Our Euro Trip

NEW POSTS!!!

2009-08-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

Hey guys...we´re in Vienna now and have caught up on a lot of our posts so far. MAKE SURE when you go to read the new ones, go back to Madrid as that is the first of the new posts. Another thing to keep in mind...for some reason, Florence is out of order, and should be after Rome and before Interlaken. You might want to read it that way...it will make the most sense. Anyway, we have to catch up on Lucerne and Munich, but that´s it...so stay posted. Again, we love when you comment, so please let us know what you think. We love you lots and miss you so much! Ten days left...

Love,
Ashley and Liana

Firenze (Florence)

2009-08-02T03:26:00.000-07:00

Well, as you can see...Ashley was VERY excited about our train from Rome to Florence. Maybe Jen would appreciate the seemingly Harry Potter style of our cabins on our train. A full room, with three seats on either side, sliding glass door, and personal snack cart...too bad there weren´t any Chocolate Frogs.

Upon arriving in Florence, we thought the humidity and heat was unbearable. So instead of sight-seeing, we relaxed in the air conditioning and then decided wine night would be a good idea...bad idea. Two and a half bottles of wine each later, we found ourselves dancing and eventually one of us (we won´t say which) taking a little nap on the bathroom floor. Needless to say, we weren´t in the mood to wake up early the next morning. When we did, we went to the grocery store and made ourselves some delicious sandwiches. We were so excited about them, in fact, we took quite a few pictures. At this point, we feel we might have been delusional.

That whole day was a day of relaxing as well as some preliminary planning for our sight-seeing the next day. The next day came very quickly, and we found it interesting that it was actually quite possible to see most of the sights in Florence in one day.

First we made our way to Pisa on a one-hour train...and it really was fascinating. It was...leaning. A lot. We took some really fun pictures. Some of our prolonged photo shoot is shown below.

Later that day when we got back to the city, we decided one of the most important things to do is to make the grueling hike up to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sun set over the city. On our way, we saw the duomo and rubbed the wild boar´s nose for good luck...you all know we needed it.

The sunset was incredible. It was the best view by far of the city...at the best time of day to see it. In the distance, you can see the Ponte Vecchio...the one bridge not destroyed by Hitler during WWII because of its beauty. Today, it´s a bridge filled with shops and vendors.

The only sight we knew we NEEDED to see before leaving Florence that we could not fit in the day before was the Statue of David. So we woke up early, checked out, and made our way over to the museum where David is held. Though it is a statue of a naked man, the idea that it was carved so intricately and the actual size of the statue is monumentous, we were taken aback. We did have a plan, however, knowing that it was completely against the rules to take pictures (there were very serious guards on duty watching out for tourists who felt they were above the rules), Ashley kept watch while a tourist distracted one of the guards, while Liana took not one, but TWO pictures of David. Quite an experience.

That afternoon we hopped on a train, and rode through the mountains to Interlaken, Switzerland.

Interlaken, Switzerland

2009-08-02T03:10:00.001-07:00

When we got to Switzerland, we knew right away that this place was going to be different than any of the other stops we had. We walked out of our train station, went to cross the street, and you´re not going to believe this! But people stopped to let us cross the street. The clean, quaint, small-town feel of Interlaken was just what we wanted. When we left Italy, we thought it couldn´t get any better...well, we were wrong. Just look at this place.

We arrived at Balmers - the most well-known hostel in Interlaken. The design of the hostel was so nice in itself because of the old-fashioned Swiss feel, complete with its own beer garden in the back. Ashley was very excited about the water...the fountain had the coldest, freshest, alpine water.

Upon checking in, we decided to book our canyoning trip for the next day. Then we went up to our private room, which reminded us of a cabin you might go to at camp when you´re younger: hard wood walls and floors, slanted ceiling, and our own skylight (that part was a little modern). We were excited to check out the happy hour in our beer garden (they have two a night!) and so we got ready and made our way downstairs. We grabbed our two-for-one beers and sat on the wooden picnic benches outside. Almost immediately, we met a pretty fun group. The two Canadian girls broke the ice with a deck of cards, offering to bridge both sides of the table with a fun game of F**k the dealer. Definitely broke the ice, and we became a group that would stay very close for the remainder of our stay.

The next morning we woke up, grabbed some breakfast, and got ourselves mentally prepared for our canyoning experience. We have to admit, we were a little bit nervous at first, mainly because we didn´t know what to expect. But mostly more excited and curious than downright scared. We jumped in the van and made our way to the Outdoor Interlaken base, where after we signed our lives away, Stanford (one of the dudes on the youtube video) briefed us on what to expect, and had some of the other guides help the group get our gear together. This included wetsuits, wetsuit jackets, helmets, life jackets, and booties (Liana was very excited about these.) Each of our helmets had different names on the front so our guides could identify and call out to us...they meet too many people every day to learn all of our names. So...Liana was COOL!! and Ashley was Paris! There were some other interesting names as well we stayed away from...among them - Shocker and Schlong.

After all our gear was together in our bundles, we hopped in the van for a 45-minute scenic ride through the mountains known as Grimsele Pass. It was beautiful. Our two main tour guides for the day were Stanford and Tim, who quickly became known as DJ Tim as he provided a great soundtrack up the mountains.

We were dropped off on what was pretty much the side of the road. We noticed there was nothing more than a steel bar separating us from a 160 meter rock cliff...a little unnerving, especially when our guides hopped over and told us THAT was how we were getting into the canyon. The two of us decided we were going to try to repel down this cliff at the same time. So they hooked us up through a carabiner and rope, Ashley guided by DJ Tim and Liana by Stanford. We got about 10 meters down when they told us to stop and pose for a picture.

Once we got over the initial worry about trusting the equipment and leaning back, it really wasn´t that bad. It was really a lot of fun...by the time we got to the bottom, we were confident that we could trust our guides and we could let loose. We knew we got to the bottom when our feet were in the water - freezing cold glacier water...thank God we had the wetsuits. But the day itself couldn´t have been any better. In fact, our guides said it was perfect for canyoning.

We made our way through the water, climbing over rocks, jumping off of cliffs of all hights into the white water, sliding down natural waterslides and freefalling, zip-lining, some minor rock climbing and even swimming at times. All the while, we enjoyed the most unbelievable views of the Swiss Alps and the Jungfrau (the glacier covered mountain you see in the back of the pictures.) We even really enjoyed our group. We canyoned with 8 of us, and by the end of it, we were all very close and helped each other out whenever possible. Unfortunately, the only names we have for them are the ones on their helmets...Bambi, Mr. Park, Rambo, etc.

When we came out of the canyon, we were sad that it was over, but anxious to get our wetsuits and gear off because it was very warm. We were met with bread, cheese and cold beer. The perfect ending to a great time.

That evening, it was decided we needed to celebrate Ashley´s birthday at midnight. We were happy to see that the group we hung out with the night before was excited to celebrate her birthday with us. We started the evening with a large group card game, where Renae (one of the Canadian girls) started coming up with funny names for everyone. Being teachers, Renae and Charisse (sorry about the spelling) decided alliteration would be the best way to remember each others´names. By the end of the night, Renae was Wrecked Renae, to give you an idea of where the night was heading. And it all started with our drinking card games that began the fiasco. Among many other things, the night included a minute-by-minute birthday countdown, tequila shot for Ashley at midnight (she didn´t learn her lesson the first time,) after which Dirty Dave pulled her hair back in preparation for what could have been a disastrous evening, and 25 birthday spankings compliments of Jackass Jordan.

Apparently, this particular hostel is where everyone (even locals) come to hang out. We were psyched to see Stanford, our canyoning guide show up to join in on the fun. There really isn´t much else to do in Interlaken as far as nightlife is concerned.

The next day was reserved for relaxing in the sun in the beer garden, and catching up on some reading in the "hangover recovery room," also known as the hammock room. Renae and Charisse joined us after their canyoning trip in the afternoon. We had a pricey, but satisfying dinner with the girls.

The next day, at the top of our list was to walk downtown with the girls, shop a bit and try the Rosti, a traditional Swiss dish pretty much made up of potatoes, cheese, bacon and onion. Not exactly the most healthy meal, but absolutely unbelievable.

We were so sad to have to leave Interlaken, but we slowly and grudgingly made it to the train station to head off to Lucerne. Our farewell from Interlaken was a scenic train ride through the mountains...what a way to remember such a gorgeous place.

