speed update

so, we have discovered that blogging is very difficult when in europe without a computer, especially when you also very little time and a very small budget. but, here we have about 10 minutes, so i'll give you a brief update. :)

rome is awesome and a bit overwhelming. there are over 440 churches, plus about 10,000 other historic sites. the tours are definitely worth the price.

cinque terre is beautiful. there are TONS of hidden stair cases that we wanted to explore. we also got a very good workout climbing all those stairs!

switzerland is adorable. and they have very nice trains! (they are on time and don't cost extra.) gimmelwald captures the essence of the alps.

we missed out on germany due to time constraints. :(

a "sleeperette"on a train, though it costs extra, does not mean you get a bed. that would have been good to know BEFORE we took a 12 hour night train.

amsterdam has some awesome shopping, and haarlem is worth exploring... even if you have to do it speed-style in 20 minutes or so.

belgium is so beautiful, especially when exploring on a bike. brugge has chocolate stores EVERYWHERE, along with fries and "wafels". mmm. but we found out that you should eat more than just that all day.

well, more details and pictures? to come. hopefully sooner than later.

adieu!

Ciao from Italia

Hello all! I have time for a few pictures... ignore the sidewaysness of them... don't have time to figure it out! plus, now that we had just gotten used to Greek computers, we are on to Italian ones! :) Here I am showing Athena how to get to the Acropolis.

Our Italian friends!

Sideways view of a street in Bari. The flags are for the local soccer team that just won. Yippee for futbol!!

On the INCREDIBLE cruise ship ferry.

Bongiorno!

We have successfully made it to Italy...after a looong but totally amazing ferry ride, with a very drunk swede who informed us we were going to Bee-jing becuase of pirates. weird.

Before boarding the ferry we found out (30 mins before cast off) that the city of patras (greece) lets visitors borrow bikes for free!!! well, we were not turning that down, so off we were on a quick trip around the city, up stinkin' high hills then down hills with gravel and bad breaks...it was the best...except that we boarded a ferry for 15 hours right after we had to run to the port to get on our boat. So we might have been a little stinky... SO WHAT!

Speaking of stinky, after wandering around in the sun for an internet cafe in Bari for hours upon hours, well more like 30 minutes, we found a sympathetic shop owner who let us use his to get a phone number...thank you kind sir!

Soon, we met up with Lia and her familia, a huge, extended familia. like the kind with 9 siblings in one family! they are awesome, so sweet and boy can the mom cook...its true about italian cooking; we now know from experience. we got a huge bowl of pasta and chowed down...only to discover it was only the first course. Dang, this country will not be good for the figure! after more plates of simple awesomeness, we were off for a tour of the city with two italian friends. beautiful here, and a huge church. , we are on a short break..more to come becuase we have dinner with the whole family tonight.

Ciao!!!

It's all Greek to me!

Oh, look, A PICTURE! It's Emily looking all traveller-ish at the London airport! Unfortunately this is the only picture I was able to upload. BTW, this picture finally showed up when I was about to sign off, so the rest of this blog is written as if there is not a picture at the top.

What did the snail say when he caught a ride on the turtle's back? "WEEEEE!!!"

So one day, there was a turtle strolling across the street. He was robbed by two snails. When the police asked what happened, the turtle said, "I don't know... it all happened so fast!"

I entered these jokes, because I keep thinking of them as I try to use this crazy Greek computer...I think you may have to wait even longer to see pictures. After three failed attempts and waiting for another 15 minutes on the fourth, I think I'm giving up for the day. But I cannot leave you wondering where we are and what we are up to! Well, apart from the incredibly slow internet connection, Emily and I LOVE Athens and are having a wonderful time!!

So after today I feel much more adept about travelling in a foreign country. We took the metro all over the place and meandered around some really cool Athenian streets. Luckily, our native language is like the most convenient language in the world, so we can still communicate with most people. And I am hard at work trying to learn Greek! Ok, so it's pretty slow going. But I've figured out a few letters of their alphabet and can say "hi," "thank you," and "I'm going to eat you." (Christella taught me the last one.)

But, despite my poor Greek skills, we are still having a total BLAST! We visite the Acropolis and saw all kinds of reeeally old stuff. I can't imagine how beautiful it must have been way back when! We were continually amazed at how big and amazing everthing was... and so historical! We sat one big, old rock for a while. Yeah, we may have rocks in Texas, but PAUL (yes, as in Paul from the Bible) taught abuot Jesus on this rock! We saw all the old stuff, but the present Athens is pretty awesome, too! The top of the Acropolis gave us a great view of the whole city--a big expanse of shimmering whiteness nestled in the valley. Seriously... when the sun came out, it sparkled.

I mean, hiking a big hill in the middle of town and seeing some old broken down buildings... it can't get much better than that!

We also went to the big flea market in the middle of town and ate a real Greek gyro... mmm... goodness. I've have pictures of all of this, but you, the reader will have to remain in suspense for a bit longer.

Well, I'm going to bed... it's one am our time!

More details and (hopefully) pictures to come!

