Barcelona

We spent three days in Barcelona and were excited to find the weather in Spain to be considerably cooler than in Italy. Our friend Hokei from Hong Kong came to Barcelona for the three days we were there to spend time with us and take his final European vacation before moving back to Hong Kong. We went out to dinner and dancing with a group of six other girls one night which was a blast! We spent one day on the sandy beach which was very nice, although not as beautiful as Nice. We toured the Prado mueseum and saw amny famous works of art by Piccaso and Dali. On a bus tour we enjoyed hearing about much history of Barcelona and saw many buildings designed by the famous architect Gaudi.

Laura and Kelly

Avignon and Nimes

The travel day from Nice to Nimes included a few stops along the way. Avignon is famous for its half finished bridge, which was at one time the only completed bridge for miles, but has since been bombed. We enjoyed paninis and crepes for lunch, a French specialty. We then stoped at the Pont du Darg to view the famous aqueduct built 19 BC. Below the bridge in the water many people were enjoying themselves in the water and jumping off clifts. We made our way to Nimes and enjoyed walking around the city taking in the sites and seeing what the street vendors had for sale.

Kelly and Laura

Nice

We spent a much needed relaxing day on the beach in Nice, France. The pebble beach was very comfortable, the water was very refreshing, and the view was spectacular! We enjoyed some tasty chicken sandwiches on the beach which we bought from a small local restaurant. Soaking up the sun did our bodies and souls well as much of our European trip was not very relaxing!

Laura and Kelly

Rome

We spent three days in Rome in a very nice hotel in a great location. We toured the Vatican City, and took in many sites including the Roman/Imperial Forum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Pantheon, and the prision where Peter and Paul were held. The ancient feel of the city was sureal and early AD and BC ruins were scattered throughout Rome. We felt the need to do a little shopping and bought ourselves some dresses and a purse. Rome is a beautiful city full of life and history galore.

Laura and Kelly

Florence

While only in Forence for two nights, we were able to see the famous statue of Michealangelo's David. It was an amazing, beautiful work of art! Unfortunately Kelly and I were sick from dehydration the better part of our stay in Florence. Temperatures reached a scorching 104 degrees and our room had no air conditioning! We pulled out fine thanks to our wonderful roommates, Sara and Dale. We also had an interesting encounter with a local Italian doctor who came to check on us. Ah, experiences for a lifetime!

Kelly and Laura

Venice

Ah, what a beautiful city. St. Marcs square is breathless; however, the pigeons will attack. We visited the palace, walked the streets and shopped, and we took a boat cruise to three islands: Morano, Burano, and Tercello. Morano is of course known for their glass, Burano has a population of 20, and Tercello is known for their colorful buidings and lace. The excursion was well worth it.

At night, Venice is much quieter and the lights make the city glow. We had an italian dinner, followed by a gondola ride with friends as we listened to our driver sing to us in italian.

Lucern

Weather still not in our favor, we still managed to enjoy what the city had to offer. We took a boat cruise to the bottom of Mt. Pilatus and visited the top of the mountain. The view was cloudy at first but luckily cleared up in time for us to capture the beautiful view of the other mountains and hillsides. The cable car ride down was cool because it was another great view and we could hear the cow bells from below. The city gave us a great chance to do some shopping and relax.

Heidelberg

After a long transfer day on the bus, we arrived in Heidelberg to catch the great view of the city from the castle. We walked and shopped some around the university plaza. Our hotel was 8 miles away and definately gave us a German country feel.

Brussels and Amsterdam

On our way by coach to Amsterdam we stopped in Brussels for a few hours. We saw the famous statue of a little boy taking a wee and ate the most amazying Belgin waffels with strawberries, bananas, and whip cream!

While in Amsterdam we toured the city by canals which was beautiful! We saw the most narrow house in the world, onlý two and a half meters wide!! The most meaningful part of the time spent in Amsterdam was spent at the Anne Frank House, the annex. It was powerful and moving walking through the house and reliving the histry behind the hollocaust and Anne Frank in particular. We were also able to tour a diamond factory and get a lesson in diamond quality and price; colour, cut, clarity, and carot....everything a girl needs to know!

Kelly and Laura

Paris

Paris was the second city of our tour! Although we were sad we were missing Independence Day in the states, we could think of no better place to be than Paris. We took a ride on the ferris wheel, sat outside the Eiffel Tower and at crepes while enjoying the view, rode up in the Eiffel Tower at night to see the amazying view of the city, climbed to the top of the Arc de Triumph, wandered around many shopping areas, went to see Mona Lisa and many other works of art at the Lourve, walked around inside and outside Notre Dame, and took a day trip to Versailles which had the most amazying and outrageous gardens known to man!!

We have seen so much and time is just flying by now!! While in London and Paris we were on the sight of 3 different film takes: National Treasure II, the Prequil to Peter Pan, and the movie Versailles. Cant wait to watch them when we come home!!

Kelly and Laura

London

We met our EF tour group in London on Friday. We will be with them for the remainder of our trip. The three nights in London were quite entertaining as many things were going on including the almost bombing outside Tiger Tiger in Piccadilly Circus, the terrorist attack on Glasgow airport, the Diana Concert, and the Gay Pride Parade.

We toured the Tower Bridge, London Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guards, and Regent's Park. We attended a service at Westminster Abbey Sunday evening. We walked around SoHo/Chinatown and ate most of our meals on Leicester Square (everything is extremely expensive!! A kid's meal at KFC was £2.65 roughly the equivilent of $6 with the exchange rate).

