Stepping back in time...

Rome and Florence were two great cities to see what ancient Italy was like. Especially Florence. Florence felt like a movie set for a Renaissance film. The streets were extremely old and most were just huge stones put together like a puzzle. The river that runs through Florence has these old bridges from Renaissance times that seem like they are falling apart but have been around forever, so they probably will never. Honestly, Florence was cool but Josh and I agreed that it didnt really feel like all the amazingness that it was cracked up to be. Everyone says that Florence is one of the top places to go in Italy, but I would go to the Cinque Terre or Venice before Florence. Maybe it was not as exciting because we had really crappy weather for one of the 2 days, and also coming from Rome, we were dead as dogs. So we kind of wandered around aimlessly. We did see all the great sites such as the Duomo and the Uffizi Gallery (which has one of the best or may be even the best collection of Renaissance and Florence art). Not gonna lie, the hostel was probably one of the best parts about Florence. It was the BEST hostel we have stayed in thus far- it was basically a hotel. The room was really spacious and we had our own terrace. Each bed had its own light and outlet. There was even a pool, sauna, turkish bath, restaurant, bar, terrace bar, and pool/ping pong tables area! It was definitly awesome, and we wish we could have stayed there longer! We met these sweet Aussie's that we hung out with all night and played some pool. It was cool to exchange cultural differences. So I guess the rumor is wrong- Kangaroos arent just running around like crazy through everyone's backyards. Yesterday we took an afternoon train from Florence, and we arrived in Venice around 5:30. Venice was impressive from the very first view of the train window. It is as beautiful and wonderful as everyone says it is supposed to be. If you can get over the smell from the canals, and the flocks of tourists everywhere, it definitly is a beautiful place to be. There are canals everywhere you look, and more bridges than I have seen in my life! We were so wiped yesterday that we did not do much in Venice last night (except get gelatto :) ), but after we get ready this morning, we are going to explore Venice for the day. We have a night train to Salzburg in which we will get there at 4 tomorrow morning. We are really proud of ourselves because we went to the grocery store and bought food for 6 meals and it only costed us 11 euros!! It is so nice when the hostels have kitchens because we just cook our meals. Last night we had pasta and corn and the total of the whole meal for josh and I together came to 2.60 euros! Crazy..right? Well Josh and I are going to walk around the canals so ttyl!
-k

Seeing all of Rome's greatest sites in one day is exhausting to say the least

So walking all of Rome in 10 hours in 85 degree weather was definitly a lonnnnggg day. We kicked off the day nice and early and ate breakfast around 7:00. We took the metro to Vatican City (where the Pope lives) and we toured St. Peter's Basillica before the mad rush. St. Peter's was absolutly incredible for one, it was the largest church I have ever seen, and two, the detail was unbelievable- it is the largest church for the Catholic Denomination and it is the centerpoint for Catholics. After seeing the church we tried hard to pass the several annoying tour bookers trying to get us to join an English tour for the Vatican Musuem and finally made it to the museum(after making a quick stop for croissants). Yes, the Vatican Musuem is one of the largest in the world, and yes, there were probably tons of masterpieces within its wall; however, Josh and I were only in the mood to see one thing- The Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo's masterpiece. Yes, we paid fourteen Euros (approximately 20 dollars) to see the Sistine Chapel and it was worth that much and more. The moment we walked into the Chapel and set our eyes upon the ceiling, the power of the paint took over and I felt like I was in another world. The extraordinary colors of the paint jumped out, and pulled me into the creation stories that Michelangelo tried and successfully portrayed. The middle of the ceiling is the famous painting of God and Adam and their hands reaching out to one another (or lack of on Adam's part). After seeing the Sistine Chapel, we grabbed an Italian lunch of spaghetti and gelato, and then we basically walked around Rome from top to bottom (along with getting gelato for a second time). The ending to our grand tour was the great Colosseum where we toured the inside and learned all about he gladiators from our handy Rick Steves Mp3 guide on our Ipods. Tomorrow we will take a 9:00 am train to Florence, but for now we will go get something to eat and see Rome by night! later
kayla

When in Rome...

