the keyboards are differant

and we have a hard time typing. So......

if pictures are worth a thousand words here is a long post for you, and we will let these photos speak!

The most important part of our days...

We have seen so many amazing buildings, famous art, and just very cool places. However, food is definately one of the highlights and we have definately had fun trying the local favorites so far. From stoemf in Brussels to fish and chips in London to crepes in Paris, the food has been interesting, and great! And thanks to my buddy, Fred, we had some amazing ice cream after touring the Notre Dame Cathedral! Here are some pictures, convienantly with beautiful background scenery as well!!!

In the shadows of Big Ben....

We successfully made our way to London, despite some planning that we had worked out and the train schedules changing we spent a little extra time in Brussels and have done a whirlwind tour of London, depsite the rainy weather.
Highlight Reel: Big Ben
Crown Jewels
London Bridge
Tower Bridge
Tower Museum
St. Paul's Cathedral
National Gallery (lots of famous paintings)
Fish and Chips (Sarah only, Tara went for the chicken)
Bus Tour of London

The only downfall to London thus far is it is a twinge cold and rainy but the rain stopped this afternoon so I suppose we shouldn't complain. The computer doesn't have a card reader and I forgot the cord to hook up the camera to the computer so you will have to wait for more photos.
Tomorrow morning before the crack of dawn we are off to Paris. (Language number 2 we wish we knew some of, French, Dutch was the first that would have been helpful, but to be honest pretty much everyone has spoken English).

Chocolate and Wine

We made it to Brussels today and spent our day wandering around the cobblestone streets. Thanks to Kim's advice on adapting to the "European way," we decided to sleep in and leave a bit later...12 hours of sleep did a lot to cure our major exhuastion, I mean jet lag, from yesterday. The weather has continued to be perfect so walking and biking are great ways to tour the cities! We only got royally turned around once, but without asking directions managed to find our way back to our hostel. Brussels is quite the city, full of beautiful, huge old churches, palaces, gardens, and CHOCOLATE!!! It was literally a treat to wander the twisted streets and just see what we would stumble upon. We did, however, see all the major sites and national landmarks including the statue of a peeing boy. Quite amusing. If anyone would like a souvenior statue of this precious site, speak up now! But don't worry, if you don't reply by the time we leave, we do have pictures.

As we type away here we are drinking wine and eating famous Belgium chocolate, life is rough!

Wish we could post pictures as this city is very piscuresque, but no USB port available at the hostel....more pictures later, we promise- we are taking plenty!!!

Safe and Sound

Mostly for our moms-
We are in Europe, safe and sound with no major issues to speak of :) Our grand plan to sleep on the plane didn't quite work out as well as either of us had imagined so we are a little low on sleep (at least 24 hours with less than an hour of sleep). Even with the sleep deprivation, we are both pretty stubborn girls and set on getting a full day in and sleeping during Europe's night time hours in order to get on this new schedule....so good so far. We just arrived at my friends Andi and Kim's house in Amsterdam and it was wonderful to see a familiar face! We're looking forward to an evening with Kim so we have limited time now to post...
Highlights of our first day in Europe: seeing the Anne Frank house, going to mass in Dutch, going for a long walk down Amsterdam's city center by the canals and beautiful old buildings, and just being in EUROPE!!!

We're Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

Saturday May 23, 2009:
Minneapolis to Amsterdam- 3:10 pm - 6:10am (May 24) - NW 42


There are our flights for curious minds