SAN DIEGO - 11:30 AM, May 4th Ok, so we've been home since early Friday and have been recovering from Amsterdam ever since. Sorry for the late update. We arrived in Amsterdam on Monday the 28th around 8pm. We arrived to our bed and breakfast, but we were unable to get in. The owners left explicit instructions to call so he could meet us upon arrival, however we couldn't find a phone that worked with change or credit card, we don't speak Dutch!!!!! Finally he met us. All in all our B&B was the best, the price of the room included Cereals and Milk breakfast, Blackcurrant gin in the evening and chocolates on the pillow, and yellow tulips above the headboard.

That night we made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe for juicy hamburgers and beer, and then it was off to bed. Tuesday we visited the Van Gogh Museum and were surprised by a great exhibit that provided further insight about the artist. We then visited the Heiniken Brewery, well worth the 7.50 euro, which included 3 free beers and a free gift. Tuesday night was Queen's night. We partied with the best of the Dutch, and they know how to party. People everywhere in the streets drinking, dancing and just plain going crazy. Also we strolled through the Red Light District, ask if you want further details!!! Wednesday was the big day, the Queen's Birthday. We hit the streets around 11am and found many festivities already under way. There were many stages around the city with free music and only 2 euro for a pint of Heiniken!!!! Jeff was in heaven. We walked around visiting all of the street vendors and then the terrintial downpour of rain hit Amsterdam, we ran to Hard Rock and indulged in more hamburgers and Dutch beer. It was off to bed early and Thursday morning we took a 9am bus to the airport.

We flew 10 hours to D.C. and then another to 5 hours to LAX, and another hour and a half drive to San Diego. Thanks to our friend SAM!!!!! By the time we reached our house at 12am we had been traveling straight for 24 hours with no sleep. But to our surprise we awoke on Friday with no jet lag.

Stay tuned for pictures, which we will load soon, and our favorites list. We are glad to be back in the USA.

CHUR - 3:00 PM, April 27th Our last evening in Venice was most unforgettable. We had dinner at a pizzeria and later watched the cafe orchestras mentioned before. To start, you are charged 4 euro per person entertainment fee!! We ordered 50 euro worth of drinks, which was two rounds. Jeff loved his Grand Marnier and Mel enjoyed her White Russians even more, not to mention our drinks were served on a silver plater with delicious green olives and chips. Jeff also smoked a cuban cigar. We enjoyed our romantic evening in Piazza San Marco, listening to the melodies of Phantom of the Opera.

It was early to rise the next morning and off to Switzerland. After a 4 1/2 hour train ride, we reached Bellinzona, Switzerland. The Swiss Alps are most breathtaking. We had a two hour wait until our bus left through the alps to Chur where we were staying with our Swiss family. Mel relaxed on a bench and enjoyed the beautiful mountains, while Jeff examined the colorful swiss francs.

Our bus ride was most exhilarating. The family in Chur recommended this ride so we could experience driving through the swiss alps. After arrival, we had a great dinner with cheese, meats, homemade breads, homemade jams and great conversation with Walti (father) and Nina (daughter). Later that evening we were blessed with watching a movie, in english of course!!!! The next day it was off to Milans on our two hour bike ride through tiny swiss villages and our final destination, Hiedi's village, all thanks to our guide Nina. We returned home to a lunch feast of swiss favorites and a siesta. Nina was able to get Mel to join her basketball practice later that evening, where she managed a 1 1/2 hour practice with a german speaking coach!!! Jeff met the girls in town later that night and Nina showed us a great night in Chur at Tom's Beer Box.

Saturday we had plans to stay at a small cozy cabin high up in the alps. It was Karin and sister Nina, Jeff and Mel. Oh, we can't forget their cute dog Sancho. We drove an hour on a windy, one-way rode to the cabin nestled on a hillside, with a beautiful view of the surrounding alps, which are all still covered with snow. After unpacking and eating some snacks, we were led by the two sisters on a two hour hike, which led us to the top of a huge cliff above Chur. At the top of every peak, there is a book that is signed by survivors who have made the trek!!!! We returned safely to the cabin and made a feast, played cards, enjoyed swiss wine and beer, talked about our different cultures, laughed a lot and finally to bed.

