More signs of Christmas

Signs of Christmas are everywhere, and I LOVE it! Last night we went to Oklahoma City for the Glenn Beck Christmas show, and it was AWESOME!!! Definitely worth the hour and a half drive each way. The show was all about Christmas (novel concept in today's world of "holidays"), what Christmas has been like for him and the true meaning of Christmas - which, incidently Glenn says is redemption; it's not just about the birth of Christ, but also about how he was born, how he was raised, how he lived, and how he died. Redemtion, the most perfect gift ever. Never thought if it exactly that way. Very cool.

Just before we left for OKC, it started snowing. Now, lwt's just say this....snow + Oklahoma = bad....VERY bad. Noone knows how to drive on it here and they all act like a bunch of idiots. So, by the time we got home, there was a bunch of snow on the ground. Well, a bunch for Oklahoma - like 4 inches or something, which resulted in totally covered streets (including the not-so-free-freeway) and school closings today. The only time I like snow is when I can stay home and just enjoy it. I hate having to go out in it. But, I love it, and I love taking pictues of it...just enjoying it. You know what I mean? So long as I can just stay home and enjoy it, I love it! Speaking of loving it, the puppies LOVE the snow, especially Mimi. They love to play in it and root around in it and get ice clumps all in their fur and have white faces. They are hysterical! Mimi does NOT want to come in even when she starts shivering!

Sunday night, we went on a limo ride around town to see the Christmas lights. It was awesome! We went with my friend Rachel and her family and Bob came too. There was Martinelli's  (sparkling apple juice, my fave) and we saw a couple of unbelievable set ups. No, I mean really, unbelievable. We also went to Rhema Bible College where they have a huge amount of lights all over the small campus. Truly beautiful. The gal driving didn't know that many awesome places to see, but we definitely saw some good stuff. I LOVE Christmas lights!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

And, I for one am LOVING it! The trees are up (we have 2 this year) and the decor is out (well mostly) and Egg Nog, Gingerbread, and Peppermint lattes are at Starbucks and  Christmas songs are playing on the radio and Christmas ornaments are everywhere (and most are coming home with me - including from Starbucks) and soon we'll have 24 straight hours of A Christmas Story.  But really, none of these things puts me in the Christmas mood quite like that one thing. That one thing every year that signifies that Christmas is upon us and it's a wonderful thing. A Charlie Brown Christmas. There's nothing like it. Claymation has nothing on Charlie Brown. The pathetic tree that miraculously becomes beautiful, the "racket that Christmas has become, run by an eastern syndicate" (could it get any funnier?), Sally just wanting some real estate, Snoopy winning the light contest, Linus reading from the bible, everyone deciding that maybe, just for one day, Charlie Brown isn't such a blockhead afterall, and best of all.......that infectious song that I can't seem to get out of my head, but it doesn't bother me because I LOVE IT!! Play it again Schroeder! Have a listen (scroll down a little to find the clips, it's called Linus & Lucy) and I dare you to try and keep from doing the goofy Peanuts dance.

Fall is seriously here

It's totally fall here today. Started the morning out at 70-something degrees, and now we're at 48, and it's COLD! Winter is on it's way. The only good thing about winter is fires in the fire place, Christmas, and Spring coming on its' heels. I took the puppies out for a fall photo shoot. Mom keeps telling me that the puppies are more trouble than kids. Today, I believe her. They seriously would NOT cooperate. Refused to look at me and even come towards me. I should have taken treats out so I could bribe them, but apparently I'm not that smart. So, Mimi kept running away and Scooby was on the lookout for squirrels and I ended up laying in exactly the spot that Mimi likes to go potty. Fabulous. Looks like I'll be doing some laundry....ASAP!  And, I got about 2 good pictures. At least I got that!

The House, the House, the House is on Fire!

Or at least the kitchen. Chris set it on fire yesterday. He was busily doing some things around the house (cleaning bathrooms, etc.) when he got humgry for lunch and started making Mac & Cheese. Only, he turned on the worng burner, and the one he turned on had a plastic plate with leftover cookies from Chris' b-day party on it. Oops! He went straight from trying to blow it out to fire extinguisher; only he'd never run a fire extinguisher before, so it took him a while. He finally got it out, and even cleaned up the ash (well, most of it anyway).

So, where was I during Chris' escapade? I spent the weekend at an all weekend scrapbooking event at the store where I teach classes. I actually got a ton done. Very out of character for me. But, I was a bit prepared, so that helped a ton! I scrappybooked again today with my friend, Rachel. She's an awesome gal and puts up well with my occassional total memory loss and brain farts (like forgetting to invite her and her hubby to Bob's b-day dinner....duh!). I find I talk a bit too much when we're SBing together, but I still got quite a bit done for the short 4 hours I spent. Yay me! And, I so very much enjoy her company.

Finally!

I've done it. Well, actually, I've done a lot of things, but the main thing I've done in the past 24 hours is I finally went running again. It's been a month or more, and for some reason, I'd decided that I just couldn't do it any more. Who knows why, but I had it in my head I was incapable. Guess I proved myself wrong on that one! I went for 30 minutes. It was tough, but I did it. I've never been as steady a runner as I longed to be. I think I felt like a fraud. Like I'm way to slow to consider myself a runner. Really, I know it doesn't matter, but sometimes within the running community, we slowbies feel like the redheaded step-child - and trust me, I know what that feels like. But, I went today, and that was the first step...actually going. Next time we go to Europe, I want to be able to actually shop for clothes instead of fondling them longingly wishing they'd somehow fit. I know what to do, and I've been talking about it for awhile. "I want to start running again." "I'm going to start running again." But, talking really doesn't do any good, so finally, I got the feet to the pavement.  I think I also felt like a joke because I've gained weight, and who wants to see an overweight gal out there running? But, then again isn't a main point of running to get into and stay in shape? So, off I went. Oh, and to add insult to injury, I got passed by a guy like three times my age. Nice. Oh well. What are ya gonna do?

Other things I've done: after my run, I gave the babie a bath. Oh, how they hate the bathtime. I'm still suffering the backlash, the mommy hatred. Yesterday, I met with the Chair of the Tulsa Republican Party about volunteering and ended up volunteering Chris too. You love me, don't ya baby? I'm getting ready to leave for a weekend-long scrappin' retreat in the store where I teach classes. Should be fun. I don't really want to go, but I am. Maybe I'll actually get some stuff done! I also got to call the vet - again. Lily from next door, and she and Mimi ate the some of the See's candy that came home from Cali. At least the girl has good taste, right? No noticeable side affects, thank goodness. I was afraid Lily was gonna get sick and not be able to come over again!

Here's a pic of my and my Christopher from the Disneyland. Don't you like my "girl" ears? (that's the Penny Arcade behind us)

On a completely different front, today is Veteran's Day and the birthday of the Marines, and I'd like to say thank you to all those who serve our country. You and your families sacrifice so much to make sure the rest of us can go on with our every day lives. I am so proud of the work you do and the humility with which you do it. We can never know just what it is you go through. Thank you.

How Could I Forget?

I forgot to mention.....I forgot my camera at home! Can you believe it? I left my awesome Canon 20D with my outstanding wide angle lens at home on the floor waiting for me to pick it up and carry it off. AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!! Needless to say, I was a little on the grumpy side when we got out of the car at the aeropuerto and there was no camera to be found. Thank goodness my mom brought her little Casio Exilim with her and she let me use it to my little heart's content. In fact, we quickly filled up the two memory cards she had and had to go buy a card reader so we could download all of the pictures to Chris' laptop before going to Disneyland. We are definitely going to have to get one of those little guys. For as small as they are, they take awesome pictures and sure come in handy!

Home Again

We're home again. I'm glad to be home. Long Beach was tough but fun. I'm glad we went. The funeral was.....I don't know how to describe it. The whole first day and a half seemed so surreal. Here I was with people I am related to that I haven't ever met or see very rarely. We went to the viewing. It seems so unnatural to me to be standing in a room with a dead person.  I know it's what a lot of people need, closure and all that, but it just gives me the heebie jeebies. There was, of course, an air of sadness around everything. For me, the sadness was more that my grandmother is gone, and I don't know her story. Also, I have all this family I don't know. I hate it. I mean, not just far off family, but also my cousins that I really don't know and I just hate it. I hope to change that.

We worked hard to make the trip fun too. We went to a couple of scrapbook stores, bought Sees candy, shopped at Nordstrom (of course), ate at In & Out Burger (um hello? YUM!!!), checked out the Queen Mary (but didn't pay the $25 per person to actually get on it), saw where we used to live, and attended the Disneyland. Really, it was a lot of fun. Disney was AWESOME! I've been there a bunch of times before, but this time was super fun. Chris hadn't been since he was 5 and didn't really remember it. He'd never been on a true roller coaster, so we started out with the Matterhorn. Love the abominable snowman! Chris had to take a few deep breaths as we started out, but in the end he loved it.

