And I'm back in Calgary. I had a wonderful time in Europe, and I hope you've enjoyed these updates. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to continue updating. We'll see.

Yesterday we went to Amsterdam again, this time with a personal tour guide (Bas). Very cool. We saw Madame Tussaud's, got our picture taken with Arnold, Nicholas Cage, George Bush, and James Bond. Fun.

Then we went to the Anne Frank house. Very well done museum. The stair case was a real blow, because you've heard about it, and read about it, but when you actually see the real sliding staircase... wow.

Got lots of good pictures, check them out.

Today we went to the Hague (Den Haag) and saw the parliament buildings, and the department of justice, and Holland's miniature land, Madurodam. Very cool. Bas's girlfriend Sonna came along, and we walked along the boardwalk by the beach. I wanted to go bungee jumping, but they weren't doing it.

McDonald's has a really yummy sauce for their fries - no ketchup. I'm afraid to know what is in the sauce. Really good, though.

Well, I have to go pack. Sorry about the crappy update. Look at the pictures. They're better.

I realize it's been a while. Zurich was really nice, although really expensive. We took the morning slowly and found ourselves in the Zurich train station around 3:30. Karen was a lovely tour guide and we wandered down the Bahnhofstrasse (main street) which was loaded with designer stores and all kinds of jewellery. We also stopped in Franz Karl Webber, which is a child's dream come true. It is the biggest toy store ever and has everything you could possibly want. Very very cool. We wandered down to Lake Zurich and sat for a while. Quite pretty. Then it was back to the train station (bahnhof = train station) to meet Roland, Karen's cousin, for some more wandering around Zurich. A few pictures later, we met up with Jennie, Roland's girlfriend, and we all went to dinner in the old part of Zurich. I had traditional Swiss food, bratwurst with fried potato strips (like hashbrowns) and onion sauce. Yum.

After some more wandering around the old part of the city (and a stop at a candy store), we went to Cafe Aquarium, and had ice tea with ice cream and fruit. I will definitely try making it myself in Canada. Mom, you're going to love the pineapple one I had.

Then we took some more pictures of Zurich at night and Roland and Jennie dropped us off at the bahnhof for the ride back to the apartment in Affoltern am Albis.

The next day we said goodbye to Tante Erika and hopped on our train to Germany. Since we were coming from Switzerland, we went through the southern part. It was rainy, and really rather ugly; not a nice introduction to the country. But it gets much better. I really like Germany, and Germans.

We got to the train station in Hannover, and weren't entirely sure who was meeting us, whether it would be Karen's friend Christian, or Christian's parents, whom Karen had only seen pictures of. Well, after looking extraordinarily lost and just gazing randomly about for about 20 minutes, we heard someone calling 'ms Fahrni, ms Fahrni!' Sure enough, there was Christian.

The Moritzs (Christian's family) live outside of Hannover, in a town called Mendelsloh. It is the most picturesque town! It has cornfields and an old wind mill and everything. Very cool place. So we spent that evening hanging around a bar in a neighboring town, and trying new German drinks. Some are coming home with me. They really like 'kirsch' over here, which is cherry anything.

The next day Christian took us around Hannover in the afternoon before he had to work. Some very nice friends of his (who's names I won't try to spell) drove us home - on the autobahn, yay! Anyways, later that night Christian's friend Nina came and picked us up to go to the disco OSHO in Hannover. Two other girls, Anka and Stephie (sorry about the spelling, girls) came too. So we got to the bar, and it's really nice inside, and only 4 € to get in. We got there at about 11:00pm, and stayed until about 3:00am. Christian came after work, so we partied it up in Hannover.

The next day, we were supposed to go to Berlin. On very little sleep. But it was raining. So we changed our minds and slept until 12:30. Then we had Jan-Phillip's birthday lunch. Christian and Jan's oma and opa were there. Very fun. Christian took off for work, and then it was Jan-Phillip's turn to show us around Hannover, since he needed to sign a new cell phone contract. It rained, and there were places in the mall that were open to the sky, so the ground got wet. I have never been so terrified of wiping out. It must have been funny, but not until I was on dry, gripp-y ground.