So lots to catch yall up on , for internet is a luxury for us poor backpackers. On our last day in Nice, France we went scuba diving on the coast and it was definitly an adventure. If you call throwing up over the side of the boat about 15 or more times a wonderful adventure, then I guess you would have had a great time. Dont get me wrong, the coast was absolutly beautiful from the boat. It was just the waves that killed me. For some reason it did not cross my mind that we would need to take a boat out to the sea in order to scuba dive so I did not take my motion sickness medicine. Well I definitly learned a lesson. The waves were incredibly rough, and I started getting sick just as the scenery became more beautiful by the minute. The next thing I know, Im over the side of the boat puking up all my breakfast and more. Yah...it wasnt pretty. So basically I was puking my guts out until they could squeeze me into my wet suit (they didnt take my overly sized butt into consideration when giving me my wetsuit size) and put me into the water to scuba dive. Once I was in the water my stomach became better. The instructor was able to put my oxygen tank on and put the goggles on me. I was sort of nervous because I did not want to trust my oxygen tank. Once we started getting deeper below the surface of the water, I started trusting the tank more and I just enjoyed the underwater world. It was beautiful below the water- we went about 25 feet or so under the surface and we just swam around looking at different colored fish and coral. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever done...it was even freaky that I could breathe underwater! After I came up from my dive, I got sick all over again and I was getting sick all the way until we got to shore. Josh had a wonderful time though! So to sum things up quick, we left Nice that day to take the train to Genoa, Italy. Honestly I could go into detail about Genoa, but really, theres not much to go into detail about except the fact that we spent another hour or so trying to find our hostel. Probably the greatest part of our trip thus far happened after Genoa, Italy when we got to the Cinque Terre, Italy. It was honestly the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. The Cinque Terre are the 5 villages before the big city La Spezia that are on the coast. Each village has its own cliff that its on and the view from each village is amazing. All the houses are colorful and clumped together surrounding the sea. The cliffs have wine vineyards sprawled all along them. When we got to our village, the scene literally took my breath away...like I seriously could not breathe. We ended up spending an extra night there because 2 nights was just not sufficient. We hiked through all 5 villages the following day after we got there and the hike took us about 4 and half hours to do. Not gonna lie- it was a pretty rough hike. Most of the time we just lounged around on the gigantic rocks and soaked up the sun and just soaked up Italy. So we left Cinque Terre this morning, went to see the leaning tower of Pisa and now we are in Rome! We will go to the Vatican tomorrow and see most of the city! gotta go for now but will update more tomorrow! ttyl
kayla

new pictures

I added a buttload of pics to previous posts just so ya'll know...so check em out :)

Nude beaches... what?!?!?

Bonjour!! So the sunburnt Josh and I are still currently in Nice,France on the mediterranean!! It is absolutly beautiful- I have never seen water that is more blue than the ocean here! Our hostel is pretty sweet...12 computers, awesome restaurant/bar, palm trees everywhere, and we have our own balcony from our hotel room that overlooks Nice. Today was our first no-stress relaxation day where we could basically lounge around for as long as we want with no worries or trains to catch. We woke up at around 8:00 and had our wonderful FREE breakfast (it was our lucky day- there was a choice of 12 cereals although not very beneficial for the lactose intolerant individual so let me correct myself- it was Josh's lucky day). After a quick breakfast and polishing off a bottle of wine (haha jk) we headed 'er off to the beach where we soaked up the sun as good ol' Sheryl would say. And soaking up the sun is definitly an understatement. I'm pretty sure we became the sun...well at least I feel like the sun. I feel and look burnt to the extreme. At least its some color..right? Beach was amazing besides the huge pebbles that dug into our backs. The extremely popular beach was not a sand beach, but a pebble beach instead and we had to lay out on beach mats in order to relax comfortably. We layed out for approximatly 8 hours and it was so relaxing and HOT! And yes..if you were wondering, which I knew you were, it was a nude beach. Yes, the more adventurous women layed around on the beach soaking up the sun, topless. Awkward...yes. So not many details for today because we layed around- however, tomorrow shall be exciting because we booked our spots on the 9 am boat out to the sea to go deep-sea diving!! We are so excited to see Nice from under the water and hopefully we can find a water proof camera to show you pictures! After our diving we will take a train at 6 pm to Geneva, Italy and hopefully be there around 9 tomorrow night. Can't wait to finally get to Italy and eat some gelatto!! (If the gelatto isn't what it is all set up to be, I'm coming home...you think I'm kidding but I'm not). Well hope ya'll are well back in Green Bay! Ttyl~

We are no longer Alps virgins!!

