Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM

Well as mentioned briefly before, Amsterdam really wasn’t as grand as we hoped, expected, and were told it would be. Upon arriving our hostel was so disgusting we immediately began searching for somewhere else. I had a hard time booking somewhere there to begin with because the options were either in the red light district or above a coffee shop, neither of which I was too keen on. We found a moderate hotel not far from our hostel and moved there for our last 2 nights. It was much nicer but the receptionist guy got in this big argument with me when we arrived and after that I was just out on Amsterdam. We did get to do some nice things, and we wonder if we would have enjoyed it more if it wasn’t so hot (and if our rooms had proper ventilation) and if our hostel situation wasn’t so awful.

GOOD THINGS:
-Van Gogh museum was great! But it was SO crowded we had to listen to our headphones the entire time just to stay sane! But we got to see some of my favorite pieces of his and the museum was broken up into the different movements the artist went through so it was interesting to see how he progressed and his subject matter, etc.

-Anne Frank House: although neither of us read her diary, we were familiar with the story and the museum explained everything very well. It was amazing to see how they were hidden and find out what happened to them. Apparently Amsterdam had been a bit of a haven for the Jewish people for a long time, so when the Nazis came it dramatically affected the city because of how many Jewish families were there. So sad. Its been interesting to travel through Europe and see how the war deeply effected each of the countries. What a crazy time.

-Free walking tour: we only made it half way through, it was SO hot and neither of us were feeling very well. But we got to see some parts of the city we hadn’t before and learned more about the history of the city. Oddly enough, the Berlin tour was WAY more interesting. I think Amsterdam just gets all the hype, maybe that’s why we were disappointed?

-Vondel Park: huge park right by our hostel/hotel! Our first two nights when we had to stay in the shitty hostel, we would go to the park until it was dark and we HAD to go back to our room. Haha, it wasn’t that funny at the time but it was a great park. Everybody is there with there dogs (they don’t have leashes here, crazy! But the dogs are really well trained and just follow their owner…even on super busy streets!), and friends are picnicing by the ponds, jogging, biking...its just a really great park.

-shopping: we did a little shopping, you should know that we are SO sick of all our clothes were going crazy! after the second week we were already sick of all of them. its been so hot a lot of the places we go, that we have to change half way through the day...this makes us go through our clothes even faster! i didnt buy anything, but cassie got a cute new dress shes going to wear tonight, yay!

so that was Amsterdam. pretty meh. but i know some people love it so i guess to each his own.

we're in Paris now, we got in yesterday afternoon but hadnt had any sleep (stupid hotel on a busy street and it was SO hot) so we just rested last night. unfortunatly i seem to have caught something, my tummy is bothering me and i have a bit of a fever...actually when im not on ibprofun i feel pretty awful. so i sent cassie to the Louvre for the day and im home resting:( its really weird when we are apart, we had a hard time seperating today...haha. our beds are across the room from each other here and its got us all discombobulated...she keeps sneaking over to my bed to visit me. I'm concerned about her moving away for 6 years...this is going to be interesting.

tonight we go out with the boys so I'm trying to get better to be ready for that! tomorrow i think we're going to the musee de orsay which is a great museum in an old beautiful train station. while we're here we are also going to try and do the free walking tour and see all the main sites and picnic in front of the eiffel tower, go to Versaille for the day, and try and get to the sacre de cour.

we miss you all and im looking forward to some of the comforts of home. cassie is looking forward to camping! but of course, Paris is amazing!!! i never want to leave! in fact, im about to look of nannying jobs in Europe right now...mwahaha.

love from Paris!

Van Gogh Museum

Rembrandt's House

BERLIN (finally!)

well, we're in Amsterdam now but i wrote this blog on the train ride here but just havent had a chance to post it yet. Amsterdam hasnt been as sweet as you would think. we'll give you the full scopp in a few days but just know that upon arriving our hostel was so disgusting we had to move into a hotel somewhere else. not a great way to enter a city. but were about to have some "space cake" and snuggle in for a movie, so hopefully things will get better:) tomorrows our last day here and then we're off to Paris! we're SO excited for Paris! ok, see Berlin below!
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BERLIN

Berlin was crazy jam packed with fun! Beware, this is a long blog!

Berlin was amazing! Im SO glad we made an effort to go there! The overnight train ride was very nice, and we got some sleep, yay!

