(Oh no, it's almost Semptem-) Ber-lin

So we got to Berlin, where we were expecting more of the beer culture and a basic Munich re-do. Boy were we surprised! Totally different culture and some incredddible history.


It's crazy what goes unmentioned on tours in places with as much going on in the history department as Berlin; this is a plaque dedicated to the research of Max Planck....insanity.

Brandenburg Gate. Apparently it faces the French embassy to keep an eye on them after that sneaky Napoleon stole the statue on top of it.

Holocaust memorial, right in the middle of the city. The idea is that the artist has never said what his idea was, so it has a different meaning to everyone. It is also huge and very central so everyone has to see it every day.

Those blocks are pretty big in the middle, as you can see.

Still bullet holes in the few buildings that were standing after the war.

Me and the Berlin wall. Parts are still standing all around the city. In fact Gillies and Brink accidentally climbed a part of it on a drunken (4 hour) walk home from a pub crawl. Me and Kelsie took a cab....

This is the memorial that runs through the city where the wall was taken down.

Checkpoint Charlie. One of 3 openings in the Berlin wall when it was up. Soviet and US tanks faced off here for a while mid-Cold war and it was pretty close to WW3 I guess.

The Berlinerdom. Big church in the middle of town. You can see the TV tower in the background too.

Brink was in the newspaper reading a book in this bookstore. This is the ladies taking his picture. While this was going on Kelsie was shopping (obviously).

This was just a cool sign on a store - a live green sign.

This is a sign at the concentration camp we visited. I didn't take many pictures here because it felt weird (and my camera's batteries were dead...). This sign shows the "deathmarch" that the Nazi camp administrators made everyone in the camp take at the end of the war. They walked away from oncoming forces for days until most of the prisoners, who were already malnourished and sick, were dead.

Another picture of the concentration camp (Sachsenhausen, just outside of Berlin).

All in all, we saw an incredible amount of history in Berlin and learned a tonnnn (We also managed to fit in a couple pubcrawls and some fun too).

Czech Us Out!

Alright, so after Vienna we took off to Prague, Czech Republic. It is apparently in a region called Bohemia (which makes me curious about any type of rhapsody....).





Kelsie thought this was hilarious; I was applying nutella to my buns with my fingers...so what.

This is the astronomical clock. Kind of like the glockenspiel is Munich in that the pieces move really slow and make a little bit of noise...a little over-rated. Best part was that every time it goes off everyone starts clapping for an inanimate object that they're not even impressed with which has been doing all the same things since the 1400's.

Memorial to a Czech student in front of the National Museum; where he lit himself on fire and single-handedly started a revolution.

This is the most reckless use of Lambourghini ownership I have ever seen. It blew me away that you would spend 400 g's on a car and then drive it on uneven cobblestone and twisted roads...if you really wanted to get rid of it that bad I would have taken it (you know, as a favor).

These little wooden dolls (with 4 more inside them) covered about every team in athletics in the world. Most were full of all different players from teams but just below this picture was a Lebron full of little Lebrons...

Me and Kelsie ate at probably the most expensive restaurant in Prague without knowing it. It was a little patio outside a 5 star hotel with a celebrity chef and about 10 meters from the astronomical clock and a perfect view of my favorite architectural building in the would (The Church of Our Lady Upon Tyn). Thankfully they use Czech krowns as currency so the 1000's we saw on our bill came to like 20 euros each.

The creepiest statue in existence...we came upon it at night before we knew what it was and walked a large circle around it. It is actually the ghost from Don Giovanni which Mozart played first in Prague.

There she is, MY Lady Upon Tyn...ahhhhh. But seriously, Prague had so many different types of architecture all together because major wars really just ignored this place for centuries (obviously there were some exceptions).

From my highlight in Prague, to Kelsie's: baby peacocks in the courtyard of a palace.

The Prague castle in the distance. The biggest medeivel castle in the world (you could fit 6 football fields in there and have extra room).

St. Vitus cathedral. Very important because he was the patron saint of Bohemia....as well as dancers, epileptics, lightning strikes, animal attacks and oversleeping.

So between being educated on absinthe and checking out all the cool buildings we were kept pretty busy here (and we were only there for 3 days). On the last day we took off back into Germany for out second last city!

Wien-ers

(Wien is how they spell Vienna in Vienna; someone once told me that if you have to explain your jokes, they're not funny...)

So anyway, after Munich we took off to Vienna, Austria.



This is Brink and the contents of his day bag. It is really a representative sample of what he carried around with him everywhere. I spy 2 bottles of juice, one of water, some deoderant, chocolate covered banana foam cakes and a random soccer ball...totally stuff that you always need to have on you, ya know?

Me and Kelsie went to Schoenbrunn palace the first day while the guys slept off their hangovers (we were both kind of sick still and weren't drinking in an attempt to beat it). This is the room where Mozart played his first ever concert.

We went to an apple strudel amking show also (but just for the free samples).

Palace gardens, pretty big and cool. Some people call this the eastern Versailles.

Tried to do one of these labyrith things...gave up and walked back out the entrance.

One of my favorite transit signs (of the many I tried to figure out). The closest I got on this one is "Only dogs with Mohawks allowed".

The urinal at the hostel! See you can pee on a dangling soccer ball and score goals on the vertical net (if you're good enough).

Went to another palace the next day and the guys came with. Hofburg palace, the last residence of the Hapsburg dynasty (who I was amazed to find out was a superpower in Europe for a long time and ruled from the 1200's into the 1900's).

A public water fountain and 'spray station' where you can spray yourself in the face on hot days.

Sweet parliament. I loved all the Austrian statues too, very dramatic and violent as opposed to serene and religious ones everywhere else.

Went to the Freud museum (actually just his apartment preserved from when he lived there), which was pretty cool. Brink was in heaven.

This is pretty representative of the coffee in Vienna; really good and they take it seriously.

Anyway, Austria was sweet. I wish I could have participated in a little more of the night life, but there is always next time....

Me and Kelsie both actually went to an english speaking doctor here in Vienna and got some antibiotics. They gave us what I can only describe as a 5 day amoxicillin blitzkrieg on our bodies. I guess they use a 3g, one time dose of this stuff to cure gonorhea forever; we took 2g a day for 5 days...hahaha. Needless to say we felt better by the end.

µ nich

So we get to Munich (greek letter mu (µ) for those of you not forced to take statistics) and truly enter beer country. This place consumes 25% of the beer produced in Europe. In fact during Oktoberfest they drink 30% of all the beer produced all year in Germany in 1 month. I apologize for the lack of pictures but I started to get sick here and basically laid in bed most of the days when we werent touring around.





