On our way to Florence, we decided to make a quick stop over in Pisa to see the famous Leaning Tower! We were only there for a few hours, but it was worth it to see the famous landmark! Since this entry was so short, I'll add a little blurb about some things we've found interesting about the TV while here (yes, even while vacationing in Europe we've been unable to avoid the TV): *Every city we've been in so far has had BBC News and/or CNN International so we've been able to keep up with the happenings in the US [View Full Entry]

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After nearly 24 hours of travel... we finally made it! We left Barcelona on a night train to Milan, then got on a train to Genova, then to La Spezia, and finally to Riomaggiore (village in Cinque Terre). We arrived with no place to stay, a fortunately had no problem finding an apartment for 2 nights in the village that we arrived in! By the time that we got settled, it was about 5pm and Cinque Terre being a small town was just winding down for the day. Since our place was in what I think was the perfect location, we [View Full Entry]

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Since we were taking a night train from Barcelona to our next stop, we had a beautiful full day of sight-seeing during our last day there. We started with a trip to the Picasso Museum, then on to a Don Quixote exhibit, and then took a walk through the beautiful Park Guell which features much more work by Gaudi. At the Picasso Museum we saw the evolution of Picasso's work. I'm glad we were able to catch it there since we didn't have time to make it to the Picasso museum in Amsterdam! And Don Quixote was very educational for me [View Full Entry]

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First of all, the night train was awesome. Except for the fact that we were late for breakfast (honestly... no one told us there was a time limit) and we missed it, the ride was great. The train was a little shakey, but that may have actually helped us to sleep better. The beds were pretty comfortable, and we both slept really well! Two thumbs up for night trains from us! So, we arrived in Barcelona bright and early yesterday morning, immediately bought our train ticket leaving Barcelona (we´re finally catching on to the whole "buy the ticket ahead of time, [View Full Entry]

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Well, we've got little time left and Paris then we're off for our first night train! We're heading to Barcelona where the weather should be very different than the weather we've seen in Europe so far! So far it's been a little chilly, but wonderful except for the occasionally rain cloud... almost like Florida in late fall or early winter. Barcelona is supposed to be pretty hot right now, but maybe the heat will help us kick these colds! :) Over the past day, we've visited Notre Dame, went to the Louvre (I couldn't believe how incredibly HUGE it is), hung [View Full Entry]

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Our stay in Paris began a little slowly. Both Keith and I have been pretty sick with colds since Brussels, but Monday was probably the worst of it. When we arrived in Paris early Monday morning, we walked to Notre Dame (which is very close to where we are staying), found some lunch, then headed back to the room to rest for the remainder of the day. The day of rest gave us enough energy to get out and see the Eiffel Tower, the Arch de Triomph, and many other sights both during the day and at night. Although I have [View Full Entry]

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We´re just finishing up our 2.5 day stay with Erwin (another Spring guy), Bieke, and Esther in Lueven, Belgium. Again, it's been great having locals to show us around and make us feel welcome in their homes! During our stay here, we´ve visited downtown Leueven and Brussels, tasted local famous foods such as Belgian waffles, Belgian chocolates (we´re bringing some of these home), Belgian frites (fries), and a homecooked meal made by Bieke herself, and been able to socialize with I21/Spring locals! Keith has also tried MANY different Belgian beers (Kwak, Mais, Palm, Sudden Death something, Ho [View Full Entry]

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After a night of practically no sleep for either of us due to last minute packing and emailing (I´ll let you decide who was doing what), on August 17th Keith and I got on a plane to Amsterdam via Newark. Customs was smooth sailing and as soon as we got off of the plane, Bram (a fellow I21 guy) was there to pick us up. Bram took us to his place where we would be spending the night, then showed us to Joost´s place (another I21-er) and the local I21 Netherlands office where we met Steven S. After making arrangements to [View Full Entry]

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