12/22/2015
We are on the overnight train to Venice, starting the first leg of our journey! We will try to send at least 1 update from every city!
By the way, Dave already sweated through his first shirt because we got on the wrong train in Nuremberg (always an adventure!). But, we still made our next train in Munich with only a 1 min layover!!! :)
12/23/2015
Despite being cloudy and a little drizzly, the day in Venice was great. We arrived in on the train at 8:30 am. Surprisingly, the (amazingly quaint, let inexpensive) hotel let us check in early at 9 am, and we were able to drop our bags and be off exploring the town by 10 am. We rode water taxis all over the town, found our way through fun laneways, and stayed out until the sun went down. Then we freshened up for a nice dinner and a final drink before coming back to get ready for today's trip, to Villavallelonga!
12/24/15
We are having a great time in Villa and plan to call each of you after we eat dinner tonight. We are not sure how long dinner will take (maybe 2 hours? you know italians...we are eating with our host family w-several lippas!), but we will get in touch with you this evening!!!
12/27/15
Wanted to send a quick message that we are safely into Rome, and looking forward to our upcoming day of exploring the Colosseum, the Forum (et tu Brute?) & other Roman ruins. Sunny and warm forecast!
Yesterday was a great day in Florence....Statue of David, Ponte Vecchio & the Duomo. The city is intimately small and very romantic. We've had a great time chatting about future wedding plans!
12/29/15
Just a quick note that we are safely in Athens! We left our hotel in Rome at 5am and finally arrived at our hostel in Athens at 4pm...long day! We did a quick walk & cable car up to a great view of the city at night and then ventured home to retire back for an early night.
12/31/15
Happy New Year from Athens!! After watching fireworks over the Parthenon (!), we are in for the night and getting good sleep before our travels bring us to Cairo tomorrow. We have a long day of travel planned, but a lot to reflect on and be grateful for. We are sending out a lot of love to you all, and well wishes as the EST time zone joins us in 2016!
1/1/16
After 2 long flight delays due to snow in Istanbul (our layover point), we are safely in Cairo Egypt!
We hope everyone is having a great New Years Day. We still can't believe that we are in Africa! Tomorrow we see the pyramids!
1/2/16
We had an amazing day at the pyramids (see attached!), and now we are back at the hostel. We just finished eating a cheap, yummy meal of كشرى (Kushari), which is Egypt's national dish. Now we are enjoying some Egyptian wine, beer, and serenity above the bustle of Cairo.
1/3/16
Good news...we are safely in our hotel in Istanbul! Our flight was delayed and left Cairo around 1030pm...all the snow in Istanbul these past couple days is the reason for the delays.
Today we walked through the Egyptian Museum for 4 hours & saw it all! Then walked across town for 1 hour to the Al-Ahzar Park...an experience we'll never forget. Can't wait to share it all. Cairo is certainly a '3rd world country'.
We survived Egypt, so thank you for all your prayers. Please keep them coming as we continue through Istanbul.
Happy to be back where we can drink the water & plug devices into the wall
1/5/16
It's our last night in Istanbul, and we are having a great time. Today we went on a cruise on the Bosphorous strait, which dumps out into the Black Sea (pic attached). We also visited the Hagia Sophia/Ayasofia (pic attached), which is a museum with a history of being both a Church and Mosque. It was really interesting seeing religious symbols for both monotheistic world religions placed side by side harmoniously! We also went to a Turkish bath house...amazing after the chilly boat ride & days carrying heavy packs.
Finally, since we could, we went to Asia for dinner! Istanbul straddles Europe and Asia, so we took a quick 10 minute commuter Ferry over and had a bite overlooking the European side. We have now officially been to 5/7 continents!
Tomorrow is treasure hunting at the Grand Bazaar, then we're off to our last destination, Paris! Thinking of you all and sending love from across the world.
1/6/16
Just a quick note that we are safely in our AirBNB flat in Paris! We had a nice morning in Istanbul doing some final shopping, as well as a little excitement making our flight today (ie, Dave forgot about the butter knife in his backpack!).
We are running low on energy, so tonight will be low key. But not a bad way to spend my last evening before turning 31!
1/9/16
Bon soir famille!
As we close out our travels, we are sad to leave each other (again!), but also eager to return to normalcy. Please keep praying for us, as we have one more step to complete, with our flights home. And also keep the prayers going for Dr Lippa, as she will put her head down in Germany to finish her paper revisions & dissertation by mid-March.
1/10/16
Boarding my flight and missing my fiancé already!
