on to madrid.

Valencia was fun, relaxing. We needed to relax so we can both get healthy.

Train to Madrid in the morning.

tapas!

So we went to la ciudad de artas y ciencias (the city of arts and sciences) this morning to check out some marine life. It was cool. Saw sharks! And some neat sealife that I´ve never seen before. Took some sweet pictures.

Then we did this tapas tour thing. Went to four different places and had drinks and tapas in all of them. Good tappas. (took pictures of most)

Time for siesta.

Beach tomorrow.

photos from barcelona!

Parade once team barca made it back to barcelona the day after the match

Cooking and eating paella and sangreia!

barca video

hope the video works.. it took a really long time to load

¡Hola from Valencia!

Erin here...

So after a 5 hour train ride this morning...we've made to Valencia and are settled into our hostel. This one is pretty nice so far...its big and has a big kitchen! We will load pictures and stuff later...

Last night we went to a cooking class where we made a traditional tapas, sangria and seafood paella...it was fun and very yummy! I even tried calamari and mussels...and I didn't throw up! (this doesn't mean I want to eat that all the time when I get home though...so dont get any ideas, Sarah...)

We will post again later today...time to go find something to eat! Love you all!!

-Erin

P.S. my butt feels better already...haha.

oo le le oo la la ... BARCA!

ok... so barca won!! YAY! The crowd was massive as you could probably imagine. The square was overflowing with exctied fans singing the fight song, waving flags, lighting sparklers and having an all around celebratory time. So goal 1 barca! CELEBRATION! We were having a great time and then.. GOAL 2! Erin and i get hurt. The celebration for the second goal was so intense (because there wasnt much time left in the game) that the table I was standing on collapsed causing me and everyone else on it to fall to the ground. The sparklers that i mentioned earlier were lit again and somehow one ended up burning erins butt. Not really sure how it all happened. All we know is she got pulled of the table, and then her butt was on fire. (not actually on fire, but burning) So we faught our way through the crowd and eventually got to some burn cream. Then we made our way to try and find the on scene peramedics, but they were not available so we police told us to walk the 200 meters or so to the hospital.

So in the end we are both OK now. I keep finding bruises and erin has a sunburned butt. AND BARCA WON!!!

some photos from Italy...

Our wine at night in Venice on the Grand Canal

The ColesseumMe looking dorky doing yoga in the square in RomeErin doing the tree pose in the ruins in RomeSand sculpture in Barcelona for the game tonight!

Is that a dog...

Went to the beach this afternoon and saw three old naked men. One walking down the street with sock, shoes and a backpack. And two sitting at a bar by the beach. WELCOME TO BARCELONA!

Erin here...

It was very icky...like, I have been to South Beach in Miami and seen topless women at the beach but...NEVER, NEVER have I seen a completely naked, old man just walking down the street. Jesse was trying to get us to look nonchalantly by saying "is that a dog..." which worked and as we turned our heads...WHOA! haha. GROSS! As Shanna said before...with his socks, shoes and backpack on...and nothing else. And then...as we were walking down the boardwalk area, we passed a bar and there were two other buck naked old men sitting at the bar...one with a guitar on his back...completely normal, right? Anyway...interesting experience with the beach but we ARE having fun in Barcelona so far! We will write again soon! Love you all!!!!!

-Bean

¡en España!

So we made it to spain!! Baecelona to be exact. We really like our hostel here so far. There are two dogs here so erin is happy. We get free breakfast every morning and we signed up fro free dinner tonight and this big party thing in the square for the match tomorrow night.

Our last day in Rome was sweet, we went to the colleseum and walked around the ruins. Took lots of pictures that will be loaded sometime while we´re here because we get free net. YAY! and the have usb ports.

We´re headed up to the beach this afternoon. YAY! Wer´re going to look for a calling card later too.

We love everyone!

Yesterday we had a fun filled day of walking. We went and saw the Trevi Fountian and the Pantheon. (those were the big ones). We went up to this park thing and then had lunch in this square. (salads because it was so hot out!) While we were walking around the square we noticed that there was this humungo yoga mat set up, they were havng a yoga festival! So after we ate we decided to give it try. The instructions were in Italian and we were not yoga dressed but we did pretty darn good. WE DID YOGA IN ROME! So later in the afternoon we walked over to the Colleseum to check out all the soccer stuff. The Champions league final between Barcelona and Manchester United is here in rome and we wanted to be of the action. Very cool. (We also found out that we will be in Barcelona during the actual game! yay!)