We tried Space Mountain, but it had a 45 min. wait. That seemed like a lot to me. So, we got a fastpass. That is the best system ever! We got an appointment to come back between 1:10 and 2:10 and only had to wait 10 min. They'd just finished redoing it, and it's definitely better than ever. We HAD to do the Big Thunder Mountain. Always my fave ride, and really still is. Chris agreed. Pretty darn good ride. He was really happy none of them go upside down. For some reason, that really isn't necessary at the Disney!

We couldn't go to Disney without Pirates of the Carribean! Love it. They have changed it a bit. No stars on the ceiling and barely any fireflies around, but still loved it. We also went on the Jungle Cruise. Easily, hands down the cheesiest ride ever, but love it! We've always gone on it and loved it. Thankfully, the boat driver's cheesy jokes have improved immensly over the years. We also rode the teacups...twice. I don't know that I'd actually been on the teacups before. But, we went once and Bob took pics of us and then I decided it would be cool to take pice while we were on the teacups, so we went on it again. I got an awesome pic of Chris.

We spent just enough time in the California Adventure for me to coax Chris onto the Tower of Terror. Turns out he'd never been on a freefall ride before. Huh. Who knew. WOW! It was an awesome ride. It even had me screaming and closing my eyes. I'd go on it again in a heartbeat. Chris, on the other hand, not so much. As we were getting off, I asked him if he'd do it again. He very quickly answered NO! I don't know why, but the whole thing struck me as funny. Maybe it was just the way he said it, but I was giggling at him for a while! Guess I'll be going that one alone from here on out!

Mom HAD to have a couple of frozen bananas. It really isn't a trip to Disney without frozen bananas. We had churros. Oh my yum. I don't understand why, but you can't find churros here. We used to have them with school lunches in Cali, and they're nowhere here. Oh well, that made the ones we had all the better. 

As we were leaving, Chris mentioned that the Disney folks do a fabulous job at getting you to part with your money. We bought a TON of stuff. Bob had a caricature done of me and Chris that is super cool. On top of that, we bought Christmas ornaments, princess stuff for Chris' neice, a hat for me and a santa hat for Chris, those cute little things that go on your radio antennae, postcards, a coffee mug, a wine bottle stopper, a mickey head bottle opener, and of course, ears with our names on them.  And then there was the food. Oh my, the food was expensive. We spent $16 on hotdogs at the California Adventure. In Disneyland, we spent over $20 for 3 slices of pizza and some bread.  Churros were $2.75 each, and I bought a cookie (that was the best oatmeal cookie on earth) for almost $3. No wonder you can get financing for your Disney vacation. You think I'm kidding? Check out www.disneyland.com and you'll find it.

I can easily say, I can't wait to go again. Next time, I think we'll go to DisneyWorld. Chris has never been there (I've been 3 times). Maybe for the WDW marathon in Jan. 2007?

The very last thing we did was go to Ikea. I LOVE IKEA!!!! We made it through the Ikea in 40 mins. And, that was with eating breakfast. It was the cheapest meal we had the whole trip. Under $7 for all three of us. Good thing, considering all the $$ we spent on food at the Disneyland! Actually, our very last stop on the way to the airport was the In & Out Burger. Oh my, are they good.

By the time we got to Denver for our 3 hour layover, I just wanted to be at home with the puppies. But the puppies had to stay at the kennel one more day. We got home after they closed. Yesterday was the best ever. We went and picked them up at 7 am. We were definitely more excited than they were. And, we now know why they suggested we have them give the babbies a bath. But, at $23 a piece, we said thanks, but no thanks. If I was sitting still yesterday, Mimi was on top of me. They are so sweet.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon, but they're all on Chris' laptop with him at the office. Grrrrrr.

I've had an Elvis sighting!

Oh, wait, no....that's just a Mimi! Mimi and Scooby got to wear costumes while they helped hand out the candy at Bob's house. Let me tell you, they hated every minute of it. Every stinking minute of it. Scooby was a bumble bee and Mimi was a unicorn (although her costume was missing the corn...uni or otherwise). Their costumes consisted of a jacket and helmet (think aviator cap with slits for dog ears), and the jacket was doable, but apparently the helmet was just too much. More than any self respecting dog should have to endure. I got dirty looks until well after the costumes had come off. But oh, they were so darn cute, it was totally, 100% worth it. And Mimi totally looked like Elvis when she was in just her jacket. Too stinkin' funny!

So, yesterday was Christopher's birthday. He's a ripe old 28 now. I the time between his b-day and mine because it means I'm only 1 year older than he is. Bob and I threw him a surprise  party, and it was a rousing success. He said he had a clue a couple of weeks ago, but by the time we got to Bob's house, he was totally clueless again. The look on his face was priceless. He was rendered speechless (which these days is less and less common). It was just a fabulous party. A  bunch of our friends came and we were both shocked that most of them brought presents. We quickly noticed a pattern to the presents....alcohol and chocolate. I guess everyone knows his love of the chocolate and recently flourishing beer snobbery (and love of a good glass of wine). In fact, the always awesome Rachel brought cold beer. German beer at that. Oh my, it was good. And, his friend Eric saved the day with the perfect present of Star Wars Episode III. Chris told me flat out starting the day before his birthday that it was what he wanted, but I got him Tiger Woods 2006 for the Xbox instead. Good move Eric & Alyssa!

All of a sudden the leaves have turned here. I don't know where it came from, but I didn't see it, and then BAM, day before yesterday, all of the trees were just gorgeous. Too bad I haven't gotten any really good pictures this year. We're having seriously high winds right now, and all of the leaves are blowing away. I guess there's always next year! I did get this good one at the condo next door to ours! I'm not a super big fan of fall. It means the short days of December and January are just around the corner. But, by the same token, I love fall. The colors are MY colors and I LOVE Thanksgiving. Love the food, love the shopping the morning after, love it all. Then, there's Christmas. We were at Target today and they already have out ALL of their Christmas stuff. Oh, how I love Christmas. I love the whole season. The amazing church services, the wrapping and giving of presents, the trimming of the tree, the apple cider, the love of family. Oh, I LOVE it! 

On a completely different note, we are currently puppyless, and it is totally killing us. We are flying out in the morning (well, in a couple of hours really) for LA (actually Long Beach). My grandmother died and the funeral is on Sat. It should be interesting. I haven't spoken to my father since I didn't invite him to the wedding. Could be very interesting. Plus, Chris has never met him. We had to take the puppies to the kennel today since we're flying out so early, and it was seriously painful. Chris was really worried about leaving them where we did (new place, long story), but they turned out to be super nice, maybe even better than the place we usually go. When were at home in the yard, we noticed one little puppy toy by itself outside. It looked so sad and lonely there by itself. But, the puppies have doggy daycare two of the days. Eight hours of playing outside with other dogs. They may not want to come home. I don't want to know what the bill is going to be. It was really rough on me taking the dogs in because they've been a supreme comfort to me the past week. I wasn't close to my grandmother; hardly knew her. But, it's always sad when someone dies, and then there's the trauma of not knowing what's going to happen with my father - what he's going to say, if anything. They've done lots of the cuddling. They are our babies.

After dropping the babies off, we stopped at Target to pick up an extra large bottle of the Excedrine Migraine (I think I may need it this weekend) and we noticed everything on sale 4 for $1 in the Dollar spot. WooHoo!!! Everything in the Dollar Spot was $.25!!! And, they had these cutie little stuffed animals (see pic of the lonely little toy). So, we stocked up.

Oh, I forgot to mention.....in an effort to brighten up our Californian un-adventure, we're going to Disney. It's Bob's b-day present to Chris. Tickets to Disneyland. He hasn't been since he was 5 and Bob and I haven't been for about four years....since we went after my grandfather's funeral. Are you noticing a trend here?

I'm addicted...

pensto pens. It's true. Actually, I always have been. Ever since I was a kid, I've had this unnatural love for Office Supply stores. Oh, the smell of the packaging, the feel of the new pen in your hand. Pure bliss. Lately, my pen lust has had a resurgence. Thanks to GlueStick Girl, I found these awesome looking set of 20 pens on DickBlick.com. Thanks to Ali Edwards, I've found that I LOVE .03 tip pens, and that these pens are was just the icing on the cake. I can't wait for the box to arrive.  Plus, those pens are not alone in the box. Mmmmm...I can't wait! So, what else is in the box? More pens! Okay, I'm not exactly sure what I ended up getting. I can't remember, and I can't access my order right now, but here's what I think I got. These Koh-I-Noor Nexus Studio Pens. The description of them says,

"These velvety fine line art pens are ideal for sketching, writing, drawing, and designing. These pens work perfectly with watercolors, and as a precision sketching tool. "

How Could I resist? No, really, How? I think Chris really wishes someone would tell me how. I'm pretty sure I got a set of these Itoya Nikko Permanent Pens. They write on all kinds of things! Here's what the website says: "These fine-point pens write on virtually any surface, including film, metal, plastic, glass, wood, and cellophane. " Once again, how on earth could I resist? AND, they're waterproof.

