Napoli, Sorrento and Capri

For those of you who have read Eat, Pray, Love you will know why I wanted to check out Naples...for the Pizza (shhh...dont tell my WW leader....). So originally we booked 2 nights in Naples and from some reviews from friends we met in Venice we were planning on doing one night in Sorrento. We arrived in Naples on the overnight from Venice and the second we stepped out....pure chaos!!!!!! I wasnt sure if I was going to get hit by a vespa, get mugged or just suffocate from the smog, but we quickly decided one night was plenty! Luckily we found our hostel, got our pizza (which was even better than what she said in the book!) toured a sketchy castle and hid in our hostel till morning.

The next morning we headed to Sorrento, which is south of Naples near the Amalfi Coast. We booked a room at a small B&B and found it right away. Our new friend Rachelle (aka, Lina) greated us and welcomed us into her apartment....yes we stayed with a little old Italian lady (who spoke english/italian...smile and nod, smile and nod) in her personal home....it was amazing...she fed us espresso, made sure everything was perfect all the time and made sure we were always busy and knew what we were doing!

After a day of roaming Sorrento and eating some amazing Italian food, we decided to head to the Island of Capri! Now, our friends we met in Venice were also there at the time and after a few attempts to meet up, we decided to just head to the island. Lina had to make sure we got to the boat on time so she woke us up bright and early to feed us breakfast. We arrive at the island and of course we see scooter rentals!!!! so we had to...sorry mom...when in rome.....

So Ian and I rented our little vespas and cruised the island for the day. We swam in some amazing crystal clear grottos and had a blast (after I stopped shaking from trying to drive the damn thing). The island was made up of cliffs so it was a great view from the little old vespa. When it was time to return them our friend Antonio was MIA....so we headed to the beach and who turns up!? our friends from Venice! (we have been really good at running into the same people all the time so far). So after a few tastes of the local beverage, we head back to the main land and go out for some more amazing italian food, wine and dancing! We learned some awesome dance moves from the old italian men and finally felt like we were in Italiaaa...Mammmaaa Miaaaa....

We now understand la dolce vida.....


Next up...Rome.....

Venice, Italy

After one loooonnnnggg overnight train ride to Venice we made it! And it is everything it is cracked up to be. Endless canals, gondolas, markets and tourists. We spent only one night in Venice, but had two full days to explore. Venice included a lot of touring around, a little getting lost and a ton of people watching! A little too toristy for our liking, but it was definatly worth the visit.

Vienna, Austria

Sorry, these are getting shorter....our internet access is slowly dwindling as we get into the more popular places....

So...unlike Prague, Vienna had nothing to live up to. We were told not to go and that it wasnt worth it...so we went anyway.

After riding the train in a car with a family of 6 (in a car that only held 6....so it was a little cramped) ripping shots and eating onion sandwiches, we finally arrived in Austria! And then after being told the total wrong direction for our hostel and someone getting upset that I forgot to write down the directions for about the 3rd time....we finally found it! So first impression on Vienna was great!

We got there early and just wandered around the city, found a ton of amazing buildings and obviously we found a carinval to attend with all the little kids. At this point we were not sure why everyone told us not to go, because we loved it!!! We spent a lot of time checking out the city and then on our last day we decided to sign up for a wine tour outside of the city (run again by another Australian...wierd...). So off we went with 20 Aussies for another biking adventure in Austria!

The wine tour was amazing....sooo much fun! We rode the train out to Durnstien and stopped at a few family run vineyards for too many tastings, then hiked up the mountain to check out the castle where king leopold was held, then we did some chocolate, mustard, schnapps and jam tastings before lunch. Durnstien was amazing, just a cute little town where everyone rode thier bikes and a bunch of shops run by little old ladies willing to let you taste the entire store and not force you to buy anything! Thanks to our guide we stayed in Austria and didnt venture to another country this time. We had a few more liters to finish on the train back to Vienna so we got to know a lot of Aussies! Overall, Vienna was great and we would recommend everyone to go check it out!!!

And now its off to Italia.....

Prague...Praha....Praag....whatever you want to call it

So, Prague had a lot to live up to based on previous reviews. And I think that since everyone else has been there they caught onto the fact that everything was so cheap and jacked the prices....cause although they were cheaper....they werent as cheap as we expected. But of course we still loved it.

