Amsterdam!

Well hey there,

We safely arrived in Amsterdam yesterday evening. We got all checked in and then headed into town, our hotel is on the outskirts of town so it was about a ten minute walk to the tram station and a thrity minute ride into town. Once in town, we visited the Anne Frank museum which was really cool to see but at the same time really, really, really, sad. I can't imagine hiding there with no sunlight and no fresh air for two years! It blows my mind. Amsterdam is more of a city and lots of less to look at. Its so wierd that weed is legal here, its everywhere! Today, we are going to visit the red light district - I've heard its pretty interesting to see. I'm not really sure I'd say interesting, probably more like SAD but we will see.

Um, we are also visiting the Van Gogh museum today which should be fun and also the I am Amsterdam sign. I wish I could upload pictures to show you guys but I cannot! There is also a huge flee market here that we are going to check out. We have two whole free days here with absolutely nothing scheduled so we should have some down time which will be good because we are both exhausted. Twenty five days of traveling will do that to ya - man on man, ten more days. As amazing this is, I think I need one day of just sleep. I swear the long bus rides just drain the life out of me. Not complaining though, its VERY worth it.

Thats all for now. We get wifi here and will be here a few days so I will keep ya posted (hahaha no pun intended)!

P to the rague.

Well hey there, let me update you on our trip.

We safely made it to Prague yesterday evening after a five hour drive and a few hour stop in Regensburg, Germany. Regensburg was a very cute little town and also Germanys Bavarian captial! 

Since arrival we have gotten some really good Czech food, which I think is a mix of Italian and German food. We have also seen some of the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen! Everything is Gothic looking and so beautiful, it possibly my favorite place so far! The Prague Castle is GORGEOUS, we also saw St. Vitus Cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows. Charles Bridge is spectacular and I wanna see it at night sometime, we have all day tomorrow free so probably then. We also get to SLEEP IN - which seriously is the most amazing news I might have ever heard. 

We were signed up to do a jazz river cruise tomorrow night in Prague but it ended up getting canceled because not enough people wanted to do it but thats okay, we actually went on an hour long boat trip today which was great. Also, we had to switch currencies over to the czech krown which is just so weird, for every American dollar its 17 krowns so its just weird and everything looks really expensive, however, things are much cheaper here. 

One thing I have realized I for sure take for granted in the U.S. is WATER. Im seriously always dehydrated here because one lil bottle of water is like 2 euros which is like 3 American dollars - robbery I tell you! Everything is seriously so expensive, stupid exchange rate! How I long to be back in America and drink free water at a restaurant with ICE and LEMON. But, that was just me being dramatic - everything else is really really wonderful and I cant complain about anything. 

On a positive note... Can I tell you guys something just really, really cool? Well, here goes. Jesus is everywhere here and it makes me happy. So happy as a matter of fact. We probably few on average a Cathedral a day, sometimes more, sometimes none but it makes me so happy that He is known and He is everywhere! Like today on the Charles Bridge - there was a billion sculptures and crosses and saints lining the whole bridge and most people admire these statues but it makes me feel at home. It makes me feel happy to see that others love him or have written on the walls JESUS LOVES YOU. It probably sounds lame but it is truthfully so exciting and has made my trip so enjoyable and peaceful.

I cant think of much else right now, Ill let you know what our free day holds when I do. After Prague, we are heading back to Germany to Heidelberg then to Amsterdam! Cant wait!

Good Day

Our last day in Munich was wonderful. The breakfast at this hotel is sooo much better compared to what we have been eating. Typically in Europe they serve coffee, juice, rolls, cheese, and meats. Yum? But where we are now they have eggs and bacon which everyone is loving but the thing Im most excited about is the fruit salad. Fruitttttt, you just cant get enough of it here.

Katie has been eating a lot of sausages and seems to be liking em. The pretzels are good and we also tried spätzle , oh my goodness it was amazing. Katie and I are also loving nutella, we take it on all the bus trips that are like 4 - 7 hours long and snack on it with apples or bananas. Okay, well now that half of this post has been about food, Ill move on.

We had a pretty early morning because we drove 1.5 hours to the Neuschwanstein Castle, which is where the sleeping beauty castle is based off of. It seriously looked fake, in a good way. Pretty cool, we couldnt take pictures inside the castle though so we dont have any but the view from outside was spectacular. Everyone was saying how it looked exactly like the view from a castle should.

Everywhere we go and everything we see just seriously makes me feel blessed. Blessed to be here, traveling Europe, blessed to be experiencing it with Katie and some really wonderful people on our trip and blessed knowing  I have family and friends back home supporting me :) awwww.

Tomorrow will be a travel day for us, we are making our way over to Prague. YAY. 

Im never sure what places we will have wifi at so I never know if I will be able to post or check email and facebook - so keep that in mind.

BLESSINGS 

MUNICH

We have just arrived in Munich, Germany earlier today and our hotel here is extremely nice and we get free internet. Yes!

