We took a cruise from Boppard back to our home base at Bacharach--about 2 hours in all (it is a 30 minute train ride, in comparison). The cruise was great. They stop at each and every teeny town along the way (maybe 10 or so for our trip) to pick up and let off passengers, and call out info on the castles and towns we see along the way.

Lots of castles. Lots of pictures. Lots of towns that seriously look like Mr Rogers’ neighborhood. So freaking cute, I feel like I am in a fairytale.

Anyway…we had a great time on our little cruise. In Bacharach, we had dinner at a quaint family-owned restaurant with very limited English speaking, so I got to use my Rick Steves menu decoder--it has words in German that you might see on a menu, listed alphabetically so you can decipher what is available to eat.

Lesson learnedà Rick Steves does not have any words in his decoder that are actually present on menus. Well, maybe a few, but not a ton. Not so helpful. In Germany, anyway…

We still managed to have a great dinner, and learned that actual German saurkraut is pretty tasty and not at all like it is in the US. We also had some great salads, but I cannot for the life of me remember what we ate. Probably schniztels.

Monday was our last full day in Germany. I started out by memorizing the German word for sunscreen (sonnenschutz), and walked to the nearby pharmacy (apotheke), where they took one look at me and directed me to the sunscreen. I also got some much appreciated aloe vera. Later, we took the train back to St Goar, then caught the small ferry that takes people and vehicles across the river to town of St Goarshausen. Since we had a while before our train came, we had lunch here. Don’t remember what it was, but it was good…

We took the train to the town of Braubach, where Marksburg castle is located. This is the one un-ruined/unconquered castle on the Rhine river. We wandered through town for a while, then finally found a taxi to take us up the steep and windy road to the castle on a bluff overlooking the town. They have an English language tour every day at 1600, and we arrived with about 15 minutes to spare.

The tour was awesome. We learned a ton about castles in general, and life back in the 1300s and beyond. Definitely one of the highlights of Germany for us. After the tour, we bought a small resin replica of this castle as a little souvenir to remind us of our Germany visit.

From here, it was a taxi back to town, then a train again to St Goarshausen, ferry to St Goar…..then a quick stop for a bottle of wine, then train back to Bacharach.

In Bacharach, I wanted to make sure I got to see the ruins of an old church that is right in town, but up 110 stairs (I counted), so we trekked up there to get a few pics. There is very little of the church left, but the sheer height of the walls is impressive. After this brief stop, we headed back to the room to relax a little before heading out to dinner.

The thing about little towns is that they roll up the sidewalks and close down very early. We could NOT find somewhere to have dinner (around 9pm). Not at all. We wandered the very few streets, then finally found ONE place that was open. Very small, and VERY smoky. I am pretty sure it is no longer legal to smoke in restaurants in Germany, but this place obviously did not care. Oh, my god it was smoky!! They were gracious and wonderful and served us the absolutely most delicious schnitzels we have ever had, along with some great white wines. Wonderful food!! We really lucked out here!! After dinner, it was back to the room to pack and go to bed, and off to Amsterdam in the morning.

A bit of a heads up

So, Ethan and I took a total of 2,655 pictures and videos in Europe. I can't bring myself to upload them onto the net until they are edited/cropped/prettified. So. A bit of a wait. I took some lovely pictures, and want to show them at their loveliest. So I am cropping away and color correcting and lightening and sharpening, etc, etc, etc.

I have edited most of Germany (all of my pics--just need to edit Ethan's), and all but the flower pics in Amsterdam. I will post pictures and stories probably Wednesday. I have a very long doctor's appointment that morning, and a Costco trip after that, then I am free to get hand cramps editing pics and posting them. We have oh, so many stories to tell.

Finally, home

We made it in early this morning. Finally. It was a very, very long day.

