It's over!?: Matt

Well the time has come to fly home. Our plane leaves Frankfurt at around 2:30 pm. We have a brief layover in Chicago and then we will be back in Seattle at 11 pm tonight! I think we are all excited to get back home but for different reasons.

We have all learned more about each other during our travels across Europe. We definitely argued over what to do or see or how much to pay for something...I have found that to be common when traveling. Unfamiliar places with stress levels high tend to be breeding grounds for that type of thing. Thankfully we were able to work through it and get over it. I can't say the same for other random people we have passed in train stations or tourist sites. I remember at the train station in Florence a man screaming at his wife in front of their kids because of something to do with tickets. First I was in shock because he was doing that and second because it was in front of maybe 100 people (makes me wonder what happens when 100 people are not around). When we saw that it was just a reminder that even though we argue sometimes it could have been a lot worse between us, but thankfully it wasn't.

Tim and Mike have really impressed me as well on this trip. I don't think I ever realized how outgoing and talkative Tim is with people we have never met. I think all the fun people we met on this trip he somehow started the conversation with them. Tim is also good at solidifying decisions. I think I have mainly noticed this because I tend to be indecisive (something I am working on!). I have noticed Mike seems to be fine going along with whatever we want to do and will have a good time doing it. He is the last one of us to complain about something or get upset. He also is the one to step up when Tim and I won't for whatever reason. For example bungy jumping or even asking for directions to a place.

I am glad and thankful to have had to opportunity to go on this adventure with them because it is something that has and will continue to bring us closer as we will never forget it! The time has come for me to forget seeing them as just my younger brothers--they are my friends.

Thank you all for your prayers and interest in our trip to Europe! I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer and we look forward to sharing the many stories and pictures that did not make the blog. See you soon!


...and for your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of us in front of Mozart's birthplace and house in Salzburg.

Munich and Salzburg: Matt

It looks like our readership may have gone down a bit but that's ok! We (I should say I) love writing to the blog because it makes me feel at least someone out there is reading it and being entertained by it. The good news for those of you that don't want to read it anymore is that you probably aren't reading these very words and if you are then this will be one of the lasts posts. So here's what we have been up to recently...

On our last day in Munich we visited the town of Fussen, Germany. It is home to a couple castles. The most famous is Neuchenstein which was the castle in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (one of our childhood favorite movies). So for this reason alone we decided to take the two hour train ride out to see it. It was definitely worth it and the tours were fun. The inside looked nothing like what the movie made it out to be but that's because movies are always deceptive and shoot scenes in other places. The castle was really beautiful and weird (for example one of the kings hallways was made to look like a cave). We hiked up to a skinny bridge (it was a couple hundred feet in the air and a little wobbly) in order to get a better view. Unfortunately it was raining a bit and scaffolding covered that side of the castle.


On the way back to the train station we just missed the hourly train and decided to go get some food before the last train of the night to Munich left the next hour. We saw a sign for McDonald's so we asked some locals which way it was and they were nice and kept pointing us in the right direction...it seemed like it was close...until we realized it was about 800 meters away after having walked about 10 minutes. So we ended up walking about 20 minutes each way in pouring rain (I was lucky enough to have packed my rain jacket whereas Tim and Mike were in shorts and t-shirts) and wait in slow line in order to get some good quality food... We are soaked and cold by the time we got back to the train station and the locals looked at us like we were crazy (which I think may be an accurate assumption). But we did end up making our train, I just thought it was a good story to show our dedication.

On Saturday we arrived in Salzburg and met up with Gordy and Tabita. For those of you that don't know Gordy was our first youth pastor when we moved up to Washington and Tabita is his wife (she is from Austria). They offered to let us stay at their apartment with them. We went in and saw a little bit of the festival that is currently going on in Salzburg with them on Saturday night. On Sunday we went to church at the Baptist Church of Salzburg. That was a fun experience although it was completely in German and I didn't understand anything. I learned that God is Gott in German (or so I think...). But in all seriousness it was great to be there and we felt welcomed and there was definitely life in the church. After church, we went with Gordy and an Afghan guy to get some food. It was good talking with him as he understood some English and just hearing what life is like for him.

We have really enjoyed Salzburg...and we haven't even gone on the sound of music tour (I didn't want to make my mom jealous...)! A lot of why we have enjoyed it is just because we have been able to hang out with Gordy (unfortunately Tabita was only able to hang out with us for the first day due to a women's retreat). I am finding that the places I like the most are the ones where we meet fun people! Anyway, for those of you that don't know Germany is known for their board games (and Austrians speak German). Gordy has Settlers of Catan which we played a lot (hours and hours!) with him in the apartment. Today we got a new game called Zug um Zug (or Ticket to Ride in English). It's another cool game that basically involves making train systems across Europe. But don't worry we did manage to get out and enjoy the city and nice weather! Although we maybe should have stayed inside as I managed to slice my finger open at the park...but it's fine enough that I can write this update so no need to worry.


Tomorrow we are off to Frankfurt and then on Wednesday we fly home to Seattle!

Spelling: Tim

This is in defense of my spelling Mom. Though I may make a few errors here and there, I believe you and maybe a lot of other people will find this interesting...see if you can read this and understand what it is trying to get across...

O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, t he olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rgh it pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

This is the Cambridge Word Scramble Study that I learned about in Sensation and Perception.

P.S. We almost got arrested on the German subway because Mike brought the wrong train ticket and Matt was talking to the police really fast after the officer told him to slow down because he had trouble with English. Don't worry we made it home safely!

