Bonjour Europa

Day 21- August 26th

2010-02-24T14:37:00.008-05:00

Today was Trent's birthday!!!! The big 25. So we did lots of sight seeing, including: Vatican City, St. Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and a little fun birthday ride!

This is the Trevi Fountain.

An amazing view of St. Peter's Basilica.

Trent in front of the Pantheon.

The roof of the Pantheon. It is really an open hole!

Us at the park overlooking Rome. You can see the Basilica to the left. There were amazing views from up here. We had to walk up the Spanish Steps to reach the park.

We decided to rent Segways to explore the park!! I was a little nervous at first. Trent was super excited. All you do is lean forward and backwards to stop and go.

The guy who was in charge of renting the things was HILARIOUS! He was talking about how stupid some people were who were renting them, how they were like crashing, and turning them off, and getting stuck in random places.

Yay!!!! It was so much fun.

In St. Peter's Square.

Inside the Basilica.

Me sending a postcard from the Vatican!

The plan of St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican.

The wall to the Vatican City.

Day 20- August 25th

2010-02-16T05:15:00.008-05:00

Rome! Here we are in the coliseum. What an amazing place. So enormous and old. This is one site I never would have missed.
The ruins.

We finallllly found some delicious cannoli!!!

Day 19-August 24th

2010-01-08T13:35:00.017-05:00

Today we had some amazing pasta. We went to a market and ate some of the best, freshest pasta I have ever had in my life.

Delicious, high quality Parmesan cheese!

And meat!

Just a sideways picture of a tan girl.
She cut some meat and cheese for Trent. However, the meat got confiscated on his way through security...

More meat, ham, bacon, sausage, etc.

I did a tour of the Ferragamo museum! It was fabulous. It had old shoe forms of Marilyn Monroe, and tons of celebrities. Even one of Ava Gardner, my great grandmothers old friend!

Pizze for lunch.

This was funny because Trent had been saying how bad he wanted a cannoli... and we couldn't find them anywhere!

Mona Lisa.

The highlight of the trip was this amazing dinner (well besides the gelato). We found this restaurant, that was in Rick Steve's guide book. We decided to go, and inside it looks pretty ghetto. But the food was amazing!

I mean red-checked table cloths. Come on! Then a man invited us to some homemade wine. You can see it in the picture above. Then the chef came out with a huge butcher knife and a huge hunk of meat. And he fed it to the dog with the couple sitting behind us. What an interesting night!!

Day 18- continued, Florence

2009-12-26T08:07:00.005-05:00

Welcome to Florence! To me: the home of amazing Gelato. We ate some at least once a day, me up to three times. Oops!

Some appetizing art.

We got to see the Duomo too! Huge and beautiful.

Day 18- August 23rd

2009-12-13T09:53:00.005-05:00

We left the Cinque Terre early this morning, to stop in Pisa on our way to Florence. It was about the halfway point. So we got there, and were told you could easily walk to see the tower from the train station, carrying bags and everything. So we set out, looked at the map. The town was a dump. Lots of homeless people, drunks, trash in the streets. It was a Sunday, in peak travel season, and there were very few people around. But it is a must, especially for a quick stop.

We finally got there, it was like a 30+ minute walk, super hot, our bags got so heavy. The church and other buildings are very pretty. They are gleaming white, unlike many of the places we had been.

You can really see it leaning! It is a pretty building.

We got some sandwiches and had lunch in the yard of the tower.

Then of course we both had to take the typical picture, supporting the tower.

This was hilarious. If you look closely, you can see other people doing the exact same thing. From the far back, it is sooo funny to see like 25 people doing that, or trying to do other creative things holding up the tower.

Day 17-August 22nd

2009-11-21T06:55:00.013-05:00

The walk! We started the Cinque Terre hike today. The hike is along the coast, connecting all 5 towns. It is fairly simple, but we chose to do only 2 legs of it.
This is on the first leg, between Riomaggiore and Manarola. This portion is called the Via dell'Amore, or Path of Love.

Manarola. Such character!

Boat being taken out of the water to store. Crazy system, but its the only way to do it!
"Beach" of Manarola. hahahaha.

Back on the trail to the next town.

These 365 stairs lead up to the town of Corniglia. What a climb.

The next town we went to was Vernazza. It was my favorite village, where we spent a lot of our time in the Cinque Terre. I love the color of the houses and the boats.

Sunset, slowly ending the day. This picture makes me feel relaxed just sitting here looking at it.

