We're back!

Matt and I are back from our whirl wind of a trip! Boy did it go by fast! We went through 5 (count them five) countries! Although most of them went by in a blink!





Saturday-We started at Zurich, Switzerland. We flew in here and ate breakfast. Drove to Freiburg, Germany and ate lunch. Drove to Strausberg, France where we spent the night. Strausberg had the most ornate and magnificent cathedral I have ever seen. One of the books we brought along said it took over 2 centuries to build! 200 years! And we complain about a freeway taking a few months! We ate dinner here in Strausberg. Let me tell you! Europe serves a lot of sausages! I think my hot dog days are done for awhile. Well, until the 4th of July at least! We stayed in the smallest little motel room you have ever seen. Too bad I forgot to take pictures. It was not quite a hostel but not quite a Motel 6. The bathroom would fit into what a half-bath is here in the US. I can see why Europeans are not fat. Besides how much walking they do! They bathrooms are tiny! I could barely fit in the shower! I had to put my shampoo and stuff on the toilet!


Sunday-We woke up bright and early and headed for the Alsace region of France which includes Strausberg. They have a lot of wine tasting to do there! Don't worry! I just had a few sips! This is where we kind of took a detour and ended up hiking up to a castle, Chateau de l'Ortenbourg built originally in 1262 (well, according to wikipedia). And when I say we hiked... I hiked up in my wedge sandals while everyone else hiked up in flip flops! Definitely not on the plan of events. But what a wonderful experience! We had a relaxing picnic up at the top of the castle! Then we picked up where we left off and restarted the wine tasting stops! From there, we headed down to Colmar where we ate dinner. This is where we saw the Statue of Liberty in the middle of the city. So of course, all us Americans hopped out of the car to take a picture! After a quaint dinner, we headed back to Strausberg where we crashed for the night.






Monday-We woke up bright and early again, hopped in the car and headed to Paris. We stopped in a small city of Reims for a quick bite to eat at a boulangerie. These are small, awesome bakeries where I had the most delicious chocolate croissants. We made a quick stop at another cathedral. Then we headed to Paris! Matt and I found an amazing deal on a cute hotel. It was two stories, with a loft bedroom for $83! In Paris! Isn't that amazing??!!! Then it was off to the Eiffel tower where I took tons of pictures! From here we headed went to the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile {ahrk duh tree-ohmf' duh lay-twahl'}, the world's largest triumphal arch. Then we went off on foot to meet some friends who live in Paris for dinner.





Tuesday-We started off at the Notre-Dame de Paris. Then we hopped back in the car and headed to Leiden, Netherlands. Our friend, David, lives there right now. On our way, we stopped at one of the coolest towns, Gent, Belgium. David had a friend from there who gave us the quick tour. I do have say that I would definitely recommend this city as a stop in the European tour! Matt was able to taste a beer that was original to Belgium. I was treated to a little European romance when David's friend, Aaron pulled a rose off a rose bush. It was a sweet treat. We concluded our day by hopping in the car again and headed off for Leiden.


Wednesday-Matt and I slept in the catch up on our zzz's. We woke up and headed out on foot to explore the town of Leiden. It's a small, college town where everyone travels by bike. We found their market and sat down for coffee and breakfast. This is a 2 hour event in Europe! Any meal is really. It's quite the change of pace. You should try it some time. Just relax! Then we headed out for more sites to see. We found a museum that had a special exhibit on the Melting of the Ice. If global warming continues at the same rate until 2100, half of the Netherlands will be under water! That night David through a BBQ dinner. Matt quite thoroughly enjoyed some of David's political science friends!


Thursday-Matt, David, and I hopped onto the train to Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was a quick 30 minute ride. Matt enjoyed Amsterdam although I could have passed on it. My opinion was that Amsterdam was for the Red Light district and "coffee houses." Well, it was a site to see for once in my life. We did get to go into the Van Gough museum where they housed a majority of his paintings. I saw the sunflower painting. Unfortunately, Starry Night was not in their collection.


Friday-Matt and I hopped on a train to Brussels, Belgium. We arrived at about 2pm, checked into our hotel. We got a bit lost even though the hotel was literally one block away from the train station. Frustrating! We headed out on foot and found their town center, Town Hall (Hotel de Ville)Town Hall (Hotel de Ville) which dates back to the 13th century! I do have to say that the European historical architecture was a site to see! Between the castles and cathedrals.... it was magnificent!


Saturday-we finally headed back to the States. After 17 hours of traveling we are back at home!

I have so many pictures I thought I would start with uploading my favorites. Here is the link! Hope you enjoy!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hllnzph.1dwe7vk1&x=0&y=g6ahe6&localeid=en_US