Brussels- Randomly Beautiful

So I think Hannah and I have pretty much covered all of Brussels. I have really enjoyed walking around the city. We would walk down one street and it would be ok and then the next would be really beautiful!

We started out this morning by going to Grand Place, Brussel's beautiful square. The buildings around the square are very ornately decorated. There is a museum in the Grand Square that housed the costumes for the Mannekan Pis. The admission was cheap, so we went in. It was funny to see the variety of costumes the statue would wear. They ranged from outfits representing different countries to costumes for festivals. It was quite amusing.

Then we headed to the Palace and it's gardens. There were tons of children in the park learning about police safety or something. Then we headed to the Congress Column, which has an eternal flame in honor for those who lost their lives in World War I. Also, there is a tomb of an unknown soldier located under the column. There was supposed to be a panoramic view there, according to our map. Yet sadly all we could see was ugly construction.

Next, we went to Brussels botanical gardens. We didn't go inside, but instead just walked around the surrounding gardens. They were a beautiful oasis full of fountains and statues. We were hungry after that so we of course got a waffle!

Then we went to Saint Catherine's Cathedral. It is a church well known due to the fact that there are urinals next to the church where men can actually urinate against the side of the church! Brussels sure has some weird things. The church looked very gothic; it was dark and run-down.

I really think that Hannah and I have walked the entire city. I mean, I think we have walked down every single street in Brussels. With all of our walking, we have been fortunate enough to avoid the rain. Brussels weather is strange, in that one minute the sun is shining and the next thing you know you are caught in a down-pour! We were right next to our hostel when it happened the first time today. Then the next time, we had just entered a Thai restuarant for dinner. When we finished eating the sun was shining and the sky was bright blue! The Thai food was really good! I haven't eaten that well in sometime. We both got Salmon!

Tomorrow, we are headed for London! It is our last country! We have a lot to accomplish but we do have 3 full days there.

Dad to answer your question about Belgium chocolate. Yes, we both had some in Brugge from a fancy chocolate shop. We both just got a couple of pieces and tried different things. It was wonderful! We also bought chocolate bars today from a grocery store. They are official Belguim chocolate, just a whole lot cheaper. It is supposedly what true Belguim people eat!

Well, it is getting kind of late. Gotta go! Love you all!

-MLE

All Roads Lead to Grand Market

So I think we've walked down just about every road Brussels has to offer. On the map the city looks pretty big, but once you realize that it only takes 20minutes to walk from one side of the city to the other, it gets small again.

Today we went to the Grand Market, which we were in yesterday but didn't know it. We went to the Brussel City Museum and saw a lot of boring stuff mixed with cool stuff like the Manneken Pis's different outfits. We wished it was a holiday so he would be dressed up right now. After we did that we walked to the Palace area which was flooded with little kids. It must have been some school something because there were different government officials there giving out different information to a bunch of school kids. We hung out by the fountains for a little while, and then we moved on.

We walked around for a while until we reached the top of the city where there were some cool botanical gardens. We stayed until we got hungry and then went and got a waffle. I'm really sad to be leaving the waffles because they really are a little piece of heaven in your mouth. After the gardens we walked to Saint Catherine's Cathedral which looks like a run down beauty and the beast type cathedral. The whole reason for going there is because you are legally allowed to urinate on the side of it. Seriously, they have urinals built into the side of the church with water running down the walls. It was funny until a guy actually used it and then it was just gross.

After that the weather turned really dark really fast, so we decided to head back to our hostel and hang out for a bit. It ended up perfect because it started raining right as we were almost at our hostel. Then we took a little nap while it thunderstormed. Wonderful.

We walked around a little bit after our nap, but no new roads because we've already walked down everyone by this time. We ended up in Grand Market (go figure), and then we went and ate at a really cool Thai restaurant. What I really really really miss right now is how in America you sit down and they bring you out a huge glass of water. I'm not used to this having to pay for water stuff. It kind of makes me worry about these Europeans. I think they are all seriously dehydrated. All they do is drink alcohol and walk. There has to be some sort of dehydration going on here! Crazy!

Anyway, we leave tomorrow for London. It's kind of bittersweet. I'm ready to be lazy and not feel like I have to run around and do everything; however, on that same note I'm really going to be miss being in Europe, seeing cool stuff, and meeting cool people. So far it has definitely been a really sweet experience.