Today we are back with our swiss family. We will eat dinner with the entire Brunner family; Walti, Charlene, Karin, Simon and Nina. We have enjoyed our stay here in Chur and hope to meet up with the family again. Thank You!!!!!

Tomorrow morning we leave to Amsterdam, a 10 hour train ride, arrival time is 8pm. Ahhhhh we've made it to the end and will be home soon to friends and family. Stay tuned for an update on Amsterdam and our "Favorites List", probably when we get back.

CHUR - 7:30 PM, April 25th We are in Switzerland! We love it! A full update will come soon, but here are some pictures in the meantime.

Seeing the Pope

The Trevi Fountain

Lunch in Amalfi

Look at the size of those lemons!

Bathing in a Pompeii bathhouse

Temple to Athena in Pompeii

Florence's Duomo

A Venice canal

Dinner on the Grand Canal

Drinks in front of the orchestra in Piazza San Marco

VENICE - 1:00 AM, April 22nd Ahhhhh, Venice. Rest, relaxation, strolling, and no itinerary! Mel has instituted a museum ban here in Venice, but Jeff may defect and sneak into one.

Sunday was easter in Florence. Apparently this is a big deal! We went to the "Burning of the Cart" celebration in the Piazza del Duomo. There was a parade of midevial dressed men, women and children, musicians, flag performers and important religious people. After an hour of performance, they set the "cart" (actually a big wooden structure that looks like a shack) on fire. Well, not on fire, actually the fireworks strapped to the cart. It was a fun little 15 minute firework display. But, of course, nothing like when the super bowl was in San Diego this year. Then it was back to the hostel for a nap and then up and in a cab to the Uffizi Gallery. Jeff strolled a little slowly for Mel, but Mel did enjoy the Botichellis. After that it was a light dinner and back to the dirt mound, uh, I mean hostel to do some reading. We were TIRED!! We awoke early to the sound of rain outside and left for the train station. Mel was glad to leave our grubby, slimey, loud, toilet paper less, co-ed bathroom hostel.

On the train we met a nice Australian couple in Europe for the year. We talked the entire three-hour train ride and exchanged e-mails when we arrived in Venice. We took the slow boat down the grand canal to our HOTEL, we just sat and stared at the city, it is really a floating city! No cars! No mopeds! Gondolas! Water and bridges everywhere! We checked into our hotel, a rock throw away from Piazza San Marco, the city's main square. Jeff had insisted on staying in a hotel, and this close to the piazza, Mel had wanted a hostel on the outskirts, but Mel is thanking Jeff now! We strolled the small, shop-lined alleys for a couple of hours, gawking at the glass, jewelery, and venetian art. Then it was back to the hotel for a nap, and then out again for dinner. After dinner we spent the rest of our night in Piazza San Marco listening to "The Dueling Orchestras" There are three cafes that have outdoor musicians playing for the people in the square. The music was great and it was a perfect venetian night.

We slept in this morning. Our first morning sleeping in since Barcelona. It was wonderful. Mel is feeling a tad sick, but the rest did her good. We are now off to do more wandering, Mel has a shopping spree building inside of her!

FLORENCE - 4:30 pm, April 19th We spent our last day in Sorrento with a day trip to the Roman ruins in Pompeii. It was amazing to both of us to see the size of the ruins, it really is a city! We spent 4 hours strolling the dusty streets checking out the ancient frescos, mosaics, temples, palaces, public baths, and a few brothels. We where able to go inside the baths, very interesting how the bathing process was done, this must have taken all day. People went from cool, to medium, to hot baths, and there where dressing rooms and "saunas" It was crazy to try and put ourselves into 79 AD Roman civilization.

We returned to our hotel tired and dirty, feeling like archaeologists. We cleaned up, relaxed with a beer on the balcony, and then headed up to dinner. We had another long, multi-course Italian feast. Jeff tried carpaccio (thinly sliced raw steak), and Mel had the fried mozarella sandwiches again. And those where just the appetizers!

