Friday, April 11, 2008

Happy Birthday Mom!

If anyone can promise me that I can get home, or come pick me up in Chicago that would be great.

I am supposed to fly on a MD80 from Chicago. Yes, the plane that they have grounded thousands of this week.

AA says you can switch without penalty, which means I would need to leave ASAP, but, I can't do that!

So, I'm trying to figure it out.

Hopefully, I will be home tonight.

Bon Anniversair a Ma Mere.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

En Paris

This is quite possibly my last blog entry before I fly back across the pond Friday.

We're in Paris! (After a LONG train ride here yetserday).

We have a nice hostel, but the bunk beds shake whenever anyone moves. That's a story for another time.

Tomorrow, we move to a hotel, and have dinner and a sleep over with Soph.

Today, we went to the Musee D'Orsey. I saw lots of paintings by lots of famous people. We had lunch at the restaurant there.

Can't wait to get home Friday.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Still in Switzerland!

It snowed six inches last night.

I have pictures from my window from first thing this morning. I felt like I was ten and they cancled school or something. It was beautiful.

Michelle and I are about to go to the train station to get our reservations for our train to Paris tomorrow (more like three trains to Paris tomorrow). We´re also going to see about taking a gondola to "The top of Europe"!

I will come back here for my birthday to ski one year, be it the next one, or a few years from now. I´m not keen on renting clothing. I don`t want to wear someone elses goggles or ski mask. So, I plan on being back here in January. Lift tickets are insanely cheap. I look at how much Colorado costs, and this is comparable, even if you count the plane ticket.

75 on Saturday at Topsail. CANT WAIT!

Happy Monday everyone!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

So we are in Switzerland!

It is SNOWING!

It is also the last major ski day of the year, thus I am not skiing.

Tooo many people!

Michelle is better.

I should have listened to Dad and brought a hat and gloves, the headband doesnt cut it in 2 inches an hour snow. (Yes Dad, write it down, I said it).

Off to eat cheap hamburgers (6SFs, which is less than 6 dollars!)

Also, when we walked in "Have you heard about the lonesome loser" was on. I love Europe. It is like one big collection of Now CDs and totally 80s weekend.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Michelle is still sick.

We're pretty sure she got food poisioning from a spinich sandwich in Florence.

She did ok yesterday, but last night and this morning have been pretty rotten for her.

Switzerland is absolutely breathtaking!

I just got a chocolate bar for .50 (thats in Swiss Francs, which are acutally less than the dollar!) and bought Michelle some yogurt.

I've thought about skiing, but I hate skiing alone. I fear I will break something and no one will ever know.

They have a place here that does Zorbing (You know, those big balls on the toyota commercial, where they're rolling down a hill). I have a feeling Michelle won't be up for that.

We're going to spend an extra day here since Michelle is sick, that will cut in to Paris time, which is fine. I need to find somewhere to do laundry. Here they'll do it for you for 12 SFs but, I need my clothes sooner than tomorrow morning!

Yesterdays train ride was uneventfull. I took a Phenagrin since I would be riding backwards(Michelle couldn't), so I was knocked out for most of it.

Did you know, in Europe, they still dump waste from the trains on the track? It is so gross. You go to the bathroom, you can see the ground moving beneath you. Someone tole me the US stopped doing that in the 70s. I have no proof for that though.

I bought my first souvinere for someone else today... I got Dad a package of Tempos at the grocery store! Haha.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

I posted a few pictures...

On facebook, because that was the easiest way to do it.

So, if you have an account, check them out.

We're headed to Switzerland tomorrow. I may have to invest in another pair of fur boots, seeing as mine are chilling at Topsail.

We had a ball last night for Bailey's birthday. We ate at a very authentic restaurant. Off the beaten path. It was great.

I'm excited about getting to see Soph on the 10th.

I am really excited about getting home on the 11th.

Don't kid yourself, I'm having a ball, but I really miss my bed and I am about tired of baguettes. Finding out that Miss Annette (Kip's wife) isn't doing well at all really brought down my spirits. I feel like I need to be sitting on my barstool with the people I love.

Instead, I am here eating lots of carbs and drinking too much wine.

I am so excited about Switzerland though. Everyone has said "It is SO expensive." They have their own money, way to go Switzerland. In other news, the dollar went up a little. Really, I haven't spent as much as I thought I would, which is a great thing.

I have had no more McDonalds. I feel like all we do sometimes is eat. It seems like the entire trip is based around locating another meal, and a bathroom. Meals are way easier to locate.