-cham

Chapels, corned beef, and cafes...already!

Hello one and all, this being our first post from the UK!!! WOOHOO :) This might be because we have an 8 hour layover, which was STILL not enough time to go into London and back, apparently Gatwick is reallllllly far out of town. But that's OK, we got to attend a chapel service with a very nice Irish preacher. Random yes....but remember, we have 8 hours! It was a small gathering. Us and the preacher. And one person came in late. It was way fun, though. We sang As the Deer and heard a short sermon. I give mad props to that guy... that's gotta be a tough ministry. (A new crowd everyday, coming from all over, all different backgrounds, etc.) Pretty cool little chapel though. And he gave us some tips on where to go in Ireland! :) Then we found this handy internet cafe, we love international airports. Bring the busy little bees that we are, already, besides the service, have gotten our phone to work, booked reservations for a hostel tonight, and downloaded pictures for your enjoyment.

JUST KIDDING! the jokes on you. ha. the pictures won't work for us on this computer... apparently they have some type of resriction going on so we can't load our pics. but you just wait. they are going to be epic.

sooooo.... we're off in a couple of hours to athens! i would say where we are staying, but it's TOP SECRET for now. anyone seen "taken"? apparently we shouldn't let that info out. see mom and dad? we're being safe. :)

love you all.

peace out.

ps: we're in EUROPE!

pss: the keyboards over here are CRRRAZY!! everything is out of place. strange. leave it to the brits. :)

Leaving......on a jet plane!

It is here...the time has arrived...we outta here!

Wow, "T" minus 12 hours and we will be in the air.

I still have a lot to pack :)

We'll keep you updated!
Love you all,
EM and CH

Our Hostel in the Alps

Check out where we are staying!

The tiny village of Gimmelwald, Switzerland!

here's our tentative itinerary...

May17- depart

18- arrive in athens

19- greece

20- greece, overnight to bari

21- bari

22-naples-tunnels & pompeii

23- rome

24- rome- lucky cricket festival

25- pisa and pescia- pinocchio's b-day

26- cinque terra

27- cinque terra

28- switzerland- gimmelwald

29- munchkin

30- amsterdam

31- amsterdam

June 1- brussels

2-brussels

3- dublin

4- irish countryside

5- belfast, giant's causeway

6- cambridge, strawberry faire

7- nottingham with robin hood

8- bath

9- london

10- london

11- home

crazy, yes I know, will we do it all, for sure, will we have time to shower...i sure hope so!
Ems

The Hills are Alive

Did you know that there is a TV station in Salzburg that plays "The Sound of Music" 24 hours a day? I think that's pretty awesome. We might stop in at Salzburg, PS. 

UPDATE!!!!

We are still going to Europe.

But we are still in school.

Therefore, we have not had much time to update.

The end. (For now.)

-Cham

Ready? Set? GO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, it's Emily and I'm here to add my very first post! So, the countdown has begun...we are at 73 days. That seems like a big number now, but it's passing like little marching soldiers (haha and it's March, get it!) Anyways, I think Carrie and I have read nearly every blog and website dedicated to backpacking or visiting Europe and I still can't get enough. Someone should block my google access at work or I'm never going to get anything done. What have we learned during the hours of reading? Some of the more interesting ones listed here:

• Don't plan on sleeping much in trains in Italy
• It is possible to stay in a convent in Rome and have nuns serve you breakfast
• London is redicuously overpriced, yet is where we will spend most of our time
• If you tour a chocolate factory - you get free chocolate!!! Swiss vs. Belgium - we'll let you know!
  
• Never blink in France if you don't want to be pickpocketed

Basically, we've got the important stuff down (?!) and we are ready! Come on May, we're waiting for ya!

Peace - Ems

EXCITEMENT

        So I'm excited. It's official... we are actually going to EUROPE!!! Emily and I bought our tickets last week, and we leave on our adventure on May 17th--two days after graduation. I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. So please excuse me if I lash out with random facts about Europe or constantly change the subject to my trip. So here are the details:

        We are going from May 17th to June 11th, starting in Athens and ending in London. We are definitely going to Greece, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Ireland, and England, though we are still working out specific details. We are trying to figure out what we REALLY want to do. Like maybe go to Pinocchio's birthday party. That's right... Pinocchio. The puppet who's got no strings to hold him up. We may go to the fairy tale castle in Germany and meet Prince Charming. Or maybe we will go to a fish festival in Italy. Ummm... I'm excited. Did I mention that already?

        You know what else I'm excited about??? The fact that YOU are going to buy some great magazine subscriptions! (Right?) I love magazines. Man, they are cool. I'm so glad you're going to be receiving all 25 of your favorite magazines. Wait, what's that? You haven't ordered any subscriptions? Well, now that you're excited about it, let me inform you on where to buy these mags. Go to http://www.magfundraising.com/carrieandemilyseuropeanadventure and purchase to your heart's content. We get 40% of the profit. And you get to read your favorite mags. What a deal. 

        Well, we will keep you updated on the latest here. 

~C-Ham

ps- I'm excited. Really.