Amy and I have had some good luck while traveling in Scandinavia. On our first evening in Copenhagen, I looked down and found 10 kroners! That’s like 2 bucks! We were both very happy. However Amy was not to be outdone. The next evening while leaving a traditional Copenhagen restaurant (Chinese restaurant) she found 500 KRONERS! That’s like 100 bucks! … however Scandinavia is very expensive so that really only buys you like a waffle cone. just kidding… maybe five waffle cones.

Then more luck was awaiting us in Bergen, Norway (where we are now!) First off all the tour guides warned you to be ready for rain and clouds as Bergen only gets 60 days of sun every year. I guess we are lucky because we’ve had two beautiful days of Norwegian sun! Also when checking in to our hotel they didn’t have our reservation (that is one unit of bad luck) but they had some open rooms for us if we were willing to change rooms for our second night. And since we had to go through the trouble of moving they gave us a 25% discount! ( two units of good luck! that means we ended up with one unit of good luck)

oh… and Amy wants me to add that she found ramen. I don’t think that is so lucky :/

I’m off to do some traveling now!
ciao!

Found out about last windmill in Amsterdam city proper (we had spotted it on our canal cruise and asked our hotel guy and he really had to think hard to figure out what we were talking about), ran across town and back in one hour just to see it before flight to Bergen. We really did just see it… across a hill. We took a video, though! + Flight to Bergen, walked around harbor + Went to super market (Remi 1000) and bought canned fruit, bread, cookies, mackarel and sardines + Found RAMEN at the supermarket! + Sunset on mountain and Funicular, Mackarel and Sardines with paninis from the airplane for dinner, old lady on the funicular.

Story:
Grandma on the Bergen funicular, Grandma pat
On the way down from the mountain after sunset in Bergen, we took the 9:00 funicular down. We start noticing that there is a stream of elderly people who are coming down from the restaurant into the funicular. At first, we comfortably fit into the funicular, but as we waited some more, there were so many elderly people that we gave up our seat and had to stand against the side of the car. Some couldn’t fit and had to wait for the next one in half an hour. While standing and waiting for the funicular to start, an elderly lady who was sitting close by starts talking to Amy in Norwegian and gestures towards the seats that used to be ours. Amy interprets it as “Thanks for giving up the seat, that was very nice of you.” and Amy nods and smiles and waves “No problem!” The lady then gives Amy a Grandma Pat. You know, the firm, yet commanding pat + squeeze of approval? When the funicular starts moving, Amy is facing away from the pole when the lady gets her attention and starts saying more and gesturing what Amy interpreted as “Turn around and hold on to the pole!” which Amy did, and the lady continued speaking and gesturing a swaying motion, which Amy interpreted as “Yeah, that’s right. You need to hold on! The car will sway back and forth and you could fall!” Again, Amy smiles and nods and tries to thank her for her advice. Finally, when we reached the bottom, there was such a rush of people that we didn’t get a chance to get one last look at her and thank her for her kind caring. Amy is pretty bummed about this. Fortunately, Amy had stolen a picture of her while waiting for the funicular to start

Ate a croissant from a bakery our hotel dude suggested. + Tried to take walking tour, missed it. It cost too much anyway + Tried to eat at a smorresbord (a Scandinavian sandwich) but the place was too expensive for 2/3 of a sandwich. + Tried to visit Tivoli, their old amusement park, but it was not opening for another two days. + Grabbed some food and ate it while waiting for a canal tour. + Canal tour with a bunch of loud High schoolers + National Museum which holds a lot of old Scandinavian artifacts. + Tried to find a windmill, but failed. (apparently they took the wings off this one so it just looked like a house…) + Went to train station to get cash from money exchange. They don’t all ow you to buy money so we use an ATM. Amy’s ATM card is eaten by the hungry machine. We use jajah to call Bank of America. Amy went crazy talking to the computer and failed three time to get a human on the phone. Brian helped her out. Hint: if you want a human operator just claim your card was stolen. + Went into a “cheap” hotel Chinese restaurant. It was pretty pricey ($15 per person) + Amy makes a friend with the Cantonese Waitress (she’s been in Copenhagen for 15 years and thinks that it’s pretty boring there, not much Chinese population. The cook’s mom is from the Toy San area! They took over the restaurant, which has been around for 50 some odd years. Amy is in awe that she spoke English, Danish, Cantonese, probably Mandarin as well) + Regretting how much Copenhagen is costing we leave the restaurant, when Amy finds 500 kroners on the ground. +

Terminology:
Kroner – and expletive used for when something goes wrong or is really expensive. Amy and I made this one up.