The next morning we had breakfast and then took the local train back to Naples (hell) to catch our train to Florence. We had failed to realize that the Friday before Easter might be a heavy travel day. The day before we visited a travel agency trying to book reservations on the Naples to Florence train. After a 20 minute searching process we where finally booked first class on an inter-city train (as opposed to direct). We were excited, FIRST CLASS! Woo hoo! Little did we realize that on trains there is very little difference between the classes. We ended up in a six seat compartment with an Italian family of four off to grandma's for easter.

Where do we start? The kids were spoiled and whiney, the adults never stopped yapping the ENTIRE time. Ahhhhh, get me off the train! 4 and a half hours later, we arrived in Florence. We hopped a bus (hopefully the right one) and ended up at our hostel. The hostel is an old converted monestary. This place is HUGE! Mel is a little scared of ghosts, but we did fine last night. After checking in, we left quickly to begin our exploring. We headed to the Duomo, the large Cathedral in the center of the city. We walked around till dark and found a cafe/pizzeria/bar and had dinner. We grabbed a couple to-go beers and headed for a piazza and sat drinking Heineken and people watching and watching the street artists. Catching the last bus, it was off to bed.

This morning we had reservations at the Accademia Gallery to see Micaelangelo's David. The statue isn't just hugely famous, it's HUGE! We didn't quite realize how big the statue is. After checking out the rest of the small, but great, gallery we left and headed to the Duomo to check-out the inside. Because of Easter, they only let you go partially into the cathedral, and we were unable to go underneath the famous dome. Jeff was sad, he is a geek about the dome. After that we grabbed some sandwiches and sat on the cathedral steps...more people watching! After lunch we went to the Bargello Museum, a great sculpture museum. We saw works by Micaelangelo and Donatello, and some other famous Italian dudes. Then is was more strolling, we saw Ponte Veccio, Santa Croce, Palazzo Vecchio...lots of buildings, churches and bridges. Now we are waiting till our dinner reservations at 7:30 at Acqua al 2. This is a restaurant that is here in Florence and also in San Diego! We went to the San Diego one for our 2 year anniversary, we are excited! One comment, the one here is quite a bit cheaper, curse the expensive San Diego cuisine! Tomorrow we are planning on attending the Easter festivities in the central square, and then later off to the Uffizi Gallery (another museum forced on Mel by Jeff). More later...

SORRENTO- 10:30 pm, April 16th Monday morning we started at Cafe Trombetta with the regular; cappicini and a croissant!! We were regulars after 3 mornings in a row. This is a cafe that requires you to pay before being served at a bar. Yes, a Starbucks, but bar style. The Italians go ga-ga, Italian men were drinking their espresso out of shot glasses at 7am!!

Then we were off to meet our tour group at the Vatican, but after he was 15 minutes late we tagged on to another tour that was free for the first half. This covered the Basilica or the Vatican church, the largest church in the world. Also where we saw the Pope. So amazing this place, not a painting in the entire place, only mosaics, which Mel went crazy over cause she loves everything mosaic. We were in there for an hour or so, listening to a basic history and some secrets that otherwise go unnoticed by the regular tourist. We'll share if you plan on going there. Needless to say, for a couple of kids who are not very religious at all, this place was most breathtaking.

We decided to pay a little extra for a tour through the Vatican Museum. All we have to say is after almost 3 hours we finally saw the Cistine Chapel. The most amazing piece we have seen yet. The best part was going in with a little bit of history on the artist himself, Michaelangelo, and the history of the work too. We felt like experts pointing and discussing, as others stood and sat dumb founded!!!!

Our last night in Rome was great. After spending two nights in a dorm with a family of 6 from who knows where, we were blessed with the cutest IKEA room. Tuesday morning we were off to catch a 3 hour train to Naples. We originally had planned to eat lunch in Naples and catch the regional train to Sorrento afterward, but we were in Naples a little under one hour. Soon realizing we were in Tijuana, we turned back around to the train station, but not without Mel's ankle giving out in the middle of the street. This caused Flash to have a mini heart attack. He picked her up off the ground so fast and promised pizza and beer as soon as we arrived in Sorrento. The train to Sorrento was a grueling one hour trip, which included 33 stops along the way. Little did we know that our $2 euro ticket was subway style and didn't guarantee a seat. We stood huddling our belongings the whole way.