Mom, I think we fly in at like 5pm on the 5th. Are you coming to pick me up? Dad, are you going to be in town when I get back, or are you going to be in Europe somewhere? Tell Marissa that I'll come and visit her in Nicaragua if she decides to stay there. :) Love you all!
-H

Dad

Gosh Dad, you don't have to be so mean!

I know that poor tigermail will not remain with me lifelong but I do have it for like a year or at least until the end of the summer. They send a notice to inform me when I will not be able to use it anymore. I plan on getting G-mail soon anyway. So I am not stupid!

Please tell mom to respond to my blog. I really want to know if\when I will be taking the NCLEX.

Thanks!

Canadashmanada

I freaking hate Canadians. Some may say this is a harsh statement, but I say if the Europeans can do that to Americans then I can do it to Canadians. They are all pompous, think they are better than Americans, talk funny, and urinate in the sink. I'm sick of them.

"Why don't you know this medium sized city in Seattle?"
Maybe because there are a freaking million medium sized cities in the United States unlike Canada where you have maybe 10 cities and the rest is all baren coldness!!!!!

Freaking Canadians.

I will never go to, marry, hire, or give water to a starving Canadian.

Gr!
-H

MOM

Hey mommy,
I love you!
Also, I have been trying to open the e-mail you sent but for some reason Tigermail isn't working. I also saw that I received an e-mail titled NCLEX confirmation. Where you able to sign me up? If so, THANK YOU so much and what date were you able to get?

Please just leave me a message on this blog, because I don't know when tigermail will start working again.

Thanks,
Em

We already had 2 Brussels Waffles!

We are having fun already in Brussels! We just checked into our hostel and were happy to find that we have free internet here, so I decided to write another entry.

When we first came to check-in the hostel was closed. We were really upset because they didn't open for another 2 hours. Hannah and I definitely didn't want to carry our heavy packs around the city. Luckily, a guy let us in and we put our bags in the luggage room till we could check-in. Then we went in search for the famous, or should I say infamous, Mannekan Pis.

We found the Mannekan Pis eventually. For those that don't know what this is, it is a tiny one and half foot statue of a little boy peeing. It is absolutely rediculous, I guess that's why it's so famous. We took a lot of pictures in front of it and Hannah had the wonderful idea of framing one of the pictures and placing it in a fancy frame above the toilet.

Then the best thing happened. We decided to try our first Brussels waffle. It was complete HEAVEN in my mouth. In fact, it was so... good that we ended up getting another right afterward! The waffle was hot and square and had carmelized sugar on it! So good, it's worth coming to Brussels just for the waffles!

Tomorrow, we plan on just walking around the city and checking out some random churches and the palace park. Who knows, we may even have another waffle!

-MLE

Our hostel has free internet! Yeay!

Now that everyone is back from their three hour lunch, we've checked into our hostel. We did go see Manneke Pis. It was really funny. I knew it was going to be small, but I had no idea that it would be build into a wall on the corner of a random street. Too funny.

Em and I ate a cute little pizza place where we shared a veggie pizza, and then we finally got some Brussel's waffles. OMG...SOOO good. It was crazy. We bit into it and immediately fell in love. We walked down a block or so and bought another one from another stand! We figured it didn't sound as bad as it was because we bought it at two different places! I'm feeling a little sick now, but it was WELL worth it.

Our hostel is nice so far. We're in a mixed dorm, so we'll see how that goes. Always interesting at night.

I really like Brussels so far. It's a nice mixture of older buildings and more modern buildings as well. We sat on wooden recliner like things infront of this catherdral somewhere downtown. It was really nice other than being cold and lightly raining. When we left Emily was cracking me up with her super southern accent trying to pronounce the different street names. People probably look at us and think stupid american tourists.

The maps our hostel gave us are really difficult to follow. All of the streets are correct, and where they meet and stuff is right, but I don't know if the angles are right. When we are headed up on map we're really heading like north-west. The map for Brugge was by the same people, and we got lost a few times there. The map is really cool though because it tells you different cheap places to eat, and it tells you cool things to do for cheap and/or free.

