The Famous Pesto Pizza in Cinque Terre

View of Cinque Terre

Water is see thru...didn't you know?

Gimmelwald Picnic

Gimmelwald II

Gimmewald I

Riding the lift to Gimmelwald

Going Down Sacre Couer

Inside the Colosseum

Gelato in Rome

Tight Squeeze at the BullFight in Madrid

Video from Florence, Italy

Denia, Spain

Hey everyone...we are now at home, but as promised we are going to finish blogging about the rest of our trip as well as posting videos and images. Here are a few images of Denia from our room. The first image is a view in front of our room. The second image is of Pete...looking like a lobster. The first day at the beach he got so burnt...at the end of the night he was neon pink, the image doesn't do it justice. The third image was of the washing machine in our room...WE WERE SO SO EXCITED! You have no idea how much you forget about the little things once you are away...incase we never mentioned it before we were washing our clothes in the sink at our hotels rooms and were hanging them to dry. Twice, once in Florence and once in Cinque Terre, we actually paid the money to wash and dry them at a laundry mat...which is still not the same as having your own! So, I made Pete take a picture with it! I think I washed like 8 loads a day...It was great! Then, the last image was from our balcony...all of the rooms overlooked the pool and restaurant. We never made it to the pool...but it was nice to look at :)

Journey to Denia, Spain

As we mentioned in our last blog we only stayed in Barcelona one night...we took an early morning train to Denia, Spain...and yes, we almost missed it again! We thought we had the metro route down pat, and we did...until we exited the metro station instead of taking the underground short cut to the train station and once you exit you have to pay to re enter, even if you don´t get on the metro. But..Pete, being the trouper that he is carried both of our bags and ran as fast as we could to the train station...unfortunately we had a map because we didn´t know our way around Barcelona at all! Got to the train station about 5 minutes before our train and being that there was a bombing in 2004 at a train station in Spain they have TIGHT security...it is like an airport...and this was the only train that checks your tickets before you get on...but we made it, somehow!!! Thank goodness we did because they cost about $100 Euros...even with our EuroPass! It wasn´t long until we figured out why they say Spain has the best trains! When we first got on the train we were offered headphones for the tv or radio, choice of orange juice, wine, or champagne and a snack of dried fruit and nuts...then they came through with a cart of about 10 different newspapers and magazines...unfortunately they were all in Spanish...but we got a magazine and looked at the pictures. Then we got a snack that had a sandwich, spinach roll, and cake with choice of drinks (including free alchol) and after the snack they come around and ask if you want coffee, tea, or mini alchol bottles (again all free)...then we got lunch! Basically the train was awesome...It sure made the 5 hour ride much better.

We then arrived in Alicante, Spain where we had to walk about 30 minutes to a tram station...which we then took 2 trains totalling about 3 hours. The ride was long, but we were able to see all of the gorgeous Spanish coast. And, yes...I´m sure you are all wondering...the beaches are topless...and some are nude! So needless to say, the train ride was interesting.

When we arrived in Denia we found our hotel...which was at a resort. Thank you mom for trading in your timeshare so we could stay here! We were able to stay at a wonderful resort for the price would have paid for 2 days anywhere else! Basically...if we would not have stayed in Denia we would have had to come home a week early...because let us tell you, Europe is EXPENSIVE!

We hate to do this again, but the internet cafe is closing so we have to get off, but we will continue posting when we get home. We leave for the airport at 3;00 this morning...See you when we get home. Hope you have enjoyed our blogs...we love you!

