Munich!

(Munich photos here - https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh)

After a few days in Berlin we were ready to head to Munich. It was a rather quick 6 hour train trip that consisted most of countryside and autumn colors. Munich was a fairly easy city to get around in and a quick 10 minute bus ride later we were at our next apartment. Since we got in fairly late - around 5pm we went out for dinner and called it a night.

For our first day in Munich I woke up and went out for a run in the English Gardens - an expansive park that is much larger than Central Park and was only about 8 minutes walking from our apartment. There really is nothing better than being outside before most people are up and out of the house in the morning! It was still quite peaceful but towards the end more and more commuters were walking through the park - what a great commute! Most of our day consisted of a trip to Dachau Concentration Camp, about an hour outside of the city by public transportation. We took an audio guide throughout the grounds and it was a haunting reminder of the events that happened only 70 years ago. One of the most interesting facts I heard was that they had built a gas chamber but never actually used it. Nevertheless we heard horrifying stories especially about the human experiments that were conducted on the prisoners there.

Day two in Munich actually was spent in Salzburg, Austria. It was about a two hour train trip and before we knew it we were in Salzburg. Since we only had a few hours we visited the Fortress which sits atop of the city - great views as it was nearly blue skies (again). We had lunch at an "Austrian" restaurant (I had a pumpkin burger so not sure how much that was Austrian but oh well). We wanted to take a river cruise that came with our day pass but first we visited Mozart's Residence. This is where he grew up and became the famous composer that we all know. One fact that I found quite cool was that growing up his family traveled around Europe for 3 years while the two siblings played music for royal courts and more. I can only imagine that same trip today would probably only take 1/3 of the time, if even that long. After a quick hour river cruise we stopped at the most impressive Christmas ornament shop that I have ever seen. It was all egg shells decorated in Christmas, Easter, and other holidays. Once I got over my fear of bumping one and causing them all to fall, I settled on a wooden ornament and I knew it would have a better chance of survival throughout the next three weeks. Had I been traveling home after Munich - so many Christmas egg shell ornaments would've been purchased! On our way back to Munich we encountered the most realistic account of the refugee crisis that I've seen. We were not allowed to board a train for Germany until we showed our passports and at one station in Germany we saw nearly 50 refugees getting escorted off trains and into welcome tents by several police officers. It really was an eye opening experience that we really haven't felt in the US. It seems that in media we are always hearing about the negatives but I wish I could share with you the images I will always hold of these groups, families, and individuals who all had warm winter jackets, maybe one or two bags, but most importantly they had hope in their eyes - and that was something I wish our media would cover more.

Day three was another day trip outside of Munich - it was time to see some castles! We took a guided trip first to Linderhof Castle - which King Ludwig II built for himself as he was a recluse. Unfortunately we were not able to take photos of the interior but it was extravagantly decorated with gold, chandeliers, and mirrors - a bit too intense for my taste but he seemed to enjoy it. Next up we went to a small town that made famous wooden Cuckoo clocks, ornaments, and more. Since I still realize that I have a lot more traveling to do, only some small goodies were purchased. Our last stop (and the one I was most looking forward to) was Neuschwanstein Castle aka the Disney Castle, or the castle that most people believe Walt Disney replicated for the main castle in Disneyland. Unfortunately the castle was hidden behind a light layer of fog so we were unable to see the whole castle but from the images online I can only imagine how gorgeous it would be on a summer or snowy day. We finished the day with our bus ride back and we watched the movie Rainman - both Rachel and I had never seen it.

Day four - Happy Halloween! Today Rachel and I went out to a brunch place and I had some tasty French toast and eggs, I was getting a little tired of my quiche and roll at the cafe by our place. We visited St. Peter's church. It had a tower that you could climb and the views over Munich were worth all 300 or so steps! With the bright blue sky Munich looked like the cute historic city that I was hoping for after the more bleak Berlin cityscape that we saw a few days earlier. After the tower we met up with Joe who had flown in and we rented bikes and rode around the English Gardens that were right by our place. We stopped at a large beer garden along with hundreds of others and then made our way around the entire park until we were getting a little cold from the setting sun. For dinner we headed to a famous beer hall called Augustine-Keller and had some German food and beers and made our first set of German friends who kept talking to us in very broken English - it was pretty entertaining to say the least!

