In between pictures we thought we'd give a description of our time in these beautiful cities. Trains and plans have been simultaneously fantanstic and pull out your hair experiences! But hey, we're in Italy and can't complain. After spending 24 hours in Dublin and only 24 hours in Paris we realized we might need to slow down to spend more than 10 seconds looking at each world-famous attraction. So we stayed two nights in Manarola, Italy (please google "cinque terre" it's ridiculous) which was an unbelievably beautiful 5-city tour of costal Italy. Our hostel was situated behind an old catholic church, next to the Mediterranean and 1-2 hour walks between the other 4 towns on the "cinque terre" tour. We are two nights in Rome now we'd stay longer if it wasn't quite so crazy expensive. Today we saw the colluseum and the Palentine (where we get our word for Palace) and were shown around by a first-class tour guide. We're cutting Greece out to take it a little slower (and to cut the two twenty-two hour ferry rides).

Favorite quotes from the locals-Manarola, Italy early mornin breakfast:"what do you want for breakfast?" and after waiting all of 1 second quickly adds, "it's not that difficult, I can tell you what to pick."Rome, Italy: our hostel name is Hostel Beautiful and when someone checked in today they asked, "Is this Hotel Beautiful?" The owner replies, "Well I am a beautiful man so yes". (say with heavy Indian accent)Paris train station: I asked, "may I speak English with you?" (Bets I hope that makes you proud that I asked correctly). Her answer: "Because you asked I will try...a little." I'm not sure if she tried only a little or if she only speaks a little English.

Sad story about TOMS shoes... Jas injured his foot a little. He was thinking he could walk through Europe in shoes that don't exactly have much of a sole, let alone cushion or arch support. But he is taking it in stride as he does all things and even though he continues to wear them (despite my attempts to buy him new sandals) it's getting better.

We love European culture - complete with 5 minute maximum showers, kind stranger-interactions, walking all day, GELATO and learning how to travel together (not covered in the pre-marital/marital counseling class we took last semester together!!) - all in all, we love it. Until next time, choa.