Brussles

hello all,
In our last blog we were just about to leave London. We are now in Brussles and a lot has happened in the last few days:
1) Overnight Ferry to France
2)Normandy
3) 3 days in Paris
4) a train to Brussles.

Crazy Stuff that happened in the last few days
1) Overnight Ferry didn't put us where we needed to go for our Normandy Tour = 70 Euro Cab ride
2) We have the wrong eurorail pass= our pass is only valid until June 13, we leave on July 9
3)Honeymoon sweet in Paris= 1 bed for me and Sam
So the past few days have definately been interesting but we have made it through.

So the ferry was a great idea, and I would do it again but there was very little direction on where to go after and we were about 30 KM outside the city which we thought we would get off the boat. After a few hours of utter confusion we made it to our tour and Normandy is sweet, any sort of history buff needs to go there and just see the town. The town is almost 1000, years old and WW2 sites were almost unrealistic; I say that because the beach area of Omaha beach is a beautiful wide open beach and having over 30,000 soldiers succesfully up the beach would be hard to believe if we didn't already know it happened.

After seeing the graves at the cemetary and Point du Hoc, we made our way back into Bayeux and went to the train station. At the station we were informed our train pass was not the one we thought we had, and after a moment of utter disbelieve, Sam was able to calm me down, and we were on our way to Paris.

Paris is still as cool as it was 5 years ago when I went there. The hotel we booked was cheaper than any hostel so we booked it, up 5 flights of stairs and we found ourselves in the "honeymoon" suite with one bed and the bathroom down the hall. Naturally I called little spoon but we went to see the sights as we had about 4 hours of day light left (we checked in about 6). From what I remember the weather this time was hotter than it was when I went in July and here we are in the last week of May. We were able to go the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and many other sites pretty quickly. So we decided that we would head up to Amsterdam, but I made the executive decision for a stop in Brussles just for kicks.

Here we are in Brussles, just chilling out for the night. We are heading up to Amsterdam tomorrow and we think Denmark for the Weekend. This is the most current information about the lives of Sam and Michael.

-Michael and Sam

Leaving London

So 3 nights, 2 hostels, and 2 presidential motorcaids later it is time to leave London and the UK. We probably have been walking about 10-15 miles each day and we can feel our legs getting stronger, I am sure by we get back I could enter an international walk a thon and my strongest opponent would be Sam.

Sam and I spent about two hours on the computer the other night trying to find a tour that we could go up to Windsor Castle and StoneHenge, since we could not find any thing for us we decided to hit a local pub, where the beer was amazing. Success number 1, beer over here is so good. After a few cocktails we made it back to the hostel for some shut eye.

Day 3 in London we causualy made our way down to Buckinham Palace, much like the previous 2 days for the changing of the Gaurd. Going down we both thought this is going to be a very cool english tradition. The music played how ever was Frank Sinatra, and New York, New York was played by the English Army Band. New York , New York.....I thought we were in London? After our taste of good ol Frank, we made our way outside central London to a place called Camden where there were several markets and every single type of food in the world. After sitting along the canal with a Kebob, we went to run through platform 9 3/4 and failed to make it to Hogwarts.

Now after we finally got a taste of a London rain storm we are off to Normandy on the overnight ferry, and then on to Paris tomorrow afternoon.

Cheers,
Mike/Sam

London

So the plan to have no plan slightly back fired. As I am getting into London all the excitment to see if Sam was on the other side of customs was first halted by the cute customs lady who I thought I could charm my way through. First question, how long are you staying? I don't know. Where are you staying? I don't know. Do you have an Itinerary? No. The look of disgust on her face is something like when your parents say "I am not mad, I am just really dissapointed". So after several other questions she, with pity, stamped my passport and I walked through to a very tired Sam on the other side.

After a big hug and some small talk, we changed some currency and made our way to the city. Sam had the name of a hostel, and we walk of the train and just start walking. Come to find out we were in one of the most expensive parts of London and there we were lugging our backpacks for almost two hours, not finding the hostel, so we finally are about to give up and check into a Holiday Inn but it was over booked. Finally they refer us to a hostel, which we walked past and we checked in.

By about noon, showered up and ready to go we start going to see the sights. We go to buckingham palace and we notice on the national mall there are alternating British and American flags, we find out Obama is coming into town for a state visit( so I go all the way to London to see our president for the first time). So after a few other sites we go to a pub for dinner and begin to make our way back to the Hostel for an afternoon nap. 4 hours later we decide to wake up and try to make a night tour of the city, with success we made it back to the hostel have a few drinks, and hit the sack.

Waking up for breakfast we go to check into the hostel for a 2nd and 3rd night right? False, the hostel is over booked, so once again we lug our huge bags luckily only a 5-10 minute walk down to another hostel where we check in and then make our way back down to Buckingham palace.

Walking down to the palace, there were Police every 100 feet around the perimiter of the Palace walls, for Obama's entrance. After about 30 minutes of waiting the siren's roared, the motor cycles drove up and the caravan passed right in front of us. No more than 10 seconds of being in sight of the caravan was he safely within the limits of the Castle. After a great display of british tax dollars spent to surround our president, it was amazing to see what we think was William and Kate, sneak past almost everyone outside the front gate in their car.

So after day two of here in London, and the Volcano cloud about to be overhead, we are going to move on to France and Normandy in 2 days time for the rest of the week and weekend.

Cherio,
Michael and Sam

The First Post

May 22- Ashland, MA

Here I am talking to Madelyn, and she told me I should do my first post, so this is my first post : "I am packing up all my stuff and getting to go to Europe even though my plane is delayed”-Madelyn.

I should start when I first thought of this trip. it was almost 5 years ago getting on a plane to return home from my first trip overseas; Paris. Since Eurotrip was one of the my favorite movies, all I could think of was when I graduate college I am going to Europe. Now that I have gradumicated from college, it is time to go on my grand adventure.

After several years and talking with several people only my roommate from study abroad, Sam was truely intersted from the beginning. After months and months of talking, looking for flights, trying to think where should we start we picked London, booked our flights (back in January) and the "planning" began.

So the plan is there is no plan. We both fly to London today May 22, and we have return flights on July 9 from Madrid. The only thing is we want to run with the bulls before we come back.

Here is the scoop, eave any messages, places to go, eat, sleep or just a simple hey whats going on. Leave it here and I will do my best to try to respond when we get on computers to back up our photos.

Until then, the journey begins.

-Michael