Day 41 - 49 SEEMS LIKE WE HAVE BEEN EVERYWHERE!

Well again we apologize for not keeping our blog updated. We have been traveling a lot and have had very limited internet access. We left Zaragoza, Spain refreshed and ready to be "on-the-road" again. But, we didn't expect for it to take about 2 days to get from Spain to Germany, having to book a somewhat expensive hotel in Paris at the last minute and staying a night (few hours) in a train station in Zurich, Switzerland. Oh these are the memories we will always remember! After we finally made it to Germany, it was like a breath of fresh air. We arrived in a little town called Titisee in the Black Forest, which was absolutely beautiful. We chose to stay in Titisee simply on the basis that it was somewhat cheap and was only about a 40 minute train ride to the big city--Freiburg--but we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was a quaint town surrounding a lake that had some of the best brauts we both have encountered in our lives. We have taken a few scenic train rides and have enjoyed them immensely. Trees, trees, and more trees! It is a close second to Ireland in how green it is. Imagine seeing beautiful mountains covered in a thin layer of fog/clouds, tons of trees on the mountain side, and a steady flowing river below the trees, and there you have the view of some of the scenic train rides we have taken. We have been staying in Titisee since we arrived in Germany, and are getting ready to leave tomorrow to head to Prague in the Czech Republic.

Pictures

Mike and Ashley in their nook on the streets of Pamplona where they hid when the bulls ran by.

Mike and Ashley at the Eiffel Tower.

Days 38-40 - Zaragoza, Spain (and traveling)

These last few days we've just been hanging out in the room and walking around Zaragoza. It's been nice to slow down our pace for a little while as we were running ourselves ragged for the past six weeks. From today we only have three weeks left. Our trains through the English Chunnel Tunnel cost significantly more than we expected which has thrown off our budget a good deal. As such, we decided to finish our trip by CAMPING. Those of you who have been around us the past two years know how much we love to camp, so this should be fun for us. Today we bought a small tent and we are headed tomorrow for the Black Forest in Germany. We're heading to Germany for two main reasons: First, it is the only major country we haven't really visited yet (except Munich). Second, and more importantly, it's one of the only two or three countries that doesn't charge supplements for riding the trains. Though we each paid $1,500 dollars for a two-month train pass, they nickel and dime you every time you get on a train in most countries. Correction, they $10 and $15 you! We're actually getting quite annoyed by the fact that we have to pay a supplement for each train when we already bought such expensive train passes. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, however, do not charge anything. So, we're planning on spending a good deal of time in Germany (and perhaps Switzerland) since we've already seen much of Austria. We're also hoping to squeeze Scandinavia in too. Almost as frustrating as being nickeled and dimed for trains is the fact that Michael seems to know more about train reservations than EVERY European rail agent! Today was probably the fifth time when Michael triple-confirmed something with a rail agent who ended up being wrong all three times. We were supposed to have a reservation for our second (of 5) trains. Michael knew this and asked the rail agent multiple times if that was the case. He said we did not need one. We showed up with a short connection in Barcelona to find out we DID need one and we missed our train (which, of course, threw off the next 3 trains). So, we're sitting in McDonald's in the train station using their Wi-Fi (pronounced wee-fee here) waiting for our next train. By the way, what a novel concept--free Wi-Fi. I wonder who thought of that? Oh, that's right, a company with origins in the USA--and not even a very good company at that! It's amazing how few things are free in Europe. We will definitely never take for granted free water, bathrooms, condiments, Wi-Fi, sitting at a table in a restaurant for the same price as take away, etc. in the future! As you've probably figured out by now, we're not big fans of some of the "policies" in Europe. That said, we're having a good time and are enjoying seeing everything. Hopefully some day in the not-too-distant future we'll be in Germany were things ARE free more often than not. We're excited to see the Black Forest which is supposed to be breathtaking. Hopefully we'll be able to do some hiking and nature excursions since we've mostly been doing sightseeing up to this point. Sorry for the long post. Hope all is well back in the best country on Earth--HANDS DOWN!

Day 37 - Zaragoza, Spain

Today was our first day in Zaragoza, Spain. It is a large city, though not as popular as Madrid or Barcelona. We intended for this to be a jumping-off point for both those cities, but we´re enjoying resting so much that who knows if we´ll ever do some sightseeing. Right now, it feels like a nice vacation from our vacation!

Day 36 - Pamplona, Spain

Well today we did it! We actually RAN WITH THE BULLS in Pamplona, Spain. As you might imagine, Michael must have thought through what was the best way to do it about 50 times. We ended up running ahead of the bulls for some time before we ducked into a doorway that was about 1 foot deep in order to allow the bulls to run by us. Then we ran the rest of the way into the bullring (which is the end of the run). We´re happy to report that we don´t have any injuries or fatalities! When we were standing in the doorway, the bulls ran about five feet or so from us. They definitely run faster than either of us could, so you just have to get out of the way! After we got in the doorway of a shop, about three more rows of people piled in front of us, pushing us back into the door. We were fine with this as it was a buffer between we and the bulls which helped ensure our not being gored by them! It was truly a blast! We headed to Zaragoza, Spain after the running of the bulls. After waiting quite a while in the train station, we learned that our train was experiencing problems and that we´d have to take a bus, which is not nearly as fun. But, we made it to Zaragoza.

Days 24-35 - Lots of places

Sorry we haven´t been keeping up on this. We have been many places in the last two weeks and have been going non-stop the whole time. Michael is the one who normally keeps up on the blog and he was driving around in the UK and Ireland and was just too tired to do this once we got home at night. So, since two other couples have been with us the past two weeks, we´re going to direct you to one of their blogs. Cody and Jenny Anderson have been blogging and have been with us the whole time these past two weeks. If you want to know what we´ve been up to, you can check out their blog at ateamadventures.wordpress.com. We´ll try to keep up on the blog from now on. Right now we´re in Pamplona, Spain where we watched ¨The Running of the Bulls¨this morning and Mike watched a bullfight tonight. Tomorrow we go to Zaragoza (a somewhat central city in Spain) from where we will be taking short day trips to places like Madrid and Barcelona.

Day 23 - Southern Ireland

We took off from Kilkenny this morning after an AMAZING Irish breakfast with sausage, ham, bacon, and black pudding (an Irish specialty--don't ask what's in it!). We stopped by the most famous crystal factory in the world--Waterford Crystal where we were able to watch the crystal-making process in action! Then we drove to the Cork area and to Blarney Castle. Here we kissed the Blarney stone, thereby receiving the gift of eloquence--though Megan Lappinga insists it didn't work on her as she was jumbling through her words today. After grabbing dinner in Killarney, a quaint little town, we headed to the Strand's End House B&B in Cahersiveen, Ireland. Tomorrow we do the Ring of Kerry!