Barcelona

Well we finally arrived at our hotel in Barcelona about 21:30...fortunately in Spain they eat dinner (or supper) very late. As you can imagine, we were exhausted...so we looked for a restaurant within walking distance to our hotel. We were kind of bummed that the only thing we had time for in Barcelona was to eat dinner, because we had to leave at 8:00 the next morning to catch a train to Denia, Spain. However, on our one journey out while enjoying a nice tapas meal...we got a...I guess you could say a quite exciting memory. By the way, tapas is a Spanish style of dining that involves several little appetizers while you enjoy your adult beverages of choice. (Kristen...I thought of you while we were eating it...your logo was so much better).
Once again we were ordering blindly and the server spoke VERY little English, so we decided to get a variety...and boy did we! We had so many tapas plates that the waiter had to stack plates on the shelf beside us...everyone probably thought we were pigs...and yes...we ate them all, that´s what a day of travel will do for an appetite!
Towards the end of our meal the excitement hit. At first we thought this group of women in the back of the restaurant were yelling because they were enjoying many adult beverages and having a large, loud time! But we soon realize something was wrong...as we looked up to see what the commotion was we noticed a scruffy, as Pete would call him a G-Thug, bolting for the door with our waiter running behind him...he had quietly walked into the restaurant and stolen one of the lady´s bags. It was weird though, because we were sitting at the door and had we had know or understood Spanish we would have been able to stop him...but by the time we realized what was going on he was already out the door. Talk about some drama...just about everyone in the restaurant was outraged and half of them left to see if the waiter had caught him. Turns out he had an accomplice who made off with the bag, but the waiter caught him and turned him over the the police. Go waiter...poor thing, when he came back he was so sweaty and out of breath...but we tipped him really well...afterall it was the only excitement for us during our VERY short stay in Barcelona.

We stayed in Hotel Azul...which was so nice, even nicer than our hotel in Rome! We had a living area with a couch, a table, a seperate room that had a built stereo system, flat screen tv in both rooms...and A BIG BIG shower. Well really it was about normal size for the States, but compared to all our previous rooms it was HUGE! We would highly recommend this place, however we can´t recommend the town because we didn´t really see it! Maybe next time...

A few pictures from Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre...The Five Lands, Mainly Vernazza

SURPRISE, Rome pictures just uploaded, it only took one hour. Sorry they are on the wrong blog, but we can´t erase them now.

After a long train ride from Rome we finally arrived in Vernazza, Italy which is located on the Italian Riviera. As you all know, up until that point we had been nonstòp going and doing. We were really looking forward to the small, scenic, old world town...sitting on the edge of the sea. Don´t get us wrong we enjoyed every second of our hectic sight seeing schedule, but we could tell our bodies were due for a rest. Vernazza, which is known as the crown jewel of the five lands of Cinque Terre was just the break we needed...when you arrive on the small regional train, there is sign that says no vehicles allowed...it´s great, because the whole town is pedestrian or boat only...big difference from the traffic nightmare in previous towns :)

This place is hard to explain in words because it takes you back to an era before the hectic life styles of most modern technology. People here live a much different lifestyle that anywhere we´ve ever been. It´s like you drop out of 2009, straight into 1909 (except for some small modern conveniences such as refrigeration and electricity). I want to open a bed and breakfast there...but Pete´s not quite convinced!

THE FOOD...two things that Vernazza has that can´t be beaten anywhere that we know of and unfortunately we still crave them daily! First, the pizza...Pesto, Pesto, Pesto! I know you think pizza...really?...but folks, let us tell you this is THE BEST pizza in the world! It was so good...we ate it everyday with no regrets (thank goodness it was so cheap). Everything´s handmade and the ingredients are as fresh and home grown. While eating at our favorite pizza place, Pete also discovered his loved for a salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and olives. I think he has eaten them in some form or fashion everyday since, seriously! We even had to buy them at the grocery store when we were in Denia, Spain. I think I only ate 3 olives out of the whole jar and we brought the leftover oil and vinegar with us to Madrid. Go Pete!

Next...favorite number 2! Can you guess...Gelato! Not just any gelato, but the very best...and served by a really cute Italian who must have thought we were equally cute, because on our second day there he asked to take our picture for their Facebook group. We got his card, and are going to try and find it when we get home...but right now it´s in our huge bag of papers, receipts, maps, etc! Anyway, back to the gelato...this stuff blew away all others that came before! Pete and I have even talked of trying to start our own gelato stand back home with this guys help :)Like it will ever happen...but it´s a nice thought!

Also...concerning food...I had been craving seafood, well really anything other than bread! So we decided to splurge on one nice meal. We ordered what we thought was a salad and got an octopus salad...which was surprisingly good! It´s a good thing we didn´t know it was octopus at first or we might have been a little hesitant, needless to say we were thankful we tried it anyway because we would eat it again in a heartbeat!

Incase you guys were thinking the only things we did while we were there was eat, you are practically right...however...we also enojoyed some relaxing beach time at one of the other 4 towns, Monterosso and we took two nice hikes.