Day 16- August 21st

2009-11-10T13:34:00.012-05:00

We visited more of the villages today. Each one is so different it is amazing. We went with some of the girls from our hostel to Monterosso al Mare, the farthest north, but supposedly with the best beaches-that is, sandy beaches. Well being a hardcore beach bum, I was a little disappointed. The 'sand' is more like teeny rocks, not quite as fine as we are used to. It was REALLY crowded, August is the peak tourist month in Europe.

Monterosso al Mare is very resort-like, you can see the rows and rows of umbrellas. But I don't think you find trees and mountains like that in South Beach.

We got to do 'cliff' jumping, really this one was off the man-made pier. But still it was fun!!

427.AVI

428.AVI

Then we headed to Vernazza which was my favorite city. We took the train which connects all 5 towns. Then you just walk down a little hill and there you are! This town was so cute, full of small boats, lots of people swimming. You can swim on the little tiny sandy beach, or off of the wall that makes it a little cove.

More cliff jumpers! We decided not to do this one.

We went back to Riomaggiore. This is the beach in that town. BIG flat rocks. Really uncomfortable. But the water was beautiful and felt amazing

Headed back to the hostel for pizza, cards, and some beers with our new friends!!

Day 15- August 20th

2009-11-03T12:46:00.007-05:00

The train ride from Switzerland to Italy was beautiful. We finally made it to La Spezia, the closest big town to the Cinque Terre.

So this is it! The Cinque Terre: 5 small towns, villages, hillside hideaways, whatever you want to call them. Literally, the name means Five Lands.

Riomaggiore: the first town, closest to our hostel. I love all of the little dinghy boats. However, the rocky beach was not for me.

Enjoying some gelato! Italy really does have amazing gelato. I wanted some every day, every meal, every hour. Trent was annoyed.

To get to Riomaggiore from our hostel, we had to take about a 30 minute bus ride. This was the only place we did not book in advance, so when we were trying to book it from our tiny iPods, it was difficult to know what we were really getting. The hostel was not bad, just WAY up a mountain, very scary, narrow, curvy, hilly roads. I was terrified.

Imagine living on this hill. Or even walking up it one time. It was killer, but everyone, children, 90 year old Italian grandmothers, was wandering around-up and down.

Day 14 Part 2

2009-10-20T12:06:00.009-04:00

We spend the day 'hiking'. We went for about 8 hours, partially up a mountain and back. We brought lunch, water, and toilet paper.

As we were walking, we started hearing this waterfall before we saw it. It was such an amazing surprise. We were able to walk under it, you can see the stairs in this picture. I love waterfalls. I was so excited to be able to get so close to such a huge one.

Standing behind the waterfall!!
There is Trent under the rushing water.

Here you can see how enormous it is. If you click on the picture, you can see me down under it!

While we were sitting under the waterfall, I was journaling. Then, down the mountain came these people with the same llamas we saw that morning. They walked all the way up the other side of the mountain from where we took the gondola.

This area we scoped out for lunch. We climbed off the path, and ate on the rocks in the stream that fed out to the waterfall. I took my shoes off and put my feet in. It was so freezing cold!

The Alps are so breathtaking. Look at the little village, what you see is the WHOLE village. Teeny tiny!

These are cowbells from different years. The town has a festival or competition and this person must be the winner.

Day 14-August 19th Part 1

2009-10-05T15:42:00.007-04:00

Today we woke up super early to catch the train, then bus, then surprise! gondola up to Gimmelwald, Switzerland. This tiny mountain village was referred to us by some people we met at Balmers, and we had a free day! So it was very last minute planning. We knew we had 3 legs to get to this village. But we did not know that this is the only way to get to the very top! Trent was a little freaked. You can't really tell, but that is a cliff, not a mountain incline.

We saw these fuzzy guys down at the bottom of the Gondola. Cute!
Up, up, up!

Our hostel at the top of the mountain. Very tiny, very woodsy.

The view of the village and the mountains beyond. No cars, some chickens and cows, lots of cheese for sale.

Day 13- August 18th

2009-10-04T09:43:00.001-04:00

Today we hung out in Interlaken again. It was unbelievably nice to have a few days where we weren't in a BIG HOT city walking around looking at the 5 million historic sites. So we decided to go hiking.
You will never guess how much this meal was. We ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, trying to save money for our lunch. I think it was like 11 Swiss francs total. Which is about 11 dollars. BUT they were the MINI things you get, you know like on the dollar menu in the US. COMPLETE rip off. We were so bummed. It turns out you can not get anything cheap in Switzerland.
So for our hike, we opted to go to the grocery store and make our own sandwiches. We got some rolls, a variety of Swiss cheeses, and salami. It was delicious.

