Cheers!

Hey guys!! We're just pulled in to Ireland, and it is just gorgeous here! First, I'll update you on the end of our paris trip. We ended up spending about a week there, which we hadn't planned on, but were so glad it worked out that way! We really fell in love with the city, and are already scheming a way to move there...you know, logistics and all. ;) maybe someday!

So here's the quick rundown of what we did the last few days:

on the 19th, we learned a very important traveler lesson; the importance of booking way, waaay in advance when using a eurail pass. That was the reason we stayed in Paris so long, there were no trains to the north! So after learning that lesson, we booked the rest of the trains for the remainder of our trip. We also decided that we'd rather spend more time in each place, and really get a feel for each city--as opposed to trying to hit as many countries as we can. So we chose to see Ireland, France, and Italy. Here's our itinirary:

Ireland from now (6/24) to 6/30
Train to Bordeaux, France (7/1 - 7/5)
Train to Nice, France (7/5 - 7/10)
Train to Cinque Terre, Italy (7/10 - 7/13)
Then train to Paris and then fly back!

Ok so now back to Paris. We saw the Catacombes, which were wiiiild-- Jon loved it, I was moderately creeped out by it. But definitely an interesting experience! We also stumbled across the Moulin Rouge, which is horribly unimpressive, much cooler in the movie. Another random thing we witnessed was a Roller Party...Thats right, a roller party. We were just walking along one of the main streets in Paris, and then, out of nowhere, we saw HUNDREDS of roller bladers on the next street, just zipping around! The police had the area roped off and everything--they totally encouraged it. I went up to one of them and asked what was happening, and he informed me that it was simply the weekly roller party! Tres bizarre. After that, we took a train to a little town in Northern France, Cherbourg, where there is quite literally nothing to do. So we decided to take that valuable opportunity to catch up on sleep--a whopping 13 hours! The next evening, we caught a ferry to Ireland...more of a cruise ship, really. They had restaurants, lounges, and even a movie theater! It was an overnight ferry, from 6pm one night to 11am the next morning. We met tons of great people, and let me just say, Irish people are the friendliest ever! We got tons of recommendations of where to go and where not to go, so that was fun. Anyways, this morning we got off the ferry and hopped right on a bus to Dublin, where we'll be for 2 nights.

One last fun little story before we head out: Remember our favorite deaf cafe, cafe signes? Well, on our last morning in Paris, we stopped by to get an espresso on our way out of town, backpacks and all. The barista's asked if we were leaving, and where we were going, you know--general small talk and things. Which is quite interesting communication, at some points we had 3 translations going on-- one from a guy speaking sign language to us, which was translated to french by the other worker, which was translated to english so Jon could be in the loop as well. Pretty nuts! So as we were leaving, I asked them if their little espresso cups were for sale, and if so, how much were they. The guy said yes yes, paused for a second, and then handed us on, and said it was their farewell gift! How sweet is that! Best souvenier ever.

Ok, we're off to explore Dublin! See ya!

Paris!!

Well guys, we're still alive and kicking! We're wrapping up our stay here in Paris and getting ready to move on soon. So let's recap on the trip so far, starting with one serious correction: I didn't get my camera stolen off of me, it was the one time I got lazy and didn't carry it on; Some bag guy got lucky I suppose...

Anyways, we got a replacement, and it's doing a fabulous job :) So the first night we got here, we wanted to go out for an authentic French meal. After wandering around, we found a place, where the lady brought a giant menu to our table and told us all about it. I got the plate of the day - authentic, right? Well, I ate about 2 pounds of kidney!! Mmmmm - or not. I finished it off politley though. The next day we hit up the Eiffel Tozwer, which was pretty spectacular. I climbed the stairs to the é2nd level, and learned all about the tower. Sadly, one of us has a serious fear of heights.... and may or may not have made it 3/4 of the way to the first level and had to turn back - pretty scary 21 floors up there in open air! After that, we headed over to the Arc de Triomphe (?) and happened upon a ceremony going down with a band and everything.

Yesterday, we started out with our morning cup of coffee at a different cafe - which we discovered was a French deaf cafe!! Pretty cool - until we tried to get the check and the deaf barista thought we wanted more coffee. How do you shout to get the attention of a deaf barista? Well, you don't. You just smile and drink another coffee :) Then we visited the Pantheon, got to take a tour to the top of it, and checked out the crypt underneath. Words don't do it justice - you'll have to wait for pics on that one. We saw the grave of Marie Curie!! (says science geek jen) Then we went to Notre Damè, heard the bells ring, and got pretty lost on the way home.

Today, we went to the Louvre, which is very cool, and extremely overwhelming. We only spent about 5 hours there, and couldn't handle any more paintings or sculptures. Very cool though. On the way home, we had a picnic in front of the Luxembourg Palace in the gardens. I got a little bird to eat out of my hand!

We're now a very tired couple, and going to retire to our hotel. Hope all is going well with everyone - hopefully we can get some pics up soon!

bonjour!

hey everyone!! so we finally made it to paris, after three long flights. they were mostly uneventful, which is always a good thing. the only glitch in the whole trip was when we arrived at the paris airport..someone decided that they liked Jons camera, so currently we are without one. thats an adventure for tomorrow-- hunting down a replacement! our flight landed at 7am paris time-- which is 10 pm our body time. so basically we're desperately trying to stay awake; a nearly impossible task, as we've been awake for 28 hours now ;) in a bit, we'll go to diner at a little french restaurant recommended to us by the front desk guy--he assures us its as local as it gets, (organic, local produce, too...yeahhhh!). anyways, thats about all the updates for now. by the way, i'm posting this from my phone, so the formatting may be weird, not sure :) au revoir!

Yay!!

Hey everyone, welcome to our Europe Blog, glad you found it ok ;) Obviously, we're not in Europe quite yet--apparently that little marriage ceremony thing has to happen first.

We're so excited for Europe, we'll try to keep you guys as updated as possible on our latest adventures. Our rough itinerary is as follows:

June 13th: Fly from Denver to Seattle
June 14th: Fly from Seattle--> Philly--> Paris, stay in Paris for 4 days.
After that, we have no set timeline...But our route is:
Take the Eurail to Northern France, spend some time up there,
Ferry to Ireland
Then off to Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg
Train to Italy
We'll end with the Italian Riviera and Southern France
July 14th: Fly from Paris--> Charlotte, NC--> Seattle
July 15th: Seattle--> Denver

So there it is--pretty rough outline, and it very well could change! But that's the plan for now :)

Alrighty...back to wedding stuff!