Look Out Canada, Here We Come!

Hey all,

This is probably our last group message from abroad, as we leave in two days to head back. First we catch a small flight from Brussels to London, and then the following day, a flight to Toronto...Can't wait!

Have been to see the Atomium, the Grand Place again, and met a number of Scots who've gotten sunburnt! First bit of sun in a few years they tell us...ha ha.

We've also been into many cathedrals with amazing stained glass, and lovely parks...I feel relaxed, finally!

Not much to tell and my internet time is almost used up today...more from Canada in the coming week!

-Jude and Amber in Belgium

Greetings From Belgium

Hi all!

Greetings once again from Belgium! Finally got out to see some sights today, our lazy butts....went to see the famous statue of the 'peeing boy', he is so tiny, but is plastered on many souvenirs.

We visited the Royal Palace, and the gardens out front were very manicured and pretty. We also went to the Grand Place, a huge open square that is very 'grand' indeed. While there, some foreign musicians began playing some quite interesting music, not from Belgium either, but one of the turkish states I believe.

We are getting tired of travelling, and homesick for Canada...just a few more days before we leave for home. We are also getting rather irritated at having to pay to use the bathroom, even in MacDonalds!!! Amber paid 1 euro for the bathroomin one place!!!

Hope everyone's summer is going well!bye bye from Belgium,

Jude and Amber

C'est la Tour Eiffel

Hey all!

expect lots of typos in this email as the keys are in the wrong plqce!!!must be the dutch keyboard!

we hqve arrived in Brussels as of last night only to find the hostels all full...so we spent an uncomfortqble night in the train stqtion zith creeps here and there, and security telling us to move so they could cleqn...bah...yesterday was grand though, with a walk up the Eiffel tower to the second platform, the view was amazing!!! we also visited the Notre Dame cathedral, the Arc de Triumph, and saw tons from the tower, before jetting off to Brussels.

We are here for the week, and hope to take some time to breathe and relax...more later qs this keyboard is driving me crazy!!!

-Jude and Amber in Brussels

Beach Bums

Greetings family and friends!

We have arrived in Nice(two nights ago) and are loving the beach! It is a little colder than Amber would have liked but I think it is glorious!!! We arrived in the middle of the night, struggled to find a cheap hotel, and paid through the nose for one...the alternative was to stay in the open train station on the marble seats with the police and guard dogs sniffing us all night...no thanks! We had a beautiful if TINY hotel room, complete with air conditioning and our own shower. Now we have tranferred to a cheap 1 star hotel with more room, but no air conditioning, shared shower and toilet. It will do though as we can just go to the beach in about 15 minutes walk.

The beach is filled with topless sunbathers...some who have something to show...some who should really cover it up...ha ha. We were covering it up! I swam a little, Amber preferred to sunbathe and got a lovely tan/sunburn.We are off to see some of the sights today before heading down to the beach.

Hopefully will be on a nighttrain to Paris tomorrow night, and will probably only stay just the one night as the hostels are a little more pricey. From Paris the plan is to visit Cologne, then Amsterdam, then Brussels...no plans are engraved in stone, however, so you could hear from us in any part of Europe.

Amber is dying to check her e-mail and I have a couple of other things to take care of here, so will sign off..

ciao, from Nice, France

Jude and Amber

Dig Dem Bones

Greetings once again from Rome, family and friends!

We have been over the city again today...beginning with an early trip on the Metro to the Vatican City- be sure to wear long pants or skirts and to cover your shoulders...hats are also not permitted. We did not see the Pope today, but the Vatican was quite beautiful in any case. We followed a free tour and learned quite a bit about the construction.

Following the Vatican, we passed on the Sistine Chapel, as it was so hot and the line-up was LONG! We bought postcards instead...

We headed then towards Castel sant-Angelo, walked along the river, then crossed the stinky cesspool they call a river...heading toward the Piazza Navona, where the piazza was filled with many artists, vendors and tourists!

They also had many fountains, but we could not get near them as they were barred off. we then left the Piazza and headed over to the Pantheon, which was amazing, but very warm and crowded with vendors again.

We hiked over to the bus stop and took it to catch another bus for the catacombs of San Calisto. Finding the bus was some effort in the scorching sun, but we made it and found ourselves on a bus filled with other Canadians and Americans, so we swapped stories while we waited.The Catacombs were quite interesting but we only saw the bones of two people, which Amber was quite dissapointed by! It was good, however, to get in out of the sun for a while.

The ride home was interesting as they attempted to stuff the bus...imagine the volkswagon bug stuffing contests of the 60s and70s...that was us...Amber was squashed up against the door and under some guys armpit...ha ha...We tried some gelato on the return trip home before the metro,and gelato (ice cream) was magnifico! Must have some more before we leave!!

We attempted to get some information about the trains from the Termini, but were turned off by the LONG lineups...will search the net instead! Now we are home for the day and tired, dirty and exhausted!

