Roma

Monday June 25th  Robbie and I went to find some breakfast, i never thought I would say this , but i may actually be tired of puffed pastries.  We then headed over to Vatican city, it was very crowded and people are trying to sell you things all over. The line to get in was soooooo long, you can shortcut the line, but it was very expensive , so we decided we were good with just seeing it. We then got on a tour bus, it was a double decker with an audio tour. We rode around Rome on that. Our legs are getting tired earlier and earlier in the day.  We got off at one of the stops and I'm embarrassed to say we ate lunch at McDonald 's. I just wanted ice in my drink. I did have a sandwich on ciabatta :). After lunch we headed back to our loft to cool down and take a nap.  We were so excited when we got up to find our Wi-fi working! We then headed out for dinner and to see the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps.  Our dinner was amazing, we ate outside though and people come up to sell you something about every 5 min.  I think it was the best meal of the trip so far. We finished it with complimentary Limoncello. Rome is a beautiful city, I love the Trevi fountain and the pantheon.

Roma

Sunday June 24
We got up early and headed over to Emily's to drop off some  stuff we are leaving in Amsterdam until we fly home. Of course it was raining! So we rode the bus to Central Station. Once there, we just missed a train heading for the airport because the wrong track was listed. We caught the next train, and made it to our flight fine. We are all very tired today. Emily slept on the plane, Jill and I read. We saw the Alps, they were beautiful. I'm excited to see them from the ground. We landed and got lost leaving the airport and went through customs twice. Two Italy stamps ! Took a bit to find the guy with our name on his paper to take us to our loft. When we did find him he didn't say anything, I thought it was awkward.  We jumped in his Mercedes and we were off.
We are staying in a loft apartment, it has a small air conditioner, but it's hot! It's on the third floor and the elevator is tiny and scary. Robbie and the luggage rode up in it , and the girls rode it once but couldn't get off on our floor, I will not be taking it!
After we had some lunch. Spaghetti carbonara for me, pizza for everyone else. We started off looking to take a bus tour, but could never find the start of one, so we walked and walked. We found the colosseum and went in to  walk around that. It was pretty amazing to stand in something that old with that much history. We left there and had a snack and drinks, Rome makes us thirsty. We then came back to our place. We don't have Internet which is driving us crazy!!!! They are trying to fix it. Robbie and I went for a walk right around our apartment building. We saw the Castel st Angelo and it seems around every turn is a monument of some sort. We are very close to Vatican city and will walk there in the morning. We got some gelato and then off to bed. I dozed off  but was awoken to constant honking and yelling, I'm guessing this means Italia won the football match that was in overtime. 
Dad had asked me to look in a phone book if I saw one, it was funny that on the way up the steps we found one, there is a Paolo Loffredo living in Rome, as well as Loffreda's and Perazelli's. 
One of the funniest things of the day was the lady walking with her rolling suitcase and it kept tipping over, right in front of us she started yelling and kicking it. She then explained she had been dragging it for two miles. We laughed that maybe her vacation was going worse than ours, we haven't kicked our luggage YET! 

Amsterdam Day 4

Saturday June 23 I can see why Emily loves this city. It is very beautiful. The hing I have loved most about Amsterdam is my morning walk to get breakfast. This morning I walked by two flower markets on the way to the store. They have such beautiful things, I also see people carrying fresh flowers all the time.  I got stuff to make ham and cheese croissants for breakfast.  Emily came over to have breakfast and then we went to a market. It's was kind of like our farmers market only bigger and also mixed with swap and shop like stuff and clothes. There were bakeries, fish markets, ( lots of stinky herring) cheese shops, fresh squeezed oj.  So much to see!  From there we went to some souvenir shops to get some items on our list , stopped at Central station to use the restroom for 50 cents. Then we went to get our tickets for the brewery tour. It is right by a huge windmill. I was so excited to see one. It isn't working but it is very pretty. We spent a lot of time there .  A lot of beer was consumed, and cheese and sausage and peanuts. Emily's friend Sandra from Spain came to meet us. She is very sweet.  Then we went out to dinner, more beer for Robbie and Jill.  The girls are going out tonight and Robbie and I are going for a walk along the canals. I want to see them in the dark and it doesn't get dark until after 10. So we have not seen them yet. We leave in the morning at 730 for Rome!