Back at the house we hang around until Jan takes off for a birthday party, and asks do we want to tag along. So we do. The plan is to go for an hour, have a drink, say hi and go home. Hah. They said that something everyone who goes to Germany has to learn is how to open a beer bottle (no twist caps) without a bottle opener. Hmmm... Karen got hers off no trouble with a lighter, but mine took many, many tries, and I had a huge audience offering advice and showing me how to hold the bottle, and hold the lighter, and how to apply pressure, and so on. Several hours later we wander home again. So much for a brief visit...

The next day we went to Berlin. Wow. I love the ICE trains; they average between 250 and 300 kph, so they get you there really fast. Christian came, so we had our own personal tour guide, and Mme Moritz had drawn out a plan for us. We saw the Reichstag and a big stretch of the Berlin wall - it was a really interesting day. Well, that was the 30th, and that's the day our rail-passes ran out, so we were supposed to be in Holland by that day. But, Jan-Phillip's birthday was that night. How could we resist.

To make a long story short, I went to bed at 7:30 this morning. And Germans don't drink tap water. They kept taking away my glass and giving me strange looks as they filled it with something else. I don't like bubbly water, *sigh*.

And now we are in Ede, which is outside Arnhem in Holland. Tomorrow it may be off to the Hague and since it's Karen's birthday, we may get to see how the Dutch party. After that, who knows...

Well, the disco was... an experience. 98% of the guys on this continent are good looking, and they filled up Wallstreet, which was the disco we went to in Luzern (or Lucerne, in French). Most of the music was wicked, and some was weird, but people really didn't dance. If they were good, they got up on the boxes and stuff, but everyone else just stood around. The best, though, is that the DJ can hose down anyone on the boxes that he doesn't think are good dancers. That was funny.

On Sunday Karen's aunt and uncle took us to Ballenberg, which is the Swiss Heritage Park, only 10 times bigger. It took us the entire day to walk around, and we had the best bread and fresh cheese for lunch. It was sooooo fun.

Today Karen and I went to Chateau Chillon, which is this very very very cool 13th century castle on Lake Geneva. Geneva is (thank goodness) in the French part of Switzerland, so I was back in my comfort zone for a few hours. Yay. The castle has everything a castle needs, with dungeons, and torture chambers, and secret passages. Oh! And Karen just reminded me of the crypt. Way creepy. I didn't want to go in by myself.

It's a 4 hour train trip to Chateau Chillon, so it was a long day. Then, on the way back, I wanted some Paprika chips from the train. Well, the lady tells me 2.80SFR, then I gave her a 5SFR coin, and she didn't give me change. So Karen went after her, but she kept saying that I gave her 2SFR. Who would take less than the price of an item? Totally stole 2.20SFR from me. Word to the wise: Don't trust Swiss people with your money, I don't care how good their banks are!

Well, we're back at Tante Erika's now. Tomorrow it's off to Zurich for the afternoon, and possibly dinner with Karen's cousin Roland and his girlfriend Jennie.

Karen and I spent the day in Luzern, which is like the Banff of Switzerland. Really nice. Saw the old town wall and this huge lion in the rock (war memorial). Saw the famous covered bridge also. We're going back tonight with Karen's friend Chantal and her boyfriend Diego, to a disco...

Then tomorrow it's off to Ballenberg, which is the Swiss Heritage Park, only waaaayyy bigger.

Ok, so a lot has happened since the last update. Everyone has to make sure they check out the newest link: Pictures. There's only one up right now, of the boys and Karen in Biarritz. I am unfortunately not in the picture, as I was the one taking it.

