when in ROME...

Ah, after MUCH drama, we're here. 'Settled' in Rome.

This blasted volcano has created such a mess... it's quite tricky trying to reorganize everything from it.

Thursday night, Dad was livid. 

Let me tell you, cuss jar: FULL. 

We took an EasyJet flight from Geneva to Rome. Originally, we were supposed to arrive here yesterday from Dublin. :( [Still a bit sad about all that!] So, we took the 18:55 flight last night Geneva -> Rome. The flight was a bit rocky (which had me with all the volcanic ash cloud in the air). We landed fine and on time... Dad had booked a hotel while we were waiting in the Geneva airport (we weren't scheduled to arrive until FRIDAY, remember.) This airport was said to be close to the hotel. Once we figured out it was actually over 55 km away - over an hours taxi ride AND well over €130 (MORE than double what he'd paid for the room)... that is when the shiza really hit the fan. 

He decided (through a painful process of elimination: couldn't get ANY phones to work, taxi to Thursday night's hotel would be RIDICULOUSLY expensive, Dad was paranoid of pick-pocketers and scams after reading Rick Steves' info on Rome,) we would just show up at the B&B he'd reserved for Friday and Saturday. Thanks to a less than friendly, NON-anglophone, Italian cab driver, we made it here to About B&B. It's hidden in a modest neighborhood apartment complex. We pulled in just before 23:00- frantically buzzed the B&B - somehow we were buzzed in only to NOT find any trace of what may be About B&B. After waking the elderly neighbor, we discovered the nearly secret door beholding About B&B. Problem #63: nobody's home. Super. *sigh* Amazingly enough, I was calm and collected and completely unstressed. Dad, unfortunately on the other hand, was not. I guess at the bottom of it all I just figured, at worst, we would check in at noon. Thirteen hours away. Not to forget the fact that everything always seems to come together - God would provide. And he did, of course.

As we were walking out of the apartment complex's door, feeling pretty defeated, ready to start the hotel hunt we encountered a heard of English-speaking French-Italians (and INCREDIBLE combo - if I do say!) Ah, why do we ever doubt?! These people were staying at the B&B, called the owner, let us in - were fabulous hosts - making us feel right at home, and even assisted us in getting a room for the night at another nearby HIDDEN B&B.

The room we ended up in Thursday night - honestly, from the front of the building, you'd think we walked through the wardrobe in one of Lewis' novels! I'd never imagine there was this much space behind those walls!

Necci. *Word to the wise... Italians don't make coffee for the faint of heart.

While 'killing some time' between check-out and check-in Friday, we stopped at a local café/restaurant, Necci. Mostly, the help was not-so-helpful, harsh and lacking the stereotypical Italian hospitality, but compensating for all of the others was the great barista (are they still 'baristas' when they're male?) Funny, kind, and generous, ah, we are in Italy after all! We checked into About B&B where Enrica, the mastermind behind it all, is kind and informative and the ambiance is amazing.

The architecture and decor of this B&B were RIGHT up my alley... I loved every bit of it.

From the built in desk and bunks made from concrete...

to the 'punk rock green' walls in the bathroom.

(The view out our window.)

We had more phenomenal meals we cooked on our own here than we did from the streets of Rome! Major disappointment!

As for the Roman Holiday touristy-travels: yeah, they've been nice. We saw the Roman Forum ruins, San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains), the outside of the Colossuem and the Vatican (so many people and the queues were HOURS long! It's been fun and interesting to see these ancient sights and sculptures and such, but I'll be glad to be out in the open again. :)

volcanic drama

Let's see... last update was still in Amsterdam, so... we ended up spending a total of 4 nights and days in Amsterdam then spent nearly 6 hours getting from Amsterdam to Brussels... this whole volcano drama has really been something.

In Brussels we found Manneken Pis and had Belgian Beer and I ordered a Belgian Waffle - unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed - it was crunchy and had little flavor. 

I do have to say that Brussels was gorgeous. The architecture was incredible and it was clear to see that people were involved in community. The town square was covered in people studying or on their lunch break. The few people we came in contact with resonated what we knew of Belgian humor - pretty much as fun as the Dutch. ;) Mannekin Pis was everywhere... It was a nice stop.

The Grand Place/Town Hall is the center of Brussels and an architectural masterpiece. The square is surrounded by the Houses of the Guilds and King's House. 

Grand Place, Brussels.