We both slept pretty well but arrived too early to check in…about 4 hours too early to be exact. We waited for Kathleen and Kristen to arrive, my San Diego friends who are doing a summer internship in London and came up for a long weekend with us! While we were waiting for them and waiting to check in, our friend Daniel from Switzerland strolls up and he’s staying 2 nights there too! So now there’s five of us. In crazy Berlin. Needless to say, it was a weekend to be remembered.

That night we were all pretty tired from traveling so we rested and then wanted to go out for some dinner and maybe a drink. We went to a cute little Russian pub, I tried Czech beer and it was yummy. Then we asked where a cool bar or something would be and they directed us, while on our way there we happened upon a huge beer garden with all different ages of people drinking beer and just hanging out. So we had another beer there (some German Pilsner something or other) and then called it a night around midnight.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast all together and then went on this amazing free walking tour my friend Jen told me about and the hostel supports. The group does free tours all over Europe (work for tips) and 4 hours each with cool young guides that usually are majoring in whatever country they are guiding you in. They took us all over Berlin and we learned pretty much the entire history of Berlin. What an amazing city. It’s so different from anywhere else I’ve ever been! Half of it was behind the wall for so long and besides that 90% of the city was destroyed in the war. So any old buildings we saw were all reconstructions…which is sad but really fascinating! The city has been through so much with being a center for both world wars and the cold war to boot. It was also Nazi headquarters so a lot really took place there. Needless to say, the tour was amazing and I learned SO much! I love learning.

After the tour we went down to an area that has the longest portion of the wall left and a bunch of artisits painted it. We walked along it taking pictures and talking about the death strip that used to be on one side of it. Have I mentioned how stinking HOT Berlin is right now? Good lord, not quite as bad as Rome but awfully close. Nowhere has air conditioning which makes sense since its usually so cold there in the winter, but there was just no relief. So by this time we were tired and headed back for a cool shower and a rest before attempting a pub crawl in the evening put on by the same tour group.

By the time we reached the pub crawl we were all kinda over it since everyone looked really young and lame and me and Daniel forgot our ID’s (NO ONE has asked us this entire time in Europe, we’re clearly above 18, but the group had a rule so whatever) so we just ventured out on our own. They had a street full of cool bars and clubs so we went to a little place that had hookah and got some more beer, yay! Daniel had to leave in the morning so he headed back (I was surprised he lasted so long with us crazies to be honest) to get some sleep and we got a recommendations from a fellow American for a place down the street. Apparently this old department store that was disheveled and abandon after the war was going to be torn down but this group of artists basically squatted in it and saved it. Each floor has a bar or dance area and different art. There’s pretty graffiti all over the halls and stairwell. We had another drink there on the top floor overlooking the city and then found that all the bars on the street had backdoors that led to this other little club area outside in this dirt lot. The lot had been transformed by artists too and had a band and dancing area, sculptures, different bars, lots of neat things. So we ended our evening there with one last drink (or two;) and dancing like crazies to the band that was actually really good. The European bar scene is so different from home. Everyone just dances by themselves to the music or friends dance together…unlike at home where random strangers just come and pound into your leg while your trying to dance with your friend. So nobody bothered us the ENTIRE evening…it was so weird! No one hit on us, undressed us with their eyes, or even attempted to talk to us. For the most part of course.

The next morning me and cassie recovered while the other girls went to a museum about all the attempts to try and get over the wall. Then we all went to the Jewish History museum for the afternoon before the girls left. The museum was HUGE and made by an artist so every aspect of it connects to the theme of the museum…Jewish History obviously. They had a small section about the Holocaust, but most of it was an ENTIRE history of the Jewish people starting from about the 1100’s I would guess? It was very modern with all these interactive games and learning tools, they had lots of actual relics and replicas of course too. It was interesting but I was so tired and its not a subject that interests me a ton (I don’t know why it just doesn’t I guess) so I wasn’t as into it as Cassie was. But me and the other girls had fun goofing around and playing with the stuff that was supposed to engage kid visitors…haha.

