Our trip in Europe: A censored series of emails

Florence Night 1

We just arrived in Florence, we will be here for three days. I think that we are going to go to the Duomo now and eat at the hostel at like 7, because there is a buffet for like 8euro and we havent eaten anything yet today. It was a little hard to find the hostel, but now that we have there are no issues. ITt is a little far from the city, but not too bad. It is a converted convent.

Venice Day 3

I have a room at princeton, its a single. I dont think i have any roomatese. Im really excited. That is good news. The bad news is that my debit card doesnt work in the ATM because my pin is too long and I cant change it from here. I guess I’ll try figure something out. Brandon and I have a Tab going and I owe him (because he bought a ticket) like 50 euro lol. Its not like Im going anywhere.

Anyway, today we did a little more wandering. We had only a few goals for the day but we didnt do all of them. First we went off to the Jewish Ghetto of Venice where we took a tour of the Ghetto and three synogagues in the area. It was cool because they dated to the 15th century plus or minus and we learned a history of the Jews in Italy, not too great tho. (wouldnt expect any different) we spent some time there and that took a while to find, it was off the beaten path. Then we wandered looking for the only working squarro in the city, where they fix gondolas. It took a while to find it from the Ghetto, like over an hour but we found it. There was like nothing to see there. It was wierd, just like a house thing. Cool that we saw it tho lol. Then we went souvenier shopping, for everyone at home. I got some really cool things and a really awesome gift for your sister, she’ll freak. Things are expensive here, especially with the shitty dollar. we grabbed some refreshing gelato and then we took a bus home. We took some more cool pics, that all look about the same. Oh well.

la maestre closes at 10pm :( - night two

First, i am sory that I wasnt able to email you last night, the computers here are really expensive and the shoppes close at like 10pm, we didnt know that and it was like 930 when we went. That would have been at least 1 euro. We didnt but we hurried here to be here in time to talk. YAY. 
Last night the trip was uneventful, except for the fact that we almost missed our connection. We packed the night before we left and put the last few things in our bags on the way out at 6am. We took a 740 train to milan and slept most of the way but we were woken a few times for passport check around the borders. Then the train was about 15 min late which was the  amount of time we needed to get to the next train, but that train left late and we made it. Phew!
We arrived at the hotel a day early, because we were planning on taking a night train to venice and sleeping on that. Fortunately, they had a room left, but it was more expensive than the others, it was about 55E for the night. They let us stay tho so it was ok, no issues. We have our own room and stuff so we can relax and enjoy our extra time here. We did laundry last night and it was expensive, ill try to not need it again tho. lol. Washing the under armour in the sink will work. We ate some great calzones last night and went to sleep at about 11pm, like two hours earlier than normal. But we slept til 11am, almost like we started over. We figured that we needed the rest and that there was not as much to do here so we can sleep here to recharge. I cannot believe that it will be almost two weeks, that means, almost two weeks left lol. Once we pass halfway, it will be easy?
Anyway, today we left at like 11 and took the bus to Venice. We had no real map and didnt really know what we were doing or what we wanted to do. We wandered and followed the signs on the sides of the buildings and found, the rialto (which we didnt know was just a bridge), san marco’s square, another bridge, a Dali exhibit which was awesome because we both happen to love his work. First tho, we ate breakfast of pizza and it was pretty good. Different from home, but i really liked it. We found some cool stores and the masks were really aweomse. like the masquerade masks and all. This is awesome. We really like this city a lot and think that it is pretty cool, everything is a picture! The stores are cool and we have been buying some souveniers but we are worried that the glass stuff may break but we will just have to pack accordingly. Things are expensive, but worth it. I have been getting you stuff too, dont worry. 
It is a little bit warmer here than the other countries but i will just drink a lot of water. 
We will probably go back soon to the room and sleep\eat and get up early tomorrow. The time on the computer is up already.

Versailles is huge and really cool

I just wanted to let you know that I am leaving for Venice tomorrow
morning at 7am because the night train was full. It is too bad because
we were going to the catacombs tomorrow and the lourve museum. I guess
we wont be going.

Today we went to the Chateau de Versailles and it was pretty cool, I
will tell you more about it tomorrow when we arrive. There was a lot
of land to explore and a lot of rooms/paintings to look through. I
took a ton of pics. Seeing as we will be awake and out at about
6:00-6:15 ( i still need to pack) I need to get to bed. It is about a
7 hour ride then another 2 hours. So we will be in the train and not
at the hostel until about 6-630. I will try to email soon after. I
promise I will try.

Paris is Romantic- there is a lot to see and do .

