Haggis?

So gross!

Maybe it would have had a chance if I didn't know what was in it before I tried some but it was not for me. Matt on the other hand didn't have any issues with it. He says "it sounds gross but wasn't too bad, especially on freshly pulled pork". Yucky. We also tried Irn Bru, their most popular soda. It tastes like Hubba Bubba with carbonation and is bright orange. You need a chaser for this drink... Not the best.

We took a free tour and saw all of the sites. We even went back and had a snack at the cafe where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and then saw where she got the name Tom Riddle. It was a cemetery... But they treat them more like parks which is weird to us.

Only 4 more days to go... Its flying by so fast!

Tomorrow we leave for London!

Amsterdam

After leaving Switzerland we went to Amsterdam. It is a really pretty city and not what I was expecting. I didn't realize how much water there is and that every single person there owns and rides a bike everywhere. It was fun to walk around... Until we looked up and realized we were in the red light district and there were girls in windows. Needless to say we got out of there and checked out the other sites in Amsterdam... The pubs.

Don't worry... We stayed away from the coffee shops:)

Unfortunately the weather turned and we couldn't find a hostel for the next day so we headed to Brussels. We needed to leave from there to get to the UK anyway so it all worked out.

BELGIUM!
It was a really nice surprise. It wasn't on our original list but it was still really cool. We saw the statue of the little boy peeing... You have to wonder about that artist... And had waffles, fries, and chocolates:)
The next day we headed for the UK!

Grindlewald

My favorite place that we have gone to! It is all about the outdoors. We got there and immediately took a lift up to the top of the mountain. It had the most amazing views. It was seriosuly the most incredible thing I have ever seen. The Swiss Alps and the Grand Canyon are definitely my two favorite sites to see.. so far. There are so many things to do there, white water rafting, canyoning, paragliding, hang-gliding, sky diving, bungy jumping... all things that seem awesome but WAY too expensive. We settled for the one thing we could afford. A First Fleiger zipline... it was incredible! After the zipline we hiked for 4 hours down the mountain. It was soo steep and we are definitely both feeling it. I had a minor freakout with the flies. I don't get why they insist on landing on you when you continually swat at them. Go hangout on the cows, they don't mind as much! Anyway... we made it down the mountain. Since we had worked up a huge appetite we made dinner... Mmmmm Pasta... again :)

Switzerland is a place we both want to come back to... when we have money. We both had a moment were we considered just staying there for the rest of the trip. Instead we settled for promising to comeback.

We are now in Paris and are planning on seeing Versailles tomorrow! After seeing the palace and the gardens we are off to Amsterdam!

I hope you are happy Tutu! LOVE you:)

Interlaken

After a day in Lucerne we left for Interlaken. Another amazing place! We were right on the water ( a different but equally awesome lake ) and had great views of teh mountains. We walked all around before going back and making dinner. I don't think I am going to want to eat pasta EVER again after this trip!

Switzerland!

I'm in love with Switzerland! Everything is amazing! The ONLY bad things are the flies (bugs and I don't get along... they love to bite me and I try to kill them), they don't use the Euro, and it is way expensive.

We started off with a day in Lucerne. It was right on the lake and had breath taking views. We borrowed razor scooters from our hostels and went out exploring looking like twelve year olds. It was a lot of fun but we quickly realized it was not going to work on the gravel that pretty much surrounds the area. So we headed back and then once again set off, this time on foot. The town was really neat but the main attraction is definitely the towns view of the Swiss Alps. BEAUTIFUL!

Venice

We woke up early (for what feels like the 1,000th day in a row) and left for Venice. We didn't have much time in Venice but it ended up being perfect. We were able to fit everything in. It's actually a pretty small. It is an awesome place to see but it's also really dirty. We realllly wanted to take a gondola ride but knew they would be insanely expensive. Luckily a family we saw were all thinking the same thing so we went with them and split the cost. It was a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure our captain (?) was wasted but no one got hurt so it's all good. After seeing almost everything we headed for the Jewish Ghetto. We saw a little restaurant along the way and stopped for dinner. We ended up to this 70 year old couple from Cornwall, UK who have been married for 51 years and have traveled pretty much everywhere on the planet. They were awesome to talk to. We ended up talking for so long that we had to abandon the 'to and head back to the hostel.

