Yep- we're home!

We are home and delighted to be here. The dogs and even Martin were delighted to see us- we'll be posting more pix and stories soon! Thanks to everyone who loves and supports us and helped us to take the journey of a lifetime!

Last European Blog

As we are heading back to Paris tomorrow morning, and will leave from there quite early on Thursday morning, we are pretty sure you will not see another European blog entry from us. We are feeling a definite mixture of sadness and joy as we get ready to head home. This has truly been the trip of a lifetime, and without all of you, our friends and family, we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this kind of journey. Our time has been amazing- we got to see some of the most beautiful European cities in the world. Along with the most amazing sites the world has to offer, we also got to sample the traditional foods everywhere. Escargot, baguette, croissant/ boquerones, bocadillos, manchego/ bitterbollen, pannoekeke, patat frite, we loved it all. And even when we thought we’d blown it, like not seeing l’Arc de Triomphe while in Paris, our taxi driver took us past it when we were passing through Paris on route to our third destination. We close by sending some feature photos of our time here- and we promise to continue to update this blog after we get home- sometimes entries were rushed and strange, and because of internet limitations, we’d post only one photo of something odd, and then try to enter more later, so when we are home we can definitely put together a more cohesive narrative of our trip.
Thanks again to all of you! Rest assured we miss you and love you and will be in contact soon!
Love JJ and DD

We Walk Amsterdam

On Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and now Monday we have walked Amsterdam. Each of the amazing cities we have visited have been (as the guide books say) imminently walkable, but Amsterdam perhaps is the most. We wait for trams when we have patience, and otherwise just wander the streets, canals, pleins, and shops.

This weekend there was a marathon being held in Amsterdam so Saturday we watched rowing teams, and yesterday we saw the runners. The tea shop where we can access internet is inside VondelPark, and about two blocks from our hotel, but when I came to use it yesterday (Sunday) it was cut off from our access by a steady stream of runners! Later we got to meet one of the participants in a little bar lounge we stopped in at. We feel really lucky to have gotten the fantastic hotel where we are staying, off the beaten path but still close to everything.
Friday we went to the Anne Frank Museum, which was incredibly moving- we had both been before but it is a place you have to return to. Our travels took us to the Waterlooplein fleamarket, and we managed to get there just as they were closing, although we scored some used DVDs for the trip home, and got to see lots of interesting people, and things. At night we went out to a bar called Custom Sugar Café where we played pinball, had a few drinks and talked a little to some locals. We came home through Leidsplein, right next to where we are staying, and got some late night French fries and mayo (Amsterdam tradition)
Today we went to the Rijksmusem, which was amazing, and now are going to explore the park a bit more- VondelPark is like Golden Gate park with fountains, small lakes, and beautiful greenery, and it's right next door to us.
We really miss home, the animals, and our friends, so even though we are sad to see our time coming to an end, we are also excited about returning! See you all soon!
JJ and DD

WE'RE IN AMSTERDAM!!

Hello all- we know it's been a little while since we have posted, but we were having a hard time finding a place to use the internet with our own computer. As before in Barcelona, we just had to ask around a bit, and we got a local to tell us about a fantastic tea house in the middle of VondelPark, which we are staying right next to, and here we are.
So...it's true, we are now in Amsterdam-we took the bus here from Paris on Wednesday, and it is incredible, gorgeous fall weather, we are enjoying the city, the people, the sites, and all of the amazing things here. Both of us visited this city before we met each other (on the same weekend no less) and have always wanted to come back and experience it together- so when we found ourselves running pretty low on funds in Barcelona (Paris takes it's monetary toll, and the euro is valued much higher than the dollar so everything is more expensive right now) we decided to change our itinerary, and travel to Amsterdam from Paris (we had a return flight from Barcelona to Paris already) and we found a very cheap bus ticket RT from Paris. We do see now why people pay the big bucks for train travel, it wasn't exactly a short trip, but we went through Brussels and Antwerp and lots of scenic windmill country in Holland, and the money we saved made it all worth it! We are staying in a fantastic location, right next to Leidsplein and the VondelPark, which is gorgeous. There are lots of sites and restaurants but it isn't so crazy as the area right down by Central Station. We are cracking each other up with our language confusion, everyone here speaks English, yet we keep saying things like Agua con gas por favor? or Si vous plait?
This picture is of the famous bicycles of Amsterdam and in the background is the hostelboat where we stayed the first night before finding our hotel. It was quaint, but when they said "cozy" cabins, they meant that only one person could stand up at a time, and there was room for only one suitcase. We'll post lots more pictures when we get them.
love to you all, see you soon! DD and JJ

Sitges!