One quick funny story...while enjoying our favorite pesto pizza we sat next to an Australian father and daughter (the father was probably in his 80s and was born in Italy before moving to Australia where he ended up marrying a "kangaroo", that´s what he called her). During this pleasant conversation, she asked if we were from the Southern part of the US after noticing Pete´s constant use of "yes mam or no mam"...she said she that Elvis used the same lingo and knew he was from that area. How random that she picked out Pete´s dialect and put us within the same state...since Elvis was born in Tupelo after all :)

Again with a train story...seems to be a reoccurring event with us! Originally we had planned on taking a night train to Barcelona to save time and money. When we went to reserve our tickets for the night train we found out the train only runs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday...unfortunately we needed it for Thursday (about par for course as Pete says)! So...after several searches the attendant gave us an itinerary which consisted of 6 different trains over a 24 hour period, meaning that we wouldn´t arrive in Barcelona until 19:00 the following day...leaving Cinque Terre at 17:00 the day before! To make things worse, if this is possible we would have a 5 hour lay over in the small town of Viglamanti, Italy...the layover was from 23:30 to 5:00! We originally thought we would be able to tough it out and stay up all night at the train station, because we had not budgeted for a hotel. When we arrived at the train station we located the station police office and layed out our picnicing blanket just outside the door...only a few feet from the local bums. Needless to say it didn´t take long for us to realize this would not do...plus it smelled like urine! What were we thinking, staying up all night at a train station!!! We quickly decided to find the most well lit streets and searched for a hotel...fortunately the second one we came to only two blocks from the station was open and had a room avaliable (the most expensive room of our whole trip). It was well worth the money...we were only there for about 3.5 hours, but were able to get a shower and a nice nap before the full day of travel to come. Thank you Mrs. Joy for letting us use the emergency card :)

The rest of the journey went fairly well...we will continue with Barcelona in the next post.

Picture Problems...Again

Once again we are at a computer whose ability to upload pictures is very lacking...we have been trying to load one picture for the last 45 minutes...it´s sad to say but I think we will have to wait until we get home in a few days to post anymore images. Also, we plan on putting a collection of photos and videos on disk making copies for anyone who would like one. So basically, even though we will be home in a few days you can keep checking the blog for updates...we will try another internet cafe tomorrow. Sorry for the let down but we promise it hasn´t been for lack of effort.

Train Story

Well like we mentioned in our last post...the train incident that was almost bad. We got up early intending to make it to the train station with time to spare...but keeping to true form, we left the hotel behind schedule...very behind. We thought the train left at 8:30, but about 6:50 Pete looked at the ticket and realized it left at 7:30. Of course this just happened to be the morning we decide to put off packing until the morning and still had lots to do. We had to tell the guy at the hotel to cancel our breakfast, but he had already fixed it...so while rushing to pack we CRAMMED our faces with breakfast. We took off for the train station and tried to find a taxi to avoid the bus (remember our last bus excursion)...unfortunately we didn´t have enough cash on us...so we ran for the bus. As we were on the bus about ten minutes from the station the clock turned 7:30...oh and we forgot to mention we prepaid for our tickets! When we finally got to the station (very sweaty and exhausted...our bags are still very heavy) it was already well passed the scheduled departure time so we got in the customer service line. Fortunately, we just happened to look at the schedule board...HOORAY, our train was delayed for some miraculous reason! We hauled butt and made it...It was a miracle! Needless to say, we have been checking our departure times the night before :)

P.S. We are in an internet cafe...jammed in here like sardines, Pete is about to have a heat stroke and this crazy guy just walked in with a black Albert Einstien wig, a tie standing straight up and a weird trench coat...and smells like pure alcohol...just thought we would share.