Today we are headed back to the Collesuem and the forum to actually go in and take a tour. Super excited. I also found out that the world press photograpers conference in here right no so if we have enough time we might head down there. (If erin doesnt mind).

Erin here...

So...I had my first fall yesterday. I fell down some steps (in public) and I am a bit bruised up! Luckily, I ran into the back of some man's leg so I didn't go all the way down the stairs. Whew! Note to self: don't wear flips with no traction when walking down marble steps with no traction.

On another note...not having to do with our trip but I think everyone would like to know...Ashley Frye is ENGAGED!!! Finally, the day has come! haha...she is very excited and I am awaiting details when I get home (I've been asked to be a bridesmaid).

Yoga was cool...I am excited to say I did yoga in Rome! Love you all and I will talk to you again soon. Off to Barcelona in the AM!

checking in...

We haven't done much since the last post. But this is out checking for the day. We are using our internet time in the morning to print our flight tickets to barcelona.

We ate some yummy pasta last night at this cute little resturaunt somewhere kind of near the colleseum. Today we are going to follow the map and see lots of sights, monuments and such. It's sunday so most things are closed but we're going t do the things you dont have to go into. You know the see and take pictures place. The guy are our hostel told us abut this sweet hill where you can see the whole city so we're going to treck up there.

Caio!

Erin here...

We made it yesterday...no need for Dad to get on a flight...unless he wants to join us! :) Tell the kids I said Ciao...i love everyone!

when in rome...

Well, we made it to Rome. Finally. We had a very interesting travel morning. We woke up early early around 5:15 to go cath our train to rome. Luckily though it was already light out in Venice at that time. We boarded our first train which was a two hour to Bologna (pronounce the N, don't say it like the lunchmeat). We did anyways. That was an ok ride. Got to bologna and hun around for an hour until out train to rome which was supposed to leave at 9. Well, the train was late which was fine, until we boarded the train and starting looking for our seats that we paid €3 to reserve and could not find our car. Car 4. Did not exsist! Needless to say we weren't too happy, and kind of confussed and pretty frusterated that we walked from car 3 to car five, car five to six, car six to five, car five to 3 and car 3 to 2. NO CAR FOUR! So we eventually found this guy who worked on the train and tried to tell him our problem (showed him our ticket). He said something to us in Italian and then started talking on his cell phone. We thought great, he's going to ignor us! But we were wrong he as a nice italian train worker and he was finding us new seats, since we were supposed to have RESERVED SEATS. So he gave us new ones we went looking, found the seats and people were in them. AHH! But the train guy made them move and we finally got our seats! YAY! What a relief.

So after the 4 hours from bologna to rome we found our hostel, very easily and made friend with the portuguese guy thats working the desk. he showed us all these cool things to do.

Headed to the Vatican to check it out for a bit but there was a very long time. Probably about 2 hours so we took pictures and headed back to our home for he next 3 days. Maybe we'll had back on monday and try to go in.

No pictures while we're in rome.

We love you all!!

Photo Catch Up...

PARIS

VENICE

saying caio to Milano

So on our last day in Milano we kind of took it easy. For dinner we went to a Partivo... its this really cool thing where you pay for a drink and then you get a buffet. Sweet deal. Lots of yummy stuff. Mostly pastas.

MADE IT TO VENICE!!

Its beautiful here. Erin and I have both decided that we love it already. It has such a calm feeling and its great to be next to the water.

Erin here...

The train from Milano to Venice was the nicest one we've been on thus far...and for the most part the view from the train was really nice (except when we were going through industrial or city type areas.) Venice is very nice! I love the ambiance...everything is so cute and relaxing. I think you all would really like it here. I've taken a bunch of pictures already. The hostel we are staying in here is the nicest as well! So, I guess to sum up...we've had a great first day in Venice and it's not over yet...we are going to go get something to eat later but we needed to come rest our feet for a bit. Love and miss you all!! -Bean

