Egypt!!!

So we have spent five fun filled, non-stop action days in Egypt! We have done so much already we both feel we could leave today and feel like we have seen everything this amazing country has to offer.

We landed in Cairo, did the Pyramids, the Ancient Egyptian Museum (where we saw King Tut), we have rode camels through the Sahara (twice), eaten dinner with a Nubian family, wandered around the temples of Philea Abu Simbal (30 km from the border of Sudan) and Edfu and last night we slept on a Feluka, which is a traditional sailboat of the Nile. We both swam in the Nile and last night we even were cought in a HUGE sandstorm, a very interesting experience in its own!

The people of this country are amazing. They are kind, hardworkers who live such a different lifestyle we are used to back home. As far as safety goes, neither of us at any point have felt any sense of danger or nerves. Like I said, the people here are very kind. It is not uncommon for people to walk up to us just to ask us where we are from and to welcome us to Egypt. Children always wave out our bus as we drive by with huge smiles on their face.

As far as pictues go, the computers here are slightly arcaic and we cannot get pictures up! Although I promise we have a million fantastic ones already! I will keep working to try and get a post of a few of the best, including some pictures from Ios, the Greek island we stayed at before we came to Egypt! We shall post again soon!!!!

We found Paradise, Santorini Greece!

Below: Iconic Greece

I had to ge my Benjamin Button shot in!

Red Sand Beach (view to the left)

Red Sand Beach

HIl and I with the Mediteranian behind us.

Pure Happiness

Red Sand Beach

View of the Caldera Side of Santorini (Supposed site of Lost City of Atlantis)

View out of our bedroom window.

As the caption says, we have found Paradise. It took us about five days of sold out trains, missing ferries and endless transport, but we made it! This place is undescribable to anyone who has not seen its beauty. Every beautiful Greek postcard of white buildings, blue dome roofs and a vast views of the ocean is taken here on Santorini.

Today was our first full day and we were able to see most of the island. We rented a quad and the two of us hopped on and we jetted around the island to some amazing views.

We came across a red sand beach, through recommendations, and we both witnessed an area we will never forget. We stood above a vast cove of crystal clear waters as the sun beat down on our skin and warmed us to the very bone. The smells of the thousands of wildflowers around us filled our nostrills with the sents of paradise. The sound of silence made the place so tranquill we both sat there for about an hour and just enjoyed our spot, our moment, our paradise. That moment where you know everything is right and the world could not possibly be any better.

I will keep this post short and let the pictures do the talking...

All Roads Lead to Roma!

Inside St Peter's Basillica (Vatican)
Hil feeling some divine warmth!

Beautiful, eh?

Hil with the Vatican Behind her

Just thought I would see if anyone was home!

Hil and our friends chatting amongst the crowds.

Wishing to come back!

The mighty Coliseum

I was trying to fix it for them!

After a wonderful four days in Switzerland, it was on to our next destination, Roma. We befriended a group of fellow Americans in our Barcelona hostel who are studying here, so we decided to come visit them!

With our Eurail passes we left Bern for Rome via train. Our route was long but interesting and a great way to see the countryside. It was dumping the most beautiful snow in Bern and raining most of the way through Italy, but the views out of the train windows were gorgeous nonetheless. We went from Bern to Brig to Milan to Florence to Pisa, where we took a quick break to eat and see the leaning tower, and then from there we went to Rome. All said and done we were on a train for about 12 hours.

Our friend picked us up from Termini, we arrived around 11:00pm, and we went back to her house and called it a night, exhausted from the travel. In spite of our best intentions to wake up early and get an early start on sightseeing, we were just too tired and let ourselves sleep in and recover from our long travel day.

After our late start, we were on a bus and off to the Coliseum. Overwhelmed by my excitment it really struck me how fortunate and lucky I am to have been able to come to the seed of western civilization, the heart of one of the largest and most advanced civilizations antiquity ever saw, twice. From there we did the routine walk through the forum up to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon and a few more of the big sights.

