Bon Voyage (Cruise Begins)

When we rounded the corner and saw our ship we were all very excited. Most of all, it was great to see Matt’s face because the size of our ship was ten times larger than the one we saw in Bordeaux...and Matt hasn’t been on a cruise!

We boarded the Emerald Princess ship and ran all around checking out the main balcony, the clubs, pools, dining rooms, etc. What an enormous ship! We had dinner in the Botticelli dining room and met our two waiters Dan and Ignacio “Iggy”. We set sail for Marseille, France, and enjoyed our first night in our room made up beautifully by our steward Grace.

That night we enjoyed the entertainment on the ship and said “Bon Voyage” as we left for Marseille, France. From the looks of the ship, our nice room and balcony view, and the great company - this was shaping up to be a great time in the Med.

Laurence Clan pickup @ the airport & Barcelona!

After getting to the airport early we stood by arrivals with our little plate saying “Laurence”. It was so great to see them and they seemed happy to be going to a spot where they could get some sleep. We had a REAL breakfast with bacon that didn’t look strange. It was s wonderful! When Anne gave us our bags for the cruise it was like Christmas morning (Thank you Sharon, Anne and Jennifer for the great packing!!)

We spent the afternoon walking Las Ramblas, the famous pedestrian only street where you can eat, shop, or even buy chickens. It’s crazy! We arrived on the weekend that Barcelona was celebrating their city with bands and parades. The parade that we saw was full of different drum squads, each sharing their cadences with the massive number of people out and about that day.

Later in the day we stopped for our first Barcelona meal - which ironcially turned out to be at an Italian restaurant! Anyway, we enjoyed the food and catching up the the Laurence clan - we certainly had several stories to tell. But we were all tired at this point - we’d all either just flown 8 hours and were running on over 30 hours awake or had just been on a train all day the previous day - so we went back to our hotel for a good night’s rest & to get ready for boarding our cruise the next morning!

Next stop: Med Sea!

Trek to Barcelona & Lourdes

So we were up before 5am this morning, the earliest morning so far on our trip, but for good reasons. We needed to start our long day of many train rides to get from the west of France to the Northeast of Spain. We first took a train about 3 hours to Lourdes where we planned to stop off for a while.

At Lourdes, the Basilica was celebrating the 150th anniversary of Bernadette’s apparitions in the grotto (which is right next to/underneath the Basilica). When we got off our train we saw more nuns than at world youth day. Accompanying them were nurses. When we walked down to the Basilica area we found out that on this location is a hospital, a hospice, numerous chapels, and, of course, the grotto. We watched as elders were wheeled around by volunteers and people were getting water from the fountains. Although it was rainy this afternoon, we made the best of it and went to Mass. We got some water ourselves to bring back to the States and then had a nice lunch. Unfortunately, Matt had a fall walking down from the top of the Cathedral. Even though crocs are the best, we need to get new ones because Matt has worn the tread down to basically nothing. Not a nice combination with wet, steep, stone stairs. Matt’s okay but the rest of the day sitting wasn’t the most comfortable.

We grabbed our packs from storage and then took our next train to Toulouse where we needed to catch a connecting train in less than 10 minutes. Running from platform to platform is easy since we are used to it but still very stressful! We took this next train across country to Narbone, our last stop in France (which we were thankful for after all the weeks in France up to this point!) We had about 25 minutes to get our next train so we grabbed a sandwich. Kristen put her small bag down for a minute to think about what to order. Some frenchman came right up and made Kristen nervous because he was a little rude. When she bent down to pick up her bag this man was very rude and, for the first time since we started in France, a french person stuck up for us! The lady behind the counter said some harsh sounding words to him but we don’t know what she said since it was in French. Oh well.. We walked away and ate quickly.

On our last train we had about 4 hours along the east coast of France into Spain. We saw the Med Sea were excited to see flamingos in the bay. As Matt was listening to the Ipod Kristen heard the couple sitting behind them speaking English. So excited, she turned around and asked where they were from. Los Angeles! And they were backpacking, too! How rare to meet other American backpackers (we can count the number we met on one hand).. The four of us chatted for a long time and hopefully if they are reading this they will see their “shout out”. (We hope you had a great time in Cinque Terre!!!)