We found out that our flight from Brussels to London is in a tim-buck-two (yes it's tim not ten marissa) location outside of the city. We're not too excited about that because we have to pay 11 euro or something like that to take a shuttle AFTER we take a tram out there. I'm going to be checking out some higherend hotels and seeing if they offer a shuttle service out there that we could slip on unnoticed. :)

Oh, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm naming my puppy.
Mr. Darcy
:)
-H

Brugge the Beautiful

So we didn't make it on the canal paddle boat, but we did get to ride bikes in Brugge. We tried to ride a Tandem bike, you know the two seater but it was quite difficult on the cobble stones and the owner wasn't too happy with our riding. It was pretty funny though ;)

The windmills were really neat and they were located right on top of pretty green hills; this gave us a neat view of Brugge. We also got a great view this morning because we hiked up the Belfry, a big clock tower. At the bottom of the Belfry is where two fry places our located. The fry places have been in competition since the 1800's which is pretty crazy! That is where we got our dinner last night, and also where we met two nice Belgium guys. One only new French and had a cute baby and the other was a metro-sexual! We talked for awhile and the conversation was pretty interesting/funny.

Brugge was really beautiful; the canals and narrow streets were adorable. It is quite different in Brussels. It is huge here; big sky scrapers and a little dirty. There is also a really diverse population in Brussels. I am getting kinda hungry now; so I think I might end here. Off to get a Belgium waffel, or excuse me, a Brussels waffle. There square and traditionally are served with sugar. We will be adding chocolate to ours, afterall, we are tourists!

-MLE

Brugge

Well, we got to Brugge yesterday after catching a train from Amsterdam. Our hostel was a little weird because it was a hostel/restaurant thing. The rooms were pretty nice though, and they let us store our luggage today which was nice. Once we got to Brugge we walked around a while and rented bikes. That was an adventure. We almost died by getting hit by a car about 20 times. It was fun though and we biked out to see some windmills which were cool.

After we biked a while we were in search of a good cheap meal. We found this really tiny cool Italian restaurant that looked wonderful and everything was really cheap. We thought it was such a good deal that we both ordered drinks instead of water. Once we called over the owner to take our order though, they were out of everything that didn't have meat in it. Since neither of us could get what we wanted we settled for some greasy veggie? burgers and fries.

We met some cool Bruggeinian guys while hanging around the square where we ate. They were pretty cool. It was a little bit of a deja vu with the french guys except for one of these knew better english. They gave me some cool ideas for my puppy's name.

Now we're in Brussels. Brussels has surprised me so far because it is very modern. At least the part we're staying in is more industrial modern looking. We freaked out because our hostel was closed for a 3 hour lunch break, but we were saved when one of the workers let us in to store our stuff. We're headed off to Manneke Pis. Miss you all. Yes dad there was a toll free number that i connected through. It said AT&T connected and everything. Thanks for doing that for me. Thanks for the email Nana and Grampy, I'm still bringing you some chocolate Nana.

-H

Rainy days and Monday's always get me down...

Like Emily said today hasn't been altogether that great. We started off hiking a pretty long way to our hostel, and then we got caught in the rain. I had a little fit after I was drenched and freaking out because I thought my camera might be getting wet. There's nothing worse than being drenched, hungry, and sweaty underneath your rain coat.

We finally found a breakfast place, but our so called American pancakes were only about 4 inches in diameter. We both feel like the owner or cooks have never even set foot on American soil. We were looking forward to some IHOP goodness, but oh well. They were still good even though they were in no way pancakes at all.

The weather got a little better as we ate, and since we figured we couldn't get much wetter we walked down to the Van Gogh museum. The museum was a little ray of sunshine in our day. It was very cool to learn about his life and family. I had no idea Van Gogh died by shooting himself in the chest. Why not the head? I have no idea, seems less painful. I guess he really did go crazy.

I was able to get some really cool souvenirs from Amsterdam. I got something really funny for you Mom and Dad. I still don't know what Will wants, so let me know if there is something smaller that you want Will, ok?

Our hostel is really quite neat. It's a totally Christian hostel, and they've been witnessing to us since we've walked in. Not really, but there is Jesus stuff all around. We're in the cafe right now, which is like a really cool pimped out shoup slash youth room. The coffee is cheap, and they have jenga. Our rooms are a little on the small side, but overall it's a neat experience. If grad school doesn't work out I might move here and work. They're all hippie christians. Haha...

One more heartbreaking thing is that our hotel we stayed in has charged my room like twice the amount it should have. I'm about to have to go call and sort things out. I think they just charged the whole thing on my card instead of half on mine and half on emily's. It did show up on em's card though, so we'll see how things go. I might need you to play the mean guy ok dad?