Germany!: Tim

We have arrived here in Germany! I must say I am pretty excited because I am part german (very small part) and my girlfriend is half German so she is excited for me to be here as well. I think we fit in the most in Germany and my proof would have to be that everybody speaks to us in German thinking that we know the language. Lucky for us though, they all seem to speak a bit of English.

Today we walked downtown and saw the gigantic Glockenspiel in the main town center

and were offered tours right and left by people who could tell we were not German. However we just went strait to the nearest Foosball-laden (football shop) and I picked up a Bayern Munchen jersey because they are one of the most successful European soccer teams and they come from Germany (there really weren't too many successful Swiss soccer teams, so I went with the next closest heritage). Then we headed over to the famous Hofbrahaus which is a gigantic German beer hall where there are traditional beer gardens with the bar maids as well. I tried the best beer that anyone could recommend me and it was the best I had ever had...but still a bit away from a nice cold class of water. I guess once I start eating vegetables I may be a step closer to being able to appreciate drinks made from plants.

After the Hofbrahaus, we headed over to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial site. This was quite a somber memorial as we saw images and heard stories of the many prisoners that had gone through the site.

It amazes me that something so atrocious could happen in the world and how credit was given to the United States for freeing the prisoners from the camp. I just think it is pretty amazing how such a young country is able to come over and show who's boss, and then be able to return the land back to Germany. It is crazy to think that around 60 years ago there were Nazis where I am today. Now anyone can travel here and I would say it is one of the easiest cities to travel through and get around in as well. I wonder if this is what Iraq will be like 50 years from now, it will definitely be an interesting place to visit with many stories similar to those from the Dachau concentration camp.

Oh and I'd better mention that we did manage to finally see Harry Potter in English once we got to Munich. Matt and I would probably get upset with me if I forgot to mention that. It was pretty exciting to be in a theater of mainly German speakers that could all understand English enough to want to watch a movie in it with no subtitles. I myself was not the biggest fan of the 6th movie though it did have its funny moments, but Matt and Mike may have different opinions so I will refrain from speaking on their behalf. Tomorrow we will be heading out to the castle from Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as well as the inspiration behind the Disneyland castle as well...

Switzerland!: Matt

Hey everyone we are currently in Gimmelwald, Switzerland! It's a remote town located about an hour from Interlaken. We had to take a cable car/gondola to get up here and have enjoyed the quiet relaxing atmosphere. Switzerland as a whole has been a great change of pace and we have been treating this part more like a vacation. We have been relaxing more, enjoying each other more and of course spending more (although Switzerland is more expensive anyway...)! Canyoning in Interlaken was a lot of fun but of course I managed to fall on my knee which hurt a lot! I am still recovering from that one but I am well enough now to enjoy some casual hiking.

Yesterday we arrived in Gimmelwald and it was a fairly clear day so we decided to take the gondola up to the top of the Schilthorn. The Schilthorn is located at an elevation of 2970 meters (just shy of 10,000 feet). The Schilthorn is also famous for being the site where a good portion of a James Bond film called "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was filmed. They play that fact up quite a bit...something that is definitely cool but in my opinion that movie was the worst Bond film of all time...by far! But the Schilthorn has a gorgeous view of the Swiss Alps which we were lucky enough to see thanks to the nice weather. I took my recently purchased Swiss flag up there as well.


We took the cable car/gondola ride to the top which took about 30 minutes and was a bit high at parts... Once up there we walked around and enjoyed the view, took lots of pictures, and watched some scenes from the James Bond movie in one of the rooms. The Schilthorn also has a rotating restaurant which also happens to be the highest rotating restaurant in the world. We actually paid an enormous amount just to sit back and enjoy lunch with an insanely beautiful view. The hot chocolate at the end was a great addition as well because it was quite cold up there (5 degrees Celsius or so).


Last night we also met some awesome travelers from Seattle and Portland. We had a lot of fun sharing Toblerone with them and talking late into the night...well by the Mountain Hostel standards (like midnight.). It has been fun making connections with people that live close to us back home (and work like 100 yards from where we did). Anyway we took a picture outside the hostel as they were leaving...they are somewhere cool now like the Matterhorn (don't get me wrong Gimmelwald is cool too!).


Today we hiked up past the town of Murren to see what kind of views we could see just from hiking around (but my main objective was to find some photogenic cows!). We saw beautiful views, had fun hiking around (tons and tons of great hikes around here!) and saw some creeks and waterfalls. We drank some water straight out of the creek (could be a bad idea...but I think it's fresh) and it was the best water I have ever tasted in my life. I could seriously live off it and no other beverage, forever! We also found some cows (thanks to those ingenious bells they have around their necks) just hanging around. One of the cows walked over to us and was really friendly...it was licking us up and down actually. We discovered that a cow's tongue feels like sand paper. Cows in the Alps are great, partly because their bells sound exactly like wind chimes which reminds me of relaxing on my favorite porch in the world (...Cape Cod).

Being here has definitely reminded me a lot about our grandparents who made this trip possible via handing money down to my mom when they passed away. The sites (swiss flags, antique swiss things) and smells (like farm smells...) remind me of going to our grandparents house in Oregon. I miss them, but being here reminds me that I will never forget them.

Wilkomen Switzerland!: Tim

So pretty much Switzerland has been the most exciting part of this trip for me. It feels like we have been traveling for so long though! The Wimbledon post feels like it was ages ago, which I believe is a sign that we are ready to come home. However, I am extremely glad that we came to switzerland even if it so incredibly expensive. You really have no idea how expensive it is until you come here!

