Random....

I was on Facebook, this is a social networking site like MySpace that used to be for college students only and has expanded beyond. It is a really cool site, but.....I digress...

I was there and I saw a very old friend of mine back from undergraduate school at the University of Washington that put a post up on their facebook page that said "I just saw Michelangelo's David in Florence and it was the most amazing thing I have and will ever see in my life"

and I got a little chill because that was the exact thought process that went through my head when I turned the corner in the Academia Museum in Florence Italy and saw the David....it is beyond belief!
Going through Germany, Amsterdam and Dublin we ran into other students traveling around and many of them were stopping in Florence and they always ask the same question "Okay, we are only there for a small time period, what do we need to see??" and Pat BJ and I are unanimous in saying "If you see one thing in Florence, it HAS to be the David"

it was cool to see my old friend write that about seeing it...made me happy :)

Different Countries: Booze

Italy: Wine, beer choices are limited, mixed drink prices vary but tend to be not too bad. Wine is super cheep at the markets.

Germany: Beer..........we did not try anything else, with two nights there and it being the 850th anniversary of Munich there was no need to try anything but Beer in Liter stines :)


Amsterdam: I would say POT, but that is not booze. Ummm, they have some Dutch beers that were good, but nothing really exceptional! All throughout Europe Carlsberg is a huge beer, not something you would usually see in the states, but was HUGE in Europe! But yeah, did not seem like there was any special booze in Amsterdam...WAIT!!!! Duh, Heineken and Amstel! Obviously :) Both from there, BUT, it did not jump to my head because, while they were dominant and from the area, they were surely not marked down to a crazy low price.....ugh

Dublin: GUINESS...and/or any other beer! But, promise us....DO NOT order a mixed drink in most places in Dublin Ireland! For instance...lets take a normal drink order...umm, OKAY! A Vodka with Cranberry Juice! Well, in Dublin you will get charged about 5.50 Euro for the MEASURED shot of Vodka in a glass with ice handed to you. Then in another glass you will be charged about 5.50 euro for the glass of cranberry juice! So you are in basically 11 euro for a vodka cranberry! Not a double or a stiff pour, a measured vodka cranberry...oh...and if you have not been reading my previous posts, that is 11 EURO!!!!! Which is nearly 20 US Dollars :) Thanks George Bush !!!!

London: It seems the deal here is English Beers as well! But it seems they are not as nasty with the hard alcohol as Dublin seems to be. But then again it is all in Pounds which is exactly 1 to 2 with the USD right now, so it is painful no matter what! LOL ...oh wow, a pint of English beer for 4 Pounds, good deal...oh wait, what the hell....that is 8 US dollars! ugh :( I will say, about London, they seem to have a ton of Cider! Which is weird and nice. A Strongbow, extra cold, cider is really good and refreshing and it seems every place we've walked by has it.

okay, that was my super quick booze tour around Europe :)

Ciao!

London Post!

We got in, after a hairy landing in Heathrow, lol, we made it safely.

After a 60 Pound taxi ride from Heathrow to our Hotel (by the way, the pound is even WORSE than the Euro, so 60 is 120 USD...F THAT). So we got in, we got all settled and went and found one of those open air bus tours that takes you around to all the major sites in London! We saw the London Bridge, the London Tower, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament Building, Fleet Street, St Paul's Cathedral, London Dungeon, Westminster Bridge, Abbey Road, BBC Headquarters, etc etc etcetc, I will post tons of pics once we get home in the next day or so.

We came back, Pat and BJ went to sleepy time like babies :) I stayed up for awhile because I, for some reason, never sleep. I hate it. ugh.

I watched UK's Big Brother (my Mom and Sis love the US version) and it was amazingly crazy! They show nudity here and the language is not edited for TV. lol makes it much more fun to watch!

Today we slept in a little bit and we went and saw the "Musical Sensation" WICKED in London's West End! The show was AWESOME. My mom and I saw the show in Seattle and this one was a little better because the cast was awesome and second row, with an unobstructed view is really hard to beat! Pat and BJ loved the show. Pat kept saying "I kept getting chills, I couldn't help it"

It was cool to hear...the show is pretty awesome because it is so BIG. People on wires flying around, the whole set moving and fire..etc etc. Unlike the touring show we saw in Seattle, this one is set in this theater for a long time, so the whole theater is all decked out in Wicked stuff and the stage is all set, without having to worry about breaking down and moving.

It was great!

Afterwards Pat got his Fish and Chips, BJ had his yesterday and was not happy....Pat liked his today I think. We came home, grabbed a little bit of booze and just chilled in the room, watching the German/Turkey match in our room!!! Germany won ... an amazing match! So it is Germany in the finals against the winner between Russia and Spain tomorrow! I am pumped, I hope I can get the matches in the states.

We then threw on some music television here. It is amazing you guys, here in Europe, they actually play MUSIC VIDEOS!!!! It is not like the US MTV where it is all reality tv. it is nice!

We head home Thursday, we leave London at like 6ish...land at about 8pm.. so technically it is an almost 10 hour flight, but we take off at 6:20PM on Thursday and land at 7:55PM on Thursday! So basically lose no time :)

I will post more about the whole trip and please keep reading the blog because I will be adding pics all week and weekend!!!

*btw, I love London and am so excited to come back with more time and ESPECIALLY, more money* :)

Pat says HI

BJ says HI

I say..HI

ciao