Ok, where did we leave off. Ah, yes... as I was doing my last update, the evening after the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, Karen and I were in the common room of our hostel using the free internet when the CREEPIEST Aussie guy kept touching us and would not leave us alone. We ended up making a run for it. I think the management at the hostel thought we stole something. Ick.

The day after we left off, Karen and I got up at a relatively decent hour to make our train to Firenze, and then to Venice. It took us about 6 hours, and involved lots of beautiful country side and some nice old people from the states. We arrived in Venice without problems, and went immediately to our campground (sans reservations). They still managed to have room for us, thank goodness. That night we crashed early in order to get up the next morning and wander around the city. However, to our chagrin, the campground played some really good music really loud, and almost tempted us out of our beds and out of our pj's and into the bar. Almost.

I love Venice. Karen and I put away the map and got lost. It was great. Best gelato yet. I know I say this about a lot of places, but you really just need to experience it. No gondola ride, unfortunately: it's 80Euros for 1/2 hour, so think about 145CAD for 30 mins. Sick.

We spent that night with some Scottish girls (Louise and Roslin) and an Aussie girl (Elly). No good music that night, and no requests taken. Oh well.

The next morning was tough. I think we managed to get out of bed by 10, breakfast by 10:30 and hit the pool by 10:45. We lasted about 3 hours before going back to the shade of our tent for a two hour nap. Then it was back to the pool for a few hours before dinner (pizza) and some more good music. We played cards, and then Louise, Roslin and Elly showed up. Hung out, danced, and crashed rather late. Really fun relaxing day, actually.

Yesterday we traveled from Venice through Milano and up to Zurich, through the Gotthard. Very scenic. We've arrived safely at Karen's Tante Erika's and we rather like it here. That's all for now.

Well, today we saw the Colosseum and the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. I love Rome. We jumped on another one of those free tours in the Forum, and learned interesting things about the emperors and things. We saw Julius Ceasar's tomb and got the 'low-down' on his cremation and Marc Anthony's speech and everything.

Gran, we went searching for Keats' tombstone. Yesterday when we were in the Piazza Spagna we found the memorial museum to Keats and Shelley and asked the curator where he was buried. We were told "just behind the colosseum; the protestant cemetery by the pyramid". So we thought we could get it in at the same time as the Colosseum and all that. Well, it turns out it was not 'just behind the Colosseum', it's actually a few more metro stops past the Colosseum stop. Keep in mind that it was extremely hot today, and we were grumpy and tired. So we finally made it to the pyramid thing, and walk all the way around this huge walled cemetery, found the door, only to be told it was CLOSED!!! We were just over an hour late. I was going to climb the walls, but they were covered in broken glass shards. So, Gran, there is a picture of me very dejected in front of the very solid doors to the cemetery. I tried, I really really did.

So now we are in the Yellow Hostel, checking our free internet, after playing Gin for a while to kill time in our nice air-conditioned room. That's all for today. Ciao.

Well, last night was our first night in Roma, and it was really rather... different. The hostel we are staying in is connected with a famous hostel "The Yellow Hostel", which is across the street, and which provides our free internet access. So that's where I was when I did the last update.

After that, Karen and I finished our laundry (yay for clean clothes!) and went out for dinner. Pasta is incredibly good and really quite cheap. It's bottled water that is expensive, and sometimes costs more than food. Anyways, we really enjoyed our dinner, and then decided to go to the train station to see about booking our next train (to Venice). In the reservation area we ran into Tina, the Australian from Florence. We decided to try and find more internet access, and Tina was hungry.

Well, Karen had found on our map an easyInternetCafe, which we have had a lot of luck with so far. We head in that direction, keeping an eye out for a place with cold salads, or sandwiches for Tina. Well, the street we ended up going down seemed badly lit and rather shady to me, with no internet place in sight. Maps can be rather deceiving as far as exact locations are.

