Really, we do have a sister

For those of you that have expressed curiosity for our sister Kelly, here's some pictures so you won't think we made her up. She's 24, lives in Yorkton and works at Harvest Meats. She can get you killer deals on irregular hot dogs.

I can only imagine . . .

what is on Adam and Lisa's camera. I'm going to assume it's something they took a picture of in Amsterdam. These two are another lovely Australian couple, and Adam did the best version of "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield (my all time favourite song!) in a drunken haze on the bus. Lisa is a doll who willingly offered Adam to any girl that looked like she needed a dance partner. It may be so she didn't have to dance with him?

so this is what a gondola ride is!

As you may remember from previous posts, Shanny and I were a little confused as to what a gondola ride is. This is it! And it was great. We went with two great Australian couples. Nick (dark hair) can speak Italian, but when he tried to talk to our gondalier (is that what they are called?), he was told to speak English because he would have a better chance at actually communicating.

When in Rome . . .

This cute little Aussie girl with Shannon is Megan. She is an absolute doll! Something else I found amazing about our little Meags is that she is strong. When she was having trouble with a roommate, she DID NOT back down. She's sweet, young and adorable, but she is as tough as nails. In this picture, I told them to pretend they were cheering on the lions as they devoured Christians. It's kinda funny to think that thousands of years ago, it would have been us persecuted for our beliefs. It puts things into perspective.

As well, our second picture in Rome is of a column at the Pantheon. We had a rushed visit there, but I went back after and sat and experienced the place. It had a magestic air about it that is hard to describe. All of Europe had a magic in the streets that North America just doesn't have. Maybe it's our lack of history . . . maybe it's our lack of art . . . maybe it's all the obese people wearing cotton pants with elatistic waste bands?

Cute picture with no real purpose

I found this hedge hog in Innsbruck, Austria. I just thought it was cute, and other than the cock rock picture (as promised!), it's the only one I took there. I think I was getting burned out on the picture taking by then. The good news on this is that mine only cost $120 to develop while Shannon's cost $140! The story behind cock rock is that gives the city energy a la feng shui.

Little Dutch Girls

Here is Shannon and I basking in the fun of granny-biking it around Edam. I would love to go back and just bike for a week there. Windmills are apparently named after the daughters of the farmers who own them (I may have this wrong), but this one has some tragedy because the little girl was born with a disability and the farmer was embarrassed about her so he didn't want to name it after her (again, I may have this wrong). Anyway, a postman now lives here and looks after hooking the wind and pumping the yucky water when it is necessary.

Monaco

These cars were impressive, but maybe I am just a country girl that would much rather have a big 4 x 4 truck with a lift kit in it . . . okay, obviously I have lived far too long in Alberta. Here in Sask-scratcha-bum, those trucks usually belong to a retired farmer instead of the young, not-very-smart oil patch boys. Anyway, this was taken outside the Grand Casino in Monaco.

Pictures

Okay, I think I have finally figured out how to post pictures! Apparently you need to have a degree in computer science to have any success. Anyway, I have titled this one Leanne's Personal Hell based on the fact I did not consider that getting my face wet would be involved in white water rafting. To top it off, we had a nasty guide that made us jump in the water, which took my breath away and nearly drowned me. You ask, "Did he really make them jump in?" YES! The little girl paddling on the other side was literally thrown into the water.

Bitter sweet

It's so nice to be home, to have my car and to sleep in my own bed (despite the hacking and coughing of my tuberculosis leaving me unable to sleep), but I'm lonely and sad.

I talked to our Hospital Customer Service Rep, and she did a Contiki Tour in 1978--she and her husband had the exact same down after her trip. I think I'm also missing my sissy. It's funny because when she was set to drive home, we hugged forever and even got a little teary. It is usually a quick good-bye, and a "See you later". She must like me despite the accusations of being a party animal and over spender.

Sigh! I now have the pleasure of dealing with my leaky basement, getting back in shape for the marathon, pulling up all the dead plants in my flower garden and starting another university class. (I pretend to complain, but I'm looking forward to getting busy. I don't like too much down time.)

Moment of the day: Despite having ate my way through Europe, I weighed myself yesterday morning, and I have lost 2 lbs! I could have eaten 20 more stroopwaffles (which is the absolute highlight of Holland)!

Home again

We arrived last night, and I am so not ready to deal with reality. But it was sure nice to sleep in my own bed and have Tim Horton's coffee this morning.

I hacked and coughed my way through my 6 hour flight from Iceland while a rude American woman with a huge double chin glared at me everytime I made a sound. Really! Did she think I wanted to be sick?

Here's some lessons learned from our travels:

• public transportation rocks in Europe
• bring nice shoes for going out
• don't order anything off the menu if you can't read it
• the Canadian Dollar is stronger than the Swiss Frank, so spend away!
• Never travel with small children
• Don't get sick
• Italy's toliets don't have toliet seats--appreciate the nice ones in Germany that self clean
• see the Eiffle Tower at night
• make sure you figure out the currency before you start buying stuff--especially when you almost buy fingerless mitts in Iceland for $58
• Travel with your sister--they have to talk to you when you get home

My birthday!

