Zurich

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Yes I\\\'m alive and well. I\\\'m sure you have all been wondering. We are all now in Zurich having a wonderful time and there\\\'s so much to write about. This frigg\\\'n keyboard is\\\'nt helping much either, so I\\\'ll just do my best.

Well, we all got into Rome quite nicely. It is an amazingly beautiful city and ranks high on my list of all time favorite cities. I know before I left all I read about was pickpockets, gypsies, and scam artists. Well, didn\\\'t get hit nor see pickpockets, nor see many scam artists, but there were some gypsies and people begging for money. I\\\'m still very glad that I read about all that stuff though because it made us all wary which probably helped overall. But, that\\\'s all the boring stuff, let\\\'s move on.

There is tons to write about as you can imagine, but I\\\'m gonna blast through the highlights as fast as I can since I onlz have about 10 minutes left on this computer. So, without further ado...

Gelato. Yes, you read right, GELATO. We ate lots of it, and when I\\\'m done here I\\\'ll probably hunt for some more on the way back to the hotel. Rome was amazing folks, all the monuments, all the history, untterly amazing. Our hotel was equally amazing. We stayed at the Hotel Paulo VI literally IN Vatican City. I mean, our hotel was basically IN St. Peter\\\'s square. Katie\\\'s parents\\\' room was their flagship superdope look out the window and see St. Peter\\\'s square room. I mean, it was dope. Oh and the AC alone in that hotel was worth the stay, man was it hot and humid in Rome. St. Peter\\\'s and Vatican Museums, dope. Colliseum, dope. Forum, mega dope. Trevi Fountain, dope. Um, other broken rocks and such, mega dope too... there was so much other stuff that I really don\\\'t know what else to say.

The city is also much smaller than I thought it would be, not in lack of stuff to see, just that it was very easy to get around. Which was a good thing.

Ok, off to Locarno. So frigg\\\'n amazing folks. I mean, our hotel was so dope too. Hotel Garni Millenium, the Jazz Hotel. Yeah, cheesy I know but oh well. The hotel was really nice. I highly suggest the Billy Holiday or the Frank Sinatra room. Balconies overlooking the lake... could it get any better? This was a wonderful break from Rome, and completely different in so many ways. The weather was cool and it started raining there. Wonderful. Actually it was. Wonderful break from Rome heat.

Locarno is a resort town, very Carmel like. I mean even for Europeans its a place to go on vacation. So, the prices were higher but we got used to it. By the way it\\\'s in Switzerland.

Ok, but todaz we left Locarno and stopped in Bellinzona for a side trip. Sprinkling, castles, realizing that you don\\\'t need to tip because they build it into the price in Switzerland. Yes, very busy day, but a good one.

Now we are in Zurich and staying in the Marriott on Dad\\\'s hotel points. That free for us, woohoo. Can\\\'t find exclamation point or else I\\\'d use it. And we have the best damn view of the city too. Amazing yet again.

Quick tip. Don\\\'t get American food in Europe, especially Zurich. If you truly have too, then go to the golden arches. Europeans really mess up American food. Speaking of which, my tummy is not too happy with my BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger. At least the fries were good.

Ok, that\\\'s it. My time is up. I\\\'ll try to update more often but you see how hard it\\\'s been finding an internet cafe. Til next time.

Ciao

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