Back to Barcelona and Last Hurrah! - April 28-30, 2009

We left Milan in the evening and headed across northern Italy and southern France on an overnight train. We arrived early in the morning in Barcelona. It was hard to imagine but people in our car on the train were asking, "Is this Barcelona? Is this the right stop?" Vern and I were able to say with confidence, "Yes, this is Barcelona. Just not the main train station. You can get a bus or take the metro over to the other station!" Who would have thought we would be the seasoned travelers at this point.

It was so fun coming back to Barcelona. We knew the city and we were headed for the same Hotel Continental on La Rambla, the main walkway to the bay. We walked from the train station to our hotel, dumped our luggage and headed out again. Vern wanted to be sure we had a chance to see the Cathedral of Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia, as well as have a chance to interact with the people.

We met two sweet women at a clothing store and a nice man at a coffee shop. When we stopped by a bakery near the bull ring we met a very nice couple, Fabiola and Hugo. We have stayed in contact with them through email.

Thank you so much for taking a look at our photos. The trip was incredible. Getting to see Jeanna and Eli and meeting some of their friends was awesome. We thank God for blessing us with a safe and fun-filled adventure. We are proud to be from the United States and American citizens and hope we represented our country well. We are grateful to have the freedom and resources to travel and learn about this amazing world we live in!

If you find yourself traveling overseas in the near future, please feel free to contact us. We would be happy to share things we learned along the way about traveling in Europe!

Our Venice Venue - April 26-27, 2009

Leaving our hotel in Siena by 6:30 a.m., gave us an early trip and more time in Venice. We traveled through Florence and then northeast to Venice. After securing a hotel for the night, we started our day touring the streets and canals of Venice. It was quite a unique city to us, never having seen the major form of transportation being boats to navigate your way through. The walking paths between the buildings and city areas were narrow but supported by footbridges crossing the canal routes. I think it would be very easy to become lost in this city in no time at all.

We made our way to the major plaza, Plaza de San Marcos, and were quite impressed with the structures we discovered. The plaza fills with people from all walks of life and countries on a Sunday afternoon with vendors to entice your purchasing and music to set the mood. I should mention that something got into be as I heard the orchestra strike up a waltz and I did encourage Vern to take a twirl with me on his arm. He is such a good guy. We even got a "Bravo!"from a tourist who caught us in the act of dancing.

Once again we enjoyed the astonishing architecture, churches and people of this area. The people of Venice were quite friendly and willing to help out if asked.

As we were checking out of our Hotel, a class of 30 middle school students were checking in for an overnight field trip. I guess we timed that adventure right!

The next leg of our journey would take us to Milan and then an overnight train back to Barcelona.

Siena, Italy April 24-26, 2009

The train ride to Siena was relatively short from Rome. We changed trains in Chiusi so we did not go all the way into Florence. We had just enough time to grab some lunch and use the facilities and we were on our journey again. The train station in Siena was away from the center of town so we took a very full bus to city center. We didn't have a map in the beginning so it was a little hard to follow the small guide in our travel book trying to locate our intended destination. Eventually we made our way to the Alma Domus, the previous convent of St. Catherine of Siena in the 1300's. It is now a simple hotel ran by the nuns. Siena was such a contrast to the hustle and bustle of Rome. We loved the quiet, calm pace of this town. The songs of the birds in the morning were refreshing to our ears. It was fun to explore the plazas and churches. We also enjoyed the treats (ice cream and panforte) and cuisine (pizza and calzone) of this proud, historical, medieval city.

Paris to Rome and more! April 22-24, 2009

We were sorry to leave Paris so soon but adventures were waiting with just one week left before our flight back home. We took an overnight train from Paris to Rome in a sleeper car this time. Once we arrived in Rome, we hopped on a tour bus with our luggage hoping to be able to use the bus to return to the train station when we departed. It worked out great!

Rome's job of preserving ancient history appeared to be much more difficult than that of Madrid or Paris. It was an extremely fast paced city with lots of traffic and construction/repair going on everywhere. Poor, Vern! So many projects he could help repair and yet so little time! During our time in Rome we focused mostly on the archaeology, monuments and churches. Vatican City was very special to visit. Our favorite church was the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Incredible and breathtaking! So glad we were able to see it the morning before departing Rome for Siena, Italy.

Madrid to Paris April 20-22, 2009

We took an overnight train from Madrid to Paris. We only were able to see some of Spain's countryside leaving Madrid and then in the early morning hours we were able to watch the scenery of France. I narrowed your view of pictures from 436 original shots down to 131 edited photos. I labeled some for historical perspective but hope that you can just enjoy the photos of buildings with incredible architecture, people in their every day life styles, food and transportation options.

We loved Paris. The city was clean and inviting. The people were friendly and helpful. It would be a place that we would choose to go back and investigate with more time to pick and choose the spots of our interests. We hope you can share in a little bit our our journey through this remarkable city.

Jaen to Madrid - April 20, 2009

We said goodbye to our kids on Monday morning and we're off for a two week adventure on our own. We took a cab to the train station and discovered right away that the train doesn't leave Jaen on Mondays so they bussed us to Linares, a small village to the north. There we caught the train to Madrid. After a few hours we arrived at Chamartin Train Station in Madrid and we checked our luggage into a locker. We were off on the metro subway to downtown where we grabbed a quick sandwich for lunch. Since the tour bus worked so well in Barcelona we thought we would repeat that experience here in Madrid. Well, we did get to see the sights but the recording did not work as well and it was difficult to follow the different tour spots as we went. No worries! We returned to the Plaza Mayor and enjoyed ourselves taking in the views of the people and listening to the musicians entertain us. We ate dinner at Doner Kebabs, an establishment that Vern grew quite fond of in Jaen.

Eventually we made our way back to the train station and boarded the overnight train for Paris. It was a long train ride but so fun to be in Paris in the morning! We got to see some of France's countryside during the morning hours as we waited for our arrival. We are building confidence daily in maneuvering our way through train stations, metro lines and city buses.

A Weekend of Rest and Relaxation -April 18-19, 2009

We had a busy week of sightseeing so Vern and I decided to rest on Saturday. That meant it was time for laundry and repacking for the following week's adventures. In the evening we went "bar-hopping" with Jeanna and Eli, which meant we went to two bars. The last stop was at a popular bar called La Manchega. It was established in 1886. As we entered the building we were allowed to go through the bar (literally they lifted up the bar and let us pass through) to the downstairs basement to be served dinner at a table in that area. It was incredible to see all of the decor from the late 1800's around the room. Besides that the food and drinks were also great!

The next morning Jeanna and some friends were in a 5K run for charity in Jaen. Vern and I strategically placed ourselves at a spot on the course where they would be turning and running back uphill so we could get the best photo shots. Well looking at the slideshow will give you a pretty good idea as to how successful we were. (That was just half of the pictures Vern took.)

We went shopping at a local flea market and stopped by a florist to buy a plant for Maria, a teacher at Jeanna's school. We had been invited for dinner for the second time this week and we were so excited to get a chance to visit with Maria, Rafa, her husband, and Laticia, their daughter. The plan is that in the summer of 2010 they will be coming to Oregon for a visit. We can't wait to see them again.