Well, we did find a grocery store, and sat on some steps across the street to eat. We had been there about 3 minutes, when we heard this awful yelling coming from somewhere nearby; it sounded like it was moving in our direction. Then around the corner comes a large group of Asian tourists, all laughing and everything. But they aren't the source of the noise. After them, around the corner, comes this raving man, with no shirt on. He starts chasing the tourists, even hitting one guy with his shirt! The three of us were rather stunned, and watched to see what would happen.

After the attacked guy moved on (not provoking the raving man), the raving one crossed the street and headed in our direction, so we jumped up and booked it across the street, to the grocery store (there was a security guard) but he wasn't there, so we hovered as the man raved across the street. He then proceeded to attack a random female passerby with his shirt. Good thing she had a big Doberman-like dog with her. The dog must have grabbed the shirt, because the raving man seemed to get even more angry. That's when we noticed that the security guard was already 'at the scene'. The guy ended up on the ground, moaning and raving, while everyone kept their distance. We didn't hang around to see what happened. We then ended up finding internet (15 minutes free) and then we walked Tina to her hostel, promising to come and collect her bright and early for a trip to the Vatican.

Well! We certainly got ourselves up early enough, collected Tina and her bags (she left today) dropped her bags off in the left luggage and hopped on the metro. We got off at the right stop and hiked up more stairs to get to the Vatican. That place is practically impregnable; huge slanting walls and no way to get a foothold... We got in line, even though it was dishearteningly long. It moved quickly enough though. Ha! We got around to the front gate of the Musei Vaticani 1/2 hour later, and were told "oh, no, you're in the wrong line, go to that one over there." Well, "that one" turned out to wind all the way around the Vatican city. The line was probably 3 km long! We stood there for over an hour to get it. It was absolutely worth it, though. No passports required for this country! Too bad, I would have liked a stamp! Well, we wandered around the picture gallery first, which I really enjoyed, and then went to see the Sistine Chapel. I have never seen so many people in one place all at one time. The Vatican employees sort of herd everyone through all the different rooms to the Sistine Chapel, and then out.

It really pissed me off once we got in there, because there are signs posted everywhere "no photography" and guess what?!? People took photos like mad. Flash photos! Are people so bloody ignorant that they simply don't care what they are ruining? Do they not realize how long it took to restore the ceiling?!?! Arrrrrgghh!! Can you tell I'm fed up with ignorant tourists? They even knew it was bad; each and every one of them looked very guilty as they snapped away.

To wind up this section, I really wasn't all that impressed with the Sistine Chapel. I think there were too many people, and we were shuffled through too quickly to really enjoy it. I'm mostly just in awe of the length of time it took Michelangelo, laying on his back, to finish it.

After the Vatican we joined up on this free tour of St. Peter's that a nice Irish girl was doing. It was really interesting, and we got to learn lots more about the Basilica than we would have otherwise. The Basilica marks the spot where St. Peter was crucified. It's really rather interesting to hear how the Roman architecture uses size and space to make things appear closer than they really are. The place isn't something you can really describe: wait for the photos.

There's a place in the courtyard where, if you stand in a certain, exact spot, all the columns on the one side (about 150) all line up, so you only see the ones closest to you.

Hmmm... after the Basilica, we walked and got ice creams and went to see Piazza Navona, the Pantheon (wow) the Trevi Fountain (gorgeous) and the Spanish Steps in Piazza Spagna. Needless to say, we were rather tired, and have just arrived from the Metro.

Tomorrow's schedule includes the Colosseo and Keats' tombstone. The day after that, it's off to Venezia!!

Ok everyone, get ready for a long update. When I last left you I had just fallen in love with Monaco. The next day, Karen and I got up really really early, had breakfast the minute it started at our hostel and checked out. Remember the collapsed tunnel on the way to Florence? Well...