This was a woman we saw every day we were in Interlaken. She walks her horse, and her dog, down the street every day. No imagine seeing that in a normal town, or city. OH just going to take the horse for a walk, be back soon!

So we started hiking, getting a better view of the town as we went up. I love the river that flows through the town, it adds so much character from up above.

Such an amazing sight. Such a terrific day!

We both bought Swiss army knives, and had them engraved. Of course, Trent being so manly and outdoorsy, wanted to bring his in case it was needed.

I would NOT want to ride that thing, it goes up and down a very steep incline.

Day 12- Part 2

2009-10-03T09:39:00.000-04:00

So we really did do another adventure sport. We went canyoning. We were picked up by one of our guides, Jezza. He was a hardcore dude from New Zealand, missing teeth, scars and everything. We went with a father and his 2 teenagers, a dude from our hostel, and 2 guys from Germany. We met our second guide, Rayno...Kacie does that name ring a bell??

We started out by getting all of our gear on: wetsuits, water shoes, helmets, wet suit jackets, and leg harnesses. All of the helmets had permanent marker names, mine was UGLY, Trent's was HE-MAN. Interesting.

Then we all got in the bus and drove about 10 minutes up into the mountains. We hiked up even more from there. Then we got in the water, just walking on the rocks at first. The water was freezing cold. So as we descended the mountain, we walked on the rocks, jumped into deep pools, and rappelled. I was the biggest chicken out there! But at the end I got the hang of it and was less afraid to JUMP! Our biggest jump was like 24 feet. We loved this picture of Trent. Hahaha!! Mine were all looks of pure FEAR.
It took about 2 hours to make it down. It was so thrilling! I loved it, and wished we could have done other extreme sports in Interlaken. But it was super super expensive. Next time!

The pictures were super expensive, so we only bought 2.

After our trip, we hung out at the base and had a free beer! I attempted to ride this mini bike, impossible!

We absolutely loved Switzerland.

Day 12- August 17th

2009-09-29T06:59:00.000-04:00

We woke up early to get our free breakfast: croissant, bread, jam, butter, OJ. The usual here in Europe! Then we went out and explored Interlaken for a bit. We saw people para-gliding. It looks so fun, but so dangerous and scary?!

We opted for a less-dangerous "adventure" sport: bicycling. Ha. We did something a little more daring later.

The river here is this strange, literally icy blueish-green color. It was beautiful, but eerie at the same time. We learned that it has something do with the glaciers melting and stirring up the silt, then flowing down stream. Interesting.

Cox The Fox

2009-09-24T23:06:00.004-04:00

I cant believe Kylee didn't make a post about this little guy. While sitting outside of our hostel in London (after a few beers) a random fox just wandered on over to see what we were doing. Usually I would be slightly worried but nobody else seemed to mind. After a few minutes of him checking us out, and us making sure he wasn't foaming at the mouth, I hand fed him the last of my sandwich. Kylee was being greedy with hers and shoveled it down before the fox could get a whiff.

More Food

2009-09-24T21:17:00.005-04:00

The British have a thing about cooking food inside of dough. This monster of a thing is called a steak and ale pie.

Man, why in the world don't we have these things in America? Its called a Pasty. You can get just about anything you want inside of them. The first one we had was like a hand held personal chicken pot pie. How awesome is that??

Day 11- August 16th

2009-09-22T09:53:00.009-04:00

Today after checking out, we had some spare time to wander before our train left. So we headed out from the hostel and came upon an amazing market. It was a Sunday morning so it was crowded with people. They had everything! Prepared paella, bread, flowers, meat, cheese, sweets, clothes, etc. etc. etc.!!!

MMMM...the smells were delicious. They had chickens on a giant rotisserie, where the drippings went directly onto the potatoes below. We had that for lunch, it was amazing.

They had fresh fish in several stands, and a huge variety.

Some vendors sold freshly baked bread and pastries.

Others had dried fruits, nuts, and candies.

Then we caught our train, and eventually made it to Switzerland. It was the most beautiful train ride. Mountains, rivers, lakes, the sunset. Ahh...