That night we indulged in a traditional Italian restaraunt and both had quite possibly the best pasta dishes we have ever had. From dinner we went for a night on the town. Our hosts did a great job making sure we saw many of the fine bars Roma has to offer! (lucky us) A highlight for me, being the history fanatic I am, was when we were en route from one bar to another and came across a ruin nestled inbetween some buildings. I did not think much of it because everything is a ruin in Rome, but then one of my buddies turned to me and told me that "Julius Caesar was killed over there". The history this city has to offer blows my mind!

The next day was equally exciting, although not in the historical sense! We decided to dabble in some of the local culutre and go to an AC Roma Football game. Although the hang over from our night out made it a little difficult to get fired up in the beginning, the sounds and enthusiasm of the crowds quickly got us all out of our seats and into the game. Europeans are CRAZY sports fans!!!

This morning we experienced our first real travel difficulties. We planned on taking a 9:30am train to Ancona, Italy where we were catching our ferry to Greece. However, the train was sold out and the next train to Ancona would be to late to still make the ferry. So long story short, we are staying an extra day in Rome with our friends and we got to go and explore the Vatican today. So all in all it worked out just fine!

That is it from Roma! Our next destination are two small Greek Islands, Santorini and Ios, where we plan on laying on the beach and being bums until we leave for Egypt!

ciao ciao!

Grüsse aus Bern, Schweiz

Zermatt, view of the Matterhorn
Town of Zermatt

Train ride from Bern to Zermatt

Train ride to Zermatt

Bern in the background

View of Bern

The ultimate Bern Drive, Baby!!!

View from Bern of surrounding towns

Hallo Freunde und Familie! So as we sat in our Madrid hostel several days ago, we began chatting about where the road should take us next. I, being a planner, voted for figuring out the most economical route and perhaps the most direct; Trev, being a procrastinator, voted to not do that. After some back-and-forthing about the general direction we wanted to head (and a few beers) we decided to just go to the train station in the morning and buy a ticket for the next train heading east. Well, wouldn`t you know that train was heading to Barcelona...where we just came from...but then onward to Switzerland!!More specifically, BERN, Switzerland which is the town our street back home is named for. And let`s be honest, that factor weighed pretty heavily on our final decision.

A quick 10 hour sleeper-train ride later, we were walking the streets (in the non-prostitute sense) of Switzerland! Bern is the capitol of Switzerland and one of the oldest Medieval towns in Europe. It`s not very big at all so we were really able to walk about and see almost all of it. Today we took a day trip to Zermatt which is in the very south of the country and is where the famous Matterhorn is located. The 2 hour train ride was beyond amazing. Think The Little Engine That Could (minus all the crazy animals and giant candy-eating, talking dolls) chugging it`s way up the side of the most picturesque landscape imaginable. Snow covered hills, steep rock faces and tiny Swiss chalets nestled into the nooks. The conditions were such that the gondola ride to the top was closed so unfortunately we couldn`t get a summit view, but it was pretty incredible nonetheless. We meandered through the streets and popped into so me of the little shops, ate some great food and headed back to Bern.

Also, and this is maybe the coolest part of Switzerland, we had our first couch surfing experience! I`m pretty confident that we couldn`t have landed with better hosts. They are so nice and unbelievably hospitable. They cooked us breakfast when we got in, a traditional Swiss dinner the first night, a great fondue dinner the next night and we even went to a Swiss professional hockey game! Seating is standing room only in half the stadium and it is absolutely non-stop chanting and clapping and singing and flag-waving. I know Trev has said that it`s the highlight of his trip so far. And, for all the NHL fans (read Ducks fans) following along, you will be amazed to know that Keith Carney, former Ducks player, now plays for Bern! Trev almost leapt out of his skin when he found that out. Basically, even if Switzerland sucked like a Dyson vacuum, we would not regret our time here simply because of the new friends we have made.

Uf widerlu-ege (Swiss German for goodbye)