I also had a couple of things in my cart that I didn't end up getting. Not to worry......I will. I wanted some of these really cool looking Pentel Metallic Brush Pens. Look at what they say about them, "these tapered brush pens feature a pump button that maintains a constant flow of acid-free, water-resistant ink for uninterrupted creativity." Oh, so very cool. And, how awesome would they look on black paper? Definitely a need, not a want.

I don't think I ended up with these Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens, but right now I'm really wishing I had. So, good 'ole Dick will be seeing me again soon. Most of the colors come in a brush tip only, though, and I'm not so sure about the brush tip, so I guess I'll have to order a set of the black ones that come with one of each of 4 different tips.

I also HAD to pick up some acrylic paints. I ogled them when we went to the Dick Blick in Iowa City with Kristina and Eric, but didn't get them. Then, I got to try them when I took Shimelle's class at the CK convention here in Tulsa, and I LOVED them. (I'm alo something of an acrylic paint addict...I keep trying to find good ones besides Making Memories, which are $2 a bottle - and they're colors aren't that great anyway). Now, I MUST have them, and they're on sale right now so........I got the basic set. One each of Deep Red, Medium Yellow, Medium Blue, Medium Orange, Deep Green, Deep Violet and White. Did I need them? Not really so much, but I HAD to have them, and you have to start somhwhere, right? So, I have officially started my collection.

On a related note, yesterday I was helping my mom clean out her office. I was actually working  on my old office, which has basically been collecting dust since I moved out after Chris' and I got married. While sneezing my head off, I happened across a set of pens, and almost all of them still work. Yippee!!! They're by Stabilo, and I originally found them when I was living in the Netherlands and they quickly became my fave postcard writing pens. LOVE 'EM! And, if that wasn't cool enough, they're in this really cool roll up pack with little bungee cords that wrap around it. Heaven.

Sometimes it's so much fun to be a geek!

Finally

Finally, I'm starting to get my massive amounts of scrapbook stuff under control. I have a lot of stuff. No, really, I mean A LOT of stuff. It really is an obsession. I MUST HAVE IT ALL. This in turn creates the problem of storing everything. We got me a table from my fave store, Ikea, a couple of months ago, but storage was still an issue. So, last week, Bob and I went back down to Dallas. This time it was only for the day, but Mary came and hung out with us and it was tons of fun. We spent over 3 hours in the Ikea. Can you imagine? And, I spent a ton of $$, even though they were out of the two main things I went down for. I bought a HUGE bookcase and tons of jars, and already need more. How is that possible?

We got home around 10:30, and I conned my sweetest husband in the world to putting the bookcase together that night so I could get started on the organizing. I'm still not quite "THERE" but it's seriously getting better. Actually cleaning and putting things away when you use/buy them will help too. I can't telly you how many times I said, "Thank you," to Chris for staying up till midnight working on the bookcase. We both love it.

So Sweet

I have the sweetest husband. Christopher said is so stinking sweet, sometimes I'm not sure how I ended up with him. But God smiled on me, and I did, and man am I glad! Chris has been feeling pretty crummy with the allergies the past few days. He even had to stay home from work. Unheard of! Sunday afternoon, I worked on my crafty endeavors, and he "hung out" (read: slept) on the day bed while we watched football. Okay, while I watched football. The puppies must have known he was feeling crummy because they were all over him and constantly on the bed.....even Mr. Aloof and Independent himself, Scooby.

And, if you don't have enough proof that Christopher is super sweet, the other day, for no reason at all, he brought me flowers. He does that occassionally, and I love it. He gets me tulips whenever he can because I love them so, but he always gets me the best of what they have. Sure, they're grocery store flowers, but who cares? I think it's awesome!!!

Bad Influence

Donna Downey is a bad influence. I was catching up on reading blogs this weekend and happened to come across this on hers. I was intrigued.

Rome is found

I found the missing Rome book. Just now. How handy is that? Don't need, won't need it, but of course, I found it. Where? In the living room, on the floor, under a bag. Perfect! Perfectly typical. Maybe if I could get this house in order, such things wouldn't happen. But, where would the fun be in that?

And....We're Back!

We're home. Home Sweet Home Actually, we've been home for a couple of days. I can't believe how fast time has flown since we've been back. Faster, it seems than it did while we were gone. Our trip home was wonderfully easy. I couldn't believe it! We had a few nervous moments that we wouldn't make our flights, but in the end, no problems!

When we checked into our hotel for our last night in Munich, we asked the woman (turns out she's the proprietor and AWESOME) how long it would take to get to the airport. She told us 40 minutes. See, we were a block and a half from the train station, and there is a train whose last stop is the airport. We knew we could just take that train, but we didn't know how long it would take. 40 minutes? Okay, so we planned on that and went about our last day. Then, as we were turning in for the night, we asked the man manning the front desk again, just to make sure. He said 20 minutes. After 2 weeks in Europe, we totally should have known better (there were like 14 stops between the main station, where we were, and the airport), but we decided the man must be right. How wrong could we be?

So, we got up at 6:00 (acutally, pre-6:00) and got ready and packed. I actually got to blow-dry my hair. Awesome! We headed down to breakfast at 7:00. It was a full German breakfast. Not the skimpy Italian kind with one roll and some butter & jelly (although Chris says the cappuccinos were out of this world everywhere in Italy - I, of course, wouldn't have a clue). No, this was the 6 different kinds of rolls, cheeses, spreadable cheeses, meats, jellies, yogurt, cereal, sweat breads, juices kind of breakfast. Yum, yum, yum! I totally enjoyed myself. And, of course, we spent longer than we should have. We didn't head out of our room until 7:35 ish, it took a while to check out (there were two pain in the neck German-speaking guys taking FOREVER), and then on the way to the train station, we needed to buy more postage at the automatic postage machine across the street from the train station.

We ran out of coin Euros and the machine didn't take paper, so we had to stand there trying to figure out what to do, while Chris was running the machine in German (yes, there was an English option). All the while, I'm looking at the 12-foot tall clock on the front of the train station. It's now 7:48. HOLY CRAP! We have to get going. We finally purchased enough postage for only 4 postcards (which left us with a couple to hand deliver - sorry guys), and booked it to the train station at 7:54. We had to make our way all the way through the train station, and when we finally got down to the S-bahn track, we had to run b/c our train was just making it's way to the platform. So, we made it on the 8:02 train.

At least we were on the correct train, right? Yeah, well, that was one of my consolations. Remember, our flight left at 10:00. At home, you're supposed to be 2 hours early for international flights. I was keeping in mind that Europeans don't have quite the same rules for flights that we do. They just kinda show up for flights sometime before take-off. But still....we're Americans. They like to jack with us. So, I was having moments of, shall we say, trepidation. I was NOT going to miss this plane. We were sitting right in the middle of two sets of doors on the train, each with a map of the stops on it, but weren't actually close enough to either to read the stops and know for sure where we were and how far out we were, which certainly didn't help! And my bag is totally heavy, so I am NOT about to get up from my flip-up-like-a-movie-theather-seat to check it. Of course, Chris is like, "oh, we're totally going to make it. We have nothing to worry about." Um, yeah, shut up! I really knew we were going to make it, but I had this vision of us getting denied and being stuck in Munich another day. Not that I don't like Germany. Don't get me wrong, but by that time my mind had wrapped itself around the fact that it was time to go home. Time to go home and cuddle my puppies and have some Taco Bueno with a real Diet Coke (sorry, Coke Light ain't the same) and a free bathroom around every corner. I informed Chris that I was going to be, "a 100% pissed-off girl," if we missed this plane. He said I was allowed.

