internet again!!

we are currently in Munich, Germany and have wifi in our hostel finally!

there is very much to recap but thought i'd give a brief overview of some of the places we've been since last writing while larry and i are sitting in the bar of our hostel having some German beers with a friend from Australia who we met here.

Italy:

Cinque Terra was absolutely beautiful. I was astounded that a place like this even existed. We stayed in Rio Magorrie (the first or last town of the 5 depending on which way you look at it) it was tiny, about 150 people and right on the ocean built of cliffs on both sides. While we had to work to get to our room on the top of one of the cliff-sides and then climb to the top flat it was well worth it. Somehow we got set up in the "suite" with a seating area, big bed and wrap around balcony overlooking the entire town as well as the entire expanse of the water.We ended up having dinner at the same small restaurant just down from our room both nights we were there. The first night ended up being one of Larrys favorite meals and the second night was absolutely on of my favorites of the trip. Aside from the table we had (both nights) on the terrace overlooking the ocean this was an absolute goldmine. The pesto and fresh fish was enough to send us back the second night when I fell in love with the carpaccio and lobster ravioli particularly. We did the hike through all 5 towns which was unlike anything Ive ever done. While during the hike I may not have been the happiest after all the crazy paths, steep rock steps and scary areas without anything between yourself and what would be quite the dramatic fall down the sides, it was an incredible experience. At the end of this day we crawled down to some huge boulders sitting in the water and laid out in the sun. Like I said, this place was unbelievable.

Florence:

Did lots here but what sticks out the most in my mind, what most of our finances went towards here and what you are "supposed" to do in Tuscany was the EATINGGGGG. Some of the most delicious meals we had came from Florence and we did it well. A few highlights were a black truffle (aside from carpaccio, my new favorite indulgence..dangerous i know) pasta, a florentine steak which only gets sold by the gram. It is a MASSIVE steak served on the bone and rare. Larry and I enjoyed this on our second night with a traditional bread soup (mostly mushy vegetables in a bowl.. which gillian you will know I absolutely loved) and roasted vegetables. We had some ridiculous breakfasts here as well..one day we had a belgian waffle sandwich filled with nutella and banana gelato and another morning we had pizza from this amazing place called gusta pizza.

(ill be more brief now as I'm borrowing our friend's computer and could go on forever)

Rome:

We're still talking about italy so there is no surprise that food it something that first comes to my mind... The first night in Campo de Fiori after a frightening bus ride through the city we had a flat fee no menu meal from at a restaurant where the Italian mother creates an undocumented menu different each night and her sons cook and serve a large 5 course meal with wine. After the 5 plates of antipasti were put down I had to ask larry if these were our 5 courses...but of course they were just the first. we continued with 2 pastas (right after being set down one of the sons came out with the huuuuge serving dishes and plopped some more down in our bowls), italian beef, zucchini, mozzarella and delicous pie with a nectarine and peach compote on the side.

much more to add here..and i can't even believe looking back on what I've just wrote that all of that was about just one meal. But again, we were in Italy so any guilt can be written off by the cliche saying "When in Rome..."

Just one more highlight before moving on (and not about food!!) I absolutely loved the Colosseum. As a closet Greek and Roman history/mythology fan it was just the coolest thing I have seen yet. Larry downloaded a podcast that essentially took us on a private tour..it was really just amazing.

Athens:

we only spent a few hours here but got to see the Acropolis and the Parthenon..again the dork in my was very pleased. Oh, and obviously right off the plane we grabbed a gyro! the boat to mykonos was cool too! Huge! It only made me want to go on a cruise even more..

Mykonos:

The place we stayed reminded me of the condo areas in Florida but of course white stucco with blue shutters..as were every other building. Actually, each place next door to each other made sure to shade their shutters a slightly different blue. From turquoise, to royal to powder blue, it was all very classic and very beautiful

I hate to stop here but we are leaving for some more beer, and I can guarantee I'll be having a bratwurst for dinner. Sorry to cut short but at least there's some more information on here now!!

Hopefully back soon!

Or not...

It's 4:50am right now, and we're headed out the door to catch our flight from Rome to Athens. Aside from today being a cluster of transportation connections, we're not real sure when our next internet connection is going to spring up.

As a result, the highlight reel may not make it. Sorry!

Stay tuned...

So Heather and I have been keeping journals about our trip, and we've been way better about updating the journals than we have about updating the blog. As a result, we decided we needed to create a highlight list for the blog of all the ridiculous things we've discussed/recorded/remembered about our trip that hasn't quite made the blog yet.

Unfortunately, Heather fell asleep before our intenet usage got extended to the highlight list (we drank god knows how how much wine tonight, let alone this past week). So check back soon for a quick update on why Eurotripping is everything the movies want to make it out to be!

Just Some Pictures

So there is a sweet plasma/PC setup in our room in Rome, so we dragged the few photos I had on my phone to share with everyone. Enjoy!

