First photos are up...

I made it home! Yay! This morning, I am looking forward to getting up and having some mountain dew and some toast with mom's homemade raspberry jam!
I put my top 10 favorite moments on my other blog, nellybean.blogspot.com, but I will continue to update this one so check back here from time to time.
I can't wait to see you all!

Aaah, somehow the combination of sleep, a familiar language, and some cool weather has revived me and I am off and running once again!
We made it to London and have already been exploring the city. I was surprised to discover that this is NOT the most expensive place we've visited, despite it's reputation for being that way. Switzerland still has that dubious honor. I have already seen some darling clothes in windows and I am looking forward to trying them on and hopefully bringing some home with me :-)
Velva is thrilled to see the familiar Starbucks sign, and once I am done here I am supposed to go pick her up some coffee and a muffin. What service!
Today we will go to the British Museum and then we are planning to take a hop on, hop off bus trip and just play it by ear today. I'm churched out, so I'm leaving Westminster Abbey and any churchish things for another trip. I need to go see the crown jewels because mom wants me to bring her home a souvenier... haha.
The big excitement for me is going to Harrod's tomorrow!!
Miss you all

Hello - a quick greeting from Paris before I totally pass out on my bed! We have been all over this city and have had tons of fun. I saw Versailles today, did the Louvre yesterday; and the Orsay the night before that.
I am pretty braindead at the moment so I will keep this note quick! Plus there is someone waiting for the one hotel computer so I will say Au Revoir for now and write again when I get the chance.

Bonjour from Paris!! It feels so good to finally be here --I am getting tired of my clothes and switching between languages, and playing bathroom roulette! Sofar we have done an admirable job of not buying these countries out! It is a downer when you know you have to carry it all yourself as the nice big bus is gone!

Today we visited the Notre Dame cathedral and the Saint Chapelle church. After we were done there we had some of the world famous Berthillion ice cream and then we took the Metro to Musee Orsay to do that up right. We did not want to go through museum overload tomorrow because that is our day to visit the Louvre.

It rained a little today but I will continue to hope for sunshine tomorrow.
Looking forward to coming home!

Bonjour from France!
We survived Italy and I am just a little bit bitter that it took until our very last day for me to get hit on by an Italian guy! Sheesh!! They must have really tightened their standards or something!
We said arrivederci to Italy and YIKES to Switzerland -- somebody forgot to tell us that that place is crazy expensive! I figured we were lucky because the dollar is about 1:1 with the swiss money, but then they charge about 4 times as much for everything! My $7.80 leg of chicken was evidence of that! It was far more expensive than even Italy!
Now we are happy to be in France, trying to get by in another language. I will miss snickering at the Ausfahrt signs but I am sure there is all sorts of fun ahead here in Beaune and tomorrow in Paris!Believe it or not, I haven't really bought very much. It's a downer when you have to carry it yourself!
Miss you all .... and toilets with seats :-)

Aaaah, at last -- we are at the Cinque Terre, enjoying our vacation FROM our vacation! And boy do we ever need it!
We have officially passed the 100 mile mark (on foot) - wow!
This area is beautiful and I am going to go out and enjoy it and just show you pictures later!
Next up: Switzerland!

Greetings from Rome!
This city is every bit as crazy as I expected it to be, but at the same time, so much more than I expected too. Yesterday we took a walk through Caesar's rome, so that included colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Pantheon. Today we will take a guided tour of the Vatican and the Sixteen Chapels :) haha Yes Beth, I am keeping an eye out for those umbrellas!
The pictures I have taken won't do justice to most of these sites so I highly recommend that you just come here yourself to experience it! I have already tossed a coin into the Trevi fountain so that means I get to come back too!
Off to Cinque Terre tomorrow for our vacation FROM our vacation!! Aaah, nothing but rest and relaxation and maybe a boat ride.

ZZZ!
I just got done climbing the Duomo this afternoon, 463 stairs in each direction! Uff! The views were breathtaking- at least I think they were -- it was hard to tell because I hadn't totally gotten my breath back for it to be taken away! Speaking of breathtaking -- the David! I have seen so many pop-art images of Michaelangelo's David statue that I didn't expect to be standing staring at it in complete awe. He is enormous, and marble, and technically a naked 500 yr old man, but still, you can't help but be totally captivated. Michalangelo was definately a genius ... I mean, the veins in his arms, the muscles, the detail on his torso -- I expected him to breathe any minute. Even his toes were perfectly detailed! So that was impressive.
This morning we went through the Uffizi gallery that is packed full of art masterpieces, but I still think I have to give the most impressive award to David. Runner up is Bottacelli's Allegory of Spring. There truly is no substitute for the real thing, is there? Of course I am amused by the aprons and most unique boxer shorts they have for sale around here! hee hee
Tomorrow we go to Rome! I better start sleeping now!