Well, obviously we're home, so we didn't miss the plane. We RAN out of the train station, up the escalator trying to find the Delta counter. That was the hardest part of our day. It's funny, these European cities cram their people in. Everyone is right on top of each other, but boy, do they build their airports in a super-spread out fashion. There were 6 "halls" as they called them for check-in (A, B, C, D, E, and what else would make sense.....Z), and they were quite far apart. When we finally made it to Delta, there were 2 German speaking guys checking in ahead of us who, of course, were taking FOREVER. They have a little Ikea-sized desk at the front of the line where they check your passport, ask you security questions, and make sure you're on the plane that they're currently checking in for. Then, you go through the line and check in and get your boarding cards and give them your luggage. The check-in girl totally hated us. Chris suddenly decided we should try to carry on our backpacks - along with the other 2 carry ons we each had. You're kidding right? Well, we could try to repack them quick. (we only had a 1 hour layover in Atlanta, where we had to go through customs, and he was getting worried) NOT gonna happen, send them through! So, she did. Then, I asked if we could get our boarding cards for Atlanta too. She'd already done it. But, Chris refused to leave the desk. "Don't we need to wait for her to do our boarding cards for Atlanta?" He wouldn't believe they were in with the others. Finally, he did, and in true Chris-Bull-in-A-China-Shop fashion, he tripped all over our bags and the counter. I know she was glad to see us go. I won't kid 'ya 'bout it, though she was somewhat rude/superior acting in her own right (hello? you work the gate for an American airline in Germany? what do you have to be snobby about?).

So, we made it to passport control/security where there was only one person in front of us. Should be a piece of cake, right? Turns out, she's military, and her husband died in a motorcycle accident back in the States last week, so she's coming home to bury him. Now, she had 2 children with her who had a different name than she did because they were from her first marriage, and she was divorced from their father. The German agents just could not wrap their minds around the fact that she was their mother and had a different last name. Totally could not handle it. It probably also didn't help that the mom was white and the kids dad had obviously been African American. They don't seem to really understand that concept. They wanted all of the father info and then got even more confused b/c she was divorced, remarried, and the step-father had died. In the middle of it, the guy who was supposed to take only EU people took us and we went through with no problem. As we left, the agents were making the mom show her the family's military ids. Now, I'm all for security, but each of the children and the mom had an American passport plus military ids. Do you know how hard it is to counterfeit a US passport now? Darn near impossible. Let the woman through. Turns out, they did, and they ended up sitting right behind us on the plane. The mom was (understandably) in a daze for most of the 9.5 hour flight and didn't seem to mind one iota that her child was kicking the back of my seat for hours on end. I tried to give her grace, but really, I was ready to strangle that small child. Why me? Why does this ALWAYS happen to me?

Anyway, miraculously, we made it through to the gate by 9:00. An entire hour before the plane was scheduled to depart. Yay us! So, we went to the gift shop. And proceeded to spend 49.80 of the 50.20 Euros we had left. We went home with 20 cents. Too funny, huh? We decided, we could change it, but we'd loose money on it anyway, so let's spend it. I got an Oktoberfest t-shirt for 10- and we got an awesome stein that we'd seen at the Oktoberfest for 56- for only 29- (yep, you read that right, the airport was CHEAPER), and a little shot glass stein for.......well, for the rest. Too fun! Finally we made our way to the gate where I tried to take a picture, but before I could get it done, some power-trippy 18 year old yelled at me. Hello? Totally legal, but didn't want to argue with her b/c I wanted on that plane.  Said girl started to announce that we'd be delayed due to traffic, but in the middle of it was told to shut it. Wish it could have been me. And we boarded on time. In true European fashion, Chris and I stood off to the side and without really meaning to, jumped ahead of everyone in our section to get on the plane.

They boarded the plane from the front to the back. Damn Europeans. They're like teenagers. They have to do things their way even though our tried and tested way works better. We were, of course, at the back of the plane (where they apparantly put people who purchase their tickets 9 months ahead) and I was lucky enough to bomp every single person with the water bottle attached to the backpack I was wearing. They loved me! We were 30 minutes late leaving the gate, and we KNEW we were going to miss our connection in Atlanta (better their than Munich), but we made up tons of time in the air and were actually early. Compared to the horrific Air France flight (did I mention I'm NEVER flying them again?) on the way over, this flight was a dream. There was more space, and it was temperate. Chris even got cold. Just the way a flight should be. The flight attendants weren't French with those quintessential French attitudes (come on, you know what I'm talking about). It was all around a good flight. Oh, except Chris said his meal stunk. Mine was great, though. We were a little surprised at the stewardesses (no stewards). They all obviously had a LOT of years of service, if you get my drift, but they weren't that friendly nor upbeat. In fact, a couple of them were pushy broads. No matter, we watched our 3 movies and the special on Queen (I was in heavan) and were happy. Surprisingly, I'd never seen any of the 3 movies. How often does that happen? It was fun, b/c one was Bewitched with Nicole Kidman, and I refuse to go put one dime in her pocket, so I don't tend to see her movies, but it was really cute. I'd totally watch it again.

So, we made it to Atlanta. But not before I 100% stumped the flight attendant with a question about the Immigration/Customs form. When you are family members traveling together and have the same last name, you only have to fill out one form, but it asks how many family members are traveling with you. Do you include yourself and answer 2 or not and therefore answer 1? Totally stumped her. We decided 1 b/c it would be the easiest to explain. Turns out, it wasn't an issue. Customs was a breeze. The nationals line was way shorter than the visitors line, and as we came up to it, they directed us to the other side where there was NO line. Except there was a TON of people coming from the other side and the people ahead of us were totally dilly-dallying, taking their own sweet time. Making me CRAZY. Trust me, if I'd been in a car, they would have been honked at. Remember, we had 1-hour to make our connection, and it was ticking by now, baby! So, Chris and I finally managed to skirt the slow folks and made it to a line with just a  couple of people in it. When I looked over and there was a line with no one waiting an a guy who just finished up. We all know I'm the lousiest line picker on earth - totally NOT my forte, but I got lucky this time! I headed over there and yep, it was a real line that we could go through! Hot dog! We were the first people from our plane down at the carosel. Of course, we were some of the last people on the plane, which means it was first off and at the bottom of the pile of luggage they were putting on the carosel. But, we finally got it, handed in our semi-confusing form (she barely even looked at it), smiled sympathetically at the guy whose 15 bags were being gone through inch by inch, handed off our luggage to be reloaded on our next plane, went through security (who couldn't have cared one iota less that we had glass), and booked it to the airport train to get to our terminal. After an excruciatingly long potty break for Chris, we finally made it to the Wendy's near our gate. We were really hoping for Pizza Hut (we'd been served vegetarian pizza on the plane and had a hankering for the real stuff....although the plane pizza wasn't that bad), but were totally willing to settle! We made it to our gate in plenty of time, talked to some guy from Columbia, SC who was going to Tulsa on business, got on the plane and made our way to our seats in row 19...the last row on the plane. We were cursed with lousy seat assignments on every flight. On this tiny plane, the stewardess slides out a seat from the back wall and sits in the aisle, right in front of the lavatory door and practically touching the passengers on either side of the aisle. She was a lovely gal, originally from Jamaica. The guy on the otherside of the aisle had been in Equatorial Guinea selling nutrional supplements (he's from Claremore). Very interesting!

Finally, we were home. A half an hour early no less! I called my mom from the plane. She still hadn't left to pick us up. We collected our now extremely heavy packs from baggage and didn't have to wait but a few minutes for Bob. She ferried us off to El Tequila for the best welcome home dinner ever and then took us to our puppies. While we didn't want the vacation to end, it was good to be home. Good to have puppy breath on our faces (if you don't have dogs, you won't understand) and listen to normal radio (not Euro-trash) and watch Fox News and be assured of a hot shower, (and more importantly, a toilet whenever I need it) and the list goes on and on and on and on.

I will tell you one thing. I now know why so many European women don't shave their legs. Never mind the fact that only prostitutes did it for years and years. Nope, it's because their showers are an average of about 2 feet by 2 feet and enclosed with walls. Lemme tell ya, there's NO was this non-limber gal could make that stretch!

Oh, and I know you were all worried....every single stitch of our glass made it home safe and sound. And there was a LOT. That includes Chris' purloined liter mug which was packed in his checked backpack and our very important Munich mug from the Starbucks.

We're already thinking about where we should go next year. Chris says no matter where we go, we need to start with a week in Vernazza.

ahhhhh....Munich!

so, we hoofed it around Munich this morning looking for the Starbucks, when all along it was right in front of us! It was about 8:00 as we were wandering, and it was just us. I started remembering that Monday is the "things-are-closed-day" and wondered if that was it (turns out things really are closed, including Dachau - oops!). Then, I started wondering if maybe today was a holiday, and that´s why we weren´t seeing anyone. We got to the Starbuck´s around 8:45, and they weren´t open. Um HELLO????? They open at 6 (or earlier) at home!

