Roma

Rome was just as incredible as you would imagine - the only unexpected thing was how small the Colosseum is. It's very tall, but the arena is smaller than we imagined. It's also caved in so you can see all the tunnels underneath. Absolutely breath taking. After reading Romans inside of the Colosseum, we took a quick look at the Forum (structures that have fallen down/pillars and columns), and walked around the city taking in the awesome-ness!
We were blessed to meet two American's from Ohio the second night who were going to The Vatican the next day as well, so we tagged along (: After losing Marcus in the morning at the museum, we carried on the rest of the day seeing The Sistine Chapel, St. Pietro's Basilica, and The Forum, with Zach! The Sistine Chapel was FILLED with people, so it was a little hard to focus on how incredible it is. It also didn't help that there are men there with the specific job to yell at people to "Silencio!" and clap when people are speaking their admiration. BUT, it was beautiful. The skill that was involved is overwhelming and seriously unbelievable. He was truly gifted. Although the art that is in that museum is literally more beautiful than can be comprehended. It was almost to much to handle! Carvings of every animal, and every person who was ever known for anything, regardless of if they were real or fiction. Stunning murals on the floors, tapestries that tell entire stories cover some of the walls, and of course paintings galore - of gore. Many sad paintings resulted of the Renaissance era. Although it was amazing to see their history told through pictures. For lunch we also enjoyed more Italian pizza - of course.
Day three we decided to go find the Pantheon and enjoy the sunshine with gelato. So we did just that. We ended our 3.5 day trip to Rome with full satisfaction that we saw everything we wanted to. Because of this, we thought "let's spend more than 12 hours on trains tomorrow!". NO we didn't think that - but that's what happened. It was a long day. It got soooo much better at the very end because the Deitz family graciously said yes to hosting us, and because of that, we were picked up from the train station! We had a lovely time going to school with our new friends Dannika, Alena, and Philemon! We only sat in on Dannika's classes - which were English and French, so it was very interesting! It was a lovely sunny day of puzzling, eating, and enjoying time with each other (: The next morning we were back on the trains to Holland! We made it by 15:00, had cake and presents for Maarten's birthday, then had all you can eat Japanese! And it was more than any of us could eat. I don't think I've ever felt that sick from food. BUT it was delicious! We had a birthday party for Maarten and Olivier today, tomorrow it's off to the Keukenhof (the tulip festival), and a coronation party the next day! Then it's off to the French countryside for some house building and relaxing.

Barefoot in Budapest

Yes, we were barefoot in Budapest - we were also stared down by everyone walking around. I guess it´s frowned upon.
We´ve decided that Budapest is the most beautiful city that we´ve seen! It was sunny, hot, stunning, and we had an awesome hostel. It was a little scary at first coming up to the hostel, because it´s just a doorbell in an apartment building - so you ring up to it, then wait for the door to be open, then walk up the old sketchy looking building stairs until someone finds you! We did just that, and it ended up being our favourite place to stay.
The second morning we hiked up to the highest point in Budapest (they call it the bottle opener), which is their very own ´Statue of Liberty´. She´s holding a leaf above her head which makes her look like a bottle opener from far away. From the point, one can see almost the entire city! Including the Danube river, the castle that is 1km sqaure, and all the other incredible buildings. We then took to the streets and found the Jewish area of the city, sat in the park, and debated going to the opera or not - we didn´t. Met a lovely girl from Berlin, who we´ll hopefully see next month, and enjoyed our free breakfasts with her (:
We didn´t have a lot of time there, so we´d like to go back. We highly suggest it to everyone!

Prague/Poland

We are SO sorry for taking so long and making you all wait! Maybe you weren't waiting, but regardless, here we are again.
Prague - We now understand why so many people call it the most beautiful city in Europe, but we don't necessarily agree with that statement. Every building is stunning with so much history, there is also a 'Ginger and Roger Dancing' building. It's mostly just an ugly modern building. Old Town however is incredible! The Astronomical Clock is very cool, all the old buildings carvings are unbelievable, and the people are very friendly. It was good to be on our own figuring out the trams and the language, all in all, it's worth going to.
Poland - To quote a girl we met in Budapest "Poland is one of the most underrated countries in all of Europe." We totally agree! It's full of lovely people who are quite good at English, and better pizza than...Italy!!! I'ts true. Polish pizza is soo good. But more importantly, we took a tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine. We only went into about 20 of the chambers - but get this - there's over 20,000. It's a 300km long mine. We also only went about 130 meters down, but it's depth is 327 meters. Being 700 years old, that's ridiculous. The most amazing thing in the mine (I, Brianna, think), was the largest underground church in the world. It was carved by 3 men, and took 60 years exactly for them to finish. It's complete with 'The Fleeing to Egypt', 'The Manger Scene', 'The Last Supper', and many more scenes carved into the walls. The chandeliers are decorated with the finest salt, so it looks like glass, but the whole thing is beautiful. Every carving in the mine is done by miners that worked there, so by amateurs. That is a place we for sure want to make it back to.