We took two buses from our hostel to the train station in Nice. A very nice British girl came up and asked us was it Tuesday or Wednesday, so we decided to take her along with us, since we were going in the same direction and she hadn't known about the break in the line. Then we all took the train to Monaco, about 20 minutes, where we caught a bus to Menton, on the border with Italy. That was about 40 minutes. Them, we caught a train from Menton to Ventimiglia, another short 'jaunt', after which Karen and I jumped on the first train we saw, headed to Genoa. Well, at least we thought it was headed to Genoa...

Andrea with all her knowledge of the italian language decided that instead of Genoa(Genova) we were actually headed to Geneva. So, for a solid 15 minutes, there was chaos as Karen and I freaked out, thinking we were going in the opposite direction of where we needed to go.

Don't worry, it was the right train. We got to Genoa a few hours later and had no idea what we were doing. We found the ticket counter and I managed to explain in my limited italian that we wanted to go to Pisa (our connection to Firenze). The ticket man replied in perfect English "Platform 20 to Napoli, leaving now"! So Karen and I are racing with our packs through an unknown train station, and for some reason I find this situation completely ridiculous. So not only am I running around like and idiot, I am shrieking with histerical laughter at the same time.

We manage our train to Pisa (I can't remember how long it was) and we decided that we had loads of time (2 hours) to go and snap some quick shots of the tower. It actually only took us about 15 minutes to look at the tower (it's a lot smaller that I thought it would be) and decide that 2 pictures was quite enough. I think Karen was rather unimpressed that "someone built some tower that was badly constructed, so it fell over and now it's famous". But we did find a Via Andrea, which was cool.

So then it was back to the train station and we bought enormous pieces of the best pizza I have ever eaten before hopping on the train to Firenze. We met a very nice couple from Boston on that train, who were literally travelling around the world in a month. Ireland, Venice, Florence, Thailand, Japan and Montana. Insane.

So we arrived in Florence and found our hostel in the Campeggio Michelangelo, right under the Piazzale Michelangelo, with the reproduction in bronze of the David as well as the statues on the tombs of some Medicis. Great view. Our tent was super-cute. Just enough room for two beds.

After dumping our bags, we showered and headed to the bar area, where we got more pizza and grabbed random seats at someones table. Turns out they were wicked to hang out with all night.

Lucas is from Calgary, he goes to U of C and lives in Midnapore. How fun! There was a guy from TO, (Chris) a girl from Brisbane (Tina) and two Dutch boys, Joost and Sjoerd, who had biked to Florence from Amsterdam and were on their way to Rome. We talked late into the night.

The next day we got a nice late start. We finally got breakfast around 11:00 and headed to the Piazzale to take photos. Janine, I got your Pace flags (3 of them) and they were only 5 € each.

We wandered down the mountain (Karen seems to have a penchant for picking hostels in high places) and made our way over the Ponte Vecchio. Girls, all the gold and diamonds and expensive jewellery you can imagine is there. Crazy.

After that we wandered our way (slowly) to the Duomo, but we didn't go in because the line was too huge. We did go in the Basilica part, which was really cool. Then we wandered over the Galleria dell'Academia to see the David. We spent a lot of time in there because it was airconditioned. Actually, I really enjoyed all the sculptures and paintings. I wanted to kick the Japanes tourists though, because they ignored all the "no photography" signs, and hid behind columns to photograph the David. Stupid.

After that Karen and I grabbed orgasmic pasta at a roadside cafe by the Duomo. Then we found a grocery store and got some really cheap Roseta wine (1.79€ a bottle) and some baguettes and chocolate and fruit and chips, and wandered our way back to our mountain. We had a really nice waiter who told us how to get to the grocery store, and then laughed at us when we told him where we were staying. I guess he thought it was far.

At the base of our mountain, my shoe broke. Yep, that's right, broke. Not reparable, not even just temporarily to get me to the top of the mountain. So I walked up it with one bare foot. Hot pavement, but luckily no glass. One guy did offer to sell me his shoes for 100.00 €, though.

So we got back to the campsite and lazed around, drinking our wine and eating our chips and talking to the Dutch guys from the previous night.