We finally made it to Balmers, and got our sweet, tiny, bunk-bed room!

Day 10- Part 2

2009-09-21T05:07:00.007-04:00

And we walked some more, all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. Our handy little museum pass let us skip the line for tickets, and go in for free! So we started up the steps.

And we got to the top for an amazing view of all of Paris. You could see everything!
Pretty view of Montmartre, and the Basilica we did not get to visit.

The Arc de Triomphe is so big and old, it is amazing.

We could not have made it any further if we didn't stop for a yummy treat at a bakery. Mmmmm...those are making me hungry as I write.

Then we walked some more and made it to the Notre Dame Cathedral.

I got very good at holding the camera far enough away to fit both of us in the picture!

So we went back to the hostel, showered, because we walked a LOT, and it was very hot! Then we got ready to go to dinner and hang out near the Eiffel Tower.

On the way to dinner, something very unfortunate happened to me. One of those stupid, annoying, disgusting rats with wings pooed on my HEAD and ARM. It was disgusting, but also very funny. So Trent had to take my picture.

Anyhoo, we went and had a delicious dinner. I got some French onion soup! But honestly I have had better in the U.S.

After dinner, we got a bottle of wine and some chips (spaghetti flavored!?!) at a little food store. The man in the store even opened the bottle for us, and knew we would need 2 plastic cups! We walked to the Eiffel Tower, and hung out in the park for a few hours. It was packed with people. Every hour on the hour, it would light up with flashing lights for a few minutes, you can see that in the picture below. It was a very romantic night!
The whole night men kept coming up to us, trying to sell ANYTHING. Fans, purses, wallets, small-huge metal Eiffel tower statues, lighters, bottles of wine, cigarettes. It was ridiculous. But at the end of the night, Trent scored about 10 small Eiffel tower key chains for like 1 euro, best price anywhere!

Day 10- August 15th

2009-09-21T03:16:00.006-04:00

We had free breakfast at this hostel, which consisted of cereal, warm milk, and a croissant. Yum... ?

Today was our busiest day EVER. We saw so much in Paris in one day. But I was exhausted at the end. Wow. Exhausted.

So we got up, and headed for the Louvre.

There she is! The uber-impressive Mona Lisa!! Look how tiny that thing is.

But look at all the people waiting to get nice and close for their shot. I was really surprised they let you take pictures in there.

The Winged Victory statue. Everywhere is so crowded. We did not think about August being the busiest time to travel.

The beautiful gardens surrounding the Louvre. We walked through them, had some crepes with strawberry jam. My feet are killing already at this point.

Trent looking cute with the Obelisk in the background.

We went to the Monet Exhibit at the Musee de Orangerie.

Then we walked and walked and walked.

Trent would not let me go shopping... so sad... Hello & Goodbye Louis...

Day 9- August 14th

2009-09-20T11:52:00.006-04:00

Our last day in Amsterdam. We checked out, wandered around some. I did a little shopping!

Then we just hung out in the park for an hour until it was time to catch our train to Paris! I loved Amsterdam. The city has such a relaxed atmosphere. I didn't have any bad run-ins with bicycles; several people told me they had almost been killed by the packs of bikes that are everywhere in the city. I would love to ride a bike everywhere. Amsterdam is also very small compared to the big cities we have been in.

We got on our train with a bottle of 5 euro wine! Woo hoo. We made it to Paris near 7:30, then stood in line at the train station, trying to figure out the cheapest way to travel for the rest of the trip. We ended up with a Eurail pass, and some reservatoins. The train station was super hot, the bags got super heavy, and boy was I stressed!

Our first impression of Paris was not good. It was stinky, dirty, and a little scary at night.

Day 8- August 13th

2009-09-18T10:11:00.000-04:00

Today we explored all of Amsterdam!! We walked the beautiful canals, visited the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum.

This photo goes with a funny story. Imagine Trent saying this street name. It was the funniest thing I have ever heard. We had to use it a lot, so he kept saying it. I cracked up laughing every time. You have to say it out loud to hear how funny it is.

I love these houses on the canal. They have so much character. I do not love the stairs that go along with them.

I think that is the train station. Very pretty.

One of the main squares always had performers. This man has a bike on his chin. Interesting. There was a boy who kicked the soccer ball around. There were a few people singing or playing instruments.

Waffles......

2009-09-17T16:07:00.005-04:00

We discovered these waffles in Amstserdam. They serve them warm, with ice cream. It is really the best sweet thing I have ever had. I need to find a recipe....