After a quick walk around the block to avoid the crazy drunk guy who wanted to talk to us, they finally opened, and I was able to totally confuse the Germans with my desire for a latte lacking in the espresso. Interesting note, for drinks with espresso in it, they don´t have venti - only small, tall, and grande. For all other drinks, they have tall, grande, venti. Weird. So, we spent the next 2 hours writing postcards in the Starbucks, totally enjoying ourselves and asking them tons of totally stupid questions. Turns out it is a holiday, but not because of the end of Oktoberfest like I thought. It´s a national holiday which meant that EVERYTHING was closed ALL day. We really wanted to get Chris a pair of Birkenstock clogs, but nobody was open. The good news was, though the Oktoberfest was still on. Today is actually the last day, not yesterday. Well, yesterday was the last day, but for the last several years, they´ve carried it on one more day - I guess for the locals to enjoy. So, after checking into our hotel and finally having a shower, we headed out to the Weis´n (that´s what they call Oktoberfest). Did I mention it was rainy and COLD all day yesterday in Venice? Well, it was, and it was even colder here this morning. I mean COLD (what I like to call "butt-a$$-cold), and then the drizzle started, and it drizzled all day, eventually turning into rain. What a pain, and it´s still COLD! So, we spent a couple of hours at the Weis´n. We even got into one of the tents. We could have stayed, but the layer of cig. smoke was getting to me within the first few minutes, so we moved on to the same restaurant we went to last time.  It was perfect!  We bonded with some non-English speaking Germans over some beers, and they laughed at me as I took pics of our food. It was great fun. But then it was time to move on. We walked around a bit more buying me a hat - I´m going to show those Tulsa Oktoberfest goers what it´s all about! - and Chris a cool-and-the-gang stein. Oktoberfest was cool, but you have to be inside to drink the beer, so we moved on to the Hofbrau Haus. BTW, we totally trainn hopped today. We didn´t buy tickets for the U-bahn (the subway), but our Eurail covers the S-bahn (above ground metro), so we decided to be stupid Americans. Again, we´re going straight to tourist hell!

Hofbrau was too much fun....again. Not to worry, I didn´t drink as much this time, we´ll make our plane tomorrow! We happened upon an empty table, and soon a Dutch couple and an American couple joined us, and we had a wonderful time talking, drinking, and eating. Chris made friends with an Irishman at the table next to us who apparantly really liked the drink and took a liking to me. He told Chris he was afraid to say anything about me to him, though because he knew Chris could squash him in an instant. He was just sure Chris was a football player. Too funny! We also met a Hofbrau regular who essentially owns his seat. That´s his, baby. From what I could make out, he comes in every day!

So, here we are, checking our flight status and the veracity of a tale some American told us that you can´t take glass as a carry-on, which is great b/c we have a TON of it! Chris just happened upon a liter beer mug in the train station, so we have that, plus we bought me a 1/2 liter mug and a ton of "Murano" (none of it has the stamp) from Venice. I will be a seriously happy camper if they try to take it away from me. Chris checked the FAA website, and it says nothing about glass, so we´re assuming it´s okay.

We fly out at 10 in the morning. We´re sad to see it end, but glad to get back to some of the things at home, especially the puppies, my mom, our friends, the ever-present bathrooms, the breakfasts that consist of something more than a slice of bread, regluar showers, our own bed....you get my drift. We´re already talking about how we´re going to get back to Italy!

Right back where we started from

So, we´re back in Munich...Barely.  (remember, they have funky keyboards here, so if you see any stray Zs or Ys, forgive me). And I would just like to say that I´m extremely happy because I will soon be on my way to a Starbucks for my vanilla latte with only a half shot of espresso, and extra pump of vanilla and a pump of caramel. Oh yum Yes, we were in Italy where they have the best coffee ever, but see, I don´t actuallz like the taste of coffee. You can see my dilemma. So, we´re giving them time to get open, because as per usual, we´ve arrived at some ungodly hour in the morning, not to mention.....late. Shocking though it is. Every stinking train we´ve been on that originated in Italy has been late. Every single one. !

I know know I said our last night train (Rome to Venice) was the worst ever, but I hadn´t gone from Venice to Munich yet. Seriously, worst night train situation EVER. We made our reservations yesterdaz morning, thinking we were ahead of the game. Yeah, everzthing was full. Everything. Well, we´ve heard that before, so we kept at the guy, telling him we HAD to get to Munich. Didn´t matter how, had to get there. So, he told us take a train to Verona (sorry, thought it was Padua) and then switch to another train at 1:00 in the morning. But see, the train we were on was going to Munich, so we thought we didn´t have to actually change. Yeah, we were wrong. There  was another train leaving at the same time (although they were both late) and both stopping in Munich. Our original train ended in Nice, the train we switched to ended in Munich. What a nightmare. There were already people in our seats. The train was seriously oversold. Don´t even think we didn´t make the people leave. I wasn´t even caring if I was nice about it....just wanted our seats. We got them and then had person after person try to get them. HA!!! We were in a 6 seat compartment (3 on each side facing each other), and the whole compartment ended up being full with 5 not-so-little men and me. It was hellacious! There wasn´t enough room, and my already tender back got jacked up. Then, people kept coming in and out turning on the lights and whatnot.

The sleep was nearly non-existent. Chris tried to get us off at the wrong station. He heard someone say the next stop was Munich, so he woke me up and off we went. Well, that crazy German-Italian speaking crusty old guy did´t have a clue, and rather than try to get back settled in our compartment, we just waited in the hallway, and within minutes the guy we had to kick out of our seats came with his younger cronie and started smoking.....in the Train Car right next to me and my allergy ridden self and, get this.....right in front of a NO SMOKING sign. And, the Deustch Bahn guys kept walking right buy and not saying anything. Can you say grumpy Jamie? We moved cars. But, we´re here, and we´re glad of that. It´s cold, though. Really cold. Thank goodnes for my fleece stocking cap! We came to the internet cafe to make a hotel reservation. We made one months ago - the first one I made, in fact, but when the time came, we couldn´t find any info about it. So, we came back for our last night in Europe with no reservation to speak of. But, good óle Rickey Steves, we checked his book, got online and now have a reservation 2 blocks away for tonight. Yay!

On another note, I didn´t get to finish my entry last night. See, I was seriously doing the potty dance. You have no idea what it´s like to have to go the bathroom until you have to go (and I mean GO), and you simply can´t. There isn´t anywhere. Thankfully, in Venice they have public bathrooms all over with signs to get you there and everything. The first time we used one, we were outraged that it was 1 Euro per person - that´s $1.20! For the bathroom! But, when you´re desperate, you´ll do anything for a bathroom, so.......we paid that 1 Euro several times.

Anyway, Venice is truly enchanting. on Sat., we went to a church across the lagoon from St. Mark´s. Very cool. There were monks singing in the apse (I think that´s what it is called) and was just awesome. Now, I know I use that word a lot, but I mean this in the truest sense of the word. It was awesome. Awe-inspiring. We were awe-struck. Had to sit down for a while and just listen. There were great views of the city, and a bell tower that you can go up in, but as we were walking over to it, they closed the church for an hour, and we never got back.

We did play with the Pigeons in St. Mark´s  square, though. It was freaky at first, but cool. You buy bird seed (unopopped popcorn) and sprinkle a little to get the attention of the birds and then hold a little in your hand, and zou get birds all over you. Totally freaky at first, but very cool. Chris refused to try it at first. Not a big pigeon fan is he, but I talked him into it, and by the end, he thought it was pretty cool. Surprisingly, we made it through with no poopage on us!

Yesterday, we spent a lot of time exploring Venice and shopping. We took RS´walking tours of the city and happened upon the best pizza  of our lives. Oh my, was it good. In the afternoon, we decided to go to Murano. We´d thought about it before, then changed our minds, then decided to go again. So, we got on the Vaperetto to head over there, but about 1/2 way there, we realized that we wouldn´t get back in time to go to any of the shops we wanted to. So, we hopped off in some random part of the city and found our way back. Too fun!! We made it to the shops, and did all that we could to help the Venetian economy!!

I mentioned yesterday that Italy is lousy with cig. smoke. It´s actually not as bad as you´d expect. They´re really working on it. You see Vietato Fumare signs all over, and the actually enforce them (when they want to)....unlike here in Germany where smoking anywhere and everywhere is the national pasttime.

Don´t think from that or my last entry that I don´t like the Germans. I do, I love them and Germany. I just prefer most of them actually be in Germany when I´m in Italy!! So, we already can´t wait to go back to Italz, but for now it´s off to Starbucks and then maybe Dachau.

This country is lousy with Germans

and smokers and, and, and something else that I can't remember right now. There are Germans everywhere here. I'm telling you, I've heard as much German in this country as I have Italian, and they've gotten seriously annoying. I mean really, they're everywhere...really, everwhere. And, they're in groups....5, 10, 25, 50, everywhere. Really, are there any Germans left in Germany? School children, old folks, they're all here. AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! And then tonight, we went back to our fave bar from last night for some more of the awesome white wine and chicceta and what do we find sitting next to us, but some Germans. I think God was speaking to me....patience Jamie, patience. After the first glass of wine, I asked one if he spoke English. I figured he did as he seemed rather young and I know they have to learn English in school. He and his friend both did, and we had a wonderful time chatting with them. Chris and I drank a liter of wine (on top of the first glass we had) and enjoyed every minute of it. We had a blast. It was over way to soon, but at 9:00, the bartender was flashing the lights telling us it was time to go (and we thought 2:00 was early!).