Amsterdam Day 3

The girls had a good time at the concert last. This morning  after I did the laundry at the laundry mat, we met the girls and rode our bikes to a street book fair. It started to rain so we looked around in an indoors book shop, then when the sun came out we looked around the book fair. Jill has bought a total of 11 books this trip. She has advised us to keep her out of book shops from here on out. We then had some lunch at Emily's favorite cafe here.  I had a yummy meatloaf sandwich. After that we went to return our bikes. Trying to dodge other bikes, mopeds, people and cars and trams and buses, not to mention it was windy and in the 50's and our butts hurt. Was too much for Jill and I. Emily is going to keep riding hers, it's her favorite part of Amsterdam.   Its raining again, We then went on a canal cruise. It was very relaxing to get off the streets and see Amsterdam by boat. The architecture here is so cool.  We then went to a record store and looked around. Robbie bought a Rush Album he doesn't have. Then we went had some snacks. Frites with frite sauce, and a croquet from febo. It is a store with just vending machine food. It was Em's place to go for a late night (drunken) snack. I wasn't a fan, but, I was sober :) Robbie got a croquet sandwich from McDonalds, we split a stroopwaffle Mcflurry, best Mcflurry I've ever had! We went to the movies then to see Moonrise Kingdom, it was in English with Dutch subtitles. I fell asleep in the movies for a little bit. Walking and biking makes me need a nap! Then we watched some street dancers in a square by the movies, they were really good. We then headed over by Emily's house to get some dinner at a place she had been wanting to go. Everything was in Dutch , our very nice waitress translated everything for us. We had fondue, I had a smoked chicken salad, Jill had cheesy mushrooms and Robbie had  Chorizo, everything was very good. Emily liked that the football match was on. Germany vs Greece. ( who is this kid?) After that we headed to our place, Jill came with us tonight, Emily may go out with her friends tonight. Jill got to Skype with Jason and Ellie and tomorrow we have a Skype date with Abby and our dogs. That reminds me, they let dogs in restaurants here! They all seem so well behaved and just chill under the tables! We love it!

Amsterdam Day 2

Day 6  We slept in this morning and then Robbie and I went to Bloemenmarkt , it is the floating flower market. It was actually smaller than I thought it would be. It's geared towards tourist. There were some gorgeous fresh flowers and plants. I didn't buy any tulip bulbs because I'm not sure we can bring them home.  I was very proud that we were able to navigate our way there and even took a tram and a bus. We also had stopped in at Central station to get some money. It seems everything here is so complicated. We had to have a credit card with a chip card in it, so we also bought one of those. I had to use the restroom, so I found one in Central station, but it cost 50 cents, I had a 50 euro bill and 20 cents.  After some cursing, I just decided to hold it.  We then met up with Jill and Emily, we met for coffee. The coffee house had a sign that said you needed a chip card, and didn't take cash, we thought we were all good, turns out they didn't take the kind of chip card we got. So Emily had to run down the street to her bank and put more money on her card and pay. Oh my, we were so frustrated. We then went to see the I Amsterdam sign. We left there and went to the Van Gogh Museum. Jill was sad and missing Walter. We had seen dogs playing in the water pool in front of the Amsterdam sign. We left there and had pancakes and Poffertjes. We then went to rent our bikes. Emily thought we should try it. It's how everyone gets around here. Jill was terrified to try, I was pretty concerned. Robbie seemed excited. We got to the bike rental place and then realized they wanted a 50 € deposit per bike plus the two days rental, of course they only took cash! We of course didn't have enough! It's just how this day was going. We had enough for the deposit, so they let us go with that. We got a quick lesson on locking them up and we were off.  By this time it's rush hour and we are headed to the library and we had to go through traffic, it was pretty scary. At a stop light Jill turns to me and says, " remember how much I hated the crowded tube in London, well, I would rather be there"! We made it to the library and it is the coolest library I have ever been too. It also has great views of the city from its top floor. The girls rode to our house with us, then they left to go to their concert. Jill was not in a good mood. Robbie and I went to the market and then decided to go get tickets for the Anne Frank house for tomorrow. The website said you need a printer to purchase online. It was sprinkling when we left. We found it fine,it was raining harder though. I ran in to get the tickets only to be told they don't sell them for the next day and to get them online.  I said " so I biked in the rain and I can't get tickets? " The poor girl was nice. We then started back and the monsoon hit, we waited under an awning, until it let up some, made it back, completely soaked. I was laughing so hard, the whole day seemed to always have something go wrong. Oh well, a bad day of vacation is better than a good day at work. We then got some yummy pizza, skyped with dad and wrote a blog post. Time for bed,my legs are so tired!