When we arrived in Barcelona station we were on alert for pickpockets since Barcelona is known to be the worst city in Europe for this. We were sized up several times but decided that at 10pm not to take the subway, and rather to spend a bit more and just get a taxi. We got to a nice hotel near the airport. The nicest on our whole trip so far! We decided to sleep early since we needed to wake early to go to the airport to greet Anne, Bob, Kate, Fran, Lorraine, and Reggie!

Tours and Bordeaux

At this point in our journey, we began to feel like we lived in France and didn’t really have a desire to site see. We enjoyed walking around both Tours and Bordeaux and eating at great restaurants. However, we don’t have a ton to blog about because we didn’t do much sightseeing.

In short, we found a great chocolatier in Tours and so we bought some delicious french pastry and champagne to enjoy. We stayed in a cute little hotel and watched Marie Antoinette (and Enchanted which Matt hated) because we had just been to Palace of Versailles in Paris.

The buildings in Bordeaux were more modern and the city was very nice to walk through. Our favorite part of this area was walking at night along the boardwalk. Giant lanterns hang from the poles all along the water and many people are out walking, biking or rollerblading. Matt enjoyed seeing a small cruise ship because it got him excited for our cruise coming up. He wanted to know if our ship would be the same size as this “big” one. I didn’t say anything because I knew our ship was ten times bigger but wanted him to be shocked when he saw it.

We went to bed early because we knew we had a long day of sitting on a train ahead of us and had to be up super early.

On our own in Caen, France

Today was the first day that we were able to activate our EUrail pass. We rode from Paris to Caen, the Normandie region in north France. We got to this cute little seaside town and checked into our hotel. The owner was so nice to us. I think it also helped that we told him we were Canadian! He was so cute and sweet and wanted to help us with whatever we needed.

Just ten minutes outside of this town is Liseux. Kristen’s favorite saint of all time (St. Therese) is from here so, of course, we took the train on day one to check out the village. There, we went to the cathedral with relics of St. Therese and a huge crypt church dedicated to her with colorful mosaics that tell her story. We walked through a wax museum telling her story as well. We were able to walk around the town and go to the Carmelite convent where St. Therese once lived. We saw where she is buried and the real journal that she wrote in that was eventually published and sold everywhere called Story of a Soul. It was a great afternoon. What was interesting was inside the Cathedral. The community was getting ready for a big celebration which would start the process of St. Therese’s parents becoming saints themselves. Also, a small altar that locals were praying at that was specifically to pray for Catholics in the United States. This was very moving. Last, in one corner of the cathedral was a spot for people to leave their notes to St. Therese... thank yous for giving them miracles. There were so many plaques and notes and pictures it was amazing.

The next day we went to church at St. Pierre Cathedral which was said in French, of course. Even though we didn’t understand much, it was still Mass and we knew what parts they were at. After this we took a tram to the Normandy museum a little outside the city of Caen.

At this museum, we booked ourselves on a very small group tour of the beaches of Normandy. We were very prepared for this trip since the two nights prior we had stayed up until 1am refreshing every detail about WWI and WWII. We originally thought we could take a bus to one beach and walk around the beaches and cemeteries. However, we quickly learned how huge these beaches are and how far apart we needed to drive to get to each one.

For those who don’t know the significance of Normandy, France: In short, this is the landing spot where the Americans, Canadians, and British troops first came to fight the Germans who had pushed their way into France during WWII.

There are many cemeteries in this region. We went to the American cemetery, of course. It was beautiful. This is also where the soldiers rip who were the inspiration for the characters in the movie Saving Private Ryan. Near this cemetery is Omaha beach. Out of the five beaches Omaha was the bloodiest battle and Americans were the ones who landed here. We went to the second American beach called Utah. On this fifth beach special forces had to scale high walls to reach our enemies. They were delayed in getting to this beach because of the tides so the germans were onto them and this too was another beach where many men died from our country. We walked around the cliffs at Utah beach and we can still see the bomb craters covering it completely. We walked in pill boxes and, for the first time, I wish I had watched one of those war movies that my dad (Bob Laurence) is always watching in his recliner. I guess we’ll watch a WWII documentary soon!