We are only mentioning all of the negative to lead us to- SORRENTO. This place is so breathtaking and surreal. Our pictures will soon tell the paradise we have landed. The first thing we did was walk a couple blocks for lunch, then we called our hotel to pick us up. This is where the positive starts. A shuttle to our hotel!!!! No stinky subway or thieves. We began to wind up a hill in our shuttle, only to look at each other, thinking- is this guy going to drive us off a cliff or is he driving us to no where and leaving us. We knew our hotel was far up, but not in the sky!!!! We finally arrive to the front of what Mel and Flash believe is a 5 star hotel- il nido is the name. The view off the balcony of our room, w/ full patio and furniture, looks to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii and overlooks all of Sorrento. Mel took a 45 min bath as Flash stood on the balcony the whole time taking pictures!!! Once, two very stinky backpackers were now high rollers. Dinner was served at 7pm, where we managed to have a 4 course meal.

Today we took a day trip to Amalfi only wishing we had a week. The only way into the city is by bus, of course if you have a yacht you will be there in 20 min. Two hours later on one of the most windy, one way roads, we reach another paradise. What can we say, Italy has been paradise for th both of us. Tomorrow we will visit Pompeii, more details then.....

ROME - 12:20 am, April 14th We are having the greatest time here in Rome! The city is treating us very well, no pickpocket attempts (yet), gorgeous weather, friendly people, a great hostle, it doesn't get much better! Where did we leave off? Ah yes, in Nice.

We took another overnight train out of Nice headed for Rome. This turned out to be one of the surprisingly best nights we have had. The sleeper car was full so we had to reserve regular seats. We ended up with 3 other people, americans, who where studying abroad in europe and where traveling around on their breaks. One of them was studying in England, outside of London, and the other two where studying in Southern France. It was great to talk to americans our age (well, a little younger) and just "hang out" We talked about all the things people who miss home talk about: Mexican food, American TV, american restaurants....It was extremely refreshing and we got off the train in the morning ready to conquer Rome.

First we checked into our hostle, it was 7am so we couldn't get into our room yet, but they let us take showers! We must have smelled like stinky backpackers. We got cleaned up and headed to the Colosseum. Breathtaking! We got inside and just stood in the same place for about 15 minutes and took it all in. Mel wished she had brought togas and crowns of leaves so we could be just like the ancient romans. After the Colosseum we had lunch at a cafe. We had salads and sandwiches, topped off with some great gelatto ice cream. Then we took a walk through the Roman Forum, ruins of the ancient Roman town center. Lets just say, the ancient Romans loved marble. After the ruins we headed to the Borghese Gallery. This is a small little museum that used to be the mansion of a Cardinal who lived a couple hundred years ago. Cardinal Borghese was a strong supporter of the Renaissance and Baroque art movements at the time, and the museum is a display of his art collection. It was amazing to see some of these paintings and statues in their original settings, where they have been sitting for hundreds of years. After the gallery we went back to the hostle, relaxed and then went out to dinner. We ate at a good restaurant recommended by one of the owners of our hostle, it was great italian food. We had brushetta, lasagna, veal, dessert, and of course, wine. After dinner we went back to the hostle and called it a night.