Today we lazed around again until the early afternoon and finally checked out and headed to the train station. We got there by bus, and I didn't think I would make it; I was soooo motion sick. Karen was getting a bit worried. But we made it in one piece. Then we jumped on the first train to Rome, which was leaving in 7 minutes. They were all EuroStars, so we figured they would be covered by our rail passes. Well, they weren't. That's what you get for airconditioning on a train - 16.00 € each later. Ick.

But we are in Roma now, and our hotel has airconditioning, and free internet and I get to watch (well, more like listen to) Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring while I update this page.

Karen and I are going to do a major laundry load, so I'll end here.

I am in love... with Monaco. We spent the afternoon there today (after a lazy start) and everything in the whole city seems perfect and beautiful. I want to move there now. The French Riviera seems to be the place for me.

After we stopped for lunch in a park on the casino grounds (I didn't even try to get in, because I was so sweaty and wilted) we just sat on a street corner. Now, this was no ordinary street corner, it was a street corner in Monaco, which means that there was some kind of amazing car driving by at least every two minutes. Ferarris seem to be really popular there; there weren't too many Lamborghinis, but we did see a couple of Maserattis and this huge, brand-new looking Rolls Royce, along with a couple of Bentleys. Was I ever in heaven.

This playground of the seriously rich is totally my thing.

Well, I had a really nice update all prepared this morning, but the stupid internet cafe we were at just shuts off when your time is up, so I didn't get to save anything. Now, where did we leave off...

The morning of the 9th we got up really early (Barcelona is a bearable temperature at 6a.m.) to go to the train station and go visit Cerbčre. Cerbčre is definitely my favorite place so far. It's hard to believe you are in the ocean, because it is so calm and clear, and the colorful little fish just swim right up to you. I am going to move there one day, or at least holiday there a lot. It's a quaint little fishing village, and the first thing we did was sit in a picturesque, shady little square and eat the best croissants we had had so far, which we had bought from a little patisserie.

We spent the day in Cerbčre relaxing in the little cove they call their beach. It was a really nice way to spend a day after the hustle and bustle of Barcelona.

Speaking of Barcelona, I didn't want to put any of this in the reviews until we made it safely out of the city, because I didn't want to jinx us. That city is very stressful because of all the crime. We had two Canadian roommates who were held up at knife point for all their Euros. There was also a guy who bent down to tie up some shoes he was buying, and when he stood up, his bag was gone. We also heard from some Lithuanians in Cerbčre that they had their pockets sliced off while they were lying on the beach. But don't worry, Mom, we're out of there unscathed. We're not sure how we managed it, but we did.

On a more upbeat note, while strolling down Las Ramblas (the main promenade in Barcelona) I saw Rachel Leigh Cook. Cool hey? She was just strolling in the other direction. I totally did a double take.

Then we had our night train to Nice. It definitely gets a good visual review, because there are a lot of parks and green spaces that are well cared for and very visually appealing. But I can't figure out why the beaches here are famous because they are all pebbly and not fun at all.

We arrived around 8:00 in the morning on the 10th, and proceeded to drop our bags off at our hostel, which is up a mountain. Well, they call it a mountain here - Karen calls it a bump. It's called Mt Boron, and the nice thing about being up at the top is that we get nice breezes at night so you don't wake up in a puddle of sweat. Then we went down to the beach and we were rather dissapointed, but we found a nice park and napped like bums for a few hours until we could check into our hostel and (thank goodness) shower.

Last night we went to a pizza place with our new British roommates (thank goodness for real food, we have been living off baguettes). Then we had to hike up our damn mountain because the bus stops running at 8:00 at night around here. Crazy, because this mountain is really populated. Then we ran into some German guys we met in Biarritz, who are also staying at our Nice hostel, and talked with them in the evening.