I really enjoyed Venice but I wouldn't want to stay there longer than two or three days.

Pompeii

The reason we packed so much into one day was so that we could make a day trip to Pompei. It is a place that I have always been facinated with and thought it would be really cool.... Wrong. So many of the people we were with LOVED it. Matt and I... Not so much. We paid the 10 Euros to have the audio guide so that we would know what we were looking at but it was a huge waste of money. They had numbers posted that didnt match what you were looking at and everyone was walking around asking each other what they were doing wrong. We also didnt realize just how HUGE it is. I thought it was just a tiny village... nope.

I was so annoyed with wasting that money that I said something to the lady who rented them to us. She basically said we were supposed to get a map but they ran out... complain to this number. LAME!

Roma

We arrived in Rome and headed for our hostel/campground. It ended up taking two metro changes, a train, and a shuttle to get to our hostel. As soon as we checked in and locked up our bags we headed back out to the city. And hour later we got there and WOW! The first thing we saw when we got off of the metro was the Colosseum. And it was awesome! It is crazy how well preserved it is! Unfortunately it was about 6pm by this time and everything was starting to close so we decided to see what we could and get a feel for the city before heading back. We saw the Trevi fountain and threw coins in (it is supposed to gaurantee that you return to Rome), the Pantheon, and walked around the outside of the Forum.

The next day we headed out super early on a mission to see everything we could. We started out in Vatican City because it closes crazy early. We both still think some of the other churches we saw were more beautiful but it was still really neat to see St. Peter's. We also went into the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chaple. After the Vatican we went into the heart of Rome. We saw the inside of the Colosseum (SO COOL! seeing how everything underground worked was really interesting and it reminded us of the movie Gladiator), the Palantine, Roman Forum, Pantheon... inside this time, Spanish steps, Narvona plazza, and a ton of other cool sites and churches.

Rome was an amazing experience. It was VERY touristy but definitely worth it!

Happy Father's Day!!!

I love you Dad!

I wrote an incredibly long post about Rome, Venice, and Switzerland but the Internet decided to cut out and delete it all... So here are the main points!

Rome is awesome, very touristy but surreal!
German tourists are mean
People stare at you and don't stop after you make eye contact... Creepy
Venice was dirty but really neat.
Both of us loved the Colosseum
We are in Lucerne, Switzerland and it is AMAZING!

Love you Dad!

RIP Sassy! I wish I was there :,(

Bongiorno!

After leaving the beautiful Cinque Terre we arrived in Florence. Since our clothes were getting pretty stanky we took advantage of the washer and dryer the campsite had. Since I wanted to take full advantage of having clean clothes I had to wear my swimsuit and zip off pants so that everything else could get clean. It wasn't the most fashionable outfit.

Florence was gorgeous. We saw the David statute, the Baptistry, the Cathedral (4th largest in the world. It had the most beautiful painted ceiling!), the jersey shore, and a few other awesome sites. With all of Florence we somehow manage to run into three members of the Jersey Shore cast. They looked really bored being filmed walking down the street... It was weird. One of the security guards could tell that we recognized them so we just took a few pictures and then left to go into the cathedral.

I feel dumb now but everyone always warns you not to wear shorts in Rome or they wont let you in. No one ever said anything about Florence... I looked pretty great wearing my scarf as a dress wondering around the churches. But hey... I didn't have to buy one of those ugly paper robes.

Now we are about to leave for Rome! I hope it doesn't disappoint and we have enough time for everything! It's crazy that we are more than half way through with our trip. It's flying by!

Italian Riviera... Enough said

It is gorgeous! It was a huge pain to get to but definitey worth it! After two days of traveling and getting stranded in Avingnon, France at night we made it to Ventimilgia, Italy and then finally to Riomaggiore. It is amazing here, like out of a movie. We headed to the beach and watched the sunset while eating some authentic Italian pizza and gellato. Today we woke up and headed to another part of Cinque Terre to spend the day at the beach! Of course i have a nice splotchy burn and Matt now has the perfect tan. We are off to get some seafood!

We are going to Florence tomorrow morning and are going to be camping! It was recommended by a lot of the backpackers we have come across and is pretty cheap:)

Sidenote: I thought it was smart to bring toilet seat covers... Nope. They apparently don't use toilet seats here at all. And in some cases (mostly in the men's room) there is just a hole with places for your feet.... eWWWWww.