Missed breakfast because our bus for Copenhagen was leaving too early. + Slept on bus to Copenhagen. The bus did get on a ferry though which gave us a chance to eat and experience Scandinavian prices. Amy fell asleep leaning on a table while Brian was stuck watching TV. It wasn’t normal TV though it was a 5 minute loop of commercials: Paris Hilton Can-Can perfume, Ferry Tax-Free shop with alcohol emphasis, Christina Augilera perfume, Tax free shop commercial #2 focusing on candy, and finally Gucci perfume. It was driving him mad. + More sleep on the bus. + Arrival to Copenhagen and our hotel, “Chicken’s Private Pension”. It was some guys large old house that he rented rooms out in. It was pretty nice, and had lots of art work on the walls, sometimes very bizarre art work. + We followed Rick Steves’ walking tour. + Found a Pizza/Chinese all you can eat buffet. Brian ate 4 plates of food, and only stopped because we was worried why he was not getting full and didn’t want to explode. + Got ice cream at the “best ice-cream” place in Copenhagen. The ice creamw as nothing special but the cone was very fresh! + Walked back to hotel.

Story: Brian’s hunger hallucinations
We were both super duper hungry by dinner time in Copenhagen because we hadn’t eaten very much all day. While walking down a busy shopping street Brian excitedly exclaimed, “oooo! oh… I thought it was a bagel, but it was just a sock.” He was referring to shoe store that we had just passed.

Hallo from Berlin!

We’ve added lots and lots of posts today. We’ve been writing them but haven’t found internet for a while. But now we have and the blog has exploded. Be sure to check out our updats for Bath and Stonehenge, Munich, the Alps, and Rhine valley. We also have posts covering funny stories, language, and Amy’s traveling tips. Please enjoy! We set out for Scandinavia tomorrow so a Scandanavian + Berlin uber post might happen sometime next week haha

Hallo from Berlin!

Today we uploaded lots and lots and lots of posts. You will find highlights and photos from Bath and Stonehenge, Munich, castles in the Alps, and Rhine Valley. We have also posted some funny stories, language guides, and Amy’s traveling tips.

There is lots of reading for you to do!

We set off for Scandinavia tomorrow. So look forward to stories from up north and also from Berlin.

Hello again! This one is really just about hiking in general. We went on this hike because of a Rick Steves recommendation. He recommended a really nice hotel, the Gustof zum Schluxen (we agree, it was a very nice hotel) that had a path behind the hotel that goes straight to the castles. If you read the post for this adventure, you should have realized that I was really struggling with this hike. Brian really did drag me up! Such a good sport! I’m sure he was very tired too. So here are my tips on fighting exhaustion when you have to make your way back to your hotel!

1.Walking sticks really help! It’s not just a placebo effect. Brian and I think maybe it absorbs some of the shock? Who knows. It definitely helps with distributing some of the strain to your upper body so it’s not all on your legs to get you up and down the hills. Shape of walking stick is also something to look for (see picture on this subject). And instead of paying 9 euro for a walking stick (even though it was very tempting and it had a compass on the top….) you can pick one up from the trail!
2.If the locals say the hike is about 1 hour, expect it to take longer. Twice to two and a half times longer. You will get distracted by pretty scenery, you will take pictures, and the locals are probably in better shape than you.
3.Having a buddy to keep pace with really helps in getting your mind off from the hills and the trail. Here, walking sticks are not only useful in walking, but also in helping you establish some sort of a pace. We made it back in less than an hour despite being so tired! That was quite the feat.

Hello again for another one of Amy’s Tips! I hope you enjoyed the last one, I know it was quite long! This time, I will write tips on Munich!

