REPOST: Italia

Ciao Bellas!
We caught a glimpse of him standing across the piazza della signoria...his lovely locks, voluptuous lips and his rock hard physique melted each of us quicker than a gelato on a hot sunny day. David, everyone calls him. Now we can believe in love at first sight.
Or love at second sight!! Folks, the ice cream here is what has really taken our hearts!! We started our Italian adventures in Venice, where we walked most of the city and saw many cool buildings, etc. etc. We also had fantastic gelatos!! From there we trained down to Florence, where our hostel had a SWIMMING POOL! Yipee! Florence is where we did all our shopping, haggling all the pushy salesmen in the market for cheaper prices on incredible knick knacks and such.
BUT, the most important part about Florence is not our shopping. The best part is actually a small, cold place, called Gelaterria di Medici, the home of the world's best ice cream. We owe all of our happiness to Emily's friend, Lizzie Jones, for granting us that piece of heaven. If any of you chance to visit Florence, make SURE you get the Creme di Medici (sorry for spelling errors), that is the BEST thing you can do for yourself!!
We also made a new Scottish friend (in Florence, weird, we know!) who is one crazy pal! Tom, one of our hostel roommates had a handful of entertaining stories about Florence and other adventures!!
From Florence we left for Fiesole (again, sorry for the incorrect spelling) and watched the sunset behind a fantastic view of Tuscany, lighting the sky with too many colors to even describe.
We left Florence for Siena, where we saw much of the town just by walking and basking in in the ambiance, then trained down to ROME!!
The Vatican was almost unreal, actually seeing the Sistine chapel was unreal!
We ate dinner at a sit down restaurant 300 yards in front of the Coliseum, between the three of us we had legitimate, Italian spaghetti, pizza, and ravioli. What a treat!
Due to some travelling and direction difficulties, we caught the tail end of church yesterday, but were able to study together and enjoy the spirit of being in a church building.
Today, Monday September...7th? Who keeps track of time when on vacation?? Obviously not me!! We leave for the leaning tower of Pisa and onto Cinque Terre!!
On our next entry we will backtrack a little and let all you chums know how Austria went!

Our first love.

This past weekend, we got together and my oh my were we in HEAVEN! We talked about all of the european guys (okay, okay... and the gorgeous american ones we met too!) from our trip.  However, who are we kidding, the main events of the night were centered around our first love: FOOD.  We went to an authentic Italian place for dinner, authentic Belgian food for dessert and finished it off with delicious hazelnut hot chocolate for dessert (don't forget the Mozart bars! haha) and some European style shopping.  The night would not be complete without a French film and laughing so hard we couldn't fall asleep.  Ahhhh....it was almost as if I was back in Europe. Can we pleassseeeeee go back?! FOREVER!?

And of course the night would not be complete
without taking ridiculous pictures of ourselves...

unsquashable travel bug

There is hardly a day that goes by where I don't think about my trip last year. I find myself counting the days to figure out where we would have been and what adventures we would have been living. However, living in the past does not satisfy. I am afraid that I have awoken a little travel bug inside me, and I just can't stay still! I still want to see the world! So here are my travel plans for the future...teach English in Korea and every four months go to China for a month of Kung Fu, and then visit Portugal for the dedication of the Lisbon Temple. Not bad huh!?! Mignon has already started teaching me Korean. And I am going to start budgeting for my visit to Portugal. Who knows, maybe while I am over there I will do another grand tour! We gotta keep this blog going somehow! :)

Emily's thoughts

It's about time for pictures, right!?

We have been home for almost a month now, and it seems like our adventure was just a dream. This past week, we got together with David and Colin (our two incredible friends...Colin is hooked us up with first class and David is his father and one of the most wonderful men I know...he drove us around the beautiful English countryside) and we told stories from our trip and showed pictures. Could our little adventure have gone any better? No. It was PERFECT! I am so thankful for such an amazing experience.

Here are some of my favorite moments of the trip:

It was such a dream to return to Madeira! I LOVED swimming in the water there!

Rome and all of her sights were so cool to see! The weather was perfect and so was the gelato!

Perhaps the most delicious food in the world. Where? PORTUGAL!!!

Backpacking was such a cool experience. The mobility allowed us to travel with all we needed on our back, and it couldn't have worked out better.