Rome Part II

Well this was definitly an eventful day! We began the day with a huge breakfast in our room! Then, headed over to tour Ancient Rome...a bunch of rubble and ruins, which was to be expected after hundreds of years of conflict and war. Pete soaked it all in, while I was more interested in getting to the Vatican. We thought we were going fine on our time and decided to grab a bite at cheap buffet located near the Vatican, that was recommended in our guide book. We took a bus from the Heart of Rome which took us a few blocks south of the Vatican wall. Because the buffet was on the north side and on the top of a hill we decided to take another bus to save time...BIG MISTAKE! We were trying to save time because the Vatican musuem stops letting people in at 16:00 and we wanted plenty of time to stand in line. Even though we had a map of the bus routes...we apparently read it wrong and headed in the opposite direction. About 1.5 hours later, through the Roman ghetto (which our guide book says STAY OUT of this sketchy neighborhood) we ended up off the map at the bus route...the driver who spoke no English told us to get off the bus! After showing on the map where we intened to be he realized we had messed up and told us to wait on this corner of the ¨ghetto¨. After a confusing wait we got on another bus and headed north, back to the same place we got on...Got off the bus, with 15 minutes til 16:00...and practically ran a mile only to find we were one minute late! Needless to say...I was a mess, because this was the most important site to me in all of Europe! So...after shaking it off (as Aiden would do) we went across the street to get a quick bite, because we never made it to the buffet and were STARVING...we got cold, nasty lasagna and 2 cokes...which to our surprise was $28 Euro! What a rip off...could that day get any worse! At this point our spirits were low, and we wondered if we could ever salvage the day.

We then decided to make the best of it and went to St. Peters Basilica...thank goodness we did! This was probably the only place in all of Rome that could lift our spirits...and boy did it! This was truely the most touching experience of our entire trip. St. Petér´s is largest, most ornate church in the world! Pictures just don´t do it justice...Pete and I were both brought to tears...and not necessarily by the building itself, but the thought in which it provoked. Upon entering we both kneeled and said a little prayer and our hearts were truly touched. Too much to explain, we will give more details when we get back home. After taking in the church with all its architecture and artistic glory, we decided to go to the top of the cupola (which is the largest dome in the world). Because our legs were so tired from the run to make the Vatican Museum we decided to pay a little extra and take the elevator half way up...climbing the stairs within the dome was really neat...it was day to skip your V8 because you had to lean to accomidate the shape of the hallway around the dome...pictured above (Pete is standing up straight).

Because we had to catch an early train we decided to take it easy and eat a nice dinner at a cafe close to our hotel....being that we were a little weiry of buses. The dinner was so so, but it did the trick.

ALso, somewhere in our short stay we enjoyed some delicious gelato...of course! We have a video to share later...hopefully.

We are about to run out of time...but we have much more to share, including an eventful trip to the train station! Will explain in later posts. Bye!

Rome Part

Despite what people had told us, Rome was one of our top two favorite cities...we hate that we only got two days to enjoy it! We loved, loved Rome and hope to go back some day! There is so much history and culture that you would need atleast a week to get a feel for this wonderful city! We arrived and were non stop until we left!

Aside from the city...we loved our hotel! We highly recommend the Imperial Nuvona! Up until that point, it was the best room by far...we also received wonderful customer service. One of the things that made our hotel so great was the location...we were a couple blocks away from Piazza Nuvona...which was a lovely square filled with artists, music, performers, and lots of food choices. It was nice to be tucked away in a quiet corner of such a big city. Now...to the city itself. We began our tour at the Collisium, something we´ve always wanted to see...especially Pete. He was amazed that something so big was constructed without power equipment! It´s hard to imagine the effort that must have been required to move these massive stones into place. The architecture itself was astounding and facsinating. We tried to imagine a day in the life of a Roman citizen taking part in the specticles and events which took place in this massive structure. It´s amazing! But beware of the pushy modern gladiators that haggle you to take a picture with them and then charge you a tourist fee...quite rude!

We rushed over to the Pantheon only to find we had missed it by mere minutes...which seems to be our specialty on this trip! So we decided to put a picnic together at the market and head to the Spanish Steps...along with several other important sites on the way. Including the famous marblized McDonalds...only to find out it was harder to locate then we thought...and we weren´t about to go looking for it at such a late hour in it´s sketchy neighborhood. Our picnic was lovely, as always...and I (Loren) had to threaten a rose pusher when he tried to force Pete to buy me a rose! These guys just don´t listen...and they are EVERYWHERE!!!

Alive and Well!

Sorry it has been so long since our last post...the last time we posted was over a week ago in Florence. Since then so much has happened...hopefully we can remember most of the details. Since then we have been to Rome, Vernazza (Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera), Barcelona, and are currently relaxing in Denia, Spain. We would have posted sooner, but Rome was so busy and everywhere else internet has been REALLY expensive...so we hope you understand our delay.

Next time...

Well for some reason the computer has stopped allowing us to post pictures. We will try and post images from Florence when we get to Rome...we catch a train at 8:30 tomorrow morning and will be there for 2 days.