1.We arrived on a Sunday. Everything is closed! Maybe this is indicative of the Monastery history of Munich (Munich is, after all, named after the German word for Monk in Old German (if I remember correctly): Munichen. The Germans now call Munich “Munchen”). Only eateries are open, so it’s probably a good idea to get all the food related activities over with if you have nothing to do on a Sunday. We went tried Pretzels and Sausages and went to the Hofbrauhaus.
2.Eat a sausage! It’s very good. It tastes a lot better than what you might get in the States! I have seen people just walking around and eating a sausage. They have many “fast food” type stores that just sell varieties of sausages and hams. I asked for a sausage and they automatically asked if I wanted it with bread, and I said, “sure!” and they cut the bread and gave me a hot dog. Try to ask for Sauerkraut in the beginning of your order so they can let it heat up in the oven while they prepare the rest of your order. The first time I ordered from a “fast food” place, I think I annoyed lady by asking for sauerkraut after she had already finished everything else. Some sausage varieties are quite salty, though…(next tip…)
3.Be careful when you ask for water at a restaurant. They might give you fancy mineral water. This happened when we got a sausage sampler plate our first day in Munich. We were still parched afterwards! (see post on our search for fluids) Unknown to us, water from the tap is completely drinkable. The Hotel Jeddermann receptionist said that everyone in Munich drinks it. At a restaurant, the word for tap water is pronounced “Lightons vassa.” Don’t ask me how to spell that in German. We learned this from the bike tour guide. He is Hawaiian but speaks German Just ask the waiter for “lightons vassa” and he will bring you a delicious glass of cold tap water. Free. This tip is particularly useful. Otherwise Brian and I might be dehydrated after the first day!
4.For bike tours, make sure you bring gloves! Even though it’s April, it’s still very cold! The bike tour guide told us that it’s not usually that cold, but always be prepared! If you’re stuck and you can’t find any gloves for less than 50 euro, walk towards Karlsplatz on the main street. You’ll see a discount corner store on the left (when you’re walking away from the main Marienplatz). Buy gloves for 2 euro here! And whatever you might find useful Scarves are sold readily by newsstands with tourist gear. 15 Euro. They just might have “Deustchland” written everywhere. And be careful about buying a scarf that has the soccer/football emblem for an opposing team. They’re pretty serious about that kind of thing… ^_~
5.Free walking tours: Even in London, (and unfortunately, we missed the one for Bath), Brian and I have found walking tours to be the best way to explore a city. Bike tours are nice because you get to go to farther places, but you really speed by a lot of things and the guides aren’t as detailed with the history and information. It’s also difficult to take pictures while on a bike. There is a free tour for Munich available, operated by NewEurope (tip courtesy of Karen Cheng). They meet at 10:45AM everyday, rain or shine, all year, by Mary’s pole in Marienplatz. (the big pole with the four cherubs killing various enemies of the church). Our tour guide was Meghan! She was great. Lots of historical information, and fun too! NewEurope has tours for London, Berlin, Amsterdam, and some other cities. Check their website! You pay on a tips only basis.
6.Cell phones in the European Union: The O2 phone that we had from the UK now charges 35 Pence per minute to calls within Europe and (after experimentation) 3 USDollars a minute to call the US! Don’t do it!! Try to find an Internet Cafe. The New Europe tour suggested one that had 5 cents per minute international calls, but we didn’t have a chance to go before we had to head to Fussen. The O2 in Germany didn’t have the nice free international calling perk that the one in the UK had, so we didn’t get another O2 card. Also, you had to pay 30 Euro to get a 40euro bonus. If you paid a lower denomination, you wouldn’t get any bonus. This is in addition to a (I think…) 20 Euro fee for the SIM card. We checked Vodafone, and they had 19.90 Euro for SIM packet with a 10Euro credit, so we got this. It’s about 90 Euro cents to call other countries in the EU, 20-30 euro cents to call within the country, free to receive, and about 1.90 Euro to call the US. The rates change relative to the country that you are physically in, so you can theoretically buy a card in Germany and have the same rates apply when you are in Italy. Theoretically Unfortunately, my phone did not get any Vodafone reception when we were in Fussen or St. Goar. This might be because the SIM card was improperly activated, but it could also be that Vodafone doesn’t have as good reception as O2. We wound up using our O2 card in these places. We’ll see if Vodafone still has a problem when we’re in Berlin.
7.Do not do the high Hitler Salute! It is illegal and you might get arrested!!! This is probably true for all of Germany as well. Nuff said.