Today we got up and headed for the Vatican. Today is palm sunday, the sunday before easter. We are both a little unsure about the religious significance of the day, but it meant the Pope was giving a huge 2 hour mass at the Vatican in Piazza San Pietro. So, we saw the pope. He is old. We couldn't see him very well, but from what we could make out on the huge jumbotron screens, he's not doing too well. It was a great experience, Jeff took tons of people watching pictures. We stayed for about 30 minutes and then headed for the Trevi Fountain. From there we strolled to the Pantheon, where we had lunch in the square facing the front of the Pantheon. This was the best. We sat there in the sun, ate authentic Italian pizza, drank good Italian red wine, took in the magnitude of the Pantheon and watched the tourists stream bye. After 3 hours there in the Piazza de la Rotonda we headed out, saw a few more churches, took a quick visit to the Piazza Navona and headed back to the hostle for a siesta. After an hour nap we headed out to Trastevere, more of a colorful, laid back, "artisit's hangout" area, this is Rome's equivalent to Paris' Latin Quarter. We walked around for a while, found a small restaurant that looked good, and had a nice dinner. The waiters in the restaurant didn't speak english very well, but in contrast to Paris, this was not a difficulty, they had as much fun with it as us. After another wonderful dinner it was back here to the hostle and another happy end to another great day in Rome.

We are excited for tomorrow, we are taking a 5 hour guided walking tour of the Vatican Museum and San Pietro. This will be our first guided tour and we are looking forward to REALLY knowing the significance of some of the amazing things we will see. Now it's time for a little more Limoncelo (liquore di limone) and off to bed. Hopefully Mel's allergies will clear during the night! ACHOOO!

ROME - 1:20 am, April 13th We have pictures online! After a painful hour on an iMac here at our hostle Jeff has managed to figure out this whole Apple Computer thing. The pictures are rather large, so they may take some time to load on a dial-up modem. Update on events in Rome later, lets get to the good stuff... p.s. yes, some of the photos are sideways, I never said I was a computer wiz or anything... p.p.s NO, we are not wearing the same clothes in all the pictures, how dare you suggest such a thing!

LONDON - You can see Parliament in the background.

TWYFORD - Windsor Castle

PARIS - The Louvre

PARIS - Nightfall sykline from the Louvre


PARIS - Eiffel Tour

SAN SEBASTIAN - Sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time

SAN SEBASTIAN - On top of the mountain

BARCELONA - Sagrada Familia

BARCELONA - Sagrada Familia

NICE - 11:00 am, April 11th We spent our last day in Barcelona yesterday. We had to carefully schedule our day as war protests completely shut down all transportation in the city between noon and 2pm. We got to see tons of people marching, carrying signs, blowing whistles, banging pots and pans... No need to worry parents, everything we saw was peaceful. We have begun to see more and more American tourists as our journey continues, Italy should be just as full as Barcelona. We went to the Picasso museum yesterday during the main protest time, even the museum ticket office stopped selling tickets for 15 minutes at noon in protest. We had some falafals for lunch and then it was back to Las Ramblas once the metro was back running. Mel went crazy window shopping in all the shops, but to Jeff's suprise she has not purchased an article of clothing, just souveniers.

We took the night train from Barcelona here to Nice last night. This time we decided against the couchettes and roughed it in the regular seating compartments. It was not too bad, normally the compartments seat 8, but there were only 3 of us, the third being a hip french dude (non smelly). It was a little discomforting to be woken at 3am by the police searching every compartment for a thief and wanting to know if any of our belongings had been taken during our sleep. We where OK, we had locked our backpacks together and to the train with a cable (nice work Mel).

We watched the sunrise over the mediterranian this morning while on the train. Beautiful and strange, since we are used to the sun SETTING over the ocean. The weather is not as warm as we had hoped, but the forecasted rain has not yet arrived. We are feeling a little grubby without a shower and in the same clothes as yesterday, but know it will get worse as we leave Nice tonight (overnight) for Rome. We found a park and ate breakfast and will go searching for a comfy bar to do some relaxing later. We found the most expensive hotel in the city and treated ourselves to a refresher in their WC (water closet -- bathroom). We can say that wetnaps have become our best friends in the last couple of days.

We are hoping to get some pictures uploaded soon, but no promises! Jeff has gone a tad crazy with the digital camera and has taken over 500 pictures so far! Mel has made herself the designated video camera operator and has captured quick video of all the big sights.

Next update from Rome!!!

BARCELONA - 4:00 pm, April 9th It´s hard to believe we have been here in europe for two weeks, it´s even harder to belive we still have three to go. Barcelona is a big city, but doesn´t have the big city feel that London and Paris had. There are many more young people here, not so many older business people rushing about. English is spoken by most people and is on almost every sign of importance, this is good!