a true night out in Milano

So we had a true night out in Milano last night. We went to dinner at this new resturaunt/lounge, with natasha and her friends who just happen to be basketball players for milan. And by dinner I mean a meal at 11pm. Very nice place, very good food. Probably the best food we've had all trip and for sure the nicest place we've eaten! I got this square pasta thing with little pieces of steak and tomatoes and olives in a light red sauce. Super yummy. Erin got speghetti carbanara. It was a speghetti with chicken and asparagus in a cream sause. Very yummy. (We didn't take pictures because it was a nice place and we didn't bring a camera out with us.) The basketball players paid for our dinners. After dinner... (1am) we hung out at the lounge and met more friends (brizilan models, sweedish models, club promoters) So then the club promoter friend got us into this club thing. Not really my scene, but it was cool. Lots of techo music, ver euro. We got VIP. It's good to know important people. For sure our latest night of the trip. Fun though.

(Mom you'd be so proud of me, I wore natasha's shoes out. Very high heals, and I didn't trip once!)

We're being lazy today and will probably go up to this monet exhibit in the center. Then off to venice in the morning!

love all.

Hello. Do you need a husband?

Erin here...

Well, we asked for sun and we finally got it! Its a bit hot in Milano but at least I don't have to take anymore pictures wearing the same red jacket I've been wearing for the last week! :)

Like Shanna said, the overnight train ride was an experience! I had it pictured differently in my head...not quite the luxury car I was thinking of haha. Instead, we had 6 people in a 6x6 cubby but we lucked out and got a nice young couple from...drum roll please.........ILLINOIS! That's right, I met people from a small town just outside Champaign on a train from Paris to Milano...small world. Then we also had an older couple that didn't speak english and they went right to sleep.

We found Natasha's apartment this morning...caught up on some sleep and then went to The Square which is home to the Doumo (it's a big cathedral but I've never heard of it) and a lot of shops. I got 2 pairs of shoes for 30 Euro...not bad. According to Natasha (and our travel books)...there isn't much else to do in Milano so we decided today and tomorrow would be our rest and recharge days.

I hope everyone is doing well at home...I miss you all very much! Give each other hugs and kisses for me. Dad and Juli...tell Hannah that I've seen a castle/palace/chateau in every city we've been to so far and I'll show her pictures when I get home.

I love you all!!!

-Bean xoxoxoxo

Italy.

We made it into Milano this morning and are safe and sound at natasha's apartment.

During our final adventures in Paris we ate bread and cheese and drank wine in font of the eiffel tower. Then we climbed the tower. AWESOME view!! We wrote out names on the observation deck. It was such an adrenaline rush to be up there. We hung out til the sun went down and the tower got all sparkly. We have a video.

Yesterday we did a walking tour of Paris. We has a sweet guide who was a history major and knew everything about the city. We saw all the big sites, the arc de triump, the louve, the notre dame cathedral and a lot more. We learned a lot of history also.

Then we went back and cehcked out the inside of the Louve. CRAZY HUGE. If you stood in front of each piece of art for 30 second with to eating no sleeping and no tiolet you would be in the louve for a total of 3 and a half months. AND they even have more stuff in storrage underneath the Louve.

We had a successful meal our last night. We found a cafe by the train statio. Erin got a salad that was good. same good dressing and I got french onion soup... yum. and a caremel custard. yum yum.

The train ride was a litle interesting... 6 beds in one room thing. But we made it. Exploring Milano later today. Hopefully eating PIZZA!

injury...

Hey momma, I forgot to tell you that I survived the fist injury of the trip. I fell down the stairs our last night in london. But i survived with only some scrapes and bruises. No major injuries. YAY. love you.

Shanna

duck la gross...

So our first day in parie was a pretty darn good one. Minus the not knowing anything. Erin and I have a romatic private room at our hostel(lol) and we have a sweet mini balcony that we can look out of and see montramare. We waked up to the Moulan Rouge, and took pictures. It was neat, but it would have been supper cool if it wasn't raining. Hopefully we're done with the rain because I don't know how much of it we can take. We only have a couple outfits for cold weather and well we're really getting sick of them. BRING ON THE SUN.


