Paris, Our Last Days

Paris was a wonderful trip with many ups and downs. We stayed our first night with our family friend who has a house and business just outside the city. He was a interesting French man. It was an akward experience, but one that we will remember for a long time. He hardly spoke english, was sick and seemed to be on many pain drugs, and smoked like crazy. We did not last long sitting and trying to communicate with him. He went back to bed when we ventured into the city by ourselves on the metro (underground subway). First thing we did when we got into Paris was book a hotel for the second night!!! Then we walked a long way down to the Eiffel tower but the line was to long so we decided to wait until the next day to go up to the top. We had a good Chinese dinner and took the metro back to Gerard, the French man's house, just praying that he had kept his doors unlocked. We got of the train and walked, which seemed like a long ways as it started to get dark in an unfamiliar area. We finally got to his house and there was not ONE light on in the house we went straight to bed, don't even think we brushed our teeths that night!! Woke up early smelling like smoke and wrote him a thank you note and told his secretary/ex-wife we were leaving and thank you for the stay. She luckily drove us to the metro station because we had our big backpacks on and we went straight to the hotel in Paris, checked in and relaxed. Went for an awesome breakfast and then tried to see the sights of Paris even though our legs and bodies were exhausted! We went through Notre Dome, walked the famous road down to the marble arch, and went up the eiffel tower. Being the end of the trip we were tired so we headed back to the hotel and went to the internet Cafe to check on all of our flight info. When we walked out we were caught in a THUNDER STORM, and it was pooring down rain! Our clothes got soaked but got over it! Enjoyed a great dinner of French Onion soup and French vanilla ice cream! Paris was a true adventure which just adds to the awesome memories of European trip!Thanks to everyone who were with us through this blog, we had a great time updating it, and we are going to miss our European Adventure.........Until next time!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

Happy Moms day to our mothers at home!!! We surely do miss you and wish we could give you both great big hugs on your special day!! Thanks for being so great!! WE MISS YOU

XOXO

Love you!

Interlaken and Gimmelwald, SWITZERLAND

Saying goodbye to the beach and our comfort in Italy was very tough. We headed from the cinque terre, to Switzerland. It took four seperate train rides, and almost seven hours to arrive in Interlaken. Its a lot how people say it is, the trains here in Switzerland are much more calm, clean, very on time, and are much easier to ride. The trains went by fairly quickly and we headed to our hostel in Interlaken. The small city is so beautiful, and the alps are in our laps! We had a good dinner, played some ping pong with some guys at the hostel from Australia and Boston....then we headed to bed. This morning we woke to clear skies and amazing views. We headed to the VERY small town (if that) of Gimmelwald, perched high in the Alps. We took a train, bus and a Tram/gondola to the town. We are now at a very low key mountain hostel that stares right at amazing mountains. Today we have relaxed and done a bit of walking around...and tomorrow we take another tram to the tip top of the mountains which should be great! We head to Paris on Tuesday, and then head home. Cant believe how fast this trip has gone by!!!

No thats not us parachuting down, we wish though!!

Kelsey even found a cow bell to wear (dont have to worry now Sue/Linda :) )

Cinque Terre, cont.

The fun continues here in the cinque terre. The sun was shining brightly today and its soooo beautiful here. This morning we took the train to the first town of five, Riomaggoire, and from there we hiked to the next two towns. Each one was unique and we just spent are time exploring each individual town and soaking up the sun on the way. The hiking here is all on the coastal cliffs, from one town to the next, its amazing. After exploring, we came back to Monterosso had a great late lunch and sat on the beach and went swimming. And YES we did not have our mothers to remind us to put sun tan lotion on....so we are now paying for it, we are FRIED :) feels great though! Keeping this short, we have two more nights here, then off to Interlaken, Switzerland to do some hiking in the Alps!!! Love to all!

A little slice of Heaven- Cinque Terre, Italy

What more can we say, we are in paradise over here. We took the train from Rome, to the cinque terre, four hours, sat with people from Vancouver and had a very pleasant ride. When we arrived we were greeted at the hotel with a glass of wine. We went to the beach, layed in the sun, and stared at the bright blue clear water. ( I must say that I did beat Andy into the Mediterranean!!!) We walked all around the very cute little town of Monorroso, and had a wonderful Italian meal, a reccomendation of Andi Poggi. Today we got up had our best continental breakfast so far, and hiked to the next little town of Vernazza. The famous one that everyone knows from picture, and it sure was pretty! The hike was great through the vineyards along the steep cliffs, and we had lunch when we got there. The Italians in these little villages are so nice, friendly, and seem so at peace here in there cliffside villages. Tomorrow we are going to hike and explore the other three towns! They are easier hikes and closer together! Take care and Love to all.

Rome Italy! 10 days left

Well, our Rome experience has been an interesting one...especially starting out. Immediately after we got off of our four hour train ride from Venice, we were grabbed by hotel reservation man, which we thought was good since we did not have a place to stay. However this was one of our first mistakes on the trip. He set things up so fast we did not see it coming! Our hotel is in a good location and is cheap, but lets just say our mold in our bathroom is not pleasant to shower in. No need to say anything more. We are excited to get to the cinque terre tomorrow and stay in a nice peaceful, CLEAN, hotel run by a nice italian man. Not to make Rome sound bad, we have seen some pretty amazing ancient ruins of Rome and the history here in the city is so amazing. The colleseum is what we expected, and was very cool. Today we went to the Vatican, the Basilica, Sistene Chapel, and many other sites. Yes we were tourists on a double decker bus again, jumping off and then back on again, but it is the best way to see the city in a day. Weather is great here, we hope all is well at home, Much love!

Innsbruck Austria, to Italy!

keeping this post kinda short today...limited time. Innsbruck was great, we were able to go for a great little hike over looking the Alps and the city. However very short stay. Apparently May day is a big deal over here, so it made it hard to book anything in Italy. We had planned to stay two nights in verona but because it was not enjoyable we cancelled the second night and took the chance of getting a room in Venice!! and we got lucky!! Venice is so beautiful, we walked walked walked all day in the hot sun. Heading to dinner here soon for a good italian meal hopefully and tomorrow we head to Rome for two nights! From Rome we head to the cinque terre staying at Andi Poggis hotel (kelseys aunt and uncles friend) cant wait!!! Love to all! Happy Days!