Today Karen and I got up early and had breakfast, and were going to go to St. Tropez with the guys, but didn't make it because Andrea was too slow. Then Karen and I took our time, and wandered to the city to find internet because the hostel internet is 3€ for 15 minutes. That's about $4.50. Then we decided to go to Cannes for the day, but we had to go back up to the hostel first, because Karen forgot her Euro-rail pass. We finally made it to Cannes at about 1:30 this afternoon. I totally prefer it to Nice. The beaches are nicer, and the whole town just seems... better. So we relaxed on the beach in Cannes for the afternoon, and we have just returned.

Tomorrow it's off to Monaco. I'm totally going to gamble in Monte Carlo, if they let me in. There are supposed to be lots of nice cars in Monaco - I'm excited. We met a guy from Vancouver Island on the train from Cannes to Nice, and he is going to be in Monaco tomorrow too, so we might run into him there.

Well, Karen's hungry, so we are going to go and find our favorite little chain of grocery stores "Petit Casino" and get some food. After Monaco tomorrow, it's off to Italy, Florence to be exact, but there is a collapsed tunnel on the way, so it will probably take us all day to get from Nice to Florence.

To all my August birthday girls (and Vance) - August birthdays rule. Hi to Andrea F, Janine, Carmen, Cora and Vance. Happy Birthday to you all! 'Til next time...

Today is our third day in Barcelona. We´ve been sightseeing in the mornings (when it´s not so hot) and lying on the beach in the afternoons when it is hot. We are averaging 40şC a day since we arrived in Europe.

I had a really great birthday here. I swam in the Mediterranean and lay on the beach in Barcelona all afternoon. There was also a rooftop party at our hostel, so we all went up there and ate hotdogs and drank sangria.

Yesterday Karen, myself, and our two British roommates, Sophie and Joni, were going to get up early and sightsee, but one of the partying Brits had a hard time with the early hour. So Karen and I set off to Park Guëll by ourselves, promising to come back and get them later to go to the beach.

What an amazing place! The park was inherited by this Guëll guy, who wanted to turn it into a bit of a play park for the upper-class. He hired his friend Gaudi to build it. I guess he worked on it from about 1910 to 1914, but then they ran out of money. Eventually, in 1923, the town bought it and turned it into a public park, and in 1983 it was declared a world heritage sight by UNESCO. See mom, I´m learning something.

Anyhow, this guy Gaudi made crazy weird buildings that don´t seem to have any reasoning to them, and everything is covered in these incredible mosaics. None of the buildings have straight lines at all. The pictures should be great. I think this Gaudi person is the creator of the term "gaudy" - like with too many baubles and things.

Today we are off to see 'The Cathedral' and La Segrada Familia. The Segrada has been under construction for 120 years (I think Gaudi had control of construction at one point) and they figure on another 80 years before the thing is finished! So, if I live to be 101, I can come and see this finalized cathedral. I may live to 101 just so I can see it. Imagine working on something that huge, knowing that not even your great-grandchildren will be alive to see it finished.

We picked up our British friends at about 1:00 yesterday to go to the beach. We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon there, swimming and sunning (and if you´re me, napping). It´s been incredibly relaxing after the first few very hectic days in Paris and Amsterdam.

Well, our train tomorrow is at 7:10 am, which means we check out bright and early at about 5:30. We are going to Cerbčre for the day. Anyone reading this should really look up the town (Cerbčre). It´s in the south of France, really close to the border with Spain. It´s this huge oceanic preserve, and it´s just a tiny town. I can´t wait.

Happy Birthday to me!!

Today is our first day in Barcelona. In fact, we just arrived. We´ve checked in, met our roommates, and gotten organized enough to head out for the day. We have roommates from Canada and England.

The last few days in Biarritz were amazing. We met some incredible people and hung out for our last two days. They were sad to see us go, and we were sad to say goodbye.

Well, since we haven´t done anything in Barcelona yet, I´ll leave off at that. We´re here for 3 nights, and then it´s off to Cerbere. Until then...