We have decided that Switzerland is kind of like Seattle except on Leavenworth steroids, meaning that it is an incredibly outdoor-sy town and by that I mean every other shop seems to be like a mini REI. And I have yet to see a single pair of high heel shoes anywhere. This is in stark contrast to Italy where it seemed like everyone seemed to dress up to go everywhere. Hiking boots seem to be the fashionable shoe even on girls in this wonderful alpine country. Huge mountains and cliffs just seem to take off out of the middle of nowhere. I think it is absolutely beautiful!

To go along with this outdoor-sy atmosphere, Switzerland seems to be an extreme sports headquarters with options for skydiving, hanggliding, bungee jumping (as you already saw), paragliding, zorbing (you should really look that one up), river rafting, and canyoning. We partook in the latter which I hadn´t even heard of before Matt suggested it. It is kind of a combination between human river rafting (floating down rapids), rappeling, and cliff jumping.

We were all pretty excited as they came and picked us up from our hostel and took us out to the base camp where they suited us up in wetsuits, harnasses, and helmets.

We drove up to the mountain with a group of about 12 people and then hiked up even further where we began our adventure. It was pretty exciting jumping off of waterfalls into key points where the water was deep enough for us to land safely.

The instructors were very good and able to tell us exactly where to go without babying us. That is one thing I love about Europe in general. People expect you to make smart decisions as you cannot sue willy nilly because you made a dumb choice or because you think the country/state should pay to have safety railings at certain points.

Anyway there were a number of jumps off of waterfalls that we did, and one rappel

as well as one "pendulum swing" where we pushed off of a cliff and then swung around a rock wall. Though all of us were able to complete all of the jumps and rappels safely,

Matt was able to injure himself just trekking through the river when he came across a rock and fell directly onto his knee. Ever since, he has been limping a little bit and at least complaining about how much it hurts. Though everything seems to function properly, so don´t worry Mom. It is probably just a nasty bruise.

We ended up being in the canyon for about an hour and a half and by the end of it all of us were wishing for more. Even Matt was pretty bummed that it was over, though I doubt he could have done much more after bumping his knee. Overall it was a great swiss outdoor experience and I can´t wait to do it again...I hear canyoning is pretty popular in New Zealand too (Next vacation idea!!!). Anyways I will leave a little more for Matt and Mike to talk about...If you are still following us I hope you are still enjoying the stories.

The Leap of Faith: Michael

Today was definitely and eventful day. Well it was for me at least. I did a 700 foot bungee jump and it was so awesome. First I have to tell you about how I was feeling about this whole thing. Obviously on the way there I was telling Matt and Tim that there was no way that I was not going to jump. The only thing that could stop me would be if they were not jumping do to the thunder in the area from bad weather. Of course my tune changed a little when we got to the dam. I don't know if any of you have ever been to it but it is huge. It is crazy to think that people even jump off of it. However, I had already told everyone that I was going to do it so I could not chicken out.



Then I got to see someone do the jump and they were just fine afterwords so I knew that I could do it. I was still a little hesitant but I went and signed up after a few more minutes. They immediately got me all strapped up and ready. After briefly explaining a few instructions as to what I needed to do after the jump to hook myself in to the pully, the instructor strapped the bungee to my legs and asked me if I was ready. Of course I was thinking no way I am crazy but I told him YA IM READY. So he scooted me out to the edge so that my toes were just over. At this point my heart was already beating fast and my knees were shaking but I knew this was it. The instructor started counting down 3...2...1... and then I jumped.



The first second in the air was not bad at all. It felt like I just sort of hovered right where i was at the peak. But then I started to fall. I think it was around second 4 when i thought I must of been crazy to do this. The wind was rushing past me and all I was thinking was God I hope this bungee holds. Well luckily it did hold and I am still here today to talk about it. The only other scary part in the whole thing was when I was hanging upside down trying to pull myself up on the rope. The rope had gotten twisted around my foot and when i untwisted it the Velcro part of the ankle brace that the bungee was on came loose. I was still able to get up though and the view was amazing from where I was way down the dam. When I got two feet back on solid ground I felt so good I could not help but smile.



I had such a great time doing it. It was such a thrill and I cannot wait to do more crazy things like this in the future. I would love to bungee again and I recommend it to everyone. It is awesome. I don't know what else to say but I did it. Matt and Tim did not want to but I did and it was great!

Venice and Verzasca Dam: Matt

Hey so I figured I would catch you all up on our adventures! So after Florence we took a train over to Venice. And here are some random things I didn't know about Venice: It's actually an island, it's shaped like a fish, there is a couple mile long causeway linking the island to the mainland, it is a 500 Euro fine to jump in the canal or lagoon, and there are water buses that get you from one place to the other (we had to take one to get to our hostel). Venice was a lot of fun but we were pretty tired out from all the museums we have been seeing along the way so we just saw St. Mark's Basilica and the square. After that we walked around Venice for a few hours finding random roads and canals. The whole time in Venice we were dying of heat. We seriously were always sweating it was SOOO humid and hot! It messes with your mind too because you are right next to water yet you can't jump in it (nor would you want to as there is trash in it and it looks green...) but we did manage to make it out to Lido which has a beach on it. Here is a picture from the Rialto bridge over the grand canal.