This was still at Ohare, somebody was flying across the atlantic with their race car safely in tow in the luggage portion of our plane.

In the morning and night in Madrid at the Plaza Mayor

We had an all organic breakfast, yogurt granola parfait, quiche, cafe con leche and iced green tea

We had late night tapas in the Plaza the night before with cheese, calimari, croquettes and sangria

This place was always busy with people day or night. Although the cross dressing clown, less than fit spider man and squeaking green costumed street performers waited for daylight.

Larry being "a happy guy" at lunch in Florence at la Giostra. The place was small and authentic donning a wide collection of red wine bottles, pictures of the manager(?) owner(?) in what appears to be his signature covering of metal bracelets with guests and flashing christmas lights.

We had prosecco and an assortment of antipasti (as "a gift"), unique chardonnay, homemade ravioli with pear and ricotto (proving to be one of our favorite pasta fillings here or anywhere) and seabass in the richest red wine and tomoato reduction ever.

Quite the lunch after our Gusta Pizza breakfast that day

More to come!!

updates soon!!

hello!! apologies for the lack of update in a while. there was a computer in nice but we spent most of our time outdoors there and didnt spend time waiting for it to be our turn for the internet..then we have been experiencing a lack of technology (which is not always a bad thing) in cinque terra and florence. having just arrived in our room in Rome however, we are not only equipped with interet access but our large plasma tv doubles as a personal computer in our very own room. we are headed out now to see the Pathenon before it closes but promise to be back soon.

ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao
(we have come to the conclusion that nobody says ciao just once so that couldnt have been overdone)

Barcelona

Larry and I have been in Barcelona for the past couple days and loving it. Larry has even said he thinks Barcelona has been his favorite city so far. Right away the feeling is so different from Seville. It definitely has more of the big city feel but what´s so great is that there is still so much character. The architecture is beautiful and interesting as is the green landscape that is scattered everywhere throughout. If you look up some of the big streets you can see mountains (they may not actually be mountains but as a midwest girl used to the flatness, they are mountains to me...) so that is a very cool contrast.
Our hostel here is nice again. Very social and largely American. We stayed the past 2 nights in an 8 person room, there are probably 10 bathrooms and showers, 2 kitchens, a den, dining room and balcony.
When we first arrived we went right to get something to eat! As recommended by the staff here we went to a restaurant (one of the only ones that were open on a Sunday evening) called TappaTappa. We ordered lots of little dishes and enjoyed it all. The 3 cheese rissoto and brie with truffles was probably my favorite. That night we went out with the people from the hostel to a club called Roxy. We both had a great time and even knew pretty much all of the songs the DJ was playing.
Despite being exhasted the next day we had a full day of walking and exploring to do. We went to the market here at the end of La Rambla and bought some cheese, bread and fruit. In search of the botanic gardens we found a neat ¨jungley¨ feeling park where we ate and then continued on. We saw the olympic stadium and kind of by accident ended up on some smaller soccer fields. We were definitely outside of the main city so this whole area was surrounded by trees and plants. We made it to the botanic gardens, located on the side of one of the ¨mountains¨and walked around it. My favorite there were these plants that looked and felt like thick aloe vera leaves but they formed little rossettes. It looked like a bush of green rose flowers that would be on top of a cake!
After a long day of walking for hours we came back in search of a long leisurely dinner. We found it at Taverna de Catalana. We had the house wine, carpaccio (which was soooooooo good), potatoes, payella and truffles for dessert. It was delicious. Exhausted from our long day and big meal we went to bed pretty early. Today we have a few palces we would like to visit and will be heading to Nice for the next 3 nights.
Looking forward to it!

Paris to Spain

Now that I have a bit more time before I give Larry his computer time :) to recap what we have been up to.

So we left London a few days ago and arrived late in Paris. We had a great little room in Montmarte with a balcony. We also had a portable shower, which really brought meaning to the term "water closet" in our room. We went out to the Champs Elysses and had a nice French dinner. We didn't sit down until 12:30 and didn't finish eating until around 2am. We were amazed at still being served. But it was great. We then headed back for sleep as we had just the day the next day to see everything else! We woke up early and got some pasteries to eat on our balcony for breakfast. We then made our way around Paris visiting the Louvre (where we were trapped in an area for about half an hour without any idea how to to get out), Notre Dame, lunch in a nearby cafe, the Catacombs which were even creepier than I remember, the Eiffel Tower and just enough time to see Sacre Coeur and little bit of downtown Montmarte before leaving for the airport. We really perfected our public transportation skills here which left us much more confident and efficient.