The girls left afterwards and then me and Cassie had my other friend Jen to visit with for the evening. Jen is from Hamburg, Germany but does her university abroad, we met at school. It was so fun to see her in her element! She’s home for the summer and her mom and her came to Berlin to renew her student visa at the American consulate there. We just got dinner together since we were all pretty tired, it was so nice to see her and we had lots of fun catching up. She goes to San Francisco State now so I don’t know when I get to see her again which is sad.

And now we’re on our way to Amsterdam! Our train ride is 6 hours…we’ve just slept away the first 3 hours or so and are excited for Amsterdam. I think we’re going to try and take it easy in Amsterdam…we have lots of museums and another walking tour to go on but hopefully we wont top it off and go out night after night like Berlin. It was exhausting; we’re STILL tired from everything and hoping to recuperate in Amsterdam so we can be on our game for Paris (in preparation for our Frenchmen of course). But we had SO much fun in Berlin!

We cant believe our trip is so close to being over! Crazy!

off to Berlin!

well Vienna has been really great...except for the rain:(
when we got here it rained on and off for the rest of the evening but we were still able to go out and do something anyway...

Vienna is awesome, they have so many art and music events going on all year its amazing! During the summer (when the opera is off--sad face) they have a giant screen set up in front of city hall (which looks like a cathedral its so pretty) and all these chairs and little food shops set up. EVERY night they show a free movie! we went our first night and watched a famous symphony perform Mozart and Strauss in Osaka Japan. I think it was a Vienna symphony visiting Osaka. anyway, it was awesome! and it was quite a walk away so we got to see lots of the city that way too.

Yesterday we went to Belvedere Castle (now turned into a museum). it rained ALL day and all night which was a bummer to get there and home but it was worth it. the collection there was incredible! it took us HOURS to get through because we were enjoying it so much! and of course, my favorite artist Klimt had his own room there with my fav painting The Kiss. it was more amazing than i even thought it would be! all his work was just beautiful. seeing them in person is so much better then just on the computer or a poster. We also really enjoyed one of his peers Schele (sp?) and got to see some really great Renoir among others. SO many amazing pieces...we just loved it!

Today we went to Hapsburg Palace, yes where the Hapsburg dynasty reigned from for 600 years! i knew the basics of their history, but we learned a lot today! The last emperor was a really amazing guy. Its no wonder the country was devastated when he was assassinated. He was really humble and not overly decadent (like the crazy French) and he held public court with all people for hours each day and worked like crazy each day managing all the kingdoms. It was just really interesting. And apparently his wife was some crazy lady and we got to see her exhibit also...she was assassinated too--so sad. but it hasnt rained at all today! yay! that made the day even lovelier.

Now we're just relaxing after such a long day walking, we're waiting until our train leaves this evening. we leave at 6ish and ride two normal trains before taking our 9 hour sleeping car to Berlin. our first stop, we only have 6 minutes to make it to our next train platform! we're nervous obviously! when we arrive in the morning we have to then take public transportation to our hostel...its going to be a rough evening/morning for us!

i cant wait to come back here, theres at least 3 more museums i reallly want to go to and more of the palace i want too see..."next time" ill just keep telling myself...

and now a silly list of things we miss from home:
-NOT paying to use the bathroom
-NOT paying for tap water in the restaurant
-mexican food
-NOT having to live out of a suitcase
-NOT having to walk miles a day because your too cheap/poor to use public transportation
-being able to afford things in general
-being alone sometimes
-NOT having to wear a money belt which is uncomfortable and makes you look fat
-pets and family and friends

but of course, we much prefer all the amazing things we're getting to do here and are perfectly happy enjoying ourselves thank you very much!

all our love!

PS: our list of ailments is gone! yay! except cassies throat is still a little swollen and weve just gotten used to having sore bodies all the time:( owell, its all part of the fun!

Swiss n Salz pics

im trying again with the pictures, well begin in Switzerland and end in Salzburg. all my love!when we first arrived we took a gondola to the top of another mountain to get some groceries and walked back down to our hostel...we were in a cloud the entire time!
view from our room. imagine being surrounded by huge green mountains with waterfalls everywhich way and just behind them you can see snow capped mountains as well. AMAZING.
we took a short hike, this is what surrounded us.
yay! our hostel had the best view in all of Gimmelwald.
cassie hiked down to a river, see how green and amazing it is?! with all these cute little cottages everywhere...like the Matterhorn at disneyland except real!