We decided that on our first night here we should have a traditional french meal. So we found this resturaunt that looked French and we ordered a half bottle of wine and a cheese platter...it was good, except the blue cheese. (icky, in erin's words) But we tried it again, just to mak sure we didn't like it. Then we had our hearts set on tradition french cuisine... Erin - duck and I - lamb. But there was no lamb on the menu so i settled for this salad thing that was pretty good for a salad. I like the dressing alot, but I don't know what it was. Something went wrong with Erin's duck though. I didn't look like duck at all and it some what resembeled dog food. Wet icky dogfood. I guess she ordered it wrong. (SARA we took picture so maybe you can tell us what the H it was).

Today we took a trip to Versilles to check out the Royal side of France. The Cahteu was HUGE! But alas, it was rainy and cold once again. We saw all the jewels and sweet dresses the royals wore back in the day. We saw the bed room of the kings and queens and the famous hall of mirriors. Took lots of picture. Crazy decoring inside. Ridiculously pretty paingints on all the ceilings. We took a walk through the gardins (in the rain) and then checked out Marie Antionettes place that she had built way far away from the main Chateu. It was sweet.

Since we've been walkign around in the rain and cold for a while now we took some Emergen-C and airborne, so hopefully we will not be getting sick.

Later we're heading to the Eiffel Tower to take some sweet picture for sundown and sip some wine. Gotta act french.

Tomorrow we are going to do a walking tour of Paris. Amoung our stops will the the louve, the arc de triump, the notre dame cathedreal, the eiffel tower again (maybe we'll walk to the top) and the latin corder and a bunch of other great stuff. We're gonna try to find that hill again tomorrow afternoon. Then we're booked on a nighttrain to Milano.

The internet in paris is more expensive and the keyboards are wacky so I don't think we'll post again while were here. We ran out of minutes on the phone card and havent found a new one yet because apparenly all the stores close on the weekend here.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

bonjour, parlez-vous anglais?

So we made it into paris this morning...

Went to the National Portrait gallery in London on our last day. Lots of famous paintings. Ate a picnic lunch in front of the fountains in the square. Haven't done much in paris yet, went up to the artists square and walked around. But it's Saturday and it was packed!

We tried to find this great grassy hill up their that all our friends told us about, but we failed miserably. No such thing.

Tomorrow we're heading up to Versailles to see all the neatness up there. And we're going to continue exploring .

Unfortuanly we can't load any photo's whle we're in Paris because the conputers at our hostel don't have any usb ports but I will make sure to put some up when we get into Milano.

LOVE EVERYONE!

Mind The Gap

Erin here...

We went to the Tower of London yesterday, the Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace. Saw the crown jewels and a lot of historic artifacts and such. Then...we got lost! Not once...but 3 times! haha. The maps here aren't very good and neither is the weather but I suppose we're getting the true London experience. We missed the Romeo and Juliet show at the Globe Theater (because we got lost) but we are going to take a tour of it today. The National Gallery is also on our list today. We will post more about that later!

I miss you mommy! And daddy! And Larry and Juli and Will and and and and....

Check back later! Off to Paris in the morning! :)

P.S. I miss Abby too!

hop on hop off...

Today has been a long day so far. Couldn't get much sleep last night and we woke up early to explore the sights. We did the hop on hop off tour and saw most of the big attractions. More and photos later.

When in England do like the british do...

hey all... SARAH... we had our first traditional British meal at a pub down the street. i had fish and chips and Erin had the pie of the day. We drank bitter ale and and old guy at the pub asked us if we were British and why we were drinking bitter if we were from the states... We said, when in England, do like the British do...

ATTENTION BOYS: The beer is not served warm.. but it's not ice cold like at home either... it's kind of an in between.

We also sampled beer black to white... don't worry... we split it.

Today was a successful first day!

We're here!

So we've made it to london!!! We managed to take every form of transportation we could today/last night. Plane, bus and tube. After finally figuring out the tube system, erin and I became rather good at it. Not only did we find our hostel in a timely manner, but we also went exploring and made it back to our hostel. The jet-lag is setting in and my two coffee's are wearing off, but it does not take away from the excitement of being in the UK. This is no doubt going to one of the most amazing trips ever. Big Red Bus tour tomorrow and then maybe Shakespear Globe. YAY!!

PS. Sarah, you'd be proud to know that we had no trouble at customs.

we're actually going!

So it's the morning we're leaving for London and I can't believe it's finally here. Our backpacks are all packed. We've got out passports, rail pass and a huge folder with all our essential papers. We're ready. So absolutely ready!