Amsterdam

Day 5 We got up , I overslept, so no shower for me. We went to get our free breakfast from the Spread Eagle Inn, then we headed for Bristol to find the airport. We made it to Bristol fine through  the beautiful English countryside. So many cows and sheep. We had to stop and ask for directions for the airport. We were headed the wrong way on a one way street with cars approaching, while we weren't in danger of being hit, we were certainly going to cause a traffic snafu, Jill says, " Dad pull in the grass" so over the median we went, crises averted! Good story for later , Robbie was not so amused at the time. We got our rental car back with 15 min to spare before being charged another 200 dollars for a second day.  We had a long wait at the airport, Jill bought a holiday travel game book for grownups, we did that for a bit and had lunch. Then had an uneventful flight to Amsterdam, we did get to board the plane early because Jill's suitcase has wheels and they wanted us to check it. So we got the exit row with extra leg room.  We rode a very crowded train to central station, then switched to the bus, the girls stop was before ours and we had to ask for directions to our apartment. I'm so glad we are easing in to non english speaking countries. We then went over to see where Emily has been living. I can see why she loves it here. Her neighborhood is so cute and the canals are very cool.  We stopped at a little pub and had drinks and kaas ( cheese) and salami. We watched the boats go by. We will take a canal cruise while we are here.  Then on to Burgermeister for dinner. We then went to Damm square, then the Red light district. I thought the women would be a little farther away. Very awkward to make eye contact with them.  We also had stopped at the grocery store. Jill got these yummy truffles that we have to get more of, Robbie was very fond of the little doughnuts . The girls came back to see our place, the stairs are insanely steep. Emily thought I embellished how bad they were. She agreed they are pretty bad. Almost like a ladder. Poor Robbie had to carry a 40 lb bag up them. I was worried by the time we made it up.  I will add a picture when I can. Anyway, finally in bed now, I think the girls are going out. Now that I'm in bed, I'm not sleepy. Only 5:30 at home, I guess that is why.

Day 4 Stonehenge and Stourhead Gardens

We left London today. We took the tube to the Waterloo train station to change over to the train to Sunbury where we picked up the rental car.   There were a bunch of women in cool fascinator hats and men in long tails, Jill overheard that they were going to the horse races. We got to Sunbury and got our Ford montero, Robbie seemed excited to be driving from the right side of the car. He only tried to get into the left side once :) I had directions to our Bed and breakfast at Stourhead Gardens and thought that Stonehenge was past it, we thought we were lost a couple of times, but all of a sudden we went around a curve and there was Stonehenge in the middle of a field. It was surreal to see it. I've seen pictures so many times. We decided not to pay the 7 £ to go behind the fence, wasn't much difference really than where we were standing. We then went on to Stourhead. The B&B is so cute and old. The owner Eric is a British photographer. He has two labs, I kinda wanted to sleep with one ;) we are missing our dogs. We went to lunch across the street at the Spread Eagle Inn, Jill was upset about missing Walter, the service and food were kinda lackluster. We then went on a tour of the house here, they have some very cool old stuff and it was beautiful, then we walked around the gardens and lake. Emily was not feeling well, so she napped. We then went to find a place for dinner. We went in to a place called the Red Lyon, they were not serving dinner, I swear, I felt as if I had been dropped into a movie , the girl was speaking English but it may have well been Dutch to me. She directed us to another place, Jill reading all of those Jane Austin books must have paid off as she understood the directions, we went to the Crown and Bell. It was good, but expensive almost 100.00 dollars for an average meal with drinks. We then returned to our rooms and went to bed early, but I'm up listening to my husband gasp for breath in is sleep , I know he hates his cpap machine but he really needs it. Tomorrow we head to Amsterdam , I'm excited to see it . Emily loves it so much.  I'm still trying to figure out how to add pictures to the blog from my iPad.