SALZBURG
this is the fountain where they sing Do-Re-Me and march around in Sound of Music. it was beautiful there.
our ridiculous tour bus...yes, four hours of the sound of music on this crazy bus
i am sixteen going on seventeen gazebo! apparently its not been open for 10 years because some old lady was hopping about the benches and broke her hip. crazy old people.

more pictures to come from Vienna in a few days! then we're off to Berlin to meet Kathleen and Jen there too! yay!

From Switzerland to Salzburg

Hello dear ones!
Good news! Our ailments are almost completely gone! Cassies throat is almost completely better, but not entirely and we are running out of antibiotics so were getting a bit worried. Hopefully if will stay off until at least we get home and she can go to her doctor. And I felt it coming on but took the antibiotics right away and rested and im fine! Yay! And my leg isn’t broken anymore! And theres been NO mosquitos! And the weather has been cool and wonderful! So we’re in much better spirits especially after lovely Switzerland and lovely Salzburg. Who knew Salzburg could be so amazing? Its actually one of my favorite cities I’ve been to I think! Next time ill have to spend more time there, its just lovely.

SWITZERLAND (cont.)
After our last quick blog me and cassie went on a hike up one of the mountains toward a supposed waterfall. But it was extremely uphill the entire way and I was dead when we were only half way up…so we headed back down without feeling defeated. We got some more beautiful pictures and had a nice time relaxing outdoors in the sunshine and beautiful weather and scenery. SERIOUSLY the most beautiful place I’ve ever been! When we got back we had dinner and then made some new friends and sat in the hostel dining/relaxing area and laughed. We made new friends with a ridiculous man named John who topped even me with his sarcasm and cleverness….i mean wow. I shared 2 pitchers of some swiss beer with him (im LOVING trying all the different beers on this trip I’ve had at least a bit in each country, so fun!) and laughed the entire night my face hurt. We also made some other friends there from California named Vickie (shes actually british and we discussed Little Britian, don’t worry guys) and Liza and Daniel and two Australians named Ash and Steve. It was a fun night, I didn’t get to bed until quite late!

TRAVEL
Our day of travel to Salzburg was ROUGH to say the least. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but we were really frustrated and tired and annoyed by the end of the day. First the train ticket man tried to tell us we had to pay extra for first class even though we have a reservation ticket with our seats on it that says we already paid extra. He actually told us to move at the next stop. But since we’re fighters we didn’t move (we already paid you jerks!), then the next train ticket lady tried to pull the same crap, but we showed her the ticket and she actually believed us that time. So that was the short 3 hour train ride. Then we had another 4 hour ride to Munich, then another hour to Salzburg. The long one to Munich was in 2nd class which was kinda uncomfortable for such a long time but we made it…then when we got there even though the train station said it was going through to Salzburg apparently it didn’t on Saturdays? (how are we supposed to know, everythings in freaking german!) and we had to get off in Munich and find another train to Salzburg…there was one leaving just as we got there. We got pretty angry because everytime we asked someone who worked there for help they were really rude to us and would talk to us like we were stupid. We finally made it to Salzburg on another train 2 hours later…but we were really tired after traveling since about 7am and not arriving until about 10pm or so. And with people being so mean to us the entire day.

SALZBURG
I loved it there! Its quite possibly the cutest city ever! We came because the Sound of Music was made here and we got a special tour to a bunch of the filming scenes, but also its where Mozart was born and lived awhile, and it’s a city full of musical history. But since weve been here, theres apparently tons to do here! All kinds of palaces and museums and concerts and cheap dinner musicals and a medevial fortress dating back to the 1100s and salt mines and even a marionette theatre (like in the sound of music actually!). So next time I will stay longer for sure. And it’s a very small city really, reminds me a lot of Florence since theres very little modern buildings and the entire city just has little churchs hidden away and beautiful gardens and parks. Everythings walking distance and its surrounded by mountains. The weather there was so nice, it’s a little cool and it rains on and off, but its just beautiful. We made friends while we were there, our two british room mates Alex and Louisa, we spent most of our time with them since we were there…oddly booking the same things and wanting to do the same things at the same time with them…we had a great time with them and its sad to say bye to allt he friends we make in each city. Except every day I start to talk a bit more british…its not their fault, but I do hear more british English then American and its beginning to take its toll. Cassie makes fun of me, as well she should. But I really cant help it!