Manneken Pis is the world-renowned statue of a small statue of a boy peeing... it's become the icon of Brussels. Manneken is famous for his wardrobe (which he apparently would have none of the day of our visit!) with some 725 costumes for various occasions, he's typically dressed up to match holidays and festivals. His costumes are kept in the King's House on the Grand Place.

Mannekin Pis

It took another good 2 hours to get a ticket from Brussels to Paris. Once in Paris we hunted for a hotel and found the best room we'd had all week. The next morning we got up early to catch the train to Lyon where people were EVERYWHERE and not very helpful. We ended up having to take a bus from Lyon to Bellegarde, then took a train from Bellegarde to Geneva - needless to say, we were less than delightful when we finally reached my apartment. Ufda!

and so it goes...

The saga continues...

We're still stranded in Amsterdam. Today's the first day the airline's decided to not host us at the hotel - this just driving the incentive to get outta here even more! We decided to head to the airport this afternoon to see what kind of train we could catch. After waiting in line for an hour and expecting at least an hour more, we saw a man with a sign that read: "Barcelona 16:00". Dad's response was, "Wanna go?" Oh, I can't emphasize how my heart was pumping! Those are the moments I live for! He went and inquired about the possibility to find out they were leaving this evening and it would be 250 Euros a head. Well, Dad's already out a bunch of money for the hotels we are SUPPOSED to be staying at right now in Norway and Ireland. Not to mention the fact that we'd already checked into the room we're in right now. Had we not booked this room and if we had our things with us at the airport, shoot, what an adventure that would've been?!

We decided to stop wasting our time in line at the train station and we attempted to go into Amsterdam and do some fun things like the Heineken Brewery/Museum. As if the volcanic ash cloud wasn't enough to create craziness around here, they decided to start some construction on the railroad between the airport and central station. We did our best to get on the right train, but missed a stop... we went WAY out into the middle of no-man's-land-Nederlands. We did eventually make it back into the city center and had some Belgian fries and mayonnaise at the Manneken Pis stand - recommended by Renee! It was such a success! Dad was RAVING about them, he even ended up asking to go back before we left town. Haha. We did make it to the Heineken Museum (might I add it's really hard to find THE Heineken Museum in Amsterdam where EVERYTHING's advertising Heineken?) but couldn't get in as they close at 5:30 and we made it at approx. 5:32. Argh.

Have no fear! We did make up for it! We wandered around, saw the house where they filmed much of Oceans 12 and got something for dinner at a tapas restraunt. Afterwards we went into a CoffeeShop with Jim Morrison painted on the window (might I add I often neglect to look at the fine print?) We got inside and I looked at the menu - what do you think I found? - that's right: POT. Lots and lots of pot. I think there were only two things on the menu that didn't get rolled up. A small beer and a big beer. We got smalls. It was an educational experience for me. Dad informed me of Jim Morrison's mysterious death while I inconspicuously watched everyone smoke their stuff. It was an experience unlike most others. As we left, we walked down an alley behind a man who was nearly 8 feet tall - not even exaggerating. Now, I was going to mention how I've noticed Dutch men are generally tall and healthy and handsome, but this was like a Dutch man on steroids - except for the handsome part, I couldn't see his face. 

stranded.

Here I am. Amsterdam. Sitting. Waiting. Listening to Dad snore. Doing my darndest to learn Dutch via the tele. Oiy. It was fun at first, now I just want to get moving.

So, as I'm not sure what the news covers elsewhere, here's the deal: Wednesday Dad and I were in Paris, France - as planned - when we trained up to Amsterdam, Holland to explore for a bit before our flight to Oslo, Norway. We had planned Amsterdam as well, but when a volcano errupted in Iceland, of all places, our short stay turned into nearly a new residence (pardon the sarcasm).

So excited to train from Paris, through Brussels, to Amsterdam!

Beautiful Gare du Nord.

Jefe loving life! Exploring is his favorite! (Wonder where I get it??)

We left Gare du Nord Wednesday afternoon and headed north through Brussels and arrived in Amsterdam a bit before nightfall. All was going as close to plan as it could and we were very excited to head to Norway Thursday morning (Dad's heritage is mostly from Norway and I've always wanted to go there with him as it's a HUGE interest of his). Wednesday night I remember seeing a little blurb on the television mentioning the volcanic ash cloud. Other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary. We took an evening boat tour on the canals of Amsterdam. On our tour we saw the Anne Frank house and learned a bit of Dutch history - they seem to have a perspective of their own on everything. With our day free, yesterday we walked into Amsterdam to see all it has to offer. Things certainly are different here than they are in America! Reggae, Coffeeshops, 'seeds', munchies... interesting. Dad got the herring he was afraid he'd miss. I got photos of some Jim Morrison 'coffeeshops'.