ROMA!

2009-08-02T02:44:00.000-07:00

We get to Rome in the most disgustingly hot train known to man. Thankfully, our hostel was just down the road (we made a quick payphone call from the train station). When we got to The Yellow (our hostel) and were checking in, a boy was asking about the opera at the desk downstairs. We got our room keys and went upstairs. One of our roommates (Rich) was there and we all hit it off quickly. The kid from downstairs (we later learn his name is Dave) opens the door and is a character from the first second. We throw stories back and forth and decide to go on the pub crawl that night as a group...as "Team Chestari" (don´t ask)...but Rich had the fabulous idea that we wouldn´t have to pay. So we trusted our new friend and followed his lead.

What made this particular pub crawl so cool is that it started off with an hour walking tour. Our tour guides were young and absolutely hilarious. First stop was Piazza Barberini, where the Triton fountain is, but also, as highlighted in our tour, the Bee Fountain, known for being Bernini´s slap in the face to Pope Urban. Basically, the pope envied Bernini and his freedom to be a little famous playboy (he was one of the most famous and talented sculptors of his time), and asked him to create a small, simple, sculpted fountain much below Bernini´s talents. Well, Bernini insulted by this, dug up some dirt on the pope´s family, and designed a fountain as a tribute to Pope Urban´s "less than honorable" neice...in other words, the fountain looks like a woman´s legs spread eagle, with the pope´s family symbol (the bee) where the clitoris would be...and even better, the water pouring out of the fountain makes it look like she is peeing on the streets of Rome. I guess you could say Bernini was a little pissed.

Next stop...the Spanish Steps. They were cool, but they were steps - the most important thing about them is that they´re a great place for guys to hang out and pick up girls. If you are interested, check out this website to find out the history.

Last but not least, the Trevi Fountain. If we regretted one thing about Rome, it would be that we didn´t just spend hours staring at the incredible beauty of this fountain. The main idea is to throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain. This is said to ensure that you will return someday to Rome and if you throw TWO coins, you will fall in love in Rome. We each threw one over our shoulders. We don´t need any Italian men falling in love with us...they do that without the coins. What we never would have known about the fountain, or even recognized, is the window in the upper right hand corner, which is not really a window at all, but rather cement, painted to look like a window. That window is the basis of a really interesting ghost story. Long story short, the young playboy of a son to the family who owned the mansion on which the fountain was built, was found dead in the fountain. The pope declared it a suicide, even though the man´s fingernails were bent back and showed signs of struggle. He was a nuissance to the family, thus suicide was an easy scapegoat. After years of people claiming they saw the ghost of this man falling out of the window, the window was finally boarded up and then cemented over and painted to look like a window. To this day, no one is allowed in that particular room.

We ran into the Panheon on our way. Rich was right. We didn´t have to pay for the pub crawl. We just sort of followed along, and drank when we could. After the walking tour is when the real drinking began. We went to three bars as well on this pub crawl (pretty standard). We actually got the opportunity to do a lot of dancing and Team Chestari grew really tight bonds. Lots of drinking, dancing and laughs followed throughout the night and Team Chestari grew. Ben was added and so were Caitlin and Joey, who spent the next few days with us. David only became funnier and more interesting as the night went on. We knew we would keep in touch with these people much longer than our stay in Rome allowed.

The night continued in a "Polish bar," which wasn´t Polish at all...David deemed it as such when he thought the bartender looked Polish. The hat photo shoot with Ashley is partly shown here, but went on for about 10 more pictures. And the night didn´t end there. Back at the hostel, events included a pillow fight, chocolate wafers on the piazza (our own private balcony), David skateboarding in the security bin, David´s toe injury compliments of drunk Ashley (but don´t worry, David had a bleach pen to save the day haha), and many more laughs.

The next day it was decided it was time to venture into Vatican City. We knew we were there when we reached St. Peter´s Square, a place we both knew well thanks to Dan Brown´s Angels and Demons. After cooling off at the fountain (very hot day to be sight-seeing) we got in line to see St. Peter´s Basilica. Thankfully the line moved quite quickly, and we were inside in the air conditioned church in no time.

After walking through hallways filled with the most ornate tombs of late popes, we made it into the actual church. You couldn´t take the whole thing at once...it was far too detailed and beautiful...not to mention, the church is one of the most influential places in the entire Catholic religion, so the experience of being there was humbling in itself. But after about an hour of exploring the different alcoves and chapels, and especially "St. Peter´s Tomb" we were ready to make our way over to Michelangelo´s Sistine Chapel...another extremely well known beauty of Vatican City.

So much for not taking pictures at Sistine Chapel. We were there for about 15 minutes, snapping shot after shot, BEFORE the announcement came on informing us that we were not allowed to speak or take pictures...quite a challenge for us. Good thing we had already taken 50 pictures and a five-minute video by that point. It really is amazing. Somehow a photograph of the artwork can´t capture the beauty of being surrounded by it...left, right, above, behind...all around. To see something painted in the 15th century and it still looks look brand new stops you in your tracks.

That evening, Team Chestari decided it was time for an authentic Italian meal...translation: two hours of eating, drinking wine, talking, and relaxing. That´s exactly what we did.

We made our way to an Italian Pizzeria. We sampled white wine, zucchini flowers, mozerella balls, potato croquettes, and pizzas of all kinds. You don´t understand how great it is to sit at a table and relax and talk without the waitor throwing the bill on the table, hurrying you out the door. It is just a normal thing to have dinners lasting hours at a time.

After dinner, we walked down to the Tiber river for a festival of sorts. On our way, we ran into tons of vendors, a singing performance and gelato stands everywhere. We decided it was time for a different kind of photo shoot...HATS! There are tons of photos of us in hats of all colors, shapes and sizes, but we decided this one is probably the best one to show you guys.

The nex part of the evening we found extremely enjoyable. We grabbed a table by the side of the Tiber River adorned with pillows to sit on atop a wall overlooking the bright lights reflecting on the water. We drank some more wine and had really great discussions with Caitlin and Joey...and of course David.

We didn´t have much time the next day since we were heading to Florence, but there was no way we could leave Rome without seeing the Coliseum. We were lucky that David had already taken the tour and along with getting us to the front of the line quickly, he gave us some pretty interesting tid bits along the way...our own personal tour guide of sorts. Thus ends our stop in Rome...but we both decided it would not be the last time we would come to this gorgeous city.

To the Beautiful Island of Capri

2009-08-02T02:09:00.000-07:00

So our tale begins when we get off the ferry at Marina Grande. We didn´t quite get a chance to appreciate the beaty at first because the bus situation was a little bit confusing for us...but that can´t be too surprising for you. Long story short, we waited in line for over an hour, entertained ourselved by taking some pictures, until we caught the bus and unknowingly walked the long way to our bed and breakfast. Now THAT is a story unto itself.

We were so relieved to arrive. The place was breathtaking. Flowers everywhere. The most adorable welcoming us with homemade sweet tea. Villa patio with a view of the ocean and the surrounding islands. Private room with a double bed (sans bunkbeds) and great bathroom. We were speechless and so excited to finally be there...minus a bag haha. We just sort of looked around in awe at the paradise we were in.

We took the recommendation of Sabrina (the cute woman who greeted us and ran the bed and breafast along with Luciana) and had lunch at Cafe Michelangelo and walked around Anacapri (above Capri) for a while. During our walk after lunch, Liana met some new friends. They loved her just as much as she loved them. Ashley sat giggling in the background taking pictures while she gave them a snack of their own.

Next, we decided to follow another recommendation of Sabrina´s and check out Monte Solaro, which is basically a chair lift to the top of the island. Really, just an individual wooden chair connected to a wire, rope and pulley system. A little nerve-wracking at first, but once we were on our way, the view took our minds off of any fear of heights we might have had.

Little did we know, when we got to the top of the chair lift, we were able to get off and explore the top of the island, seeing a 360 degree view. We were so excited, we had to commemorate the occasion - what better way than a glass of Capri´s famous limoncello? Two glasses actually. It burned going down, but left such a sweet taste in our mouths...perfect. While we were taking pictures of everything we could, hopelessly trying to capture in pictures the beauty we knew we never could, we asked a local to take a picture of us. Little did we know, he would get really into the idea of playing photographer, and would lead us all around the area on what we like to call our Capri photo shoot.