Images from Florence

As promised, here are a few pictures from Florence...and we even posted them while we are still here! Pete hasn't taken any pictures since we've been in Florence so the selection is not as good...enjoy! The first image is Pete looking down at me from the staircase up to our hotel...pretty neat, the stairs are made out of stone and it smells like a basement. 2: This is what the street looks like after the market...trash everywhere. 3: Interesting window display...space suit anyone? 4: Us eating some yummy gelato (while waiting in line like we mentioned earlier today). 5: Pete sitting on the side of the river with the Old Bridge in the background

More Florence...

Day 2 started with blogging at the Internet cafe, followed by pizza at a small Pizzeria. After that, we got more gelato and headed to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David....which is AMAZING! So much bigger and better in real life...we were going to attempt a photo, but after seeing others get cursed out in Italian we opted to pass. Sorry guys! By the way, the gelato was fabulous as always, and makes a museum line bearable.



We walked through some open air markets (just to look due to such a tight budget). Speaking of markets, Florence has AMAZING stores! It's hard to walk by the window displays and not go in the stores (for me more than Pete). They have every kind of high end fashion imaginable.



One nice thing about our hotel is the free cappuccino and chocolate filled croissants in our room each morning! To get into our hotel we have 3 keys...which open 3 BIG doors...this makes us feel safe. Florence is not what we expected...we will explain when we get home. But, one thing is for sure...watch for pick pocketers!



Last night (night 2) we enjoyed a FABULOUS dinner! The sign outside said free cover and one free drink for students...most European restaurants charge around a 4 Euro service fee just to sit down. So...they won us over with such a great deal! We had a great Greek salad with fresh mozzarella and veggies, a great house wine, and a brick oven pizza with basil and eggplant...and course bread with oil and vinegar. Delizioso!



Again with the budget, because pizza is splittable and cheap we have found ourselves eating lots of it! By the time we get home, we should be pizza connoisseurs :)



We plan on visiting the Uffizi and climbing the Duomo before the day is through. We are about to go across the street to a grocery store and pick up some picnic goodies. Finally caught up on our blogging...feels good. Until next time, Ciao!

Florence

Well we are getting close to being caught up on our blogs...minus a few videos we still hope to post. But we are currently enjoying our last day in Florence. Let's jump back to day one.

Our first priority in Florence was LAUNDRY! You can only wash your underwear in the sink so many times before the stink won't wash off...haha. Fortunately, we were only a few minutes from a laundry mat...it sure makes you appreciate having a washer and dryer in your home! Goal 2 was to buy/reserve our train tickets to avoid another situation like the one we encountered from Paris to Interlaken! Got the tickets...avoided the long lines by learning how to use the electric kiosk on our own...YAAAY!


After taking care of business, we researched some local eateries within our very tight budget and found a local Italian restaurant (trattoria). The food, spaghetti with marinara and ravioli with cheese and spinich, bruscetta (however you spell it...you get the idea) was probably some of the best we ever had! We would have stepped out of the box and experimented a bit more, but due to grumpy waiter's lack of English and our lack of Italian vocabulary we decided to play it safe by pointing to what others were eating! After our Indionnesian experience and knowledge that that locals enjoy pig brains and horse meat we were thankful our meal didn't include either.





After our meal...we found a gelato stand that came highly recommended in our guide book. Gelato is famous in Florence, however we have found it to be fabulous in every town so far. Pete actually likes the gelato in Paris best so far...and I was a huge fan of the watermelon gelato in Bruge. They say to get the full experience you need to blend different flavors...but Pete ALWAYS gets the strawberry as one of his picks. While enjoying our gelato we walked across the old bridge, Ponte Vecchio, where a man played classical guitar for all the people to enjoy...It was magical and so romantic! Too bad we didn't bring our cameras to capture the moment.





Speaking of capturing moments...It's been difficult to take photos in this town, between the narrow sidewalks and KILLER scooter drivers! You really have to watch out for these guys as you cross the street...they don't seem to care if the light is red and seem to enjoying speeding up as you attempt to cross the street! So far, we've only lost a toe...just kidding! Don't worry mothers, we have been super precautious :)

On top of Sacre Couer

A few random thoughts...

Europeans love American music...everywhere we go you hear it...from the radio, to bars, to live music. We actually heard the Hanson Brothers in a bar, and street performers singing Sweet Home Alabama...it's a nice reminder of home. Makes us proud!