The computer turns off in only a few minutes and the internet is
sucking so it wont be a very long message, and it wont describe how
busy our day was. We started off at the eiffel tower because it is
close the hotel. We saw it last night, but it was cool to see it
during the day. On the way to the tower I say Geoff Pederson, you may
say, who is that? I say, Craig Ferguson’s Robot Sidekick. Like the guy
on tv and his actual robot. I got a picture with it. Lights on and
everything, they were taping there. Then we walked up to the tower and
took some pictures then we saw some guys with cameras and stuff and i
was like ooh, Craig will be there. No, he wasnt. So we stood in line
for the elevator the top. Then I was like do you mind waiting here and
I will look over to see if i can find him. He did and I went to look.
Then I found him! Sitting on a bench drinking starbucks. I went over
to him with my camera, guess who was sitting there, Kristen Bell- you
know Sarah Marshall! Then I got pictures WITH not OF, With both of
them. It was so awesome! Totally best moment ever. ive never met
anyone famous besides Chad Pennington. It was interesting because
nobody knew who he was and they werent bothering him, so i could walk
right up. Then we took the elevators, both, to the very top of the
eiffel tower and took some awesome pictures.

So after that story, we went to the Chapel of Notre Dame.  We looked around and i wish you were there to explain things to us. We have no idea what these things were. Then we grabbed a nice baguette and had a sandwich on a bridge. On the way back i had a nutella crepe. It was sooo good! You shoulda tried it. Then we went up the towers and saw the roof and the gargoyles and a 14,000 kg bell. It
was really steep stairs, but it was pretty cool nonetheless.

Afterwards we saw someone taping a show for Malta. Then we went to the
Bastille, where the french revolution began, i think. But it had burned down a few hundred years ago and we couldnt find it lol. Then we went to go find Napoleon’s Tomb, we got off at the farther metro station and ended up walking about 20 min. By the time we got there the museum was closed :(. We wandered a little bit and grabbed a snack. I had a French baguette and proscuitto with butter. It was
yummy, we ate it in a really nice park. Then we walked down  Champs-Ellyses and it was really fancy, with feraris and mazeratis and stores like Louis Vuitton. We walked all the way down to the Arc deTriumph and took some pics, there is a pic with Frank there and the Eiffel tower in the background. We took a train back and grabbed a snack at the supermarket. Pasta salad and a can of tuna with chips,
orange and water for me, loaf of bread, two cans of tuna, cheese, and
a drink for lemmie. We ate at about 11 at the hostel and met some guys
from USA- Cali, New Mexico, Philly, Texas. It was nice.

The guy is rushing me off the computer at 2 now, so i must conclude.

Now to Paris

The week has gone quickly and i think the next few will go faster.
  Today we chcked out of amsterdam’s hostel at 10am but we didnt leave til about 715 so we needed to find somewhere to keep our bags. We were able to leave our bags at the hotel. We went to the Rijksmuesum and saw some cool pieces of dutch art like rembrandt and van gohg. That was after we ate breakfast of bread and egg salad and pasta. It was great again and filling. After the museum we went back to the hostel to grab our bags.We took thm to the major train station because that is how we were gtting to paris. We went on a canal tour with a guide in a little boat. It was so short i hit my head on the top. It was cool and we took some cool pics. Then we walked to the red light district and foun lemmie a small flag for his room. We ate shwarma for lunch again because we knew we couldnt eat on the train. Then we took the train with no issues. It was only 3 hours so i took a nap or two and lemmie slept almost all of it. Then we didnt really know where we were going at all, but there was an information booth with a guy that told us exactly how to get here. After we dropped our bags off we went to the eiffel tower. It was amazin. I cannot believe i am actually here. The lights were awesome and there was a light show at 1am when the lights turned off. We got lost on the way home :( but we made it.  

