The blog

Nantucket

2009-03-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took a 2 hour ferry ride to Nantucket. This was the big debate of the week, since it is still a little cold and it's off season here. The weather was supposed to be nice for us, so we decided to go. We stayed at a bed & breakfast where we were greeted with homemade chocolate chip cookies and coffee. Our inn keeper was so gracious and helpful. We went to a local winery/brewery and did a tasting. Afterwards, we came back and relaxed in the jacuzzi, then freshened up and went for sushi, pool, and dancing.

This morning we went down to the breakfast room where we were served granola, yogurt, banana cream, waffles, and blueberry english muffins - and of course, after all that Chance still had to eat a chocolate chip cookie. We are so glad we went. Now we are on the ferry ride back to Boston.

Brodee and Brek's Birthday

2009-03-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

We went to Atlanta for Brodee & Brek's birthday. They each picked out their "favorite" restaurant to go to for their Big Day. Brodee chose Olive Garden and Brek chose Kentucky Fried Chicken (interesting, huh?). And, to top off the weekend, it snowed in Atlanta! We couldn't believe it - kinda ruined our camping plans, though. Both of the boys made their own cakes. Brek insisted on smashing his face in his - he loved it. It was an awesome weekend and we were welcomed back in Boston with over a foot of snow - Yeah!

Blue Man

2009-02-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

We went and saw Blue Man Group. Very strange. Not at all what we expected. We don't regret seeing it, but don't think we would go back. We definitely wore too nice of clothes. Got banana squirted all over us. Bananas!

2009-02-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

We stood out in the 5 degree weather to pose with "Rocky"

Valentines in Boston

2009-02-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

Happy valentines day! Nice Ice sculptures. It will probably be june before they melt around here.

2009-02-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

For those of you that haven't heard. Melissa has a new ring. :)

As you can tell we have been in Boston for a while. Shorts to coats.....beach to snow.

Boston

2009-02-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

Paris

2007-09-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

This is the tomb of the unknown soldier. There was an eternal flame burning since 1921 until a drunken tourist peed on it last year and put it out during the world cup. They should hang him. As you can see, it has been relit.
This is the Louve. This was the former home of King Louis XIII and Napolean Bonaparte.

The Arch de Tumph houses. It was erected by Napolean to celebrate his victories. It houses the unknown soldier tomb.
A view of the Seine River. The Eiffel Tower is in the background to the left.

While in France, do as the french do. We tried the escargot. I let Chance do most of the eating here.

This was our most expensive meal of the trip. The place was beautiful and the food was very good.

This is Notre Dame - where quasimoto lives (in the tower on the left for those of you who were wondering).

OK, last blog from our trip! Paris was beautiful. One problem, though - it was cold and rainy. We did a walking tour of the city. We have found that this is our favorite way to see the city, they are so informative. We went to the Louve, which is such an overwhelming museum. We got to see the Mona Lisa, Napolean's apartment (talk about gaudy) and many other famous statues. We also went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, saw Notre Dame, and the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Arch de Trumph. This place is quite expensive, but we decided to just enjoy ourselves since it was our last stop. The food here is good, but not necessarily better than anywhere else.

We are now safely back in America. God Bless the USA and free toilets! This trip was so fun for us and such a learning experience. We loved hearing your comments. We really looked forward to reading them. We chose to go to Europe when the dollar was at a record low, which means we picked the most expensive time to do foreign travel. But, we don't regret it for one single second! We love you.

Chance & Melissa

PS: This has been so much fun for us that we have decided to continue. We will keep a blog from Savannah. We will update you with the information. If anyone has a blog (besides Jordon & Katie) send us the address.

We're Coming Home!

2007-09-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

We will update you with the pictures from Paris when we get home. We have now arrived back in Dublin and will be flying home tomorrow. We don't have access to wifi to get our pictures uploaded. Just wanted to give you a quick update so you would know what was going on.

Munich - Octoberfest - CRAZY

2007-09-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

Look how they pile people in these tents

These are some of the people we met here.

This is what people looked like after they spent all day at "the celebration." Look at the attire. People get dressed up in these expensive outfits. It's pretty incredible.

This is part of the parade.
Notice all the liters of beer this barmaid is carrying.