Day five in Munich was a bittersweet one as a Rachel headed home. Those three weeks went so quick! Joe and I headed up to the BMW Museum which was only about 20 minutes the city. I didn't realize how big BMW was in motorcycle engines, so I thought it would be more about cars but it ended up showcasing more of the engine developments throughout its history. I did learn that BMW made boat and airplane engines - a fact that I didn't know. We walked over to BMW World which was right across the street and showcased the new developments for the company. Since we were in the heart of the Olympic area for the games we walked all around the campus of the former sight. It was cool to see the sights still being used and it was impressive! We finished the day up with a walk around Marienplatz and had dinner at Hofbrauaus, the most well known beer hall in Munich. I can't even imagine this place during Oktoberfest! We headed back to get all packed before our trip to Prague, Czech Republic in the morning.

Berlin!

You could immediately tell we were in the former East Germany by the architecture. It was very uniform, bland, and depressing. We were in a 9 story building that had a communal park/green space in the middle ant at was shared by the other 3 buildings that along with ours basically formed a square around the green space. I later found out that this was a common design in East Germany so the mothers could watch their kids from upstairs.

For our first night we walked to a grocery store and bought some items and cooked at home. I had my first taste of schnitzel (it was a vegan one but still). Pretty tasty but I'd take a few other items before I had it again back home :)

On Saturday (our first full day) we bought a Berlin Pass, which is something we have done at most places where you get free admission to many places along with free public transport. We took a bus tour around the city and of course had to be touristy and visit Checkpoint Charlie which separated the US occupation area of West Germany to East Germany. They had a small museum that had enough text to probably take up, well I can't fathom how much text I actually saw, but it was definitely a lot. The most entertaining items were the escape stories. At the same time it was a very sad reminder of the attempts that did not end on the West Germany side.

After taking a total of two photos at Checkpoint Charlie it was time to get some lunch. Now after about two weeks in Europe I had pretty good luck with finding vegetarian food everywhere we went (now of course we were looking at menus before entering) but I thought it would have to end eventually. Well, it didn't end in Berlin. We found a place called Cha Cha which was like an Asian fusion restaurant but with a health-conscious menu. So needless to say, more vegetarian options woo! But seriously it was super tasty and would have gone back in a heartbeat.

We finished our day up with visits to the Communication Museum followed by the Museum of Natural History. Both were quick visits but we saw what we wanted. We ended our day with dinner at Plater Garten which is a beer hall in a very college-age area of Berlin. It was about a mile north of were we stayed. It reminded me of walking through Capital Hill in Seattle or anywhere "hip" - and don't worry, we fit in just fine. I got my first beer hall experience and was super excited to have some vegetarian German food. I'm not sure exactly what I had but it consisted of a salad, steamed spinach (Popeye time) and warm, bread flattened roll type things. I don't know what it but it had great flavor! Of course I had to try both the light and dark beer and well I think I liked the dark beer better because it had better flavor. Just a side note - tap water at restaurants is non-existent in German restaurants so your choice is like 8-12 ounces of bottled water for about $3 or 16-20 ounces of beer for $4-5. Clearly I know where my priorities lie.

Our second full day consisted of more adventures. We took a 5 hour bike tour of the Third Reich. We had a great tour guide from Ireland who took us to different sits including: the Jewish Ghetto, Humboldt University where they took all of the communist books and burnt them outside, we saw the Synagogue that was spared from being burnt by a police officer (rumors are rampant of why he saved it but one of the reasons is he had business interests in the area...or he was just a nice guy), we went through the Tiergarten (big park) and saw the parliament building and a zillion other things that I'm just forgetting. We stopped for lunch at other beer garden type place and before we knew it we were back on the road. After lunch we stopped at the former train station that took thousands of Jewish people off to concentration camps. It was interesting because this was also the main train station for those who were leaving for a weekend trip, so our guide was saying that you'd have lines of Jewish people on one platform and then those going on holiday standing right across from them. It's still incredibly hard to believe that all of those people what no idea what was happening. The last two stops were to visit a long stretch of the Berlin Wall and then to the spot where Hitler had finally realized defeat and took his own life. I'd never heard this story but our guide was saying that Hitler had started to question the loyalty of his second in command (I believe) who had given them cyanide tablets to take. Hitler started to question his loyalty so he was unsure if the pills would work so he decided to test it on his "beloved" dog. Needless to say, the dog died so Hitler knew they were real. The bunker itself where all of this happened was obviously destroyed and all that remains was a parking lot.

