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!