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Sorry for the truncated message from Munich, Erika realized we were almost out of time and had to post the message before the bases were covered. The extension of Munich is as follows: If you enjoy large plates of meat covered in gravy, pretzels the size of frisbees, delicious beer by the liter, and spending very little money for all of the above, take a visit there. We spent the days sightseeing, and the nights hanging with a few fun-loving Austrians. You haven't seen club dancing until you've hung out with Austrians listening to house-music. Like Erika was saying, we had to catch a lovely train at 5 this morning. It was a nice 7 hours of little sleep but beautiful countryside before seeing the familiar skyline ahead of us. Today has been mostly a lazy one once reaching Paris. We are both still overwhelmed by our surroundings, but have hit the traveling wall and realize how soon our flight will be leaving (T-minus 13 hours). We are using our last 2 Euros (literally, I'm overdrawn and she made her last withdrawal this morning) to make this post. Tomorrow morning should consist of free hostel breakfast (bread, butter and coffee) and a bit of a tram ride into the airport for another lovely 17 hours of flying. Frankly, it's difficult to speak about the trip as a whole at this point. All we need now is some time to unwind and realize the extent of what was done the past 6 weeks. Many a picture, many a friend, and many a memory. Hopefully we shall wrap up this travel blog from the familiar waters of Puget Sound in a day or two. We promise to upload a large batch of photos as we've been talking of doing for weeks now. We love and miss all of you, for those of you in Washington, it will be good to see you soon! -Luke and Erika Current Location: Paris, France
Current Mood:  Somber
Current Music: French Jazz
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Hello from Munich! We just want to start out by saying that Munich is amazing and everyone should get here sometime in their lives, preferably sooner rather than later. We have been having a great time running around, drinking amaaazing beer (sometimes by the LITER!), and eating some delicious food. Oh yes, and exploring the sights of course. Our first day here we spent orienting ouselves to the city. We´ve done a lot of walking here, everything is pretty centrally located. The past few days, we´ve toured an impressionism museum, the Deutches Museum (which was completely awesome! Like the Seattle science center times a million! So many fun buttons to push...), toured some beautiful cathedrals, and seen some beautiful parks. Although it may be too early to say, we both are feeling like this might be our favorite city on this trip. We wouldn´t mind spending some extended time here in the future. We were supposed to catch a train today to Paris but they were all booked. I can´t say we were too dissappointed to spend another day here. We are heading to Paris at 5 AM tomorrow morning (yuck) to head home. It will eb a somber journey, so many memories on this trip, but it will be great to see you all again soon. Much love to all friends and family. -Erika and Luke Current Location: Munich, Germany
Current Mood:  rushed
Current Music: House of Pain
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After nearly four days of movement, we have settled in Vienna. Due to our shortsightedness, we only get to experience one full day here. This was regrettable as soon as we entered the city. Austria is a beautiful country, and surely one which we will return to in the near future. The boat ride went smoothly, and we pulled into port in Venice at around 7:30 am in Venice. The train didn't leave until 2:30 pm, so we were able to explore a slightly-less crowded city. I've been noting the strange feeling of familiarity and it's effects on long trips. It had been 3 weeks since Venice, yet I felt strangely comfortable walking streets which I had previously visited, if only for a few days. It is my hope that I will experience the same effect upon returning to locations which I felt were rushed over (Vienna, Rome, Athens, etc.) We arrived in Vienna after a six hour train ride in which I read the entirety of Dan Brown's Deception Point. I cannot endorse Dan Brown. Not that I ever did, but dear god, it was a painful read. It was nice to glance up at the beautiful countryside rushing past me. I will make a point to be more attentive on our trainride tomorrow towards Munich. We explored much of the city via foot and underground today, and were talked into purchasing tickets for a Mozart/Strauss performance tonight including various ballet and Operatic performances. Doing a little quick laundry at the moment, and we just ate an amazing (and cheap) Austrian meal of delicious meats and even more delicious beers. I am already looking forward to what Germany has to offer, but again, sad to be leaving this country so early. Not sure what is in store for us in the next few days. We are on the last few days of our trip, have our lodging almost completely secure, and it looks like the pocketchange will not run completely dry. Good times, good times. We really do love and miss all of you, that will be one good aspect of our return home! -Luke and Erika Current Location: Vienna, Austria
Current Mood:  full
Current Music: Unrecognizable music from the pub next door
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Not a bad gig, I'll tell you that much. Our trip has been very balanced in the aspect of supermarket meals to restaurants and such, but everytime we end up in the tropics I feel as if our whole trip may have been based around this. I will need a serious reality check when we end up back on the train up north and get my head out of these clouds. It is amazing here in the Grecian islands. The whole summer is based upon the tourism industry, however, so I am more than happy to be heading back to the hostels and the colder streets (and beers). That said, we caught a miserable yet memorable boat from Athens to Santorini and ended up at a wonderful little joint called Anny Hotel. A quick bus ride from the major spots, we have had our fun hitting the beaches and taking an amazing boat tour in which we hiked the still active volcano in the center island, jumped off the boat and went swimming in the natural hot springs, ate delicious seafood in a small fishing village, and finished out on the peak of the main island watching one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world (literally) which went down to the applause of all viewing.