We caught an airport shuttle bus at 820am in Rome, drove for over an hour through the city picking up passengers, and heading to the FCO airport near the coast. Once we boarded our 1130 flight (at 11am), they announced that we would be delayed and sitting on the tarmac for about 2 hours. There was volcanic ash over parts of England and Ireland that was causing some airspace closures there, meaning that northern transatlantic flights would have to travel further south. Our flight was far enough South to not need to be redirected, but the airspace in Spain was saturated with these extra flights, so we had to sit and wait for people to move out. Not the news that you really want to hear when you are already expecting a 10.5+ hour flight. Anyway. We were sitting in the middle section (configuration is 2 seats, aisle, 3 seats, aisle, then 2 seats), which was much better, I am thinking than the side sections. The ceiling is taller and it feels more roomy. No window view, but still much better.

After our 2 hour wait (they did give us water...), we headed off. LOOOOONNNG flight. I watched Young Victoria and the Soloist (both, meh), read a book (the Devlin Diary--very good 1700's setting book with a sort of Da Vinci code feel--I need to get the author's previous book that has some of the same modern-day characters in it--the book is about some modern time people researching a murder that is linked to a diary from the 1700's. Goes back and forth in time and is really good), read some of The White Queen (Phillipa Gregory book), ate a million times, got extremely bored and ready to get off that plane. We FINALLY landed in Chicago at about 545pm. Our connecting flight to Seattle was scheduled at 530pm. Not so good. THe flight attendants were utterly unhelpful in determining what to do, but did tell me there was an 830pm flight to Seattle, so when we landed (and spent another 30+ minutes sitting on the tarmac waiting for a gate to open up), I took Ethan's cell phone and called American Airlines and asked to be rebooked on the 830pm flight. Off the plane, through customs....then I see the departures sign and see that the 530flight is delayed until 650. We have just enough time!! We drop our bags and re-check them, then literally RUN through the airport to our gate......and re-book back on our original flight...which is delayed and delayed again. The plane broke. And the other, 830pm flight is also delayed. Broken plane. Not looking so good for American airlines.... We sat there sweating and tired, but sorta punch drunk because we are exhausted. Both flights eventually leave around 945pm, and we fly home and amazingly enough our bags are NOT lost and we live happily ever after. All in all, 25+ hours of travelling to get home. Woo to the hoo.

At home, the cats are frantic to see us. Shadow screamed at the bedroom door all night (went to bed around 2am), and now has a hoarse voice. Poor baby. Needs some extra loving this weekend. We really wanted to bring home/adopt this little Boo kitty we met in Rome named Frank Sinatra. SOOO much like our Boo. Frantic but very sweet, just wants to hide in a dark hidey hole and be safe. He would have loved it here. THe shelter staff says that US adoptions are tricky, since it is pretty spendy to fly an animal here. They also said they discourage us from adopting to the US, since animals here are put to sleep in shelters, and THEIR animals will never be. They would rather us save a life here. So, we left little Frank Sinatra behind. Such a sweetie, though. And so tiny--maybe half the size of our kitties, and they are not overly large, either. We may now actually get another cat. Not a kitten, but a young adult. Probably from PAWS, because they house them in an open area/big room where we can see a cat interact with others and figure out personalities. We want another Boo kitty, it has been decided. Which is odd, because I definitely adore the Shadow man the most. But the Boo kitties need us more, and we have a good environment for them (no kids, rare visitors; calm, stable environment with lots of hidey holes for kitties). Anyway..


Will update lots o pictures at some point. Need to do some editing, but I have oh so many stories to tell from our trip. We had a fabulous time, and adore each of the cities/areas we visited. They are all back on the list of places we want to go.

A few pics from Rome

This may be my last post from this side of the pond....too much to see and do. I will definitely put up pics and stories once we get home, though....

We are off to the Vatican today. On the docket: The Vatican museum/Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basilica, and Castel St Angelo.