That took up most of our day so we went to the Berliner Dom (Protestant Church) where you could climb 262 steps to visit the outdoor terrace that wrapped around the entire building. We caught it just at sunset so it was especially beautiful.

Our last full day in Berlin started with a visit again to the Dom to see the actual church as it was closed when we went the night before. It was gorgeous and definitely as elegant as the ones we had visited in the UK.

After this Rachel and I parted ways. Rachel wanted to visit Potsdam and I wanted to see more in Berlin. With that we headed our separate ways. I first visited the DDR museum which featured items from East Germany/GDR. It basically gave an entire overview of life under the communist rule and made me incredibly thankful I grew up in the US. This is where I found out about how where we stayed was designed for convenience for the mothers. Probably the most entertaining idea of the museum was how they showed the two classes of people (contrary to the idea of communism) - the workers and those in the government/those that held power. You could see the difference in vacations the two groups took, the different food and especially fruit and vegetables available to them, housing options, among others.

After the museum I got a tea and snack and then visited the St. Nikolas church which is the oldest one in Berlin dating back to the 12th century. Unfortunately my audio guide didn't work so I didn't get the full history on the museum and whether it was fully destroyed during the war (my guess is that it did based on everything else in Berlin). Next up was a river cruise - this is something I always look forward to wherever we go because I swear everything looks prettier from a boat. It was gorgeous outside with blue skies and temperatures near 50-55. Most of the sights from the river I had seen before but it was a great way to spend about 90 minutes outside in the sun! After the river cruise I went to a park I had seen from the boat and sat there with my beer, music, and book just to absorb the remaining rays of sunlight. When the sun hid behind the buildings I knew it was time to go. So I visited the Pergamon which is the most famous museum in Berlin. I walked around a bit but really enjoyed the second level which consisted of the Islamic Art Museum. It was a new kind of art that I really have never had the chance of seeing much in other museums. That basically sums up the last full day in Berlin.

Before our late morning departure to Munich I put on my running shoes and ran around our area with the intent of finding a juice shop! My adventure was a success and I got this smoothie from chocolate heaven - oh my gosh it was tasty. I can't remember what was all in it but a few types of chocolate and veggies. After that we found our way to the Berlin main train station and headed to Munich!

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh <- pictures can be found here!

Amsterdam!

Amsterdam - a city of many canals, pot, and women for hire. Can an introduction get much better than that? Our tastes for those items only revolved around the canals, which were everywhere but we stumbled across several red lights and "cafes" nearly everywhere we went. We took the short 2 hour train ride up to Amsterdam from Brussels and made our short trip by foot to the place we stayed at. Our all-in-one room consisted of everything we needed but I couldn't imagine living there long term. We stayed in a building that was over 350 years old and our room had been recently renovated - well everything except the windows which the city said had to stay single paned for the historical preservation. Needless to say that made things a bit noisier in our room.

(Ps find photos here https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh)

After we put our bags down we got straight to sightseeing. We walked to the Bejindof which is where only single women have lived for nearly 600 years. It was also the only Roman Catholic institution to remain in Amsterdam starting in the 16th century. It has a small but nice garden inside and well maintained homes. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside but I snuck one anyway which you can find on my photo album. Next up we walked to the Heineken Experience - it was so cool! Even if you didn't like beer, the presentation of the museum and especially the history of its marketing is impressive. It was interesting because while it cost nearly $20 to enter, it was more of a marketing scheme to get you (the consumer) to further like the Heineken brand. Pretty unreal from a marketing standpoint but it was so effective you didn't realize what was happening until it was over. I earned my Certified Pourer license which means I've passed the strict test of properly pouring a Heineken from draft. While most people passed, there were a few that had to do it again. So I was happy to pass the first time! We had dinner at an Indian restaurant nearby and called it night after navigating our way home.