Another thing...Obama is a SUPERSTAR over here...he's everywhere! He's on tshirts, hats, posters, tabloids, and we even saw a live performer painting a picture of him at the Pompido Museum (the modern art museum we spoke about in a previous blog).

The image is not very good, we had to snap it fast so the merchant wouldn't yell at us...but if you look closely you can see a poster for sale of Obama transposed on the Statue of Liberty. This was shot on our way to the internet

cafe in one of the open air markets.

Pictures from Gimmelwald, Switzerland

Incase you are confused by the title...we stayed in Interlaken, which is a base camp to enter the mountains. Gimmelwald sits up in the Swiss Alps and 3 train rides, a bus ride, and a lift away from Interlaken. Basically, you sleep in Interlaken and play in the mountains.

Gimmelwald is the most beautiful place we have ever seen...straight out of the movies Heidi and the Sound of Music, and yes at one point we broke with "the hills are alive with the sound of music"...you can see God's work in this place. The town has a saying, "If heaven isn't all it's cracked up to be...take me back to Gimmelwald."

Once we arrived mountain side, we began our hike with a short trip through the small village...sounds of cow bells and farmers working their hay echoed down the hillside. Before we left home we printed out several hiking trails...we chose an easy one which was about 1.25 hours each way. Of course with all our stops to take pictures and soak in the scenery it took about 2.5 each way. Half way through the hike, we found a beautiful spot in the valley where we took a break and had a lovely picnic. We have a video that we hope to post, but just incase...the picnic included a loaf of fresh baked bread, salami, edam cheese, yogurt, plums, and bar of Swiss milk chocolate for desert. As we set down to enjoy this picnic, a wild mountain goat came up for a closer look to see what was on the menu...but Pete got a big rock and promised to protect me, luckily he didn't have to use it. Also...at one point during our hike, the trail narrowed to about 3 feet wide, was very rocky, with a drop about 100 ft on one side directly into the swirling rapids below...pretty scary! It was such a great experience...we regret not alloting more time for this place. You could spend weeks here...if your budget allowed (getting to the mountains is pricey).

There are some hostels and resorts in the mountains, but you have to book them ahead of time. The town of Interlaken was very laid back. Our hostel was nice and the people were really helpful...and they make a mean Sangria :)

Road Bumps to Switzerland

Originally we had planned for 2 days in Interlaken, Switzerland. However, we failed to reserve our train tickets ahead of time...and almost got stuck in Paris another night. The man at the ticket booth told us there were no seats leaving that day, but luckily we have 1st class Eurail Passes and when he saw this, he altered his search and found a PRICEY ticket that included 5 trains and 4 changes...but it was music to our ears (we would have had to pay for another room in Paris plus the room in Switzerland we already reserved). We arrived at the train station approximately 12:00 and arrived in Interlaken at 24:00...fortunately the walk to the hostel was safe and short. Thank goodness for first class tickets...the image shows Pete with our many tickets!

A Few More Pictures from Paris

From top to bottom, left to right: 1. Moulin Rouge 2. In front of Sacre Couer 3. Inside the Louve 4. Night Picnic under the Eiffel Tower 5. Behind Notre Dame

Once again...

Sorry guys, but once again we are going to have to finish this later. It takes so long to upload pictures and video that it's hard to get anything done. We have been at the internet cafe for 2 hours now and have only got these few posts...as much as we would like to stay and get caught up...Florence is waiting. They stay open late though, so we will try and come back tonight to upload more pictures. Until next time...Cioa!

Paris Day 2

This is a small clip just before we entered the Louve. I wan't to start the video over but Pete wouldn't let me...he said it was cute (whatever). FYI: I'm typing but Pete is sitting next to me, editing as I type. After walking so much the first day, we took my brother A.J.a's advice and decided to use public transportation...definitely worth the money! We arrived at the Louve and began our tour of this massive museum....it would be impossible to view everything in one day so we hit the highlights (still took a few hours)...which mainly reside in the Denon wing. We saw paintings from Titian, Giotto, and of course Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. So many other master's works but not enough time to name them all...wish we could post all the pictures Pete took. From the Louve we caught a bus to Sacre Couer and climbed up to the dome...the view was magnificient. It seems like every place we go we climb some sort of tower or dome which has a minimum of 200 steps!