Yesterday was spent at the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine hill (awesome tour--we were the only ones with the guide!), Capitoline Museum, VE monument, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Travestine area for dinner


The Baths of Diocleten (now a church), and The Trevi fountain at night

The cats of Rome

We decided to go to the Largo Argentina cat sanctuary when we were in the neighborhood...and are so glad we did. They have been squatting in an underground area located directly in some Roman ruins for several decades. There are currently over 200 cats there, with an upswing expected come kitten season, to bring them up to around 350. They vaccinate and neuter each cat that comes in, treat abscesses, fractures and other injuries. They dock half of one ear on a cat once they have completed the vaccination/neutering, so that they can easily identify a new cat that shows up/is dumped there. They have a hospice area with sick/infectious cats that are separated from the others. There is also an indoor area with a few dozen cats who cannot go outside for various reasons--either they are waiting for their vaccines to be completed, or healing from surgeries, or they are a danger to themselves. One cat, Barack Obama; was kept inside because he had an extensive history of running in the streets and getting hit by cars, so they now confine him indoors. He is not terribly excited about that idea.
There were several cats with three legs--they are kept indoors until they seem to be getting around allright, then they are allowed to come and go as they please. The area of ruins is set down 15-20 feet below street level, so they can run amongst the ruins without fear of vehicles or people or dogs (it is fenced off). They can stay in the sanctuary area in open cages with bedding, or roam about and only come in when they are hungry. These are well-fed animals. Many happy, healthy cats, and some injured ones. A siamese cat in the indoor area was recovering from two broken front legs (car accident). He had been adopted by someone in Switzerland who visited, and will make his trek there next week, once his adoption papers are completed. He sort of hopped around with both front legs landing at the same time. We felt so sorry for him....but then another cat came into his personal space and he whapped him and sent him on his way--so this cat can certainly take care of himself.

There were a few blind cats--either with no eyes, or just no vision. They are allowed to come and go as they please, but have nice open cages that are their own, and tend to stay there. Such sweet kitties!! Ethan and I fell in love with a little teeny black kitty who so much reminds us of the Boo Kitty--so skittish and nervous and frantic that they just must be related.

This was truly an amazing place to see, and they are run solely on donations. They have no running water, but recently got electricity from the city, which allows them to sort of permanently squat there.

Yes, Mom; we had some gelato

Per Mom's explicit request....here is a pic of our gelato. I had pink grapefruit and strawberry, and Ethan had dark chocolate and coconut. Delicioso!

Roma

We flew to Rome this morning. Early--flight left at 710am. Got here bright and early....but some sort of food poisoning or something intervened whilst on the plane (I will spare you the details), so we were not up to much when we got here.

A slow lunch while we waited for our room to be ready, then over to the Baths of Diocleten, which is also a church whose name escapes me for the moment. Huge awesomeness. I am the queen of balancing my camera on something, then taking time delayed pictures in areas where flash is not allowed. I rock. You will eventually see....there was a man playing a massive like 30 foot tall organ that made haunting music. Awesome. Ethan took video, which I will upload once we get home.

After that church, we were finally able to get into our room, where we took a 1.5 hour power nap. Then over to the Nat'l Museum of Rome....which was no longer renting audioguide headsets (they stop at 5pm, were were there literally at 502. Whatever), so we went to the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Holy huge church, Batman!! Pretty on the outside, with a mass taking place in one of the side chapels. We could hear the chanting and singing. So beautiful to hear in such a pretty place.

After this, it was a long trek up towards the Spanish Steps area for dinner. We accidentaly wandered upon the top of the steps and walked down them. Beautiful!! Purple flowers and foliage among the people.

We found a restaurant tucket into a niche nearby, and had a delicious Italian dinner. Then walked to the Trevi fountain (more delayed timer pics), then the long walk home. And here I am, typing just for you. Now I am handing the computer over to Ethan, and I am off to put my PJs on. We are headed to the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine hill in the am (tour guide), so we've gotta get up bright and early.

Maybe pics tomorrow??

Paris

Where was I...

