http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Team-Little-Kiss/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Team Little Kiss en-us Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:29:45 +0000 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:29:45 +0000 Today is our last day in Tunisia and thus our very last day of our EuropeanNorth African Holiday. Very sad However I think both David and I are ready to go home see our friends and family and eat some of favorite and missed foods. I have been craving REAL Mexican food for about a month as real as it gets in Seattle anyway. We have learned a lot throughout this entire experience not only http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-322497.html So by this point in our two months of traveling David and I have started to consider ourselves travel experts. We can efficiently and confidently navigate many a foreign subway systems order meals in the local language and even find our way using only our newly developed keen sense of directionhellip we may have even started to get a little arrogant about all of this if it hadnrsquot been http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tunisia/Hammamet/blog-320985.html The city of Naplesrsquo name comes from the ancient Greek name Neopolitana or ldquoNew Cityrdquo. This new city is about 3000 years old. Chelsea and I have spent 2 wonderful days with Rosario Palumbo and his wife Rosa. Rosario is the cousin of my Grandma Eviersquos brotherrsquos wife Ersilia. He and his wife are wonderful hosts and tour guides and have made the last 2 days for Ch http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Naples/blog-317670.html Chelsea and I have spent the last 4 days and 3 nights at the most amazing outoftheway cooking school in Italy ldquoFontana del Papardquo. It really isnrsquot too far from Rome a 1 hour train ride followed by a 30 minute car ride and you are there. However it feels like it is out in the middle of nowhere. That wonderful nowhere is actually called Monte della Tolfa and has been our ha http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-317392.html Monte della Tolfa is about an hour and a half north of Rome. Despite being relatively close it feels like an entirely different world. The day that we arrived we were invited to attend a local festival. We were driven into the heart of the small village and left to wander down to the piazza town square. At once we noticed that this was not a lowkey event. It appeared as if the entire town had http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/blog-317201.html hellip well that might be a slight exaggeration. However I do have a theory. For the past two mornings we have consumed very questionable vending machine cappuccinos and while fueled with these drinks have defied both time and space You can be the judgehellip In two days we have visited the Parthenon one gothic church three Baroque churches the Borghese Gallery Trajanrsquos Column a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-315382.html We have been in Rome for almost 30 hours now and man are my feet tired. Yesterday we got in by train from Florence it was a pleasant 3.5 hours on an air conditioned car very nice Right off the train we put our bags in the luggage hold area and headed off to the National Museum of Rome. It had a wonderful collection of ancient Roman and Greek statues and many Roman copies of Greek statues. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-314696.html Florence Firenze in Italian of course. This is the birthplace of the Renaissance and hometown of Michelangelo the paintersculptor not the ninja turtle. This is a city packed with ancient medieval and Renaissance art. It is also a thriving modern city though not a very big city. Of course Florencersquos most important contribution to civilization and the modern world is not its inf http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-314693.html So if Rick Steve has had any significant impact on world traveling it has been the creation of thriving tourist destinations out of five old fishing villages in the Italian Rivera The Cinque Terra. These villages were almost entirely undiscovered until Rick Steves put them on the map. Now they bustle with sunburned tourists from all over the world. Donrsquot get me wrong I am definitely not c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Liguria/Cinque-Terre/blog-313657.html For the last few days we have been in Interlaken Switzerland which is at the base of the giant Swiss Alps. It definitely feels like authentic Switzerland out here with huge mountains the best tap water in the world mountain goats and other livestock around every corner and of course good olrsquo alpine cheese We started our adventures with a cruise around Lake Thun which is one of the tw http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Interlaken/blog-310921.html I know that this entry is a long time coming but I feel like I finally have a minute to sit back and process all that I experienced when David and I visited Ardfert Ireland. For those of you who are unfamiliar my grandmother Catherine Harris Corwin was born and raised in Massachusetts USA and then moved to the Pacific Northwest after she met my grandpa Philip Corwin. Her parents and grand http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Interlaken/blog-310747.html Yesterday was the single most incredible day of our trip yet and possibly the most incredible day Chelsea and I have ever shared together. The day started like any other day in Munich with Starbucks coffee and breakfast bagels. We boarded our train to Salzburg Austria thatrsquos right Austria NOT part of our original agenda at 1030am. Our decision to go to Austria came about because so m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Salzburg-State/Salzburg/blog-309763.html Munich is in the heart of German Bavaria. The city and all the buildings are very nice and in many ways Munich feels indistinguishable from other major cities we have visited such as Dublin Oslo and Frankfurt. The more time you spend in Munich however you began to see that everything is NOT how it appears. As you look around you began to notice that the historical towers and buildings look a li http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-309691.html Hey everybody Long time no write. Chelsea and I have been without internet access for 3 days in the medieval town of Rothenberg o der Tauber. It really did feel like the dark ages We now have access in our hotel in Munich but before we get to Munich I will fill you in on a little Rothenberg. Rothenberg is a small walled town parts of which date to the year 1000AD. It has a fascinating hist http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-308854.html We made it safe and sound to Germany Our last few moments in Norway were good one train one bus one airplane one rental car later and we are in a great little hotel in Frankfurt. Wow Germany is a great country Within 20 minutes of landing we had our luggage nothing broken whew another 20 minutes and we had exchanged our Kroners for Euros and had our rental car Speaking of rental c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Hessen/Frankfurt/blog-307228.html Night trains interesting in theory but a little less than ideal in practice. Last night David and I took a night train from Trondheim to Oslohellip it was fast efficient and free thanks Mary and Danny but not in my humble opinion conducive to sleeping. The chairs recline to a decent degree but that means that the person in front of you can recline their chair so itrsquos practically http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Trondelag/Trondheim/blog-306602.html I am getting ready for bed at a farm called ldquoLillenes.rdquo My name is Lilleness with 2 ldquosrdquo the second lsquosrsquo was added when my great grandfather Iver Jakob Lilleness Sr. emigrated to the US. Today on Smla the island my family comes from we visited the gravesite of Iverrsquos father Jakob Johnson Lillenes my greatgreatgrandfather. It is overwhelming to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/More-og-Romsdal/Smola/blog-305717.html We have now spent 2 nights in Stallvik a small town on a beautiful fjord in Norway. According to the relatives if we were to go directly west from here we would run into Greenland We are really up there It is strange in the summer here it never gets dark at night and it is an odd feeling to see daylight at midnight. It was quite the adventure getting to Stallvik though. We spent ALL DAY http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Orland/Breksted/blog-304709.html That is what David just told me right after he asked if it would be appropriate to cut his fingernails in the waiting area of the train station. Just incase you are wondering I said it was inappropriate and that I would not sit by him if he did. Too bad it costs 10 KOR to use the bathroom here 2 USD Guess they are only going to get longerSo we just left Jevnaker early this morning and are n http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/blog-303919.html Today we had quite the adventure getting into the city We were trying to follow directions from my relative Tim but we got confused on the bus to go to the Viking Ship museum and the Norwegian Folk Museum. At one point we asked a bus driver for help and she pulled the bus over to talk to us with about a half dozen other people on it and even involved 2 other passengers while trying to figu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Ostlandet/Oslo/blog-303739.html