Believe it or not, a little tipsy off our limoncello, we made our way down the chair lift right before it was closing. The view going down might have been even better than the view going up. When we got down, we grabbed some lunch at a little cafe at the bottom of the chair lift. Had we known what we would pay for our panini, small quesadilla-like sandwich, french fries, and water, we probably would have gone hungry...but hey, that´s Capri for you.

That night we decided to lay low and enjoy our gorgeous bed and breakfast. All we could think about was looking at the sunset and relaxing and reading...after all, our bed and breakfast was called Il Tramonto (The Sunset)...and let me tell you, it didn´t disappoint. When we thought our evening couldn´t get any better, Sabrina comes out to the patio where we were reading and says in her thick Italian accent, "Would you girls like some limoncello??" We looked at each other, back to her, and simultaneously said, "Sure!" A few minutes later, she came out bearing gifts...ice cold limoncello...mmmmm.

Day two, where we should be checking out, we were eating breakfast under a terrace draped with jasmine. Yeah...one day was definitely not enough. So when Sabrina offered, "Would you girls like to stay a second night?" we said..."SURE!" Satisfied with fresh juice, coffee, toast and jam, we set off back down the mountain (on some of the scariest buses ever) to Marina Grande. So by scary, we mean the road down the mountain was a series of hairpin turns that the bus driver took at 60 miles an hour, and the scariest part is how narrow the roads are. Buses came within inches...no, milimeters of hitting each other every trip we made.

Down at Marina Grande, we got tickets to the Tour of the Island by boat. We had no idea exactly how incredible and absolutely worthwhile it would be. Just to let you know, there´s no way we´ll be able to describe the experience. We left the port and began tour of the complete perimeter of the island with a humorous English-speaking tour guide. Along the way, we encountered the Grotta Bianca (White Grotto), the Grotta Verde (Green Grotto), the Faraglioni (three rocks featured in a picture above), Sophia Loren´s and Georgio Armani´s villas, the natural arc, the past residence of Mussolini, and the Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto), which much to our dismay, was closed due to high tide. The weather was...perfect. Cool enough that we never felt hot, but warm enough that we were standing there in our bathing suits taking picture after picture without thinking twice.

After our tour, we had our first pasta dish in Italy...cheese, pasta, tomato, fresh basil...so good. Then it was off to the beach to lay out and catch some rays. The most interesting thing about this beach is that there was no sand. Where there would have been sand was an area completely covered by smooth gray rocks. We soaked up some sun, cooled off a little in water that if it had been any warmer, would not have been refreshing, and decided to head back to get ready for dinner.

For dinner, we went to Materita (yet another suggestion from Sabrina) and had a delicious vegetable pizza, adorned with zucchini, eggplant, peppers, onions and mushrooms. The service was great...and handsome. Guido was his name, and although he invited us out that night to join him at the club, our plan was to buy some provolone and wine...and to have a romantic evening watching the sunset (again...it doesn´t get old) and relaxing under a blanket on the patio, catching up on our reading.

Before that, we grabbed our first gelato in Italy. Capri was a place for a lot of firsts. Ashley grabbed pistacchio and stracchiatella (chocolate chip) while Liana got Panna Cotta, which in Italian means "cooked cream." It doesn´t sound good, but it´s delicious and tastes a lot like a better version of whipped cream.

So as we planned, we stopped by the grocery store, grabbed some provolone, crackers and wine...also some breakfast food for the next day...and made our way back to Il Tramonto. The sunset rivaled the one the night before, as we enjoyed it, book in hands. Then Sabrina comes into the picture and asks, "Would you girls like some limoncello??" You know the answer. Biscottis came with our ice cold glasses this time. We were so comfortable and so happy, we could have stayed there forever.

Unfortunately, we had to check out in less than 10 hours. We felt that we truly enjoyed and appreciated our stay in Capri. It was exactly what the doctor ordered after the baggage debaucle and the numerous sleepless nights preceeding.

Our ferry back to Naples the next morning was quick...still no bags to be found at our Naples hostel. So we changed the address and went on our way. There were better things to experience in Rome.

Madrid/Naples

2009-08-02T01:41:00.001-07:00

When we checked into our hostel in Madrid, we immediately decided we would like to be part of the pub crawl for that evening, mainly due to the fact that the last stop that evening would be at a very popular night club called Kapital. The problem was, the receptionist told us that it would be unacceptable for us to show up in flip flops. Due to Ashley´s previous sprained foot...that was going to be a problem - heels were not included in her packing. Why would they be? We are backpacking six weeks through Europe. So the plan was to find someone who would be willing to lend her some appropriate shoes (all the shops were closed). As we were getting ready in the bathroom, we were lucky to meet two great Aussies, Meg and Ellen, who were more than happy to help. Problem solved, we went down to the hostel bar to begin the night with two VERY large glasses of sangria. While we were waiting for the pub crawl to begin, we met two teachers from Washington state, Keith and Saul, who seemed very friendly and fun. Plus, Ashley had a lot to talk to them about - the whole teacher thing.

First stop - a bar, where we got a "free shot," which we were more convinced was a mixture of juice and grenadine than any alcohol. Second stop - another bar, extremely hot and crowded, topped off with a free shot of the most horrible tequila you might ever imagine. Liana passed on that one, while Ashley unfortunately tried to be a trooper...bad idea. We were so excited when we finally left to make it over to this 7-story dance club. We started off on the first floor, got a taste of the house music fiasco, then made our way up past the second floor (karaoke) to the third floor, which played hip hop spanning between the years 1989 to maybe two years ago. Hours later and a little tipsy, we made it back to the hostel and passed out.

We had decided instead of staying two nights like we previously intended, we would stay one night and cancel the second night. The reason: our flight to Naples left at 6:45am, the subways closed at 1:30am, and the shuttles/taxis would empty our pockets. We figured we would just stay up, jump on a train at 12:30 and wait it out at the airport. The problem with that idea is that we had to check out before 10:00am that morning...so after we got home, we had less than four hours of sleep and needed to be up and ready to go. Needless to say, we checked out and found the nearest couch in our hostel to pass the next few hours with our granola bar and peanut butter breakfast.

We decided to hang out with the guys from Washington, as they had been in Madrid for a while already and knew some places we might be interested in. On the walk to the largest park in Madrid, Ashley stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the pink and orange sign. Dunkin Donuts to the rescue...upon further inspection, we realized it was NOT DD, but rather DC, or Dunkin Coffee. After a little photo shoot, Ashley was yet again disappointed in the coffee...it was still just espresso and water.

We explored the park, which had lots of interestingly shaped shrubbery. We climbed up a grassy knoll, discussed Robert Frost (don´t ask) and even climbed a tree. We had lunch at a hole-in-the-wall, authentic Spanish place, where we ordered from the Menu (in Spain, that´s a three-course meal with a small list of options for each course, including a dessert and glass of wine for a fixed price). Upon finishing our flan, we wandered around the city and ended up at a contemporary art museum.

To be honest, we weren´t very excited about this at first, but as we wandered through the exhibits, we became more and more interested. The first exhibit was called "The Worlds of Islam" and spanned centuries of artifacts and art from the Middle Eastern countries. The second exhibit was an architectural display, showing miniature designed, intricately made, some of which have already been constructed. Last, we saw a photo exhibit of Cambodia. It was eye-opening and troubling all at the same time.

After cleaning up at the hostel, the last stop on our trip to Madrid was a place called Plaza Mayor. It´s a beautiful, large square, lined with restaurants and buzzing with street performers, and of course, tourists. We decided a good place to eat would be "Liana," no joke. We sampled some paella, a traditional Spanish dish, then wandered around the square watching street performers. There were comedic actors, flamenco dancers, and musicians of all kinds. We especially enjoyed the group of youngish musicians singing and playing traditional Spanish music.

Our stay in Madrid was short and sweet, but we had to cut our evening short to make the train. We got to the airport, and unable to check in for a few hours, we found a place and parked our tired selves. We slept on and off, read a little bit, and just...waited. Around 4ish, we checked our bags and went to our gate. Unfortunately, on the way there, we had to part with one of our most cherished items...our peanut butter. Sad, but true. Anyway, we got to the gate and found out our flight was delayed an hour. Great...just the news we wanted to hear - another hour in the airport. We finally got on the plane and were so exhausted, we passed out for most of the flight.