We absolutely loved Sitges and while we were there concocted a dream of opening a Bed and Breakfast there ( Jennie and Zahra, interested?) because of it's idyllic location and gay tourist (and local) crowd. In fact we love Sitges so much we plan to go back tomorrow! Today's plans included sleeping in, then discovering that in fact even Barcelona closes down for the greater part of Sunday. It wasn't a problem because we have food in the apartment, and we looked over upcoming travel plans before meandering down to the TravelBar again for internet posting and some more morning coffee and tea- we are starting to really miss home. As of today we have been traveling for 15 days. As much as we love the new and interesting things we are seeing, we miss all of you and hope you all are well. We have especially been missing our poochies, and have been photographing local dogs! Here are a smattering of Sitges photos. Today while posting the blog we did not see the Sardana (a traditional Catalan dance) but we did see a bit of flamenco! We didn't bring the photo download cord, or we would post those photos as well.

Gaudi La Platja y El Teleferico

Yesterday we planned to take the bus turistic of Barcelona, which would have been about 20 euros for the two of us, it’s a bus service you can get on and off of anywhere, and it takes you to the different sights of the city, but we chose instead to walk. We started from Placa Catalunya, and walked past La Casa Battlo, then La Pedrera, both of which are Gaudi’s creations, and amazing to look at. We did not choose to go inside La Pedrera, long lines, and a lot of walking ahead of us, but we may go in another day. Next we walked all the way down to La Familia Sagrada, one of the most famous Gaudi buildings, and definitely the most incredible to look at. This church has many spires, and the detailed art incorporated into every wall and entrance is inspirational. We spent a long time here, and then had lunch of pizza, sangria, and a delicious plate of mini pan con cinco salsas, which offered small breads and five tasty sauces, pesto, tapenade, and alioli, a garlicky version of aioli, among the most memorable.
We had done ourselves in with the walking, and took a bus down to the beach, which was gorgeous, and we couldn’t believe we hadn’t been yet during the day. The waters are blue and gorgeous, and after this morning’s errands, we are going to spend the whole day there.

From the beach we walked along the waterfront and then went up to the elevated platform of the ‘teleferico’ a cable car that affords an incredible panoramic view of the city and takes you from the beach over to Parc Montjuic. One of the strangest things about being here is that everyone speaks Spanish and we are getting along great because of that, but all of the signs and many menus are in Catalan, which looks and sounds a bit like French and Portuguese mixed together. We have overheard people speaking in Catalan, but nobody has spoken it to us yet. Plans for the rest of our time here include going to Sitges on Saturday, seeing if we can catch the locals dancing the ‘sardana’ a catalan dance on Sunday, and more walking, taking it all in, and enjoying!

Some more Barcelona...

We just can't help but post some more photos of this beautiful city- and we haven't even gone on the city tour yet! We do promise that when we go however, we will bring along extra batteries! Here are some more photos around the city, including the rambla del mar, some street performers, and the gothic architecture off of La Ramla.

Hola Barcelona!

We just can’t get away from the “name of city with exclamation point” entries, but Barcelona deserves it if any place in the world does. For those of you who may have come here, you know why, for those of you who haven’t, suffice it to say that it is one of the places you should visit before you die. It is bustling with activity day and night, which is just perfect for our newfound European sleeping pattern- yes friends, we have joined the (albeit vacation induced) siesta crowd. Even before we left Paris, we found ourselves rising at a normal time in the morning, going out for breakfast, and to see the sights, and then napping in the afternoon, rising again and going out until 2 or 3 (or sometimes 4) in the morning. We love the nightlife here in Barcelona, even at midnight the streets are full and the temperature is warm.
Paris was amazing, but it did set us back a bit in the finances- even a coffee and a tea in the morning would cost about 8-10 dollars. Our first experience with Barcelona- the cafeteria down the street from where we were staying- when we ate one of the most delicious dinners imaginable for 12 euros (about 15 dollars) for both of us, was exactly what we needed. Yesterday we checked into our apartment where we will stay for 7 days (see first entry for link) Our first night here we walked down to the waterfront and had a drink and a snack and looked out at the beautiful sights while we enjoyed our second plate of boquerones (pictured here) which are marinated anchovies, sometimes accompanied with a garlic, parsley and olive oil relish. Other favorites are the bocadillos (little sandwishes), the manchego cheese, and the patatas bravas are like no potatoes you’ve ever had!
We have been unable to get to a place to connect the computer to the internet for a while, which is why we didn’t send any more Paris updates, but I’m sure you’ll all find it amusing that when we went on our evening boat tour of Paris, and the Eiffel tower, very romantic, very worth it, we ran out of battery in the camera and only got two pictures! Oh well…
Meanwhile, we remain in Barcelona- we plan to tour Sitges, the beach town nearby, and all of the amazing Gaudi architecture- we are staying in La Raval, the historic quarter right off of La Rambla, close to the beach, the gay district, and some of the most beautiful buildings, art, and people in the world! Oh, and yesterday we had our first, and certainly not last, experience with the open air market, La Boqueria, where we shopped for meats, cheeses, and of course, boquerones, for our apartment- amazing!
Au Revoir, Hasta Pronto, See you all soon! JJ and DD