Europe 2009

Finally! I am finally posting my pictures from my last trip to Europe. I've been trying to learn how to use my imovie program and this is my first video. Angie and I had the best time. We flew into London with our packpacks, passports, cash, credit card & guide books. We had a bit of trouble entering customs, I guess we looked a little shady? The agent there seemed suspicious of us since we didn't have proof of a place to stay, proof of when we were leaving, and proof of our available credit. Needless to say, after lecturing us, they let us through. We managed to secure lodging before leaving the airport, exchanged our cash for pounds, and found the metro. It really was not that difficult. London had so much to see and we took a day trip to Salisbury, Stonehenge & Bath. We arrive Sunday afternoon and on Thursday night we took a bus overnight to Paris.

The bus ride to Paris was interesting. We made some new pals who were able to help us with the metro upon our arrival. We rode up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night. It was a scary ride up but awesome! Angie was really looking forward to shouting "Sanctuary" at the Notre Dame. It fit really well because a rain storm broke out & we really had to run for cover. Unfortunately that same weather kept us from going up to the top outside. We saw the tombs of Victor Hugo & Alexandre Dumas. We saw the Mona Lisa and the Louvre, which is unbelievably massive. It was soo much bigger than I ever expected. We also got to see the pyramid lit up at night, which I've wanted to see since seeing it in the Da Vinci Code. The only thing missing was Tom Hanks. The National Theatre was beautiful but we couldn't find the Phantom, but not for lack of trying. I'm sure some people thought we were crazy!

We were set to leave Paris on an overnight train to Barcelona Saturday night. This is where we had our first and only major problem. We packed up and headed for the train station, which was a bit of a long walk, only to find that our train had been canceled due to a major storm in southern France & northern Spain. Well, we were exhausted, hungry, and penniless! We had no place to go to spend the night and no cash. We used it up on the way to the station thinking we would be fine until the morning when we arrived in Barcelona to meet my parents. After facing a tearful Angie, the nice station people gave us a sleeping car to spend the night in. After facing a tearful me a lovely lady even snuck us in some boxed food. They also gave us blankets and pillows and the night wasn't so bad once we were tucked into our little room. The next day I journeyed to find an ATM and got us some cash for breakfast. We then found out we would have to wait a few hours for information on a new train. So I amused myself by going to the lovely showers and pampered myself until the floor was flooding! It was nice... At 2pm we still had no news on a future train - too much flooding. So we hopped the metro to the airport & hopped onto a flight.

We finally made it to Barcelona on Sunday night, just not in time for the concert my parents were going to take us too:( We were soo thrilled to see a real hotel room with a bathroom in it! After the hostel shower it was great to be able to shower without flip flops. The next day & 1/2 my parents showed us some of the most popular sights and we had a great time. Then we took the train to their home in Alicante. Alicante was beautiful. There was a gorgeous beach and the weather was nice. We were finally able to wash our clothes (I'm sure my parents appreciated that) and my mom made us some wonderful home cooked food. It was a super fun trip and we had a great rest before starting our journey home. Well, I think I've typed enough so enjoy the pictures!