Monday night we had dinner at a great restaurant called Les Quinze Nits in Placa Reial. This place was very modern, could have been a restaurant in San Diego, the food was great, we both had appetizers, a main course, desert, and drinks all for 50 euros, it seemed like it should have been 100! Oh, and when we say drinks, we mean drinks! Mel had a litre of Sangria and Jeff had a litre of house red wine. The guy taking our drinks looked at us kind of funny when we ordered, and then everybody around us looked at us funny when our large pitchers of booze arrived. Oh well, we finished everything and went back to the hostle happy.

Yesterday was our "Gaudi Day" Barcelona is crazy about Antoni Gaudi, an artist/architect who lived and did many works here. His most famous was the Sagrada Familia, a church that is still being built today. It was very cool! We went inside (kind of, the inside is not finished and is actually still "outside") and where able to go up into one of the towers. We then went to Park Guell, a cool park with tons of Gaudi mosaics and a great view of the city. Then we went and saw Casa Mila, a Gaudi building without a straight line in the entire design. These sights where all great, Mel loved them because of the mosaics. We also went to the train station to make our thursday morning train reservation to Nice. And you will never believe it, there is a train strike that morning! Wow, came as a huge suprise to us. So we made a reservation on a train overnight that night. Mel is a little worried, we have a thursday night train to Nice, we spend 15 hours in Nice and then take another overnight train to Rome. Talk about smelly and tired!

Last night we hit the town for some dancing and drinking. We took a nap from 830-930 and left our hostle at 1130, this town is a late starter. We went to the touristy nightclub area, little did we know we would be spending the night in Tiajuana! For those of you who have been to the club scene in TJ, this was a lot like that! Let me give you a few examples of the interesting people we saw:

And too many Britney Spears clones!

But we had fun, and drank toooooooooo much. Mel decided to go drink for drink with Jeff, this was a bad idea and the night ended for her on the bathroom floor. We slept in until 130 this afternoon and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. No sightseeing today!

posted by Flash and Mel | 7:44 AM
Wednesday, April 09, 2003

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BARCELONA - 7:00 pm, April 7th We arrived here in Barcelona this morning, we took the overnight sleeper train from San Sebastian. Yesterday we had a wonderful, relaxing day in San Sebastian. We took a walk along the beach, probably 2 miles each way, laid on the sand and took a nap, people watched in the central square, and met a friendly bartender who took the time to show us the ropes of tapas and the local drinks. Our train out of San Sebastian was supposed to leave at 23:00 (11pm) but was an hour late (what else is new). The couchettes, as the sleeper cars are called, are VERY SMALL. They pack 6 people into a room, tri-level bunk beds on each side and barely enough room between the two sides to stand. They seperate the girls and guys and Mel ended up with a old snoring lady. But, we survived.

After checking into our hostel this morning, we had a siesta and then went for a stroll down Las Ramblas, the main drag here in Barcelona. This street has everything, street performers, restaurants, bars, a fresh produce/meat market, small booths selling small pets, flower shops, street artists.... Now it´s time for a little relaxing before going out to test the Barcelona nightlife!

posted by Flash and Mel | 10:09 AM
Monday, April 07, 2003

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SAN SEBASTIAN - 11:15 pm, April 5th Quick update, we had our first McDonalds experience tonight. In an effort to "do something comfortable" we went to McDonalds tonight. This was quite different than we expected. First of all, they serve beer at McDonalds here. So, we ordered: "un numero ocho, un numero dos y dos cervezas grande." Second of all, it was PACKED with people, mostly teenagers, Jeff was a head taller than anyone in line ordering food. Now it's time for more cerveza and another good nights sleep. We might attempt to do laundry tomorrow, stay tuned.....

posted by Flash and Mel | 1:26 PM
Saturday, April 05, 2003

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SAN SEBASTIAN - 6:30 pm, April 5th It is our second day in San Sebastian and the weather is beautiful. This place is so clean, we left our room this morning for breakfast to see one of the owners of the hostel scrubbing the sidewalk with a bucket of soapy water.