Time to eat!

Bartttthhhhhhelona

We arrived in Barcelona (or as they say Barthelona) and tried to book our tickets for Cinque Terre before the trains filled up. Well... After waiting for an hour and a half for our number to be called we walk up to the window and ask for tickets to Italy. He tells us we are at the wrong window. We weren't... He then told us to go to windows 1-5. When Matt asked why he wrote down 1-5. We tried asking again and he started counting. 1,2,3,4,5. So we left hearing him mumble about us as we went. We got to windows 1-5, waited in line, and then were told that we needed to go back to where we were... We were getting soooo annoyed with how rude people were being. Matt was speaking to them in Spanish, we were polite... We didn't get it.
It all worked out in the end and we are waiting for our train to Italy right now.

After all of that we made it to our hostel and then went out to check out the city. We loved it! It's an awesome place! So much to do and see. We walked from the Sagrada Familia to Parc Montjuïc to see the castle and the olympic village. It was beautiful but we probably walked about 13 miles and were so exhausted! Our feet hate us right now.

Matt took me out for a yummy birthday dinner! Best boyfriend ever:)


We are now off to Italy!

Dr. Jones! Dr. Jones!

Hola!
We got to Valencia and immediately got lost. There is no way to navigate in that city. We learned on our walking tour that the streets are all curved so that people have more privacy and for defensive purposes. That combined with the fact that our map was in Spanish and the street signs were in Valenciano made it pretty difficult to get around. However... Besides that we loved it! It had a completely different feel than Madrid. They took a lot of pride in their history and traditions and it had a small town feel. We walkled... A lot.. And saw the largest aquarium in Europe (awesome!), the cathedral where the Holy Grail is kept (we had a much easier time than Indiana) and a lot of other amazing sites.

After two days in Valencia we left for Barcelona!

I'm an old lady

We went to Valencia for two days and loved it. It has a more traditional, small town feel compared to Madrid. We are currently in Barcelona and it is awesome!

We are off exploring. I'll update more later:)

España!

We took a night train from Paris to Madrid and were pleasantly surprised when we realized that we had a sleeper car instead of the reclining chair seats that we had purchased. That was until these two really big French guys came in and they were wasted. They sang, farted, talked on the phone for the first two hours before they finally passed out. Once asleep the snoring began. Oh well... We still got more sleep than we would have in the chairs.

We got to Madrid around 2:00pm and went exploring. It feels a little like home... Everyone here is speaking Spanish. People here don't even start going out until about midnight, it's crazy.

Today we woke up and went to Plaza Mayor, the central part of Madrid, to take a free walking tour. We got to see a lot of different famous sites, learn about Spanish culture and history, and learn where the good places to find tapas, paella, and churros are. Tonight we are going into the main bar district to see more of the nightlife.

So far spain has been a nice change from Paris. I liked that paris had so many places to visit and sites to see but Madrid has a much more laid back atmosphere. It feels welcoming:)

Tomorrow morning we are taking a train to Valencia!

Au Revoir!

We decided on spending the day in Paris instead of taking a 6 hour day trip to Versailles so that we could get a break. And especially so that our feet could get a rest. We saw more of the Arc de Triumphe and laid out on the lawn in front of the Eiffle Tower. It was another gorgeous day and because of my ability to reflect the sun Matt got a nice tan while I am sporting a nice shade of lobster rouge. We are taking the night train to Madrid tomorrow night so we will have some time during the day to hangout and see some more sights. There are a million cafes here and they are all so similar. Last night we hit up a happy hour and got a bite to eat... it was probably the best meal we will have this whole trip... so so yummy.

One thing we have learned so far is that you should not buy those little sheets of laundry detergent... they don't work. Also, if you are going to do your laundry, make sure that you have the hostel booked for more than one day so that your clothes can actually dry. Otherwise you will end up packing your clothes up wet and then having a really stinky bag full of clothes that now all need to be washed/re-washed... Woopsies.

We have loved Paris but we are definitely ready for a change. We can't wait to get to Spain!

Bonjour!

