June 23, 2007

Swiss Miss

High in the Alps today.... Literally looking at the beautiful snowcapped mountains.
We're in Interlacken Switzerland and the town is a buzz because the tour du Suisse is coming through today.

Today's activities
- Tandum parachute jump in about 10 mins
- Rope course adventure park
- Moped through the alps to Gimmelwald

Our train leaves tomorrow for Ampersterdam at 7am

Venice was awesome, we went to the opera
Luzern was great, but rainy..... we went to a dinner show where thez blew Alpenhorns, yodelled, and sang

I have to go.... this internet spaceship is timed.....

June 18, 2007

Day in Florence

We took the early train to Florence this morning. It was VERY smooth and pretty quick. By lunchtime we had already checked into our hostel (kinda) and were walking through the streets of Florence looking for sights

-David was closed today, but we got to see the full-sized copy in the square
-Huge cathedral... very nice
-Ate more pizza... and our NEW desert we love is Italian ICE!!!!
-Weather was beautiful.... scenery was beautiful, our pad is beautiful (kinda)
-Took a bus to the Michaelagello hilltop at sunset for some spectacular views

Overall, Mark and I are thrilled with how today went. We came, we saw, and we're outta here. Tomorrow morning we'll catch another morning train to Venice. Our hotel (not hostel) Is about 30 yards from St. Marcos... RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF VENICE. The next morning, we're taking a direct train to Lucerne. We have reservations at a hotel for 2 nights right downtown so we should be in good shape for awhile (we went to a travel agent today).

Chao,

June 17, 2007

Roma

Roma has been an Adventure

- Mark and I like the newer sections more than the ruins
- We're on our own.... no more tour
- We did Laudry....feel much better
- Mark and I have had enough pasta/pizza to last a lifetime
- We miss American food....especially the produce and drinks
-Roma has a LONG way to go to become a modern city
-It's been Gay Pride weekend in Rome.... Lots of marches and events (I thought I left that at DisneyWorld)
-Italians can been charming at times....pushy at others.
-In the central City, it's narrow streets and BEAUTIFUL. Where we are staying reminds me of Fort Pierce.... kinda rundown and blank
-I have no idea where people around here go shopping for ANYTHING! There are a million resaurants and Gelatoterias, but no markets of any kind
-They really like American music and TV/Movies.
-Mark and I are giants here. They asked us on two separate occastions about the size of our shoes.

We head out tomorrow morning for Florence.... we should be there one day and already have a reservation at a hostel (our first of the trip). It says on the webpage that it has internet connections, but we'll see what that means when we get there.
On the horizon; Venice, Innsbruck, Lucerne, Interlacken, Rhineland?

Farewell Rome..... we're off to the northern lands

June 14, 2007

Paris Notes

Ah, Paris.... beautiful city

-Love to Effiel Tower. It lights up at night and sparkles
-Lovre was awesome.. really wished we could spend a couple days in there
-Sacre Cure was charming... I don't like that you can't take pictures in it, but Mark and I got plenty of photos of the area
-The French are all going to die of lung cancer
-The subway is funny: it runs on tires, you have to open the doors to get on/off, and they are really stuffy
-Nobody blinks an eye at police cars... they drive EVERYWHERE with there lights and sirens on. Nobody gets out of there way
-Cafe meals last hours... I think they spend all day sitting on the corner drinking expresso
-Love the little streets/ cobbled stones
-purfumary was a complete waiste of time. Too bad many Parisians don't use them

In an hour we board a night train to Rome, Italy. Can't wait to get there and do a little laundry. If I had to repack, I'd bring LOTS more shirts and less toiletries:pants.

Weather has been beautiful, but it's been a little sprinkly the last hour or so.... I guess it's time to leave the country and look for sunnier cities.