SERIOUSLY. Talk about claustrophobia.

The lines were crazy. We went back the next day and it was a total ghost-town.

This is real life.

We decided to go into this coffeeshop for the experience, don't worry, dad didn't let me try anything. It was really fun. We each got a 'small' Amstel light. The walls were covered with different currencies... looking back, I'm wondering if the staff kept any of their tips. The money all had little hand-written notes on how great the place was. Their menu consisted of large or small beer and everything else was some sort of marijuana. They also had space cakes. I started giggling as we were leaving and Dad was just sure I was second-hand high... I promised him I absolutely wasn't. I pointed at these men who were honest-to-goodness at least 7 1/2 feet tall. I had never ever seen someone so tall and slender in my life, let alone TWO people so tall and slender walking right next to each other! I mean, they were at least a good head taller than the door we were walking out of, if not even taller. All I could do was giggle. I was in awe. Dad couldn't help it either. And giggling isn't really his thing.

So many Doors themed coffeeshops! Oh, yeah... and just hemp shops in general!

I just like this one. :)

Dad's herring.

You'll have to ask him to find out how it was. He did rave about it.

If we,as Americans, or just humans in general, could learn any one thing from the Dutch, it would be to ditch the cars and experience an alternate mode of transportation. They've got this bike thing down!

Shana and Jeremy used to say they were going to name their first daughter Vespa... :) Also, on our tour, we learned that all the houses in Amsterdam are gay. Why? You ask. Because they clearly aren't straight! Bah, hahaha.

Today we'd hoped something with the weather/vocanic ash cloud would change, but no. It seems things will be getting worse before they get better. We're hoping there might be a time when we can train to Geneva and still enjoy the Italian part of our trip next week. Who knows... we did venture into Haarlem today and I got an amazing Dutch pancake with ginger... we'll continue with the waiting game, perhaps I can find an English book or something!

37,981 well placed steps...

Our Parisian adventure will end with 37,981 well placed steps (for the most part). That's nearly 18 miles in total... in case you were wondering. ;) This doesn't include the miles on the metro!

We saw and captured photos of the sparkly Eiffel Tower one last time before we leave this beautiful city in the morning.

The sight and smell of fresh flowers NEVER gets old.

I loved how we could see the Eiffel Tower nearly anywhere we were. Such a gorgeous city.

Check out the Arc de Triomphe in the background.

Wouldn't be the Red-Light District without women selling themselves in the windows. :( This neighborhood mostly made me sad.

Off to Holland tomorrow!

Bonne Nuit.

DAY TWO - Jefe & Lauren's BIG European Adventure!

Day Two = Major Success!!!

We started our day finding out Nolan Fenway Hanson decided to grace this world with his presence!! Last night at 7:45pm (Iowa-time) he entered this world weighing in at 6lbs 13oz. Whew. Can't believe I missed it, yet again! :( But will certainly smother him with plenty of love to make up for it once I return. :)

Jefe and I have concluded that we're a pretty good adventure team. Here's the evidence:

All before dinner we: 

-conquered the Parisien Metro

-visited the Tour Eiffel and Arc de Triomphe (wow!)

-peeked around the Louvre

-strolled down the Champs-Élysées

-been blown away by the intricate architecture of the Notre Dame

-picnic-ed in the courtyard/garden of the Palais Royale

-eaten our way through French cheese and croissants  

-walked 29,274 steps (or approximately 14 miles)

We're now off to explore Paris at night!

Nolan Fenway

Okay, first day of the big European adventure with Jefe has come to a close! We started late in the day boarding for Paris at 18:50. On our way to our hotel we were amazed by the beauty of the city and the incredible sparkiness of the Eiffel Tower! It was breathtaking!

I didn't have any photos of his arrival, but this is one of the first photos from when I got to first meet him! Such a love!

Upon arriving here at the hotel, we find out Mr. Nolan Fenway doesn't want to wait for his Papa and Auntie to come home, but he'd rather welcome himself into the world while they're in Paris!

More later - Bonsoir!