We arrived late in Madrid that night. Our hotel here was on the 3rd (4th for Americans) floor of an old building. A great place though with full bathroom (small shower again), personal air conditioning and a TV in room. We walked around and happened upon the Plaza de Mayor which was great. A big square with lots of restaurants and cafes. Although 1am we were able to be seated for Tapas and sangria. The next day we went back to the Plaza de Mayor for breakfast/lunch which was very yummy (and organic!). We walked around and went into stores, visited a huge beautiful park and bought our train tickets for Seville.
For those of you who know about my search for "cutie beige heels" (very similar to my earlier in the year search for "cutie black pumps") I settled for black, but bought some very cool strappy sandal heels for only 18.50 euro that I am very happy with. Just in time for Barcelona nights tomorrow!
We arrived in Seville last night and I was feeling quite wiped out so Larry and I had a leisurlely night with dinner of tapas just around the corner from our very nice hostel. The floors are marble everywhere, the ceilings are high, we have a full bathroom en suite and on the roof there is a gorgeous terrace. Today we walked around a lot of Seville en route to the market where we bought kiwis, nectarines, strawberries, queso fresco, avacado and bread for all around 6 euro. So cheap and so delicious! We came back to the terrace and ate our lunch with some white wine. It is defintely hot here but still very enjoyable.
Tonight I believe we will be going to dinner at a place suggested by a friend (thanks Karina!!) where we will see a Flamenco show! We also met and talked with a young man who works here who is leading a pub tour tonight which we will probably go on.
I'm thinking a nap may be in order but everything is still wonderful and we're enjoying ourselves very much.

Madrid

Just a real quick post while Larrt checks out from ur hotel in Madrid. Paris was wonderful, even though we weren't there for very long. We got into Spain late last night but were able t sit down for tapas and sangria at 1am. Ill have to write more later.. off we go to Toldeo for the day!!

My Turn

Seeing as Heather is in the shower (I took mine yesterday), this seemed like a perfect time to hijack the blog!

The trip couldn't have started off any better. We were able to get around to so many different sites yesterday despite the rain, which allows us to really enjoy the parks today in the gorgeous 70 degree weather. I kept expecting Don Draper to come out with a London Fog commercial yesterday, so the sun is definitely appreciated.

As excited as I am for the parks and fish & chips (I bet Heather could sense I just wrote fish & chips!), tonight we spend the evening in Paris!

I'm out of time on the internet, so this post has to be cut short. At least it's clear we're both on the trip now!

Oh, and last night's show was so much fun. I'm not usually a huge theatre fan, but "The Real Thing" at the Old Vic was great!

LONDON

We made it to London yesterday around 10am and jumped right on the tube from the airport. We found our hostel "The Astor Museum" and dropped our bags off as check in wasn't until 2. Turns out we didn't even make it back until midnight! We spent the day exploring all over, getting some tea, visiting the Tate Modern Art museum, St. Paul Cathedral and the Globe Theater. We had dinner at Porters, as suggested to us for a classic English meal where Larry and I each had a traditional pie. After dinner we found ourselves in what was quite obviously a tourist area of London. We watched a street performer and contiued to explore discovering a beautiful plaza with fountains and grand statues. We came across a bar that looked busy called the "American Sports Bar". When we asked the doorman if by chance they would have the Stanley Cup on, it appeared he had no idea what hockey was. JUST found out we won!! Go Blackhawks!!!!

Today is has been a bit rainy, but we are getting the true London experience. After having a good lunch we went to see West Minister Abbey, the Houses of Parliment, Buckingham Palace and the British Museum. Tonight we are going to tosee a show at the Old Vic (recomended by our waiter from dinner). We already bought our tickets and are excited to get to do something like this in London. Not to mention grateful for plans that include sitting down!!

The trip has been great so far and we're excited to see the London Tower and some of London's well known gardens tomorrow. I personally am on a mission to have some fish and chips while we're here before leaving for Paris around 4 tomorrow. They are certainly not hard to come by but hopefully we have time for everything.

Cheers!

Leaving Tomorrow

We're going to Europe tomorrow!! I will be journaling while we travel ALL OVER Europe for the month of June and hope to be able to post some electronic entries and even some pictures throughout our trip. We will be flying into London tomorrow around 6pm and hoping the volcano behaves itself! I have included our itinerary as of now below..if you have anything great we should go see in any of the cities please send an email!!

May 31-June 1 London

June 2-June 3 Paris, France

June 3-June 8 Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, Seville

June 8-June 11 Nice, France

June 11-June 19 Italy: Cinqueterra, Verona, Venice, Florence, Rome

June 19-June 23 Greece: Athens, Santorini, Mykonos

June 24-June 25 Prague

June 26-June 28 Germany: Munich, Berlin

June 29-June 30 Amsterdam

July 1 London and home

THEN...

JULY 2 Shane and Julia's Rehersal

July 3 Shane and Julia's WEDDING!!!!

July 4 Dave Matthew's Band at Alpine

July 5 absolutely nothing.

PS Hamu.. my back pack is WAY bigger than even this time..eek!!