The Glockenspiel...voted the 2nd most disappointing landmark in Europe and living up to its reputation. All these things were moving and cool but the best was the clown in the middle doing the chest pump all the way through...classic.

On the tour the first day we stopped and saw a beer garden. very cool. I guess they originally started outdoor beer gardens because the law said you could only drink beer at certain points in the year; so they buried tons of beer in gardens and drank outside for the rest of the time.

This is the modest Holocaust memorial on the wall of a building. Pretty small but according to people that live there it has some insane meaning for them.

After the tour we got a beer (1 litre actually...) and some traditional soup. When we found out that we could walk anywhere anytime with open beer in Germany we decided to stroll...which was alright but 1 litre of beer in a huge mug is heeeeavy.

Maypoles have a different meaning here and we are defffinitely bringing this one home. If you can steal another city`s maypole (good luck with this one, its like 3 tons) they have to throw a huge party for your whole town before you can have it back! This literally still goes on to this day, it happened to Munich in 2006.

The rest of the time was spent like this basically. Our hostel had a sweet bar downstairs, some good drink specials and some good conversation. Very german experience (and yes, that shirt says 100% Ladies Night).

Kelsie discovered that pretzels were invented in Germany and we both indulged. I stayed on my local food kick and had 4 pretzels and a bratwurst with saurkraut for lunch...

Hofbrauhaus. The mecca of drinking beer all day. At this poitn I was pretty sick and had ceased the drinking, but it was an experience and a half. The "baby beers" were pints.

The guys at the Hofbrauhaus. They made a return there on the beer challenge later that night...while I doped up on tylenol and slept.

But first I found a Derek-sized Pretzel...

Anyway we are here in Vienna now and leaving for Prague tomorrow. Hopefully less sickness and more pictures there!

INTERLAAAAaaaaaaa......*ken*

So the long awaited city came...Interlaken and our bungee excursion. First of all we entered Switzerland.



This invention needs to come home; it is a chocolate wheel shaver so you can have uber thin shavings at all times of day! But seriously, I went 36 hours on a true Swiss diet; nothing but chocolate, cheese and beer (and bread...).

The scenery was everywhere, you could see it from the middle of town.

We found a taste of home (but didn`t buy it....because who wants expensive Molson in Europe?)

The two town mascots and their fighting stances. I like to think my `low center of gravity` might have given me the edge...

So Interlaken really is the extereme sports capital of Europe. You can do anything here; lots of it that I had never even heard of at home. This is a random field in the middle of town that people that jump off of mountains with parachutes can land in.

So here we are on the day (DUH DUH DUHhhhh...) at sign up. They gave us each a beer and threw us in a car.

We took a cable car up a mountain and into a valley. The countryside was dotted with farms and cows all the way up into the mountains.

This is where the magic happened, out of a gondola (the cable-car type, not any Venetian Aladdin stuff going on here) over that lake.

We all got rigged up to go. No joke, as I`m getting done up the guy goes "You have big calves; the only times I`ve ever seen the leg harness come off has been on people with big calves....but don`t worry, we`ve also got a chest harness on all of you"......awesome, thanks dude.....

The lady on the gondola is taking your picture for you to buy later (me and kelsie did). Actually we got Gillies exit from the gondola, My and Brink´s whole falls from our view, and Kelsie`s fall from the ground view all on video on Brink`s camera. I can`t upload it but here`s a preview: Gillies swan dived out like a pro, dead silent. Brink screamed the loudest of everyone. Kelsie went with "Derek I hate you!!!" (which was nicely followed up by the next girl who jumped pronouncing her love for her boyfriend...) and I somehow managed to go with "MORE COWBELLLLLllllll......".

Some guys got dunked in the lake at the bottom...but it was on purpose.

Anyway bungee jumping was a crazy experience. I don`t even really remember most of it until getting in the boat at the bottom...Kelsie said that doing it really drove home how scary it really was to do and that she would be more scared to do it again...hahaha.


The next day we took a train to one of the highest peaks in Europe. The scenery and the ear popping along the way were the highlights.

At the top, in the snow. There was so much to do up there...this is when we went sledding (at like 3500m above sea level)

Just hanging out at the top of a mountain (3500m).

There was an ice palace full of sculpturem like this and tunnels and stuff. It was actually surprisingly warm up there...which was good because I went in shorts (at 3500m).

Definitely not warm enough for this though...Snowball fight (at 3500m)

Literally the clouds were below us. Looking down was crazzzyyy (at 3500m... do you understan how high that is yet?!?!?).

On the way down the mountain my water bottle did this; I thought it was hilarious and the grade 6 science experiment in me loved it.

Anyway Interlaken was awesome. We only had 3 days there but we packed a ton into them. So glad we did it all and definitely puts a few more Switss cities on my To-Do list.

Ven-ice, Ice, Baby

Ok, so firstly I apologize for not updating in like 2 weeks and a bit, but in my defense we entered beer country...

No but seriously Swiss internet time was like $25 CDN an hour...and I like to keep you guys up to date but I also have limits.


It seems like forever ago already but this is us as we arrive in Venice. It happens to be me and Kelsie´s anniversary too. It looks totally photoshopped, I know, that´s what we said for 4 straight days.

So obviously I led with gelato (a classic manouver but it never fails).

Then we went back to the room and got ready to go out. I had bought a couple of italian silk ties to wear but:

"Kelsie, can I not wear my suit? It is wrinkled and still has beer stains on it from the cruise.."

"Can I still wear my dress?"

"Uh, sure"

"Deal"

So we went to a nice restaurant in Venice, it surprisingly wasn´t that expensive. Too bad (just like most of Venice) I´m convinced that it´disappears as soon as you leave...we never found it again. (To quote Pirates of the Carribean: Only those who have been there can find it, and only those who can find it have been there...)

Next strategic move was to buy roses on the Rialto bridge...

Then the finisher: THE GONDOLA RIDE

Left it until dark so that it wouldn`t be busy; definitely the way to do it.

Cool views all the way. Plus we saw Marco Polo and Casanova`s apartments.

After some waterworks the Gondolier took our picture.

We hung out on the bridge for a while longer and just enjoyed getting lost on our way home through the tiny alleyways and over the numerous bridges...all in all I think I did alright (except I screwed myself for next year...)

The next few days were literally just spent wandering Venice and taking in the views that were EVERYWHERE. This however is me in front of an F1 car (that I was convinced was fake, but no, they really are that small and light) that was driven to 2 straight pole positions (in qualifying) by Michael Schumacher.