Kelly and Laura

We will post pictures as soon as we are able. We have been having problems uploading them.

Manchester

We took the train to Manchester from Edinburgh and spent four nights there. Laura's associate, Dr. Newman, a professor at the University of Manchester set us up in Day's Hotel near the University. While there we spent much time with a friend we met a few weeks before in Salzburg, Austria. Hokei, a student at Manchester (graduating with his PhD in physics in July), is from Hong Kong and did us a great service by showing us around on our first day. He was also kind enough to throw us an international dinner party with his friends (2 from Germany, 1 from Spain, and 1 from France). He prepared a traditional Chinese dinner, which we very much enjoyed! Dr. Newman took us to lunch and showed us around the University, and we had a wonderful time reflecting in the century old buildings.

We also took a day trip to Liverpool to see the sites of the famous Beatles. We walked down Mathew Street, where the Beatles played in the Cavern almost 300 times. We toured the 'Beatles Experience' museum on Abby Dock before heading back to Manchester.

Laura and Kelly

Edinburgh

We spent three nights in Edinburgh, Scotland (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). While there we took several city bus tours, walked the Royal Mile, visited the Queen's Palace, took in the view of the Edinburgh Castle, walked through the Botanical Garden, and enjoyed spending time with the locals. We stayed right in the middle of town, between the Old and New parts of town, right by Waverly Station on Market Street. We saw our first movie in over a month, Ocean's 13. It was very good, and we were excited for a taste of home! The weather was dreary, cold, windy, and rainy, but we managed to have a great time regardless!

Kelly and Laura

Dublin

We flew to Ireland via Ryan Air late Tuesday night. The weather was dreary, around 52 degrees and rainy the whole time we were there, but we managed to have a great time regardless. We took a train to the country side (think Laura is missing the country?!) and got an amazing view of the ocean and mountains. We chowed down on some hearty Irish food to keep warm, and spent time with some locals. We toured the Guinness factory and enjoyed the amazing view of the city from the high 360 degree glass floor. We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, and heard a choir from Alabama singing while we admired all the wonders of this old Cathedral.

Laura and Kelly

Munich

We spent 2 nights in Munich. While we were there we took a train out into the country to visit Schloss Neuschwanstein (the famous Disney castle). Words cannot express how amazing it was to see the castle, mountains, and just the view! We spent one whole day in travels to and from the castle and touring the castle and nearby bridge. The next day in Munich we toured the BMW museum, the Olympic arena, and Marienplatz filled with high end shops (we decided not to buy the €1300 purse though we were tempted!).

Kelly and Laura

Bamberg/Templesgreuth

We spent Father's Day weekend with Andi & Julia and Michael Kormann in Tempelsgreuth Germany. We had a great time in the country with them. They were extremely hospitable, and we enjoyed seeing the country side and getting out of the city for a while. Their farm was very nice, and they also showed us around Bamberg and we toured a castle in a nearby town. We were sad to leave, as we really felt this showed us the true Germany and loved spending time with such wonderful people!

Laura and Kelly

PS Much thanks to Andi for all of the translation over the weekend!

Frankfurt

We spent one night in Frankfurt and enjoyed walking along the Main waterfront, visiting Old Town, and enjoying the German cuisine. Frankfurt is a financial district, full of business people and to a lesser degree tourists. We enjoyed our night there and experienced all Frankfurt had to offer.

Kelly and Laura

Berlin

We took a night train to Berlin. We departed at 20:07 and arrived in Berlin at 7:30. It was pretty interesting, and not terribly uncomfortable. Once in Berlin we checked in to our Hostel, Bax Pax around 9am and were very glad to take showers and relax a bit! We then met up with Kelly's friend from church in Joplin, Terrence. He was kind enough to give us a walking tour of Berlin. We learned so much about the history or Berlin! It was absolutely amazing and we can't thank him enough!!

We saw so many things I don't even know where to begin! We saw the Hotel Adlon (where Michael Jackson dangled a baby), the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburger Tor, BebelPltz, the Fernsehturm, and many other things I can't recall at the moment!! We stood over the bunker where Hitler committed suicide, and learned of much of the histroy of this amazing city. We went to the Pergamon Museum and the Sony Center as well as walking around the KaDeVe department store, which was outrageous!!!

We enjoyed traditional German food, and must admit the cuisine here is remarkable!!

Hope you all enjoy the pictures and following along on our journey!

Kelly and Laura

PS We encourage you to make comments on the blog so we can know who is checking it and what everyone things about our travels!

Krakow

We arrived in Krakow Saturday night from a long day on the train. We settled in at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and walked toward the square to find something to eat. The food was delicious (pizza) and the view was amazing! The next morning we took a bus tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This tour was extremely interesting and informative. We saw many belongings of the victims and the places that they were forced to live. We got to stand in one of the gas chambers, which was such an intense experience. In Krakow, we got to taste some Polish cuisine at a restuarant that was right on the square. An orchestra was playing in the middle for the Wreath festival. The view was awesome and the food was delicious! We ended our last night in Krakow hanging out with some friends that we met from Liverpool. Beer is cheaper than water! Other sites that we visited included St. Mary´s Cathedral, Old Town, and the Castle of Wawel.

Kelly and Laura

On a personal note, we have discovered how to make our straightener work with the electrical system here and are very excited to again have non frizzy hair!!