Through our travels through, we’ve picked up quite a few pieces of useful knowledge (some learned the hard way, some serendipitously taught to us), and I thought that it would be useful for others who might be traveling similar paths for me to share them. Thus, Amy’s Tips was born! Here, I will write what is probably lesser known pieces of knowledge that we have accumulated. These will especially be useful for off season travel. Most travel guides are written for the high season, and there were disappointments when we found that certain attractions were not operating because of the low season. I shall start with London/Bath/Oxford! Here, in particular, I will include American translations of some British words that confused me

1.Cell phones in the UK: I can’t speak for other mobile phone providers, but O2 has a great pay as you go SIM card plan: Each time you “top-up” (that’s what they call buying a designated amount of credit for your SIM card), you get a certain number of free international minutes per month. This is great for calling home. The minutes do not carry over to the next month if you don’t use them, though. For example, if you top-up with 10pounds, you get 50 minutes free for the month, in addition to the 10 pounds of credit that you can use to call within the UK. If you top-up with 15 pounds, you get 100 minutes free in addition to the 15 pounds of credit, etc. Receiving calls and calling UK phone numbers is a certain number of pence (equivalent to the US “cents”), and it is more expensive to call mobile phones than land lines (about twice as much). Receiving texts is free.
2.Don’t buy a SIM card from a Vending Machine in the airport! Patience will save you 10 pounds! Brian and I bought a SIM pack for 10 pounds, but even after we thought we activated it, it wouldn’t allow me to call out. We finally found an O2 store in Trafalgar Square and asked. It turned out that we had only paid for a SIM card, but with no top-up voucher. If you buy it from an O2 store, they give you the SIM card for free when you buy the top-up voucher. Beware!
3.Economy airlines (easyjet, ryanair) usually depart pretty early from the London Stanstead Airport. To get to London Stanstead, you can either take the Stanstead Express. This usually isn’t the problem, as the Stanstead Express runs pretty early (first departure on a Sunday was at 5:10AM). The problem is getting to Liverpool street, the departure point for the Stanstead Express. The first train on the Tube (the subway) is around 7AM. What to do? We had an 8AM flight with approximately an hour on the Stanstead Express. A 7AM tube train to Liverpool was not going to cut it. We had to ask about three people to finally get a solution, the N11 bus from Victoria! It runs about 2 to 3 buses an hour between midnight and 5AM and goes to Liverpool Station in about half an hour. *note: when asking ticket tellers around the UK for information, they rarely know very much about any form of transportation other than what they are responsible for (ie, a Tube ticket teller will not be able to tell you much about the bus or other trains, the overground train teller won’t be able to tell you too much about the bus, or even a train from another company). In our experience in asking locals about transportation as well as reading guide books, we have gotten contradictory information, so just be careful in getting information. It is best to go directly to the people who run the mode of transportation that you are interested in to get the most accurate information*
4.Another option to tip number 3 is to sleep in Stanstead airport. There are a lot of tips on how to do this on the WikiTravel entry for London – Getting in.
5.Yet another option to tip number 3 is to take a “coach” (US: Bus). There is a National Express coach from Victoria straight to Stanstead Airport (takes about an hour and a half). This can bypass the whole getting to Liverpool problem. In general, coaches are a much less expensive way to travel through the UK (to Bath, to Oxford, etc), and usually depart from Victoria Bus Station. We were very lucky in booking a hotel in Victoria so we could just walk to the bus station. There is a coach from Victoria to Stanstead (about an hour and a half), and a coach to Oxford (for 9 Pounds only! With free internet on Board! Look for the green coach that says “Oxford Express, Travel in Style”). There is one National Express Coach from Bath back to London at 6:30PM for about 17 pounds. Other times will involve a stopover in Bristol. This might change for the summer. Our guide books had told us that there was one every hour, which we found to be not true. If the bus is booked and you don’t want to take the Bristol bus or pay 47 pounds for the train, you can consider taking the 13pound ~ 1 hour train ride back to Oxford from Bath and then taking one of the many coaches that go from Oxford to the UK (virtually one every twenty minutes to an hour, travel time about 2 hours). This comes out to be much cheaper than the 47 pound train!
6.More notes on the coach: The National Express has many bus lines running all over the country and is the most accessible from coach ticket booths, as is the Oxford Express, but there is also the Megabus (megabus.com) that you can only book on the Internet that is possibly cheaper (no internet, though). We didn’t have internet so we couldn’t book it. You can give it a try! *of course, taking the bus also runs the risk of sitting behind two really grumpy men… but I hope that doesn’t happen to you!*
7.Getting to Stonehenge: It’s tough getting into Stonehenge, you need to take a train to Salisbury and then a bus to Stonehenge. We wanted to get there from Bath. There is a direct bus from Bath to Salisbury, but adding up all the train and bus fares, we found it was cheaper to take one of the tourist vans from Bath that takes you straight to Stonehenge (14pounds. We even got a discount because they convinced us to take an earlier tour with fewer people! 12 pounds!). This gives you an hour to walk around. Unfortunately, that’s not enough time to walk around the trails in the area and to other mysterious sites, but it was very cold up and windy that I think, at the time, it was better that we didn’t The bus driver also points out various sites along the way!