Still in Amsterdam

Today we woke up a little later that normal, about 10am. We walked across the street to the supermarket and bought half of a loaf of bread, water, egg salad and hummus. It was surprisingly cheap and good. About 3Euro each. Then we hopped on a train to the Anne Frank house. There was a little bit of a wait, about 40 min, but the time passed quickly while we talked to the Canadian and British parents on vacation behind us. We were talking about how the canadian has a farm and rescures animals like horses and dogs and chicken. Then we were inside for about an hour. It was still pretty moving even though i had been there once already. Also it was pretty cheap for a museum. Then we took a train to where we thought we could get the rembrandt house. We got kinda lost. We never acutally found it but made our way to the heineken brewery instead. Even though we had plans to eat before we drink again, we failed. we took a tour and they gave us a bracelet with two tokens in it for beers at the end. You can either pour your own beer like guiness or two pints. We had a free taste when they talked about the beer, we each had a mini beer and eigth of the liter and i answered a question and got a second. Then went to the pour your own beer section and we were supposed to give up both tokens. But before we got to try our luck the guy ahead of us was terrible and had all of these poured beers that he messed up and I asked the guy, “what do you do with those beers?”without saying a word he handed them over. We were now on our second beers. Then he messed up again and i took another, 3. Then when lemmie went he messed up twice and then had three beers, 5. I messed up once and had two more beers, 5. Then we each had two more beer tokens and lemmie was already drunk. I drank my two beers and half of one of lemmies and so i was at 7.5 and he was at 6, Then someone walked by and handed our table a few more. I had two more from that pile. 9.5-.25 liter beers in a couple hours.  at the table was an australiand couple that was travelling for 3 months. it sounded fun. We were all talking and we were getting drunk, we still hadnt eaten and neither had they. So we went to go find food. We didnt eat together, she wanted fries and we wanted shwarma so we split up and they told us what hotel they were at and we were going to go to the hostel drop my backpack off and meet up with them. The guy was just as goofy as conor and a silly like me. it was cool. So we looked for internet instead to find their location. By the time we got the direction and found the place we were 30 min late and they were gone. Oh well it could have been fun. Instead of shwarma we went to mcdonalds i had a burger or two and an iced tea (which they carbonate here) and lemmie had 5 burgers lol. Like $1 burgers so it wasnt too bad. He soberred up after a while. Then since their hotel was in the red light district we walked around there for a while and tried to take pictures. we continued to walk around and tried to take pics of the girls but they didnt like it and yelled at us to delete them :( even from across a canal. I think you would enjoy some of the girls. I took a piture of frank there lol. then lemmie had fries and we made it on to the last train towards home. We went to leidseplein, near where i stayed last time and we had a beer to cap off the night. THen we walked to a casino, but i couldnt get in with shorts, it closes at 3am and there was NO craps! I was so pissed. I wanted to play all trip and a week earlier but there is no craps here. WTF! oh well. At least i didnt lose money right! Then we walked through a park home, it was only like 20 min. Not too bad but we are pooped. I need to wake up early tomorrow to pack and check out. But we will try to see an art museum or something before our train at 7 or 730. Maybe we will see the original statue of whistling whilly?!? Then we head off to paris! That will be pretty cool. I hope that the signs are translated into english. and that we can get a map. I found out that we only spend three nights including tomorrow in Paris, but then we are off to Venice! We have actually been pretty good at seeing everything that we wanted to. Oh, and it rained again today :(.

Amsterdam

I have arrived in Amsterdam without any problems. lemmie and I took the train at about 12 today from london and after a time change and a layover we arrived in Amsterdam at about 7pm local time and didnt get out of the hostel until about 8pm. So we decided to go out for a walk to get food and see some sights. Without a map, we certainly got lost. But we found some shwarma on the streets and had a bit to eat. It was a small sandwich and we were still hungry so we got a small burger from Febo for only 2 euros. It was cheap and we went for dessert at McDonalds for .50 Euro and the ice cream has made its comeback, it is bothering my stomach, but Im ok. I figured that you would like to hear that lol. So we asked for directions and found a train that would take us to the red light district. It was sketchy. There were girls behind windows with red lights around them so you couln’t really see who they looked like. We got lost there too, figures we would not always be able to find our way on intuition. I wish you were here to see some of the girls. Some are cute, others are weird. We walked around and headed into a pub right next to a coffeeshop. We had a beer. we walked around some more. As we went to central station I felt better and lemmie ran in to McDs for a snack, i got a drink. We wandered to the Station to find our train to our hostel. Lemmie ran in to pee and was just in time to make the last train. We still did not have a map so that would have been bad. Fortunately, we were on the train and it was free because the machine was broken otherwise it would have been $4. We made it back to the hostel to use the computers and here we are. So the train ride here was pretty uneventful. Except that on one of the trains we were in first-class. That price was cheaper so we decided it would be awesome. It was. They served lunch and drinks for free and the seats reclined. It was sweet, we felt so cool because we are “classy motherfuckers” as Lemmie would say lol. We took a few tube trains after getting breakfast at the same place as yesterday and made our way to our train to brussels. At the station we were shoo’d away by a restaurant worker for eating our own food at the shop. We finished while waiting to check in. Again, here there was almost no security. They just scanned our bags and we went to customs where the guy there just peeked in at the passport and stamped our passport. Nice! We were excited to get another stamp. Then we transfered after a nap on the train to Brussels to the train to Amsterdam. Both trains were about 2 hours and there was one hour change. We are now +6 hours from the states, so you can keep track. I hope that tomorrow we will be able to see some sights, get a map and have a good time. I think we want to see Anne Frank House, and Heineken Brewery. I think that this city is a bit more expensive, probably because of the tourism. But we will have a good time.