Inside the Candy Store

2009-09-17T09:23:00.010-04:00

MMMM.....look at that chocolate. There were rows upon rows of it. It was delicious!! This was inside the Fortnum & Mason gift store.

I think one of the boxes of chocolate cost like 150 pounds. Very fancy.

They give out free samples. Definitely go if you are in London!! All you have to do is say please.

Look at the place. It is like a girls dream!! Chandeliers, gold, pink. I was in heaven.

Day 7- August 12th

2009-09-15T09:34:00.008-04:00

Today we woke up at 4:30 in the morning. Ugh. We had to sneak out of the 18 person room, while it was pitch black and everyone was sleeping. We were as quiet as possible... We took a taxi to Liverpool train station at 5:20. Took the train to the coast of England, where we caught a ship that would take us to The Netherlands.

This was our room on the ship, we slept for like 4 hours to make up for the lack of sleep.

Arriving to Netherlands. The ship was huge, with a bar and restaurant, several rooms and tables. It was like a mini cruise ship. We were on the water for about 6 hours.

We made it to Amsterdam after a 1 hour train ride. This was the most exhausting day!! Our hotel was up these 500 steep steps. Crazy.

Hanging out in the city. We had a few drinks, watched all of the people wandering around.

Day 6- August 11th

2009-09-13T08:45:00.005-04:00

Today we woke up to go to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard at 11. It is super crowded, but we got good seats up on the outside wall. At first, we thought it was kind of boring, just some guys on horses. Then bands started coming, and more and more guards. It was pretty cool getting to see all of those guards.

We finally got to see the guys in the red jackets & big furry hats!

Check out his sword!

This was just a neat looking umbrella shop. If you click on the picture, you can see all of the umbrellas inside.

Classic London phone booths make a pretty picture!! People still use them too!

Beautiful Candy Store

2009-09-10T06:03:00.008-04:00

While we were wandering around, we ran into this store, with the most beautiful window displays. I was in awe. They were so pretty and pink, I couldn't walk by without looking. If you click on each picture and look closely, you can see all the goodies that are hidden within the displays.

The store is called Fortnum & Mason.

She was my favorite!

No child or adult could walk past this store. I made it a point to go back the next day to explore the inside, and I was not disappointed. Yummy cookies, and candy, a chocolates counter. MMM. Trent has the pictures from the inside....

Day 5- August 10th

2009-09-10T05:29:00.005-04:00

Today we got tickets to take a 2 story bus tour around the city. We sat on the top of the double-decker bus, listened to the commentary. So this is the London Bridge. London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down....

This picture is of a few hundred umbrellas, formed into the numbers of a TV station. We needed 2 of those during our rainy bus trip. The wind was blowing, we were freezing, but determined to stick it out.

Another picture of the London Bridge as we rode over it.

We also went to see Stomp! at a theater. Trent did not want to see Mamma Mia, or anything like that. So we saw Stomp! It was good, very entertaining. For dinner, we had a steak & ale pie, and fish & chips. I loveeeed the steak and ale pie.. MMM...I want one right now.

In the Tube station, heading home after a very long day of walking around.

Day 4- August 9th

2009-09-09T15:36:00.005-04:00

Today we flew out early to London! The flight was quick and easy. We got to London in the afternoon and took the Tube from the airport to our Hostel. It was in a really cool old building, see below. We got settled, then headed out.
We went and saw Westminster Abbey. We happened to get there right when there was an organ recital. It was interesting, but boring. The church was beautiful, and they wouldn't let you take pictures inside...they were VERY strict: "no pictures, no guidebooks, no talking, no bare shoulders, no slouching, etc."
And the Westminster Cathedral. This is the view from the top of the bell tower from the Cathedral. Very cool.

We walked on, and stopped by the Buckingham Palace. So pretty. We were disappointed though that the guards were not those with the red coats and big black hats.

We also got to see Big Ben. It was much bigger than I thought. The Parliament buildings were very cool. We ate a Pasty in a little street cafe. It is like a calzone, sort of. Not pizza like at all, filled with meat and cheese and potatoes. SO YUMMY!
We got Indian food for dinner at a restaurant near our hostel. It was verry good. On our walk home, we saw a fox right outside the building. I was scared! But it just walked on by. Sleeping in this hostel was rough, it was an 18 person room. People would come in at 2, 3, 4 in the morning and turn the lights on.

mmm......Food

2009-09-08T14:02:00.000-04:00

Well I haven't been able to post in a while, so I'm going back to Ireland to talk about the food.