Here are some helpful (and likeable!) phrases that we found in Germany!
Lighton’s vassa (Tap water. The waiter will look at you weird because you didn’t ask for beer, but say it again and you’ll get your water.)
Sprecken see English? (Do you speak English?)
Isch Sprecken Kein Deustch. (I do not speak any German ~> very helpful when people start talking to you in German and you have no idea what they’re saying)
Entrue-D-gong (Excuse me, both to get people’s attention and to say sorry, pardon me, etc)
Bitte (We think this may mean several things: You’re welcome, please, go ahead, pardon me, and sorry? (ie, when you can’t understand what the person said and are asking them to repeat.) )

Walking tour where we learned about and saw the WWII and the East/West Berlin sites. + Went to the Pergamon Museum and saw lots of Roman and Greek Statues. Including the first nude statue ever. Scandalous. + A Scavenger hunt for cought medicine. We went all over Berlin to find something so easy to find in the US. Things were complicated because it was Sunday and aparently all pharmecies close then. + Uber updated the blog.

April 12th: Trek to Berlin
Took the train to Berlin + Checked into Meigneger Hostel, a very trendy place for a hostel + Went back and forth between metro station and hotel room, because we kept forgetting things + Took the metro to the Berlin Zoo where we started our self guided walking tour. + Saw Reichstag (German Parliament building, Brandenburg Gate, Jewish Holocaust Memorial, Unter den Linden (the main blvd. in Berlin), a former ghost subway station, Bebelplatz with the Nazi book burning memorial (an underground empty bookshelves), and Museum Island+ Amy craved pho or any kind of noodle soups. We found “Authentic Chinese Restraurant” It was run by a thai family, and their vietnamese soup was not a soup but spicey noodles. Amy ate Brian’s fried rice. + Waited in line to enter Reichstag, we literally squeezed in to make it before they closed

We know how a Cow feels
In Berlin Amy and I thought it would be nice to see Reichstag at night. Our guide book suggested that visiting at night would also allow us to avoid crowds. So we went and the line was slightly shorter than during the day, but a worker came by and told us that we should be aware that they are only allowing two more groups of people in before they close entry. We had nothing else to do that night so we decided to wait.

They began to let in the first group. We moved up the line, but no chance of entering. We did move up about halfway though, and so we though perhaps we can make it for the last entry!

Several minutes of nervous waiting goes by before they let the last group enter. The line is not very orderly and people slide in front of us, but Amy thinks to herself, “I am smaller than Brian so I can wiggle my way into the building and then I will be able to pull Brian in”

I struggled to keep close to Amy, but even with my highly developed crowd navigation skills I just was not able to fit through the small chinks and holes of this human river of people.

We fight and fight and finally I am steps away from the glass door. Before that I had wondered how they were counting the people. That is when I realize that we are actually not entering the building but entering a glass cage. This class room was their measuring cup for tourists. People bagan to push and shove, and with a final wave of people I washed into the glass cage. Amy a few people in front of me.

Then they began to close the doors. The group of people behind us began to shout that someone from their party is right behind the gaurd and if they could let them in as well. There are no exceptions made for the human measuring cup. So it seems like Amy’s “pull Brian into the building” plan would not have worked!

Amy calling number listed in Rick Steves’ for the Lusty Music playing Tourist Tschu Tschu train up to St. Goar’s Castle:
Hello? Sprechen Sie English?
Man: Yes.
Amy: Are you the train that goes up to St. Goar’s Castle?
Man: Yes.
Amy: Are you running today?
Man: Yes.
Amy: Where are you? And when do you leave?
Man: Where are you right now?
Amy: In front of the train station
Man: Oh, just come, I am right here. You see the church?
Amy: The red one?
Man: The red and white one.
Amy: Oh, okay, where are you?
Man: Just walk past it.
Amy: When do you leave?
Man: Just come down here and we’ll talk.