This morning we got up way early to take a train to the Locarno area of Switzlerland. Northern Italy (specifically Lake Como area) is amazing! We saw it from the train as we were headed towards the Locarno area. Switzerland is also a beautiful country with lots of mountains and lakes and rivers and waterfalls. I am proud to be Swiss! However it was raining and overcast all day (not totally bad as we had been burning up the last few weeks). We were headed to the Locarno area to visit the Verzasca Dam made famous by Goldeneye and the most recent season of the Amazing Race (I am huge fans of both, that's why I had the idea). It took us a while to figure out the bus route up to the dam but eventually we figured it out. We arrived cold, hungry and nervous a little past 3:00pm but Mike was stoked to jump. I was on the edge about it (both figuratively and literally) and when I looked over seeing a couple other people jump I was like...this is insane! Mike was still stoked about it so he got harnessed up and then did it! I will let him tell you more about that...

As for me, I just wasn't feeling it today, it was rainy and cold (I could see some fog being blown up over the dam). It had a beautiful view though and I was stoked to see it! However, afterwards I really regretted not jumping... I felt like I failed which is a fear of mine that surpasses my fear of heights...(Biggest fears: Failure, Rejection, Heights). So definitely afterwards I was beating myself up over that...I mean how often do you get such a sweet opportunity. I guess it will just give me a reason to go back and do it sometime (the dam can't win the war!). I think I just needed encouragement...and lots of it! I was definitely humbled by the dam. It's crazy how something so silly as bungee jumping can cut to your core as who you are as a person. For example, Mike is always to one to take more risks of all of us boys. I think it's because Tim and I always made him do things we were too scared to do first. In this case we were too scared to do it at all after we saw him!! But it also made me question myself and why I sit by idly for things that have great rewards. I knew it was perfectly safe to jump (some of you may not believe me...but seriously it looked even safer in person) and that it would be a huge thrill. However, I let my fear get the best of me which is something I HATE to do. As I mentioned before about my fears, if I can't start getting over them then I will end up a jobless (especially in this economy!), lonely (I should make some moves...), and non-bungee jumper (I thought I conquered my fear of heights by skydiving...totally different!) of an old man...and I don't want that!!! So I could definitely use some prayer :) Here's a picture on the dam...I am happy because I saved 120 Euros...


Well we are currently in Interlaken which seems to be the happening place for young people and thrill seekers. All of us are going to go canyoning on Sunday which is basically hiking, swimming, jumping and rapelling down a river and rapids. I think it might actually be more dangerous than bungee jumping but it doesn't feel like it, thus why it will be easier to do!

Florence: Michael

Florence was a great small town to go to. It was easy to walk around everywhere. The only downside was that it was extremely hot. I don't think i have sweat so much in my life. Including when i played soccer in the heat. So the day we got there we actually took a side trip to Pisa and saw the famous tower. I was expecting something more because the tower is pretty tiny but i still think that it looked pretty amazing.

So we got to Florence near the end of that day and did not do much but relax and go exploring a little bit. The next day was when we actually got to go to this one church and climb it to get an amazing view of the entire city. It is apart of Tuscany and so it was extremely beautiful.



I dont remember the name of the church we climbed but the inside of the dome had a very interesting painting. I think it might have been the final judgment but it looks like demons are torturing people by doing some crazy things. It is kind of hard to see but it is gross.



Later that day we also got to see the original statue of David by Michelangelo. It cost 10 euros to get in to see it and they would not even let you take a picture. I snuck one in anyways. His hands appear extremely big and other certain areas do not appear as big as i think is normal. The details of the statue is amazing though. You can see the veins and tendons in certain areas outlined in the body.

That night we hung out with the girls we met in the Cinque Terra with all of their friends from their school group. It was really fun getting to know some new people and some cool guys as well. We got some 1 euro gelato with them that was really good. Overall our trip to Florence was really great. Oh ya me and Tim bought some authentic leather wallets while here and I also got a soccer jersey that i cant wait to where. I would update you all about Venice but it is late and i am tired so we will have to do that another time. And we can add mre pictures to this too. I cant find them right now.

Cinque Terre: Matt

We finally have solid internet after a few days without it so we are catching up on our blog entries. Rome was interesting...didn't really know what expect. I had heard both good and bad things about it. I left the city still unsure how I felt about it. As Tim said before I was pretty bummed to miss out on the Sistine Chapel. But with that said it wasn't the end of the world...just the end of my day! Looking back at least we have a sweet story to explain why we didn't get to see it, because it's not like we didn't try. So when we heard the Obama's were coming in we went out to the square to watch the motorcade go by as Tim already said. It was pretty sweet...while we were waiting I noticed some people looking at us. Pretty soon after that a guy in a suit walked over from a cordoned off area and talked to them while looking over at us. The next thing I know he is tapping me on the shoulder asking to search my bag. I let him and then the other plain clothes guys came over as Tim and Mike had their bags searched. We must have looked suspicious somehow...my guess is that we all had the same backpacks. Anyway it was crazy how many plain clothes security officials were in the crowd. Here is a picture with our new SPU friends!