We spent the first day checking out the Prague Castle, the beer garden and a few of the downtown areas. After hiking the old stairs up to the castle it was a gorgous view of the city!! I think we chose a great time to travel thier becuase the leaves were just changing and it felt like Maine! (minus the castle and really old buildings of course). We had a few really good meals in Prague and spent the time exploring the nooks and cranys of the city and checking out a few museums....unfortunalty no biking adventures in Prague though. Overall we did love Prague and there was so much to check out while we were there!

We spent 3 nights in Prague and then it was off to Vienna.....

Amsterdam

Ohhh Amsterdam..

We survived our first Eurail experience with no issues and made it to Amsterdam...the part of the Netherlands we were suppose to see. And I know you all know all the truth about Amsterdam, and it's all true...and we saw it all.....

On our first day in Amsterdam we toured the Anne Frank House which was really cool to see in real life since like everyone else, we had read the book. Amsterdam was a really cool city to just get lost in which is what we like to do to make sure we see it all. Amazing buildings, canals and tons of stuff to do. Unfortunatly, we did experience our first rain since we got here, which I guess isn't too bad for Europe. We also experienced some coffee shops, the red light district and explored the city. So that was Amsterdam in a nutshell....next up....Prague

Belgium (and the Netherlands by mistake)

Sorry, lack of computer access...but we are back and I know you are excited!

So we got to Belgium after London and spent 1 night in the "beautiful" city of Brussels....the land where they don't clean anything and you are legally allowed to piss on a church (no joke, there is a spot for it). Now Brussels is an interesting city compared to where we have been so far. We did a lot of eating...a lot of drinking...and a lot more eating. There was one really cool bar called the Delirium Bar which holds the world record for the most number of beers on the menu...over 2,500, along with over 2,000 types of liquor and 150 types of Absinenth! I got to drink coconut beer out of a coconut shell...amazing (pictures soon to come again...). Other than that Brussels didn't have all that much to offer and we were only there for one day.

After the day in Brussels we headed about an hour north to a town called Brugge. It is literally the land of bicycles! You will never see so many in your life!!! So of course we had to rent them and find the ocean per usual. Ian rented us the bikes and I had my trusty little map (which only pointed in the direction of the beach off the map) and I figured we would just follow the canal and get there eventually. So off we go, pedeling past the pastures of cows, sheep, the typical windmills and the pretty canal. Well, about 2 hours later we decide we probably arn't going the right way. With no map at all (so we thought....) we are standing literally in the middle of nowhere. Luckily a nice lady pointed us to the beach which was still about 20 minutes away.

So we are off towards the beach and Ian is nowhere in sight.....so I wait a bit and here he comes working as hard as he can....and then goes my favorite quote of the whole trip......"There is NOOOO WAYYYY that YOU should be going faster than ME!!!! I must have a flat tire". Umm, no, no flat tire...just a tired Ian. So needless to say we eventually found the ocean and I was able to get beach sand from the "Nederlands" (which is the sign I failed to pay attention to) and not from Belgium.

So here we are 2 hours from Brugge and we have to peddle back. I stop to get us a water and come back to Ian reading the bike map that he was given at the beginning of the day that he failed to mention as we are biking from country to country. He's no longer in charge of maps.

OK, so in addition our all day, 50km bike ride, Brugge was amazing! Such a cute little town with amazing buildings, markets and tons of stuff to do! I would go back there again in a heartbeat...wait till you see the pictures :)

Belgium Top 5
1. You never have to worry about finding a toilet in Brussels...anywhere will do
2. It's true....Brussels is dirty and they like it....
3. Don't ignore a sign that says you are heading to another country....because you really are....it's not like the Disney World signs you see in South Carolina when it's still really far away
4. Belgium waffels are definatly all they are cracked up to be
5. Flat tires don't make you pedel slower....

Step count in Belgium: 50,161...plus 50km on a bike...which would be about 150,000 steps...but we wont add these unless we need them at the end ;)

Total count: 216,765

London, England

After Dublin, we flew over to London on the "mysterious" Ryan Airways and we made it with no problems at all. We then made it to our hostel, Palmers Lodge in Swiss Cottage. I'm not going to lie...I thought I booked us in the ghetto by mistake and was to scared to admit it...but luckily it was right next to Abbey Road in a huge victorian house! We arrived in the afternoon and just did a little roaming of the area, checked out one of the 8 million endless parks in this city then hung out with some new friends in the pub.