Greetings from Firenze (aka Florence) Italy!
We had a long drive in the rain to Venice 2 days ago, and took a most forgettable boat ride across the lagoon. I wonder if we would have been drier outside! We landed and trudged across a bridge or two to our hotel. We had time to dry off, change clothes, and then head out for dinner. I ate the pasta primavera but others were brave and ate the Fruit of the Sea spaghetti dinner, with mussels and other littel creepy crawlies.
After dinner, we walked back towards St Mark's Square and luckily the rain had stopped. I was enjoying the music of the orchestra and thought it was funny that they had an accordian player with them. As I paused to take a picture of that, someone came up behind me and put a camera right at my temple, like they were taking a close up picture of my forehead. This has happened before to me - by only one person on this planet ... my brother!! I spun around and it was him!!! What a shock!! My aunt and mom knew all along that he was surprising Jen with a trip to Italy for their 5th anniversary!! So they had it all coordinated behind my back to meet up in St. Mark's at the clock tower!
We wandered around the rest of that evening with them and walked them to where they caught their boat to their nice hotel. Then we met up with them in the AM after our walking tour, and we spent the rest of the afternoon doing the touristy things - eating along the grand canal, taking a gondola ride (We let Jen use her superstar haggling powers to get the price down), etc. What fun memories!! That was definately a good surprise!
Velva and I went in the museums and St. Mark's cathedral and all that stuff, did some quick souvenier shopping, and then today we headed here to Florence. Tonight we go to the Accademia museum and tomorrow we do the Uffizi gallergy and have free time to go leather shopping!! Woo hoo!
I am loving the self-guided tours that are in the sight-seeing supplement that came with the tour. It's helping me to get a lot more out of these places because otherwise I'd likely just blow through them in 10 min like I did with the St. Mark's church!
Gotta go - I'm doing laundry and time's up!

Sorry about the lack of photos on here. I am waiting until I get home and have the picture software I know how to use. I haven't seen any on these computers anyhow.
Neuschwanstein castle was incredible - just as I had hoped. Obviously he didn't select the location for its ease to walk to! up up up up up up up up! Velva and I cheated and rode the carraige down (pulled by some big horses)! We waved like we were royalty ourselves :) Aah, princess moments!

Grüss gott from Austria! We are unpacked once again in the little town of Reutte (pronounced Roy-tay) It's got a tremendous view of the Alps and we get to go see Neuschwanstein castle tomorrow -- you know, for decorating ideas and such! haha
Today we got to do the luge!! That was super duper fun!! too bad my back yard isn't big enough for one of those!!
Dachau concentration camp was quite somber and sad, imagining the cruelty in the SS and Nazi's hearts, and then trying to reconcile that with what we've seen of the German people so far -- like Herr Jung and some of the others. Nothing but kindness. And then there were stories about how the prisoners helped each other out and kept each other's spirits up if at all possible. The thing I will remember most is a mother's day card one prisoner made and sent to his mom. So it was the humanity that remained that I found most impressive.
Now - off to do some laundry and then head down for dinner. I'm sure it will be another adventure -- I don't even want to talk about today's lunch just yet! EEEW I'm glad I'm an adult and didn't have to eat my meal before ordering dessert!

Sorry that the commenting ability got screwed up - I think I fixed it!
Off to Austria and the Neuschwanstein Castle - oh boy oh boy - decorating ideas! hah

Before I go I must say the breakfasts here are incredible. Cold cuts, fruit, chocolates, herring (eew), orange juice, tea, coffee, champagne, rolls, all sorts of jams, etc. Divine way to start the day.