NAPLES! We got off the plane and went to baggage claim, and as we talked about how efficient the in and out baggage process seemed to be, and people were leaving the conveyor belt with their bags in hand all around us, Ashley´s bag showed up...and...Liana´s didn´t. Oh boy. Exhausted and a little horrified, we joined a small line to file a claim for lost baggage, and made our way through the airport minus a bag. Trying to be the optimist, Ashley was saying how it wouldn´t be so bad...she had clothes and they would find it for sure! Liana was moving on to figure out how we would find our hostel when the binder with all of the directions was in that bag.

The bus, or four wrong buses later (actually the first one turned out to be the one we were supposed to be on...go figure), we get to our hostel and decided the only thing we planned to do was sleep for a considerable period of time. We knew the only thing we really wanted to do in Naples was to have dinner at Sorbillo, the best pizza place in Naples. So after our four-hour nap, we got dressed and made our way through the most dangerous streets ever, and by dangerous I mean, they don´t believe in crosswalks...or pedestrians for that matter. We knew we found it when we saw about a hundred people standing in the street in front of the restaurant. We were amazed to a find that for 3.30 Euros (about five bucks) we got the largest and tastiest Margherita pizza we´ve ever had.

Our evening ended quite early. Believe it or not, we were still tired and we had to wake up very early to get onto the ferry to the Isle of Capri.

Going Strong

2009-07-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

Hellloooooo...this is yet another quick post, just to let you know we are doing well. We've made it back to Naples. We have some errands to run and will be on our way to Rome later today. We don't know what the internet situation will be like there, so we decided to take advantage of the free internet here in our old hostel in Naples to let you know we're safe and happy. All of this craziness will make more sense when we explain in our next post. We love you all and miss you dearly!! xoxo

In Capri

2009-07-19T06:59:00.001-07:00

We have two minutes to write and let you all know that we are in Capri and we are safe. We don't have internet access or a phone to call, but we didn't want any of you to worry. We know it has been a while since we last posted, but as soon as we get to a good place for internet, we will fill you in. Capri is beautiful and we are staying here one extra night. So hopefully when we get back to Naples in two days, we will write you all quickly to let you know we are still safe. We love you all. Thanks for being patient. xoxo

Seville (aka Sevilla)

2009-07-16T06:20:00.000-07:00

Within 45 minutes of reaching our hostel in Sevilla (Oasis Backpackers), which by the way took a bit of getting lost to find, we dropped our bags, got ready and met downstairs to go with a group to a free Flamenco show. It was about all we should have expected for a free show at a bar...one guitarist, one singer/clapper, and one dancer. We had expected it to be a bit more festive, but it was very serious and emotional...either way, a cultural experience we were glad to have in Sevilla, which is well-known for its Flamenco.

At the bar, we were shocked to run into three of the crazy Aussies we met in San Sebastian. We remembered one in particular, who, when last we saw, was doubled over surrounded by his buddies while he was having a "not-so-proud" moment. We ended up hanging out with them throughout much of our stay in Sevilla. It was really nice to have some familiar faces in such an unfamiliar city. (We even unknowingly created a distraction for Chris that night while he escaped the store with two free ice cream bars, and contributed to their breakfast this morning...as did the forbidden staff fridge.)

Our first and only full day in Sevilla was meant to be for sight-seeing. And sight-seeing we did...in the humid 40 degree CELSIUS weather (104 degrees farenheit). First, however, we stopped to grab some tapas at a bar close to our hostel. We knew tapas were a must in Sevilla, so we sampled four kinds, and were 100% satisfied with our lunch. After our bellies were full, we had a grueling walk to the Catedral (the third largest Cathedral in the world.) Thank God many of the streets on the way to the Catedral had overhangs, creating shade for us to take shelter under. As beautiful as the Catedral was, we decided not to take the tour. However, most of the beauty is looking at the detailed gothic architecture of the structure itself.

Next we began our search for Alcazar, the oldest European palace stillused as a private residence for royals. Little did we know that it was directly behind the Catedral...we decided instead to take about our own 1-hr detour through Sevilla. Not until afterwards did we realize we decided to take on this adventure during the hottest part of the day, when most Spanish people are taking a siesta (how soon we forget.) Where you might expect we would be miserable, we still found some stops along the way where we had fun...and even cooled off a bit. We finally found it...just in time to realize a tour around the palace would take far more energy than we had left. So we made our way back to the hostel instead to take some cold showers.

We made a fabulous dinner last night of a lovely selection of vegetables and rice. It was very healthy, yet quite satisfying at the same time. We have been CRAVING fresh produce during this trip as baguettes and cheese quickly lost their appeal. We made our own homemade sangria with white wine (to be different), fruit juices and lemon fanta. It was pretty good actually. We hung out on the terrace of our hostel, where there is also a pool (one of the many cool aspects of this hostel), had some good conversation, and enjoyed a low-key evening meeting and getting to know some great people.

That brings us to today. We checked out at 11:30 this morning, made some breakfast, and are hanging out until we leave to catch out train at 6:45 tonight. Luckily our train ride to Madrid is only 2 and a half hours long. We will be in touch from Madrid if possible (we never really know what the internet situation is going to be like until we get there). So until then, nosotros los adoramos. Adios!

Valencia

2009-07-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

Still a bit worn out, we spent most of our first day in Valencia relaxing and getting our bearings. We grabbed some delicious tapas for lunch and read/rested much of the day. Later in the evening, we ventured out for dinner in the downtown area, promising ourselves we would return to the cute area for helado the next night. It was full of restaurants, street performers, and people out for a night stroll. The buildings in Valencia light up at night, making the overall scene very beautiful...it almost looks like allthe buildings have a golden shine to them. We passed a bull ring - lit up as well, making it majestic in a way. We had already decided that we would NOT be stepping inside to watch a show while we are in Spain despite the cultural significance. We just don´t have the stomach for the brutality. But from the outside, it was quite beautiful.

Day two in Valencia we spent at the beach. It was farther than the beach at San Sebastian, a bus ride in fact. We had both forgotten our towels...how? Not so sure. But not all was lost, for when we got there, we noticed chairs with cushions strewn about the beach. Of course we had to pay for them, but it was worth it...the sand was intolerably hot...as was the sun (even Ashley put on sunscreen.) The water, on the other hand, was GORGEOUS. The perfect mix of refreshment, yet warm enough to stroll right in without cringing, or even hesitating. It wasn´t a long day at the beach - neither of us could have tolerated the heat for the whole day. No wonder why they take a siesta in Spain...at that time of the day, it´s just too hot to be alive, let alone moving. So while we were in Spain, we did as the Spanish do, we went back to the hostel to take a relaxing siesta in our air-conditioned room.

We cooked up the rest of our pasta for dinner with some spinach and chicken croquettes on the side. As we promised ourselves, we put on our dresses for the first time this trip and made our way back downtown to treat ourselves to some helado (ice cream). It was SOOOO good...creamy and sweet, but not too sweet...perfect really. I´m curious to see how it compares to gelato in Italy.

That rounds up our stay in Valencia for the most part. We mostly looked forward to Valencia as a calm, relaxing trip, and that´s exactly what we got. We needed that rest, especially considering day three consisted of an 8-plus hour train ride to Sevilla. While you might think that would be relaxing, it´s far from it. In fact, we are most exhausted on our travel days, and this particular train was not exactly what you would consider "clean" and comfortable. On a specifically non-smoking train (as most of them are), we had one passenger in particular, in our car (lucky us), who decided he was above the rules. It got to the point where we even switched our seats to another cabin due to the lack of oxygen in ours. However, although the ride wasn´t exactly fabulous, we got to Sevilla both safely and without problems.

Onto the next post for more about Sevilla!!

By the way...

2009-07-12T15:54:00.001-07:00

I´m not sure if you´ve figured this out yet, but if you want to see any of the pictures we put into our blog on a larger scale, just click on them! You definitely should do that on some of the pictures of Gaudi´s designs to see the detail. xoxo

Barcelona!

2009-07-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

It was night when we checked in to Hostel One Sants. Caio, the receptionist, was among the best we met. He was so helpful and welcoming; he even took our bags up to the room for us, did our laundry, and went over the map to show us the most important sights as well as what he would recommend. Our first night we decided to lay low and catch up on our blog. The hostel was very comfortable for us, and apart from the tiny room, the motif was fun and colorful, making it a pleasant place to be.