So far we have seen le musee d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Arc de triomphe, Pantheon, Saint Chapelle, Notre Dame, the Luxembourg gardens and the Eiffle Tower. We have had full days with a lot of walking but so far it has been worth it. I looooved seeing Notre Dame, it was beautiful and Matt's favorite so far is the Eiffle Tower. The train we wanted to take to Madrid is full so we have one more day to enjoy Paris before heading to Spain. So far my three years of french has been pretty useless. Luckily, with the exception of one person, everyone has been able to speak English. Matt wants me to speak more french but I get nervous and freeze up... I'm so awful at it. He usually does the talking and then I interpret. Listening and reading are much easier than speaking!

We were able to meet up with one of Matt's JMU tennis teammates for dinner last night and had a great time! Luckily Florent ordered for us so we didn't end up with something wild.

Our train tickets and hostel for spain are booked so we are looking forward to Madrid! It will be Matt's turn to do the interpreting!

I see London, I see France....

We landed in Paris! Well kinda... We were on a bus for an hour and then we were in Paris. We found our hotel but couldn't check in yet so we headed to the sacre coeur church. It was really pretty but there were a million street vendors bugging us. Then we went to the Eiffle Tour!AWESOME! We loved it! We went all the way to the top and could see everything since it was so nice out. After that we headed back to the hostel for a nap. And well we never woke up haha. We spent the prervious night in the airport since our flight was at 6am and we didn't want to have to pay for a hostel or worry about catching a bus at 4am. We are off to explore Paris! So far it has been beautiful!

The gift of eloquence

We had to check out of our hostel in Cork at 10:30 so we had to take our bags with us to Blarney. It was a tight squeeze climbing to the top of the castle but it was definitely worth it since we have kissed the stone and should now have the gift of eloquence! The castle was a really cool place to see! After seeing the castle we wondered around the gardens, saw some Druid ruins, and walked around the Blarney manor which was gorgeous! After all of that we had to catch a bus back to Cork in time to get on the train to Dublin. Our flight to Paris leaves at 6:30am.... Ew

Cork!

We arrived around 8 and immediately went exploring. The town seems really nice, a good change from Waterford. We got our first burger since leaving home, matt loved it, but it had onions in it so you know I didn't. After dinner we decided that we wanted to go on a tour early in the morning so we headed to bed early. We tried to get some sleep but one of our roommates was cutting some logs and the other had the black lung so it wasn't easy.

After getting litle sleep we headed for the cliffs of Moher with a Paddywagon tour. The tour made a lot of stops on the way including the treaty stone, bunratty's castle, burren limestone, a 3,000 BC rock formation where people lived and a few other cool sites. The cliffs were pretty awesome but would have been even better had the sun come out.

Tomorrow we are taking the bus to blarney castle to kiss the stone and see the sites before heading back to catch the train to Dublin. From Dublin we are flying to Paris!

Tonight we are heading to a pub to watch a 'football' game:)CORRECTION - we are saving money. We went to the store and are making pasta in the hostel kitchen:)

Ps I Love you Tutu!:)

Waterford...

Oh Waterford...
The whole reason I (Shannon) wanted to come here is because of the family history I have here. Even though... When it comes down to it I really only know that somewhere down the line a few relatives lived here. Anywho... I thought it could be cool... Not so much. We got a little lost leaving the train station when looking for reginald's tower and stopped to ask a guy in a church courtyard how to get there. If we had only known what we were getting ourselves into... The guy told us a ton of stories which did not make any sense whatsoever and made us question his stability and sanity. He talked nonstop about the most random things, Egypt, the walk of fame, menopause, turkey, and bombs... AND he spit me (by mistake! But still... EwWWWWW!) we eventually got away and found the tower which happened to be closed for construction. Thanks Waterford! We carried our bags around for 2 hours only to be dissapointed:( after that we got back on the train and headed to Cork!

More Dublin!

The walking tour was so so. It was nice to see more of Dublin but it wasn't too in depth. Because it was free we missed out on some of the nicer museums. But at least it was free:) after the three hour tour we were a little tired so we headed to dinner at gallaghers. It was sooo yummy. For the most part we are loving Irish food. We had a train to catch the next morning so we went to sleep early.

First Night Out!