In Ireland, renting a car was definitely the way to go. I loved seeing the sights and feeling the culture.

Alright, here is where the nerd in me will come out. We were in London at the British Museum when I saw this lintel. I flipped. I think I was more happy than I would have been if it was Christmas and my birthday combined. In my senior capstone seminar, I studied these bloodletting ceremonies and the Mayan civilization and it all just came to life for me. I just about hyperventilated and passed out (just ask Christie), and I kept on setting off the alarm sensors because I got too close. IT ROCKED!

Exploring Europe by train was such a good way to do it! We were able to travel far distances and see so many things! I loved the trains!

Feeding the birds at Notre-Dame was so much fun. They were cute little things!

Seeing the people I love was definitely the coolest part of the trip. For that reason, when I was in Portugal, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.

We took a temple day for all of the temples across Europe. That was such a neat experience. Some of the most memorable times of the trip were the times when we talked to people about our beliefs and took time to cultivate them.

I loved a little adventure I went on by myself. It was so peaceful! I went on a hike to explore the villages of the Italian Riviera, Cinque Terre. BEAUTIFUL!

FIRST CLASS!!!! (thanks, Colin!)

I LOVE PORTUGAL!

I feel so blessed to have been able to spend so much time with Leticia, a dear friend of mine from Portugal. She travelled with us for a month! Love her!

And of course, we made sure to party and have fun!

A taste of Heaven!

I know... you all are probably in SHOCK right now... a REAL picture of us!!!

Right now we are in Lagos, Portugal. Otherwise known as heaven. Don't believe me? Look at this picture taken today:We had to duck into this cave behind us to get into this awesome cavern...ahhh...

These past weeks have gone by so fast. We have enjoyed ourselves so much it is all bittersweet that the time has passed by so quickly. On Saturday, we went to the temple in Madrid. It showed me how much our Father in Heaven is so concerned with every little detail of our lives. As I walked into the temple, I saw a dear friend of mine who happened to be getting married and going in the same time as I was. It was such a blessing and I was so happy to be there for the wedding! What a surprise!

After Madrid, as beautiful as Spain was, we were getting super antsy to get to Portugal. We decided to just go, and leave the rest of Spain for another time. We took a night train to Braga and surprised everyone at church in Braga. I was home.

In one of our first posts, Christie wrote about how her nephew diagnosed her as having no heart, and she concluded that it was because she lost her heart in Portugal and she was going to get it back for a few weeks. Well, I think I needed one of those check-ups too...I feel like I am alive again here. I feel happiness more than I can even express, and I feel like I am home. So of course when you ask us what the best part of the experience was, you will know what we will say. There is only one other place than Utah in the world that makes me feel this way.

AMAMOS PORTUGAL!

Italia

Ciao Bellas!
We caught a glimpse of him standing across the piazza della signoria...his lovely locks, voluptuous lips and his rock hard physique melted each of us quicker than a gelato on a hot sunny day. David, everyone calls him. Now we can believe in love at first sight.
Or love at second sight!! Folks, the ice cream here is what has really taken our hearts!! We started our Italian adventures in Venice, where we walked most of the city and saw many cool buildings, etc. etc. We also had fantastic gelatos!! From there we trained down to Florence, where our hostel had a SWIMMING POOL! Yipee! Florence is where we did all our shopping, haggling all the pushy salesmen in the market for cheaper prices on incredible knick knacks and such.
BUT, the most important part about Florence is not our shopping. The best part is actually a small, cold place, called Gelaterria di Medici, the home of the world's best ice cream. We owe all of our happiness to Emily's friend, Lizzie Jones, for granting us that piece of heaven. If any of you chance to visit Florence, make SURE you get the Creme di Medici (sorry for spelling errors), that is the BEST thing you can do for yourself!!
We also made a new Scottish friend (in Florence, weird, we know!) who is one crazy pal! Tom, one of our hostel roommates had a handful of entertaining stories about Florence and other adventures!!
From Florence we left for Fiesole (again, sorry for the incorrect spelling) and watched the sunset behind a fantastic view of Tuscany, lighting the sky with too many colors to even describe.
We left Florence for Siena, where we saw much of the town just by walking and basking in in the ambiance, then trained down to ROME!!
The Vatican was almost unreal, actually seeing the Sistine chapel was unreal!
We ate dinner at a sit down restaurant 300 yards in front of the Coliseum, between the three of us we had legitimate, Italian spaghetti, pizza, and ravioli. What a treat!
Due to some travelling and direction difficulties, we caught the tail end of church yesterday, but were able to study together and enjoy the spirit of being in a church building.
Today, Monday September...7th? Who keeps track of time when on vacation?? Obviously not me!! We leave for the leaning tower of Pisa and onto Cinque Terre!!
On our next entry we will backtrack a little and let all you chums know how Austria went!