Not sure what Kelsie is sad about...maybe the lack of gelato in the immediate vicinity?...either way these are the streets we wandered aimlessly.

Every night we`d grab some wine and hang out at a bridge or along the Grand Canal.

Bad quality pictures at night but high quality times.

THIS is how Brink and Gillies spent what they termed "THEIR anniversary". Very romantic matching shirts.

Had to get this in here...Brink literally checked out every store that had any souvenirs in it...in all of Venice....for 3 days...and bought next to nothing. He is planning to do the same thing here with beer steins I think. Anyway, this is him with his favorite Venetian hobby.

Everyone except me made purchases at a legit Dolce & Gabana store in Venice...I think that the best thing about it is that the next time you buy something there you can just walk up and be like "Yeah, I´m already in the system..."

Cool little crepe making stick. We found our way here a couple of times.

Gondolas everywhere...they aren`t as smooth as you think though. They are constantly kicking off the walls of buldings to keep from hitting them, haha.

This is the last day. I decided to try a traditional Venetian meal...which wasn`t bad as a whole. This however, was spaghetti with cuttle-fish (Kelsie says: cuddle-fish) which are little octopusish things and the only sauce (which is black) is their ink.

Anyway Venice was awesome even though we really didn`t do the traditional tourist thing, just hung around for a few days. I still feel like the whole thing was photoshopped though...

Rome-ing Charges

I have found (by clicking on pictures to enlarge them) that 3 pictures from Nice are R rated...see if you can find them...its easy if you have an eye for such things.


Anyway we are leaving Rome tomorrow morning early and we are sad. For all the trepidation Pisa caused us about Italy, Rome has made up 30 times. My favorite city so far....


Since we left Pisa so early we got to our hostel (actually a sweet little B&B with the nicest owners EVER) and went out to see the town. The Colosseum was a walk away and me and Kelsie got some gelato to eat in front of it. We took a tour that went inside and all around it + went onto Palatine hill and into the Forum (all ruins of ancient roman buildings).


Brink standing on the foundation stone of the throne from which emperors ruled the world for 300 years from like the 2nd century AD.

Gillies blending in with some waterfall ruins in the Forum (a valley in between 2 major hills where there are tonssss of excavated ruins).

The next day we got up early (had a sweet breakfast at the B&B) and went to Vatican City. Kelsie in front of St. Peter's Basilica while we were in line. The li

ne ends by that black screen on the right side of the picture....

We climbed up to the top of the Basilica (highest point in Rome). Brink is not drunk in this picture (for once), the walls actually curve like that because you are inside the dome at the top...and the stairs were oompa-loompa sized.

SOOOO hot in 40 degree weather inside the top of a dome hundreds of feet (600 stairs) up; but the view was worth it.

Sistine chapel ceiling. This painting is smaller than I expected too, but the whole ceiling is covered in paintings just like it and just as impressive. (Bearded guy and a nudist re-enacting a scene from E.T. I think...Michaelangelo was clearly very moved by Spielberg's work).

So after seeing so much in 2 days we decided to treat ourselves to what is becoming a favorite of ours...the tourist pubcrawl. This is us at the bottom of the Spanish steps, where the action began every night, (with some road beers and a coupla Americans) pre-pubcrawl.

The first bar consisted of 3 free jagerbombs and free beer and pizza for an hour...not a bad start to the night.

...Too bad it was also the last thing I remember from it...

So we wrote off the next day and then decided to try this all again that night (it's funny because the pictures in my camera run one pubcrawl right into the next). My stomach couldn't take another blackout night so i took it easy...some others not so much.

This was the last club, Apocalypse, and it was sickkkkkk.

Gillies, once again owning the "dancing on tables" trophy.

So I woke up the next day feeling great. We went out and saw lots of things that we had only previously seen in a drunken haze, at night (and we got some shopping in too). This is the Trevi fountain. (Note the Giorgio Armani's I picked up)

The Spanish steps in daylight too!

The Pantheon (and my Giorgio's).

The sun casts some crazy shadows that tell time and month and stuff on the wall (you can't really see it here). Also this whole dome is solid poured concrete (with no supports) and it was made in 600 AD...to this date no one has ever made a perfect half sphere out of this material that can support its own weight this big or even this same size...pretty impressive.

These fountains are everywhere in Rome. The water is drinkable too, so it helps when you get 5 straight 40+ days (oh right, how's the weather going back home?).

Today we went out to see a bunch of stuff that was farther from us, but we stopped first at the Basilica that we could see out our window. Bernini's tomb is there, and in this silver chalice-thingy is apparently a piece of Jesus' manger (untouched by decay for over 200 years....I must say I'm more than a little bit skeptical about that one, especially since they don't even let you see it.)

We went to the Circo Massimo (or Circus Maximus) where ancient Roman chariot races were held. It is currently being excavated so it looks like....a vacant lot. (but still kind of cool because the brown ruins in the background are the palace of the emperors, so he had a pretty good view).

After walking around for literally 2 hours (Roman maps and Roman street signs don't match up very well...ex: Via Cartevare on a map is Largo Enerico Cartevare on a street sign) we found the catacombs (exactly 10 minutes before they closed). This is where at least a million christians were buried when the pagan emperors ordered their deaths. The tunnels went 17km longand 3 levels underground...apparently in the 1500's an archaeologist got lost down there for 5 days.

This is a Basilica, that was orginally only as tall as those pillars and totally underground, where they preserved some of the marble that hadn't been poached from the catacombs. (It's so blurry because you weren't allowed to take pictures....)

Anyway, after that we came back to the B&B and here we are...leaving tomorrow early.

Actually tomorrow is me and Kelsie's anniversary, so Venice might not be a bad place to be...

Give Pisa Chance

So we spent one day in Pisa here; it was somewhat eventful and not our favorite day yet. Here it goes:

So we arrive in Pisa early in the morning (the earliest train ride we have the whole trip) and the directions to our hostel say to take a bus. We (carrying our 50 lb. bags) walk around the 12 bus stops outside the train station and eventually guess which bus to take (we are still not sure whether it would have worked). We didn't get on though because we had to have bought a ticket in advance. We went and stood in a big line marked "tickets" for half an hour but it only sold train tickets...so that was fun. Then we stood waiting for a cab for 15 minutes and only 1 came for the 5 or 6 groups of people now standing there.

Needless to say that we were not in a great mood already, so we walked toward a tourist information sign where they told us how to make the 20 minute walk to our hostel (and that we were supposed to divine the fact that bus tickets are only sold at tabacco stores).