It is near 2 in the afternoon here, prime time for a mid-day siesta in our books. In the near future for us is a much-anticipated 3 days of straight travel as we have to catch a ferry back to the mainland, a train to the other side of Greece, another ferry to Venice in northern Italy, and another train to Vienna. All in all, catching up on our sleep here was a very good idea.
In the near near future, we are running somewhat low on funds, but there may still be a seaside lunch for us if we play our cards right (meaning me convincing Erika it is a most-necessary idea). Greece has proven to be slightly cheaper, which was relieving, though the madness which will be Vienna, Austria and then Munich, Germany and finally into Paris is sure to balance out whatever pocket change we may have clinging in the bottom of our bags.
Abby and Greg, we may have gotten a pretty close shot to the one you took from Cinque Terre, I know we have been terrible about posting pictures but our transfer device is painstakingly slow. We may have to wait until we return to the states to do a full picture update and all of that.
We shall update again upon our next major city stop, hopefully that means Vienna in a few days. Hope all is well from wherever this is being read.
All the love in the world from these sandy shores,
Luke and Erika. Current Location: Santorini, Greece
Current Mood:  hungry
Current Music: Various reggae jams floating around the beach
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Hello from Athens! Man its been a crazy week or so. One of the best so far I'd say. We ended up staying in Positano on the Amalfi coast in Italy for 5 days. Not only is it one of the most photographed fishing villages in the world (and for good reason!) but it is also one of the longer term residences of one of my favorite authors, Steinbeck. We spent our days primarily lounging on the beach, swimming in crystal clear water, and meeting some amazing people. The first day in Positano, we headed down to the beach to have a look around and grab some tasty gelatto. This town is built right into the cliffs, so since our hostel was near the top of the city, it was a good 30 minute stair climb back up for some much needed resting. While we were huffing and puffing our way up the stairs, we ran into a couple English guys who were staying at our hostel. Sam and Tom ended up being the beginning of an unforgettable group we stuck with throughout our time in Positano. Added later days, our group consisted of the two of us, these two fine blokes, a girl from Australia, and a couple from Canada. Great kids, great times. A couple of Positano highlights: We may have looked like complete dorks wearing little kid's snorkeling masks but I'm pretty sure those were some of the finest purchases we made on this trip. We saw a lot of little fishies and beautiful underwater scenes. We also took a boat tour to Capri with our group. That was simply fantastic! We spent a little too much money indulging in the best seafood I've ever eaten and some handmade pasta. We even ended up staying an extra day for a big festival that rocked the town well into the night. We set out our last day and tried to make a straight shot for Bari, so we could catch our boat to Greece. After suffering a nauseating bus ride, two long and sweaty train rides, and another bus ride, we missed our boat in Bari by only 30 minutes! We stayed the night in a little hotel with another unfortunate soul who happened to miss the boat as well. Lemme tell you, the port at Bari isn't exactly the best place to be stuck for a whole day. But we finally caught a boat last night at 8 pm, rode deck passage for 16 hours, took some very confusing train rides, and finally ended up here, in Athens this evening. We both seemed to become instantly rejuvenated after settling in here, with energy we haven't seen since the beginning of this journey. We are really excited for what is to come in the next couple of weeks. Tonight, we had a couple drinks at a bar right under the Acropolis! We head to tour some of the major sights tomorrow and the next day, and will probably head for Crete sometime in the near future. We'll keep you posted with our plans as we make them. Our love to all friends and family! -Erika and Luke Current Location: Athens, Greece
Current Mood: rejuvenated
Current Music: Luke humming to some Pink Floyd