Day 3 Jill and I got up early and went to the market and got stuff to make breakfast. I made bacon and eggs, it reminded me of dads kitchen. I kept setting off the smoke alarm. We set off to go to the British Library, to go to the exhibit called Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands. As an English major Jill was pretty excited about this. To quote " as an English major, I felt a deep stirring at seeing Wordworth's own notes on Tintern Abbey and Blake's draft of The Tyger. As a girl who loves her Harry Potter, I almost pissed my pants seeing Rowling's first manuscript of the Sorcerer's Stone!" I love this girl!  We left there and we to an Irish pub, no one drank, strange but true. We then had a large difference of opinions of how are day should go :( we then headed to a area with a lot of vintage stores. Emily wanted to get a Burberry coat. She found her coat then we headed to see the Tower of London and the tower bridge. Waited  in  line at a Starbucks for forever to pee. Looked for a bus tour of London but they were expensive and it was too late to get in the whole tour. We set out on a regular bus for Harrod's. It was rush hour and London was crazy crowded. The bus driver announces that the route has now changed, so crap, now it won't take us where we thought. At this point we are tired and cranky, Jill and Robbie headed back to our flat and Emily and I headed to Harrod's and then stopped at the store for snacks on the way home. It was a hot bath an d bed for me. I'm really hoping tomorrow goes better.  One cool thing, I have never seen a building as old as the Tower of London. Pretty cool!

Day 2 We slept in today, we were very sleepy, we had breakfast here at our flat, then we started out, we headed to Portabella road, there is a market on the weekend and we briefly looked through there. I was anxious to see the sights of London that are familiar to me. We went to The museum of brands and packaging, that Emily wanted to see. It was really cool. It had brands and packages of things over the years. It was fun to see items from my childhood. No pictures allowed. :( We then stopped for lunch and got to try Pimms and lemonade . I liked it! After that we set out to see Buckinham palace. The flag was up, I think that means the queen was home! We took the wrong bus to get there and had to walk a long way to find a tube station to get back. I was afraid to ride the tube at first, now I think I'm pretty much a pro. Buses, not so much! After that, we headed to find Westminster Abby and Big Ben and the London eye. Church was just letting out of the Abby.  Then we had dinner in an area called Soho, Robbie and Jill split a bottle of wine. Jill seemed a little homesick but the wine seemed to help :) I had my ickiest meal so far. It was supposed to be a cannelloni filled with ricotta and spinach but it was all spinach. We then headed to a jazz bar that Emily had been too. It was very crowed and loud so we headed across the street to a little pub. I had two brambles, some drink with gin and black currant and somehow got persuaded to do a shot of tequila, I only did two thirds.  We were all a little tipsy. The way back to our flat was interesting since the tube had quit running and we had to find buses home . We did ride a double decker bus and we sat on the top in the front kinda like sitting in the front of a roller coaster.  We had no idea which stop to get off at. We tried to get a cab we saw but he was lost too:(, so we walked and walked. Bathrooms are hard to come by at 2 am , certain people may have peed by the street, but I won't name names.  Finally we found our flat, bedtime ahhh!

Day 1

Day 1 I can't believe it's finally here, it's almost time to see Emily! We are still on the plane, my butt is quite tired of sitting ! We have about an hour left in our flight. I have watched two movies, The Vow, and Young Queen Victoria. Jill watched the second, Robbie didn't watch either one. We have napped, read, listened to music. Jill likes it when they show our location on the tv. It looks like the sun is setting now, while it is 3:30 to us it will be 2245 when we land. I told Robbie after this flight I feel a flight to Australia is out for me, maybe in 1st class... He said he doesn't even want to fly back home :) we are getting restless.  Our food has been pretty good, an omelet this morning and pizza and salad just now.  My favorite was the Scottish shortbread cookie, I love those things.  So we finally made it to Heathrow, waited in a long line in customs. They give Jill a hard time about not having a job and wanted to know how much money she had. She had to explain she was with her parents. Then we finally got to find Emily who had been waiting a bit. We then ran and caught the tube and found our flat. It is really cute and has everything we need. We went back out and the girls got some shoarma, they were hungry, then to bed.