London is great mate!

London has been so incredible! We got to spend some real time here, and we were staying with our friend Kieran who was the best tour guide ever! We started downtown with a nice driving tour of the major hot spots, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Parliament and Downing Street, the theatre district, Chinatown and the new olympic venues they are building for 2012. The next day we walked all over London and climbed MANY steps (I was still recovering from the Eiffel Tower!) starting with The Monument, the tallest free standing column! Then we waltzed over to St Peters Cathedral, totally gorgeous to walk up another million steps! I'm fine now... We went on a great river cruise to see London from the water and then went into the O2 Arena for drinks and finally back to Kieran's for some R&R.

The weather had been perfect, but when we got up the next day it was looking very threatening and by the time Keely and I got to the station to catch the train to town...we were soaked! Kieran had to work and we were on our own this day but we made it to downtown on the train and the Tube and ended up going to see Pirates and then got great seats to The Lion King at an old, beautiful theater on the Strand. It was absolutely wonderful and we both loved it. Also shopped in Covent Garden for a bit (it's covered!)

Of course...we had to go "clubbing" in London and so Kieran and his friend Mark took us out...We had a great time...I am told :)

When we got our entertaining tour guide back, he took us to Hampton Court, King Henry the VIII's "love shack". It was so beautiful. You will see me and Keely in one of the rooms and also with some guys who were part of a reenactment they were doing that day. It really is just a "lovely" place, as the British say.

Keely and I took our last day and went back into town and saw the Tower of London, the oldest palace in England and the Tower Bridge, which you can see here. The bridge just happened to be going up when we were standing on it! Only happens a couple times a day, we are told.

London was so fun and it's a fabulous city with so much to do and see and it's so clean and safe. We had a ball and Kieran made us feel so welcome and was just the best host ever! Thanks Kieran!!!! Cheers!

Paris in the spring time!

Paris is amazing and beautiful! We stayed in the cutest little apartment in a great area near Notre Dame. It was nice to have our own space and be a part of the Paris day to day... Our apartment was adjacent to a great pedestrian walkway that was filled with little cafes, fromage(cheese)shops, wine shops, fruit shops. The Parisians buy their food each day, fresh. We stocked up on the essentials and had the best stuff for our breakfasts and snacks each day.

The Eiffel Tower was magnificent, as you can see in Keely's brilliant photo. We also had a great shot taken at the top of the two of us. We were really inspired by it's grandeur and size. Had a nice 6oo step walk up to the second level that was "a piece of cake" after Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe...NOT!

Speaking of Notre Dame...Crazy! We walked up to the top of that and the view was amazing, the gargoyles were great and we just really loved it with all it's history and glory.

We saw so much in Paris that we just couldn't put all the photos on but we loved the Louvre, L'Orangerie Museum(with Monet's incredible Lillies series), Napoleons Tomb, the Champs Elysees and the most incredible palace, Versailles. We missed a few things but that leaves something to come and see when we return...because we have to go back to Paris!

Computer bump in the road...

Hi to our loyal followers! We have been having tons of fun and have now been to Paris and London, however....the computer is out of batteries and we have yet to find the appropriate converter. We hope to find one in the next day or so and then we will be sending some great pictures from Paris and London.

We leave for Scotland today and are so excited!

Just wanted to give you a quick update from my friend's computer here in London and we will be back in touch soon!

Peaceful Provence

We arrived at our beautiful french farmhouse and were so happy to see this gorgeous, quiet place. Our room was so nice and had a giant bathtub!!! I have truly found my french love...that tub! We made good use of it after long days of wandering Provence.

We rented a car and needless to say had some difficulty with the roads and those pesky roundabouts! :( I am going to start a coalition to ban all roundabouts! Luckily our hosts took pity on us and lent us their GPS and boy was that the greatest thing. I love that girl! I am going to either rent or buy one for Scotland and Ireland. It makes the day so much less stressful!

Ok, so we got the GPS and got on the road to see the little hilltop towns all over Provence and here are a few that we visited. The orange one is Rousillon which is my favorite...you all know I love orange! Then there is Lacoste which is all light colored stone and very quaint. We met this funny Irish gentleman there, who had written a book called "Two suitcases and a dog" about how he ended up in Lacoste. and we ended up getting his book, signed too! He was a character and his book was hysterical. The last picture is me and Keely in Les Beux which is supposed to be one of the oldest.