Now the hostel itself didn't disappoint at all...it was one of the nicest we've been in.

And this was the view out our window (notice the tower that is leaning).

It leans waaay more than it should...looks totally precarious.

Gillies is taking out his Pisa frustrations (and me playing the good Canadian by saving the day).

The frustrations mounted with supper. We tried to walk away from the tourist center of town to find a good place to eat but I think we got caught in a trap. Example: I ordered 6 euro spaghetti and it cost me 15 euros including a 15% charge on top of the whole bill, a sitting fee of 1.50 a person and 3 euros for a 300 ml bottle of water. We cancelled dessert and went home (Kelsie wasn't feeling well either).

I tried some italian beer and even that didn't cheer me up...excuse the corona boxers in the background (they were drying).

Gillies expressed our entire feeling about Pisa in this face (+1 sweet, sweet moustache).

Anyway, this isn't to discourage anyone from going to Pisa. The tower is cool and worth seeing (although we didn't feel like paying 15 euros to climb tons of steps) but that is all the city has to offer...the rest of it is overpriced and insanely touristy.

This whole post is playing Debbie-Downer on our whole blog but not to fear; weare having a blasssssst in Rome right now. Probably my favorite city so far (although I've said that about mannnny places).

Ciao for now!

This Nation's Name is...Vernazza (But the Houses, the Village!)

So it is not easy to explain what to call this place..and that made it interesting to find a train that went there. The region is called Cinque Terre (which means something like Five Towns) and is a national park. The town we stayed in is Vernazza, one of the five. We originally booked a ticket on a train to get us close, and then we bought another that went past Vernazza and hoped that it would stop there.....it didn't. Kelsie and Gillies were literally stuck in the door of a train that was starting to move and we had to perform a last second rescue (Turns out this was the wrong train...but that is of no consequence). After some assurances from 2 Aussies (god I love those guys) we found our way to our sleepoy little coastal town.


This is the walkway up to our room. Lots of steps...again

And again. (The whole place is built on the side of a cliff).

Every street looked like this...all 3 of them.

The 'harbour'/'beach'/'marina'/water polo grounds.

Canoles and fresh fruit for breakfast every day isn't too bad a life. (My last day there I had 9 canoles and 10 scoops of gelato...).

A hiking trail links all 5 villages through the mountains. We hiked between our village and Monterosso (the next one west) which is by far the most mountainous.....but check out the views.

We were 169 meters above sea level and we worked for every inch of it...

169 meters + one picnic table above sea level.

Break time (2 hours hike...there were lots of them).


The hillsides were covered in vinyards, tomato plants, and olive groves.


There were some pretty treacherous passages too.


Almost at the end, quite a view there too.


Went out for supper at THE pizzaria.


Kelsie tried to befriend all the town cats byb feeding them pizza...but they were having none of it.


The next day we didn't take out our cameras but me and Kelsie rented a kayak and went all the way down 2 villages. On the way back we were coming into the harbour and found that they had shut down the whole town to play a league waterpolo match in the harbour. It was pretty cool to watch and for the first little bit we had ringside seats in our kayak.

That night we ate gelato, had some wine and just chilled out before the early train out the next morning. This is a Vernazza specialty which is lemon gelato (they grow lots of them here) in a lemon.

So this place is by far the most chilled out we've been. Totally needed this relaxing week and boy did we get it. I'm really happy wqe chose this particular village too (at random) because the one we hiked to was very tourist laden and busy; while the other 2 we saw from the kayak had no real beaches. The next day we hopped a train to Pisa and took off...

Nice (or nephew)

So we haven't encountered much for internet access in the last week and therefore are a city or 2 behind. Don't worry, we're all still alive and 3 of us still have our wallets.

Nice (pronounced 'niece' for anyone who didn't get the joke) totally consisted of waking up for crepes and cafe au lait, laying on the beach, getting subway, then drinking on the beach.



Therefore all of these photos are totally representative of every day we spent there (don't turn down the contrast on your screen, my tan gets better).

Oh, and gelato every day...(Kelsie's heaven)

Drinking on the beach.

Brink returning from looking for his wallet (which he never found). He left it on the beach after we left for the day and ran back looking for it as soon as we got back to the hostel. It wasn't there and the white shirt he's wearing here (which it was in) was thrown in a corner by where we were sitting. (Note: he's OK and still has his passport, we are keeping him afloat until his cards come).

More wine on the beach.


This is where we went every morning for crepes and coffee. Brink tried to order in french our last day and the waitress replied with "HAHA, what would you like".

Playing soccer with the waves.

Oh yeah, and we went parasailing.

They take you up high and then drop you into the water up to your chest..then take you up again.

This is Gillies and Brink overshooting their landing (They were 'near' the weight limit) and almost landing back in the water.

Daniel Craig-esque (...anyone?....no?...)

Met up with some Italians and tried to take a crash course in languages before our foray into Italy. (And they all sang "Scotty doesn't know" from Eurotrip).

The next day was Bastille day (aka Gillies date of birth). Segway cops on parade...

We got all done up and went to Monaco, but first we posed in front of the stores next to our hostel.

The ultimate 100 foot sociables rule (BOXHEAD). Actually the HEADquarters for the library.

Saw some cars in Monaco. Literally we were choosing whether we wanted our picture with the black Lambourghini or the red Ferrari....(I chose both).

Some scenery too.

Ended the night at the Monte Carlo Casino. Obviously no pictures allowed inside. We only played slots because the minimum amount you could cash was 200 euros. After winning nothing we came home and smoked a cuban cigar and drank some fine wine on the beach.

All in all Nice was INCREDIBLE. It was the perfect spot to relax and rest from all the hectic travelling and touring we had been doing. Au Revoir people!

Raising the Bar(celona)

Here we are again... We're in Nice now but I'm going to recap Barcelona for you here.



Interesting train experience from Madrid; we got to the station early but saw a bunch of businessmen sprinting for a train marked BARCA. We hurried toward it and got on to find a dude in one of our 4 seats. We moved him and sat down just as the train started to move. The conductor eventually came around and looked at our tickets: turns out we hopped a train that was a half an hour before ours....oops. Didn't keep them from giving us a first class breakfast and a warm towelette tho.

So we got there without being thrown on the tracks to find our hostel in this sweet pedestrian square. (Kelsie: PALM TREES!!!)

The street we were on had a whole bunch of street performers during the day that we took pictures of (and a bunch of prostitutes at night...which we did not)

The first day we climbed up to Park Guell on a series of like 10 of these outdoor escalators.