Au Revoir

June 12, 2007

French Keyboqrds

French Keyboqrds qre q little different fro, the keyboqrds in the USQ: Qll of the keys qre in the zrong spots: To illustrqte the point; Iù, typing this blog using regulqr typing on the keyboqrd in our hotel:

?qrk qnd I toured Notre Dq,e cqthedrql todqy; qs zell qs Versilles: Ze qte dinner qt Buffqlo Bills qnd thought it zqs funnèy to see hoz the French viez the Q,ericqn Zest:

OK, I know it is hard to read.... but this is how the keyboard is laid out

June 10, 2007

Last Day in London

Yesturday, our tour finally made contact and took us on a charming bus tour of London. Our guide is a very fun older English woman who reminds me of Julie Andrews. Anyway, tomorrow we depart for Paris at 5:15am (Yikes). We've walked all over the last couple days: Drury Lane (to see the Muffin Man), Berkely Square (to listen for Nighengales), etc...

Last night we took a train out to Homestead Heath (outer London) to meet up with Serena's friends for a picnic on a big hill that overlooks London. We played frisbee and catch, picniced on bananas/chicken/pringles, and drank Pimms (a summer drink). Fun times all around.

It gets dark very late here. The sun doesn't really go down until 9:30ish, and comes back up very early (4ish).

Today we walked Portabello Road and went all through the flee Market areas looking for "stuff". Lots of bags, junk, and clothes. Mark and I both got some good lookin' hats that make us blend right in (I'll post a pic in Flickr soon). We also walked the grounds of Kensington Estate (princess diana's house) and all through Hyde park...... GEORGIOUS WEATHER!!!!

Signing off from London...... Cheers

June 09, 2007

London days 2-3

Wow, we've seen more of London than probably any Brit! We've done the Tower of London, saw the crown jewels, took a river cruise down the Thames, seen Tony Blair drive by when we were in Westminster, Saw the Abby, saw a military parade (attended by Her Royal Princess) with band/horses/canons etc, visited Buckingham palace, strolls through beautiful parks, out on the town on Pub crawls with a group of locals, high shopping at fancy stores (spent a fortune), and high dining at fancy restaurants (last night we ate chinese....cost us about $80).

Our tour never picked us up and never made contact, so Mark and I are seeing the sights ourselves. Anyway, they should be picking us up shortly for a sight-seeing tour of London (probably a quick bus ride through London). I think Mark and I have had a much better tour just by hanging out with the locals. In fact, Mark's friend Serina is taking us to the Globe theater tonight for a show!

Having a great time! Wish I'd have brought my laptop (it's so hard to dump pictures/video and wait to use the computers)

TTYL

I posted some flickr photos yesturday.

June 07, 2007

Greeting from LONDON!

We made it!!!!

After numerous flight delays, we left American soil on India Air flight 112 to London. There were very few people onboard which made it possible to stretch out and sleep. For food, we had curry and pork, some veggies, some interesting sauces, and Chana Bits. The in-flight movies were funny little shorts like "Green Warriors of Thar". Our bounce landing (yes, the pilot almost lost it on our landing) brought ous onto our first every outside continent.

Immediately, some obsurvations:
- The accent, of course
- words like: Lift, way out, chewable toothpaste, Bap......
- It's BEAUTIFUL HERE
- the weather is cold, and the Brits think it's boiling..... we keep getting looked at for dressing warm
- Everybody is really nice and they do things much more proper over here
- There are a million cellphone stores, but nobody really knows about cellphones for tourist (*except Nigel in Waterloo station who sold us both phones)

Our hotel is great:
- heated towel rack
-balcony is about 1.5 feet deep
-we needed to flip the lightswitches "off" to turn them "on"

The underground is MUCH better than anything we have in the states. It's so clean and efficient. In fact... London has to be the cleanest city ever.... there are a million street sweepers.

Today we walked to the underground to picadilly station. Had a little breakfast at a cafe, then walked to Big Ben/Parlaiment. We saw a motorcade go by (right next to us) and "think" we saw Tony Blair. We also did the London Eye and got our bird's-eye view of the city.

Everything we do requires a bit of trial and error. Even the internet-cafe we're at right now took a little getting used to: we starred at the kiosk for awhile, put in 4 pounds (about $6) and bought a card. We then searched through banks of computers, but found none that worked. We finally went to the basement and found some that we could use..... Adjusting we are

Lola doesn't work here. We bought a new GPS (tom tom). He should work in both the states and Europe, but he cost a small fortune. I'll give'em a charge tonight and "play"

Love this beautiful place. We're having some fun now and our tour should start tomorrow.