Well, we survived Octoberfest! The city goes from a population of 1.5 million to 7 million people for the biggest beer bash in the world. On opening day there were 14 tents set up, each holding 10,000 people. People get there at 8:00 in the morning just to get a seat. The streets are packed and there is a big parade. The mayor taps the keg and has the first beer at noon, and then all tents start serving the beer. 100 barmaids come busting out of their corners, each carrying about 10 1liter glasses of beer. They are blowing their whistles and police directing traffic. After about 2 hours everyone has gotten served. There is a band in the middle of each tent and the families that own the brewery encourage more and more drinking. It is the craziest thing we have ever seen. Aside from this, we actually met some very interesting people. It was great to hear how different the world is from just what we know. We also did a walking tour of the city and retraced Hitler's steps through Munich. The history is just as fascinating as it was in Berlin.
Today we fly out to Paris, and we'll keep you updated on our Progress - internet sure can be hard to find, and when the screen is all in German, it makes it that much harder.

Madrid

2007-09-24T02:48:00.000-07:00

This is the suite we were upgraded to

This is the statue garden the queen had created. The statues were supposed to go on the roof, but she dreamed the roof would cave in under their weight - thus the garden

This is where the crazy soccer fans carried on. There were policemen with rifles standing on the street corners, so no one got too out of hand.

The Royal Palace

OK, we are getting a little behind with our blogs here. Madrid was fast and furious. We did not allow ourselves much time here. The first thing we noticed here was how clean it was. Everything from the trains to the streets. Our hotel was in a prime location, and they messed up the booking so we were upgraded to a suite. We had free wifi, free breakfast and the coolest room. Also, the food here was to die for. We went and visited an art museum with Rembrandt and Rafael paintings- pretty interesting. On the corner outside our hotel, there was a whole slew of college-aged guys there for the world cup (or something soccer related). You have never seen such carrying on in all your life. We sure loved it here. Love you guys.

Barcelona

2007-09-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

Barcelona is the only place that I've ever read anything useful on the bathroom wall "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

This is the columbus monument. They say his arm is pointing towards the new world, but if it is, he sailed the LONG way to America

This is part of the Olympic Park.

Does it look like we're at Disney Land?

Can anyone see why Chance wanted to spend so much time on the beach?

This place is awesome. We have decided that we could live here pretty easily. The food has been to die for! And, it has been so cheap. Everyone said this was the most expensive place to eat - not true. We have eaten like royalty here, for less than just about everywhere else. This city has gorgeous architecture. There is also a daily market with just about anything you could ever imagine and it's all FRESH! We stayed at a bed and breakfast without the breakfast :). We rode an open topped tour bus around because this city is very large (over 3 million people). They have meals called Tapas here (nice way to say small portion), but that way you got to try more things. The biggest stadium in the world is here, and guess which sport it's for - Soccer! It holds 100,000 people, so keep on playing Brek & Briston. We saw where the Olympic games were held - pretty amazing city over all, what a nice change from Nice (ha ha).

Nice

2007-09-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

Look, Chance has a sail too!

One thing that goes on over here is that you order a fish, and you get the fish - the whole darn thing (head included) This is a sardine, though.

Can you see the butterflies in our stomachs?

This is how we entertained ourselves.

Next stop, NICE, France. It's pronounced niece, and is supposed to be known for its beautiful beaches. As soon as we got into town, we went straight for it. They are beautiful, but they are of little pebbles, and even when you lay on a beach mat you can feel those little stones digging in your back. If any of you decide to come to Europe, we would recommend skipping Nice. We had a good time, but it is very expensive, from the food to the hotels. However, we did find something that was reasonably priced - the parasailing. Neither one of us had ever done this, and this was the last day of the season, so we jumped all over it. We're glad we did, too - it is our best memory of the place. It was very peaceful (if you can so imagine). Smart of us we only spent one night here.
We love hearing your comments - ya'll are pretty entertaining yourselves. We love you.

Cinque Terre, Italy

2007-09-16T01:09:00.000-07:00

Look how crystal clear the water is. It was absolutely beautiful. We've never seen anything like it.

This was where we were our first night (see why we couldn't get internet)

This was along one of the hiking trails through the fishing villages.

We got to eat some grapes from the vineyard along the way - I don't know what would have happened if we got caught!