So here we are at the internet cafe. We have a train to Padova (or something like that) at 10:52 and then a 1:00 connection to Munich. We went this morning to make our reservations, and once again, we were told that all was full. But, after exhausting all possibities (Salzburg, Vienna, etc.) the guy at the sportello (window) came up with Padova (Padua to you English speakers) and then on to Munich. Fine with us, as long as we make our plane on Tues.

Venice has been an enchanting experience. We will totally be coming back here. We arrived yesterday at like 6:00 in the morning and knew we wouldn't be able to check into our hotel yet, so after spritzing up a bit and changing clothes in the station WC (bathroom) we checked our bags at the Baggagli (left/checked baggage) and made our way into the city. It was just before sunrise and the city was just beginning to awaken and it was perfect. We saw many stalls just putting out their wares (all kinds of fish, produce, etc) and got some amazing pictures of the city. We walked to St. Mark's Square (the one in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Sean Connery flaps his umberlla a the pigeons), and there was NOONE there. We loved it, we had the place to ourselves. Seriously, there were only about five other people there. So, we took tons of pictures (shocked, aren't you?) and savored it all. Rick Steves suggests taking the Vaperetto (water bus) down the Grand Canal to see the sights and get used to things, so we did it in reverse and then came back down to St. Mark's. We took the slow boat, and by the time we got back, it was after 10:00 and there a kabajillion tourists. It was unbelievable. I am so glad we had that time alone to savor it.

So, we into the church. WOW!!! It was awesome. Unbelievable. All of the walls are done in mosaic with tiny glass pieces. Luckily, the joint is lit up on Saturdays or you're not really able to see the beauty of it. Photography is not allowed, but with my awesome new lens, I was able to sneak a few awesome pics. I'm goint straight to tourist hell. Please don't tell Rick Steves!!!

We were exhausted from our hellacious train ride to Venice and took a 4 hour nap! Then, we made our way out to the bars, and the rest you've heard! Today, we walked, got lost, and had some wonderful pizza...twice! Love it!! Now we're on our way back to Munich and then home.

I'm doing laundry

in Venice, no less! well, sort of. we did laundry in our room last night and hung it on our Rick Steve's clotes line, and of course, nothing dried! So, we came to the Laundry, where they have an internet point. too funny! This is the one keyboard I've seen thath has an American setup, but you have to press really hard, so you can't type normally and it beeps with every character typed. This is a labor of love!

We love venice, don't really want to leave. Yesterday, we got here so early, we were able to see the city without the bajillions of tourists, and it was wonderful. Cold, but wonderful! Todaywe're doing walking tours from RS' book and maybe going to Murano (think glass). Last night, we took RS' advice and did a Venice style "pub crawl". We ate cicheta (CHICK-eta) or bar snacks and drank the house white wine. When we finally got to the first one, we didn't want to leave,but thought we should see something else, so we moved on. The 2nd was too hot, and the 3rd too trendy/crowded, so we went back to the first and in honor of Eric Englan ate crawdad looking guys! Hoping they're open tonight!

Rome wasn't built in a day

but it certainly was toured in a day! I can't believe how much we saw in one single day. We totally wore ourselves out, but it was worth it! We didn't arrive until after 7:00 on Thurs. night, and then we showered and still had to have dinner. We asked the guy at the front desk (a lovely man from Tanzania who came to Rome to study medicine. He's graduated, but he's still there. He still has to specialize and then if he meets a proper girl, then who knows....LOL!) where a good, reasonable restaurant was, and he sent us right next door. Excllent food, great ambiance, very good wine. I LOVED it! The waited had so much character. Typical Italian. Love it! I would totally go back in a heart beat (that was only a 1 glass of wine dinner, but it kicked my rear!).

So, Friday, we were total tourists. I mean total. After we finally up, we headed to the Vatican. We just walked around and looked at it. It was a 3 hour wait to get in. We wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, but we just didn't have the time. We took some pictures and made sure to see the Swiss guards and headed over to the Colosseum. Talk about breathtaking. The Colosseum is just awe-inspiring. It's been there for how many years? WOW!!! Loved it! It was super hot, I mean middle of summer hot, so we didnàt stay too terribly long (and remember, we'd lost Rick, so we were a bit on the clueless side as to what we were seeing - thank goodness I'd read the book a couple of times already and have a freakishly good memory). We were starving, so picked up food at one of the little stands 18 Euros later, we weren't starving any more, but our pockets were certainly lighter. We're talking sandwiches here folks, and remember 1 Euros costs $1.20. Ridiculous. But, we was to the point of shakiness, so it had to be done.

We'd followed Rickey's advice and purchased our Col. tickets from the Palatine hill and avoided the 45 minute wait at the Col. I can't believe the lines in Rome. So, we had the entrance to the Hill paid for, but decided to head through the Roman Forum instead. Good decision. It was amazing. We were standing in the place where great emporers once stood. Hundreds and even thousands of years ago. Mind-blowing. We checked out the Basilica of Maxentius just b/c Rickey stands in it during one of his PBS Episodes, and it was unbelievable how big this place was. It's huge as it stands, and we were only seeing 1/3 of it. Um...holy cow! We spoke with an American couple about it all and were all in awe together and then all of us happened upon a free tour. We caught it in the middle, but it was totally worth it. Some tour COs. send out their guides during the day to give free tours and then at the end tell the folks about the other tours they give, a couple we would have taken had we been there more. Anyway, she explained several of the temples to us including the one to Julius Caeser and Augustus somebody and his wife Faustinius something-or-other (and a couple of others I can't remember now), the apartments of the Vestal Virgins, the arch of Septemus Serervus, the arch of Justinius, the Senate, and the Mamertine Prison (where Peter and Paul were once held and then released when they converted their guards). It was truly outstanding. Being in this place with so many centuries of history. It wasn't just a static place, it grew and changed over the years of the Roman Empire, and I loved it! After the tour, we tried to see the tomb of the unkown soldier, but they were closing it, and man, can those Italian security guards be forceful!

So, we made our way to the Pantheon. My last "Must See" place in Rome. And oh, am I glad we did. It was breathtaking. It's not huge, but it is beautiful and you just catch your breath. After that, we walked to Piazza del Popolo and along the way happened into a lovely church and 2 paper stores. There was awesome paper, but there was no easy way for me to get it home, so I bought a "B" stamp. The girl working there just wouldn't believe me that I had ink at home that would work with it. She finally said if I couldn't use it, that was up to me. Too funny!

Finally, we decided to be the ultimate tourists and had dinner at the Hard Rock. We had Nachos and a Cheeseburger with fries and Chris had his beer served in the Souvenier glass, and we bought tee shirts and everything. And they even played Beck and Rick Springfield while we were in there. Loved every minute of it, including the Italian style mac & cheese!

We tried to go to the Easy Interenet Cafe, but on our way, I noticed that the Metro was closed. Turns out the A line (there's only 2) closed at 9:30. Um, yeah, we were planning on taking that to the train station! So, we had to run, get our bags, take a bus to the train station, and then take the metro to the other station from whence our train left. WE were totally freaked about missing our train....unnecessarily, b/c it left almost an hour late. We've yet to be on an ontime Italian train! And, it was the WORST train ride ever. Hot and long and crowded and we had a hard time sleeping. But, it was worth it. We're in Venice, and it is awesome!

On another note, we are currently in an internet cafe, and as we just had 4 glasses of the second best wine ever (the first being our first night in 5 Terre), I just asked Chris, "are we on a barge, or is it just me?" Turns out, we ARE on a boat, but the wine doesn't help!

More on Venice tomorrow, the guy is closing the cafe!

Rome is LOST

or Rick is lost (Rickey to me) or something. anyway, we can't find our Rick Steves' Rome book, and as we are now officially in Rome, it's something of a bad thing. We didn't realize we were missing it until we were packing this morning, but then suddenly, it wasn't there with the other books. I have no idea where it went (I'm pretty sure it left home with us), but it's no longer with us. Thank goodness we brought our Let's Go Italy book, which we totally intended to leave at home. But, it's no Rick. In fact, it doesn't even mention the Sistine Chapel. Um, hello? Kind of a big deal, but no mention.Guess those Harvard kids who research and write the books have no need for one of the greatest works of art ever. No matter, we have Google at our finger tips, and in the time it took me to type the last couple of sentences, Chris already found the desired info. Take that Harvardites!