Our day yesterday consisted of visits to the Colliseum, the Roman forum, Palatine Hill, Trevi Fountain and number of churches, basilicas and other things. We had lunch at a local Pizzaria, where Amber was courted by a young waiter...three kisses and his phone number! Amber was ten shades of red by that point...the pizza was good though!We sat out on the terrace and met many of the other travellers here at the hostel...many Americans, Aussies, and quite a good looking-my-age-Irish chap, who just happens to be staying in our room!

Time to get going with some supper, as we are very hungry...will most likely report next from Nice, if we can figure out the train!

-Jude and Amber...in ROMA!

The Amazing Race, Part 1

Ciao from Italy! We have finally arrived and are so tired and dirty but do not really care! We have seen the colliseum on the way in from the plane!

Yesterday we spent in miserable cold and wet London...what else to expect? We visited Kensington Palace, The Tower of London, The Tower of London Bridge, and more time than we would like on the dirty, hot, stinky TUBE. It had delays all over the place and we ended up missing out CHEAP flight to Bologna, which irritated us of course...which was the amazing race just to get to the airport! We realize where we could have made it, but too late to worry about this now.

We missed our flight last night by just 15 minutes...ARRRGGGHHH...so we bought another ticket, this time not so cheap, but was left with no choice...and this time if we had to pay more, it did not matter what city in Italy, it was all the same price so we flew directly to ROMA! We arrived a short time ago and are just waiting for checking in time here at the hostel.Last night we spent in the airport, but were ok with that as we had our foams, pillows, and blankets...just set ourselves up on the chairs which we found out to really fill up FAST, so we were lucky enough to score three seats each to lie down.

We passed the time reading, playing cards and grinding our teeth through the crying baby that positioned herself directly opposite from us! We hope to clean up when check in comes, and head out for something to eat, and see a few sights. Our hostel is just a block from the Termini, which is the centre of Rome, so can basically walk to most of the sights we want to see. We may be taking a bus tour later in the week.

We are here until Monday or Tuesday, so will have LOTS of time to play! We hope to visit the Spanish Steps on the weekend in the night.

Amber is excited that I am to take her out for a beer this afternoon, since the drinking age is just 16...lucky girl!

I must get going and let Amber have a go at this for a while.

Ciao and will keep you all posted!

Jude and Amber - in Roma, Italy

My Travel Airways

Arrived in London-Gatwick this morning with Amber at about 7:20am, just a few minutes ahead of schedule. Our flight was with My Travel Airways, a new airline. They were okay, damn the seats were small! Amber and I got lucky and had an empty seat in our row, so she scooted over and we kept our things on the empty seat between us. It also gave us tons of elbow room. The meals were good but small as our ravenous appetites got the better of us! We ate at Tim Horton's in the terminal too as we were so hungry. It probably is all the work we did on Saturday moving out of our townhouse.

London is cold and rainy. It wasn't too bad this morning and this afternoon, but tonight it has been drizzly. We spent the day touristing. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, St. Mary's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, and probably lots of others. Amber snapped the better part of a film away as she was so excited by the architecture. We came back to the room and napped for an hour before heading off to the grocery store, then cooking supper. The kitchen here is small, crowded and had hardly any dishes - one cup!

After supper, we both did some internet time, emailing friends and family. I'm not homesick at all this time as Amber is with me. The internet time is cheap too, only 1 pound/hour. After internet we came back upstairs and met our bunkmates, from Saskatchewan (Canada) as well as two other girls, an American and a Norweigian. We met another bunkmate earlier today, a very young and handsome Italian guy.

Our last outing was to try out the double decker bus. We just went a number of blocks and then got off and walked around a bit, stumbling upon the University College of London. Took photos there in their entranceway.

We then took the Tube home where Amber has long since flaked out. I may also do so myself soon too.

No Nappies In The Toilet

The title of this post was on a sign in the toilet of MY Travel Airways jet last night and Amber thought it was hilarious! For those who might not know, nappies are diapers...Amber didn't know either!

We spent the day dragging our jet lagged bodies around London and revisited the place where Jude tripped last year and successfully made it through this time...she did, however, try to beat up her knees on the steps of Victoria Monument...We lounged on the grass in St. James Park and Victoria Garden Park. Amber was enthralled with the parliament buildings, Westminster Abbey and the Eye of London. WOW was commonly heard! followed by, hang on while I get my camera out!

We had "jacket potatoes" in St.James Park today for the outrageous price of £3.50!!! That amounts to about $8.50 each...holy cow!!! We took the tube everywhere and by now are old pros! Amber is still wishing to ride one of the MANY double decker buses, so we will be doing that tonight before dark.

Our hostel room has two Canadian gals in it, and an Italian guy. There are others, but we have not yet met them. The bathroom is little more than a closet...when you sit on the can, your elbow is resting IN the sink, and your knees touch the door...Haven't discovered the showers yet, but that is a treat left for tomorrow! The kitchen is very small and doubles as a common room with the telly...dishes are as limited as space.

But we made due and filled ourselves with baguette, fresh milk and microwave dinners (ok, we are TIRED).Tomorrow we leave for Italy - flying into Bologna tomorrow night...and our first look at the Euro! Will catch up with you from the next stop, probably Rome.

Cheers, tally how, ta, and all that jazz...

Jude and Amber