I had a wonderful birthday in Iceland despite having some sort of viral death sentence. I have never hacked up such disgusting stuff in my life!

Shannon and I toured the country side and saw two beautiful waterfalls, a geyser, a national park where the World´s first parliment was held and the we took a dip in the Blue Lagoon. Despite having idiots on the tour that couldn´t tell time and waiting 45 minutes for the last dummies, it was a great way to spend a birthday. I didn´t get to party it up because I was just too sick, but we did manage to walk to the city centre during a huge festival they were having. The Icelandic are incredible dressers, and the fashions are to die for. In order to buy them, you would likely have to promise your first born because it is sooooooo expensive. I almost bought a jacket until I figured out that it would have cost me $358 dollars. YIKES!

Moment of the day: Leanne falls in love with these knitted gloves that don´t have any fingers in them (they are basically just wrist warmers) and she almost buys them until the woman at the counter calculates that they would cost $58 CDN.

Everyone in Iceland has incredibly good English. It´s been a treat after dealing with the French.

Why are the French so miserable?

I don't like Paris. I will admit being at the top of the Eiffle Tour at night was a highlight, but the food sucks, the service sucks and people are just generally not nice. There was a great moment in Lyon when Shannon was getting fed up with two fussy Australians and told them to just order something off the menu. That is what she did, and it ended up being lettuce (no dressing) and chicken livers. She was not a happy girl.

We have seen the Mona Lisa (which is quite small), the Venus De Milo and all sorts of other famous works of art. We also went to Notre Dame which was very impressive and another bone yard far below Paris in an old quarry. The best part of that is that we went with a 6 foot 8 Kiwi that had to walk the whole 1.7 km route hunched over.

We then took the train to Bayeux, which is fabulous. We had the cutest bed and breakfast, and the tour of the Juno Beach was awesome. It's by far the highlight of France.

I am currenlty missing my Contiki Tour mates, and I even shed a few tears for some of them. Now I am just tired of fighting crowds. I am really looking forward to Iceland.

Living the lifestyles of the rich and famous

We drove and drove and drove yesterday to Nice, France. C'est Bonne! We went for supper in Monacco, which is absolutely the playground of the rich and famous. The streets are so clean and there is not a blade of grass out of place. It has that feel like in a horror movie where everything is absolutely perfect that you just know there is something evil lurking.

Today we rented chairs on the beach and suntanned. I now understand how people can enjoy that . . . especially when hot cabana boys are available to produce what ever your little heart desires! I could get used to hanging out on the French Rivera--except for the dog poop everywhere. That's a little gross.

I am getting homesick, and I would love to get some big bear hugs from familiar faces . . . but I only have one more week left. That leaves me a little sad too!

Moment of the day: Shannon was trying to get a good look at some clothes in a window, and I don't know what she was thinking, but she slammed her forehead straight into the glass and made a huge gong sound. We had tears running down our faces!

I may have to stay here!

well in light of the failed terrorist attack, it seems like our flight home might be interesting. We fly out of Paris so we should be all right, but apparently we cannot take any carry on luggage.

We are in Florence, and it is an absolutely leather mecca. I may have to do some serious shopping here!

Moment of the day from Rome: There are sick monks in Rome that dig up their barried members after they are decomposed and makes weird decorative rooms include skeletal chandaliers. I bought a post card. You will have to see it.

I may have to stay here!

well in light of the failed terrorist attack, it seems like our flight home might be interesting. We fly out of Paris so we should be all right, but apparently we cannot take any carry on luggage.

We are in Florence, and it is an absolutely leather mecca. I may have to do some serious shopping here!

Moment of the day from Rome: There are sick monks in Rome that dig up their barried members after they are decomposed and makes weird decorative rooms include skeletal chandaliers. I bought a post card. You will have to see it.

I am alive . . .

I just havent had much access to the internet. We have gone to Innisbruck in Austia which was great. Then we stopped over night in Venice which made you feel like you could have been in the middle ages, and now we are in Rome.

Austria moment of the day: took a picture of with cock rock . . . I will show it to you when I get home

Venice moment of the day: we say Phillip Seymor Hoffman running along the ocean OR realizing that our shower was actually the entire bathroom, and after you took a shower you had to blow dry your hair in a puddle of water

Rome moment of the day: We have seen the sistine chapel, st. peter basicllica, the collesium, michealangos moses, and we are not done yet!

just hanging out

It has been raining and raining so our big plan to go to the top of the mountain was nixed. They have an ice palace and tire tubing, but it was closed so we didnt go.

Shannon has managed to make an enemy in the laundry room when our clothes were pulled out before they were dry. In true teacher style, she set them straight.