We walk down, past the church, and we are very confused, doesn’t a train need train tracks? But no, not this one. This one is a Mercedes Benz Tractor pulled train. Oh yes. With Lusty Music.
We walk up to the front,
Amy: Hello? This is the train up to St. Goar’s castle?
Man: Maybe?
Amy: ????
Man: How did you get my number?
Brian (lifts up his Rick Steves’ Book): Rick Steves’
Man: That book is great, It’s like the bible. He has my number in there??
Brian: (flips through pages) Here!
Man: (takes the book) Yep, that’s my number. (admires the tabs (Brian added these and he is constantly saying how they’re awesome) Man gives it back to Brian)
We get on the Tschu Tschu Train and have the ride of our lives through the tiny streets of St. Goar, in full view of all the locals. If you think seeing people on a carriage ride is ridiculous, imagine seeing two people on a two car Tschu Tschu train going through a pedestrian zone. Yeah. That was us.

+ Ate a free hearty breakfast at the hostel. We had our own reserved table, no one else was in the room so we had a private room too. Brian had a name card because he reserved for the hostel. It said, “This table is reserved for: Brain von Osdol.” They made him German. + It was a very cloudy and dreary day. + Caught a boat to cruise down the River Rhine. It was the only one with people waiting. All the other boat docks were empty. + We read Ricky Steves’ River Rhine tour guide. Learned all the crazy legends that exist in the area. We also learned why there was a naked river nymph painted on the wall of our hostel. It’s the Loreley! + Another fun activity was watching for the ridiculously large kilometer markes along the river. Ricky apparently erected these several years ago to help people with this tour. Amy also noticed another tour company using them. How do you just put up huge signs along a scenic river?! + Got off at Rudeshiem after a three hour cruise. + Rudeshiem was very touristy, and on the opposite side of the river. Looked at coo-coo clocks, carved figurines, and Christmas ornaments. + Failed at finding a quick bite to eat. Ate bread we pilfered from the hostel breakfast. + Took the train back even though we had round trip tickets for the boat. + Back at St. Goar on the opposite side of the river, Brian followed an Italian school tour group to find the ferry. + Caught the tschu-tschu train up to St. Goar castle. (see story in seperate post) + Used Ricky’s St. Goar tour guide for the castle. It was cold and drizzling. Brian’s hands turned into ice cubes from holding the book. + Cut through a vineyard to get from the castle to our hostel. + Defrosted Brian’s hands back in hotel room. + Ate dinner and the goofy receptionist helped us find the train schedule to get to Berlin. + Reverse engineered a German crazy window. (video coming soon) + Organized photos and wrote these blog posts. (Will we ever find internet? If we do our blog will suffer an explosion of posts! Woot!) + A student drumming group arrived at hostel. We heard them practicing. But they weren’t as loud as the noisy kids acorss the hall. + sleep zzz +

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+ We could have left on the train early, but we decided to wait for the hotel’s really good breakfast. + Amy is sleepy. + Took train from Fussen to Munich. + High speed train from Munich to Mannheim. + Semi-highspeed past Mainz to Bingen along the Rhine River. + A Local train from Bingen to St. Goar. + Checked into the St. Goar Hostel. Lady at front desk was uber energetic and friendly. She had a goofy laugh. + Ate a cheap dinner in the hostel. + Walked down to the town. It was along the Rhine. The town seemed deserted except for the yelling kids in the playground. + Before going to bed, Amy tried to go to the restroom down the hall. She claimed it was locked, but didn’t think anyone was in there. Brian went after her, and the bathroom door was open and unoccupied. We figured out Amy was shaking on someone’s bedroom door. Oh Amy… so silly. Good thing she didn’t knock. + Planned the touristing for the next day, and organized photos. We’re already up to around 4 gigs of photos! Amy is winning by a little. +

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Elaborated Bathroom Story with Mimi
me: I went out once to go push the door and then looked under and I didn’t see a light and I was really confused so i went back into the room and then I said “the bathroom is being used” and then I waited for like five minutes and went back out and I tried again, this time, more forcefully (I’ve had an experience when I just didn’t push the door hard enough and I was waiting outside, thinking it was a one stall bathroom… but it was really a multiple stall… and I just couldn’t open the door. I must have looked really ridiculous just standing out there waiting) but anyway, it didn’t open and I went back to the room and Brian was like “is the light on?”
“I dunno… I couldn’t’ see anything…”
“did you try knocking?”
“No… I didn’t want to rush them…”
and then he goes and tries
and he comes back and he says “I don’t know what you’re talking about Amy… the door was wide open”
“oh……. OH NO!! I think I was pushing on the wrong door!!!”
“oh man, some little kid in there must be so scared…”

there you have it, the full details