Guten Tag, Probst, etc! Hello from Rothenburg ob der Tauber (aka Rothenburg)- a darling little town that's been well preserved since the old (REALLY OLD) times. I can't spell the word I'm looking for. Anyhow, we had a nice time and a ultra steep hike to Rheinfels Castle ruis yesterday, as well as a very nice, very touching, very informative city tour around Bacharach with the retired local schoolmaster, Herr Jung. He had us all singing and he was helping US up the stairs, even at age 77
We have a group dinner tonight and then another walking tour, this time with the night watchman. Fun fun!
It's been unusually hot so I've had to buy some cooler shirts! 80's most every day. I came prepared for rain and cold! Oops.
And now, a few hours later, I'm updating this to tell you I had a super fun run across town after dinner in the pouring down rain! Aaak! I was being noble and ran to get our coats and umbrella because we were scheduled to do that Night Watchman tour at 8, and we discovered the rain at 7:45! So ran I did, and my skirt kept threatening to fall off, and oh it was just a sight. All those slick cobblestones - it's a wonder I didn't fall and get all bloodied up!
The rain stopped partway through the tour and now I'm dry once again and back at the hotel, were I intend to sit down and scribble madly in my journal about all I learned. Oh yeah, and blow dry my clothes that got soaked! I guess I am putting that new quick-dry shirt to the test!

For those of you wondering how I'm doing with the food - I've been quite brave and have explored foods outside my comfort level! I have eaten Indonesian food, I ate bratwurst and schnitzel today, as well as some local pastry that I can't spell or pronounce. The coke here is funny so I haven't been drinking anywhere close to my usual amount, and of course Mountain Dew is non-existent! I've been drinking that clear toxic stuff that always throws my kidneys off -- water!!!! Gulp! I better be skinny with great skin when I come back!

We're leaving this place soon so I'm not sure when I'll have internet access again.
We're going to Keukenhof gardens and then down the road (for approx 7 hours) to Germany. I've been passing out dead asleep as soon as my head hits my pillow, but I imagine I'll fall asleep again once I get on the bus!

Uff da!
Today was our first full day of touring but far from our first 'strenuous'day, which by definition of the tour description is 6-10 miles. We've reached the 6 mile mark on every day but the first, and today we actually logged 8.7 miles! 22949 steps, which you know I'm going to try to make an even 23K before I go to bed!
I'm SO glad we decided to do a tour instead of theoretically saving money by doing it all ourself. I'm delighted that I don't have to figure everything out, and there are definately perks to going with this tour group. We were the first people into the Anne Frank house when it opened this morning at 9AM, and you should have seen the lines waiting to get in!
It was incredible just how small of a space they were crammed in. As one man said, A living prision" The furniture is out of the rooms but the pictures Anne put up on the walls were still there.
From there we saw the Westerkerk, which is where Rembrandt is buried, and then we took a walking tour and then lemme see, it's all running together! We ate lunch high in a restaurant overlooking the rooftops of Amsterdam. I had a sandwich and a pannekoeken (special pancake that's wrapped over a few scoops if ice cream and whipped cream). We hopped a tram and went to the Rijksmuseum, where I actually was able to appreciate art!! It was great!
After that, we wandered around and then headed off on another long walk for our much needed rest, which was an hour and a half long cruise along the canals. That was super cool and some tour members even fell asleep!
We finished up our time in Amsterdam by walking through the Red Light District and then headed back on the train to Haarlem for our final night here.
I've really enjoyed the Netherlands and can't wait for all we will see in the rest of the countries!

It's Monday morning here in Haarlem. We met our tour group yesterday and did a quick walking tour of Haarlem with a local guide. It's an amazing old city with city council people dedicated to preserving it's historic feel - thus all the old buildings have original entryways, the streets are still tile and cobblestone, etc. The tiles in front of the door were made to show what sort of business it was, due to few people knowing how to read. I took a picture of the pharmacy one ;-)
We also went into Amsterdam on our own to see the museum of bags and purses and it was every bit as wonderful as I imagined. To see the craftsmanship in those beaded bags from the 1700s and 1800s, and to see how women of old used to carry their things. They probably laughed when the Swiss Army knife came out- because they've carried those things around on their little purses for years! I refrained from buying anything at the gift store - aren't you proud?!
I really liked Amsterdam, with all the tree-lined canals and bikes. It has an extremely laid back atmosphere and it was really easy to navigate. It has the most countries represented in its population, over 175, whereas NYC is only 3rd with 152 or something like that. Anyhow, it was very pretty.
Today we go (in 15 min) there again, this time visiting the Anne Frank house, the Rikjsmuseum, and we take a canal boat cruise. That looked like fun based on what we saw yesterday. So relaxing!
We continue to pass out the moment our heads hit the pillow. Our highest mileage day so far was 6.7. We're averaging 6.33 miles/day - no wonder we're so tired!!