ITALIA

Sorry to be so brief but we have been in Austria for the last bit, and we are now in Florence, ITALY!!! WAHOO!!! Details will be coming as soon as we find cheaper internet!!

yodeling in the alps!

Wow! These past few weeks have been a whirlwind, but let us just start where we are and then go back. Picture yourself in a little village high in the alps of Switzerland. We are LOVING it here. What could be better than pastures of goats, symphonies of cowbells ringing (those cool old fashioned ones), and our yodels echoing through the breathtaking hills and mountains of Switzerland. We hiked up to the next village today and helped a farmer get his hay off the road. He looked a little bit like Santa Claus. Yeah. Switzerland is a dream! (ESPECIALLY THE CHOCOLATE AND CHEESE!) Will you all still love us if we come back fat?

From London, we took a ferry from Dover down to Calais, France. We met a stellar group of people our age that gave us a ride and helped us find our way. So there you have it. French people are cool. We spent the next day in Bruges, Belgium and my, oh my....the CHOCOLATE!!!! We had some HEAVENLY Belgian waffles, and some delicious bratwurst. Don't take our word for it, you have to come over and try this stuff. :)

After Belgium, we took a train over to Paris and there we stayed for a few days. Paris is definately for the hopeless romantics (or a group of 4 girls). It was all that we dreamed it to be. We spent a day in Versailles, relaxing in the gardens of Marie Antoinette, and sticking our toes in the water. We also went up to the top of the Eifel Tower, Arch de Triomphe, took a nap in the gardens of the Louve and visited all the amazing museums. We ate amazing crepes from the street vendors, and of course lived off of baguettes and cheese. Ahhh, Paris. We love you.

After Paris, we went down to the Rhine and backpacked up to a castle called Burg Eltz up in a German forest. The hike was incredible! We felt like we were in a fairytale and we may have pretended just a little bit. :) We went to the Frankfurt temple as well, and there is no other place on earth that brings more peace or such a good feeling. Trust us, we have been traveling a lot. It is incredible in the temples. That has been one of our favorite parts. We went to church in Freiburg and we have never felt so welcome even though it was all in a different language! We had headsets and the missionaries translated for us. It was awesome. Another thing that made Freiburg so great was the hotel. We really lucked out. We walked around for a few hours trying to find a place to stay. Finally, we walked into a 4 star hotel. Yes, that is just ONE under 5. The guy at the desk took pity on us and let us stay in a sweet room for a really good price.

We then made our way to Bern, Switzerland. It's pretty cool there. We went and hung out by the river and went all over town. The streets have beautiful water fountains everywhere, and it felt really safe and clean. We headed over to Interlaken and, WOW! What a beauty! I have never seen waters so bluish green in my life. And not to mention the Swiss Mountains towering over, reflecting on the water. Is this real life?!?!?

This definately has all been a dream. We wish you all could be here living it with us!

Love you all!

For the first time in our lives, we're feelin "WICKED!!!!!"

London is Wicked cool! We had a long tiring day seeing the usual sights of Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, traveling through every country and culture in the British Museum, and running to make it into the evensong at Westminster Abbey. Sushi in London is amazing, especially when eaten on the steps of a church in the middle of the busy city. The magical part of our day was seeing "Wicked", in the Victoria Apollo Theater. You could even rent binoculars, so our £15 and £25 backrow seats were awesome! It was an amazing day! Today we're planning to visit the Tower of London, National Gallery, a stroll through Harrods, and then down to the London Temple. Cheers!

Hooray!

Hooray for bagpipes in Scotland! Hooray for accommodating hotels, for beautiful bus tours and parks to play in! And a hip hip hooray for people who enjoy talking about religion! Scotland is absolutely captivating, with rich green landscapes and people just as great as the Irish. The end.
-Kamilla