Well we went out for the first time last night and what do ya know... We ran into Matt's neighbor at JMU, a girl from Robinson, a girl from the JMU rugby team I know and a guy in PSE... Crazy! The place we went to had a €5 cover but we figured it was cheaper than the others and it was recommended by the hostel host. We got there at about 12:30 and there were around 10 people awkwardly dancing - including a 45 year old woman with no sense of rhythm and way too many drinks in her. We didn't want to pay to go anywhere else so we stuck it out... Ended up getting pretty fun when all of the JMU people got there. We are going to a free waking tour of the city today and then a pub crawl with the other JMU people tonight.

The hostel is pretty decent. There's no lockout or curfew and everyone is pretty friendly.the shower did alternate between freezing me to death and burning my skin off with no warning but that is my only complaint. It seems like everyone here is British, it's really strange. I'm trying to figure out how to upload pictures... As soon as I do I will add some!:)

IRELAND!!!

We have arrived in Dublin! Jim drove us the scenic route from Liverpool to Holyhead in time for us to get the ferry. After a short bus ride we have arrived at our first hostel. It's a six bed mixed dorm and so far we are only sharing with another couple from long beach, ca. We have already seen some places that we want to one day make it back to, especially betws y coed in wales... Gorgeous. No idea how to pronounce it though. Gotta go get some euros... I'll update soon:)

Beatlemania!

We are Liverpool and we are staying with two of the nicest people, Jan and Jim. We got a tour of the city and were able to see each of the Beatles' houses before being dropped off in the city to wonder around. We have already hit up the Beatles Museum and are about to head off into the city :)

We are taking the ferry to Dublin tomorrow morning!!

And we are off!

We made it through security and are about to leave! Matt would like me to clarify that my bag weighs more than his at 13.8 kg, his was 13.2 kg.

Next stop - LONDON!

Ps love you mom... I'll be fine! I'll text when we land! Love you:)

18 Hours and Counting

I'M GETTING EXCITED!!!

Bags are packed! Mine is weighing in at about 30 pounds and Matt's is around 35lbs. I am the all-time worst at packing way more than I need so 30 pounds is pretty good. I look at it this way - I would much rather pack a 49.9 pound bag and be prepared for any situation then pack only the things that I would most likely need. I like having options and knowing I am as prepared as possible :)

Here is our itinerary. We know we probably wont end up following this exactly but it's a start.

May
23 - Land in London, take a bus to see stonehenge, bus to Liverpool
24 - Liverpool, bus to holyhead (Ferry), Dublin
25 - Dublin
26 - Kilkenny, Waterford
27 - Cork
28 - Killarney
29 - Galway, Dublin
30 - Dublin - Paris (flying)
31 - Paris
June
1- Paris
2- Paris - Madrid (night train)
3- Madrid
4- Madrid - Valencia
5 - Valencia - Barcelona
6 - Barcelona
7 - Barcelona - Nice
8 - Nice - Cinque Terre
9 - (I'm officially an old fart at 22 today) Cinque Terre
10 - Cinque Terre - Florence
11 - Florence
12 - Florence - Rome
13 - Rome
14 - Rome
15 - Rome - Venice
16 - Venice - Geneva
17 - Interlaken, Grindelwald
18 - Lucerne
19 - Prague
20 - Prague - Amsterdam
21 - Amsterdam
22 - Amsterdam - Belgium
23 - Brussels - London - Wimbledon
24 - Wimbledon
25 - Wimbledon - Edinburgh
26 - Edinburgh
27 - Edinburgh - London
28 - London
29 - London
30 - London - USA!!!

It is going a crazy 39 days!

AHHHH

Matt and I are trying to plan our trip out so that we can see everything we want to see and not spend a gazillion dollars. It's not easy... just when we think we have it figured out we discover stupid fees. GrrRRRRrrrrr.

We have almost everything that we need... just no plan.

Here is what we have so far - we are leaving dulles on the 22nd, landing the 23rd and coming home on June 30. The rest is TBD.

5 Days and Counting!

I packed almost everything in my bag last night and there is NO way I am going to be able to fit everything and be able to carry it. Matt and I went to GWU to get our Eurorail pass, ISIC cards, and travelers insurance... SO expensive. I wasn't sure about the traveler's insurance until the girl at the counter told us about how she got some weird bacterial infection in her eye and is now partially blind and trying to pay off a $10,000 bill. Annnnd knowing me I'm going to lose or drop something valuable. This way I'll be covered.