19 memorable moments!

19 - ¨You have happy fun¨ - Lauríe´s Venitian boyfriend, Mateo, in a pink polo

18 - ¨You think my tractor´s sexy¨ - sung by Cinque Terre´s all purpose lifeguard

17 - ¨You sit by yourself¨ - waiter´s reply to our question ¨Do we seat ourself?¨

16 - ¨You can wait me in the garden¨ Laurenzo´s (kelley´s Italian boyfriend) note to us at the hotel.

15 - Making a Public Announcement at the Colisseum in Rome to find Christine!

14 - Arriving at the Biker´s Home in Zurich and seeing Laurie´s face when she saw the nastiest man on earth with 20 tattoos on his bare stomach!

13 - Standing in Madrid´s Train Station and waiting three hours for #174 to be called...only to find out that half of our trip was not going to work out.

12 - Laurie and Kelley eating Margherita Pizza for 12 days in a row!

11 - Eating Gelato ¨for the last time¨ EVERY night!

10- Riding on a super nice and fancy train for FREE for 20 minutes...until we got caught by the train police and paid a 20 euro fine!

9 - Have we mentioned that the Eurorail Pass and Train System sucks?!?!?!?!? Overnight Trains....wow, not even 2 tylenol PM will work on that situation!

8 - Packing our suitcases and backpacks and moving hostels EVERYDAY for 19 days!

7 - The overwhelming number of European MULLETS and even more overwhelming BODY ODOR (EBO - European Body Odor!!!!)

6 - Kelley´s daily question..... "Is this free?" (bread basket, ice, tap water, seat?)

5 - Paying a sitting fee to sit at restaurants...and then seeing the sign that said "No cover to pay!" in Cinque Terre! Lost in translation...but at least we didn´t have to pay a sitting fee!

4 - Jungfrau....Climbing 11,000 ft on a 2 1/2 hour train ride to enjoy the view and a 2 MINUTE Dog Sled experience!! Oh, we got talked into so much!! And wearing socks for gloves and socks with chaco sandals to keep warm!!

3 - YUCK! Topless Women and Bottomless Men on the Barcelona Beaches!!!

2 - Our Gondola Ride in Venice....and our cutie Gondolier named Alisandro!

1 - Our two new favorite places on earth....CinqueTerre, Italy and Interlaken, Switzerland!!!

WE CAN´T WAIT TO COME HOME TOMORROW!!!!

Our last train ride.....27 hours long!

WHEW! We are soooo happy to announce that we made it to Madrid....after 27 hours of trains! We all agreed that we looked too pitiful for pictures today but this photo with Laurie and Gramps sleeping in the Barcelona Train Station....well you can tell that its been two LONG days!!! It proved to be another adventure of sleeping in a reclineing chair, missing a train, eating McDonalds, fighting with the train company to still honor our reservation even after we missed it, and riding on a super nice train to finish out the 27th hour!! We have been in our same clothes for 2+ days and cannot wait for a shower tonight!

We just enjoyed some wonderful pizza and spanish tapas to end the night...now its off to the showers and bed! We are excited to experience Madrid tomorrow...a walking tour and the Prado Museum! But we are even more anxious for Saturday....we feel like little kids on Christmas Eve...if we hurry up and go to sleep, it will be Saturday and we can come home!

Paradise!

We have said sooo many times that we are IN LOVE with Cinque Terre...and we are so sad that we are leaving tomorrow! We had a fun day and of course ended with three scoops of Gelato! We got up and hiked from Riomaggiore (city #1) to Vernazza (city #4) for 3 hours and it was gorgeous! Afterwards, we spent the afternoon on the beach...people-watching, kayaking, and soaking in the sun! We are proud to report that this beach had almost everyone clothed!!! We have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in Cinque Terre and would have stayed here 19 days if we could have!

Tomorrow we leave at 3pm and will spend 22 hours on the train heading back to Madrid! No, that's not a typo.....22 hours!!!!! We have decided that we are not going to talk about it...just endure it and head to the USA!

Cinque Terre....

WOW! It's the most beautiful place on earth! Seriously, we couldn't end our trip any better than right here! We have not stopped saying how pretty everything is! We, of course, had an adventure this morning getting on our train....because we got on the WRONG train! Yes, we climbed on what we thought would take us from Rome to Cinque Terre...only to find out that we were on the wrong one and headed for Pisa, Italy! In the meantime, we made friends with the train man and he hooked us up with the correct train! Just another memorable moment!

When we got to Cinque Terre we got to climb 100+ steps up a mountain to our Guesthouse! It was awful with 3 suitcases and two huge backpacks...but once we made it, it was soooo worth the amazing view! And if we were drinkers, we would love the open bar that is available at our guesthouse! We decided tonight to hike from Monteroso (city #5) to Vernazza (city #4). Despite the warnings that it was a 90 minute trek and very hard...we did it anyways....totally sweaty but we did it! We just enjoyed another amazing dinner of Pizza and we are waiting for the train back to our town (monteroso)! Can't wait for tomorrow...a day of hiking and the beach!

Christine Jepsen, can you please meet your party at the exit!?!?

Yes, my friends, we got to make a Public Announcement at the Colisseum in Rome! After an hour of being separated from Christine, Jen went to the entrance and told them that we lost our friend! They took us to a booth and handed Jen the microphone to make an announcement! No worries, we found her and enjoyed the Colisseum!