Headed to Brugge tomorrow! Yeay! Hopefully it won't be rainy!
-H

Rain Rain, Go Away Come Again Another Day< like when I am not in Europe!

We got off to a pretty rough start today! We hiked to our hostel in the Red Light District and then we were going to get some breakfast and it started pouring! We got completely soaked and couldn't fine anywhere to eat. We really wanted waffles, eventually we found a place that was still serving breakfast at 1 in the afternoon. We both ordered American pancakes, which ended up being mini French toast! It was ok just not worth the money.

Then we hiked to the Van Gogh Museum while it was still raining. The museum was really neat. They a lot of good works like sunflowers, the bedroom, and his self portrait. It was pretty cold in there. Moms, be looking for another goofy video message from us!

We didn't get to do our paddle boats today, so we are hoping to do them tomorrow morning. We pray the weather is good!

Overall, our hostel seems pretty nice. Weird location but nice.

I am really excited about Brugge! Love you all!

>MLE

"Coffee" and Tulips go together?

Hannah was right about the train ride from Munich to Amsterdam- pretty much a nightmare. We have since recovered and the hotel bed was quite comfortable. A regular size shower is now such a luxury to me. Makes me appreciate the little things in life more!

Amsterdam is really cool. I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I kinda feel bad for Amsterdam because it gets such a bad wrap with marijauna and Red Light District because it is actually a beautiful city. I love the canals and the style of the buildings. We did go into a shroom store, just for the experience. We didn't try anything although the Cannibas lollypops looked quite yummy!

The Anne Frank House was really neat. It was larger than I imagined. It makes me want to read the book again. We actually got to see her original diaries! After we visited Anne's house we went for a stroll through the flower market. The tulips were gorgeous; they had one called midnight that was basically a black tulip! Then we went for a brief stroll through the Red Light District- interesting, not as bad as I thought. (Although I was expecting the worst)

I too, am excited about the canal paddle boat. It should give us a neat perspective of the city. We are going to rent it for an hour tommorrow.

Anyway, I miss you all! Yes, it is true I have not washed my clothes but really the only thing that smells is my feet. Whatever- Hannah and I think it is due to us washing our socks in the sink and not having them dry enough.

-MLE

Mom Please read this!!!

Mom: I just recieved my ATT card via e-mail about signing up for the NCLEX exam. I can't sign up for it myself because I can't open the link due to security. Anyway, do you think it is at all possible for you to sign up for me or get Robbie or somethig to do it. The e-mail comes with directions and everything. I'll forward the e-mail to you. I want to sign-up for the Entrusted Building center located in the south part of Atlanta. It is the closest testing center to us. Please let me know if you are able to do this because it can be VERY hard to schedule a day because so many people graduate in May. Anyway, you know I want to take the exam at the end of July. Thanks so much and if you can't figure it out maybe Rob can help!

-MLE

Where's the Red Light District Again?

Emily and I are now safely in Amsterdam after some hectic train rides. We met a group of 5 from Alabama that actually go to Bama in our hostel in Munich. They were all catching the 3am train to Amsterdam too, so we all hung out while we killed time waiting for the train. It was really quite funny because they're all from Mobile and know Jamey the guy I worked in lab with. One of the guys is his cousin. How random is that?

Once we got on our train we tried to sleep, but it just didn't happen. They never shut off the lights, and people were getting on and off at different stops. We had to change trains at the border, and it was so full we didn't get seats. We ended up standing for 2 hours. We crashed at our hotel and then wandered the city for a while.

Our hotel is near the airport, so we're a little outside of the city but it's nice having a big shower and bed. The hostel we're staying at tomorrow is on a side street from the red light district. We're not too happy about that situation, but it's a Christian hostel so we're going on faith.

Amsterdam is really pretty. It's too interesting to even describe. There are "coffee" shops on every corner, and the most eclectic groups of people everywhere. The first day we wandered around the city and this morning, we had no idea where the red light distict was. We thought that at any minute we would be right in the center of all of the madness. We found it later today, and it was needless to say: interesting.

We went to the Anne Frank house this morning as well. Mom we sent you a video or something, so don't delete anything from the Anne Frank house. It was really cool, I'll have to actually read the book when I get home. We've been doing a lot of walking around the city and just sightseeing stuff for free.

Tomorrow we're going to take a paddleboat tour thingy. It's basically a paddle boat on the canals that run through Amsterdam. I'm pretty excited about that. We're also probably going to the Van Gogh museum if it's not too expensive.

