It has been very English and rainy here. Despite this, we've had a busy social schedule and have not allowed for thumb twiddling. We went to see Pygmalion and a Slight Ache (Pinter play. very strange and scary) and a play about a woman going through a severe midlife crisis. We did a little shopping in London, went to a bbq on a nature preserve and met some of Emily's grandparents neighbors. I also got to wander down Emily's memory lane when we visited her friend George and saw her childhood house. More recently- we spent the weekend in Wales. On [View Full Entry]

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Emily and I took a bus on Monday to see Cambridge! Thanks to a wonderful letter from my dad, we knew all the hot spots to hit. After walking by most of the schools and checking out the Corpus Christi courts we went to the Wren Library. There were original copies of Winnie the Pooh and Newtons Mathmatica. I'm not sure which was more impressive. I popped inside Kings College Chapel which was gorgeous and peaceful. The whole college had nice quiet spots, but on the whole its a little less bucolic than I had imagined. I'm not sure if its [View Full Entry]

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Hello again! We've just arrived in Chiswick after a whirlwind trip through Amsterdam. I liked it, but didn't love it- Paris and Berlin have stolen my heart. It does have amazing old buildings and interesting history. Not to mention the somewhat eccentric culture. We went on another walking tour, saw the Rijks Museum and Van Gogh Museum. We also went on a neat boat ride with the "St Nicholas Boat Club" which does tips only cruises around Amsterdam. That was probably my favorite view of the city- I've been a little boat sick of late, having not rowed in two months [View Full Entry]

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Hey all! Sorry there hasn't been word for long but at the last hostel I didn't really have a chance to write... we all shared a computer so it didn't make sense to go to an internet cafe but there was always a line so I felt rushed. I'm still alive and ok! We took a free tour in Berlin on our first day and it was amazing- it gave us a real feel for the city. We also got to see the film museum and took daytrips to Potsdam and the local concentration camp at Sachsenhausen. We went out to [View Full Entry]

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Guten Tag! Yesterday was a day filled with hiking and beautiful landscapes. While I will admit the weather was anything but ideal (think... very gray, pretty chilly and cloudy) it turned out to be a wonderful time to get a look at the German countryside. Kirsten was nice enough (still can't get over it) to drive us Rhudesheim am Rhine (the actual town name is a complete guess. I cannot remember exactly where we went, but it was on the Rhine and very nice). We drove there and back different ways so we got to see alot of the woods and [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, The rest of our stay in Paris was delightful. We went to the Musee des Invalides on Saturday which was full of different exhibits about French war and warfare. While some of the shows were a little bit biased towards the French, it was overall interesting and at times very touching. Napoleon's grand tomb is also quite a sight- the little man with a big ego outdid himself in death. We walked to the Jardin du Luxembourg (another garden worth a visit) and had a nice read. We had the most expensive hot chocolate I've ever drunk (at 6 [View Full Entry]

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Today we saw the lovely Musee D'Orsay. It was really refreshing because though it was extensive, the layout made it easy to wander through the museum without hitting too many crowds or getting lost (or having to take long detours. as at the Louvre). I loved the Degas dancers in particular. I will post the photos soon (ah! 2 minutes left on my internet time...) We had a baguette and cheese in the Jardin des Tuileries. And pastries for breakfast. So all of you who have been worried that we're not enjoying the cuisine should take comfort. Time's up, more to [View Full Entry]

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We got to go over to Emily's mom's friends house (phew) earlier this week for an AMAZING meal. It was filled with vegetables and deliciousness so we had a great time. The family was really nice and I'm hoping to see them again some time in the future. In short (paying for internet at this point) we've been to the Louvre (see pictures! it was amazing and gorgeous and big scale. yum), the Centre Pompidou (modern art, we just looked around at the building itself and didn't go to the exhibits), Sacre Coeur, a museum of erotica (which was soooooo funny/entertaining/ [View Full Entry]

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Bonjour! We've been in belle Paris for two days now and have finally located an internet cafe. We're staying in Patricia Crowne's flat on the Rue Surcoeuf. Its really nice, if a bit cozy. There is a washing machine and a kitchen so I'm in heaven. The only down side is that Emily and I both sustained large numbers of bug bites from (we theorize) our stayin the fishy Venice Fish so we're pretty ichy. I would post photos I took of them but then you would all just feel sad for me. Its pretty bad but we are building character. [View Full Entry]

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Its the second (and last) day in Venice. Our trip out of Florence was pretty uneventful- we shared a car with a very tired seeming American dude. To get the griping out of the way, out hostel is not that hot. At all. Compared to the first two (which were AMAZING) its pretty pathetic- and much more expensive. I could deal with the fact that its a little oddly laid out and that there's only one computer and 2 showers for a whole bunch of people. But its also not very clean. I won't bore you with the details, but I'm [View Full Entry]

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