Chance likes it when I'm on top.

This is the hike down to the "nude beach." For the record, the sign said Free Beach, not Nude Beach. Apparently there is no difference.

Cinque Terre....... Ahhhh paradise in Italy. We spent three nights here and loved every second of it. The first night we found out our hostel was actually way up in a little village in the mountains. Nice secluded spot, but not part of the five fishing villages. We moved down to the first village for next two nights. Our first full day here was spent hiking the six mile trek from the first to the last village. We actually went further because we had to make the hour detour almost straight up and down a cliff to visit the nude beach. Melissa insisted. Payed off for her too. Nothing but naked men!! A least now she appreiciates what she has. :) Hiking through the vineyards and cliffs along the sea was a great change of pace for us. The next day was let our legs rest while kayaking, snorkeling in crystal clear water, and lying on the beach. It was hard for us to leave this place.

Florence & Pisa

2007-09-15T09:54:00.000-07:00

This is the fourth largest church in the world. If you look, the front is made up of white, pink, and green marble. It was truly one of the most beautiful facets that we've seen.
Does the tower look straight now?

This is only a copy of my new man. They won't let you take photos of the real one. This is supposed to be an exact replica, though the real one seemed more amazing. You can see how big he is, though - 14 feet tall to be exact.

I am trying to give the tower "a hand" ha ha.
This is the sunset we raced to see.

Attention! Attention! Car 54 has been located :). We have been in no man's land without internet for a while, so lets get you caught back up. Yes, we are still alive (surprisingly with some of the things Chance made me do). Florence was the next leg of the trip. We went on a walking tour but quickly abandoned it because the history of Florence wasn't nearly as cool as Rome or Berlin. We did stand in line for 2 1/2 hours to see Michelangelo's David. And he was Yummy! - at least that's what Chance said. You can't imagine such a perfectly sculped statue. It was well worth the wait. We also raced all around the town trying to watch the sun set over the city. By the time we got up there, we had just missed the sunset, but it was definitely worth the view (and it better have been because I sprinted in a dress).
On our way to Cinque Terre, we stopped off in Pisa to see the famous leaning tower. It was indeed leaning We also learned that the folks there trying to sell you various crap only know the word "hello." They chased us all around that square saying hello hello hello hello. Pretty comical.

Rome

2007-09-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

This a birds eye view of Rome from the top of a castle.

Michelangelo sculpted us as we held this pose. Do you like it?

Behind me is the Largest church in the world. St. Peter's cathedral. You can't tell but the part you can see is as big as two football fields. All the dead Popes are mummified inside.

The Gladiator.....scary!!!

Rome was awesome. When we got to our hotel we asked for directions to the coliseum, and the manager replied by saying "No, first you have wine with me in the garden." The hotel staff was so fun. We saw and learned so much. We sprung the extra bucks for a guided tour of Vatican City - thank goodness. Otherwise we wouldn't have known what anything was. The history was every bit as interesting as it was in Berlin. Now Chance won't quit talking about wanting to see the second season of Rome on HBO :). We happened to be in town for La Notte Bianca, the single greatest party in Rome held once a year. They held concerts at various Plazzas around town, and all public transportation was free all night as were entrance to museums. We did so much walking (mainly because the buses were so packed that you couldn't have fit in them if you tried!) that we decided to do some relaxing this morning and went to the beach about 1 1/2 hrs away. Well, we're now in Florence and the laundry has gotten out of hand, but keep the comments coming. We love hearing from you! Love you all.

Naples

2007-09-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

Of the 15,000 people who lived here in Pompei, 2000 people stayed behind and were buried by the volcanic ash. This man was said to have died from the fumes.
Behind me you can see the volcano Vesuvius, which buried the town of Pompei afte exploding.

Naples

We took our detour from Interlaken to Naples. The first thing we learned as we stepped out of the subway was that you are not safe walking on the sidewalks! You cannot imagine the crazy people on the scooters. We went to Pompei, a Roman city that was covered in volcanic ash about 79 BC. It was quite interesting, but we were not able to go to the Capri Islands - just because of time allowances. We've now arrived in Rome, & we are already loving it. More updates for you shortly. Love,

Us.