It was very tough to find breakfast food, definatley no Denny´s here. Later in the day we found a spot that serves American breakfast, which is right next to McDonalds! Speaking of food, we had dinner last night at La Cepa, a non english speaking establishment. They had english menus, but when we were ready to point to steak and prawns our waitress could not translate the english. Aaahhh, so we ordered anyways hoping it was right and if not, we might end up with a plate of $14 slime!! Very good dinner and we got what we orderd.

We climbed to the top of Monte Urgull, the most beautiful view of San Sebastian. Took tons of pictures, played cards and for once we relaxed. Later it was off to the local market, which we walked by a million times and couldn´t find because it is underground. Once there we found .99 cent Sangria and the best cheap wine ever.

We visited the train station 3 times today. You see, they don´t speak english either. So when reserving our overnight sleep car to Barcelona, we realized after leaving it was just regular seats. This means Flash and Mel would have been sitting in airplane style seats for 10 hours to Barcelona. The lady at hour hostel was very pleasant and called for us, so we went back for the third time, to be serviced by the same unpleasant fellow, who proceeded to draw a kindergarden picture for us to help us understand our sleeping arangements. Boys and girls seperated in sleeping cars!!! We nodded and got the heck out of there.

So its off to relax and drink Sangria before we got to dinner. Dinner is served here starting at 8pm and on.....

posted by Flash and Mel | 8:30 AM

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SAN SEBASTIAN - 3:30, April 4th We have made it to San Sebastian. Warmer, friendlier, more relaxed.... We are off to have tapas and drink sangria!!!!

posted by Flash and Mel | 5:35 AM
Friday, April 04, 2003

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PARIS - 10:00 pm, April 3rd BBBRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! Did we mention it was cold? We hit our first bump in the trip today. France's train workers are on strike today. This means two things: 1. we cannot leave tonight on the overnight train to San Sebastian, not a big deal, we got a 730am train tomorrow. 2. The metro is not working, this is a big deal, we had to walk everywhere today, estimated 10 miles from our hostle to the Orsay Museum to the Eiffel Tour!!! Isnt this supposed to be a vacation? Most Parisians are pleasant, and speak english to us right away, however, some are sterotypically rude, especially when trying to get a cab! We have done all the major sights here in paris, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tour, Arc de Triomph, Champs E'lyesee, Notre Dame, Sacre Cour, Orsay Museum, and of course, french pastries, baguettes, un cafe, and cheese. We also survived our first Parisian hail storm last night, and cab ride this afternoon. We are excited to get to San Sebastian and slow down our frantic tourist pace! More later. Oh, and as our cab driver says: "Paris, shit."

posted by Flash and Mel | 12:16 PM
Thursday, April 03, 2003

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PARIS - 2:45 pm, April 2nd Paris is cold. We arrived here yesterday at 2pm, our Eurostar train was delayed 40 mins, no big deal. After checking in to our hostle it was too late to visit any museums, so we took the metro to the eiffel tour, it was Mel's dream come true. We decided to go to the top on a different night. We then went and saw notre dame and then took a night boat cruise down the Seine River. Paris is most beautiful at night, with all the lights on at all the monuments. We had an interesting experience at dinner. We went to a small, hidden, non english speaking restaurant. Since neither of us speak french, it took us a while to order our food. We were very much out of our comfort zone, but that is what this trip is all about. We laughed along with our waiter and the food was great!

The keyboard here is jumbled for the french. As an example, here is the previous 2 sentences typed normally:
The keyboqrd here is ju,bled for the french: Qs qn exq,ple; here is the previous é sentences typed nor,qlly%

Au revoir, it is off to the Louvre.

posted by Flash and Mel | 5:04 AM
Wednesday, April 02, 2003

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TWYFORD – 6:30 pm, March 30th Where is Twyford you might ask? Well it is a 45-minute train ride outside of London, but more on that later. Here is how we finished our time in London.