Okay, so we took the train into Paris on Saturday, dropped our things off at our hotel, then headed out to the Montmarte area to see the church of Sacre Coeur. Ethan was not too impressed......until we got close and he saw how massive it was. Then we were both impressed. In our audioguide, it said that the church was paid for through a sort of fundraiser, where you could donate X money for a non-visible stone, X more money for a visible stone, even MORE money for a visible stone with initials or something written on it. You could even sponsor a column or a beam or something. All paid for by the people. It is in desperate need of cleaning (the pollution gets sucked up by that white stone), but gorgeous.

After Sacre Coeur, we had our first French meal (sorry...no pictures), then headed back towards the Eiffel Tower to meet our bicycle tour group. We walked back to their office, then spent the next ~3 1/2 hours riding around town, seeing the sights. It was cool to take over the streets and/or bike lanes in our big pack, all in reflective vests. The cars are very respectful of bikes, and it felt very safe. We even stopped at Berthillians for some ice cream/gelato. I had apricot, and it was divine. Near the end of our trip, we stopped for an hour-long cruise up and down the Seine River, to see the sites lit up from the water. Ooh, la la! Paris is a beautiful city.

We are three for three in cities we must return to and explore further.

One quick look at the massive Sacre Coeur before I turn off the computer and head out for the day....

Queen's Day in Amsterdam

The thing about Queens Day, is that it is a massive carnival, complete with rides; it is also a massive flea market and yard sale (city wide. Literally--the entire sidewalks over the entire city. Entire), as well as a sort of mix between New Years Eve and Seafair in Seattle. Tons and tons of booze (but everyone is behaving responsibly, and there are families and kids everywhere), music booming out of boats on the canals, bars on the streets, and massive stages set up in all the open squares. Utterly overwhelming. There was one point, while trying to pass a bar blaring music in a narrow street, where Ethan and I were totally squashed. I couldn't move at all--forward or back. I ended up losing my lens cap, because it popped off my camera (I know, what idiot has their camera out in this situation--but in my defense, this was the first we had seen where the crowd was utterly packed like this), and there was no way I was going to bend down to try to pick it back up. I would have been totally crushed.

Anyway...mostly we were in awe of all the celebrations. The police here are called Politie. And they are polite. Very polite. The let people do what they wish, just make sure they are being safe. With all the massive drunkenness here, you would think there would be arrests galore and lots of boorish behavior, but I saw none of that. Definitely couldn't do this in the US!!

There was a massive mess after all of this, but when we got up Saturday morning to walk to the train station, most of it was already cleaned up. The city was back to normal

Catch up

So much has happened since that last blog post....

Ethan and I went on a 30km bike ride through the canals and windmills outside of Amsterdam with picture perfect weather; we got bitten by what must be super-sized mosquitos, since the welts left behind are bigger than a quarter and massively itchy; we wandered through Queen's Day celebrations across Amsterdam, and were absolutely blown away by the sheer size of the celebrations....then we took a high-speed train to Paris yesterday (Saturday), where we visited the church of Sacre Coeur (massive) and took a bike ride through the city, followed by a cruise up and down the Seine river.

On the docket for today? Lots of museums, the Arc de Triomphe, and tonight will cap off with the Eiffel Tower (8pm our time, 11am your time--we got reservations to skip that massive line)

Flowers in Amsterdam

Having upload issues with pics, so there may not be so many while we are in Amsterdam...very slow connection here at our hotel.



So....we left Germany by train on Tuesday, and got into Amsterdam around 330pm. This city is beautiful, but very crowded right now, because of the upcoming Queens Day celebrations. They have a massive carnival, complete with ferris wheel and other rides set righ in Dam Square, one of the main open squares in the city. The whole city is being decorated in orange, and crowns are showing up everywhere--even on the steeple of Westerkirk church.

Our hotel has the steepest stairs I have ever seen. Feels like climbing a ladder. We are going to get a video climbing up them to show how very steep they are. Our room is teeny, but the bed is comfortable and the location is awesome.