The Park was architectually designed by Gaudi, with this fountain at the center.

Brink fell on the ground when he was "ambushed" by a "blue teradactyl" (scared - pigeon)

Some good foreshadowing...we assumed this show was sold out.

That night we found a bar (we couldn't remember the name....gepettos, burritos, chiquitas....it was actually chupitos); they made crazy types of shots ^

Every one of those words is a kind of shot they made (and for 2 euros a piece!!)

They liked to light their shots on fire.

And here is the reason we even have any idea what this place was called...I put it up because if you come here you need to give it a try.

Obviously the rest of the night was a total blackout... so the next morning it was raining hard. We had to get up early to change rooms because our hostel messed up the booking; obviously after the night preceding we were not impressed whatsoever but they gave us free beer so...we called it even. ^This is us being kicked out of playing some footy in the square by the po-po.

So we walked about 30 minutes in the rain to go play beach soccer in Barcelona...

They had closed up everything along the beach for rain and the sand wasn't ideal for being barefoot (it hurt OK!).

So it turns out that the Tour de France goes into Spain....and just the day we are there! Me and Gillies got some free silly hats and watched the pack fly by...then a bunch of wounded guys bleeding from a pileup at the back.

We somehow scored tickets to this Tiesto show at one of the classiest clubs in Barcelona (we were told...very strict dress code). It was siiiiiiick and I'm not even a techno fan.

Quite a crowd turned out. Can you find the reason this picture was taken? (Hint: middle, left of center).

Went to the Nou Camp the next day (after waking up....Tiesto kept us bumping until 6). This is the virtual Barca experience with limited edition 3d goggles.

Incredible. They pack 100 000 strong in there and there are no bad seats in the place.

Me and Gillies avoided the media circus that follows us from stadium to stadium by refusing to do a press conference.

But we got to pose with this years Champions League Trophy anyway.

Then we checked out the Sangrada Familia (in Australian -- The big fuck off church). It was also our goodbye to Aussie-guy who we had been chillin with all through Madrid and Barca. He was off to compete with Tiger Woods for the all time record for most triple doubles in the 3rd period of the 100m dash (insider, don't worry about it). Then we checked out and headed for Nice the next day.

So anyway...Barcelona was cool. It was more touristy and a little more sketchy than we had expected. I wouldn't as much live there as go back once a month to party (WHOOOOOOO).

It´s a Mad(rid) World

Hey everyone! Sorry about the tardiness of the post but bad internet connections at 2 straight hostels has kept me from putting anything up. Today is our last day in Barcelona as we leave (on a 9 hour train ride) early tomorrow morning. Because I´m a little behind....here is Madrid.

Actually no...this is Paris again. On our last day (after my post went up) we wandered around randomly before our train; and discovered the Pantheon. It was right in our neighbourhood and we hadn´t seen it at all. Marie Curie is buried in there...so we didn´t go in out of fear of developing radioactive superpowers (and the 8 euro admission fee might have had something to do with it too...)

Got on our overnight train to Madrid. This compartment is where all 4 of us slept...by far the smallest place we´ve all slept in so far (although most of the rest of them are in a tie for 2nd).

Poker to pass the time. Only remarkable because I won my first hold ém game EVER.


When we got to Madrid we had timed it perfectly. El Rastro fleamarket was on (it happens every Sunday) so we wandered the crazy streets and picked up a few things...

Can you guess which of these things we picked up a few of too?

Later we caught a bullfight at the center of the bullfighting universe ´´Plaza del Toros´. Here we are, all very excited.

Action shot. It was an ¨amateur night´of sorts so they got to use horses to finish the bulls off. And instead of one swift and agile kill shot it was more like a hacking a sawing motion...me and Kelsie left after the first kill and Gillies and Brink lasted 1 more. I´m glad I can say I saw it, if only so that I have no reason to ever see it again...

The next day we toured around a bit. (Plaza Mayor)

Cathedral.

Palace. This was cool actually, it is still used sometimes so there are these insanely old rooms (like 1500´s or something) that are home theatres at times during the year, or have pool tables in them.

Went on a ´Tapas tour´ later on. Tapas is like food that you eat while you are drinking. This is brink eating pig intestine stew....when in Rome....

And here I am with my pig´s ears and hot sauce....

Some traditional Spanish cider (Gillies trying to master the special pouring technique...there is a reason he wasn´t a bartender yet back home...)

Then went on a pubcrawl (after some drinking games at the hostel). This is us with our guice from the tapas tour...who we randomly stumbled into at one of the bars.

I can´t decide whether this one is ¨Gillies letting out his inner rock star on stage¨or ¨Maybe we did get too close to Madame Curie...because this dance is superhuman¨

After a solid and much needed sleep-in the next day me, Kelsie and Gillies went to the Bernabeu. Notice the seamless integration into the team...we were recruited as Galacticos but decided that the trip was more important.

The pitch was gone...the day before had been the introduction of Cristiano Ronaldo so the fans had stormed the field and wrecked it I guess. They were planning on putting in a new pitch anyway, so whatever...only slight disappointment on our faces.

We fielded a few questions, threw out a few ¨The Bears are who we thought they were!!¨´s and ¨Practice? we´ve talkin bour practice??¨´s for good measure and then had to cut the press off to make our way back to the hostel. Brink got back from his Museum visit and we had some beers and enjoyed our last night in Madrid...then got on an early train the next day.

Overall Madrid would be the most livable city we´ve been to yet. It is not super tourist-filled and it is very laid back (and cheap)....quite different than where we are in Barcelona right now. That post will follow sometime when we are in Nice. Hope everyone is still following here and doing well. Buenos Noches people!

American (Canadian) Werewolf (Tourists) in Paris

PARIS!! This city is incredible. I could never even explain it unless you've been here. This is my attempt: (Excuse the bad quality pictures...I'm using them off other people's cameras because I accidentally deleted all of mine....oops)

So our first train experience in Europe was uneventful. We didn't even notice that we went through the Chunnel...maybe because we all fell asleep.

This is part of the park (Jardin de Luxembourg) accross the street from where we're staying. It's such a chill spot and immaculately kept. (No big deal)

This is the view from our room (whcih is 4 times the size of the one in London and wayyyy nicer). This courtyard is shared by us and everyone in the 2 surrounding buildings. It is totally cut off from the road. There was a neighbours party there our 3rd night but it was 100% french (je m'excuse....francais).


Too bad we left you behind Kyle, you would have loved this.

