WE'RE BACK!!!!

Just incase anyone is still looking at my blog, Meg and I made it back safely yesterday. I'll probably post one more entry to this before I end my blog. So until next time...cheers...

Jekyll and Hyde...

The best way I can think to describe Amsterdam is by comparing it to Jekyll and Hyde. On one side of Amsterdam there are beautiful canals and a rich history in the Van Gogh Museum and The Ann Frank House. On the other side there are more prostitutes and drugs than you could ever imagine! Amsterdam is really crazy. We're having a tremendous time though. I know this is a short post, but see me when I get home and I'll tell you about the night before Amsterdam in Charleroi and more about Amsterdam. We still have a lot to do, so I'm off for now. Until next time...cheers...

Jekyll and Hyde...

The best way I can think to describe Amsterdam is by comparing it to Jekyll and Hyde. On one side of Amsterdam there are beautiful canals and a rich history in the Van Gogh Museum and The Ann Frank House. On the other side there are more prostitutes and drugs than you could ever imagine! Amsterdam is really crazy. We're having a tremendous time though. I know this is a short post, but see me when I get home and I'll tell you about the night before Amsterdam in Charleroi and more about Amsterdam. We still have a lot to do, so I'm off for now. Until next time...cheers...

Sweden

Today Meg and I have made our way around Stockholm. I must say that Sweden is pretty tremendous. It's very beautiful here, that's for sure! We took a brief boat tour so that we could see some of the things around the canal and that was a lot of fun. However, one thing that I think needs to be mentioned that Meg and I quickly found out last night was how RyanAir doesn't really fly you to your intended destinations! For instance, when we flew out of Brussels on Monday, we really flew out of an airport about half an hour from there. And this has really been the case with every place that we've landed. So last night when we thought we were landing in Stockholm, but we really weren't! We landed and had to ride a tour bus for an hour and a half to get to Stockholm! It's because RyanAir doesn't really fly you into your intended destinations! So just for future reference, although RyanAir is cheap, they're cheap for a reason! It's so you also have to take their tour buses to get to your intended destinations! So after our hour and a half tour bus ride through Sweden, we arrived in Stockholm around 1 a.m. The sun was still setting at this time...well really the sun never goes down. This has been a trend throughout Europe! Regardless, we made it to our hostel where Meg and I quickly found out that we were on an episode of Gilligan's Island! The boat we're staying on is really cool, but there is this pull out bunk that we both laughed at and thought about Gilligan, the Skipper too, a millionaire and his wife, a movie star, the professor and Mary Ann...here on Gilligan's Island! Ok, so clearly if you're reading this, you can tell I'm very tired and out of it today! So sorry for that, but my traveling has caught up with me! Tomorrow we're heading back to Brussels and either staying there for the night or heading to Amsterdam, depending on the train schedule. By the way, I'm writing this blog in 7-11 and it's by far the nicest 7-11 of all time! It's basically like a cafe/upscale 7-11, which is altogether really nice! Ok, even I'm tired of my mindless rambling now, so I'm going. Until next time...cheers...

Just head straight for the Castle, you can't miss it...

So the title of my blog is the advice we got from a local walking his dogs on how to get back to town! After hiking up to Arthur's Seat, we asked some guy if we were going the right way back to town. He just laughed and told us to head straight for the Castle and we couldn't miss it! Now how often do you hear that!?

Meg and I went to the end of the Royal Mile and hiked up to Arthur's Seat. This is one of two huge rock formations in Holyrood Park. Little did we know that we would need an oxygen mask and tank to climb this though! When we reached the top of it, we were literally in the middle of the fog that wouldn't lift! Before making the climb up to Arthur's seat, we took a tour of Edinburg Castle. It was really beautiful. After that we had to return to the hostel to put some more clothes on! Today is not a day for shorts and sandals (or kilts, if I were so inclined to wear one!), which we quickly found out! And today is really the first day that we've experienced "true" European weather. We now have a new rule that we can't talk about the weather! Meg posted things about it on her blog yesterday and I talked about it when I called home and today, it's freezing in Scotland!

So that's all I have for now! Until next time...cheers...

Protecting Our Underwater Ally...

Meg and I arrived safely in Scotland this morning. We took the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh, which is where we'll stay for the remainder of our time in Scotland. I have to say that Edinburgh may be the best place we've been thus far. So thanks Dr. Brown for the heads up and suggesting we come here!