yesterday we went with the hostel on a free walking tour. It took us to the top of one of the mountains for pretty views and she explained the many things to do in Salzburg (besides Mozart and the sound of music;). It was a nice way to start the day and when we were done we went to the market and got some lunch and went to eat at the Mirabell gardens. The gardens are behind a palace that an archbishop had built for his mistress with whom he had 15 children I believe? It was built in the Baroque time period so its very old and pretty. The gardens are free and right in the middle of the city and perfectly manicured with statues and fountains and benches and just gorgeous! Annnd it was were they filmed a lot of the Sound of Music during the do-re-me song! So we got some cute pictures as well. Then this afternoon we all went on the official Sound of Music tour! This giant bus with a Sound of Music mural painted on it picked us up and took us all around the city to a few of the main scenes in the film.
Sound of Music Tour Highlights:
-back of the house with the pretty lake and garden
-drove by the front of the house
-16 going on 17 gazebo
-drove by the Abby in the film and where the real Von Trapps actually got married and Maria actually served before being their governess
-went to visit the church where the Von Trapps got married in the film, really pretty. It was outside of the city in another little village. So cute!

Afterwards we went to the gardens to snap some more pictures of a few key spots we missed earlier and then we went to eat all you can eat salad bar for 7 Euros! (we normally pay more than that for a smaller meal so we were excited! Annnd they don’t eat a lot of veggies here so it was nice to have somethings green!)

Now we've just arrived in Vienna and are just getting settled and trying to find something small and open (and free?!) to do this evening. Ive been really looking forward to Vienna since my favorite artist is featured here and we get to see a palace as well! we were hoping to go to the opera for cheap or free (very possible here!) but of course its closed in July and August. perfect. so instead were going to try and go to a free film showing in front of city hall on a big screen...its free and we can have a picnic there! so were trying to figure that out now. tomorrow i go to fall more in love with Klimt and im so so excited!

no pictures today:( its not working for some reason! of course, we finally have a hostel with free wifi and now it wont let me upload pictures! ill try again later!

all our love!

ITALY-SWITZERLAND

(ex=exclamation point. i cant find it on this german keyboard and you know how i feel about my exclamation points)

well we finally made it here(ex)

Venice and Milan were a blur...cassie has been sick with tonsilitus. she feels awful and her energz level went down a lot so its been rough for us trying to get everzwhere and get everzthing done. but we made it here(ex) and shes feeling better and so am i after some meds and rest. i may have broken my leg falling down some stairs in Venice...damn bridges are rough with luggage...but even its feeling better now(ex)...must be the mountain air or something.

Venice was a bit of a mess. we got on the wrong part of the train and had to sit in between two cars the entire way. then we got lost on the way to our hostel...there were two streets with the same name and we got off on the wrong stop and it was just a mess. we finally made it but were so tired. Venice is weird. its like your at disneyland for real. theres no italians, just mobs of tourists walking down the roads. it feels weird. but it was beautiful(ex) and we stayed in this amazing little studio hostel that was so cute i wished i lived there normally...except in Florence of course...hehe. after a lonnnng nap we walked the main street along the canal and went to see San Marco square and had dinner at a cafe along side the main canal to people watch and enjoy the beauty.

Milan was also a bit of a mess. luckily we didnt have a hard time finding our hotel and it was very close to the train station, but we were so tired from Venice and still getting over being sick that we just rested and then walked to the beautiful Duomo and fashion area. we left early the next morning to come here, Grimmelwald Switzerland. its just outside of Interlaken.

it was sad to leave Italy. our spanish/italian was getting good and people thought we were locals a lot of the time. and i still want to move to Florence so i was extra sad. but honostly, its amazing here. its so beautiful i cant stop looking out the window. its just green and lush and theres snow just above us and i can count 7 waterfalls just from our bedroom window(ex) are you kidding?(ex) we got to ride a gondola up here(ex) i keep singing songs from the end of Sound of Music when they are going to switzerland...and i feel like Heidi:) we walked a bit yesterday to go to the next village and get some groceries, then today ive been resting and cassie walked to the river. in a little while were going to walk to a waterfall and hang out. the hostel is really cute but its all mostly americans which is a little disappointing. and mostly californians at that....which is just plain weird(ex). but they are nice. were in the cutest little village town. theres cows everywhere with little bells around their necks and goats and little waterfalls everywhere and were just surrounded by mountains(ex).

weve made some new guy friends, but none as lovely as the Frenchmen. the guys weve met besides them are too much like socal guys...cocky and precouscious (sp?). "hey look at me im cool and backpacking lemme tell you about all the places ive gone and things ive done...im awesome." but its still fun to meet new people and make new friends. we have met some nice girls though here.

and now an ailment list weve been working on for you. we keep track and cross off and add items as necessary.

