Nicole wanted to go back because it's a favorite and Charlotte wanted to buy a painting (which we all bought in the end). Our Garden Tomb experience that morning was... unique. haha
We got there and it was SO crowded. Normally (actually, always) we get there at two when they open again after being closed for lunch. But we got there at like 9:30. So there were tons of tourists from Nigeria. Which was cool. They were swarming the tomb so we decided to go into the gift shop and make our purchases while they finished up. Well, the gift shop wasn't much less crowded. But we finally picked out our purchases (three identical water color paintings) and we were waiting at the counter to pay for them but the poor lady working there was being attacked by curious customers asking the prices of every single item in the store. Apparently Nigerian tourists always pick things up they like and ask how much they are instead of, oh I don't know, looking at the price tag themselves. It was funny because when I would walk around the store, I would be asked the prices of things too. Apparently if you're white, you work there.
Once we finally bought our paintings, we went back outside and the groups were pretty much clearing up so we went and waited by the tomb for them to finish. As we were sitting there, I causually mentioned that it was weird that they hadn't wanted to take pictures of us because we're blonde (except Lottie), white American girls. Well, not 4 mintues after I said that, these three guys walk over and all get a picture with us, separately. And they made us move apart so that they could sit in between us for the picture. The first guy to get a picture with us was... how do I say this, creepy? hahaha just take a look at this picture that his friend insisted we needed to take on our own camera...
Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaah. Maybe he was creepin' on Nicole.
After all the picture taking, he asks us if we have husbands.... we say no. Without really thinking his implications. He was excited to hear that because guess what? He is looking for a wife. Ha. Sorry buddy, it's not going to be any of us. But he is extremely persistent and he asks each of us individually if we have phone numbers or contact information. To which we respond no. But he decides that he should give us his information.... clearly. But we don't have a pen or paper for him. He runs off to write it down and we go to the empty tomb and start taking our pictures when we see him running back with all his contact information for us. Name, phone number, address in Nigeria. And he reminds us not to forget to get into contact with him. Unfortunately, we had forgotten before he had even stopped talking to us.
New Nigerian friends info. Yay.
We then take our pictures in front of the tomb, as is customary. It's still funny that this was the first place we went to in September (both just the Chosen 30 and then when Phoenix got here...)
September:
December:
Does anyone else thing that my hair looks way blonder than normal? Thought so.
Let's see, before we left the Garden Tomb, we got our picture with at least two other Nigerian men... hahaha so great. Other than that, we just walked around and enjoyed our last time there. :(
Now that it was 11, it was obviously time for lunch. Shwarma and falafel in the Old City for the last time! The shwarma was heavenly. So good. And we ate it as we walked to West J. to get our final Hanukkah donuts. Obviously. What else would we do on our last day than eat all the delicious food.
Shwarma (and In-n-Out Falafel for Lottie) in front of Damascus Gate.
Delicious chocolate donuts. For the last time. :(
And look! He even drew hearts on them for us. :)
On the way to the Shuk (?) (and our thus, our donuts) we passed this great mural and obviously had to take some pictures... Love these model men we walk past everytime we walk into W. Jru.
Dottie and I... trying to fit in?
Just hanging out with giant models. nbd.
Just your typical Shuk shot. Sad that it was our last time there. :( Although looking at all the strawberries was torturous...
We also passed this little gem of a shop:
And after all this excitement, we were tired. Because it had been a busy week. So we decided to head back. But our plan was to walk through the Old City on our way back and spend the rest of our sheks on peach o's. Obviously the best idea yet. And we also found my new watch that I've been wanting! Yay for successful last days! And then we got back to the center at like 2 in the afternoon... which is when some people were just leaving. But we were super productive and it was a great day out.
New treasures: Green watch and 11 sheks worth of peach-o's. Who knew you could get so many? So stoked. :)
We then packed, packed and packed the afternoon away. And then we went to dinner late because we were trying to figure out baggage for the flights. But we ate our last dinner meal ever with the Chapmans. So presh.
Following dinner, picked up our Center shirts, took Center pictures and then were suppose to watch a slide show.
Getting the camera set up and ready involved me taking some sweet pictures. Aka this one:
This just proves my ability on being a professional jumping picture model because this was on 10-timer mode. So I was the one who had to time this perfectly. And this was my first attempt. :)
And then we took pictures with everyone in the Center:
82 students, 17 members of faculty families and 6 Service missionaries (3 couples).
And a funny picture, obvi.
And then we took these:
Just the students although I think some people didn't participate...