We haven't had time to do much just yet. We walked around to a few shops and checked some things our for tomorrow. But I'm not going to lie, we've got a nice little Friday planned... and I can assure you that after Home Depot, there will be no time for Bed, Bath, and Beyond! (Yes I know I've used that quote a lot, but it's still funny!) Regardless, I'll try to write more when I get the chance. But just know that this is the news report that we heard when we landed today:

"Last week, Japanese scientists explaced... placed explosive detonators at the bottom of Lake Loch Ness to blow Nessie out of the water. Sir Godfrey of the Nessie Alliance summoned the help of Scotland's local wizards to cast a protective spell over the lake and its local residents and all those who seek for the peaceful existence of our underwater ally."

For those of you who know what movie that's from, you know it's funny! And no worries, I'm one of those supporting the peaceful existence of our underwater ally! Nonetheless, I'm off for now! Until next time...cheers...

One More Thing...

One quick thing I forgot to mention is that the driving in Europe is no better than the driving was in Asia!

Also, Meg's posting some pictures on her blog, so you can see some of what we're doing on there! Have a good one all!

Cheers...

Belgium/Ireland

Ok, so I haven't written anything in a while, but we really haven't found decent internet access until today, which is our last day in Ireland. So let me go back and try to quickly recap things.

We spent a couple of days in Belgium, in which we saw a lot. We went up and walked around Brugge, which was beautiful. After that, we took the train out to Oostende and then to Antwarpen. We pretty much just took the train all over the vast majority of Belgium in one day. It was really cool to get to see as much as we did though.

We arrived in Ireland a couple of days ago and it is truly beautiful. It's the first country that we've been in that reminded me of home. I think it was the green fields and cows that reminded me of home, but there's just something about it that reminds me of southwest Virginia. One of the funniest things we've seen thus far is a "Corse" or a "How" we haven't decided yet! It was a horse that had the black and white color of a cow! It was so funny because Meg looked out the bus window and then immediately looked at me with her "Did you see what I saw!?" look and it was so funny! We've both been laughing about that for a while now!

We stayed close to the southern-most tip of Ireland the first night here. We were right next to this famous lighthouse that has been the centerpiece of many paintings. Looking at it, it's clear why. The next morning, we took a walk along the coastline trail. We walked for several miles and it was beautiful. We did see some naked guy going swimming, which was random to look down the cliffs and see that, but it was also very funny as well. We tried to rent a car, but the people at the airport told us that you had to be 25, which neither of us are. So we've been taking the bus around and still seeing a lot. However, yesterday our taxi driver, who was hilarious, found out for us that we could rent a car from Enterprise (and they'll pick you up!). She was very willing to help us though and she was so funny. She said, "Oh Lord Jesus, isn't that just ridiculous! I know if I two of my kids were in a foreign country and couldn't hire a car, I would just flip over something like that!" So clearly that line doesn't read like it's funny, but imagine it in a very strong Irish accent and it's much funnier.

Today we took the bus up to Galway and tomorrow we're headed for Scotland for a couple of days and then to Sweden, then back to Brussels, then to Amsterdam. Oh and we decided to end our trip by going to London on the 16th to see Daniel Powter and then coming back and leaving from Brussels on the 17th. We thought that it'd be pretty sweet to see Daniel Powter in London, so we're taking the train over for that! Other than that, we've had no real plan and it's been working well!

We have decided though that the first hour in any new place is just going to be a cluster! I'm not sure what it is about that first hour, but we're just openly accepting that it's going to be crazy! Regardless, I must be off for now. No worries, we're safe and having a lot of fun! Until next time (whenever that may be)...cheers...

Belgium

First let me say that I will post more about what´s going on when I can get to a keyboard with keys in their normal position. For some ungodly reason, the keys on the keyboard here are different than they are in America and so I have to type this in one key at a time. And for those of you who know me, you know I don´t have the patience to deal with this.

Today Meg and I took the train all over Belgium. We spent a most of the day walking around Brugges. After that we went to Oostende. We briefly saw the coast and then went somewhere else.

Ok I´m done messing with this damn keyboard. I´ll update this tomorrow in Ireland. Meg´s driving and we have to drive on the left. So for those of you reading this, say a prayer for us!

Until next time...cheers...

For more on what´s going on, look at Meg´s blog...she has more patience than I do!