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We made it, well, we're making it. We last updated everyone from Florence, in which we had a lovely time exploring, getting lost, throwing money around and generally having a great time. We hit a few major spots, the Uffizi and Gallerie de Academia, 'twas everything we had expected and more. Quite amusing to realize your jaw has dropped open for a few minutes traveling between pieces. Once again, Brady, you are going to have a hell of a year here. Bring some extra cash and expect to update your wardrobe, apparently shoes under a hundred euros aren't very posh. We booked a few locations ahead, and after sadly departing from our lush hotel, we travelled to the beautiful Cinque Terre. We found a spot for a few nights in a small town called Biassa, a short bus ride away from the first of the 5 villages. Met quite a few folk, Canadians, Americans and Aussies seem to be the most prevalent at these locations. We hit up a hike which took us from one end of the coastal stretch to the other, ending up in a town called Monterossa, in which we hit the beach and got ourselves properly burned. By the way, Erika has passed her first section of swimming lessons and will soon be moving on to the advanced course! We spent a few days hiking around, exploring the local wine and eating cheap, delicious pizza. Our last night in Biassa was spent with a large group making due while the town fixed its water supply, good times talking and snacking and drinking. We spent our last night within Riomaggiore in an apartment-styled hostel with a few aussies and a few americans. A great sunset was had by all, and it was a sad farewell after another rousing night of fun and enjoyment. We will keep with the bandwagon and reccommend Cinque Terre to all, old and young. We caught a train out this morning towards Rome, got ourselves slightly turned around and checked into our place around five thirty or so. Dropping our bags off, we set right out for the Colesseum, a loop around the ancient stretch and to the Trevi fountain. Making a few reccurring mistakes, such as paying to sit for overpriced pizza when we're hungry (you would think we could get used to this starving business) but it seems to be balancing itself out. Our last stretch took us by the Pantheon, where we latched on to a tour group that was standing by to get a free history lesson. We will probably swing by to view it in the daytime in the next few days. Tomorrow brings us to the Vatican, where we can get our Catholic souls waxed, buffed, and generally scrubbed to pieces. Looking forward to an early rise and a nice full day. Our hostel is advertising a pub crawl that we might explore tomorrow night, so it should be the best of both worlds. There is much in the way of pictures to come shortly, it's difficult to find available USB ports in this place. Mom, I am going to do my best to convince you and Dad to get your butts over here in the next few years. No Worries, Once a Cardinal, Always a Cardinal, Love, Luke and Erika Current Location: Rome, Italy
Current Mood:  sleepy
Current Music: Jack Johnson (Hostel Lounge)
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Today has been a much better day. So the whole hotel situation worked out pretty well I guess. We're paying way too much for our place and its not in the city, but hey, its pretty nice. Word for the wise...never book a hotel until you know where it is haha. We started out our day with some delicious chocolate pasteries from a small bakery near the Duomo. They were very tastey indeed. We then headed over to walk through the church. Although fantastic in size and very impressive in architecture, we were stunned by the lack of interior decoration. We decided to tour the museum for the cathedral and discovered that one of the church reformers decided that the artwork in the church detracted from the gothic influence so the pieces were displayed in the museum instead. My favorite piece was Michaelangelo's Pieta. We decided to head out on an adventure, just walking around the city. We stumbled upon a natural history museum so we stopped in there to give Luke his anthropological fix. When we exited the museum, it was POURING rain. We ran to an overhang and witnessed one of the most impressive and awesome thunderstorms I've ever experienced. We ran and got some delicious sandwiches at a cafe when it started to clear up. We then continued our walk about the city and ran into some sweet sights along the way. Brady, this city, while very expensive, is going to be a fun time! We got in line to see the "David" only to be stuck in line behind the stupidest girl ever to walk the earth. She was ruining our experience so we got out of line and are headed over there early tomorrow morning. For tonight, our plan is to go listen to some monks in a church, drink some wine on the steps overlooking the whole city, and run for some delicious egyptian food before we catch the shuttle to our hotel. Good day, good times ahead! P.S Emily, thanks for all your sweet comments. I miss you and love you girl! Current Location: Florence, Italy
Current Mood: rejuvenated
Current Music: Hustle and Bustle of crazy italians
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