Our only full day in Barcelona, we mapped out what we wanted to see. It was an ambitious load considering how tired we still were, but were wanted to make the most of our very limited time there. We went to the train station to book our ticket to Valencia. Although it took longer than expected (it always does), it went relatively smoothly. We´re getting good at the whole ticket-buying process.

Following the recommendation of the two Canadian girls we met back in Paris during our first stay there, we decided to visit Park Guell. It´s a park designed by Antoni Gaudi, a very interesting Spanish architect and artist. Click here for information about the park itself. As far as our experience there, we didn´t really know what to expect...and upon entering the park, it was a good thing we didn´t waste our time coming up with expectations because they would have been wrong. Let´s face it - the guy was weird...but intriguing at the same time.

We walked through oddly columned paths made of what looked like chunks of rock and cement glued together in distinctly bizarre shapes. We made our way up and down, maybe up again?? and down?? to the center of the park, which housed structures that looked like they belonged in a children´s playground...very Dr. Seuss-like. The wall along the stairway was tiled in very detailed mosaic square patterns. The same mosaic technique was applied to the lizard/dragon/sea serpent adorning the stairway and other accents within the park. On the terrace, there was a nice view of the city, and we were able to see the entire construction sight that is La Sagrada Familia: our next stop.

You have to know, the interesting thing about La Sagrada Familia (designed by Gaudi as well) is that the design for the church was so intricate and detailed that even though they began construction 126 years ago, it is not said to be completed until at least 2026.

Walking up to this site, we could understand why. Aside from the design of the structure itself, it had alcoves complete with statues, mini pointed towers that were either tiled or sculpted into crazy shapes (some had baskets of fruit on top), and there was a lot of religious-affiliated names written on the building as well. You will get a small idea of this from the pictures, but like so many other things that we post, you can´t capture the essence of the structure. Looking at it, we couldn´t take it all in at once, we had to look at it piece by piece so we could fully appreciate the beauty. Well, like we said, it´s still under construction...but the beauty still comes through, even contrasted with what seems like an over-abundance of scaffolding and construction equipment. And this is the way it has looked for over a hundred years (and will look the same way for at least another 17 years).

Next, we tucked into a cute little place for some tapas. After our feet were rested and our bellies were full, we got moving again. Too much to do, too little time.

When we got to Las Ramblas - a tree-lined pedestrian street with shops, restaurants and bars on either side - our goal was to find Font de Caneletes. Legend says, if you taste the water from this fountain, you will return to Barcelona. Turns out, we thought it was going to be a different kind of fountain and never really found it. Instead, we tasted what was probably disgusting water from a fountain elsewhere. A typical mistake when one is too overtired to really care. Still turned out to be quite an experience.

Next on our list was to walk down La Rambla to find Casa Mila and Casa Batllo, two buildings designed by Gaudi. It´s so neat to see because everything is normal city buildings until you stumble upon a Gaudiesque building and it sure stands out. Gaudi uses a style referred to as biomorphist art, which focuses on the power of natural life and uses organic shapes, with shapeless and vaguely spherical hints of the forms of biology - in other words, it´s very abstract. It took us a long time to find them, not because they´re subtle, but because the streets don´t just criss-cross in perpendicular lines, but are rather slanted in every which way, causing a lot of doubt when trying to find the right location. Finally we did, witnessed these strangely beautiful structures, then decided our bodies wouldn´t be able to carry us to the Olympic Stadium, our next stop on the agenda.

Instead, we went back to the hostel and got some much-needed rest. On the way, we picked up some food from the grocery store (we´re trying to do this as much as possible when our hostels have kitchens so we can cut down on costs) for dinner. After a make-shift Italian dinner and some cleaning up, we decided to follow Caio´s recommendation and go to a fountain show nearby at Montjuic (according to Caio, a very authentic Barcelonean activity on the weekends). We had picked up a cheap bottle of champaigne at the store earlier and grabbed some plastic mugs from the hostel to take with us.

We were unaware that this show was going to truly make Barcelona for us. The area was very clean and beautiful, and though crowded with people, our trip along the fountain-lined pathway leading us to the main fountain was relaxing. We got to the main fountain and found a place to sit on the grass beside it. We didn´t care that we were constantly getting sprayed with mist and the ground was damp beneath us. The show was incredible. It was unlike any fountain we´d seen before...the water came up from the fountain in numerous shapes, directions, currents simultaneously. Added to this was this beautiful instrumental music and different colored lights to accent the mood. We were so enthralled with this event that an hour came and went in the blink of an eye.

Our evening came to a close with an interesting encounter with four Sicilian men, who approached us (???) looking for a good place to hang out. We learned a lot about the culture and a few words to help get us by in our next country. We didn´t expect that Pietro was actually a musician, and asked a nearby couple to use their guitar for a few minutes. Next thing we knew, the men were serenading us with a beautiful Sicilian folksong. Two roses each in our hands, gifts from the gentlemen, we called it a night and went back to the hostel to prepare for our early train ride.

Everything went according to plan the next morning...surprise, surprise. Now we´re here in Valencia. We will most likely fill you in on Valencia once we get to Seville in a few days. We´ve started missing the comforts of being home since we aren´t in one place long enough to really settle down and get that comfortable feeling...not to mention, we´re thousands of miles away, and you guys are all across the Atlantic. We are having the time of our lives, but know that we still think of you often, and love every contact we are able to have with you. Hasta luego!

We Added Pictures!

2009-07-12T06:16:00.001-07:00

Check out the San Sebastian post with the new pics...the Barcelona blog will be coming soon!

San Sebastian

2009-07-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

Guys, we just want you to know that we really look forward to reading your comments. Thanks for keeping up with us. We´ve made it to Barcelona safe and sound, but we´d like to tell you about San Sebastian.

Our travel plan from Paris to San Sebastian was to catch the InterRail at 3:15 in the afternoon from Gare dÁsuterlitz, the train station the ticket lady reassured was the right one when we bought the tickets. So with plenty of time, we took the bus and made it to the train station. It does take a while for us to get our bearings in the large train stations with the language barrier and people who are either unable or unwilling to communicate with us Americans. Once we found where our train should have been departing from, we realized it wasn´t there. It was definitely one of the OTHER large stations in Paris, but a 30-minute commute. We rushed to the Metro to go to the other station, but at this point we were trying to accept the fact that we would miss our train. The whole way, we were thinking of Plan B and Plan C and hoping that we would not have to sleep in a train station, while still having to pay for our hostel in San Sebastian because we hadn´t called "24 hours ahead of time to cancel."

We got to Montparnasse and went directly to the ticket window (as we were too late). And to our surprise, there actually was another train going to San Sebastian in 12 minutes. The only problem is that we had to pay full price for the tickets...we´re not going to tell you how much that was. But we knew that was the best option and quickly made the purchase and ran to our platform. Phew! We made it to the train and got on, and then we breathed. A second too soon...after all, why WOULDN´T there be TWO trains at the same platform?? With a few minutes to spare, we figured this out and booked it. Thank God we´ve got this down by now. Moms, Dads, we know. We should have left earlier, double and triple checked the tickets, and we may not have run into this disaster. But you have to admit, we learned our lesson...and won´t let it happen again.

The train ride itself was actually pretty great. Our travel ride was about seven hours from start to finish (connection at another station - a whole other story we´re not getting into...let´s just say unorganized doesn´t even explain the extent of it) but we definitely found ways to amuse ourselves. We noticed an empty miniature cabin behind where our seats were and decided that would be a much better place to sit. To our surprise, no one bothered us. On the ride, we read, looked over travel plans/maps, slept a little, made a scavenger hunt for the rest of our Euro trip, and climbed on top of things we weren´t supposed to climb on and took pictures (#5 on our list) and no, we weren´t drunk.

We made it to our hostel with the help of a friendly local on a bike who pointed us in the right direction. We were later than we thought due to the train debaucle, and almost missed check-in, but Miguel was just right next door having a drink and noticed us. Miguel owns the hostel we stayed at and turned out to be the sweetest man...after he gave us a little scolding. Our room was adorable. We had our own balcony overlooking San Martin St. - one of the main streets in the city, if you can even say there are main streets because of how small it is.