So, we started out today in the Cinque Terre. Had to wake Rina (that's what everyone calls her) up so we could pay and get Chris' passport back before making the 6:35 train to La Spezia and then make the next train to Pisa. I felt bad waking her up, she was in her nightgown with her hair all askew, but I think she liked us, and she totally loved my hair, so it was OK. So, off we went. We have yet to be on an Italian train since arriving some other day (I'm pretty clueless about that stuff right now - as long as I know where I'm going tomorrow, I'm good) that is on time. We got to Pisa like 45 minutes late. Then, after RUNNING to the tower because I needed a WC like nobodies business and it was about to get bad, and roaming around the "Field of Miracles" taking the cheesey hold the Tower up pics (yes, they actually worked), walking through the Duomo (cathedral) and the Baptistry (where they baptized people), we were trying our darndest to make the 11:54 train to Florenece. We'd left our bags in the baggage check and after picking them up, we ran for the train just to get there in time for Chris to put his hand on the door just as it was pulling away. The only time any darned train leaves on time, and of course, we're not on it. Typical!

The tower was pretty cool. I had been disappointed that we wouldn't be able to climb it (have to make reservations 16 days in advance and we tried 1 week out), but after being there, it just seemed like a waste of stairs, and we climbed over 400 in Florence, so really, it was okay. Plus, there wasn't really anything to see. It's not like you can see the tower from the tower, KWIM? I hadn't been in any of the buildings before, and it was really nice to get to see what's inside of them (we did have Ricky for that) even though the place was lousy with tourists. I know, I know, I was one of them, but we're talking 50 person tour groups here. Oh, it was aweful. They were everywhere, both inside and out. It's nearly impossible to get a picure of anything around the without a throng in it. Yuck!

Finally, we were on our way in Florence with a whopping 3.5 hours. Not enough time to do a whole lot, but we did walk to the Duomo (the main cathedral). We oogled the doors on the baptistry along with all of the other 3 bajillion tourists and thought about going in the Duomo, but the line was literally a couple of hundred people long. So, we climbed up the campanile, the bell tower next to the Duomo.Hello! Over 400 steps (the Italians said 414, but we each counted 405). Yeah, it was a great view, but I was in serious need of gelato afterwards!. We walked to the big piazza with the former Medici palace in it (did you know they got their name b/c they started out as medics and eventually moved into banking?) and looked at all of the statues there. We strolled through the Uffizi courtyard (at 4:00 there was still a HUGE line for the Uffizi) and then over the Ponte Vecchio. Oh wow! The bridge itself if beautiful and is lined with jewlery shops. Wow! pretty sparkly things. But, nothing we could afford. Sorry Bob! I'm still working on it!

We made it back to the train station just in time to get our baggage from the check room and pick up a snack, and then we noticed the train was in ritardo. Just great! Finally, we got on, but it was the 1st class section of the train, and here we come with our sack of Mickey D's and boy, we donàt look like the regular 1st class Italian train traveler, but we paid for our first class ticket, so by gosh, weàre gonna use them! When we finally got to the train station, it was late....after 7, and we tried to get a reservation for tomorrow night's night train to Venice. Of course, the guy who worked in the ticket office didn't speak English. So, he got another gal to help us, and she told us sleeper reservations would be 53 Euros on top of our Eurail. Um, yeah, not so much! So, we reserved seats only. Who needs a sleeper. It's only 7 hours! I'm hoping we can at least get a compartment and stretch out. Our hotel is darling. It's on the 2nd story of this apartment type of building right by the Spanish Steps. We the lovely guy working there where to go for dinner, and he sent us to the place just next door. The food was AWESOME!!! And their wine selection? Fabulous! We once again, had house white, and it was outstanding. I've become a little conessouir over here! So, the wine has put me under, and Iàm just about falling asleep at this computer! I'd better head out, seeing as we're going to the Sistine chapel and the Roman Forum.

I love Italy!

Another email copied! Hope you don't mind

We
did figure out the vomit problem....I got it on my pants, probably in
the port-a-potty (which, incidentally was scarily full) and then it
transferred to a lot of my stuff. I have everything cleaned up now, but
my bags still have that lingering aroma!

We made our train last night after getting our first hot (or even warm,
for that matter) shower in days in the train station. We paid 7 Euros a
piece plus a 7 Euro deposit for our showers in this place in the train
station called McClean. It was hysterical - .60 for men to use the
urinal (trough), 1.10 for both men and women to use an actual stall,
and 7.00 for the shower. AND, the shower had a toilet in with it. I
went three times while I was in there so I didn't have to pay anyone
extra! Amazing how priorities change so quickly, isn't it? I've found
myself drinking less water than usual even though I need more b/c the
.50 here and the 1 Euro there really add up! Before our showers, we
went to the Easy Internet Cafe. It's part of the EasyJet company (think
Airline UK on A&E). They had over 400 computers there! We wanted to
call home, but didn't have enough time!

So, now we are in Italy and loving it. Tonight and tommorow night, we
are in the Cinque Terra, Vernazza to be exact. We've had a couple of
traveling mishaps, but nothing that really made a difference in the
end, and we knew it when they happened. Just chalked them up to
learning experiences - got on the milk train in  Modena, Italy
because it was there when we should have waited for the faster train;
lost our paper that the German guy who finally helped us gave us with
our 4 connections on it. Not to worry, though, we somehow ended up on
the right train to La Spezia and I was able to remember/look at the map
& figure out the last 3 connections we needed to make (and we found
the paper in our daypack where someone who shall remain nameless -
Chris - put it).

We got on the wrong train in La Spezia, and it didn't stop in Vernazza,
but no worries. The towns are like 5 mins. apart by train and we just
hopped on the next one. The train conductor was totally nice, making
sure we knew exactly where to get off and which train to get on next.
Speaking the Espanol seriously helps with understanding the Italiano. I
don't really understand alot, but the more I hear, the more it makes
sense and I can figure out the gist of things!

As we ascended from the train station, we were looking at the pages we
ripped out of Rick Steves' Italy trying to figure out where we were
going to say when this older woman came up to us. Her name is Marina
and she speaks not a word of English, but she had a room to rent
and  recognized the pages and guessed that we were american and
told us to come with her. We said, "Why not?" and followed her. We are
in an adorable little room with a full bathroom for 60 Euros per night.
Less than we had expected without the bathroom in the room! And, Marina
is a lovely woman. "No problema con Marina." She told us this over and
over. And she's right, no problems so far. We even did some laundry in
the sink and hung it out to dry on the line below her window. Too cool.
Vernazza is built in the hills and everyone has a line out their window
and always has something on it. Look, we fit in!

After having lunch on a terrace out over the ocean (there aren't words
to describe it properly, you'll have to see the pictures) with the most
amazing food we've ever had in our lives (pasta with seafood), we
explored the town and then hiked to one of the other 5 Cinque Terre
towns. It was a brutal hike, but we got some great views and we hung
out at the beach for a little while in that town before finding a place
for a 4 cheese calzone and then wasting an hour waiting for the train
back to Vernazza with Gelato and the town drunk singing the same song
over and over. When we finally got back, we had dinner at one of the
restaurants on the harbor. An appetizer of tons of different seafood
stuff from stuffed muscles and anchovies to calamari and then meals of
pesto and spaghetti with muscles and the most amazing house wine ever.
So light and perfect, we drank 2 carafes (albeit small ones) of it.
Tomorrow, we go to the other 3 towns. We LOVE it here and already know
we'll be coming back!

Well, the gal who runs the internet cafe is ready to close. More tomorrow hopefully!

Munich

We're leaving Munich in about an hour, and while I LOVE this citz and the Germans, I'm readz for the slower pace of Italz. The following is an email I sent mz mom in response to some questions we asked. (actuallz, it's 2 emails)I hope zou don't mind, but I don't have time to retzpe everzthing!

Sorrz about the crummz spelling. i'm using a whacked out German kezboard, and thez kezs are in the wrong place. so, zou get zzzzzs where there should be ys.