Just a Quick Note

2007-09-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you following the itenerary, we skipped Interlaken because it was going to take too long to get there and we couldn't take an overnight train. So we went to Venice early and we're now in Naples. Since we were just able to get the internet, we posted Venice & Vienna below. We love ya'll.

Venice

2007-09-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

These pigeons are awfully friendly!

This is one of the few foods you can only get in venice - sardines in onions & vinegar.

We took an overnight train to Venice - which was a good experience. When we got here, it was actually warm & sunny - finally! This place is nothing short of a giant maze, made up of 118 islands. Once we got here, we spent more time trying to find our way out than anything else. We spent over 2 hours looking for San Marco Piazzo. Does anyone want to know why? Because our "map reader" had a brilliant idea. We don't actually need to follow the roads, we just need to keep the sun to our right face. WRONG! Now, in his defense, the other 2 times we got lost we were reading a map. Another interesing thing is they charge you 3 times the normal rate if you choose to have coffee or icecream while sitting at one of their tables. You know what that means - we spent a lot of time standing up.

Venice is the "romantic city." It's home to St. Mark's body, Marco Polo, Cassanova, & the most popular - the gondola.

Vienna

2007-09-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

Vienna, Vienna, what can we say about this place? It is absolutely beautiful, but that's about it. We did discover a sandwich called a kebob. They rotisserie some chicken and put it in a slice of pita bread along with lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and ranch. It was delicious, and our main staple while we were there. We also saw where Mozart & Beethoven were buried and we saw Beethoven's house. And, in case you might be wondering, we did try the coffee - it was so so. The problem is in America we're used to drinking large cups of coffee. Here they put your coffee in a little teacup and charge you $5.

Prague

2007-09-01T02:04:00.000-07:00

Astronomical clock.

Charles Bridge - the most recognized landmark in Prague

This is Prague Castle, the largest castle in the world.

These are the 287 steps we climbed to get to the top of the castle. Boy are we out of shape! We must be eating too much junk food from the street vendors.

We got to Prague on Wednesday afternoon. Our first impression of the city was the train station where there were people soliciting us for rooms. Then some girl comes up to us and says "give me cigarrette." We said no, we didn't have any. So she said "Give me money." I wanted to smack her. Needless to say, she didn't get anything from us. The city really improved after that, though. It was very beautiful and mystic.

We have had one small set back, though. "SOMEONE" has been drinking the water and has had a minor belly ache. OK, not a minor belly ache, a BIG belly ache. You know he must be hurting when he says "where's the bathroom" and I said "you don't want to use it here, you have to pay for it" and he says "I DON'T CARE!" He does feel better now, he justed needed a little TLC.

Our exit out of the city was more grand than the entrance. We saw 2 guys in the trainstation fighting. The guy that was losing the fight pulled out a knife and was just going after the other guy. He never did get him, though, and the polizia finally came and he took off. Pretty scary!

Don't worry though, we have arrived safely in Vienna. We'll keep you updated.

Pics from Berlin

2007-08-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

Look what Chance found!

What a beautiful view of the city. Can you see it?
We are inside the Reichstag, aka the Parliament building. We froze our butts off waiting in this line. It was the burning of this building (by terrorists) that brought Hitler into power.

This is the Brandenburg Gate, the most visited site in all of Berlin. The Russians, Napolean, Hitler and many more marched through this gate after conquering the city.

The Berlin Dome - the most recognized structure in Berlin. The picture just does not do it justice.

This tv antenna is the second tallest structure in all of Europe. The first is in Moscow. Interesting, huh?

Does this say DECO?

Can anyone name ANY of these fruits?

Look at my little toe. That's from walking around all night in Amsterdam in what I THOUGHT were comfortable shoes.

Our first and best dinner in Berlin

This is the Holocaust Memorial.

Berlin

2007-08-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

First, we are sorry we were unable to email Jace and wish him happy birthday, so Happy Belated Birthday from us! Also, Happy Birthday Chade. Hope you're all ready for your American Idol tryout. Most of the other people we have met that are traveling around Europe are your age - so you better get on it!
We woke up at about 8:30 yesterday morning. Yes, another 10 hours of sleep. It was needed. We went down to have our breakfast buffet (two for one because of some card Melissa signed up for when she booked the place) and ate like little piggies. It was quite wonderful. It was actually like a champagne brunch. It had all the breakfast goodies as well as fruit, lunch meats, salmon, cheese, and a variety of breads. Then we were off to our “free” walking tour of the city. It was great. We plan on doing them at the other cities that they are offered. We learned a lot about the history here and about the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. We then went to a German restaurant for dinner where we had salad, steak, French fries, and a $10 bottle of water – yes, you read correctly. From here, we met other backpackers for a “pub crawl.” We had a really good time. We will post pictures when we can. We are having trouble getting internet at some places, so bear with us!

