Lucerne, Switzerland

11:40 am

We feel a bit nomadic moving from city to city every few days, but it is worth it. Yesterday we visited the Rhine Falls after we watched coo-coo clocks being made shortly before leaving Germany.

After leaving Amsterdam we saw a gothic cathedral in Cologne before making our stop in Heidelberg. The hotel was surprisingly modern as opposed to our "3 star" hotel here in Lucerne, where the toilet and bathroom sink are connected. For the first time, we ate bratwurst and turned our noses up at the sauerkraut. The hotel restaurant was kind enough to serve french fries to suit our "picky" taste buds.

A rather large spider wanted to share our hotel room and Wes escorted him to the trash can on a one-way paper towel ticket. At least the food is good.

We are shopping this morning and had planned to ascend Mt. Pilatus this afternoon, but the weather has other plans for us. It is snowing up there, so... more shopping! Alas, alas.

We return to Germany tomorrow (Munich) after making a stop in Liechtenstein. Hope everything is going well back home!

Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Holland
6:40pm

We didn't have easy access to the internet in Paris, so we had to wait to post until we got to Amsterdam. We spent three cramped nights in Le Petit Louvre... and it was certainly petite. The room we shared was about the size of a walk in closet (you can imagine how well we got along during that close time together). We had a hilarious tour guide as we drove around the city, she allowed us to stop every so often for a "quicky picky"(pictures). When we ended the tour at Notre Dame we actually ran into my friend Dominic--small world! The afternoon was spent at the Musee D'Orsay and, of course, the Louvre. That night we went up the Eiffel Tower and got some great pictures and saw the beautiful Paris at night from all sides.

I have to say something for the street performers in Europe. When we were in London there was a guy with an electric guitar in the tube that played Eric Clapton and yesterday in Brussels there was a Santa look-alike who played everything from Jerry Lee Lewis to a Beatles medley. Very impressive.

We only made a lunch stop in Brussels, but we had enough time to have Belgium waffles, which were quite delectable! Then we got to our hotel just north of Amsterdam which is a four-star and very nice and comfortable. We ate at an Indonesian restaurant... and probably never will eat there again, if that's any clue (but, of course, Leigh probably ate the most of anyone in our group). Today we went on a bike tour of the Dutch countryside, which was so much fun. We checked out the wooden shoe & cheese factories, which were interesting. I'll try to get pictures up on this soon--some of the computers don't allow us to upload. We're waking up early tomorrow to stop in Koeln and will stay the night in Heidelberg, Germany. We miss all of you! Aufwiedersehen!

Tracy and I trying on wooden shoes in Amsterdam.

London, UK
6:50 pm

Well, we arrived in London early yesterday (3am, our time) and got to our hotel in Bayswater, a train ride and taxi ride later. We visited a couple historic pubs and parks before retiring for a much needed night sleep.


This morning we started out on a long walking-tour of London, visiting Kensington and Hyde Park and checking out the swans (they were huge!). After walking through the beautiful gardens near Buckingham Palace, we watched the changing of the guards and ended our tour at Tower Hill. We then had free time to roam around town and Leigh & I went with a few friends to Harrods to check out floors and floors of splendor. After a pit stop by Starbucks ("home"), then we got back on the tube and headed back to our hotel. We'll be here tonight and then head to Dover in the morning and take a cruise boat over to Paris.

A house divided in London...

Obviously Leigh & I are not very blog-savvy. We're being shipped off to London next Saturday, May 19, so stay tuned for tales of our adventures.

p.s. We have several friends who will also be around Europe this summer, so it will be interesting to see who we can coordinate to run into.

So.... does this show up in the color I picked out or not?? I don't get this thing, Laura. HELP ME... gosh, I feel like Mom. hahaha