Our first day, we went to a Rick Steves recommended Italian restaurant, and had AWESOME food. No pictures, but it was delicious. Then we wandered around a bit, and eventually headed to Leidesplein; a great area with lots of bars and restaurants and a big courtyard with all sorts of street artists and people wandering about. We had a few adult beverages, then headed back to our room to call it a night.

On Wednesday, I got up and headed out to see the Keukenhof gardens. Massive flower overload. *I* was sick of flowers when I left there, and it was one of the things I was most looking forward to doing in Holland. I took a billion pictures, and will attempt to upload some eventually. I just get pissy when I upload pics, then after a million hours of waiting, it freezes and times out and I lose it all. Very annoying.

After I got back from my flower escapades, Ethan and I headed out for a late lunch, then windowshopped unil it was time to go to a show--Boom Chicago; an improv show. Very funny. After all that, it was back to the room for the night.

Ethan and I on the Rhine river...

For Sabrina........some of our food (did I mention that we LOVE schnitzels???), and the view from the window in our room.

Off to Amsterdam after breakfast!!

The teeny bed for two in the nobles' bedroom


Ethan helped out by modelling the older version of a knight's helmet. Heavy!!!

View from the Castle


The castle's 'keep'--the very last line of defense



Our tour guide explaining the evolution of cannons

Germany Day 3

Today, we took a train to the nearby town of St Goar, then a 5 minute ferry across to St Goarshausen, where we had lunch...then another train to Braubach, were we went to get a tour of Marksburg castle, the one un-ruined castle on the Rhine river. Never defeated, never conquered. This is where we learned how cool it is to have a tour guide explaining things to you.

Germany-Day 2 (again)

Once we actually got to Boppard, I drug Ethan to the Sesselbahn, which is a sort of chair lift that takes you up a massive hill/cliff overlooking the water and town. Beautiful view, WINDY weather, and a lovely glass of raspberry wine at the top. And sunburn. Did I mention the fact that I am now purple?? The wind blew away the heat, so I didn't notice the sun, and am now purple. Enough that I now know the German word for sunscreen. Sonnenschlotz. Maybe spelled differently....but I did have to go to the pharmacy (apotheke) to get some sunscreen. And aloe. Lots of aloe. Anyway, I digress...

We saw the lovely view, then returned to the town and caught a 2.5 hour river cruise back to our hometown of Bacharach. Lovely castles everywhere, Mister Rogers' neighborhood houses, just picture perfect. Feels like a storybook.

Germany Day 2

Today, we took a train to the nearby town of Boppard. We got off on wrong stop (due to the entirely forgivable fact that there were TWO Boppard-slash town names before the actual Boppard town--we got off at Boppard-Bad Salzig)

Bad Salzig is not a tourist town. Here is the main church. It was Sunday, so everyone in town was here. We assume. We saw no one in the hour we spent wandering the town before our next train came to take us on to Boppard....

A few pictures from day 1 in Bacharach, Germany

Ethan in front of the high-water marks for Bacharach, during Rhine flooding in the past.

And, our hotel, Pension im Malerwinkel

After check in, we headed to the nearby town of St Goar, where we visited the Rhienfels castle ruins. Lesson learned: ruins are much more interesting when you know what you are looking at. Lesson two: Rick Steves is not the best at giving directions. We did wander around and see some cool things, but really feel that we would have gotten a lot more out of it if there had been a tour guide pointing things out for us.

There were sort of Boy Scouts camping out at the camp, which must have been awesome for them....but took away somewhat from our visit. Oh, well. Still an awesome view from the castle, and pretty extensive ruins to wander through.

Germany

We just figured out this morning that we could get internet in our room here (actually, last night, but the front desk closes at 6pm)...

So here is our update for Germany.

Good times.

Our hotel, Pension im Malerwinkel, is awesome. See the picture taken from our window?? Malwerinkel means 'painters corner', because the area where our hotel is is.....gorgeous, and people want to paint it. Check in was easy, and we were on our way.

We made it!

