Hello from Grindelwald, a little town above Interlaken in the Swiss Alps. I am having the time of my life. Each place that I travel becomes the most beautiful place that I have ever been.

We spent the last week in Italy, which was fantastic. We started in Venice where we watched the gondolas cruise down the canals. It was really pretty, but brutally hot, so I dragged Geoff to the island of Lido to go to the beach (I know, rough life). After Venice we hit Rome for three days. We spent a little more to stay in a hotel instead of a hostel which ended up being a great decision because we were right next to Vatican City. Our hotel was very old and charming, and had one of those old elevators that are exciting to ride because you feel like any second you could plunge to your death...

We explored all of the sites-the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, St. Peters, The Sistine Chapel, Trevi fountain, Spanish stairs... and then at night we cruised the streets and ate too much pasta and pizza and sipped on wine, my favorite of which tasted like strawberry juice as was referred to by the fourteenish year old boy who served it to me merely as "sexy wine". haha. i also tried all of the gelato I could get my hands on to discover the best flavor, which is decididly honey.

We felt spontaneous so we skipped Florence and decided to head for the Riviera. On the way we stopped for an hour to snap shots of the tower of pisa. We camped along the beach (in a legit campsite) in Deiva Marina and spent the day hiking the 9 km trail along Cinque Terre (five lands) which is five Italian towns full of those pastel colored buildings that basically hang onto the cliffs over the ocean. To get to each town we walked through vineyards, olive groves and lemon trees. The air smelled like rosemary and lavendar. When we got to hot, we just stopped at a beach and jumped in the ocean. Definitely not a day Ill soon forget.

Now we are spending a couple of days in Switzerland, the third country weve been to that makes me wish I spoke German. It also happens to be breathtakingly beautiful. We are staying in a lodge in the mountains that we had to take a train up 1500 meters to get to. It is lush and green, but when I look up the mountain I can see snow. We could actually go skiing if we wanted.

Just a bit over a week to go, Ill blog from Spain when we get to Valencia!
Auf Weidershen!

I am writing from Prague in Czech Republic, home of the Staneks! We have had an awesome time since Amsterdam. We spent an entire week in Germany. Berlin was really interesting and it seemed like every street corner had some kind of historic importance, whether from WWII or the days of the Berlin Wall. We walked to the top of the Reichstag, the government building, and looked down through the big glass dome. The significance of the dome is so that the people can keep an eye on the government that has betrayed them in the past, and that the politicians can look up and see the people that they represent (or 300 American tourists!)
After Berlin we went to Frankfurt to visit my friend Sebastian who studied abroad at OU. He showed us around his university and took us out for an authentic German meal-weinershnitzel with green sauce, potatoes, and apple wine. The next day we had the opportunty to go to his village with him and meet his parents who were incredibly hospitable and kind, and fed us way too much!
After Frankfurt we traveled down to Munich, where Monks have been brewing beer for hundreds of years. We got to try some at several of the famous beer halls, including the legendary Hofbrau Haus. We also ate like seven different kinds of sausages-CurryWurst, Bratwurst, Bockwurst...and the list goes on. In fact, I could probably wait awhile before I eat sausage again!
We took a daytrip to Fussen in the Alps to see the famous Neuschwanstein fairy tale castle. It is actually the castle that Walt Disney modeled his Cinderella Castle after. It was an absoutely wonderful day, probably the best of the trip. Everything about the area is very picturesque. The small town at the foot of the Alps consists of little traditional cottages. There are horse drawn carriages trotting down the streets and the mountains tower above. We had a few hours to kill before our timed ticket visit to the castle so we walked down a trail to Swan Lake. The water is so clear that you can see to the bottom, and since it was such a nice day we decided to jump right in! The castle itself was very cool and really did look like it was from a fairy tale.
Last night we arrived in Prague. Here they use the koruna instead of the euro, which is basically like monopoly money. I had a $2000 bill of it because the exchange rate is so crazy. We treated ourselves to an authenic Czech meal of Goulash, dumplings and potato pancakes. It was delicious and a lot cheaper than anything we've had so far. Then we walked along the river toward the old town to see Prague Castle-the biggest medieval castle in central Europe-lit up at night. Today we took a tour of the city and we are taking Halli's recomended pub crawl from Bohemian Bagel tonight! In the morning, it's off to Vienna, Austria!!