It is, of course, a party town, containing the most amount of bars per square meter in the world (in the Old Town section). So naturally, we had to check that out. There weren´t many locals. There were LOTS of kids...and lots of Australians. We found it really interesting that half the people we met had just come from Pamplona - where the famous Running of the Bulls takes place. The stories/videos/pictures we´ve seen from the event are undescribable and horrifying...yet, exciting and intriguing. We stayed mostly at one place, but when it closed, the bouncer pointed us in the right direction to another open place. This same process happened two or three times until about 6am. During that time, other than the million and one Australians we met, we also met some fellow Americans. Some were from Colorado, but the majority were firefighters from New York. The Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is so deeply rooted that it travels with us, and yes, it reared its ugly head. I think it bothered Liana more than Ashley, but she handled herself well, and eventually they just liked us more for it.

Our first day was...relaxing. Just what we needed. A five-minute walk took us right to the beach, where we stayed for hours in the sun.

We met two more great people. Ane is from Bilbao, just an hour´s drive away. She´s a very sweet girl and we had interesting conversation about politics and the rising desire of the Basque people to be considered separate from Spain. You guys should Google it. We also met someone from San Fran named Lawrence...the name was probably the most interesting part about him, but we had a good time. We knocked off #20 on our list by building a sand castle from our empty beer cups, complete with a drip monument in the middle and its own moat. Gorgeous if you ask me.

Later that night, we started with dinner at the Wharf. It was challenging at first, due to the fact that neither of us are big fish eaters. But we got over it and chose a little place with an incredible view of the entire cove: beach, lights and boats creating the panoramic view. We started out with delicious Sangria and then decided to split Merluza con salsa verde...in other words, Hake with a green broth. When it first got to the table, we have to admit we were a little nervous - Ashley more so than Liana. Apparently this plate wasn´t served as a fillet as expected. It was still on the bone with some skin and spine...it actually looked pretty gross. But we grabbed our forks and gave it a shot. We were really impressed with how tender and fresh the fish tasted. It was really quite good. Be proud.

We bar hopped a bit after dinner and ended up at the same place as the night before. Along our travels, we got a red running of the bulls scarf, salsa lessons, and a late-night walk on the beach complete with San Miguel beer. Second late night in a row. We went home and passed out.

It was tough getting out of bed the next morning, but we had promised ourselves that we would swim out to the floating raft to use the diving boards and water slides. So we did. Coming back, we felt a little bit like Tom Hanks from Cast Away, complete with dehydration and dry mouth. Needless to say, our time on the beach was cut short, and we went to the supermarket for some water to cure the hangover.

Having learned our lesson, we made it to the train station nice and early. We ate our lunch (another baguette, Laughing Cow cheese and apples...same lunch, different country). We´re now in Barcelona laying low for tonight. Our hostel is awesome. We´re going to go get some sleep so we can wake up nice and early and begin our only full day here. Wish we had more time. Spain is really beautiful.

Hope you´re all doing well back home. Stand by for pictures...we´ll be checking the blog tomorrow for your comments. Love you all!

July 6th and 7th - Mont St. Michel

2009-07-08T04:12:00.000-07:00

The Mont St. Michel story started a mere two days before our trip to Normandie. Having been in contact with Elizabeth, the owner of the hostel B&B we were meant to stay at about when we would be arriving, we were sure that everything would run smoothly for once. But that wouldn't be our style. So we just popped over to the computer real quick to check our email, and we find that Elizabeth has contacted us saying she is "so sorry, but there has been severe damage to the bathroom and she would have to cancel our reservation." Horrified, we got on hostelworld.com only to find that there were no available rooms nearby. But after some searching, we found a cheap hotel in the nearby town of Pontorson, where the train would drop us.

We weren't expecting much, but when we got off the train, what we saw was just the most charming little town. It seemed like the entire town was on one square mile. The only way to describe it would be quaint. We didn't know that Hotel de France was just the guest house of Hotel Arianne, so for about a half hour, we sat in the foyer reading travel brochures (Alligator Bay seems like the place to go for an up close and personal encounter!!) We finally figured out that the reception office was just around the corner in an old fashioned brick building with a beautiful garden out front, complete with our new little friend, Sophie (the owner's cat.)

We were welcomed by Hennie, the sweetest Dutch woman who brought us to our room, which by the way was precious. She went out of her way to inform us that it would be very difficult for us to get to Mont St. Michel in the evening to see it lit up, due to the closing of the buses and extremely overpriced cabs. So...she offered to take us herself and give us our own private tour!

Having been in the big city of Paris, we were not expecting the warm and friendly people who welcomed us into their little town. Even the waitress at the Pizzeria at the corner greeted us with a Bonjour! and a smile...and even refrained from rolling her eyes when we ordered tap water. She merely gave it to us with a Voila!

It was early in the day and we were curious to see Mont St. Michel. While waiting for the bus, we met the most interesting woman. Oringinally from England but a long-time resident of New Zealand, Lucy has been traveling the world for the past year. We guessed that she may be in her 60s, but she was sharp as a tack and worldly...and motherly. We immediately took to her and she to us.

We decided to travel through the island together and she even promised us that before we left, we had to have a crepe (a thin pancake filled with anything from butter, sugar and chocolate, to fruits and liqueur.)

The most fascinating thing about the Mont was the knowledge that this fortress was built over 600 years ago and has survived the raging tides, wars, and elements that for sure should have torn it down ages ago. It wasn't even crumbling. Legend says when the tide comes in on Mont St. Michel, it comes in so fast that even a man on a horse can't beat the water.

We had a wonderful experience walking through the Abbey with an audio-tour, bouncing our thoughts and opinions off Lucy, as she told us the most wonderful stories about her travels, and even helped us out a bit with our French. Then it was off to the Creperie!! We decided it would be wise to get three different crepes and cut them into thirds so we could try three different kinds; caramel, apple, and butter with sugar. DE-LICIOUS!

After Liana took a nap and Ashley read for a while, it was time to go meet up with Hennie (and Lucy - we invited her to come along as well) and head back over to Mont St. Michel where we saw the sun set and got to experience its magnificence at night.

After a much-needed night of sleep in a VERY comfortable bed, we woke up quite hungry and ventured off to get something to eat. We've come to the conclusion that when in France, do as the French do. We bought baguettes, jam and cheese...and sat in the garden with Sophie and indulged :)

Today we're off to San Sebastian, Spain, where a couple days on the beach will hopefully recharge us...as well as give us a nice tan. Haha we hear you guys are experiencing rain back home. That's all for now. You're finally caught up with us! Ball's in your court...

Au Revoir! xoxo

You KNOW You're in PARIS When...

2009-07-08T03:50:00.000-07:00

1. Because you're American, French people can't be bothered by you.

2. Waitors roll their eyes when you order tap water.

3. In every direction you look, there is AT LEAST one person walking around with a loaf of bread...seriously, we think that's all they eat!

4. You can count on the Metro smelling like B.O. mixed with urine. Not to mention, it's 80 degrees.

5. It's perfectly acceptable to strip down and jump into a fountain (in front of the Eiffel Tower, mind you.)

6. Observing people's shoes is the most amusing thing to do on the Metro (peep-toe suade boots, sock-like flip flops, and the list goes on and on.)

7. They don't believe in "Have it your way" (Ash couldn't get cheese on her baguette, and it took 10 minutes to order a vodka and CocaLight because it wasn't on the menu...and despite being here for just under a week, we STILL can't communicate in simple French.)

8. The computer keyboards are so confusing that to write this simple post takes us ten times longer.

9. In the 10-min walk from the train station to the Eiffel Tower, there's like 45-thousand vendors selling the exact same Eiffel Tower trinkets.

10. If you look hard enough, you can find a place to buy liquor at 2:30 in the morning!

Catching Up

2009-07-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks for being patient! We've noticed all your comments and truly appreciate them. We know it is definitely our turn to write in this two-way deal. The internet situation has been very tricky. Either it's too expensive, not available in our hostels/hotel, or the Cyber Cafes (as they call them in France) are closed. So here we are, days later, finally getting around to writing you. I'm warning you now, it will be a LONG post...there's lots to tell, so make sure you have the time to read it!

