Europe 2006!!

Europe 2006!!

Bonjour from Paris! It's Bastille Day here, which wasn't the crazy party we were thinking - probably better that way because the running of the bulls was underestimated. The parade this morning was a huge affair, but the U.S. needs to show them how it's done.

Last night we went to a cabaret show! Kat was trying to convince us the whole time that the singer was a man, but Stef and I disagreed. It was risque at times and the costumes were appropriate! We accidentally ended up buying a 30 dollar bottle of wine because we thought he said 13... oops, there have been a lot of those "missunderstandings" on our whole trip.

In Bordeaux, the Tour de France just had to pass through the day we were there, so no wine tours for us. We had to figure out how to get our buts to St. Emilion (look for Bordeaux wine the next time you are in the store - it's good!) and got on the wrong train, but got there safe and sound.

Gotta get ready for the fireman party tonight.. oo la la!

Hope all is well - off to Germany tomorrow!

4th of July! ... in Barcelona.

Europe 2006!!

Just wanted everyone to know that we celebrated our Independence Day at our very own, Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona. Had greasy cheeseburgers and mac n´ cheese and it was very delicious! Wore a plastic American flag in my hair as we rode the Bus Touristic around the city, and only had 2 people say ¨Congrats, Happy Independence Day¨ - ah I guess I don´t know anything other than Cinco De Mayo so it´s understandable! Please post on what you did! We´d love to hear how you all celebrated the 4th.

Currently I am sitting in our non-airconditioned hostel listening to screaming, whistles, and fast cars drive by, because Italy won the quarter finals of the World Cup. The game went something like 110 minutes before a goal was even scored, but hey, I guess people like it. The great news is that France is still in it, and if they win the game on the 5th against Portugal, we´ll see the final game in Bayonne, France, on the 9th! It will be the Superbowl of Europe and we´ll be there! Somehow after quitting soccer once in kindergarten and then again in 6th grade I seem to care about this sport...

We also wanted to let everyone know that we will not be running with the bulls persay during our next adventure of the San Fermin Festival 2006 in Pamplona. We will be behind two different fences watching from afar and then shopping at the many souveneir (sp? can´t spell ever since school ended) tents. Plenty of snacks, water, and needed supplies for going to the bathroom in porta potties (wonder what they are called in Spanish) will be in our backpacks. We´ll be getting to the opening ceremony at noon on the 6th and will see the first run on the morning of the 7th. The town we are staying in is probably the size of a pea so we most likely won´t be able to use the internet - stay posted for an update after the running of the bulls! We´ll be safe!

Hello all, its kat, we are here in milan now. yesterday, we were in venice. venice is absolutely beautiful, just like in all the pictures. we saw it all, the only thing we missed out on was the gondola rides. we decided to save our money because we figure the next time we come back, we will come back with a husband and they will shell out the dough!! we eat standing up to avoid the 1.50 euro cover charge, let alone pay 100 euro for a gondola ride. we had a great time last night drinking our BOXES of wine and relaxing by the water. Thats right, a box of wine. you can buy a litre of wine for 1.40 euro. best deal yet.

stefanie has been doing a nice job of taking our what not to wear photos. yesterday, she snapped a great one of a woman in see through pants. she also scored an action shot of a man with a curly mustache. i know you all cant wait to see the fashion fopa (spelling???) pictures. tomorrow we are doing the hiking trails of cinque terre. i am in trouble because my legs already feel like they are going to fall off. after cinque terre, we are off to nice. we are in need of relaxation time on the french riveria. more to come later...... miss you!

its kim... want to know why we are hanging out in the internet cafe when we only have one day in milan? this is why: everything is closed!! we came here for some shopping, and probably 1 out of 10 stores were open today, youd think wed be smart enough to realize it was sunday! yeah we are all having a very hard time dealing with the heat. it really takes a lot out of us to be in the hot sun walking around all day, boohooo right? im sure you feel sorry for us! yes kat is right, we are going to come back with our husbands for a gondola ride. venice was cool too, but also things closed early. whats with this place? they get like 3 hour lunches, close early, open late... we have the wrong idea. so far i think we all like florence the best, hanging out with the purse guys was great and climbing to the top of the duomo was scary but amazing. i cant wait to put our pics online for everyone to read. oh and europeans have no concept of personal space, sounds like they need a social skills lesson from ms. freling! they step on you, stand two inches from your face, and reserve saying scuzi for when they really feel like it i guess! okay time to go!!! been gone 9 days and it feels so long already. miss you all!

3 words...