I was very excited to get out of a busy city and off to a more relaxing place. We heard a lot about the Cinque Terre from fellow travelers and before the trip Alli (a friend and my house cook from college) told me about it. Alli loves the place and after visiting so do I! We stayed in Vernazza for two nights. Here's a picture of Vernazza. We enjoyed swimming, hiking, laying in the sun and eating overpriced food. The second day we hiked down to the first town of the five (we were staying in the fourth). The hike was beautiful at parts and lots of fun! It was basically along cliffs next to the Mediterranean sea. The walk between town 1 and 2 is apparently the lovers walk. It is called something in Italian, maybe...via di amore. Anyway there were lots of locks on railings and graffiti from various couples on the walls. You know...name + name inside of a heart with the date, like what you do in first grade... Definitely looking forward to taking a special lady there someday... I think it was at this point Tim and Mike really missed their girlfriends (well...I think they constantly miss them). We ended up meeting some girls from Florida in Vernazza that swear I look like their friend back home named Austin Bliss. Cool I guess... Anyway they were lots of fun and they OOO'd and Aww'd as Tim and Mike answered questions about their girlfriends. We went cliff jumping with them which was tons of fun! I think we maybe jumped off the rock from 20 feet. Here's a picture of Tim jumping.


Today we took a train from Vernazza to Florence. We stopped in Pisa and explored the area. We basically just went to the leaning tower and took the stereotypical tourist photo with it...


Currently we are chilling in Florence. And when I say chilling I mean relaxing because the weather is very hot here...I don't think we have stopped sweating today. We will get out and explore Florence tomorrow...including getting gelato at a place on the end of that famous bridge which I still can't remember the name of, but no worries we will find it!

I think Tim was accurate with the previous blog post but I don't think we are putting on a facade for any of our friends. It's just when you have more people added to a small group it is fun to hang out with them when you have been with the same few people for so long. I think that is why it helps to meet others along the way and spend time with them. We have seen couples arguing and getting upset at each other (usually when it involves directions or navigating the train system). It's just part of life and we are slowly getting used to getting along in this context. At least we are learning a lot about how to find solutions to various problems involving traveling and being with the each other for so long. I am hoping to do lots of traveling when I am older so I guess it is best to learn from traveling mistakes early on and it will save some grief down the road. But with that said we are fast learners and are doing better getting along and navigating unknown territory everyday.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was the respect for each other: Tim

We made it to Rome after a fairly relaxing day on a small ship that seemed more like a freight ship that happened to toss a pool and bar onto it to keep the passengers happy. After getting off the boat we found that we were a ways away from the train station with no idea how to get there except rumor of a free shuttle. Pairing up with other groups of Americans coming off the boat we shamelessly went up to anyone and used our English to try and find out where the train station was and how to get there.

After finding the free shuttle we made it to the train station which took about an hour to get us into Rome from the port city. We arrived in the big Termini train station and were immediately bombarded with free help for hostels, which we sloughed off in the way we dodged people selling “friendship” bracelets and souvenirs at the Eiffel tower. This possibly led to our first leg of getting lost in Rome. Our directions we received from the hostel seemed to be fairly interpretable but when we arrived where we thought we should be but alas, no hostel! We were looking for number 88, and we found 90 and 86, but no 88. I felt like Harry Potter looking for platform 9 ¾ and a little too intimidated to ask anyone for fear of being laughed at.

It was barely 10 when we finally found that the hostel was actually inside of a building advertising another hotel. After checking in, we were ushered outside and across the street to yet another building where our room apparently was. All of this was just adding to my belief that this hostel is very...interesting and hopefully a reputable establishment.

After settling in for the night, we made plans to do laundry in the morning and then head off to see the Colosseum before meeting up with my friend studying abroad in Rome. It was on the way to the Colosseum that our differences began to divide us. With no plans on how to attack the Colosseum (by that I mean how to explore it) we soon began to fight and bicker over which direction would take us where and what we wanted to see and what wasn't worth seeing. You'd be surprised how tired and crabby hiking around ruins in Rome can make you, especially when you are not in total control of what is going on, or not wanting to be in total control in the case of Matt.


This is the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Rome or as Lindsey told us, "The Wedding Cake" to the Italians.

For most of the trip Mike and I have been content to just follow Matt and see w/e he plans to see because I don't particularly care to see more than maybe one thing in each place. Wimbledon in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, A bullfight in Spain....I have yet to decide on what I want to see in the other countries. It basically comes down to Matt to plan out all the other things we end up doing and I believe he is getting tired of it.

We seem to be very good at putting on a facade when we are with other people like Matt's friend Linnell in Barcelona, and my friend Lindsey in Rome, which we were able to enjoy a wonderful meal at the Hard Rock Cafe in Rome and then even see Michele Obama and her kids coming out of the Pantheon.



The next day we set aside for Vatican City and the Borghese Gallery, though we didn't get to make it into the gallery because you need to have reservations way ahead of time, and planning ahead is not something we are very good at. We did however make it to the Vatican after riding the metro and having a little meltdown between each other as to which direction the Vatican was. I don't get why I am the one they put in charge of directions because everyone in my family says I am great with them, and then DON'T trust me when I say which way to go. Though I may suggest that every tourist map should have like a cheap working compass on it that way when you get out of an underground train or something you still know which way is what.
At the Vatican we had another little meltdown which led to me saying some not so kind things towards Matt in order to get him to pay attention to me. Once we were inside the museum we were amazed and all the art and sculpture that was around us and took our time perusing the halls which may of led to our inability to see the Sistine Chapel which was quite a disappointment. Matt was unable to let go of. Barack Obama had flown in and caught up with his family and was apparently getting a tour of the Sistine Chapel which is why they kicked everyone out.

While we were waiting outside to see his motorcade arrive, we actually ended up talking to some other students next to us that turned out to be from Seattle Pacific University. We asked them what their favorite gelato place was in town and they said the same one that Lindsey had taken us to the night before! Quite a coincidence!