Day 2 in Amsterdam found us visiting the Van Gogh Museum which showed the evolution of his artistic style based on where he lived and who influenced him at the time. The museum was a bit disappointing in the fact that it didn't have a lot of pieces to show, but I guess that's because the famous pieces are at larger museums around the world. After the museum we went on a canal ride - which was so beautiful with all of the autumn colors hanging over the bridges and canals. The sun was shining which made for a pleasant trip whether sitting inside or standing up in the back. We next visited the Botanical Gardens. The history of the gardens is quite extensive and I believe it's been open for over 600 years. This was also the first time it rained on us. And by rain, I mean light mist for about 3-4 hours. I figured if it did that every 2 weeks I'd be okay! We visited the Maritime Museum after that which gave us a brief glimpse over the extensive sailing/importing/exporting history of the Netherlands. Lastly we visited the Anne Frank House which was where Anne Frank hid out during WWII. It was great except for the zillion other tourists that were continually piped into the house. It was a bit hard to get the feel for the house when we'd have to wait 5-7 minutes to get into the next room.  Finally we finished the day with all you can eat sushi! This was Rachel's idea but I think I got the best value!

Day 3 found us heading to the Rijksmuseum. Which housed an assortment of Dutch artwork from throughout its history. It is the most famous/visited part of Amsterdam as it recently underwent a 10 year renovation so it was still new! The best part of the day for sure was going to Zaanse Schans - it's where all the famous windmills are! We took a bus about 45 minutes out of town and we were there! We were able to walk around and go into one of the windmills. The one we visited was a saw mill that was recently refurbished a few years ago and was working while we visited. It was entertaining to watch the saw speed change based on the strength of the wind. We of course visited the clog shop and wow there were so many choices! Unfortunately I didn't buy a pair for I knew I'd have to carry them around for the next 4 weeks. We headed back into town, ate dinner, then packed everything up again. Off to Berlin in the morning - nearly 6 hours in a train!

Amsterdam - thank you for your nice people and great atmosphere!

Brussels!

Brussels - what a beautiful little city. I have to start out with this. When we finally decided where we were going, Brussels was actually a "last-minute" decision 6 months or so ago because we had initially planned on going to Paris. The AirBnB we had tried to use in Paris declined our request so then we thought of other places between London and Amsterdam of where we might want to go. Brussels came up and so it was booked. Later when I told people my travel plans: London, Brussels, Amsterdam...a couple of people said why Brussels there isn't anything there. Well, this is for those doubters - Brussels is beautiful and a great little city. So for 3 nights and 2 full days we explored this lovely city.

After arriving on Saturday we went to the grocery store and bought groceries for breakfast and dinners. We learned quickly why it was so busy at 5pm on a Saturday - most grocery stores aren't open on Sunday. We ate in and had a relaxed Saturday evening. However throughout the night we heard several groups of people who were having a great time, the last time I heard people was 4:30am. Needless to say, we've both had better nights of sleep.

On Sunday we went to the Musical Instruments Museum first. It was unique because we received an audio device that played the sound of the instrument you walked by. Next up we walked though BELvue Museum which gave a great overview of how Belgium was formed. Like America, it's pretty new too! Beneath that was the Coudenberg which was a palace from the 12th-15th (ish) centuries. After that, they demolished most of it and built a new palace on it. So we went under the new palace and walked through the remains. It was pretty cool but the first time I heard an underground train I got a bit spooked!

After that we followed the tourist to the Grand Place. Let me explain the Grand Place in three words: oh my gosh. This was the most beautiful square I'd ever seen (and by judging by the amount of other people simply gawking and taking pictures, it was pretty popular with other people too). The buildings were decorated gold and very elegant. Most importantly around the Grand Place there were several chocolatiers - this is Brussels, the home of Belgium chocolate! Clearly we had to sample a few different chocolatiers (Galler, Neuhaus, and Mary). We saw the Cocoa museum and got to sample different kinds of chocolate much to my delight.

Grand Place!

On Monday, we quickly learned that most museums and tourist attractions were closed. Our pass had a few options for a Monday so we took the train out east of town and visited AutoWorld.  On our way to the museum from the train we walked by a juice shop, I wish I could've taken a picture of my excitement! AutoWorld was a well designed museum to showcase the evolution of cars. Even without being a car buff I could still appreciate the differences in each decade. After the museum we headed back to the Grand Place and had lunch. Rachel finally got her mussels and I got a cheese and tomatoe tart accompanied with a Belgium beer of course! We stopped by a few more chocolatiers on our way out but before we left we visited the Belgium Beer Museum. To be honest it was a very dismal museum but it allowed you to sample a beer on your way out. That was probably the high point of the museum :) The last thing on our agenda was to visit the Planetarium. Now ordinarily this wouldn't be on our list but since most museums were closed this was what was available with our pass. It was a short visit and we watched a show on the "Secret Lives of Stars" - it reminded me of something you would've seen at OMSI as kid. Right next to the Planetarium was the Atomium, an odd atom-like structure that was built for the 1958 World's Fair. It was cool to see but that was about it!