Kelsie in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. We took another of those free tours all around Paris on the first day and got our bearings. There is SO MUCH to see and we definitely didn't see it all. Example: didn't go up the belltower here, but I have a HUNCH that I'll be BACK someday.

A few days later we visited this place (Hotel des Invalides). Napoleon's tomb is right below that gold roof...it looked pretty big for a 5 footer (little-man-syndrome I think).

Found a random reference to home and cried a bit. Statues of Sammy Champlain and Jacky Cartier around the corner too.

Took Kelsie shopping on the Champs. Some incredible views and insano prices.

Stores like this everywhere. Keychains in here went for 230 euros (literally the cheapest thing in there by far).

Arc de Triomphe.

Ditto.

Pricetag = almost 86 000 euros.

Went to the Louvre yesterday.

Mona is kinda small and (compared to other stuff in there) not super exciting. I guess Da Vinci said that this was his best work of art...but I saw better.(Still cool to see though).

The Louvre used to be a Royal Palace so the whole square there (and the square in behind it) is pretty ornate.

On the tour, this is apparently from Sex and The City (anyone?).

The Opera house where the Phantom lives. We decided not to visit him. (Also the home of the original 'red carpet' entrance).

Even the cell phone towers are cool here...

This obelisk (in the Place de la Concorde) is from Egypt and like 3000 years old. Gillies insulted our guide by calling it a 'mini Washington monument'.

Now onto Canada day; when we applied the temporary tattoos that are all still on us today (I think we got the permanent batch...).

We hit one of those free tour company pubcrawls and things got insane quickly (this is at the first of 4 bars + a club).

Bought Kelsie flowers in Paris, I think it earned me enough points for how drunk I got later...

EPIC. We thought we had the whole train singing Oh, Canada...turns out it was just us and a couple Californians. Oh, Well - He's got a hockey stick!!!

On the way to the club (called 67). Normally 25 euros for entrance. That is where I learned to order only drink specials. At the end of the night I spent 7.50 euros on a water and 24 euros on 2 drinks. SO worth it though.

Random order here....this is the Venus de Milo at the Louvre.

We timed our climb up the cell phone tower (Eiffel or something) pretty well. We were on our way up the stairs during the day. This is our sunset picnic on the first floor.

Up top. (Nikki I think your vacation was a long way from ours...)

Found us!! (top of the Eiffel Tower).

Sunset on the 2nd floor.

All lit up at the bottom. It's all quite impressive (Kelsie: it's the city of lovvvveeeee!)

Brink drank every night (except a few) and slept about 3 hours a night. Until midday today.....

This is today too. We are about to leave so we treated ourselves to some french food and a few cafe au laits on the street below our room (overlooking the park).

So we truly don't want to leave Paris...but there is a lot more to experience out there and I think there is enough of us for all of Europe to get a piece. Seeeee you in Madrid!

(PS- disappointed in the amount of comments, life isn't supposed to exist back home without us)

Sun in Foggy London Town

First of all, London has not earned it's reputation as a foggy and rainy city honestly. We were there for 5 days and got about 20 minutes of rain and total sun the entire time (I hear it was raining at home, hahaha). We leave Paris in 2 days for Madrid, but since I'm behind (already) here is a quick synopsis of our London tour.




We got off the cruise ship in Southampton and hung out for a minute waiting around.

The wicked sweet awesome fantastic partiers we met on the boat were going in our direction and decided to let us hitch a ride on their bus (the official bus of Portsmouth FC no less!).

On the way we stopped in Winchester. This is a cathedral there. It seems to me that if I've never heard of this cathedral and it's this big and impressive then I am in for a hell of a time over the next 2 months. (Jane Austen was buried in a wall here).

We stopped and ate at a pub in Winchester too. Obviously we had to grab a pint.

Welcome to Kensington...apparently a rich part of London.

The next day we went to the Natural History Museum. ^Me and Evan with our homeboy.

This was my favorite part of the museum (a real Dodo!). They also had the biggest rough diamond ever found in there, and a life-sized model of a blue whale.

That night was the concert in Hyde Park (right up the street from our hostel). This is how close we got to The Kooks.

Unforntunately this is me after eating some bad english food (it was like steak inside a fried pastry...Kelsie called it a "baked burrito" hahaha).

I never got closer than this again.....but this is The Killers!! (And the concert was sick wicked and nasty).

There is a break in my pictures here because I took an entire day off the next day. I just laid in bed and recovered from the food thing. The other guys met up with Kyle Dore (friend from school) and toured along the Thames. The next day I was 100% again. No joke, as I was sitting there all day I read in my guidebook "The best way to experience British food is to NOT. Instead try Thai, Chinese and Indian establishments which are more famous for their cuisine"...Something that would have been nice to know YESTERDAY.

Hey Pam, Gillies landed this one AND got some height.

So anyway, when I got out of bed that night we went out for a bit. This is a random, not famous statue in Hyde Park that we passed every day. Once again...if this kind of thing isn't famous then it bodes well for what is to come. (Look at the people on the steps in the background for scale...its massive).

We took Kelsie out to indulge herself (at Harrod's). Actually it worked out that we were there for their once-a-year sale.

The next day me and Kelsie got up early and took a tour of London. Brink tried (unsucessfully) to get to Darwin's house south of London, and ended up in South Bromley for the day. Gillies took the day off after returning to the room with Brink at 4am. (^Buckingham Palace).

Westminster Abbey, no big deal.

At the end of the tour I was picked to demonstrate the torture that Guy Fawkes would have gone through (lucky me).

We're thinking about you every time we fist-pump buddy (and that's a lot).

At the London Zoo. This is Winnie the Pooh (the real one) with a plaque in the background explaining his Canadian heritage (moments).

After the zoo (where Dore made an appearance with us again) everyone was nice enough to let me walk down and see the things that they had seen the day I was held back at the hostel...(Kelsie says 'Kendra - this is Tower Bridge, and yes you should know that')

That's what she said.

Then we hit up the Globe theatre for a play ("As You Like It" or as Evan misspoke "Can You Take It All" and "How Do You Like It"). The play was awesome though, really well done. We had standing section tickets though so it was tough on the ol' hambones.

After the play we chilled outside the theatre and watched the night sky accross the Thames. That's Saint Paul's Cathedral all lit up.

anddd....the next day we left London. To be fair to Kelsie in explaining this picture our hostel next got below 28 degrees on our floor so the 99 stairs (we counted) to our room were rough.