I really want some wooden shoes, but I don't think I can fit them in my backpack. I don't know what emily and I have purchased or done, but we can barely fit everything into our packs now. Maybe we're just getting lazy with our packing, but we have no idea what is going on. Comparatively though, we have a lot less stuff than other people we've seen. There was two girls on the train to Amsterdam that have like 6 bags together, one which weighed 75lbs.

We have two more nights in Amsterdam and then we're headed to Brugge. We're super excited because we've only heard really good things about it. Nana and Grampy, isnt' that the place you said was so pretty in Belgium? We're going to rent bikes sometime in Belgium and ride around ringing our bells at anyone in our way!

Oh, I'm buying a big sack in London and I'm going to fill it with English candy. I'm taking requests for Hilton Head, so let me know if you want anything! ;)

Mom and Dad, I'm going to try to call home tonight at like 3-4 your time.

Love you all!
-H

3am Train

Emily and I are spending our last day in Munich today, and then we're leaving for Amsterdam on the 3am train. Should be fun trying to find stuff to do between now and then. We're going to a science museum, Odeonsplatz square, and to see Pirates! haha. We'll probably just end up hanging out at our hostel until we need to be at the train station because it is right across the street.

I washed clothes yesterday, and Emily isn't washing clothes this whole trip. I told her if she starts to stink I'm going to make her. She claims she smells fine after drinching herself in bodysplash. Haha.

Anyway, I just wanted to say goodbye to Rissa. Be safe in Nicaragua. Don't follow strange men down any dark allies, ok? :)

We found David and Anita's address, so we don't need it anymore. Thanks anyway.

Ritter Sport is pretty dang good.

Peace out.
-H

Munich and Dachau

We arrived in Munich yesterday on the train. We first went to the English garden; a park twice the size of Central Park. It was really pretty and there was also a section of the park called the "nude beach." Hannah especially enjoyed the sights that the English garden had to offer.

Last night we went to the Hofbrahaus! We ate traditional German food and watched the Oompah band show. Hannah and I danced and tried to do it as german style as possible! There were some crazy Israeli men that fell in love with us there, a little scary. It was very entertaining, a little expensive, but an altogether fun experience.

Today, we went to Dachau. It was the first concentration camp and it was in use from 1933-1945. It was very interesting and of couse very sad. They estimate that over 43,000 people died there. We got to tour a lot of the buildings and even saw the crematorium.

Anyway, I am almost out off time on the comp. Love you and miss you.

From Germany

We're here in Munich right now. So far I'm not too overly impressed with Munich. It's a cool city and all, but it's no Paris or Dublin.

We went to Dachau today, and that was reallz good. It was very sad and a little overwhelming, but I'm really excited we had that opportunity to go there.

Our hostel is off the chain. There are two other Canadian girls sharing the room with us, and some dude slept in there last night but I don't know where he is now. The girls are really nice and friendly and hippie like us. The hostel itself is pretty sweet. They have their own bar area and lounge. It's huge and there are masses of people, but let me tell you it's just as clean as any german concentration camp might have been!

It's really easy to get around here and meet people. Most people speak english, and there are more american\canadian people here than anywhere else we've been.

Our train to Amsterdam was totally booked, so we're leaving at 3am tomorrow! We're just going to hang out in our hostel until then because they said we could keep our bookbags there which is great.

Haufbroughhous (SP?) was cool. We ended up going a little too late, so we only caught the end of the show, but we went to the bar area downstairs and danced around a bit. Overall we're still having a great time. It feels like we've been in Europe forever though because we haven't slowed down!

OH YEAH! I saw old naked men sunbathing in the english gardens yesterday. It was gross.
-H

Dad, how do you get around in Amsterdam? Is there a metro/underground system?

Mrs. Allen, can you please give us David and Anita's address so we can send them a thank you card?

