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

Scotland!

Today we are in Scotland, and let us just tell you, it has been quite the day! Okay so the day was just one long yesterday...we could not find a hotel and we got a little lost returning our rental car, so we decided by then we would just sleep in the airport. So we did! I slept for a total of 2 hours last night along with Leticia, and Christie and Kamilla stayed up all night. We were worried about our luggage size for our flight to Edinburgh, Scotland so we layered all of our clothes on us. That made us look just a tad bit more crazy/homeless and definite fashion victims. I feel bad for the people that had to see us like that. Sorry, nothing was documented on film for that one.
Today we took a tour bus around Edinburgh, it has so much beauty and history behind it! Absolutely gorgeous. All the buildings are extremely old and seem to have such an interesting past. And of course, the accent is amazing. We shared the gospel with the nicest couple and that was also another highlight of the day.
After Edinburgh, we went up north on a train to Inverkeithing to attend the highland games that were going on. It was so much fun to be around all of the culture and people! Why the normal American does not have their own traditions like that, I just do not know. Everyone was in kilts, dancing and having a great time! We found a pretty gross but safe and comfy hotel for a ridiculous rate and now we are going to try to catch up on our sleep and wash our clothes in time for church tomorrow in York, England. Scotland is very intriguing! I'd love to come again!

sorry to break it to you....

....but we have decided to stay in Ireland...FOREVER.

We have been having a great time. This part of Europe is our road trip. WE ARE DRIVING!!! It has been so much fun and we are getting used to driving on the other side of the road. We have been listening to Gaelic radio stations and music...LOVE IT! Last night we slept in a hostel with 14 people in our room. Emily and Christie bunked with french men. We will leave the rest to your imagination! :) The spider on the wall almost ate Kamilla, and we microwaved frozen pizza for a late night dinner.

Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL! We walked around Tralee for hours trying to locate an LDS church or missionaries that we could talk to. We got to know the locals and it was so much fun conversing with them. One in particular, Sinclair, showed us around town for hours and stole Kamilla's heart right out of her chest. After, we took a drive to the Dingle Peninsula and put our toes for the first time in the Irish waters. It is so beautiful on that side of the country.

Today we are off to kiss the Blarney Stone and back up to Dublin tonight! Tomorrow morning we are flying out to Scotland just in time for the Inverkeithing Scottish highland games!

Slán leat!

I Bet You Don't Know What A Brollie Is

'To let' is to rent a building, a 'brollie' is an umbrella and there are no such things as trunks on a car. They're called boots-just in case you were wondering. Besides all the confusion on the new vocab, we are having a magically delicious time in Dublin with kind people who smell good, delicious food, and an endless supply of beautiful boys!

In Dublin's Fair City

Luxury flying is a new experience for us. First class definitely is the way to go. The only way they got us off that plane (who could part with that!?) was the view of flying over the beautiful Irish countryside. I can't remember having felt so overwhelmed by a sight like that in a long time. We arrived at our hostel after going through the middle of Dublin. My brother is so lucky to have served here. That constantly goes through my head. The top 10 things that we have loved about Dublin:

1. The hostel and staff. We LOVE this place (and the brollies)! THE AVALON HOUSE on Aungier Street.
2. The park! People here actually USE their parks! It was full and perfect for a nice little nap on the grass and people watching.
3. Our lack of understanding what the Irish are saying. I was talking to a guy and he had to repeat himself a billion times. Pretty funny. Same language?
4. Trinity College
5. Thomas, the guy that gives bike cart rides
6. Irish Stew and Fish and Chips (straight to the hips)
7. Irish Pubs (love them! great traditional music)
8. Meeting up with Leticia= PRICELESS
9. My straightener literally melting because my converter wasn't working. Oops.
10. Street performers and musicians everywhere we go!! It is so wonderful to walk down the street and hear all the music! Not to mention us singing Molly Malone at the top of our lungs wherever we go. (We took a billion pictures of her statue and then hours later we figured out who it was...haha. We just saw tourists taking pictures so we figured we wanted one too, only to find out it was our dear Molly scantily clad).

Did You Know that the Eiffel Tower Has 1792 Steps?

OR that there are 80 entrances into the Coliseum?
At this time it is 11:40 on Thursday, 4 days and counting. Before we leave for our trip I mean. Approximately 3.4 trillion things are waiting to be done before then, but I figured we should have at least one before and after entry on here. Not one thing is packed, my family is dispersing right before my eyes, and I still have a math class that is in dire need of attention. Sounds like my room too. However, as of Saturday, all will be taken care of and two days after that, the four of us will be arriving in Dublin, embarking on an adventure bigger than most peoples' imaginations. Am I excited? You bet your arm hairs I am!

To all of you, with Love

Here is a hoorah, a giant hug, and kisses on both cheeks for all those who have helped prepare us for our trip. Our lil' adventure wouldn't be possible to the GRANDE scale that it is, without the suggestions and help of all of you. So Thank you! Merci! Obrigado! Gratzi! Gracious! Origato! Comsamnida! ...And let's hope I learn the rest when I get over there! :) One and a half weeks and counting!

TOTALLY AWESOME ADVENTURES

Welcome to the TOTALLY AWESOME ADVENTURES of Christie, Emily, Kamilla, and Leticia!!! The planning fun is almost done, then we’ll be on our way.

It is the 21^st day of July in the year 2009 AD. I officially commence the bearing of our hearts and souls and most appalling secrets...as we journey across the known and the unknown corners of the world which once was flat-(also known as Europa).

I sit here writing to all of you in disbelief, that I will, within the next few months, be floating the Seine, having picnics in fields of Edelweiss with symphonies of goat bells ringing through the air, and be found frantically trying to keep the tower of Pisa from falling down. I know, it sounds so romantic. And it will be.

My three year old nephew, Shawn, played doctor with me a few months ago, and he told me that I had no heart. (I lost it three years ago, to Portugal.) He gave me an invisible heart that I had to eat so that I would get better...but all I got was air. This September, for my birthday present to me!!!... I am going to get my heart back for 2 whole weeks! It will be so great to live again!