Flight took off and landed just as it should have. We are here and we are having a blast. A couple pics to tide you over....will update again with an actual post this evening (it is currently 1130am here)

Pics taken during our river cruise down the Rhine. Not edited because I am on vacation.

A final post from stateside

My bags are (partially) packed, and we are (fairly) ready to go. A little more running around tonight (gotta purchase Avatar and bring it with us to watch on the plane or in our hotel the first night if we totally crap out), and we are all good. I have my carry-on bag all set, just need to pack my actual backpack.

Jobie has kindly agreed to feed and water my cats...and is also open to addressing the litter box, which will surely need addressing before we return.

I came home from work the other day to find that Ethan had scrubbed the 3 bathrooms and the kitchen from top to bottom. I am sure the cats will appreciate it while we are gone. They tend to fling litter around in theirs.

Anyway...we are off to the airport tomorrow morning (after I rush down to Enumclaw to retrieve my camera from Jobie). We are going to try out the new light rail from downtown to the airport--supposed to be a 30-minute ride altogether.

I am not sure if we have internet access in Bacharach...but I know we do in Amsterdam, so look for my updates!

The very last planning travel post for Europe

I can do nothing about the volcano. I realize that. So I am finishing up my planning and preparations, and I share my finished results here today.

I drew out some maps for my stay in Paris, to help me figure out the logistics of what to do when; which things I could group together on a certain day because of their proximity. I am not bringing these with me, but they really helped me figure out my itinerary. It is hard to see, but I color coded metro travel, walking travel, etc.

I also have some more examples of my personal travel guide/bible that I put together. Maps copied out of Rick Steves books or google maps; miniaturized train tickets and tour confirmations. I have everything here.

I also put together these little envelopes--one for each country (color coded...except they only had 3 different colors, so Germany gets stuck in a clear ziploc bag. My bad). In them, I put things that are specific to that country, things that I would not need until I am there.

For example, I have the appropriate language translator guides for each (cut apart from a German/Italian/French combo language book), the train or flight tickets to leave that particular country, and sections of the Rick Steves books I had that pertain to specific things we will see in that country (for places that do not have audio guides that we are planning to rent)

We bought two cheapie mp3 players, and I have downloaded a bunch of audioguides to take with us, so we will better understand the things we are seeing (the Pantheon, Notre Dame, St Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel), in areas where we don't have a tour guide or a rented audioguide. Does me no good to be somewhere awesome and see something beautiful if I don't know what it is or the stories behind it. Ethan was not a big fan of being tied to Tobias when they shared audioguides on his last Europe trip, so we got separate players. No short leash to tie us together!

Anyway. I have planned. I have thought carefully. All contingencies were deliberated upon. Except volcanic ash. We shall see. An Atlantic storm on Weds/Thurs may push things northward and save the day.

Europe, here we come!

Hotels and Airfare: Booked

Trains: Booked

€uros: Purchased (well, at least enough to pay for our hotels and Germany portion of the trip. May need to get some more....)

Research: Never ending. But I *love* it, so it is all good...

Planning: Quite possibly the most fun thing of all. See 'Research'

Travel info/map book: Paris and Rome portions are complete, still working on Amsterdam and Germany, but those two areas are much lower key with less actual planning needed. Which stresses me out, to be honest. I don't *know* what I will do...I have options to choose from. Lots of options.

Excitement: Ramping up!!

Getting down to the nitty gritty here! I am still working on my book, which is truly a labor of love. I used to carry it in my bag to work, so I could add to it while here, but now I am worried that something could happen and it could get stolen, and that would so much suck...so I leave it at home. Gotta get over that. It will be awesome and useful and all that. I need to find a large rubberband to help keep it closed, though. Too much paper added inside of it, the magnet can't quite reach to keep it closed very securely.

I am also bringing a phrase book with German/French/Italian in it. I am going to cut it up into sections (by language) and separate it out and bring it. The most important parts are the menu decoders. I am learning how to ask if there is seafood in a dish in three languages. Go, me!!