We left off at our first day in Paris, so logically, we'll start with Day 2 in this city of romance. We woke up extremely excited, ready to go site-seeing. We had it all planned out...we'd pop into Gare de Norde (the major train station close by) to get our EuRail pass validated, stop by the battery store to pick up a camera charger for Ashley, then be on our way. Great plan...poor execution. We had the EuRail experience from hell. To make a very loooooooooong story short, we waited in every ticket line in the station before finding the right one, which ended up by the way being very helpful. Three hours later, we had our pass stamped, and tickets to Mont St. Michel as well as San Sebastian.

We thought since we had an exact address to the battery store, it would be a 20-minute excursion then off to the Louvre. We took the Metro a few stops down...walked down the wrong side street...and ended up in Little India. Not a really...umm..."nice" place. DON'T GO THERE! So we finally got going in the right direction and 20 minutes later, we looked up at the street signs only to notice we were right back where we started. Gare de Nord station was directly in front of us...AND the battery store was, I don't know, five stores down. Mainly, we just decided to waste time that day, I guess.

We were expecting to get our site-seeing started at around 11, and come 4 o'clock, we actually made it to the Louvre. The only way to describe the way we felt when we came upon this timeless museum was overwhelmed. The pictures we've posted on here might be beautiful, but we can't possibly explain or even show you through pictures the unbelievable feeling of just standing in the courtyard, the sides of the building wrapping around you and going on for what seem like miles, the pyramids towering and sparkling in the sunlight, dipping our tired feet into the cool water of the fountain, and looking down the Champs Elysses toward the Arc de Triumph.

Then Ashley says in a tone of disgust: "Why would someone make something that looks like the Eiffel Tower? That would be a pathetic excuse for the Eiffel Tower. Liana, that's not the Eiffel Tower, right?"

Liana: "Ashley...I think that might be the Eiffel Tower. "

Ashley: "It's too small to be the Eiffel Tower. I thought it was supposed to be really big."

Liana: "I really think that's it. Do you think maybe we'll be disappointed?"

Ashley: "No, that can't be it."

(FYI - It was the Eiffel Tower. But to Ashley's credit, it did seem pretty pathetic, due to the fact it was so far away and just the top popped up above the trees.)

After a much needed rest by the fountain, we ventured on to see the church of Notre Dame. En route, we passed over the River Seine and ran into countless architecturally gorgeous buildings, every direction we looked was a postcard. Walking into the church leaves you breathless. Though simple wooden benches lined the church, and the stained glass windows no longer held the bright color they must have once had, the solid stone architecture minus the flashy decoration of today's churches still left us in awe. With a trace of wetness in our eyes, we said a prayer and lit a candle for a loved one. We silently walked out of the church and back to our hostel.

For dinner that night, we ate at a Portugese place called Gallinas, a recommendation from a bar owner at the corner. We had stepped into Julio's bar to see if they served food, which they didn't, so he walked us down the street to an adorable little chicken place and invited us to come by his bar later for drinks (after he spoke with the owner and ordered our food for us, since the language barrier was quite challenging.) We did end up going for a drink, but not until after our next great adventure.

Now, this was the 4th of July. On the way out of our hostel, we stole an American flag that they had in the sugar dishes, ran out the front door, made a minor pit stop at the liquor store, and jumped on the Metro to Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower.

When you get off the train, you can't see the Tower itself because you're surrounded by tall buildings, but you can see the flashing cameras just 200 feet down. We clenched each others'

hands and rounded the corner. There it was. Lit up by thousands of sparkling lights. Definitely NOT pathetic.

And as we walked towards it, we heard...Turkish music??? We looked over the ledge and saw thousands of people watching we had no idea what. We came to find out that on the 4th of July, in Paris, in front of the Eiffel Tower, was a Turkish dance festival. We made our way around the fountain and sat in the grass to watch the show. Homemade vodka drinks in hand and our bags full of Smirnoff ice, we stuck our American flag into the ground and just tried to take it all in. It was quite an overwhelming experience. And boy can those Turkish people dance!!

Back at Julio's bar, we met up with some Portugese locals (oxymoron though it is). One in particular, an avid fan of Michael Jackson, bought us a drink and gave us a personal Thriller demonstration. (Video to come soon.) He also gave us some Spanish lessons...Portugese lessons...and French lessons...of course he speaks four languages as his English was decent too.

Who knew that we'd end up back at the Eiffel Tower four hours later doing cartwheels in the grass as the sun was rising?? Other than some random groups of people, we had the place all to ourselves...peaceful.

The next morning, overly exhausted, hungover and grumpy, we knew we still had some site-seeing to do. By the time we got going and made it back to the Eiffel Tower (yes, for the third time) it was close to four. We grabbed a baguette for lunch and made our way to the massive line underneath the Eiffel Tower. You know the ball at the top of the Eiffel Tower? Yeah, well, apparently there's an elevator to the top...and we did it! We thought we would be nervous at how high we would be, but we were glad we swallowed our fears. The height wasn't bad...and it's tough to beat a 360-degree view of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Onto the next Parisian landscape!! The Arc de Triumph. It actually turned out that our late timing worked in our favor. We arrived just as the sun was starting to set, and cast a marvelous golden glow over the monument. It was stunning. Oh, by the way, this glowing picture - sky blue, sun still mostly high in the sky - was taken at 9:00 pm. We're not kidding when we say the hours of daylight don't end. Our theory is that this is one of the main reasons for our lack of sleep (and, of course, writing you these blogs in the middle of the night).

From there we looked down the Champs Elysses in the other direction and again, saw the Eiffel Tower peaking over the trees. It's kind of amazing the way it works. The Eiffel Tower always seems to be just around the corner, but if you tried to walk to it, you'd keep going and going...almost like trying to find the end of a rainbow.

Stay tuned, folks! We love you xoxo

So Here's the Deal...

2009-07-05T05:29:00.001-07:00

We have gotten a few messages from people saying that they've had trouble posting comments on the blog. So we're going to take you through it, as we just figured it out ourselves.

First, you need to create a free account with Google.com. In order to do this, click here and click on "Create an account." It brings you to a simple form. Fill it out. Read the directions...we can't help you here. (Make sure you write down your user name and password so you don't forget it. This will be helpful later.)

Once you have an account, you can post pretty easily. You just select Google account where it asks you to choose a profile underneath your comment. Then it will ask you to verify your account. (Your user name and password!!) Once you do that, your comment will be posted successfully on our blog!

From that point forward, the select profile menu should save your name IF you use the same computer.

Hope that helps!! We're going to wait to post another blog with our adventures in Paris. Where we're staying, it's not so easy to access the internet (especially on a Sunday...gotta love the day of rest.) We're thinking of you and we miss you very much. Just hold out a little bit longer and we have lots of pictures and exciting things to tell you about! xoxo

Listen Guys...

2009-07-04T02:42:00.000-07:00

We understand you're all a little jealous of our amazing trip, but we REALLY look forward to reading your comments...so stop being slackers and write to us or we'll stop posting. We miss you. Happy 4th of July!!

Day 2 (Cont'd) and Day 3

2009-07-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

So we're still exhausted and come bearing bad news - no pictures for the next few days. Our hostel doesn't have an accessible USB port. BUT, as promised, we'll tell you all about our day yesterday and what we've been up to today as well. (For your viewing pleasure, we have inserted internet pictures of where we visited...the real ones will come later.)

Our day got off to a bit of a late start...and by late, we mean we slept until 12. We think that our time schedule is still really messed up. It doesn't help that we were up until about 4 am...but hey, we don't want to miss anything! And people in Europe just stay up that late. Bars are open until 3 or 6 am sometimes...yes, including Wednesday nights. But our day went rather smoothly for the most part. We expertly navigated our way to Westminster (ironic, since finally we figured out the Tube system, and we left less than 24 hours later for a whole new country, a whole new system).

In Westminster, we walked out of the Tube station and immediately saw the monumentous Big Ben. Gorgeous tower, so much detail up so close. Westminster Abbey was...breathtaking. The architecture and the overall presence of standing in front of the big wooden doors was an experience hard to put into words. We were disappointed to find that the Westminster chimes only ring during special occasions (especially since that was just about all we new about the Abbey...AND they chimed at 11 that morning...when we were sleeping, of course).

In our attempt to get to Buckingham Palace, we walked about two miles in the wrong direction - come to find out later, it was right where we were. But that's okay because it gave us the opportunity to ride on a double decker bus. And of course we sat on the top level! The drivers of those things are crazy!!