I just thought of Jessie, and I cannot wait to drop lines in the water when I get home!! (Anyone up for a fishing trip April 13th?)

Room lockout is in six minutes, seeing as I haven't showered and Michelle is asleep, they will have a difficult time getting us out to clean! (Room lockout is the dumbest thing ever, they want everyone out between 11 and 2:30 so they can clean the bathrooms, rooms, and lobbies). I would go do laundry, but I can't figure out what to wear if I do laundry.

Michelle wants me to stay another week so we can get a house, somewhere, I don't know exactly. I told her I had to be home for Mom's birthday, and, really, I want to see if Bryce gets married as planned.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Happy Birthday Bailey!!

He is the entire reason we are here. May God rest his sweet soul.

People in Italy look at you like you are crazy when you're wearing flip flops. They will stare at your feet. Also, most public restrooms don't have toilet seats, or toilet paper, but in Italy, they have been free!

There are a few things I was told to bring, that I didn't, because I thought I knew better. Things I should have brought, but I'm stubborn-
-A Wine tool *because wine comes with corks*
-A book light *Why would I need a book light, I don't read before bed, I watch TV... Oh wait, there is no TV. You also don't want to wake up the world when you go to the bathroom in the dark*

Something I'm glad I brought, my own pillow case and top sheet. Even when the pillow sucks, it has my pillow case on it! Also, a wash cloth, so far places have had towels sometimes, but never a wash cloth. When you wake up and have to leave, and your bar soap is still damp, you just wrap it in your cloth and pull it out at the next place. My bag always smells Zestfully clean.

Another irksome thing... When you hand someone a 50, it's like handing someone a 100 in the US. They HATE it. I even tried to use a 20 earlier to pay for something 3.50, the guy said "Come on, I know you have coins" I did, I just didn't feel like counting them!

Did we April fool you?

We got Soph. A few of Michs co workers, and I had Craig for a few seconds. Mich changed her Facebook to say she was married, and now a member of the EU, which many of her previous co workers believed. Sophie (until she reads this) was told that we ran in to Mr. Clark, our high school Civics teacher in our hostel. I called Craig and asked if he was in lab and if he could look up something for me. He said *Sure, what?* I said *Annulments in Italy* to which he replied, "Interesting, do I dare ask?" (I just found the question mark, which I am quite excited about!) Then I said "April fools!" He didn't think it was that funny, of course if someone called me from Europe while I was at work, I think I would be ticked too.

SO, where we've been- We got in to La Spezia and there was a regional train strike. So, we had to sit there for three hours. The first hour not knowing why they kept cancling our train. Then we met some people from Seattle who explained it to us. So, the strike ended at 9pm. While waiting for that to roll around, we had to eat at McDonalds *again* I have eaten more Micky D's in the past week than I have in the past three months, it's cheap, and fast. I have also drank more water than I usually do. Back to the train story. So, we get on the train at 9. Get to Riomaggori at 9:30. We get to our hostel at 10ish. They closed at 4:30, mind you it is Sunday night. So, we call both numbers, no one answers. So here we stand on the street in Riomaggori (not scary, would be like standing on the street in Topsail Beach, but with a mountain). At which point this woman from Sascatchawan (sp?) comes out of a restaurant and tells ut that they're staying in this great hotel up the mountain, for cheap. Funny thing is, she miss understood 80 and 18, but it's fine. This is what travel insurance is for. So we get to the top of this mountain, with Nola, her husband (I believe he was Bob), her son, and his friend Tim. Tim speaks Italian. They call the hotel keeper, and someone comes to check us in. Well, instead of servng breakfast in the AM, they have everything you could ever want in your room for breakfast, and it is included! Michelle and I went crazy eating cookies in Nutella, drinking milk, eating apple sauce and yogurt. Then we had nice showers, watched some CNN and went to bed.

The next day, we took the train to the highest point in Cinque de Terre so we could hike the trail. When we got home that night, we found out we hiked the hardest trail from the toughest direction. Yesterday, we hiked two more (very flat ones compared to this first one, the first one is one of those trails that the wrong move could have been tragic). Then we got on the train to Florence. Arrived at our hostel, went to dinner, then went to The Fish Pub for drinks. Had a ball. The music was all 1999-2007. I laughed so hard.

We have a computer in our room here, so hopefully I will write more later, and upload some pictures. Google Cinque De Terre. It was BEAUTIFUL!