                                                          The Astronomical Clock.

                                                        The Underground Church

                                                              The Chandelier.

Quick Facts - Don't worry, we Czech-ed

Some fun facts about Prague:
-Beer is cheaper than water
-There is no such thing as free refills of pop
-All you have to do is be Canadian, and you'll get free candy
-Food is super cheap
-Trams do NOT go in a circle
-You also have to pay for them, if you want to
-Most of the buildings look kind of the same
-If you're lost, don't base where you are on the buildings
-Take advantage of the beautiful city when you're lost
-It is the most beautiful city in the world. Most likely.

Hum bug Hamburg

Well, as we thought, Frido's house was amazing! Built on the hills it looks out onto the lake and has it's own pool, a beautiful fruit and flower garden, and it's own pizza house. Oh! Italy!
So when we got to Frido's house he very innocently invited us to go for a walk. 3 hours later we had hiked up a small mountain and seen a very amazing waterfall from above and below. All except Bri and Dannika. They got lost and went for their own adventures. Climbing walls and checking out the pool mainly.
And then Italian pizza for all!

Friday we just chilled and played sports. Canadians and Germans were never meant to compete. They won every time.

Saturday we drove home through Switzerland again and learned to appreciate German rock music and hazelnut chocolate.
Actually pretty much all we have done for 1 month is eat Nutella. And it's still good.
When we got home Rudiger treated all of us to SO MUCH German food at an Old Timey restaurant called Old Times. So good!

Then Sunday we went to church and stood up because Jon told us to. We weren't actually supposed to. He had his laugh. whatever. his time will come.

Then we took the train up to Hamburg where we were picked up by Bri's relatives, Otto and Renate.
You will never meet more generous people.
We spent the next two days seeing the amazing sights of Hamburg, from the Miniature Wonderland, to the vast harbor, to the steeple of St Michaelis Church. It was incredible! With amazing German food to eat and good company we had an awesome time!

So now it is Wednesday and we just got to Prague this morning by night train and it's awesome so far.
Tomorrow we tour the city and see the wonders of central Europe!

Milan, darling, Milan.

So to be clear here, we aren't actually in Milan, we just drove through it. But it was pretty.
We're just going to do point form days.
Friday - Our great friend Frido, drove for 8 hours straight through Germany, Switzerland, and Italy! Needless to say, it was one of the most beautiful road trips we've ever been on.
Saturday - It rained. So we hung out, played games, and played tennis in the evening.
Sunday - Easter Sunday! Many a church bell was ringing (: We did an Easter egg hunt, read the Easter story, hiked up a mountain to a 'Rifugio'. Which is a refuge for people travelling. Afterwards we took a stroll along the water eating our d-lish Italian ice cream!
Monday - Lounged by the pool. Walked along the beach in one of the little villages, while some of the kids and dads played soccer. Finished the day off with puzzling and movie watching.
Tuesday - Lianne and I went to Venice!! Sounds perfect right, well not right. We got there just fine and dandy, but getting home was a whole other story. Basically we missed one thing, which made us late for everything else, so when we finally got to the train station, the last bus already left. Also the pay phones are hard to use, so that took us a painfully long time. But because of the graciousness of our friends, we were picked up at a late hour, and were greeted with smiling faces. Thank you Jonathan and Dannika! But we did get to see all the beautiful glass, and the gondolas!
Wednesday - Rudiger's Birthday! What a wonderful day it was (: We ate yummy food, rented some boats (the kids got their own boat!!) for a couple hours, got soaking wet, had Italian hot chocolate - sheesh, straight up melted chocolate! Ran around the city for a bit, and ended the day with the famous pizza!!
Thursday - that's today, and we go to visit Frido's family on the other side of the lake (:

                                  The view from the Rifugio. Jon's standing on the little shed.

                                                      Jonathan driving super carefully.

                                                          The Gondolas of Venezia

                                   "I'm the King of the world!" also forcing Raphi to do it!

                                           I never look like i'm having fun, but I always am!