switzerland, paris, and a few other places

salzsburg, austria

We knew that our stop in salzburg was gonna be great when we arrived at 4am without any place to stay, and it was cold and raining, and we were sitting in a room with a blinking light with a few drunkards and crazy people. One of which told us, "Don't worry a very strong woman, super woman, is coming to get you." Needless to say we got up very quickly and moved, and when Mcdonalds opened up at 6 we ran to it. When we got the courage to venture out and the sun decided to grace us with its presence we went on a search for a place to stay. It wasn't hard to find a place because everyone was so helpful. When we got off the bus to our pension we were greeted by a massive parade. There was a huge celebration going on because a new beer garden had opened up. When we asked a couple of guys in the parade where they were going they responded, "We have no idea....come join us." The parade went on all day long.

Our second day Jenny and I rented bikes and went on a hunt to find all of the sound of music sights. It was so much fun. We van the famous castle, the cathedral they were married in, their house, the famous gazebo, and even the hills that she danced in. It was such a great day. That night we also drank wonderful german beer and ate a schnitzel and goulash.

Florence, Venice, and Rome

chinque terre, Italy

hobbit homes, fisherman villages, bright colored houses, little sailboats, foccacia bread, great wine, amazing hiking trails, and a cozy hostel pretty much sum this place up. If I could go back to Europe and visit one place again I would have to say that I would go back to Chinque terre. It is such a great escape from the world. I kept telling Jenny, "You know the perfect home that you create in your head and never expect to find....this is it! This little hobbit home is mine. How are we going to leave such beautiful place?" We even ate one of the best meals in all of europe in this little fisherman village located on a little island in Italy. It was beautiful, and I can't wait to go back again some day.

Nice, France

Nice was pretty great. It started off rough considering the fact that I accidently made our hostel reservation for 2012 because I made it on my little ipod and could not really see what I was doing. Who knew you could make a hostel reservation two years in advance? We felt very lucky that they only had two available beds that night. While we were in Nice we climbed to a look out area over the whole city, enjoyed wondering through the flower and fruit market, fell asleep and watched the sunset on a bunch of rocks on the ocean, and even got to explore all around the canes film festival. One afternoon we even got to go out into the countryside to see a little stone town. We kept saying, "there's no way that this is real". We made lots of friends in our hostel in Nice which we actually ended up running into in our further travels which was awesome.

Barcelona, spain

soooo Jenny and I successfully found one another in paris. It was actually a huge surprise because i thought she was arriving the day after me, so i was not expecting to walk into the hostel to see her waiting to check in. I freaked out of course. I vaguely remember throwing my bags all over the room so that I could jump on her. It was a wonderful moment filled with laughter and joy. We stayed in paris for two nights and then we got a night train to barcelona. We both loveddd Barcelona. The culture and architecture was incredible. One of my favorite days was when we went on a Gaudi tour. We walked all over the city looking for his architecture and gardens. His work was unlike anything I have ever seen. It was beautiful. We both loved walking around the city and getting lost in the windy streets. Neither one of us had mastered the skill of reading a map yet, so we both got very good at getting lost, but we didn't mind much.