The last blog was from Venice, and since then we have experienced an overnight train in couchettes (a room with 4 beds coming out of the walls!) and some of us had all girl rooms and some of us had boy roommates! It was a rough night but we all got a little bit of sleep!

After a quick 7am shower at our new hostel in Rome, we hit the ground running! We went straight to Vatican City and got talked into a tour group...soon to realize that each person in the big group was paying a different price! We fought and won with a cheap deal! It was super HOT in Rome and our energy level was at rock bottom but we enjoyed the Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican and Catacombs. We came back to the hostel and took an amazing 2 hour nap and then enjoyed the night at the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountains....people watching, getting our daily fix of gelato and tossing pennies as we made wishes!

Today, we toured the Colisseum, the ruins at the Forum, and the Pantheon. After a quick bite to eat, we bus hopped back to our hostel to do laundry (for the last time!) and now we are headed to the National Museum, dinner and then some more adventures!

Tomorrow we take a morning train to CinqueTerra and we cannot wait to see the sites and the BEACH!

Just to clarify....and the past three days!

Okay, so Jen posted that we saw Dirk in the train station....let's just clarify, we saw a HUGE poster of Dirk advertising his new book and had planned to post a picture...but we had technical difficulties and never got that far! Ha! Sorry for the confusion!

So sorry for the delay in blogs and pictures...we have had some technical difficulties and have not seen the internet in a few days! So....on Wednesday in Interlaken, Jen, Laurie, Kelley and Katie ventured up to the highest point in Europe on a train! It was a 2 1/2 hour adventure going straight up the side of mountains but the scenery was unforgettable! We were NOT prepared for the cold that we experienced but we did the best we could..using socks as mittens, wearing a lot of clothes, and wearing socks with chaco sandals (jen started a new fad!). We saw beautiful snow-capped mountains, went dog-sledding and regular sledding on the mountain, walked on a glacier, walked through an ice palace, and enjoyed some yummy hot chocolate! While we were freezing, Christine was hiking through some of the most beautiful trails in the world...enjoying some time with the Ipod and singing "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music"! After that, we took an afternoon train to Zurich. Let's just say that we were NOT impressed with Zurich in any way, form or fashion! But we did get some laundry done for free!! Yippee! On Thursday, we took a LONG morning train from Zurich to Venice and got to see some more of the most beautiful parts of the world....riding the the Alps! Sadly, we slept most of the time, but we did enjoy some of the scenery. We got to Venice around 6pm and checked into our Methodist Hostel that is amazing...we are all 5 in one private room and really enjoyed some quiet time. We enjoyed some yummy pizza and a GONDOLA ride that was unforgettable! Alisandro (our gondolier) was so funny and strong! Venice is even more beautiful at night...when it's cool, lit up and concerts are everywhere! Today, we are cruising the Venetian streets, sightseeing, and SWEATING! Gone are the Swiss days of jackets, a breeze, and snow-capped mountains! Tonight, we are taking an overnight train to Rome! We are on the home-stretch of our trip! We miss you all but are having fun!

Day 8 - Bern & Interlaken!

Oh, we are so in love with Switzerland....the weather feels amazing (chilly enough for a jacket!!) and the scenery continues to take our breath away! We've taken tons of pictures and can't get enough of the mountains, sunset, and houses!
Today, in Bern, we completed our walking tour through the city and saw the Parliament Building, the Bern Cathedral, Albert Einstein's Apt., the Aare River, many fountains, and the City Bear Pit (Bern means Bear!) with two bears named Pedro and Tanna. We had a few hours to hangout at the hostel and each lunch, watch TV in English, and rest our legs. Bern is VERY expensive so we weren't sad to say bye to the high prices on our way out of town! On our way through the train station, we saw Dirk Nowitzski!!!
Then, we took a 45 minute train ride and arrived in Interlaken, Switzerland! Jen continues to say this is her favorite city in the world. We walked a LONG way with our luggage and arrived at The Funny Farm Hostel...and we haven't stopped laughing since we arrived! First of all, there are five things that don't belong....Laurie, Jen, Katie, Kelley and Christine! Let's just say that ANYTHING goes at this place...and there is no modesty! We have one boy in our 6 man room tonight and Christine drew the short straw and has to share a bunk bed with him! The other 4 girls are sharing bunk beds that are double size beds (two on top bunk and two on bottom). The showers and bathrooms are outside by the beach volleyball court...so i think we might take a buddy with us in case of midnight potty breaks! Oh, and did I forget to mention that guys and girls share a huge room with laundry, showers and toilets??? Oh the fun! One more thing...the hostel mascot is a HUGE St. Bernard dog....we like to call him Beethoven! He roams the hostel and opens the doors with his head and then lounges on the staircases.
Our tour of Interlaken was so fun! Its a tiny little town but certainly does not disappoint.....gorgeous homes and hotels, amazing dinner (we tried cheese fondue and hash brown casserole with all sorts of things mixed in it!), tons of souvenir and chocolate stores!! Tomorrow Christine is going hiking with a group on a 3 hour hike and she is very excited. The other 4 girls are taking a 2 1/2 hour train ride up a mountain to Jungfrau (the highest point in Europe....11000 ft) and dog sledding!!!!!!! It was pretty cloudy today so we are praying for a clear day tomorrow....and we are already planning how many Dramamine pills it will take to keep us from getting sick round-trip!
Tomorrow marks the 1/2 way point for our trip...and we are all still speaking to each other! After our crazy adventures tomorrow...we are off to Zurich for one night!