We walked down Palace Road, past hundreds of people standing on the side of the road drinking after work (apparently that's a normal pasttime in England), and finally made it to Queen Elizabeth's Buckingham Palace. The grounds were beautiful...covered with red and purple flowers and perfectly manicured lawns (Ashley's dad would love that - he really has a sickness when it comes to grass). In front of the palace stood huge iron gates lined with intricate gold lions and monarchical symbols. And in the center of the courtyard was a massive monument surrounded by various statues and fountains. We of course posed with all of them. And even took off our sneakers and stuck our feet in the cold fountain (Liana stuck more than just her feet in), which was a much needed, refreshing break from all the walking we've been doing. We are now starting to realize why Europeans are so skinny.
Last night was...interesting, to say the least. We met up with some locals we had met the night before. Went to Chinatown and ate the crappiest Chinese food EVER...with even worse service. Apparently you can't order chicken with stir-fried vegetables. And if you try, they get very upset. Ashley found this out the hard way. Then we made our way over to Covent Garden, which looks very similar to Boston's Fanueil Hall, and had a drink at a bar called Punch & Judy on a balcony overlooking the square. We then decided

that since we had been staying in Piccadilly, which is known as a very sexually expressive and LGBT-friendly area, we should experience a gay bar - a first for both of us. Club Heaven was...definitely...an experience. On top of dancing like crazy all night to house music, we got to witness a competition of sorts. Let's just say the expression "full frontal" doesn't even cover the show we got last night. They certainly do things differently around here. And no, we don't have pictures of that - but so many of the other club-goers do, and so a quick search on the internet could probably suffice.

After getting back to the hostel, we walk to the front door covered in caution tape. Turns out a pipe burst and the ceiling collapsed into the front lobby. No one was hurt luckily, and our floor wasn't affected. But either due to the drinks or the fact that we were so overly tired, it really did seem amusing at the time. We decided it was too late to go to bed because we had about an hour and a half before our train left for Paris from Kings Cross station. So after a half hour or so of conversation, we convinced the cute South African hostel worker on duty to make us a pot of coffee, and according to Ashley, it hit the spot.

During our South African conversation...no, literally, some of the conversation was IN South African...we found out that the Tube doesn't open at 5 like we thought. It opens at 5:30...and, the train wouldn't get to our stop until 5:42...a little worrisome, but not nearly as worrisome as getting to the station only to find out that the one line we needed to use to get to Kings Cross was suspended. So with 50 minutes before our international train was to leave and no pounds on hand, we stumbled along the streets with our suitcases in hopes of finding a cab...and to our surprise, we found one! Of course, he was a bit of a jerk when we tried to pay with U.S. dollars, but we figured it out with a credit card...plastic always works ladies and gentlemen.

So the train...freezing. And extremely uncomfortable. It wouldn't be so bad if the person in front and facing you didn't have to be on top of you in order to fit properly. After many failed attempts at different positions trying to sleep, we gave up, but not too long after, we found ourselves pulling into Gare du Nord - the Paris train station. Deliriously tired and in physical pain, we made the long treck along the platform (longest platform ever, by the way) and into a pretty classy McDonalds, believe it or not. Unlike the U.S. where we often try to accommodate people who speak other languages, Paris does not and we could NOT figure out the McDonalds menu...so the poor worker had to bring up the poster-sized menu while we pointed out the items we wanted for breakfast.

We dropped off our luggage at the hostel, but couldn't check in until later, and all we wanted to do was lay down. The receptionist led us to this incredible church on the top of a steep grassy hill that overlooks the city...we come to find out this is Le Sacre-Coeur. We got a bottle of water, parked it on the hill, and took a much-needed nap (well, Ashley did...Liana, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky). After our rest, we split a chicken baggette for lunch and made our way back to the hostel.

On the way though, a man grabbed money from a random person and took off down the street running. We held our bags even tighter than usual the rest of the way home. And here we are, in the hostel after checking in, writing the longest blog ever. But that pretty much covers the last two days.

We will write again to share our sightseeing in Paris and Mont St. Michel. Au revoir!!

Love you,

Ash and Liana

Day Two -

2009-07-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

Wow...so much to tell you since we last spoke! More than 24 hours have passed, and let me tell you, it seems more like 48...or even 72. We can't wait to tell you all the details about our trip to Westminster and our very interesting evening (with pictures!) However, we are absolutely exhausted and leaving for our train to paris in less than three hours...not to mention, the camera is dead. So we just want you to know we are okay and we'll be in touch from Paris! In less than a few hours...or whenever we can find an internet cafe. Love you! Miss you so much!!

xoxo
Ash and Liana

Day One - South Bank London

2009-07-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Where do we begin? Such a long day and it's not even over (it's 9:20pm and we haven't had dinner yet!) But what a day! Since we last spoke, we have truly experienced London's Millennium Mile (or should we say mileS).

We began our journey with a simple trip to King's Cross Station - the one in Harry Potter, so obviously Ashley was excited - to buy our EuroStar pass into Paris for Friday. Expensive. But then again, what isn't in London?

We next got delayed on our way over to South Bank because one of the lines in the "Tube" was experiencing technical difficulties. So once above ground, we were amazed at how massive and historical Tower Hill is. Isn't that beautiful?!?

Along our walk, we saw and walked across the Tower Bridge over the River Thames, walked along the Queens Passing, saw Shakespeare's Globe Theater (we're taking an actual tour tomorrow), Gabriel's Wharf, and then completed our journey at the London Eye (the massive ferris wheel).

A couple notes: the London Bridge is pathetic. There should be a song about the Tower Bridge instead. We were hoping to go see a show in the Globe Theater, but they're all sold out for the days we're here. Along the way, we saw part of this free circus-like show. It was a nice rest, since our feet really hurt at this point.

Some things on the agenda for tomorrow - Westminster. We plan to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben (although we saw all from a distance across the Thames this afternoon. So exciting! Until next time...check out some pictures from today.

Love you all,

Ash and Liana

We're Here!!

2009-07-01T05:37:00.001-07:00

So this is already an adventure. How else could a trip like this start? Of course...an airport fiasco. Little did Ashley know that attempting to meet Liana at her terminal 25 minutes after she was SUPPOSED to land would turn into a two mile walk across the largest airport ever! Three hours later (Liana's flight was delayed), the "24-hour shuttle service" to our hotel had closed at midnight. Go figure! However, we found a cab...well, he kind of found us and we finally made it to the hotel. En route, the cab driver informed us that a pound had 100 pence in it. I think we probably should have known that. And our cab ride cost "800 pence."

The hotel was nice, but it was a maze - an absolute labyrinth of hallways and doors. The reception lady was very helpful. However, after we were assigned to the wrong room (by the way, spent five minutes shoving the wrong key into someone else's door) AND having to switch our phones out (the first one hated us), I think she was starting to get a little irritated. The calling card situation is a whole other story. They didn't work! Or at least, we didn't think so until a $25 call to the U.S. to Susan (Ashley's mom) was apparently all we needed. This, of course, was all after an attempt to find the payphones (remember, our phone didn't work at first). The receptionist - the nice one - tried to tell Ashley to walk down the dark alley to find the phone booth by herself. When Ashley just responded with an, "okay" and a smile, the woman said, "are you scared to go by yourself?" Yup...and that didn't happen.

So now we are here in London - Piccadilly, London - after taking a long ass train ride to get here. A hot one at that...apparently London is having a heat wave or something. We are checked into our first hostel called Piccadilly Backpackers. It's...a hostel. Our walls are bright yellow with some sort of artsy poetry painted in black nailpolish or something. We call it charming.

We're off to explore. We're not sure what yet, but we'll figure it out and we'll let you know. Missing you all already!

Love from London,
Ash and Liana

Patiently Awaiting

2009-06-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

Though we still have more than 1000 things to do before we leave, we're so ready for our trip. It seems like it took so long to get to this point, but now that it's right around the corner, we feel like we're going to wake up in London in a blink of an eye.

We created this blog so our friends and family can travel vicariously through us along our journey. It's well known that we won't have as much contact with home as usual, so we decided this would be a great way to communicate to everybody about our once-in-a-lifetime experiences. In turn, we ask that you feel free to comment on our posts. We can't promise that we'll post every day, or even every other day, but it's our goal to post at least one blog in each country.

The countries we'll be visiting are England, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Our chosen mode of transportation - EuroRail.

We look forward to sharing this amazing adventure with you all. We love you. xoxo