Thanks Dad and Mrs. Allen!!!
-H

In Germany Now

We left Paris yesterday and rode on a train all day to Nuremberg. Nuremberg is a really cute place other than the fact that we are staying in the red light distict! Haha. Em and I don't have much time on this computer, but we just wanted to let you know weäre alive. We ate dinner with Em's family: David, Anita, and Daniel. They're super cool and bought us huge ice creams smothered in chocolate. It was heavenly. We going around Nuremberg for a little more, and then we're headed to Munich for a few days. After that we travel to Amsterdam and then Brugge/Brussels. We're excited/a little nervous about Amsterdam. Should be interesting.
-really sad to hear about patty, when is he leaving. Oh, there is an irish author named patrick brian something. I took a picture of his book
-I don't know about bringing back german chocolate mom, might not last
-Oh, in Paris we had to pay for showers, so we only took one! Haha, thought you might get a kick out of that hippiness!
-Love and miss you all!
-H

We decided to write on the same entry because there is only one computer. Anyway, David, Anita, and Daniel were so nice. We ate at a cute German restaurant! I hade schintzel mom and I even had a bight of bratwurst for old times sake. The ice cream was the best, we took pictures of it. Hannah and I both spun the fertility ring like 50X on the Nuremberg fountain. We also visited the Nuremberg castle and took pictures. David said he would e-mail them to you. Love you and miss you. Off to have some Ritter Sport with kornflakes!
-MLE

Monet's Garden= Gorgeous!

So Hannah and I finally made it out to Giverny. It was a little confunsing to get there, the weather was not the best, cost more than I wanted it to, and didn't get to ride a bike, but it stil was worth it. The gardens were spectacular- the had colors of flowers I didn't even know existed! We saw the Japanese garden with the water lily and bridges and we also went inside Monet's house. It was a very popular visit for old people from all around the world ;)

Before heading to Giverny, we went to Sacre Coeur. I have been there before but it was definitely better the second time. We went on Sunday morning so we got to observe Mass. We even got to take communion. We also got to listen to the nuns sing! It was amazing! Then we walked around and watched the painters that gather by the church. We also each bought a Paris apron; they are so cute and I could see myself really using it!

At the end of the day we were a bit tired and it was still rainy but we made it to the Moulan Rouge. We took some pictures then pretty much went to sleep.

Overall it was a fantastic day!
We are headed to Germany tommorrow. We have a 2 hour layaway in Stuttgart- so I get to see ,y birthplace again! We are traveling by train.

Susan: I can't wait to see your braces! I am glad they didn't hurt too bad. Has Rob seen them yet? I also can't wait to see sweet pea! XOXO

Giverny = mecca of old people

Giverny was extremely wonderful yesterday. The down side was that we were under the impression that the trains would leave every 30 or so minutes, but we were wrong. We ended up only being able to visit there for about 3 hours, but we got everything done. Mom you would have never wanted to leave. I really think you and dad should come back and visit. Monet's gardens were like calaway except cooler because you recognized them from his paintings. I took over 100 picture, not even kidding.

Mom, you would also be proud of this. Since we missed the first train yesterday we decided to go to Sacre Coeur for a bit bc I really wanted to see it. It was Sunday so they actually had a service going on. Em didn't want to go in, but I made her. We watched some of the service and actually took communion! I think that is by far one of the coolest and most special experiences of my life. The music was beautiful with all the nuns singing like in Sound of Music. The church itself is magnificently beautiful.

Outside of Sacre Coeur is really super neat too. It is where all of the artists paint and draw you. It would be cooler to go there if I had more money bc they had lots of cool wine and food tastings around. They had some cool vendors as well. Emily and I both got aprons with different Parisian themes on them.

Today we're going to the Pantheon, Arc de Triumph, around the Notre Dame area, and then who knows what.

Miss you all!!!
Mwamwamwa!!!
PS...haven't seen Tovah yet.
-H

J'aime Paris!

I love Paris! Typing here is extremely difficult because the keys are all scrambled on the French keyboard! We arrived in Paris yesterday and visited the outside of the Louvre, and then went inside Notre Dame and the Musee de Orsay, which is the impressionistic museum that has monet, van gough, rennoi, and whistler's mother!

Then we took a long walk to the Eiffel Tower and ate some yummy sweets! We layed in the grass and waited for the tower to light up and sparkle! Some hilarious French guys came and sat by us. They tried to talk to us but they did not know any English and we of course don't know French! It was fun trying to communicate with them. We took a picture with them as well or I should say they just kind of leaped in our pic.

This morning we had a wonderful breakfast at a bakery called Damiani. It was really affordable so we got to split 3 things. It was also conveintly located right down the street from our hotel! Today we are traveling to Giverny to see Monet's house and gardens. (thanks for the recomendation Mi Mi) It should be beautiful!