List of Ailments

Cassie:

-entire right throad gland is swollen and has little white spots on it. she can hardly swollow and is afraid she wont be able to breathe.

-head and back ache

-body hurts

-neck hurts

-two fingers are swollen mysteriously

-mosquito bites galore

Esther:

-body and back hurt

-left leg is broken

-throat and head is sore

-too many sore and itchy mosquito bites to count...damn Italy.

a lot of those ailments have let up, weve crossed some out. but just thought youd like to know what were dealing with. our bodies are failing us(ex)

alright, and now some pictures. we miss you guys a bit now, but were having fun and being safe. and i think weve figured out the trains now so thats always nice.

heres some pictures from Venice, its all i had time to upload. all my love(ex)

FLORENCE

FLORENCE

well its our last day here, and its been great! well first lets begin with where we left off last time, because a lot happened that evening. in fact, im pretty sure we lived your European dream that night (and made Mary Kate and Ashley proud!)

AFTER INTERNET IN ROME:
-we walked around to a pretty plaza (piazza Navona) and had dinner, then we got kinda lost trying to make our way back to our hostel and stumbled upon an orchestra setting up in the middle of another pretty plaza in front of a beautiful church! we wanted to know what it was and if it was free...soooo cassie found a beautiful man being funny and trying to climb over some chairs all goofy like...so we asked him. his beautiful self and his beautiful friend were from France and were there on holiday and the concert was free and "wont you please sit with us"...um, obviously. so we talked/flirted with them and then this beautiful military orchestra set up and played all these Verdi and pretty compositions just there in the plaza. me and cassie couldnt believe what was happening to us. it was amazing, and it wasnt over yet! middle of the show they boys invited us to go out for drinks with them, of course we did! that led to an amazing evening of drinks all over Rome...they walked us all around and we had SO much fun with them! immidiately we started talking about movies and music we all had in common, which if you know me is a pretty big deal. they were sooo funny and polite and smart and fun! did i mention they were beautiful? because OMG they were. annnd they thought we were lovely! so that was our amazing last night in Rome...we may have stayed out until 5am and then had to catch our train here for 8am and had museum reservations for 3pm that day here as well...but hey, it was worth it. by far one of the best nights of my life. annnd i have pictures to prove it! although it doesnt do them justice:) so if you werent jealous about our trip before, you are most definitly now. hehe were lovely. they want to meet up with us in France again so hopefully we can see them again!

ok, now back to Florence.

FLORENCE
DAY 4: caught the train here at 8am and arrived at 11am
-rested at our hostel for a bit before going to the Accademia to see the David and some sweet midevial art...awesome obviously. but we were pretty tired and peaced out after 2 hours.
-SLEPT!!!

DAY 5:
-went to mass at the Duomo, lovely of course! the Duomo is my favorite place in Europe so i was so happy to be there! mass was long...and in italian. but sweet nonetheless.
-in the afternoon we had reservations at the Uffizi and went for a few ours there. of course we were STILL tired so we peaced after 2 or 3 hours again...but id been before and cassie and i arent super into renassiance art so it was ok.
-made friends with a sweet british guy and hung out with him for the evening...he knows Little Britian and hes from where "vickie" is!!! we had music and movies in common again so that was fun...we also met some drunk argentinian and canadian guys, then we went to bed because they were weird...and we were still tired. ha.