After waiting for the motorcade to go through we headed up to St. Peter's Basilica and were able to make it in without a hitch. I can't say the same for a number of others who were wearing tank tops, shorts, or short skirts/dresses. There was actually a few people standing there telling people they needed to cover up before going in. From what I understand it is to prevent lust within the church. What a job that would be though! Standing in front of St. Peter's deciding who incited lust or not haha!

After leaving the Basilica I ended up taking the lead because Matt was still pretty bummed about missing the Sistine Chapel and I just took us to get some dinner because getting your blood sugar up seems to calm people down very easily (thanks Nana!). At dinner I apologized for the words I said to Matt and hopefully got us on better terms with each other. It may take awhile for me to fully appreciate my brothers though...

Rome : Mike

Rome 1st Day:
Today was a very eventful day in Rome. We woke up a little later then expected around 9:15 but we made it to a somewhat fulfilling breakfast in time. Then we got all our clothes and went to the laundry mat, the second time we have washed our clothes so far on this journey. So after we finished that we went straight to the Colosseum on the metro and saw the amazing structure. I really tried to picture how the Colosseum must have actually looked during its real time because I was a little disappointed by how much in ruins it is. Another crazy thing that happened is that we saw the tour guide Francisco who we met on our boat to Rome inside the Colosseum. After the Colosseum we headed up the Palantine. This is where all the emperors of Rome built their palaces and is mostly in ruins. It was very interesting all the same though to think that all of these emperors of Rome must have been walking around in the exact same place as you all these years ago. We then headed down the other side of the Palantine and went to to the forum. We actually got to see the spot where Julius Caesar's body was burned by the mob after his assassination. Moving on to meet Tim's friend Lindsey we discovered the tomb of the unknown soldier, and the Pantheon. Both of this buildings were extraordinary in how they were built and how beautiful they looked. We finally met Tim's friend at Piazza Novanna and from there we headed to the famous Spanish steps. I don't really know much about the Spanish steps but its famous so we went to see it. The fountain Trevi was our next stop where Lindsey told us that if you throw a coin over your right shoulder with your left hand into the fountain it means that you will be back to Rome, if you throw two it means you will fall in love while you are in Rome, and if you through three it means you will fall in love with a roman while in Rome. I expected Matt to throw at least two but he only threw in one coin like the rest of us. We were all getting hungry at this point so we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe that was way out of our budget but good nonetheless. I really wanted to get postcards at this point and Lindsey said there was this really cheap place she knew by the Pantheaon so we decided to walk down there to see what they had. While passing the Pantheon we saw a huge crowd and so we decided to see what was going on only to find that Michelle Obama and her two girls were touring the Pantheon at this time. So we actually got to see the First Lady and the Presidents kids in Italy. Isn't it crazy that we have to travel to the other side of the world to see our own First Lady? I wonder how many famous people we are going to encounter on this trip. Anyways, we ended the day by heading to a gelato shop to buy some wonderful tasting ice cream. After such a hot day the ice cream tasted so good I wish I could have it everyday.

2nd Day:
Today we went to the National Museum and got to see a tone of art older then us. I think the best part was getting to see all of the coins made for each new era of the Roman Empire. All of the coins were so detailed and awesome. After this we headed to the Vatican where we got into its museum and saw works from Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Unfortunately for us as soon as we were about to enter the Sistine Chapel the security guard stopped us and told us it was closing because Obama and his family were going to be visiting it in 20 minutes. So we went all the way to Rome and did not get into the Sistine Chapel. So after this we decided to go to Saint Peters and we saw Obama enter the Vatican.. Saint Peters is elaborately decorated inside but what we wanted to do most was to climb the dome in it. Yet again the dome was closed due to Obama's visit so we were unable to. Besides the fact that our own president kept us from seeing the best sites in the Vatican the day was pretty amazing. I mean how many people can say they have been to the Vatican.

Spain! : Matt

We are just finishing up our time in Spain. In a couple hours we will be boarding a cruise ship/ferry that will take us to the west coast of Italy near Rome. We will arrive about 20 hours later and we will be all over Italy for about a week (Rome, Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice)!

We are super exhausted from all the traveling we have been doing. But it has been completely worth it! It has been a lot of work planning and walking all over the place. It especially takes a lot of energy because the weather has been hot everywhere we have been. However, Barcelona was just the break we needed from the busyness found in the previous cities we have visited. I like Barcelona and the greater area probably the best of anyplace we have visited so far on this trip. It might have to do with the fact that Linnell has lived in the area for 9 months and recommended fun things to do as well as joining us while we did them! I think that helped a lot because just seeing brothers or anyone else for that matter for an extended period of time is difficult. Now we are trying to split up occasionally and give each other time to be alone. It has definitely helped us get along better and have more fun.

The day after we arrived in Barcelona we went to a beach up north on the Mediterranean. We spent the entire day there as the water was the perfect temperature and the sun was out! In fact we all got burned pretty badly that day (and yes we kept reapplying sunscreen) and are still recovering from that. It was definitely a European beach as well...and by that I mean lots of topless women. I don't know what else to say about that... Here is a picture of us with Linnell and some friends at the beach (Tim went back earlier because he was getting burned faster than the rest of us). Hopefully there are no topless women in the background...


Yesterday, we woke up later and walked around the waterfront a bit with Linnell. In the afternoon we took a siesta...siestas are great! After that we bought some sandwich fixings and took them up to Montjuic. Montjuic is a hill overlooking Barcelona. It has a Castle and a bunch of Olympics things like a stadium from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. We met Linnell up there (because she had to go back to her host family's house to take care of the kids for a bit) and watched "No Country for Old Men" which was projected by a real movie projector onto a screen attached to the side of one of the Castle's walls. Everyone had dinner and drinks in the grassy area where we sat watching the movie which started at 10pm. There must of been a couple thousand people there and it was a great atmosphere. Thankfully it was also in English. The walk down from the Montjuic was great as well as the city was lit up.