We then wasted a lot of time re-showing special JC songs and such while the slideshow exported off a Mac. That was pretty fun, I suppose. No, it was good, it just ate up a lot of our lives.We used a little bit of the time to show the professors sneak peaks of their videos that we made them. And our slideshow was really good, once it finally worked.
And at the end of that, they had all of us Vienna travelers go to the front of the room so that people could say goodbye to us because we left at 2 in the morning... That was semi awkward because it was just so many people saying goodbye. And I didn't cry until Suzy came up to me, bawling. I cried twice last night because of her. I'm going to miss her tons and tons. :((
Nicole and I wanted to get pictures with all the faculty families but then it was really late so then we just decided to get pictures with our professors and their wives... and then we really only tried to make that happen with the Ludlows. And of course, Joe was more than willing to take some pictures for us. Of course, Brother Ludlow being the dedicated professor he is, was grading our finals at 11 or so when we wanted to take this picture. So we went up to his office to find him.
And he clearly did not get the "wear your new shirt" memo. Oh well. Also, fun fact, Sister Ludlow and I were wearing the same pants. So we were really twins. :)
And Mr. Hayet was also in his office that late (poor guy) so we got a quick picture with him before he left. He is so funny. He might not realize it but he's my best friend. haha It was funny though because he was trying to leave but we stopped him and he opened up his office so we could go in there and take a picture with him.
haha And then he left. But he kept coming back to tell/ask the Ludlows stuff. Cause we talked to them for quite a while. I'm going to miss their family lots. :( But Sister Ludlow did tell me to write Junior on his mission... haha she just doesn't realize that I've already chosen one of her other sons to be my husband. haha
Following that presh chat, I found my real hubby who had a song for me that I used to make Brother Ludlow's slideshow (with all my stalker pictures...) and then I went down to my room to finish packing/call our family to use up the rest of our phone card/make said slideshow. Little did I know that it would be the last time I saw him because he was hiding when I was getting ready to leave and then we were gone when he came to say goodbye (because we left like 20 minutes before schedule for some reason....) I'm still sad we didn't get to have a proper goodbye. :(
I finished the slideshow in record time (even though it was lamer than it was the first time I made it) but I just wanted to get it done... So I finished that, we got all packed and everything was great. We were even super early. Which was lame because the Ludlow's got up to see us off but we were gone by the time they were up to the 8th level. Supes annoying. I wanted to see them again before we left. :(
We then drove to the airport, at 2 in the morning with zero sleep. And at the airport, the madness started.
First they got confused or something so we had to go back and scan our bags which was chaotic.
And then they were SUPER stupid about checking bags. Apparently they didn't care how heavy our biggest one was but our carry-ons couldn't weight more than 8 kilos. Which means my suitcase was basically empty. And we had to check an additional bag: $83 to Austrian Air. And we'll get to do that again on our way home. BOO. :(
And then we got to sit around at the gate (aka go on facebook) and then we boarded. The flight to Vienna consisted of a bunch of naps. And they fed us breakfast that I semi slept through. Nicole gave me her delicious peach yogurt though (my favorite that they offer in the Oasis) and some yummy rolls.
And when we landed, we went through passport control in approximately 15 seconds because the EU doesn't care who comes in... which is such a drastic change from Israel. haha And then we had to wait for our bags, which were some of the very first ones off, lucky us!
We then took a train thing, and then a subway and then a tram to our hostel. And then we met with the lady in charge of our hostel, Yulia, who was super nice and helped us a lot.
And then at about 1:30, it was time for lunch cause we were starving. We headed down the street and went to a Chinese restaruarnt which was delicious. Maybe because it was Chinese food and maybe because it was our first real meal in 19 hours. haha
Then we headed into the city and took a tram around to just see the big sights and such. It was good to get aquainted a little bit. And seriously, Vienna is adorbs in the Christmas season. There are the quaint little Christmas markets and there are lights everywhere. It is also mighty chilly here so everyone is all bundled up and it drizzled for most of the day. We stopped at a little cafe and got some hot chocolate and cake which was delish.
And now we are sitting in our little room, surfing the interwebs and uploading as many pictures and I want to my blog because the upload like lightning! I'm also trying not to think about the fact that Jerusalem is over because it's starting to set in and it's making me really sad. :((
I think a lot of it is sleep deprivation so thinks seem worse and I'm more emotional than normal.
Now that I've successfully been awake for 38 hours with some baby naps on a plane (which don't really count), I think I'll go shower and then go to bed.
Tomorrow is a full day of Vienna. It shall be good.
(Also, I apologize for not having pictures of today; in our sleep deprived state, we forgot to bring a camera with us but we did take some pictures with Nicole's phone so I'll get those soon...)
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