Anyway, in writing this I am realizing how we could never post everything that happened in every place. We will have SO MANY stories and pictures for you guys when we get home. Hope everything is going well in rainy NS (it is about 28 degrees here in Paris right now too, and sunny, HA).

Cruisin' USA (to the UK)

So we are here in London and we are all alive (...well those parts of us that aren't affected by alcohol abuse anyway). Here is a pictorial breakdown of SOME of the highlights since we left:

We left around midnight and stopped for some refrshments. Kelsie began her international experience by discovering cream cheese for the first time (at Tim Horton's on Main Street)
Very little sleep and very many miles later we hit Denny's in Augusta, Maine (The capital, as we were told by the geography major in our group).

Miles later, and an interesting detour through Manhattan, we hit The Westin in Jersey City.

Got up the next morning and went on a hugely stressful but relatively short jaunt through New York toward our cruise ship.

This is Ground Zero. They have walls up all around it and really not much to see. The buildings around it are totally untouched (WATCH ZEITGEIST).

When we finally got in a taxi we got over the Brooklyn Bridge. This is after a couple of cabs turned us down and one made us jump out in the middle of the road because they "didn't know where we were going" (despite the google maps' directions we handed them)

We hit the ship and toured around. I have pictures of literally every room as we went through but this one proves that the pic I posted in my first edition on here is 100% real. The entire ship was like this; from the butter sculptures at breakfast to the decor in the Atlantic room...

This was our room. If it looks small for 4 people that's because it was, especially when the 2 more beds folded out of the ceiling. Needless to say we got very close over those 6 days...

At sailaway we took some champagne up to the top deck and watched the Statue of Liberty and all of Manhattan float by.

This picture, while unremarkable in itself, was foreshadowing for some events that would unfold later in here (the infamous Atlantic room, where others played bridge all day every day).

This picture with the ship's bell turned out much more obscene than was intended...

If you look closely you can just pick out the mounted automatic weapon....oh, America

Sail away included what the captain called "the closest call he knows of at sea", which was us passing under a bridge on the way out of New York Harbour. He told us we would make it, but it totally didn't look like we would...

This is in the club. We have titled this one the 'Entourage' picture. It also coincided with Evan being named Justin Timberlake for his suit choice.

Gillies is SO happy that they brought him a cake. This one was for his birthday (in July).

Brink and Gillies also arranged for me and Kelsie to get a slice for some obscure day coming up in July.

We went back to the club that night and met up with some incredible like-minded people. This is in one of their rooms and I believe it is timestamped around 6:30 AM.

And this one is timestamped for 7:30 the same morning...As Gillies said, it was a "late night sunrise".

This is a cocktail party in Kevin's suite. He provided us with free booze and some great hospitality. And as Gillies said again, we proceeded on for the rest of the cruise just "waking up for supper and drinking until breakfast".

This guy was a concert pianist on the boat. He has opened for Liberace (when he was 14) and the ring that you can barely make out on his finger is a diamond grand piano. Liberace had 3 of these commissioned in his lifetime: A large one for himself, a medium one for his producer (the Hilton patriarch) and a small one for this guy. We were drinking with him in the ballroom here.

THIS is me drinking Johnny Walker Blue Label ($300 a bottle at home) on the Queen Mary 2. I'm not sure I could be any more cultured without buying a beret...

Hannah (a rising star on the Nashville music scene whose song is being recorded for the second movie in the Twilight series) is learning to chest pump from the master.

The first night in the Atlantic room. We had probably 6 people in there all night and left because they turned on the lights at 7:30 AM to set up for bridge.

Again we skipped the entire next day and woke up for supper. This is James Taylor performing in front of about 300 people. We had 2nd row seats and I SWEAR he made eye contact with me at one point. We had a moment...(He was incredible by the way)

Meet Alan. He is Davina's Alan's doppleganger. Exact same characteristics and behaviour. He is an Eagles fan though....so tragically they can never be friends. (BTW, the song playing in the club at this moment was "Take On Me" by Aha...only a few people will appreciate how amazing that made this picture for me).

The Atlantic Room: going big or going home. There is a bed sheet on the table and all the liquor that about 30 of us could scrounge up after the bars closed. (Notice the dixie cups on the table. They even had handles!)

A closer inspection of the craziness going on well after sunrise.

People began to leave around this time. Being the good Canadians that we are we stayed behind to help clean up. The chief of security came in and wanted to know who the "instigator" of the party was. I was pretty sure that it was us but it was decided (by the 6 of us left) that it was a communal decision, ahahah (BTW thanks for the cover if you're reading this). They took down our room numbers and we struggled home to our rooms. Luckily nothing ever came of this and we disembarked with no police presence....

We will update again later, because today was an adventure in itself. In summary...AWESOME. That is all...

Weekend Update

The trip is 17 days away as I write this and the final preparations have begun. We went out and spent about $150 each on 2 months worth of everything from toothpaste to supplements the other day so there is really not a lot more to do.


Highlights of the last few weeks

We bought tickets to a concert in Hyde Park (close to where we're staying in London) featuring The Killers and The Kooks. Bruce Springsteen (and the E Street band...just for the record) was sold out; breaking our hearts.

We booked some trains between cities, which really drives home the fact that we will actually be there soon. It also drives home the cost of this trip, which makes it somewhat bittersweet.

We at booked this^ bungy jump in Interlaken. It is the highest in Europe 450 ft. That is roughly 160% the height of the tallest building in Halifax (or 40% the length of our cruise ship, which sounds much less intimidating).

Booked a houseboat to stay on in Amsterdam. We have the whole thing to ourselves while we're there and its almost right in the middle of the city; like a 10 minute walk from the train station. Hopefully we can remember how to find our way back there (on at least most of the nights..)

Can't wait to get going now. The next update will probably be once we're on the trip (barring something wicked exciting). Please comment here or on facebook while we're gone, these are our only connections to the North American continent...

Who's the What Where Now?

And now our itinerary. In the interest of preventing our millions of adoring fans from showing up at our doorstep we won't post the hostels we're staying in, but we pretty much have it set.



June

19- Get on the Queen Mary 2 in NYC
20- Check it out here
21
22
23
24 - Cruising still






25 - Disembark in Southampton, UK; Check out Stonehenge; Get to London
26- Bruce Springsteen, The Killers, Neil Young
27 - ^All playing accross the street from us while we're there
28 - ...and all sold out...
29 - Oh well, guess we're stuck wandering London for 4 days





30 - Get on a train for Paris (3 hours)
July

1- Paris
2- Paris
3- Looks like lots of time, but I'm sure its not...
4- Overnight train to Madrid (like 15 hours)








5- Wake up in Madrid
6- Take in a Bullfight?
7- more Madrid man (<--check out the alliteration, told you I could teach English!)