99 cent store!!! I had a dream that I would find a dollar store while i was here, and it has happened. it is just like dollar tree and if you havent been to dollar tree, go! its on waukegan and dempster. oh i also got a discount° sconto° on a beer by using the italian word (you know me, ill always try to find the cheap way to go!) so we are on our way out but i just had to let everyone know about the 99 cent store!

p.s. raffi i went to a cafe this morning called cafe de innocenti (her last name) and sonia youàd be proud to know i have seen not one, but two stores named sonia. i also saw one named kimbo.

okay thatàs all for now, sorry for the bad punctiation!

intervention needed...purse addiction rears its ugly head!!!

Europe 2006!!

Well, we are in Firenze, thats Florence for all you Americans, and lets just say that it is all leather, jewelry, and gnocchi. We climbed 463 steps today to get to the top of the Duomo. it was scary and a little bit cramped but it was worth it.

kim and stefanie are having major issues with space in the bags that they brought...the shopping is too good here.

We have started a picture log of fashion victims on the streets that we are going to share with you all when we get back...the first entry was a man is a brown suit, with pants 4 inches too short and orange socks...mr. pink blazer was next...we will be sure to catch more!

So to catch up from Rome...we bought a megaphone...yes a megaphone! on the streets of Rome around the Campo de Fiore area. kat was able to talk the street vendor down from 25 Euros to 5...way to go kat! of course, obnoxiousness ensued and some kelly clarkson was sung in the piazza. We are making sure that stereotypes about Americans stay alive.

We are going for a day trip to Siena tomorrow...it is supposed to be a cool midevil town.

Will write again soon...let us know what is going on back home...we are very behind on current events!

< Ciao ciao! that's how you be cool here in italy. bad punctuation because canàèt figure out the keyboard! so far we have seen all of the major landmarks, had 8 bottles of wine (kidding mom), ate fried artichoke in the jewish ghetto, found out that what weàve heard about italian men is true (although italian women donàt think so apparantly), navigated through the city with a map missing half of the street names, met a guy who lived on clark and devon, had lasagne, bought expensive purses (okay kims is fake but nevertheless i got a picture in front of the prada store with it on), used the internet in italian, saw a couple BOTH wearing bright yellow pants and a girl wearing a shirt as a skirt, discovered what a biday beday bidet looks like in italy, missed-miss our boyfriends/friends/family very much, learned that people donàt say excuse me and they dont give much personal space, and figured out that our us dollar does not go far here (not only bad exchange rate but everything is very expensive - paid a 1.50 "cover charge" at a restaurant and kat bought a small cocacola light for 4.50 us!!!!). mom send over some money!!! AND as always, mom you would be proud to know kim is documenting the trip annoyingly well with her camera. stef has not taken a major fall yet so thats good but we expect her to be tripping on the cobblestone streets (oh and it is not easy to walk in heels on these streets) very soon. oh and kim got sh*t on by a bird that must have had a bad stomach ache (picture lime green)! blog later!

Ciao ciao! that's how you be cool here in italy. bad punctuation because canàèt figure out the keyboard! so far we have seen all of the major landmarks, had 8 bottles of wine (kidding mom), ate fried artichoke in the jewish ghetto, found out that what weàve heard about italian men is true (although italian women donàt think so apparantly), navigated through the city with a map missing half of the street names, met a guy who lived on clark and devon, had lasagne, bought expensive purses (okay kims is fake but nevertheless i got a picture in front of the prada store with it on), used the internet in italian, saw a couple BOTH wearing bright yellow pants and a girl wearing a shirt as a skirt, discovered what a biday beday bidet looks like in italy, missed-miss our boyfriends/friends/family very much, learned that people donàt say excuse me and they dont give much personal space, and figured out that our us dollar does not go far here (not only bad exchange rate but everything is very expensive - paid a 1.50 "cover charge" at a restaurant and kat bought a small cocacola light for 4.50 us!!!!). mom send over some money!!! AND as always, mom you would be proud to know kim is documenting the trip annoyingly well with her camera. stef has not taken a major fall yet so thats good but we expect her to be tripping on the cobblestone streets (oh and it is not easy to walk in heels on these streets) very soon. oh and kim got sh*t on by a bird that must have had a bad stomach ache (picture lime green)! blog later!

27 hours and counting

So we've realized this blog thing can be confusing, but it may be the best way to communicate with everyone while we're there. You can post things too! Rick Steve says to be packed 2 days beforehand so you can relax, but I'm breaking that rule as I just finished packing up the class and am just heading home to "pack" (meaning = rummage around in all of the junk I have put in or around my suitcase to make it look like I've packed).

Bye!