Dad, to answer your question the fish n' chips was cod. That's also so neat about Sue's bunny. I bet it is adorable and what a cute name. I can't wait to see it!

Ou Revoir!

Ah...Paris

We are in Paris now. Typing is really hard, so bear with me. The keyboards are all funky. Q is where the A should be.

We got to Paris yesterday and it is so beautiful. I can't even describe the beauty. The architechture is crazy beautiful, and it is everywhere! Our hotel is weird but a nice change. It's more like a hotel than a hostel. We have our own room, a toilet down the hall, a sink in our room, and a double bed. It felt weird not having people come in at all times of the night, but we got ,uch needed rest.

Yesterday we went to notre dame, musèè d'orsay, and the eiffel tower. We ate chocolate crepes and ice cream for dinner under the tower. It was great! A group of guys came over and attempted to talk to us while we were waiting for it to get dark to see the tower light up. I say attempt because they knew about as much english as we know french which is little to none. It was like the ultimate charade/taboo game! We told them we were Canadian to be funny, but then they just wanted to talk to us more. French dudes are funny, but still have horrible teeth. :(

It's raining today, but we're still going to try to go to monet's house in giverny. We ate at a wonderfully cheap yet totally awesome pastry shop this morning. It was 80 times better than any starbucks pastry and 80 times cheaper. Best part is it is right next to our hotel.

Gotta go bc this is getting too hard to type.

Mom: I took my graduation dress to the drycleaners before I left, will you pick it up sometime? I think the slip is on the left compartment in my car. Thanks love you!!!

Rissa: When do you leave, and your mp3 player songs crack me up you nut!

Went to the Guinness Storehouse and I don't like beer

We went to the storehouse this morning and I actually had a sip of beer. It was really interesting and the building was like 6 stories high! We got a free drink at the top in this 360 degree glass bar- I of course got a soda instead of a beer but the view was phenomenal. So it was definitely worth the visit. I think we have pretty much done all there is to do in Dublin, we have a flight to Paris at 6:20 in the morning tommorrow! I have actually been getting pretty decent sleep though.

Hannah is right- the weather is crazy. The clouds move so fast that one minute it's raining and the next it's sunny and beautiful! We had crepes for lunch and they were fantastic!

I have e-mailed David and we plan to meet him in Nuremberg! We will probably just hang out with them for the evening. We are staying in Nuremberg right after we are done with Paris.
Well time is running out at the internet cafe!

-MLE

Windy City

Dublin has crazy weather! One minute it is bright and sunny and the next it's all rain and windy. Well, the wind is pretty constant. I really wish my hair was long enough to fit into a real pony-tail.

Last night at the hostel was pretty interesting. We shared a room with like 3 other people, all girls but one dude. Emily and I have been going to bed pretty early (being around 9-10ish) because we've been so tired. Well, last night was a late night for us and we went to bed around 11:30. The rest of our roommates decided to join in at around 2. It just so funny looking at all the different people there at the hostel. We don't like this one as much. We were spoiled with the last one being so nice.

There is this really funny drink here called H2OH! It's crazy, there are advertisements on every other corner for this drink. Today there were reps outside of the shopping center giving away free bottles. The bottles are pretty sweet looking, and we both got one to drink. They pretty much taste like watered down 7up. It's supposed to be slightly sparkling water produced by 7up. So funny.

Went to the Guiness stockhouse today. Really cool. The top level is a bar with a 360 glass view of the city. We got free drinks. I drank less than half and felt sick. Guiness before lunch=sick.

-H

Beautiful Bray

This morning we road the Dublin Dart train 40 minutes out to an adorable town namd Bray. Bray comes from the Gaelic word Bri which means Hill. Speaking of hills, Hannah and I hiked to the top of this georgeous green hill that had a huge cross on it. From the top of the hill, you could see the rolling green hills of Ireland, the entire town of Bray, and the sea. I loved it there and I also got to eat my first fish and chips there- it was pretty good!

I agree with Hannah on the hostel- i think i may be done with showering there! Oh yeah- this is for the dads cause y'all are kinda nerdy and may enjoy doing this for us. Hannah and I are confused on the whole gaelic as a langauage thing. We of course hear a lot of the Irish people speaking English but we also hear Irish-looking people speaking another language but we are not sure if they are irish or not. A lot of the signs are in both Irish and English and we are curious to know which percentage of people actually speak gaelic. I assumed it was just some kind of dead language with historical meaning.