DAY 6 (today!)
-went to an AMAZING impressionist exhibit thats visiting the area. spent quite a few hours there...we do better at places in the morning...by afternoon were in need of our siesta and the reservations at the museums the past days got us all out of schedule...hehe. saw all my favorites...Manet, Pissaro, Van Gogh, Monet, Casset, Morisot, MORE. and it was a beautifully done exhibit...very informative, modern, and they had all these other scientific things like x raying the pieces to learn more about them and stuff...it was great!
-went to the gorgeous market they have here and bought a few more scarves for my collection. cassie got some of you some souveniers too...im bad at souveniers, dont expect much/anything;)
-now its resting time until dinner and were going to try and go to the boboli gardens for sunset...i love the gardens, they are incredible. and they overlook the entire city!

i still love it here and want to move here even more now...i still remember my way around the city and you can walk everywhere so easily! the crowds and heat arent nearly as bad as in Rome. were right by a park, we ate lunch there yesterday. oh yeah, after mass yesterday we walked home in the POURING rain! it was amazing!!! we didnt even bother with an umbrella, it was just more fun without one!

tomorrow we go to Venice for a day. then Milan for a day. then to switzerland for 2. i doubt well have internet until switzerland, so i promise another update then!

we miss you friends and family, but we are being safe and having an amazing time.

caio bella!

me and cassie in Rome. at the church the pope resides over besides the vatican. its hard to explain, but its beautiful there!

me and cassie having lunch, lovely.

our beautiful French man. Matt & Ben.

me and matt.

cassie and ben

me and cassie before mass at the Duomo

ROME

heyyyy!
well were here! its our last day in Rome, we have been busy busy busy and the hotel internet doesnt work with my computer for some reason so weve finally found an internet cafe so im updating! hooray!

---HIGHLIGHTS---
DAY 1
-seeing Ken Paves at the airport...walked right by him and his gorgeous luggage
-reading the entire first book of the Twilight series on the flight AND getting 8 hours of sleep on the plane! i rule!
-all our luggage arrived! yay!
-finally got to the hotel and tired and hot and dishelved and our room wouldnt be ready for another 2-3 hours...
-walking 2 miles to the Colluseum and Forum and hangin out half asleep and in our gross plane clothes. line for the colluseum was too long and by the time we found the entrance to the forum we didnt have enough cash on us for tickets..haha. it was free last time i was here and cassie was kinda over it by then anyway, so we just went back to the hotel and enjoyed a shower and some air conditioning and some water.
-took a nap and then went to the Trevi Fountain and met cassies friend there! got some gelato and dinner! so nice!

DAY 2
-woke up nice and early to beat the heat, crowds, and tours to the Vatican! went to St. Peters which is just as amazing as i remember if not more and then spent the next few hours at the museum which was better than i remember. i loved the modern art they had there, it was all so beautiful. last time i was there the School of Athens by Michelanglo was being restored but this time i got to see it! so pretty! and we got a seat at the Sistine Chapel and got to chill in there for a good 30minutes. it was quite an overwhelming morning...the art was just so rich it was hard to take it all in!
-went home and napped for awhile and beat the hot afternoon in our air conditioned room
-in the evening we went to the Spanish Steps supposedly for a pub crawl but nobody showed so we just chilled there a bit and enjoyed the view and then went for a walk. made it to the Pantheon, although it was closed (we knew it would be), but the square was alive with people and music so we hung out and then were dying of starvation so we found a cute little restaurant for our 10pm dinner. i got some wine and we got some yummy pasta too.

DAY 3
-woke up nice and early again and went to San Giovanni, which is the Popes church. it was free, nice and cool, right off the metro, and BEAUTIFUL! we enjoyed ourselves just taking it all in and we got to have a good hour each of a quiet time amind the beautiful architecture, sculptures, gold, -sigh- i love italy.

-after this well go chill in the room until it gets cooler outside and then we make our way over to the Pantheon so we can go inside this time...we might try the pub crawl again tonight, but well see. by the pantheon theres a cool square our reception told us about and some really good food, so we might just do that after the pantheon instead. either way, Romes been amazing!

tomorrow we go to Florence! my favorite! it will be less intense there since Florence isnt as big as Rome and i know my way around there a little better. our hostel is supposed to be pretty awesome, and we are hoping to maybe go on a tuscan wine tour with them! im excited to ride first class on the train and enjoy a little break and some scenery. and im so excited for Florence, its my favorite place in Europe (so far!) ive always wanted to move there. tomorrow afternoon we have reservations for the Accademia to see the David. i love the David! and our hostel has a pool, that will be nice!