Saturday we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, rode the London Eye, and browsed the British Museum. St. Paul’s Cathedral is home to the third largest cathedral dome in the world. Oh my, is it large. It is also where Prince Charles and Princess Diana got married. We climbed 530 steps to the top of the dome for a panoramic view of the city. On the London Eye, we had another panoramic view of the city, we could see the top of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Trafalgar Square. In the British Museum we saw Egyptian mummies and sarcophagus, the Rosetta Stone, and many pieces of the Greek Parthenon. We then had dinner at The Nudge, what we believe to be a DJ Bar. It was great. Jeff wanted to go out for a night on the town, but we both fell asleep around 8:30 and woke-up around 11:00 and decided to do laundry in our tiny bathroom sink.

Sunday we checked out of our hotel and went and bought our Eurostar tickets to Paris for Tuesday. We checked our bags at the train station and headed to Covent Garden, a large shopping area. We strolled around there and then headed to the Victoria and Albert museum. After the museum, we headed back to Paddington Station where we picked up our HEAVY backpacks and rode the train out to Twyford. We are staying with Frank and Margaret; Margaret is Jeff’s grandmother’s cousin. We are having a great time getting the “English experience.” We had lamb, leeks, parsnip, and custard last night for dinner, all good. We also got to meet their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren (too cute).

Today we went to Windsor Castle, the countryside home of the Queen. Windsor is the largest and oldest inhabited castle in the world. We saw the ceremonious changing of the guard, Mel thought she was in a fairy tale. Now it’s time for dinner and maybe then off to the pub for a pint. Cheers!

posted by Flash and Mel | 10:05 AM
Monday, March 31, 2003

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LONDON - 9:30 am, March 29th Yesterday we started early, as we were both awake at 4:30am! Breakfast was provided by our hotel- a yummy fruit basket and tea. We started at 9am on the red Double Decker bus tour all around London. We went to Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the guard, then to lunch at Bellgo Central (a Belgian Pub). Mel had a rib eye steak and maes pil-beer and Flash had sausages and mashed potatoes! All for 20 pounds. We had a quick visit to the Tower of London and then spent the rest of the evening at the most amazing place- the Tate Modern Museum. Thank god we were not ready for bed by 7pm, so we were off to St. George's pub for beer and later to Pizza Hut. We know, wierd, but it's hard to find food after 10pm. In by midnight.... and that brings us to....
Just leaving this morning for another adventurous day in London. After some quick drinks at Starbucks, we are off to St. Paul's Cathedral, we have reservations at 1pm for the London Eye (a ferris wheel 400 ft high) with amazing views of the city and then we will end at the British Museum.

posted by Flash and Mel | 1:58 AM
Saturday, March 29, 2003

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LONDON - 8:00 am, March 28th We just had a morning coffee at the Victoria train station. Yes, we have jet lag. We fell asleep at 7:00 last evening and have been awake since 4:30 am. Our first day in London went great. We landed on-time and made it through customs in 20 minutes. We hopped on the tube and checked into our hotel without any problems.
Our first "oh my god, I'm in london" feeling hit us when we left theVictoria station to go to our hotel. We stepped into the hustle and bustle of central London; double decker red buses, black cabs, business men in suits hurrying to catch trains... After cheking into our shoebox of a room (but nice, clean, and cheap) we took the tube to Big Ben and Parliament. We walked down to Westminster Abby, 10 Downing Street (home of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair), and Trafalgar Square. We stopped in a pub to have a british meal: fish and chips, a Guiness for Flash and a Stronbow cider for Mel. We then toured the National Gallery, our first Museum! If this was any indication of how cool all the other museums will be we are very excited. Today we are set for another jam-packed day. And to think, we have so many things to come.

posted by Flash and Mel | 12:11 AM
Friday, March 28, 2003

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LONDON - 2:20 pm, March 27thWe are in London!!! After a 9 hour plane ride, where Mel didn't freak out once!!! We are off to Big Ben and to explore the city.

posted by Flash and Mel | 6:25 AM
Thursday, March 27, 2003

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Testing....wonder if this is working....This is where we will post our journal from europe.....

posted by Flash and Mel | 3:28 PM
Friday, March 07, 2003

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