So a TON has happened since my last post so I will try to keep it short and snappy so as not to bore ya'll. So basically Paris was amazing. To sum it up we went to all the big touristy sites- the Eifel, Arc De Triomphe, the Taj Mah Hal looking thing, Place La Concorde, Notre Dame, etc etc. A couple new things that we did in Paris that I didn't do last time I was there was going to the catacombs. Those were freakin sweet. Basically its this pathway underground paris (beneath the metro) and it has a ton of bones stacked from floor to ceiling on either side of the walkway for about a mile or so. Its totally creepy and gives you the biggest chills up your spine. Like they are for real bones. I don't know the whole background story because for one, I am A.D.D. and don't spend the time reading the little signs on the walls along the way, and two, I don't know french. Sooo bascially I just know that there are a bunch of real bones, millions of bones, underneath the streets of paris. Another really sweet thing we went to was the Palace of Versaille. All I can say is that the Palace is amazing and the gardens are even better and words just can't measure up to its beauty and splendor. hopefully i can post pictures soon when I can get to a computer that will take my memory card. We left Paris yesterday around 3:00 and got to some ghost town called Chalon Sur Saone where our receptionist knew no English and we ended up walking around the town for about an hour and half trying to find our hostel that was really only 5 mins from the train station. After that, we walked another hour trying to find a grocery store where we proceeded to buy a picnic and eat on the outdoor patio of McDonalds. Thats right- a picnic, wine and all, at McDonalds. Betcha never did that before. So Chalon Sur Saone basically sucked, and we left bright and early at 6 this morning to head to the mountainous town of Grenoble, France. Grenoble is a town completely surrounded by the Alps, and the moment we stepped off the train this morning, the scene took our breaths away. At that moment I think we then realized that we were no longer in Kansas. We walked the town and stared at the mountains. It was amazing taking the ski lift up to the top of one of the mountains and we were able to see the whole town and all the mountains surrounding from an escalated height. Today was our very first really hot day- so hot that Josh had to get icecream twice...well I guess it doesnt have to be hot for that requirement. We caught a 5:00 bus (the driver almost left without us) to some random city and then took the train from there to Nice, France on the mediterranean where we are now (total of 6 hours). It is now 1 in the morning (about 6 pm your time) and I think we will go to bed. Tomorrow we plan on waking up bright and early to go down to the beach and hopefully learn how to surf or go scuba diving!!! :) miss you all!

p.s. snails rock!

So fresh and so clean

So we finally were able to see Paris today! It was only raining the whole day :( Yesterday morning was a good morning because Josh and I were able to take showers for the first time since we flew out of the U.S. Yes, it was 5 days without a shower but we just were so excited to be in europe that we kept forgetting to buy shampo and conditioner until late at night when all the stores were closed. So it was definitly nice to be clean again. This morning was also a good morning because we slept in until 8 and got a free breakfast at our hostel! It's always a good morning when free breakfast is included in the itinerary. We left our hostel around 11 in the pouring rain to go to the Louvre Museum to see the infamous Mona Lisa. After walking around the Louvre until our stomachs almost ate themselves, we left the museum and found a cafe to buy some Parisian sandwiches. I then showed Josh around Paris for the next 3-4 hours. Josh was in awe with the Eifel Tower, the Arc De Triomphe, and the several bridges and water fountains we passed along the way. We frequented the conveniant metro system to all the different places around the city. To end our day we headed up to the artsy part of Paris- Montramarte where tons of artists were set up on the cobblestone streets painting their hearts away. We walked the narrow streets and observed the artists while eating the most delicious crepes (mine had chocolate and Josh had chocolate and bananas). We also saw the Sacre Coer (which looks kind of like a mini Taj-Mahal). We rode the metro back to our hostel where we are now and are going to relax for the rest of the evening. What an eventful day in Paris in the rain! Tomorrow we plan on going to the famous castel outside of Paris called Versailles, and we might go out for a 3 course dinner tomorrow night by the Notre Dame Cathedral! Good night! or shall I say good afternoon?