We ate at an indonesian restaurant last night that was pretty good. Tonight - who knows what we'll eat! I've only given in to the McDonalds temptation twice - once for a hamburger in Belgium and for an ice cream cone yesterday in Amsterdam. It has been unusually hot here so we're dying. Luckily today feels cooler!
All for now ~

Oh our aching feet!
We've had quite the adventure, finding our way from Brussels to here! We had some confusion at the train station because there are multiple stops with each city name, and none of the signs have an English translation! We finally found our way to Haarlem and walked the 10 minutes to the hotel, and dropped off our suitcases just as fast as we could!
No time to sleep or eat, we walked BACK to the train station and then attempted (without what I consider much success) to figure out their bus system. It has been an adventure, to say the least! It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't amount to probably close to an extra mile of unnecessary walking. Anyhow - we made it to the pretty tulip gardens and now we're back at the hotel, just trying to decide where to go eat.
The weather has been unexpectedly hot - 80s - so I'm regretting some of the clothes I brought along. I was prepared for rain and cold - this is a different story!
We walked 15855 steps yesterday (I forget how many miles) and today we're already at 5.94 miles - Uff da!
For our late lunch we had the best little Profitteroles in Keukenhoff -- we both got the one with strawberries and whipped cream. Yumm! The coke tastes funny and is approx 2 euros ($3) per 300mL bottle (10 oz) - so I've actually been drinking water. It's not terribly cheap either but once i put my koolaid mix in it, all is well!
Ok, time to go eat supper so I can come back here and pass out!!
Tomorrow we go to the bags and purses museum :-) Yippie!

I made it safely to Belgium and I would dearly love to sleep but I better stay up a while longer. We have walked 4.10 miles already and it is not even 1PM yet!!
This keyboard is strange so forgive any typos!
Belgium is beautiful and I have to laugh at all the tour groups -- that will be us!

Tomorrow is the day!!
I am at Mom & Dad's in Puyallup and my aunt and I both have our stuff all packed and ready to go. I was slightly bummed that I didn't have a perfect pair of black pants but rather, 3 pairs in various shades of green/khaki/slate. Lady Luck was smiling down on me because I went to Title 9 to take back a dress and the black pants that I had high hopes for, and I found the truly PERFECT pair! The only problem? They're for normal height people. Phooey. Luckily ... the clerks knew of an alterations place further down the block so I headed there and paid them double and they had them ready for me in an hour! I'm even going to wear them on the airplane tomorrow! So whew, my photos won't look like I'm wearing the same thing every day!
My second SD memory card for my camera arrived just in time, so if I take low quality photos I can take 20,000 of them! I look forward to sharing each and every one of them with you :-)

TIME FLIES!
I have two more days of work and then I'm off for my trip! I've been so busy with the house that I haven't been obsessing about the trip as much as I ordinarily would! The weather forecast for Brussels on Friday is saying 75 and sunny! Hooray! Our bleary eyes will just love that :) It will help us stay awake. Velva is packing her stuff up today so we both are ready to go!
I am just going to move another load of stuff over tonight and maybe some more tomorrow and then I'll call it good. Unless I find time to take over a little more stuff...
I'll try to find internet cafes and post updates on here as we travel so check back!

Oh boy, it's getting closer and closer to the departure day! 2 weeks from today is blast-off!
In an effort to maintain/salvage my sanity, I decided to pack for the trip ahead of time and get that done so I can start packing up other things without worrying about accidentally packing something that I'm going to need for the trip. I weighed the suitcase again and this time it is 20 pounds, but that's not too bad. I've walked around the house wearing it and it's not too heavy. It's lighter than Carson and Bowdrie and I've carried them up and down stairs and around and around so I think I'll be just fine.

Yay - the list has come!
We'll be staying in the 2nd floor of a historic building in downtown Florence, in an old tower that was part of a German city's defensive wall once-upon-a-time, and in what used to be an old hitching post in the Burgundy region of France! Oh yes, this will be quite the adventure!