We went into the Camarge one day, the area near the sea that has a wetlands, and saw the famous black bulls and white horses and also went into the Bird Park and were amazed to see hundreds of pink flamingos! It really was something to see.

Finally we found this little ancient village of "Bouries", little rock huts. They built these huts with just the hammered stone, no mortar or anything holding it together. It's just the angle that the stones are set at and the perfect fit of each one. Amazing!

Altogether, Provence was a spectacular place and we thoroughly enjoyed it and our wonderful farmhouse...and our bathtub!

Nice is nice!

After a LOOOOONG day of train travel from Cinque Terre, we arrived in Nice to a "nice" rain storm. We dried off and found the nearest bistro and also found our very own piano player! He played Sting's "It's probably me" for me...Sweet! We became best friends :)

The rain continued, along with some very loud thunder and lightning, the next day as we explored Monaco. Even in the pouring rain it's a very beautiful city. They were getting ready for the Grand Prix and we got to see the course first hand!

We ended up back in Nice and found the city to be very pretty and the beaches, although all rocks, were really beautiful too. The water is a light turquoise, almost like the water in the Caribbean. Wish we had more time to take a dip...but on to Provence!

Cinque Terre...Steep!

First injury of the trip...Keely "tripped" (actually slid)on the steep streets of Manarola. This is a steep little town!

We had to lug our suitcases up a VERY STEEP street to the top of the hill, but it was worth it when we got there. Our little guest house was beautiful and had an amazing view with a great deck overlooking the entire (tiny!) bay. After a few hours of walking all around the town, we were ready for a rest with a view on the deck and a glass of wine...the usual!

The town grows grapes, olives and lemons on these steep slopes and it's really quite an amazing thing to see. Great seafood too!

Lake Como...Gorgeous!

Lake Como is one of our favorite spots so far...relaxing and beautiful. No wonder George Clooney has a place here! Our hotel was right on the lake with a great little restaurant and sun deck. After the busy Rome and Venice, we were so happy to just sit on the deck and sun, eat and relax. Our room had a nice lake view and we basically just lounged on the deck all day.

Just a note...driving on the tiny one lane road around the lake from the Como train station to our hotel was enough to cause an anxiety attack! So we needed a little R & R after that!

Ahhhh....Venice.....

We arrived in Venice at the end of a long day of travel and got off the train and onto the Vaporetto, or water bus. We inadvertently took this the wrong way and got to have a nice long look at the Grand Canal before we finally got to our stop near the Rialto Bridge. Our hotel was nearby and although we had read that it was almost impossible to find....miracle of miracles...we found it without a hitch! We had a wonderful dinner on the canal and explored Venice in the evening to find a beautiful, romantic little city on the water. Every corner we turned there was a cute little shop or restaurant. It's so magical in Venice!

Next day, after checking out the amazing San Marco Square, we headed out on a ferry to Burano which is a small island off the coast of Venice and is well known for its hand made lace. We explored the small island which has the most colorful buildings we have ever seen. Each building is painted a different vibrant color, as you can see in the picture we took. So adorable! We did a lot of shopping and got some great lace and Murano Glass jewelry...even some custom stuff for the picky Christi... :)

Back on the ferry and to Venice, we ended up enjoying the evening at another canal-side restaurant and then back to our little guest house to try to get some sleep...the night before we had the living dead staying next to us with a cough that kept us both up all night! We said a prayer and went to bed. Luckily we all made it through the night.

Our new business venture...

Ok well...if you see how great this hat looks you will agree that the "Tower Hat" will be the next big fashion trend. Notice how it accentuates my fine bone structure and makes me look years younger!

So, as you can tell, we went to see the leaning tower of Pisa and it was AMAZING! We just could not believe this thing was standing up and didn't just topple over. It is really a wonder.

Before we went to Pisa we pulled into Lucca which is a cute little walled town in Tuscany. Pretty sleepy and quaint. This picture is of Keely at the front gate. We didn't spend too much time there because we wanted to get to Pisa which was great, and beyond the Tower was a beautiful cathedral, baptistery and cemetery so we spent most of the day there. I do have one bone to pick with the Italians, however, there was not one sign when we got off the train to indicate that there was a Tower anywhere nearby! Come on people, this is one of your cherished landmarks and you can't even put up one sign? Thank goodness we befriended some Italian people who were also completely lost but at least they could ask some passers by where the darn tower was! So we tagged along with them and eventually found the tower and all the the other beautiful structures and a whole bunch of other tourists!