And on a more random note...as we have been traveling around we have noticed lots of different people and different languages being spoken. One thing is pretty common though and that's kids throwing fits and mothers trying their best to make them stop. I feel like this is common across cultures and we just see a lot of it in touristy areas. It's funny because you don't need to understand the language to know the kid wants something and is not getting their way. Today, Tim actually brought that point up at the KFC (we needed a break from all the ham we have been eating) across the street from La Sagrada Familia (one of the sweet looking churches here...and it's still not completed and probably won't be for another decade or so!). So I just wanted to give a shout out to all the moms out there, you all are awesome! Especially our mom! She had to put up with a lot of our crap (and she hates that word...but I can't think of another word to describe our actions) while we grew up. Whether it was being ungrateful, disrespectful, or just plain hard to deal with...we salute you mom! and we love you! we also kinda wish you were here to do our laundry for us... :)

Here's a picture from today when we visited Park Guell. A park designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. It also had a great view of the city. Oh and I almost forgot... We got to see the rain in Spain! But since we were on a hill in Park Guell when it happened, it didn't fall mainly on the plain...(that one was for you dad!)


Hope you all are doing well! We love reading your comments!

Bullfight in Sevilla: Matt

I must say that of all the countries we are visiting I was most excited for Spain. This is mostly because I know a little Spanish and have learned a lot about Spanish culture. So from our first unplanned stop in Irun then going to Madrid then Sevilla and currently Barcelona, I have enjoyed it all!

We have accumulated a lot of stories to share so rather than give you a run down of what all we did, I will just share about the bullfight.

One of the most memorable moments of our trip so far was when we saw a bullfight in Sevilla (this past Thursday evening from 10 to a little past midnight). It was a bullfight involving younger matadors that are still maturing in the “art” and I guess I would call it an art because it wouldn't make any sense otherwise.

*NOTE* Read the next two paragraphs at your own discretion. I have left out most of the extreme gory details but it still may be disturbing...I am serious.

The way this bullfight worked was there were a bunch of people dressed in bright and tight clothes with a canvas cape of sorts which they would wave at the bull to distract it from actually attacking them. After it runs around for a bit some dudes then have spear like things that they stab into the back/spine of the bull when it lunges at them and those stay on the bull the whole time. Those spear like things weaken the bull over time and it usually bleeds a little... then the matador essentially dances with the bull. He is the only one out there at this time. Occasionally he will turn his back to the bull and pump his chest out and walk like he is all that and then everyone claps. It's at this point I wouldn't mind seeing the bull charge the matador. After a bit he takes a skinny sword and shoves it into the spine area of the bull when the bull's head is lowered exposing the target for the matador. Once the matador shoves the sword in the other dudes come out and wave their capes at the bull until the bull goes down to the ground. The matador then goes back to the bull and stabs it in the back of the head with a sword and then it rolls over dead (another dude goes to the bull immediately after with a knife and makes sure it is finished). Then they strap the dead bull to the end of a few dressed up horses and drag the bull out of the ring at lightning speed. If the matador was good then people will wave white hankerchiefs and throw things onto the ring. He walks around and collects flowers and kisses peoples hats and fans before throwing them back. One person even threw their car keys into the ring! So the same thing happened 6 times with 6 different matadors and 6 different bulls obviously. There's also a band that plays music at different times during the fight. How cool is that?!

So that's the theory behind it...but since it was a rookie bullfight (very young and new matadors) it wasn't the cleanest fight...on both sides. In fact the first matador got nailed a couple times and even trampled once. We didn't think he would finish the fight but somehow he did. A few matadors missed their target when trying to drop the bull to the ground, kinda like when you get your blood drawn or donate blood and they miss your vein a few times... Most of the time the bull died pretty far away from us in the ring so it wasn't too hard to watch. But the last one died right in front of us and that was disturbing to say the least. I know it's part of the culture and all but I like animals...

*END of any gory bullfight details...

So before I say anymore just want to apologize to Nana on behalf of us all for attending a bullfight. At the bullfight, I thought “what if Nana was here?!” I guess the only way I could justify watching it was that it was going to happen with or without me there and I should experience this part of Spanish culture. Also I heard that a long time ago they actually gave the bull meat to poor people. Now I hear they sell it, so apparently it gets used and not wasted. Also how many bulls are killed everyday in the United States and don't get to entertain a crowd of people in the process? Although it seems torturous, I don't think it was too painful for the bull, it seemed to be a quick death. Anyway those are all the ways I justified being there although I don't have a huge desire to witness one again.

There were two older Spanish gentlemen next to us that were very jolly. I don't know how old they were but they were super tan and missing teeth. They seemed to be good friends and had brought some beer and sandwichs with them to the bullfight. They are kinda like those older dudes you see at a sports event that think they know everything about the sport and want to see the up and coming stars of the sport. So naturally I wanted to talk with them and see their reactions to things. They didn't speak any English and I only speak a very limited amount of Spanish. So I couldn't understand a word they said. However after one fight I said “El torro es fuerte, no?” and one said back to me “tranquilo!” We had a lot of laughs with them, that's for sure. I even managed to get in a picture with one of them while wearing his awesome hat that he tried to throw in the ring but didn't have the distance, he said in Spanish it was because he had “one too many cervezas.”