Why are they called French fries if they were invented in Belgium?

Bonjour my friends! We have finally made it to France! An adventure is an understatement for what we experianced in the last twenty four hours! First our youth hostel last night in Brugge, Belgium was definitly a budget hostel--bunkbeds, shared toilets, and pull chains for the showers and all. A hippie owned the hostel--he had the sweetest dreadlocks Ive ever seen, and the whole hostel was in bright colors. At night the reception became a bar and was filled with young travelers having merry ol time. Josh and I shared a dorm with 8 other people and it was quite cramped to say the least. The showers were in another building out back... we had to go outside across the courtyard to another building and the showers were concrete stalls with a chain that we had to pull to bring down the water... at least the water was warm! All I can say is that I definitly feel like an official backpacker after that hostel! We toured Brugge this morning. Unfortunatly it was raining lizards and monkeys so we walked around like wet dogs. We took a tour boat throughout the city because this is another town where there are lots of canals running through. We left Brugge around 3 and this is where our night started getting crazy. We first took a train to Brussels because we needed to take a high speed train from Brussels to Paris. The lovely man at the information counter wonderfully informed us that there were no more spots available on any of the trains today and that we would have to wait until tomorrow. So not letting that stop us, we decided to try to take a round about way to Paris only realizing after taking a couple trains around Belgium that you cant. Sooo we go back to Brussels around 8 30 and talk to the information desk one more time. We asked her if there was any possible way she could get us from Brussels to Paris by tonight. She said that there were 2 openings on the 10 15 train. So we booked those reservations (we only need reservations for high speed trains) and tried to call our hotel to tell them we would be late. So we called the hotel and of course they inform us that we have no reservation and we should try back tomorrow. That phone conversation ended with the french man hanging up on me. So we had a train ride to Paris but no place to sleep. Before our train ride and around 9 45 we found an internet site and phone site and we tried calling another hostel in Paris and thank God-- they had a room available!! So with like 15 mins to get back to the train station to catch our train, we ran as fast as we could with our monstrous backpacks on. It felt like we were on amazing race. We caught our train in time, got to Paris in 1 and 1/2 hours and found our hostel really quick. It is now 1:20 in the morning and Im off to bed! Good night
ps. the french fries and waffles in Brussels, Belgium were M-AZING

The land of windmills and tuilips and legal pott

So do not worry- we did not smoke the reefer with the Dutch. We, however, were able to do much more coooooler things like take 6 hours out of our day to find windmills. Exciting? I know. So basically we were in Amsterdam on Friday and it was absolutly incredible. Probably my new favorite city. There are a hundred different canals that run through the city which creates a "venice"like atmosphere. Most people ride bikes and mopeds- hardly any cars are on the streets. The weather was beautiful- about 70 degrees and sunny. We stopped in a mini cafe and ordered sandwiches and fries to stop our unbearable hunger (we had not eaten since 7 that morning). Also, we were able to go to Anne Frank's hideaway house where Josh and I both passed as 17 year olds. Yes, thats right- I passed as a 17 year old in order to get 4 Euro discount- The guy at the counter thought Josh looked older than I!! Ridiculous. After leaving Amsterdam we headed back to our bed and breakfast in Utrecht where we crashed at about 10 pm. Unfortunatly the sun had not set yet...its like we are in freakin Alaska. The sun sets around 11 and comes up at around 5:00. So anyways, yesterday we left Utrecht and traveled throughout the Netherlands to find the famous windmills- and we found them- after 6 hours of train rides. Last night we arrived in Brugge, Belgium and I'm about to be quicked off my interenet and I don't want to pay another euro so bye and talk to ya'll later.