We headed back to the central city area where we stayed and called it a night. Off to Amsterdam in the morning - or so we hoped! The Belgium train workers union decided to have a strike during our visit and thankfully our train was neither canceled or delayed, unlike others.

Again - you won't find many pictures on my blog as I've had trouble posting on the tablet so here is a link to a share folder that I'll continually update with new photos (https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh). In addition it will be much more up to date than this blog as I try to add new photos every other day.

London!

Our adventure in Scotland quickly came to a close - and I mean quickly! We decided to take the bus to the train station in Edinburgh to save us from lugging our bags about a mile. We were there plenty earlier and in line and all of the sudden the door shut and off the bus goes. We will never know exactly why we missed the bus but I've come to the conclusion it's because we were tourists. So with 25 minutes before our train was to depart, we made a very quick walk of the mile (uphill nonetheless) to the station and thankfully had a few minutes to spare. We had a great 4 hours on the train and we had 2 college age girls sitting across from us. Our love of music was evident as we spent some time talking about the difference festivals we had been to and the differences between the UK and US festivals. Once we dropped everything off (we stayed by the London Eye) we headed up towards Trafalager Square and found our way to an Indian restaurant (thanks to Katherine's recommendation) and wandered our way home. We stopped at the local pub by our place and well we were quickly identified as tourists but a love for beer was quite evident so I got to sample the IPA (yes another one!) before I decided on a pint. Alas, I still miss the PNW IPAs but I think I'll survive a few more weeks.

London!

With Friday being our only full day in London, I planned to make the most of it. We started with a visit to Starbucks so I could get some breakfast (side note - a double tall soy latte must not be a common theme because for some reason I could only get a single shot). First we went to Westminster Abbey (most famous recent years as the royal wedding was here a few years back). It was gorgeous. Unfortunately they did not allow photos instead but had a great audio tour that we were able to follow. After the Abbey, Rachel and I separated - she went to visit relatives and I went on my way throughout London. First up on my solo trip was to the Churchill War Rooms. This was on my wish list when we first started trip planning and it definitely didn't disappoint. They kept a lot of the rooms in similar condition to how they were during the WWII. I took a few pictures which you can find on my iCloud album. The War Rooms also had a museum to the life of Churchill which could have taken at least 3 hours to get through. It was incredible all the snippets and facts they accumulated and I all know is that my history-buff Dad would have stayed here all day :)

Next up I grabbed a sandwich and snack and took the a river cruise down the Thames to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. I can't lie, it was a bit chilly on the boat but as I wasn't shaking, I figured it was probably about 50 degrees out, somewhere in the 40s with windchill. The 30 minute ride was great, we got a brief overview of some of the buildings and funny stories. Next up was the Tower Bridge, I mainly decided to do this as Rachel and I were meeting about an hour later at the Tower of London and since this was included on my London Pass, why not? The bridge was cool and gave a great description of how it was built and how it combined two different styles of bridges for the time into one.

After the Tower Bridge, I went right next door and walked into the Tower of London right as a Warden was starting a 45 minute tour -great timing! We learned about he history and the story that sticks out in my mind the most is one where one King (sorry can't remember who) passed away and the eldest son who was 12 was King, his uncle said he would help him rule until he became old enough and took him and his younger brother to the Tower of London. He said that they'd be safer in one of the towers and they were never seen again. One hundred years later (or so) they found the bones of two children holding each other at one of the entrances, and this is believed to be the two brothers - sad. On a happier note, the Crown Jewels were as massive and elegant as ever. After seeing the thickness of the doors going in, I can only imagine how valuable that collection is worth!

After a stop for dinner we walked down the Thames to the National Gallery which was open until 9pm on Friday - lucky us! We only went through the Impressionist pieces as those were the most intriguing to both Rachel and I. After getting our fix of Monet, Degas, Van Gogh and more we walked back home to get packed for our journey the next morning to Brussels.

Again you can see my photos here https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh

Scotland!