Other than the phrase book and my own personal travel bible, we are bringing a street map of Paris, and either an iPod touch or cheapo mp3 player. I reallyreallyreally want an iPod touch, but was planning to sell my wedding dress to finance it, and that hasn't happened yet. I dropped the price on the dress by $40 today, so we will see if that sweetens the pot enough. Fingers crossed!!

The mp3 player will be for downloaded podcasts to take with us in areas that we are not paying for a tour guide--(still determining which areas those will be...)the colosseum and Vatican in Rome, etc, etc. Better to have info on what exactly it is you are looking at, rather than just looking and not understanding.

Anyway.

The iPod touch would also download podcasts, but also maps and apps for the Paris transit system (even though I have already looked up which exact trains and which exact stops I need to be using...more info NEVER hurts...), and lots of other useful travel gadgets. And music, stuff like that. We are bringing the laptop with us, both for photo dumping off the memory cards, and also to keep in touch with work (Ethan) and blog (alyca). Ethan has a messenger bag that the laptop fits into for travel, then we will leave it in our hotel rooms and take the messenger bag as a day-bag for our whirlwind touring.

I still need to figure out what exactly we are doing in Germany--definitely a few castles, maybe a chairlift/viewpoint hike, wine and cheese tasting, etc. Gotta sort that out.

Amsterdam, I know WHAT we are doing, but not WHEN. We will do the Dutch Resistance Museum (WWII), Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum (Ethan says it was cool), Keukenhof gardens (half-day or more trip for a billion picture opportunities), 22-mile bike ride along canals and windmills (Ethan did it a couple years ago and LOVED it), and random relaxation. Except for April 30, which is Queen's Day, a national holiday and celebration where an additional 1 million people pour into Amsterdam and party like it's 1999 for the day. Old people, young people, etc, etc. Music galore, yard sales by little kids. Craziness. No public transportation available, and nothing will be open...so we will have to see how that day shapes up. Probably not our most awesome, but I am told it is a 'must do' at least once. But we (Ethan) are not crowd people, so I am not sure how fun it will truly be. But, I have my orange shirt all prepared, and I am ready to give it my all!!

Paris, we do the Sacre Coeur church and Opera Garnier the first day, followed by an evening bike tour of all the sites lit up at night, and a boat cruise afterwards. The next day, it is off to the Army Museum and Napoleon's Tomb, then the Rodin Museum gardens (to see the Thinker). Then over to the Arc de Triomphe (may go to a nearby hotel with a fabulous 35th floor bar with billion dollar views first...), walk down the Champs Elysees, then view the Petit and Grand Palais', over to l'Orangerrie museum to see Monet's water lilies, then back to the hotel to crash....and up again to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset.

Our last full day in Paris involves Notre Dame, St Chapelle, Cluny Museum (to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries), then the Pantheon, Luxembourg gardens, Church of St Sulpice, and St Germain des Pres for dinner and mimes and street artists.

A very full city.

In Rome the next morning, we tour several churches, the Cappucin crypt, National Museum of Rome, then walk the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazzas Colonna and Navona, Campo di Fiori, and the Pantheon. Hopefully at sunset when these are all lit up. I am unsure how this will all work, since I want to see the Pantheon during the day, and the other sites at night. And some nearby churches, too. Amazingly beautifullness is inside.

Next day, we do the Colosseum/Forum/Palatine Hill, then Capitol Hill, Capitoline Museums, and Largo Argentina (cat sanctuary).

Our last full day is reserved for the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basilica and Castel St Angelo.

Then we come home and deal with insomnia and look forward to going back to work. Actually, we come home and I disappear into my scrapbook room until I have photos edited and beautified.


After all this, our next vacation: Heading to Florida in September to watch the last space shuttle launch. A must see, in our opinions. Last chance, too. I just hope weather cooperates and we are actually able to watch!! You better believe we will photograph the heck out of that.