Snap back to reality

We haven't blogged since we returned from our trip...that was unintentional! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind and it has taken us a bit of time to get readjusted to normal life, ripe with responsibility and obligation. Our trip left us with a fever...and the only medicine is more traveling, baby! We do not have any definitive plans but we would like to try to go to northern Europe next summer...time will tell.

But for now, we are back in Arizona and bracing ourselves for another summer...oi vey. One great piece of news is that Steve got a new job! He will now be an account manager at Yelp and he starts on May 3. His last day at UoP is Thursday...the countdown begins! To celebrate our 2 year anniversary and Steve's new employment, we are going to Disneyland this weekend! We are both looking forward to it...I plan to be very tired that day as it would be unthinkable to miss the Royal Wedding at 3 am--well worth it, I think! That's pretty much it for now...doesn't seem like there is nearly as much to blog about as there was when we were staring at the Eiffel Tower :)

Cheers!

Cheers

We are sitting in the Edinburgh airport waiting to start the first leg  of our journey home. This goes without saying but are sad to leave as this has been the trip of a lifetime.

Yesterday we ventured out to Scotland's coast, only a short bus ride from the city center. It was far from swimming weather but the sun was out. We mosied along the beach, munching on cheese sandwiches, apples and BBQ Pringles :) After going back into town we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Edinburgh and enjoying the relatively nice weather. There are huge, hilly, green parks here that look up onto the old parts of the city. Beautiful. We dozed, laughed and reminisced while laying under a blue sky and warm sun.

Scotland has been amazing and it is close to the top of the must do list when we come back to Europe. The people here are warm, friendly, inquisitive and ready to point you towards a pint when needed! Even their version of TSA is nicer and more polite than ours, a definite perk :)

So now we spend the next 14 hours in an airport or on a plane. Feeling blue to go home...excited to see friends and family (including a certain kitty Mason)...looking forward to coming back in the not too far future. See you all soon!

Addition: We are now in London. Every flight in Europe seems to be delayed. Our flight to Heathrow was an hour late and our flight home is behind an hour and a half. That makes four delayed flights this trip.

One more picture

We can only post 3 pictures at a time with the wifi connection we have right now. Here's a fourth. It was taken as a part of the underground tour. Perhaps this is what we would have looked like in 16th century Scotland. Yikes.

Scotland, The Last Stop

We landed in Scotland at midnight local time after our discount airline delayed our flight by 30 minutes. We headed through an empty Edinburgh Airport with our bags on our shoulders searching for a cab. When we finally found one and told him the address he knew just where to go. He dropped us off at our B&B, a splurge we decided to make after spending far less than we expected on food. We met the owner and fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up to a hot breakfast, something we haven't had in a while. The breakfast contained: scrambled eggs, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, veggie sausage, and toast. It was very good. After food we got on our way, walking to the city center. Our first stop was The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the summer home of Her Majesty. It was a well put together tour, and a lovely place. We then went into the Scottish Parliament to have a quick look around and while there we stopped for an early lunch.

We then walked "the royal mile," a stretch of road connecting the current palace to the old castle, our next stop. Along the way we stopped by merchants and street performers, churches and pubs. It was a very busy, fun street. Upon reaching Edinburgh Castle we were amazed with its size. The place was huge, it was... a castle. There are many exhibits to be seen, and it took us a good 3 hours to see it all. Crown jewels, stories of plots against the king, and a camp for POWs were among the most interesting. The POW section was made more interesting because it actually housed American prisoners of war from the American Revolution. It was really cool to see etchings of the American flag on a door, made by a solider who had been shipped to prison across an ocean.

With the castle to our backs we headed to our room. We stopped at a grocery store to get dinner, and watched British Wipeout. Hilarious. Around 7 we headed out again for an underground tour. Much of High Street, or the royal mile, is built on top of old homes. We toured a few of them. It was a fun tour. It really would have sucked to live in Edinburgh in the 1500s, with the plague and poop everywhere.

It was ten when we headed back to the room. We stopped in a pub and had a few pints, not realizing what incredible lightweights we are. We stumbled out of the pub, which is next door to our bed and breakfast and went to sleep.

Today, our last full day in Europe, we plan on heading to the beach for a look around. The sun is shining like it has been nearly every place we've been. We're close to the end of our fun packed adventure. I'm sure today will be a beautiful one.

Miss you all, and see you soon.

Lindsay and Steve

Ciao...again

Apologies for another absence over the last couple of days...while we have had a good internet connection at our B&B, there has been an inescapable exhaustion that has rendered us unable to blog :)

Wednesday was our first full day in Rome and we went full force. We did the "Caesar Shuffle" which included visiting the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill. We also hit up the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. All were great, especially the first three. We were glad to see the last bit as well however these areas were very very touristy and filled with vendors shoving roses and knick knacks in your face...quite annoying.

Yesterday we visited the Vatican which was a site to behold. We spent about four hours touring the museum, square and basilica. Again, breathtaking. We also visited the tombs of the popes, including the grave of John Paul II.

We are now checking out of our hotel with bleary eyes and tired feet...but we will make the best of our last day in Italy until our flight leaves this evening.

Arrividerci Roma!

Roma

Today we made the four hour train trip to Rome from Pistoia. We were sad to leave the quiet and peaceful town we had come to know so well but knew it was time for new experiences. We said goodbye to our host, Federica, hoping one day we will all meet again. We also said ciao  to her angel of a dog, Mario. It has been nice to get a little animal lovin' when we cannot be with our own feline/canine friends :)

This time, we got on the right train and enjoyed the Tuscan countryside on our way to Rome. We read, dozed and were constantly entertained by Italian banter we could not understand. We checked into our B&B which is about a ten minute walk from Vatican City. We strolled around our area of town and stopped at a local butcher where we picked up bread, provolone and gruyere cheese, strawberries, marinated artichoke hearts and of course...beer. Before we had our gourmet picnic dinner we went to see the Vatican lit up a night. It was beautiful and we plan to go back on Thursday to tour the city in its entirety. The rest of our evening consisted of eating a good portion of bread, watching the Italian version of Deal or No Deal (horrible) and washing clothes in the sink...again.

We have promised ourselves to get up early tomorrow and attempt the "Caesar Shuffle" which highlights the larger than life monuments of the Roman era.

Pictures

Now that we have wifi again, here are a few pics we took in Tuscany. From the top, an amazing view of one of the towns in Cinque Terre, our new favorite wine introduced to us by our host in Pistoia and Coke is expensive but oh so good here :)