Fish and Chips. Good stuff. Its no fried flounder, but made me happy.

If I had any idea how many sandwich's we would eat during the trip I probably would have held out a while.

Traditional Irish stew. Basically roasted lamb and vegetables in a thick gravy, if you want they plop a big ol' scoop of stuffing on it. Awesome.

Day 3- August 8th 2009

2009-09-08T10:24:00.010-04:00

Today, after sleeping in until noon, we went and did some sightseeing around Dublin. Alfie took us to see the very historic Kilmainham Gaol (Jail).

These are the cells...kind of spooky.

After touring the jail, we went and had a pint. While at one of the pub's, some Irish dancers took the stage. It was very neat!! They were amazing, moving their feet faster than you could see.

Day 2- Continued...

2009-09-07T18:23:00.011-04:00

While in Dublin, we tour the Guinness Brewery. The tour goes through the process of making the beer. You get to sample some on your way up to the top, where there is a circular room overlooking the city. With your ticket, you get a free pint of Guinness.

After the Brewery, we did a little pub crawl. We went to Brazen Head, the oldest in Dublin. We also went to Tavern Bar, a famous one.

We wandered around the city. And ended up at a pub where the Dubliners started their band. It was fun, with live music!! We had a blast. Thank you Alfie!!

Day 2- August 7th 2009

2009-09-01T15:06:00.002-04:00

We make it to Shannon, Ireland at 10am. Not much sleep on the plane. We catch a bus from the airport to Dublin that should take about 4 hours, and only cost us 16 Euro each. The exchange rate for most of our trip is about 1.46 dollars- 1 Euro. It is not good.

The bus ride is actually pretty neat. We get to see a lot of the countryside, beautiful farms and huge homes. We literally went from the West coast to the East coast. We saw our first castle called Bunratty, near Shannon. Our bus driver gave us a little commentation throughout the trip.

Ireland is a little to gray and grim for me. It is beautiful, but I like my sunshine a little bit too much.

Once in Dublin, we go out with Alfie to explore. We get a yummy Irish dinner, and go out to some Pubs.

The start

2009-09-01T08:22:00.004-04:00

I think I have all of the pictures from the beginning of our trip, so ill go ahead and make a post. Since we missed our flight out of NY (thanks to a delay from Raleigh) We had to take a 4 hour bus ride from Shannon to Dublin. We considered renting a car which would have been a disaster since all the drivers are insane and of course you have to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road. It was a long trip but we did get to see some of the Irish countryside. By the way this is my first blog post so if it comes out bad........ blame kylee.

Day 1- August 6th 2009

2009-08-31T02:37:00.007-04:00

So I can finally start blogging! Steady internet! Yay. Trent is going to be adding some stuff too I hope. A lot of what I will be writing on here is from my journal.

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So we left Raleigh at about 4pm. Michele and Coco took us to the airport. Right away, I forget my big camera lens in Micheles car, and she has to circle all the way around to come drop it off to me. Everything else goes smoothly. We get to New York, JFK airport, at 7pm, a little bit late. Our plane SITS on the runway for at least 20 minutes. By the time we get off the plane, run as fast as we can to our gate (me lagging behind because of my flip flops!), we miss our connecting flight. We have 2 options: we can get on the same flight to Dublin, the next night, 7pm, or we can catch a 10pm flight to Shannon, arrive at 10 am, and take a 4 hour bus to Dublin. We decide to go to Shannon.

Dublin

2009-08-24T13:55:00.001-04:00

not much time to post here is some dulin!

Almost ready...

2009-07-29T14:13:00.009-04:00

We leave in exactly 1 week. WOW. The time has flown by, and it is really almost time to go. I have moved out of my house, everything is in storage. With my 1 little suitcase, and the trunk of my car, I have been hopping from the beach, to Granny's, and other places in between. My twin cousins were born. I got to hang out with ALL of my family members, on both sides of the family. It has been a great ending to my summer, and my time in the U.S. I said goodbye to my parents and family last week. I wish I could see my friends in Nebraska one more time. Today is my last day working for the Holly Springs family. I will miss them all!! I am getting sad and nervous, but mostly excited!!