i am in amsterdam, i have fifteen minutes left on my internet time and i have no shift button, so i will do the best that i can!

after dublin we went through southern ireland. my favorite part was killarney national park. we unfortunately found this at the very end of our trip and did not have enough time to explore as much as we wanted, but we did bike through it one day and it was absoultely breathtaking. if you want to know what i mean, please google image it. the town itself was pretty neat, and it had traditional music flowing out of every pub. and i finally, after four days in ireland, ate shepards pie--so good!

we then flew on ryan air to paris. that was an experience in itself...paris, to be honest, is kind of dirty and really expensive. also, ive never been to a country where i dont speal ANY of the language and i didnt realize how much harder it would be to get around. i tried to speak french anyways, which was funny, and geoff thinks france is stupid because they dont speak english.

we did do some pretty cool thing when we were there. we took a day trip to versailles which is insanely big, you could get lost in the gardens alone. we also climbed the STAIRS to the second floor of the eiffel tower. its 43 stories and way harder than it looked like it was going to be. we have a wonderful corny picture kissing on the top!

we skipped brussels because of the train schdeule and now we are in amsterdam in the netherlands. it is by far my favorite city so far. everyone is so laid back. it is very picturesque--very ëpcot" europe. the streets are brick and cobblestone and they are separated by canals. there are shops selling wooden shoes and all of the signs are in dutch and english. the only nondisney things are the coffee shops where no one drinks coffee and the redlight district.

we went one a three hour walking tour today and learned a lot-- like how the girls who work in the redlight distrct actually rent out their windows and have emergency buttons that go to the police station if things get violent. they also pay taxes. its pretty interesting if you think about it. like i said i didnt have a lot of time, but there is a little update of what were doing!!
miss you all!

Sorry I haven't written, we've been busy!

We were in London for two days and saw all the sights-Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London- most from the outside because it is super expensive to go in them, and the pound is worth almost twice the dollar...We did pay to go inside Westminster Abbey, which was well worth it. Charles Darwin (among many other famous people) is buried there-I never thought I'd see the father of evolution buried in a Catholic church!

A lot of the museums are free during the summer, and I'd recommend the Tate Modern if anyone has a chance to go. We went just because it was free and it ended being awesome-full of Picasso, Dali, Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, etc. We got, of course, fish and chips which was delicious. Biggest disappointment was showing up at the Globe to buy tickets for a Midsummer Night's Dream and it was sold out-even the standing room!

It was fun, but cold and expensive and probably not the best first place to go in terms of building morale for our Europe trip.

Right now, on the other hand, we are in Dublin which is AMAZING. We took a train across the English countryside into Wales and then a ferry over the Irish Sea to get here. We expected to find a little dinghy to drag us across the water and instead found ourselves on an eleven deck cruise ship with restaurants, bars, movie theater and even a casino!

As soon as we touched down on Irish soil we ran to our hostel to change and go to a musical pub crawl that Geoff had reserved for us. By far the coolest thing that we've done so far. The bars that we went to were privately reserved for the group and we were entertained by traditional Irish musicians for almost three hours in the "authentic" Irish pubs off the beaten path while sipping on pints of Guinness. Afterwards we took one of the musician's advice and ventured off on our own to see a local Irish session.

Today we went to Trinity College and the Irish Museum. We then went to the Old Jameson Distillery for a tour. Taking Halli's advice, I volunteered to be a whiskey taster and tasted Jameson, Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker Black to decide which one I liked best. I am now an official whiskey taster (they gave me a certificate and everything!) Afterwards we went to the Gaol (jail) which was also really cool. It was built in 1776 and has seen a lot of Irish history. Kind of eerie... a LOT of people were executed there.

Dublin has been amazing and tomorrow after I drag Geoff to mass at St.Patrick's Cathedral we are headed off to Cork in the south.

Miss you all! :)

We're here!

We made it to London hassle-free! :)