After Florence we traveled about four hours to Venice, we stayed in a little town right outside and we had a beach which was really nice after our travels we just went and layed out and got some sun! Venice was wonderful, we had a few free nights and where we stayed was pretty touristy so I didnt love it. We did take a ferry into Venice one full day though and it was greattttt! We took another ferry over to the little island of Murano to see a glass blowing demonstration, which was the sweetest thing ever - this guy made a horse from glass in seriously two minutes. We saw St. Marks Basilica and Square and it was great. Im so bummed I didnt bring my computer so I could upload pictures to show you guys but in due time.

We spent about eight hours on the bus today driving to Munich and we had a few stops. We drove through Austria as well! Today was a pretty rainy daz so it was nice that we were traveling. The weather in Italy was sooooo hot and we got here and we are all wearing jackets and jeans and are still cold. We went to the Hofbrauhaus House tonight we dinner, pretzels and beer. It was really yummy. Since I dont eat sausage Im guessing that I will be eating a lot of pretzels! I cant think of much else, since we have free internet I will update tomorrow of our other adventures, we are touring the sleeping beauty castle! :) Miss you guys.

Updates on Rome and Florence!

Okay, Its terrible but I cant remember back far enough to give good updates on Rome right now, my brain is mush. It was wonderful we visited the Colleseum, the Vatican, St. Peters Basillica, and the Sistine Chapel. They were seriously all amazingly beautiful but so busy, it was like body to body through all of them and its 80 degrees here so its just so hot! EF sets things up so well, all of our tour guides have been GREAT and we are using whispers (where the guide talks into a microphone and you have an earpierce to hear) they are great when its really busy.

We are now in Florence and its beautiful, its smaller than Rome but still has the city feel. The wine tasting was so great, yummy yummy wine, we got to try like three whites and four reds I think.

Today after our tour we just explòred the city and the pizza place we happened to eat at was where the Jersey Shore cast was working, Sammy Sweethart, Vinny, and the situation and dont be fooled. I dont watch it but my freinds updated me. We had to sign a billion pages saying we wouldnt take pictures and would act normal and wouldnt tell the media anything. It was so funny, the pizza was great, it was recommended by our tour guide so we had to try it and they just happened to be there! It was fun. For the rest of the day we have it free and we will be exploring and doing laundry, its our first chance to do laundry and we are all so excited.

Tomorrow, we will be visiting Pisa! YAY! We leave Florence Wednesday morning and travel to Venice where we get to ride a Gondala. Hip Hip... Hooray!

Miss you guys :) Thanks for your prayers, love and support, it means the world to me and it is coming back your way!

FLORENCE!

Just arrived in Florance and we are safe! It is very hot and we are going wine tasting this evening :)

I will update you on Rome as soon as I can. I only have five minutes left on my internet cafe time. Peace out home dawgs.

Headed to Italy!

Hi :) 

We spent the day at the beach! It was amazing, we took two boats and explored some caves - they were GORGEOUS. The water was the bluest I have ever seen and it was so worth seven euros. Once again, Katie and I both got BURNT. Apparently, I need to wear SPF 100 or something. But thats okay, I'll come home tan! We also saw the Monastry, which was gorgeous. Mom you would have loved it! There is a picture of the beach as my profile picture, if you haven't seen it take a look and tell me its not the clearest most beautiful water you have ever seen.

I've had a bit of bad luck, looks like someone tried to pick pocket me. We went to a few bars a few nights ago and I was super careful with my bags and have no idea how or when it happened but it did. Luckily, there is two liners in my purse so whoever only slashed the outside one and didn't make it into the inner one. Sarah, that means there is a few razor slashes in your bag and I owe you a new one! But, praise the Lord everything is still there! Our tour director took a picture of my bag as a "what could happen photo." It would be me! 

So, we just left Corfu and are now headed to Italy. We spent our last day in Corfu town exploring. It is seriously gorgeous, there was plenty to see and lots of shops to see. We also had the best Baklava you will ever taste in your entire life, we went back... twice. Also, I was laughing so hard I totally fell, right in the streets of Greece and everyone with me was literally on the ground laughing while I was laying there. It was funny and someone caught it all on camera. The cobblestone streets are not really even and I'm pretty clumsy so its just what happens I guess but it's all good, it was hilarious. 

Right now, I am at an internet cafe somewhere in Greece. We took a ferry back to the mainland where we will catch another ferry (a night one) that will take us to Rome! I can't wait! We spend ten days in Italy so its going to be excellent and quite a bit of time. We are all afraid that we are going to end up speaking Greek there! We learned how are you and okay, its all been added to the list :)  We are signed up to do a cooking class in Rome, a Gondala ride in Venice as well as a wine tasting in Tuscany! YAY! 

So far everyone is our group has been amazing, there is 36 of us total and not a dull moment. Also, the tour has been great - everything is ready and pretty much been perfect. All our buses, guides, tours, and everything we have done has been on time and super cheap! I'm liking EF better than ISV! 

I can't think of any more updates, I'm always racking my brain to remember everything so I don't leave anything out but man oh man, there is just so much to remember! OH, for those of you who care - I took my pysch makeup exam and got a 92% on it which left me with an 83% in the class which is certainly a B- so I won't have to retake pysch 360 and that was all Jesus there because I was not that prepared and did really well! 

Next time I post it will be in Italy :) Bye for now! Or should I say ciao and brush up on my Italian!