Like I said before, we are currently in Barcelona. Barcelona is a beautiful city on the water! We met up with one of my friends from college named Linnell. It is great to see her again since she has been in Spain for almost year. It is also nice having someone who knows the area help show us around. We just got back from a festival in a smaller city nearby which included people standing on top of each other (about 5 people high!!) and lots of firecrackers/fireworks. It was a great way to spend the fourth of July! Hope you all have a good 4th!

The First overnight train experience. And what an experience it was!

So we had a sleeper train booked at 11:20 pm from Paris to Irun (a border town just inside of spain) with an expected transfer to a train bound for Madrid, however we weren't able to book the train tickets from Irun to Madrid ahead of time because of some issue. But as of 9:00 we were still sitting at a McDonald's in Paris bumming around on their WiFi because Matt did not want to go to the train station yet even though Mike and I were threatening to leave without him and at some points threatening bodily harm to him if we did not get over to the train station which we thought could make more than an hour.

At about 10:30 we arrived at the train station and were able to activate our Eurail Passes and get set for our overnight train. We ended up waiting around at the station for the train until 11:00 when we started to board, when we also noticed our train had another destination as well. This was the city of Tarbes, which is southeast of Irun by about 45 minutes. We didn't get too much because we believed Irun was the final destination of the train and we could just sleep when we got there.

Well our first experience on the train was getting to our room and realizing that there were six of us sharing a room about 6 feet deep by 5 feet wide and about 8 or 9 feet tall. Little more than a closet with everyone trapped in their own little caccoon. I was pleased to find that the Korean guy on the top bunk across from me spoke english fairly well and we were able to talk to him, while the older couple in the bottom level spoke spanish and french. After settling in we all made it to sleep even though it was a little uncomfortable, and we made stops on the way with periodic announcements being made in French, but nothing seemed significant because all of the stations had signs as to what they were and as long as it didn't say Irun, I wasn't getting off of the train.

At one station however, lots of people including the older couple in our room got up and packed up and left the train so we were worried and asked people if it was Irun and one person said no we had to stay on the train for a couple more stops, and then a train worker came by and said “This is the last stop everybody off.” So we figured we had to do what he said, and went to the ticket office to find out what was up, meanwhile I woke up the Korean guy and told him what we knew was going on. At the station we ended up finding out that there was a bus from this train station to the Irun one that way the train could go to Tarbes instead. However the bus was leaving just as we found this out, all the native french speakers and a couple english speakers were able to make the bus. I think the train workers took pity on us and threw us and our Korean roommate unto another train that would get us one station away from Irun (at that point we were 3 stations away). On this train we were able to talk to a native spanish, french, and english speaker who was incredibly helpful and told us that once we were at this other station, we could either take a tram to the Irun station or just walk 20 minutes. We decided to walk because we figured we had already missed our connecting train so we might as well save a little money instead of paying for the tram, and he even drew us a wonderful map of where we needed to go.

Because of this walk, we ended up crossing the border from France to Spain...on foot! It was quite an experience, but since they are both EU countries I don't think anyone cared at all.

Once in Spain we noticed all the locals were wearing white clothing with red accents like belts or scarves or ties, and came up to the main street where we found that some sort of parade was about to go on. In our basic spanish we were able to ask what was going on and found out that the whole town was closed for this festival today except for restaurants and the train station, which we got even better directions to. We headed over there and found that we weren't the only ones that had missed the train, but more American's who had gotten on a slower bus missed the connection as well. We decided that rather than hang around the station for the next 6 hours till the next train to Madrid came, that we would go out and explore the town during the festival. So after paying a shopkeeper 3 euro a piece to put our bags in his storage closet, we headed over to the parade area to find even more people there with EVERYONE dressed in white and red....except us. One of the other Americans spoke great spanish and he was able to find out that the festival was for San Marcial and honored the day that the spanish successfully defended against the french army. There were groups of men carrying all sorts of guns being led by one woman who everyone clapped for as she passed, and at the end was one woman on a horse leading the mounted calvary. We ended up finding out that these were the girls the “soldiers” had voted to be their nurses, and the most favorite was the one that got to ride the horse. We equated it to a kind of local beauty pageant. After the parade everyone broke up to carnival rides, or chatting with friends. We tried to find some food and ended up getting in line for free food and drink with a ton of locals which they happily gave us!

We then wandered around and talked to some of them that looked to be around our age more or less to test out our spanish, which worked fairly well and just to try and immerse ourselves in their culture.

We stuck out like a sore thumb. It was kind of like going to a costume party and you are the only one in a costume except in reverse. We went to a costume party where everyone BUT us was dressed for the occasion.

It ended up being quite an experience and I can't think of a better way to be stranded at a train station in the outskirts of Spain. I am actually quite glad it happened and we were able to make some friends along the way.

We did eventually make it to Madrid, which I must say is a lot more enjoyable than Paris. Not nearly as dirty and there seems to be young people everywhere with great shopping and high energy levels. Not to mention it seems they have heard of air conditioning as well which is something I can't say for Paris. We made it out to the Museo del Prado and were able to seem a number of masterpiece paintings but all I can think of is how ugly some of these supposed “masterpieces” are. I guess I am more of a sculpture than a painting sort of person.

After this museum visit we partook in another spanish pasttime, the siesta! We walked over to the park and passed out on the grass for about an hour, don't worry nothing got stolen!...Though Mike did manage to leave his razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, and contact lenses all on that first overnight train.