Bonjour!! Karen and I arrived safely in Biarritz. It is incredible, but our hostel is down in a valley so it really sucks climbing out of it. Luckily, we have Karen's friend Bas to drive us around some of the time.

What can I tell you about Biarritz? It's basically a paradise. I can't wait to get back in the ocean in a few hours, once we check out our train to Barcelona. Then it's off to the Beach. Honestly, for all you girls reading this, we are hanging out with a group of the hottest Dutch surfers. *sigh*. Just kidding. They are all really nice.

Not much else to say about this town. Just enjoying the beach (it's right on the Bay of Biscay) and we are taking it nice and slow. Until next time...

Well, just logging into this pc was a chore - it's one of those AZERTY keyboards, so all the letters are in unexpected places. You have to hold shift to get a period and the q is where the a is supposed to be... interesting. So if this update is hard to understand, now you know why.

Karen and I are still friends... no major mishaps... yet.

We started our lovely day in Paris hot and sweaty after a very relaxing night on the train. We checked out reserving couchettes for tonights train only to be told that the train was full. Hmmm... So we are now on a later train to Biarritz.

The train station has a place where you can shower; thnk goodness. I would have not had a good day without one.

The first thing we saw was the Bastille, where we had breakfast. We couldn´t find the Pantheon on our map, so we found a nice old gentleman who told us it was barely 6 blocks away, and pointed it out on the map. Sacre Coeur was our next stop. You just round a corner and there it is. What a hike! But worth it. After that we went to Place Charles de Gaulle and the Arc de Triomphe, where we climbed even more stairs - 284 to the top, to be exact. Another cool place. My film ran out at the top, and I thought I wouldn't mind, but then we came to a Peugeot showcase on the Champs-Elysées. Lots of good pictures. Notre Dame too. Fun, fun.

Daphne, I didn't hear from you - too bad. It would have been fun to meet up.

After this internet cafe we are going to the Eiffel Tower, the Pantheon, and possibly Les Invalides.

Sorry, I'm too tired to write anything terribly interesting. Maybe later. Tomorrow we are off to relax in the sand and surf of Biarritz, in the southwest of France.

Well, Karen and I made it safely to Amsterdam. What a flight. The food was good, but the people directly behind us yelled back and forth at each other the entire flight, and the people directly behind them were drunken dutch hockey players who cleaned the aircraft out of beer. I'm not even kidding.

The plane touched down around 11:13a.m. local time, and it took Karen and I until about 1:00 to collect our luggage and get to Amsterdam Centraal. Once there it took us another hour to find a locker that would fit our bags and actually lock.

After exerting all that effort, we exited the train station, and the first thing I saw was the most incredible church. I couldn't wait to get in. It even smelled old, and you couldn't help but whisper.

Karen and I then wandered around a bit, but decided that there was a high liklihood of our getting lost, so we headed back to the train station and got a map, and some sightseeing possibilities. We headed to a local supermarket for some bread, peanut butter and fruit, and proceeded to a nearby popular spot, Vondel Park. We lay at the edge of a pond in the park for about 4 hours, doing nothing but people watching and reenergizing ourselves.

On our way back to the train station and this internet cafe, Andrea decided to randomly turn down a street since we were searching for the Red Light District and guess what? We found it. Just in time for 8p.m. when the shops open, so we got to see some skin. We were almost home free, sighing with relief, when two guys made kissy noises and tried to grope Karen. Too funny. We laughed all the way to the internet cafe. Definitely an experience for our first day over here. We were even offered the chance to see a peep show, strictly to gain a cultural experience, of course.

We're off to the train station again, to wrestle our bags OUT of the lockers and catch the night train to Paris. I can't wait. After that we are on our way to Biarritz, in the southwest of France, for surfing lessons and naps on the beach.

Well, I'm off tomorrow for Europe. I promise to keep this page updated as often as I can get into an internet cafe. I can't wait to get there! A Bientot!