Still in Amsterdam

2007-08-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are still alive in Amsterdam. One more day to go, and then off to Berlin. We would first like to thank you for the smart comments from some of you. And Jordon, yes we were completely sober on a boat with our new friends. Well, actually we were at the Heineken brewery. But, lets start at the beginning.
This place is unbelievable. The first day we walked around the city for 2 hours trying to find the shuttle that would take us to the beach. It's hard to explain what this place is like, but it's almost like a gigantic shopping mall with winding cobblestone streets and tons of alleys and canals. People get around by walking, riding in a boat on the canals, or by riding their bikes.
Ok, we finally figured out where we were supposed to go. After a 45 minute van ride with a crazy driver, we arrived. The guy that was supposed to check us in was too stoned to even tell us where our room was, as was everyone else in the "joint". So, we went for a walk on the beach and then retired early. The next day we found out that we were supposed to make reservations on the shuttle to get back into the city (another thing stoner boy did not tell us). Well, there were no seats on the shuttle, so much to Chance's dismay, we rode a bus into town for $20 and 1 1/2 hours of our time. Now it's about 2:00 in the afternoon, so we check into our new hotel - MUCH better than the beach hostel.
We went and enjoyed Holland's largest park and ate fresh salmon at one of the local resaurants. Then, off to the red light district. Everything they say about this place is true. There are actually prostitutes in windows soliciting business, and yes people actually use them! And, this is not just a bunch of men walking down the road. There are actually families with children walking around here. Another thing we got to experience is paying to use the "toilet" in public. Even McDonald's has someone in the basement collecting money before you can go.
Yesterday, we did all the touristy things. We decided we would do as the Dutch do, and rent a bike. Now, this is not a normal everyday bike, you see. It is a wicked witch of the west bike with a big basket on the front of it. It was a blast! The funnest thing we've done since we got here. I rode on the back of Chance's bike, and he only knocked me off once (I'm serious). Then, I practically had to drag Chance to Anne Frank's house. It wasn't as moving as we thought it would be, but we're glad we went. Next, back on the bike and off to the Heineken Brewerey (as you've already seen). Then, we went out to another nice dinner and were in bed before 9:00. Guess old fancy chance isn't as young as he thought he was! This morning we are going to do some laundary, do some shopping, then off to Berlin.

Amsterdam

2007-08-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

City #2 on the list. This place is absolutely beautiful. Definitely unlike any city we've seen before. We are staying out on the beach tonight, and the next 2 nights we'll stay in the city. We keep trying to post pictures, but this website is written in Deutch at the moment, making it a little difficult to figure out how to do that.

Dublin,Ireland

2007-08-21T04:59:00.000-07:00

WE MADE IT!!!!
We've been to Dublin Castle & Trinity College so far. We're at an internet cafe, so we can't post our pictures yet, but they will be coming. It's a little cold here (Chance is already complaining - "how come I'm the only person here wearing shorts?") ha ha.
Good to hear from you, we'll keep you updated.
We are quite tired from our overnite flight on a full airplane in the very back seat of the plane, so I think it's naptime for now.

OK, naps over, now the fun We went for a tour of the Guiness Brewery - the largest brewery in the world. While it was off the beaten path a little bit, it was well worth it. Don't think we'll be doing a lot of Guiness drinking after we get home - not to worry.

After that, we listened to some live Irish music - which was really good. We also ate dinner at a restaurant where the waitress forced us to order 2 full meals. You know we loved that! Oh well, we cleaned our plates.

So far so good, we're having a blast.

Chicago

2007-08-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are in Chicago having our "last" American meal - Mexican food! We have been hunting all day to find somewhere with free wifi so we could email our itenerary to the family. We decided to try & post something to see if we could figure out this blogging business!