Then the touristy adventures begin.....we packed up our dorky backpacks and went on a walking tour of the city so we didn't get lost... our Austrailian tour guide showed us around (?? it was free...). Now, as you all know....I am NOT a city person at all! And I would move to this city in a heartbeat. It basically is amazing. On our walking tour we got to see Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, Harry and Williams house, Big Ben, London Eye, harass the guards and a whole lot more. The buildings here are CRAZY and I want to live in one. And then of course there is the grocery stores...and ohhh man, these things show up Trader Joes like you wouldn't believe (again...good WW products...wtf mate?).

On our last day in London we did the remainder of the "touristy things" starting with Abbey Road....and yes, I had to be the dork and take the Beatles picture. We also got to check out the Tower Bridge (not to be confused with the London Bridge which is basically just a boring bridge), the Tower of London, St Pauls Cathedral, some more parks and the British Museum which displays all the stuff they stole from other countries. And we visited the gingerbread man on Druery Lane obviously.

So basically, Dublin was cool, but London is amazing!!! 3 days was to many and if it wasn't for the stupid pound we would stay longer! Next we are off to Belgium for some beer, chocolate and waffles. By the way....we went to get our chunnel tickets and there just so happened to be a fire in one of the tunnels last week so all the trains are backed up....go figure....fire stalks my life apparently.

London Top 5
1. Just look both ways a million times before crossing the street because no matter how hard you try to change...you just can't
2. Getting into Westminster Abbey is easy for free....if you want to learn how you have to buy me a beer
3. Even though they hide the guards behind the gates....there are still some to harass around the corner
4. The "London Bridge"....not cool
5. Always carry an umbrella.....


Step Count in London: 71,321
Total Count: 166,604

I know you have all been waiting....Dublin, Ireland

So I know that you have all been anxiously awaiting my awesome posting, so I figured I would save it so you get it on Monday morning before you actually have to start doing work...

So we arrived in Dublin on Thursday morning and thanks to my amazing sense of direction we made it to hostel number one, Avalon House, with no trouble (seriously...we did). According to Ian, our hostel is like "camping indoors", but thats a good thing for this trip. So of course the first thing we do when we get here is stop in the grocery store to explore because as you know, we are wierd like that....and you will never ever guess what they had....Weight Watchers Wine for 1 point....I love this country already.

Well, besides the grocery store we have got to do a ton of fun stuff so far. Again, thanks to my amazing navigation skills (hehe) I think we managed to do just about everything we wanted to. Over the past few days we have checked out the Guiness Factory, Jameson Factory, the oldest bar in Dublin, Brazen Head (sense a theme here??), Temple Bar, a bunch of churches including St Patricks Cathedral, toured the old jail, checked out a really cool castle, tried to figure out the rules of cricket, played on the most amazing playground in the world had some good old irish food (yes, I even ordered it), and of course we found the ocean.



Saturday we spent the day riding the train up and down the coast stopping at a few little towns along the way...very pretty....and we know it was very pretty because we saw it for the 10 miles that we walked out of the way by mistake. Don't ever assume you can just "walk to the next train station"...it apparently can be really far.So much to do in so little time, but I think we covered the majors. I think we have seen the majority of the city and a lot of the surrounding towns as well (well, we have seen a total of 95,283 steps worth in three day....yes I brought my pedometer....just a few more than my 1,000/day in the office..haha). So now our new goal is to hit 1 million while we are in Europe...so I'll keep you updated.

Tomorrow we are off to London for 3 days before we head to Belgium. I will try to post some pictures as soon as I get to a computer that lets me upload them...so this will have to do for now....

And because I love making lists...we'll keep you posted with what we learn in each country so you will know when you go, haha...

Dublin Top 5
1. Never assume the next train station is within walking distance
2. Weight Watchers in Ireland is WAY more fun
3. When reading dates on the bottom of food, remember they put the day first and not the month before you almost throw up because you are eating something from 04/10/08
4. Always volunteer when asked....it will get you 3 free shots at the Jameson Factory...James, Jack and Jim
5. Guiness is actually kind of good

This one's for you Jess

I will miss our lunch dates with taco salads and turkey sandwiches, taking our walks and catching up on Gossip Girl....I will eat lunch everyday at 1:00 and pretend Ian is you....