Our final destination!

Hi all! Well, we did it. We somehow made it to our final destination! First of all, I will have to apologize for my previous entries...they are full of spelling errors and words that just don't make sense. Please understand that I am going on little sleep and have not had coffee in about 2 weeks (that will all change in about 5 min as I found my first Starbucks and it is directly across the street!)

Today we are in Paris and it is SO cold! Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a bit but what a change from Italy. And speaking of Italy, what a dreadful day our trip was yesterday. Let's see...where shall I begin? So we got up and had breakfast at a hotel (which was more like a dungeon) and had to check out by 10:30am. Good thing our flight to Paris wasnt until 8:45pm! So we walked the streets of Venice and went park to St Marks for one last look in the daytime. It was so nice out and Jen & I fed the pigeons and took lots of pictures! Pictures that I can not post today...sorry! Then the cruise ships docked and hundreds of people filled the streets so we thought...let's be sneaky and turn down one of these little alleys (I guess they're probably considered streets but alley's to us). Well that was a FANTASTIC idea and 45 min later we were lost. Oops! So with the help of our digital camera we were able to find our way back by looking at the landmarks in our photos. Hey, whatever works! Then since Venice is full of bridges with stairs we decided to take public transportation (aka really packed boat) to the bus station (because I booked on ryanair which flies out of Venice Treviso...over a 1 hr bus ride to the airport). So we got on the 3:30pm bus and arrived at the airport shortly before 5pm. Ok, 3 hours and 45 min to kill. No problem - we did a little "mexican shower" in the bathroom and put on our heaviest clothes (because of the 15 kg weight limit for our suitcase). So we enjoyed our books, a slice of pizza and some M&Ms before we checked in...and when we did, get this. My suitcase was 15.2kg and Jens was 15.9kg. We did it!!!!

So now we are on this plane (which is the barebones of Soutwest...basically a free for all and rush and push and be rude and sit where you can) and are flying into Paris....well, what I thought was Paris. But it turned out to Paris Beauvius (spelling is wrong there). Which I find out is about an 1 hr bus ride to a stop in Paris. Mind you it's 11pm at this time. So we get onto another bus (at least they were coach buses) and took a bus to a stop in Paris near a metro but was told that we may make one of the trains but not our connecting one. Ok, perfect! Then we walked w/ our luggage across the street to a hotel and got a cab for 30 euros. Good thing I booked on ryanair to save all that money because between the bus from Venice to Treviso, from Beauvius to Paris, from taxi to hotel...I couldve flown first class!! LOL. But the story ends well as we arrived safely at our hotel room around 1:30am. Ahhh....

Ok, now to present day! We woke up and took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. And we were blessed w/ a beautiful sunny day even tho we were told there would be rain. So we walked around and took tons of pictures and videos and then hopped onto our favorite...open bus tour. We stopped at the Louvre and just got off at Notre Dame and found an internet cafe and Starbucks...so obviously we had to stop :)

And there you have it folks! This will probably be my last entry until I get back to the states so I can post some pictures. It has been an amazing experience and I have over 500 pictures to prove it! Our fav so far has been Florence as we prefer the countryside :) Paris is amazing so far and we can't wait to explore some more. There was talk of going to Disneyland Paris but I don't think we will be able to swing that :( Ellen...still keeping a look out for your chapstick :)

Note to self...next time we travel to Europe, it will be via cruise ship or tour. :)

And over these two weeks we have figured out how grateful we are for the following:
America
Our own personal cars
Starbucks
Clean bathrooms that dont cost a dime
Bathrooms for men and women separate
Pedicures (clean feet)
And of course...you!

We will be back home in a few days and no traveling for awhile...well, I guess I do have to fly back to Tampa at some point! LOL :)

See you soon!
xo

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