Shoe update:
I'm thinking about leaving the chaco's at home and going with my Ol' Faithful Dansko Margerete's~

Any day now!
I am just watching my inbox and my physical mailbox - sometime this week I should be getting the list of which hotels we will be staying at on our tour!! I don't know why that's such a big deal to me but I can't wait to see where I'll be. I just have one pair of pants getting shortened and then I should be ready. Gulp.

I'm in the middle of another great trip-related book. This one is called "As the Romans Do - The Delights, Dramas, and Daily Diversions of Life in the Eternal City". It's written by an American man who moved to Rome with his family and he talks about well, yeah, all those things listed in the subtitle. I think the European way of life is going to be really interesting to observe. Patience - that will be a good thing to learn!

SHOES

So, you ask - what shoes will I be taking?
Black Keen Carmel
Black Dansko Professionals - not the shiny ones
Chaco ZX2 black sandals.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

Europe 101 - Art and History for the Traveler - quite funny actually. I know I'll be glad I read this one
Europe through The Back Door - the philosphy of the Rick Steves travel company. A more realistic, intimate view of Europe
England 2008 - Rick Steves book
Best of Europe 2008 - Rick Steves book
I'll pause here and explain why I'm reading so many of his books ... it's because a lot of the places this tour takes us to are not in normal guidebooks like Fodors, Lonely Planet, etc. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing - I'm choosing to think it's a good thing.
Eyewitness France
Chocolat
Heidi
Anne Frank's Diary
Charles Trenet's music - Love it! Bought a 3-CD set! I'll have to figure out how to play it on here.
I've seen Schindler's list already.
Culture Shock - France
Culture Shock - Germany

And finally, I've decided that I should know at least a little French, so I found a great online program through BBC.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/

THE OFFICIAL LIST OF 'RECOMMENDED READINGS AND VIEWINGS' for this tour can be found at:

http://tours.ricksteves.com/tours08/EUR/reading.cfm/rurl/code/EUR/

I've decided to start my Europe trip blog a bit early. It's not like it hasn't been occupying a big chunk of my brain since September!
For whatever reason, I was never particularly interested in going to Europe. Then, while watching the Tour de France a couple years ago, I was struck by how beautiful some of those places were and that was enough to change my mind. So - I talked it over with my aunt and we decided that we would go there in 2008 to celebrate our 'milestone' birthdays. I'm going to be 30 and she's going to be ... more than 30.

I knew I wanted to do a tour because as much as I love planning, sometimes its a nuisance to go find these places and plus there's always the question of, "Am I missing out on something really cool?" It just seemed easier to go on a tour. Originally I had been looking at a 2-week tour through a particular tour company, delighted that it went to all sorts of places in a very short time (see below). My best friend Nate from pharmacy school days had told me about Rick Steves tours but I had forgotten about them. I'm not quite sure how I wound up looking into those once again, but I did and I got hooked. It took some talking to convince my aunt that we COULD live 3 weeks out of one suitcase & carry our own bags. Those of you who know me, this is a perfect example of "do as I say, not as I do" because 1 suitcase for me is just the perfect size for a weekend.

As the departure date gets closer and closer, I am more and more happy that I chose this tour and I've been researching and reading oodles in preparation.

The biggest draws? Certainly not the PACK LIGHT philosophy!! ;-) It was things like:
**The tour size is smaller, a max of 28 people, so we all get 2 seats on the bus. Woo hoo.
**We don't cover as many cities in a very short amount of time, but that means we don't spend as much time on the bus. That's a good thing in my case, because I have a tendency to fall asleep if I'm not driving and I slept my way through most of the tours I took in South Africa!! I don't want to sleep on a bus through Europe!
**Their motto is "Great guides, small groups... and no grumps"! Ugh I hate grumps ;-) haha Oh wait, does that apply to me too? We all know what we're getting into before we leave, meaning ... staying at places with no elevators, lots of walking, carrying our own bags, etc.
**We get to see Neuschwanstein Castle, which was a big one on my TO-DO list
** We will learn how to use public transportation and learn how to travel independently (because they give us free time, not because they strand us) so I can go back on my own in the future.

So - we signed up for this tour in September, I believe, and since then I have been doing all the recommended readings, listening to the recommended music types, and even attempting to learn a bit of French. My aunt, on the other hand, just says, "I'll just hang around with you." Translation - she's not bothering to read or research anything! Oh well, that's probably why we travel so well together! hah