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).