Luke and Karen and Europe
Updates
Blog entries about the trip.
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Update from Rome
September 18th, 2009
We are getting close to finishing our time in Rome. About to head to bed; tomorrow we find a train to Firenze (Florence). Rome has been great. The language is more unfamiliar (but they are very patient with our 10 word vocabulary), the streets are crazy (just don’t drive) and the weather is hot and humid. But for all that, it is still spectacular. The major sites are dotted throughout the city. The pantheon hides in a square with only small alleys leading to it.
There is both grandeur and intimacy here. St. Peter’s church is measured in football fields, but the little restaurant we ate at only has 10 tables.
Above all, the city is so alive. There’s too many tourists, but Rome overcomes it. Proudest moment, the waiter thinking Karen spoke Italian, if only for 2 minutes.
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Update from Holland
September 13th, 2009
I’m typing this from the third floor (two spiral staircases) of Karen’s relatives house in Leiden, Holland. We’re staying with them for the 4 nights we are here in Holland. The flight was … successful. It was a half hour early and it still felt like forever.
It was kind of fun catching up to the sunrise, definitely haven’t had that experience on a plane before. Karen slept a bit on the plane, me not as much. Slept well last night, due to being completely exhausted and will probably sleep very well tonight too. We spent today touring Amsterdam. Saw the Rijks museum and the Van Gogh museums today, in addition to walking through old Amsterdam and taking a boat through the canals. Tomorrow we’ll head to Rotterdam and the Kinderdijk.
Haven’t found any public wifi yet, though I haven’t been looking very hard. When/if I find some, I’ll try to post some videos. Need a better one than the one where we are sitting at the airport.
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Packing Light
September 5th, 2009
It worked. We’re going to head to Europe for 3 weeks with a normal sized backpack, a smaller day pack and a couple camera bags. Trial packing run complete. Halfway through the vacation, will we find that we wished we had brought another pair of socks? Perhaps, but I think packing the necessities and dealing with the odd case as it comes up will work better. I hope.