Moment of the day: Food is incredibly expensive in Switzerland. We paid 24 franks (the equivilent of a Canadian Dollar) for a plate of fish and chips.

pigging out on Swiss cholate

We drove and drove and drove today, but we made it to Switzerland. The mountains are absolutely amazing. I also bought a killer watch and a Swiss army knife. We then took a tour on a lake in Lucerne and saw Sophie Lauren and Audrey Herpberns summer houses.

Moment of the Day: A big, loud mouth American tried to help a little Japanese girl carry her bag up some stairs, but he couldnt do it, so I had to help her.

I am getting a little grumpz today because I got up early to run. It was a fantastic cross country trail that takes you to the next village. I saw a few deer running through the fields, and it actually went through the vineyards.

Rhine Valley and the wine is fine!

We drove through Germany today, and the tour guide was giving us a lecture about the food in Germany and how it was very heavy. Yeah! It was exactly what I ate growing up. Sausage, pork cabbage rolls, and fried potatoes. I have never thought of my heritage as being very German although Persicke is, but apparently my family retained more of the heritage than I realized. I didn't get this body from eating salads and fish!

We then toured the Rhine River on a river boat with delicious wine, went to a delightful village named St. Goar, and then participated in a wine tasting (except we got to swallow instead of spit it out). They only make white wine here, and it is delicious. The vineyards are built into the steepest hills--some have a grade of 60%. I don't understand why they don't have trouble with soil errosion (perhaps David can shed some light on this). I bought two bottles to take home.

We also stopped at an original beer stein maker, and they had steins with chunks of the Berlin Wall on the pewter top. They were 149€ so they were a little to costly for this backpacker. We also saw the castle that Walt Disney based his castle on!

Moment of the day: Both Shannon and I have been going on about why the tour would put two tram rides up a mountain back to back--we didn't realize that when the second tour said "gondola in venice" it didn't mean the type of gondola like in Jasper. DUH! Gondala means gondla along the canals. Most likely we are the only idiots that thought this, and Shannon was almost too embarrassed to tell me! She didn't mention that she realize it until I confessed!

Amsterdam

This is likely the rainiest place I have ever been, but the fun has been great! We took a bike ride around the village of Edam on granny bikes complete with brakes that you had to back pedal to engage, then we saw a gouda and clog making farm. After that, we were promised great deals on diamonds so we went for a tour--yeah, if you paying Canadian dollars, it ain't so good of a deal so I guess Scott will just have to get my diamond himself! Then we stood for 45 minutes in the rain to get into Anne Franks House. It was very, very good! Then we had delicous pancakes while disgusting Brits said rude things to the young waitresses.

And the fun doesn't stop! We then went to a live sex show! It was part of the tour, and it was absolutely hilarious! The best part is that it had started raining again, so we stopped in at a pub. Some Irish boys heard us say that we were going to a sex show, so they were asking if we were serious. We invited them along. It took some convincing because they were good Catholic boys, and one actually left in the middle of it. Another one works for Pay Pal so I used the oppotunity to let him know exactly what I think of his stinking service that never WORKS!

Moment of the day: Yes, I have now seen a woman smoke a cigar in a way God never intended.

Contiki and Amsterdam

We got on our tour yesterday (Contiki--the ultimate in budget travel for 18-35 year olds), and took off for Amsterdam. Being the snoop that I am, I was looking at everyone's passports as they handed them to our tour manager, and I realized that I was 10 years older than some of these people. A little bit of a wake up call. We also had to stand up infront of the other 52 passangers and tell a little about our selves--I have to say that I had a brilliant joke about being from Vagina, Sas-scratch-your-bum.

We crossed at the White Cliffs of Dover on an extremely crowded boat, then we drove through Belgium and ended up in Amsterdam. We were then treated to a canal tour with as much alochol as we wanted---we sat with a girl from BC, another from Japan and a Kiwi guy. We easily became the loudest table in a mere few minutes. We've become known as the "Sisters". Shannon then shone when she (who has been to Amsterdam before) could show us all where the bathrooms were in emergency-stopping lightening quick speed.

Then we took a wobbly walk through the red light district. Very interesting, but it was pouring rain so we cut it short.

Moment of the day: The Canal Tour was absolutely fabulous!

London

We have swallowed our pride and done the tourist stuff. We suck'er up and bought a ticket for the Big Bus that tours around all the tourist traps. If you've only got a day to tour the city, this was a good way to do it. We went up the Millenium Eye, took pictures of Big Ben, and then went on a tour of the Thames. From the river we saw the London Bridge, the Globe Theatre and the original factory were OXO cubes were made. We're hitting Picadilly Circus for supper after meeting up with our Contiki tour for a pre-tour meeting.

I also met up with the Communications Manager of External Information of National Blood Services. He was such a sweetie, and I've found that they run a very similiar system to us.

Event of the Day: We got to go around the traffic cirle that Chevy Chase gets caught on in National Lampoon's European Vacation. It's the one where he keeps saying, "Look kids! Big Ben!"