in other news, im pretty sure the guards at the Vatican Museum are hired based on how beautiful they are...we had a nice time checking everything out...not just the art;) a lot of people speak Italian to us here, im not going to lie, we look pretty good compared to the hoards of tourists and even the italians...were just cute and cant help it. hehe. im hoping theres not as many tourist groups in Florence or in our other cities...it makes any site awful to manage...we are constantly being jostled and herded, its really frustrating. i dont even understand the tour idea, i have enjoyed every site just based on my own schooling and reading and its so beautiful already! you dont need anyone jabbering in your ear while you enjoy the beauty. those are my opinions.

i have a ton of cute pictures but they will have to wait until i have wireless internet and can upload them. stay tuned!

were having a great time despite the heat and crowds. were figuring everything out pretty easily and learning to get around the hot afternoons and crowded times at sites.

pretty much the best travelers you know.

we miss you all and have talked about lots of you. we send lots of LOVE!

LA

Well here we are in LA! woohoo!
we arrived around 3pm, we've just been getting ready and putting together all our documents and everything. woot!

we cant believe we leave tomorrow! crazy! heres some pictures of all our preperations!

currently we're watching Edward Scissorhands and im trying not to fall asleep...not because its not a good movie, but because im so tired...its hard to sleep when your trying to prep for a trip...tomorrow we get up at 4am so i guess we'll get to go to bed soon!

yay! here we are!

packing up the car, off your pop!

cassies really excited!

YAY!

YAY x2!

Watching Edward Scissorhands and living it up in the hotel, off to Rome tomorrow!

Off We Go!

Well tomorrow is the big day!
Tomorrow afternoon me and cassie will be heading to LA to stay in a hotel so we can catch our flight on Tuesday at 6am (yikes). we're going to head to LA around noon to beat traffic, relax in the room and watch the Darjeeling Limited so we can get our trip started right!

we fly into JFK and then straight to Rome for 7:30am (Rome time)!

We would appreciate all your prayers as we are just two hot girls traveling all alone abroad. We need Jesus to make sure we dont get ourselves into too much trouble (a little is ok of course)!

We have internet in almost all the places we are going to, and of course i dont go anywhere without my macbook so we'll be able to keep in touch quite well while we're abroad. we'll also have email of course and ichat and skype. so dont worry, you cant get rid of us that easily.

let me know if you would like either of our ichat or skype or email address. Europe is really boring so we'll have lots of time to communicate with everyone (HA).

we'll miss you all! (but not that much, we'll be really busy-see below-)

stay tuned for more of our fun travels and, im sure, ridiculous adventures.
needless to say,
WE'RE REALLY EXCITED!!!

current location: oregon coffee shop

hello friends.
well i made it here. oregon with the bestie! yayyy...
my flight was nice and uneventful. i wasnt lonely at all and enjoyed people watching in the airport and on the flights. people are weird. i find i get stared at a lot, im pretty sure its cause im so beautiful...hahaha...

so bestie and husband picked me up from the airport and we drove the lonnnnnggggg way home (almost 2 hours). which was fine because we got to catch up and that was so so nice. i really like olivias husband micheal, hes so sweet with her and a genuinely nice and caring person. we have some stuff in common too which is nice.

olivia showed me EVERYTHING in her apartment, its so cute. they have it decorated really lovely and modern and colorful and cute. and they have my artwork up in the bathroom! i feel so honored! we stayed up nice and late watching snipes of blades of glory, laughing, and catching up even more. so nice.

today we all slept in until like 1130am. then Micheal got ready and went to work and we took forever laying around the house, getting ready, eating, talking about their fish babies, drinking diet coke...u know, the usual.

then we exchanged gifts and i got a build a bear!!! and her names poop and shes wearing a polka dotted dress! olivia is so good to me.

we finally left the house and ran some errands with olivias friend anna and visited husband at work...ect. now were at some coffee shop famous in oregon, called Dutch Bros. and olivias filling out job applications, and annas chillin.

corvallis is really cute. its this little university town that reminds me a lot of madison wisconsin, except in madison its freezing snow and here its really cold rain all the time. its kinda depressing with all the dark clouds and cold rain 24/7...its soooo colllddddd.

ok, now some coffee shop pictures for ur viewing pleasure:

me being happy and silly, cause look whos sitting next to me...



bestie!!!



yay! together again! as it should be!