8- Train to Barcelona (3 hours)
9- Kelsie says she's got us covered if we need to speak spanish
10- ...But only if we need to tell someone that we have one brother








11- LONG trainride all day to Nice, France (9 hours)
12- We hear it is a cool place...
13-...Nice, even.







14 - GILLIES' DATE OF BIRTH
To be spent in style at the Monte Carlo Casino; drinking martinis that are shaken, not stirred.






15- Train ride to Vernazza, Italy (7-ish hours)
16- It's in a region called Cinque Terre
17- Lots of views, hiking, relaxing...






18 - Train (1 hour) to Pisa. Do the obligatory tourist stuff.






19- Train to Rome (4 hours)
20- So much to see
21- Vatican city for some hijinx?
22- Seeing old stuff
23- older stuff







24- Train to Venice (5 hours)
25- Walking around everywhere
26- Avoiding the edge of bridges...
27-...Brink is definitely pushing someone in







28- Train to Interlaken, Switzerland (7 hours)
29- This is the extreme sports capital of Europe
30-We are bungee jumping off a cable car in a valley...(THIS)





31- Train to Munich, Germany (7.56154 hours; Germans are very precise)
AUGUST

1- Germans love their beer
2- and their language sounds like they're yelling all the time
3- I bet their greetings over there sound like our bar fights...






4- Train to Vienna, Austria (4.5 hours)
5-Coffee
6-Lots of Coffee







7- Train to Prague, Czech Republic (4.5 hours)
8- Brink thought this was in Russia...(I knew we were bringing a Geography major for a reason..)
9- They have bars with taps at your table







10- Train to Berlin (5 hours)
11- Start enjoying our last week away
12- Either that or sleeping
13-Or selling things for plane fare...









14- Train to Amsterdam, The Netherlands (7 hours)
15- Various activities
16-None of them inappropriate or illegal in any way






Then we're flying home on the 17th of August. A quick stopover in Reykjavik , Iceland well have us home in no time! Anyway, let us know what you think!

3 Guys, a Girl and a Continent

In this edition we meet the main characters of our adventure story:

Name: Derek Parker Smith

Nickname: D-Rock

Schooling: Graduating (in May) from Saint Mary's with a B.Sc. in Biology and minor in Psychology

Future: Going to Mount Saint Vincent for a B.Ed. in Sept.

Favorite song that came out in your birth year: "Livin' on a Prayer" - Jon Bon (1987)

Family composition: Parents, Brother, PS3...

Most anticipated city: Venice, Italy

Most anticipated activity: Bungee jumping in Interlaken, Switzerland

Least anticipated activity: 14+ hour train rides overnight

Motivation to go on this trip: An itch to travel and a need to plan something huge

What you'll miss most while gone: Nova Scotia weather...

City you'd add on if we could go for longer: Athens, Greece

One thing most people don't know about you: I once kissed Kelsie's grandmother on the lips.

Best joke: How many Dal students does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Just 1; They just hold it up and the world revolves around them.

Name: Jonathan, Gillies

Nickname: Gillies

Schooling: Arts(English,Geography) year 4

Future: Early retirement.....perhaps something to do with mapping along the way.

Favorite Songs of birth year: Wanted dead or alive -Bon Jovi , Welcome to the jungle -Guns N Roses (1987)

Family Composition: Mother-Janet Father-John Brothers- James, Justin.....(All J's i know!)

Most Anticipated Cities: Barcelona, Munich

Most anticipated acitivity: Bungee jumping

Least anticipated activity: Bungee jumping

Motivation to go on this trip: No time like the present!

What you'll miss most while gone: SOCCER!!......oh family and friends too ;)

City I would add if we could go longer: Milan

One thing most people don't know about me: other than the back yard ive never even gone camping let alone traveling the world for 60 days....should be interesting!

Name: Evan... Stuart or Stewart (I should know the proper way to spell that but my ID is just out of reach right now) ... Brink

Nickname: Brink

Schooling: ...Fourth-ish year?

Future: PhD in Psych

Favorite song that came out in your birth year: "Happy Birthday Dear Evan"

Family composition: If you know any other Brinks... they're with me

Most anticipated city: Berlin, Vienna, Venice and Amsterdam

Most anticipated activity: Bungee Jumping in Interlaken

Least anticipated activity: Informing one set of parents that we've lost their child somewhere overseas in a foreign country...

Motivation to go on this trip: To put a check mark beside one of the biggest goals on my life's To-Do List

What you'll miss most while gone: Family, Friends, and all Molson Products

City you'd add on if we could go for longer: Pamplona

One thing most people don't know about you: We're spending a few days in Prague...but until very recently thought Prague was in Russia...

Best joke: Question = How Many SMU student does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Answer = None! We'll drink in the dark!

Name: Kelsie Baker

Nickname: Kels, Kelly

Schooling: 3rd Year Nursing at Dal

Future: Working with babies/kids

Favorite song that came out in your birth year: "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany (1987)

Family composition: Mommy, Daddy, Nina, Bud, Kenny, ME,

Most anticipated city: Venice

Most anticipated activity: London Zoo, Gondola ride, Room service on the cruise

Least anticipated activity: My first flight

Motivation to go on this trip: To figure out where Europe is on a map...

What you'll miss most while gone: my twin sister + family + friends (+ cat)

City you'd add on if we could go for longer: Any of the Greek Islands

One thing most people don't know about you: I touch food to my nose before eating it...

As the World Turns...

The date is nearing for our European Odyssey and we are all starting to do the things that we have been putting off until "closer to the trip". This blog will primarily be used to show off the best of our pictures, give quick updates and allow you guys to leave comments for us while we are away. We figured this might be easier than having to check facebook, hotmail, etc. every

time we find a computer (especially since we'll be paying for the time in euros).

It's hard to believe we started this process last June

The planning stages were intense and have taken the place of a colossal amount of studying. This began as a 20 day trip including flights there and back. I will put the real plans up soon (probably, again, instead of studying) but suffice it to say that we are now tracking at 300% of that including our luxury cruise accross the Atlantic.

(That is actually the lobby on the boat ^)

Anyway, when I get sufficiently bored I will put up our itinerary for everyone to ogle (Kelsie said to include a definition for that: verb, used with object- meaning to look at amorously, flirtatiously, or impertinently). I hope you guys keep watching this space and keep commenting!