Oh my god, the tent in the soccer stadium....well, let's just say i'm glad we're not stayint there anymore. how about this.......we went to octoberfest and then the hofbrauhaus (big, famous beer hall) last night and drank WAY too much. So, we got back to our tent, and somewhere between when we got back and when I packed everzthing this morning, i got puke all over a bunch of mz stuff. the worst part of it is that it's not mz puke. i didn't drink THAT much! although, I was feeling it todaz. and, i don't have anzwaz to wash it until tomorrow. but, we've had a wonderful anniversarz. we did the castles todaz, and although we missed our first train, we still made it (barelz) in time for our reserved tours. it was absolutelz beautiful. the perfect daz to be traipsing about the alps.

we had a hell of a time getting here. missed our connection in paris, and there were NO seats anztime on anzthing getting in to munich. So, we went to Frankfurt and took the train. But, our first flight was cancelled, and then thez delazed the flight we finallz got on. Air France refused to reimburse us for the train fare b/c the plane was ontime landing in paris, so it was our fault we were late. HA!!! let me tell zou. we had to disembark onto a bus and take that over to the terminal. no biggie, except the bus ride took 30 minutes (we had an hour lazover) and then there was no markin anzwhere about where we should get off for what airlines/flights, so we had to RUN, and I mean RUN to our terminal.....2 terminals awaz. We got there with 15 minutes to spare, and thez wouldn't let us on. Damn French. Anz desire we had to go there just went right out the door. Reallz, thez people weren't that bad, but the longer we were there, the more we realiyed we were getting the run around. Thez just tell zou whatever thez feel like telling zou.

I had a momentarz breakdown this evening. Upon our return from the castles (did I mention.....awesome!), we went to reserve seats for our night train. The crayz I-don't-

okaz, sorrz about that, i was having kezboard issues, so I went ahead and sent it. Anzwaz, this crayz german ladz working in the ticket office told us there were no seats available to go to Italz. I started crzing a little. I just reallz wanted to get out of here. Don't get me wrong, I've loved being here, but zou can onlz take so much of drunk, stupid bozs (italian, german, etc. etc.) running into zou, singing at the top of their lungs late into the night, and what not. iäve been working with a 'never give up' attitude, so after a couple of tears, I suddenlz thought, what about salyburg? Mazbe we could go there and then get to Italz from there. We went to a totallz different place that was just for reservations, and guz was like, "zeah, sure, zou can do that" and gave us reservations. We even got couchettes. I'm not sure we're together, though. It'll be okaz. Sleep is reallz all that matters. 

The tent camp was close to nightmarish. See, we actuallz wanted to sleep, unlike some of the other folks there. Imagine that! We didn't get there till 12:45ish the first night (dam french) and didn't get to bed till nearlz three, so we slept in till 11:45. Where upon, I was rudelz awakened with an ice cold shower. It was like being back at church camp. I took 3 showers in one 24-hour period, and not one of them included an ounce of hot water. This morning at 5 am, I almost cried when it was still ice cold. I brilliantlz trid the cold water, and there was literallz about 1 ounce of warm water that came out. it was dirtz and dustz and blech. and it was freaking cold. last night, i slept with a t-shirt, 2-long-sleeved shirts, and mz jacket on plus mz fleece stocking cap and glooves. No good, I was still freeying. Plus, I had wet hair. it rozallz sucked! We onlz got a couple of hours of sleep last night and we are seriouslz dragging right now. It's about 10:30ish here, and our train leaves for italz at 11:40.

We had an interesting conversation (if zou can call it that) over our anniversarz piyya hut dinner with some Iraqi Christians who left the cuntrz zears ago under Sadaam. Thez were nice bozs who wanted to practice their english with people who were willing to listen and actuallz have a conversation. There was a man with a Home Depot shirt on trzing to talk with them when we walked up, and he reallz wanted to know what thez thought of us being there and Sadaam being gone. He was reallz frustrated with them b/c thez weren't telling him what thez thought. He wanted them to go back to Iraq to help rebuild it. He asked if I spoke english hoping I could help, I guess. He kept going on and on asking them the same thing, trzing to get someone to translate. I said something to him, and he asked, "don't zou want to know what thez think?" Zes, but if thez don't speak English, thez can't verz well tell zou. He said he thought thez spoke more English and were avoiding him, so I told him that zes, I wanted to know, but if thez didn't want to tell, that was their business. I think thez reallz liked that (zes thez did speak a little english) b/c as soon as he left them alone for a minute, thez turned around and started talking to us. Turns out, thez left because of religious persecution under Sadaam. Duh! Hello, of course thez're glad to see him go! One said to me, "For 25 zears, under Sadaam, much bad, much problems." I think that prettz much sums it up.

Well, I'd better go. There's a place called MacClean in the trainstation where we're hoping to mazbe get a warm shower before the train. We will see!!! BTW, we keep forgetting to put on deoderant. Prettz soon, we're going to smell like Germans!

Up, Up & Away

We're off to see the Germans, the crazy Germans of Munich (think we're off to see the wizard). We are so stinkin' excited, I just can't tell you. I think we both have a bit of nervous due to our excitement! Here's a funny note.....months and months ago, we made a reservation for our last night in Munich. Some random hotel somewhere in the city has a reservation for us. Problem is, we don't know which one. I know I did it online and then printed out the info, but I can't find an email about it, I can't remember which online service I used, and I can't find the print out. So, for our last night in Munich, which coincidentally just so happens to be the last night of Oktoberfest, we have no room. It should be an adventure, to say the very least!

Chris and I are keeping journals of our journey. I'm a pretty crummy journaler (great the first two days, and by the end I'm lucky if I have even a timeline of what we did), and Chris has never kept one before, so this should be interesting! I did make us journals, though. Maybe this will aid in the actual journaling process. You know, I went to all the trouble of making it, so I'd darn well better use it! Here's a pic of mine. His isn't quite done yet. Okay, truthfully, it hasn't gotten started yet. Oh well. It'll get done! Our plane takes off in less than 5 hours and we said we were leaving for my mom's in an hour and 15 minutes. Holy Crap! I'd better get a move on!

Can Hardly Stand the Wait!

It's a scant 48 hours until we leave (okay, a little more, but close enough).  By this time on Friday, we'll be in Paris and almost on our way to Munich, and I'm so darned excited, I just want to jump up and down! Last night, we visited our favorite store, Target, and  stocked up on the last minute small items: aspirin,  Shout wipes, travel lock, travel lint brush, mini deoderant, toothbrush for Chris, Kleenex packs (for those WCs w/crepe paper for toilet paper), emergency blankets (the silver space blankets that they give marathoners at the end of the race), ponchos, a fold-into-itself tote, books, and various and sundry other little items. Chris has been running around a lunch picking up last minute stuff, a toiletry kit, a compression pillow for me, a mini flashlight, and a collapsible cup. The cup has proven the hardest to find. He finally had to go to the Army Surplus store. It's amazing the things you find there!

Here's our updated list:

Things To Do (Buy)

• Make reservations for Mad Ludwig's castles



• Rick Steves' Backpacks (2)



• Travel Towels (2)



• Clothesline



• Travel Books
  1. Germany/Austria
  
  
  
  2. Italy
  
  
  
  3. Florence/Tuscany
  
  
  
  4. Venice
  
  
  
  5. Rome



• Money Belt



• Compression Pillow



• Luggage Lock



• Travel Wash



• Sleep Sack (2)



• Picnic Ware (2)



• Wide Angle Lens



• Camera Bag



• Toiletries Bag



• Aveda Mens' Hair & Body Shampoo



• Chris' iPod



• Shoes - Jamie



• Shoes - Chris



• Quick Drying Clothes



• Hotel Resrvations
  1. Florence
  
  
  
  2. Rome
  
  
  
  3. Venice

We've got everything done and then some! Holy cow, I can't believe it!!!

What we haven't gotten done yet:

• Make reservations for David



• Small Wallet



• Reservations for Leaning Tower of Pisa

Homebody

It’s official, I am no longer a mobile scrapper. I’m at ScrapHappy’s annual retreat at the Fin and Feather, and while packing up to come down here, I quickly came to this conclusion…..mobile scrapping is not for me. I have way too much crap and a certain knack for failing to plan. There’s just always one too many things to get done before I have to leave and I never get around to it. I wish I did. I’m super-duper productive when I do. Maybe someday. I think being more organized would help. I’m already pretty darned organized when it comes to the SB stuff, but there’s so many little things, and what to do with those and still have them easy to find? Oh, the trials and tribulations of an obsessed scrapbooker. You should have seen the car on the way down here. It was seriously full! Not to the rafters, but still full. And some how I’ve still managed to buy things. Go figure.

But, if I didn’t get a single thing done, not one thing accomplished, it wouldn’t matter because I’m having an awesome time. Bob and I are really enjoying this (even though for the first day we shared one 6-foot table and we’re sitting right next to the bathroom). We’ve had lots of time to enjoy friends (mostly standing in line waiting for the buffet), to get reacquainted with old friends and to meet lots of new folks. It couldn’t be better if I tried to plan it. The one draw back is the allergy situation. I (we) am 100% allergic to this place, especially our room. Oh my, our room. I’m especially allergic to my pillow. Yeah, my pillow. Stinks. Literally. Last night I fell asleep with my nose in my shirt so I wouldn’t have to smell my pillow. But, it’s not enough to dampen the awesome time we’re having here. One of my projects is a secret…maybe some day I’ll share it with the world! (man, that sounds like I’m important, doesn’t it?)