Anyway, I miss you all and I also had a Crunchie bar- aka sponge candy! MLE

How does one get sunburnt in Ireland?

Isn't it the mecca for all pale people?

Anyway, Emily and I went to the lovely city of Bray today. We took a break from Dublin, hopped and train and fell in love. Bray was gorgeous. It is what you picture Ireland looking like. Rocky beaches (which I love!), lush green hills, and cute little old irish people. There was one big hill/mountain thing called Bray's Head that had this huge cross on it. Of course emily and I were like, we're going there!

So we hiked up this mountain dripping sweat the whole way. It was absolutely gorgeous though. I felt like I was in some medieval times because there was only a small path covered with lots and lots of trees and greenery. It was wonderful, well it was better once I got to the top. The end part was hard because it was basically climbing over a bunch of rocks. Some nice german people took our picture at the top.

We ate fish and chips for lunch. It was great and it was emily's first time having fish and chips. We moved out of our other hostel and boy do I miss it. This one is a little sketch. The showers are in a plyboard makeshift room in the basement. It's like salkehatchie where you don't know anyone and you never know what to expect when it comes to the showering facilities. There was a little heart ache when we thought they lost our reservations. I think they did and just didn't want to tell us, but we have somewhere to sleep so I'm not complaining.

Dublin is like the New York of Ireland. There are millions of people all different and doing different and crazy things. There are about a million different languages spoken all around us. There's the high end part of the town with great shopping and then there is a makeshift china town on the other side.

I ate a crunchie bar yesterday just for you mom. ;)
-H

Dublin Fabulousness!

We had a tour of Dublin Castle and visited two cathedrals today. We also went to the National Museum of Ireland and ate lunch in a beautiful park. The weather is rainy and misty- good thing we brought a jacket! Tonight we are eating in an Irish pub and listening to traditional irish music. Tommorrow we are going to Bray, Ireland by train- it is on the coast, so it should be beautiful. I also bought a shot glass today that has the Allen family seal on it! Miss all of you! MLE

Gaelic Greatness

Dublin is fabulous! We are having a great time, and we've already gotten so much done. Once we got here, after we ranted before, we walked around the city for a while. We went to the modern art museum, which is always fun, temple bar area, remembrance gardens, and trinity college. We actually got lost in trinity college, but it was very beautiful.

Today we went to the national history museum, the dublin castle, we looked but didn't go into St. Patrick's cathedral and christ church cathedral. From the little we saw we new we'd seen better and decided not to pay for them. The castle was really interesting and fun. We had a picnic in some gardens downtown, and we're about to head off to a traditional irish pub with a live band. Should be interesting.

We've made a new friend. We have this spanish woman staying in our room with us. I don't think she leaves the hostel. She messes with her stuff 24/7, wakes up at 6 mumbles around for 2 hours, and sleeps in the afternoon. I don't know what she's doing there, but she's pretty funny to watch.

Off to look for somewhere to stay in munich. Peace!
-H

Exhausted... yet excited!

Yes, the hostel room does smell like piss, Hannah, but it is also fairly clean, and safe. I am impressed by it's size and I think it is a good location. Anyway, my back hurts and the airport was as frusturating as always! We have 4 whole nights in Ireland, yeah. So far the city seems really quiet and not exactly what I expected but then again I only saw a square 50 times and two streets back and forth and up and down. MLE

Heart ache in the airport...

Well, we are safe in Ireland as of right now. We checked into our hostel after walking around dublin city for a good long while with our heavy backpacks on. Who knew a square and a street weren't the same place?

Anyway, today was super high stress day. Firstly our flight to london was WAY late because of some customs check thingy. We were freaking out once we touched down because we have 2 hours to go through customs, get our bags, check them again, and then be at the gate for our Ireland flight. We basically ran through the Gatwick airport.

We did finally make it, and now we're ok. Oh yeah, on our flight we realized we had booked two hostels for the same day, and didn't have anywhere to stay the other nights. We're working on that situation.

This hostel is interesting. Our room smells like piss.
-H

Alumni!

Well, Emily and I are official Auburn Alum. We graduated May 10th.

We're leaving for Europe tomorrow, and here is our schedule.

May15-18: Dublin

May 19-22: Paris

May 22-25: Munich

May 26-29: Amsterdam

May 30-June 1: Brussels

June 1-5: London

June 5th: Return Home!