We spent the day looking around and then headed back to the train station where we found an empty station and some bad information regarding our train back to Lucca...very common here in Italy, where we have found that you need to have ESP to get around on these trains. Luckily, since we are so friendly, we again befriended a Dutch man sitting near us who was also misinformed, and together, after running back and forth across the tracks several times taking our lives in our hands (not really but it sounded good!) we found the right track and made it back to Lucca safe and sound. Whewwwww!

Busy Day of Sightseeing!

So...A lot of sightseeing today...Mostly the "touristy" stuff, but you gotta do it! We hit the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps and still made it to our favorite piazza for some wine and a panini!

The Pantheon was definitely the best of today's sights. It's one of the oldest buildings around and the inside is just beautiful and still so well preserved. How did they do it?

We love Roma!

A day at the Vatican is like a day...a long day! We headed over there and decided to walk part of the way to look at the sights which was great on the way there, not so great on the way back, when we were exhausted and hot, but more on that later! We picked up a tour (and a guide) on our way, which ended up being nice because we didn't have to wait in the 2 hour line to get in and also had a cute South African guy leading us around, giving us an encyclopedia's worth of info.

Keely loved the Vatican! Actually we were in the Vatican Museum and there were so many great statues and frescoes and all kinds of wonders to behold. The best part was the Sistine Chapel. It was so incredible and after hearing all about Michaelangelo and how it came to be, we were so impressed. It really is just amazing!

Boy is it hot and crowded on the Vatican grounds and by the time we finished the tour I was ready to get away from the horrendous crowds and heat and head back to the Piazza de Popolo where we had to pick up our little crazy bus to go back to the hotel. As we walked up the LONG boulevard...we got hotter and more tired and our feet were killing us and we finally had to stop for a panini and rest. But there was more walking to get to the bus!!! Here is where that nice scenic walk was not so great :( But we did make it back to the hotel alive...thank you Jesus!

First Sight seeing in Rome

Here we are at the Colosseum! What an amazing day seeing the Forum and the Colosseum. The weather was great...hot and beautiful. The Forum was just awesome, seeing how the Romans lived back in 70AD. And the Colosseum was unbelievable. So BIG!!! We could almost see the Gladiators down below. Long day... we need to get our sight-seeing legs!

We made it!

After a long layover in Chicago we are here in Roma! The overnight in Chicago was made bearable by a great visit with an old friend who lives there and his family, Chad Lindstrom. Keely and I had dinner with them on Saturday night and it was a wonderful meal...probably one of the last home cooked meals for a while!

Our flight left at 5pm on Sunday and we flew nine hours in coach....wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We had our own row and to be honest, even in Business Class, I am uncomfortable and can't sleep a wink. We watched the Tourist...apropos, since it was filmed in Venice... where we are going! Keely got a preview. Then we just read and ate the lovely and delicious airplane food and nine hours later we were in Roma!

I have to thank Rick Steves because I did read up on Rome in his book and he said to avoid the taxi guys that come up to you as you exit the terminal, and I did have a guy come to me and tell me he was a taxi for 75Euro. Rick said to make sure the taxi says "taxi" and has a phone number and that the law is that they can only charge 40Euro from the airport to anywhere in Roma. So I told him no and we got a taxi and I made sure it was 40Euro! I am feeling so good about myself!

Upon arrival at the hotel, we were dead tired but could not get into our room for a few hours, so we walked around and found that we are just down the street from the Colosseum and all of the ruins there, and very close to the other major sights. Our travel agent (that's me!) did a great job. The hotel was nice and clean and very quaint and once we finally got our room around 1pm, we crashed out for five hours! I finally dragged us both out of our comfy beds because I realized that if we continued to sleep...we would be up at midnight and wide awake!

We rallied and went down the street a bit to a cute little plaza with a fountain and several restaurants and chose one that looked good, as it started to rain just a bit. We sat out on their patio anyway...it's the Italian way! It was so fun to sit and relax and watch the local people hanging out in the plaza. The Italians have such a wonderful lifestyle that embraces family and friends and making time to enjoy life.

We ordered dinner and it was so delicioso! Lazagna and pasta with pesto, asparagus, tomato, haricot vert (those baby green beans) and potato...so yummy! Of course I ordered vino bianco and got this cute little pitcher of wine...I love Italy!