Ok, well as we are typing we are realizing that our timeline may be a little off, but the experiences are all the same. Sorry if it gets confusing or out of order. We are running out of time for Paris...so in a nutshell, we also: had a night time picnic on the lawn under the Eiffel Tower, picniced there again the following day for lunch (unfortunately we had to throw away our leftovers to enter a museum), we also saw Modern art at the Pompidou...which I loved and Pete thought it was "a bit strange"...except for some Picassos and a few other works. Saw Notre Dome, didn't climb due to a line that was about 2 miles long! The last night we went down Pigalle and saw the Moulin Rouge.

A few key things about Paris: People were friendlier and more helpful then the stereotypes led us to believe. They drive like maniacs...but not as bad as here in Florence. Such a beautiful time, we were there only 3 days and you would need a lifetime, or atleast a week to see it all!

Paris Day I

Well we can't figure out how to rotate these images with the programs we have avaliable...oh yeah that reminds me (Loren...I'm typing) that the computers are set in their language so we can't read any of the commands and the keyboards are different. But anyway, here are a few pictures from our fist day in Paris...which was great! The people were a lot nicer than we expected. So, when we arrived of course as you all know by now we dropped off our heavy bags at our hotel...which was very small but lovely. The shower was probably the smallest so far...don't drop the soap unless you can pick it up with your feet...haha. We started our self guided walking tour through Paris...walked by the Louve (freakin HUGE), continued down Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe...what a lovely stroll. You can't imagine how big the Arc is until you are actually standing under it...you have to go through a tunnel to get to it...very neat. From there...we walked to the Eiffel Tower. We found the shortest line and waited to buy our tickets...it wasn't until we bought them that we realized we had to climb the stairs instead of riding the lift. Wow, what a climb it was...trying to keep up with Pete's pace was exhausting! We decided that the 2nd level view was good enough for us (also cheaper). The first picture is a view from the second level...gorgeous with the setting sun. Fortunately, we were able to ride the lift back down where we met a couple from Georgia on the last night of their honeymoon...they gave us some great tips. One of which was to see Sacre Coeur, a basillica that rests of the highest point in Paris. All in all, we walked about 15- 20 miles our first day in Paris.

Picnic at the Eiffel Tower (Day 2)

We have lots of videos, and we just figured out how to load them...the only problem is it takes about 30 minutes to load each one...we will try to get them all on eventually. This video is from our second night in Paris.

On the go...

We just wanted to say sorry for not posting in a few days, but we have been SO busy and time seems to fly by. We are trying to pack so much activity into each country. Since we last posted, we've spent 3 days in Paris, 2 in Switzerland (1 day travel 1 day sightseeing), and 1.5 days in Florence. Locating internet cafes is not as easy as we had hoped...we have had internet access where we have been staying, but no computer...and the blogspot is not compatible with Pete's phone (as we hoped it would be). Please bare with us...we have lots to share.

Belgium Bound...

We woke up early and made the train to Belgium with no problems. Arrived in Bruge around 12:00, found the hostel where we were staying...small delay...room wasn't ready. Fortunately, the hostel had a bar/restaurant connected to it...enjoyed a pizza and a complimentary Belgium beer sampler. Very good!

After settling in, we packed a day bag and set out to explore Bruge. We climbed the Belfry, a very old monistery with a very tall bell tower...what a view. Then we rented bikes to escape the tourist trails and get lost in the backroads and parks of Bruge. Great idea, it's been one of our best experiences yet. We had so much fun getting lost that we didn't realize until about 19:30 that the chocolate stores had already closed (It doesn't get dark here until 22:30). We went to bed early to rest up for the journey ahead.

Where we left off...

Well last time we posted we were headed to try Indonesian, which was at one time a Dutch colony...and is now apart of the culture. Well, we tried it...and it will be the last time we ever do! We received what would amount to a sampling dish, of about 12 small dishes served with white and yellow rice (you add coconut to the white). Unfortunately, there wasn't a dish that we enjoyed. We barely put a dent in the VERY EXPENSIVE meal. It was definately a learning experience we will never forget...but you never know unless you try.

More Pictures

Here are a few more images...We do more than eat, promise! The image of the bicycles is right outside Central Station...It's a Dutch parking lot. Don't the pancakes look delicious? And...the first image: Well that's a public urinal???