Well that went fast! Three full days and four nights flew by - which I think is going to be a recurring theme. Here's my recap for our Scottish adventure. I've been having trouble inserting images to this blog so I've decided to make my iCloud photo album public. You can see some of my trip highlights here https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh

Day 1 - Welcome to Edinburgh!

I arrived near dinner time so I dropped my stuff off at the flat we were staying at and then we went to a pub. It was more American than Scottish I think as we ordered a burger (falafel) and fries. Most importantly this place was known for its craft brews so I was in IPA heaven as I got to sample 3 different locally brewed IPAs. Just for reference - I still like PNW IPAs much better!

Day 2 - Sightseeing in Edinburgh

For my first full day in Europe we went to Edinburgh Castle. It never ceases to amaze me at all of the history that Europe has when you compare it to the rather short history of America. The castle was built during the 12th century I believe and really is a conquering sight over the Edinburgh skyline. After a tour of the castle we went to the Scottish Whisky Experience where we learned all about Scottish whisky - pretty neat because I knew absolutely nothing about whisky. Probably the most interesting part of that was we got to use this scratch and sniff piece of paper that had the exaggerated scents of whisky from the four main whisky producing regions of Scotland. After the tasting experience we went to Calton Hill, which was a park that was basically on our way home from the castle. It had some amazing monuments and the one photo (in the album) we learned was a very common teenager hangout spot based on all of the liquor bottles behind the monument (which you can't see).

Day 3 - Arthur's Seat and Glasgow

In the morning we hiked up Arthur's Seat to get a great view of Edinburgh and its surroundings. After that we visited Holyroodhouse Palace which is where the Queen resides during the summer. The Palace was gorgeous and undoubtably has a lot of history (Mary, Queen of Scots lived there). In the afternoon we took about an hour train ride to meet up with one of Rachel's family's friend. First we went to the Glasgow Cathedral which was the only real working cathedral that we visited while in Scotland (all others were in ruins).

Day 4 - St. Andrews

The day to visit the home of golf finally arrived and we caught a train to St. Andrews along with several high school kids that were there to tour the university with their parents (it was pretty adorable seeing all of the nervous kids). First we went to the St. Andrews castle - or what remains of it - it was situated right on the coast and had we not been fogged in I bet we would have had a great view of the sea. We stopped for lunch at a fish and chips place and then went to the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral. This was the most magnificent sight in Scotland due to the graveyard that had been built up over the centuries where the cathedral used to sit. To top off our day we went to the Old Course and watched a few groups play the last hole and simply imagined what it would be like to play the Old Course...one day!

Again, sorry about the lack of photos, but I've spent the last 3 days trying to post this while fighting with the pictures so you can access my photos here: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh

Next up: London!

Here We Go!

Here we go!

As I sit on one of four flights that will take me to my first destination (Edinburgh) - I figure it was time to officially start this blog. Since some of you didn't know that I was leaving the country, let me catch you up.

Once upon a time in a land called Portland, I had been brainstorming the idea of a grand trip as a break before my next adventure. For the last 3 years, I have been living in Seattle, WA and working at an HVAC consulting and training firm while obtaining my MBA in Leadership Formation from Seattle University. For the longest time, my ultimate career goal was to return to Portland. But before I started on that adventure, I wanted to take a break to see some sights before settling down in PDX. Ever since I was a kid I have always loved traveling. I joke with people that I'm always happy when I'm not at home :) but truly I love exploring and living life outside of my comfort zone.

So that takes me to today and my four leg journey to Edinburgh, Scotland. Over the next six weeks, I will venture to (with arrival dates listed):

• Edinburgh, Scotland 10/11
• London, England 10/15
• Brussels, Belgium 10/17
• Amsterdam, Netherlands 10/20
• Berlin, Germany 10/23
• Munich, Germany 10/27
• Prague, Czech Republic 11/2
• Vienna, Austria 11/6
• Venice, Italy 11/9
• Florence, Italy 11/14
• Rome, Italy 11/17

I hope to keep you all updated at least once from each location (as I know that will help ease the worry from my several "parents" - you know who you are).

Just because I'll be over in Europe doesn't mean I'll be living under a rock. I still have my US cell number and it is active so you can always text me. Also I will check my email addresses daily, so feel free to contact me.

Otherwise - that's it for me. Now wish me luck as I try to stay awake on the 8 hour plane ride which happens to be right smack dab in the middle of the night for the PNW.

Amanda