This weekend I am celebrating with all of my friends, Bon Voyage!! It will be fun--we are going out to dinner and heading to the bars. Kacie is coming in town, and hopefully I will get to see all of my good friends in Raleigh, for one last fun night.

I have made several more reservations! Only 1 more to make, in the Cinque Terre. So other places we are staying are shown below. I am very excited.

Hostel Alessandro in Rome, is a big Hostel that seems pretty popular.

Hotel Azzi in Florence.

Alloggi Gerotto Calderan in Venice.

More Hotel Bookings!

2009-06-12T23:01:00.007-04:00

I have booked our hotel for Amsterdam, we will be staying at Hotel Museumzicht. It looks pretty cool. Amsterdam hotels and hostels are either expensive, or really nasty it seems. So this seemed like it was in the middle.

I also booked the hostel in Interlaken, it was suggested to me by several people. We will be staying at Balmers. Everyone says it is THE place to be if you are an American in Interlaken!!

The only other new development: I think we are going to the Cinque Terre, in Italy, and skipping Parma. I have been doing more research, and it was suggested to me by several people. It looks BEAUTIFUL! The Cinque Terre means 5 cities. So it is 5 little villages, on the coast of Italy. They are all connected by hiking trails, and it takes about an hour to walk to each one. So maybe we will see all 5! Do lots of hiking, see beautiful cliffs, water, villages! I am soo excited.

This photo doesn't even look real!!!!!

Now if I could just get my house packed up...

Planes, Trains, Hostels

2009-05-21T08:20:00.000-04:00

We purchased our plane tickets a few weeks ago, roundtrip for Trent, one-way for me! That was a big relief, and is proof that we are going! We fly into Dublin on August 7th, where our friend Alfie will be meeting us, and letting us crash at his place for a few nights.

The next leg is London, and we got our plane tickets for that as well!! We also booked our first hostel in London, Palmer's Lodge. It got great reviews, and was a very decent price. We are so excited!

Now onto planning, planning, and more planning. It is A LOT of work, but will be well worth it in the end!

Looking forward to: Dublin!

We are excited to visit the Guinness Brewery in Dublin.

Guinness Brewery, originally uploaded by red321.

And hopefully kiss the Blarney Stone!

Blarney Stone - Ireland, originally uploaded by crispy789.

Peace & Love~Kylee

My New Job in Spain!!!!!

2009-05-10T09:50:00.006-04:00

I am so relieved! I finally found out that I got accepted, and received the grant for the 'Auxiliares de Conversacion' position. (Culture and Language Assistant!)

As an Assistant, I will be working in a classroom, under a regular classroom teacher. I will be in the classroom about 12 hours a week, teaching students English, and about the American culture.
The job provides me with a student visa, health insurance, and a monthly stipend. It is awesome!

I do not know what age group I will be working with yet, I hope its little ones!! In a few weeks I will receive the official letter with my assignment. I do know that it is in Madrid. So it worked out perfectly!!

European Adventure

2009-05-09T14:51:00.001-04:00

I am heading off on a new adventure in life, an exploration of myself and a different way of living. On August 6th, I depart from the lovely Raleigh, NC and head off to Europe for a 3 week backpacking excursion with Trent. I guess I am a wanderer, can't spend more than 6 years in one place anymore. We will be crossing several countries and cities, discovering beautiful structures, artwork, scrumptious food, enticing people, and interesting, although shabby, places to rest.

As we make our way through Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Italy, not only will we be learning a lot about each other, but we will be getting little glimpses into the culture and lifestyles of people thousands of miles away from our everyday lives.

I look forward to this journey and what it will bring to our lives:
enjoyment. relaxation. excitement. adventure. discovery.

As our backpacking trip comes to an end, Trent will be heading back to Raleigh, and I will be starting my job as an Au Pair in Madrid, in the heart of Spain. I will be taking care of 2 little girls, ages 6 and 8; helping them with school work, and their English language. I will be traveling with the family all around Spain. This might be the only time in my life I can do something so crazy, so I decided to go for it.

If you follow this blog, or at least poke around every few weeks, you will read about several of our happenings, see pictures of the places we go, the people we see, and the things, foods, and lifestyles that we dive into. Hopefully some interesting travel stories, but no horrible ones (fingers crossed!)

So keep me in your thoughts and prayers! This will be a great way for me to stay in touch. I will be returning sometime next year, May is the plan right now.

Bon Voyage! Ciao! Arrivederci! Adios! Au Revoir! Good Bye! Much love!

~Kylee