The next morning we delayed getting on an earlier train and went back to the Normandy museum. It was fascinating. We learned so much about WWII and even stayed a while to take in two other special museum exhibitions. We walked along the time line for the Cold War and we were very moved by the tribute the French were paying to the September 11th tragedy. We saw artifacts like clothing, plane parts, pictures, and walked along reliving the timeline. Of course, we all watched on tv the people in other countries celebrating the fact that America was attacked. However, it was very moving to read in an exhibit what people in other countries did positively on this day.

We learned that the Queen of England had the United States national anthem played during the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. In Berlin, 200,000 german troops marched in silence. Ireland declared a national day of mourning. Iran held a candlelight vigil. Wow.

We were able to catch the later train out of the city and to our next destination: Tours, France. As we were leaving our hotel, the owner (who thought we were Canadian) wrote in big capital letters CANADA on our handwritten bill. We smiled and said, “Merci” and he ran to grab some croissants. He put them in our hands and we walked to the station with our packs. Ha.

A Change in Plans

Hey everyone,

We're sitting in Venice right now - in our hotel near the airport. Today is our last day of the trip as we will be heading back to the states bright and EARLY tomorrow. But before we head out to explore a bit more of Venice we wanted to tell you all about our change of plans.

A few days ago while sitting on our cruise ship we were thinking about the next 30 days ahead of us - touring Central and Eastern Europe on another group organized trip. We decided that since traveling on our last trip for 3 weeks was a challenge with the small group (and we're starting to get a bit tired now that we we've been away for almost 3 months) we're going to save Central and Eastern Europe for another trip a couple years from now. However, we also want to go to Southeast Asia on a next trip - so if you're interested let us know :-)

Anyway, we'll be landing at JFK on Sunday afternoon and we're excited to see all our family and friends!

But don't worry - we still have to post about our travels through France to Barcelona, about the Med Cruise, and about the great time we're having in Venizia!

See you all soon,
Matt & Kristen

Paris! (and the end of the Intrepid Trip)

Day one in Paris... we were excited to have our guide Monica show us around. We went on an all day walking tour of the city. We walked up the step steps to Mont Marte where they were preparing for Pope Benedict to come just two days later. We got a great view of Paris from so high up and then we walked down into the red light district to see the famous Moulin Rouge.

We took the Metropolitan (subway) to the center of town to see Notre Dame. Inside is a piece of wood from Jesus’ crown and also a piece of the cross. We heard the organist practicing for the Pope’s Mass.

We stopped for pictures outside the Louvre and then down into the park that leads to Cleopatra’s needle. We then walked all the way up one of the most famous shopping streets in Paris to the Arc de Triumph for some unbelievable views. Walking next under the Eiffel Tower was so cool. We went for dinner in a small french restaurant off the beaten path. What a nice way to end the day!

On day two of Paris, we rode a train out to the beautiful countryside where we enjoyed a full day at the famous Palace of Versailles. When we arrived at the Versailles train station we walked out and saw a beautiful building. As we walked closer Matt was being quiet and then eventually said in a disappointed tone, “Is this it? I thought it would be bigger.” Shortly after that we walked around the corner and realized that we had the wrong building. Thankfully, the palace from was fifty times the size of the first building we saw!

We took a guided tour through the palace. We learned so much and it was neat how the rooms were named after the planets (of course, rotating around the king’s room which was the sun). We saw Marie Antionette’s room with the secret hidden door that she escaped through when people were storming the castle to get her. FYI - they caught her and she was beheaded...

The most beautiful part of the palace, besides the hall of mirrors, was the gardens. These gardens stretched for miles and we walked around in the hedged labyrinths, past roman statues and columns. Ponds stretched forever and kids could sail toy boats in them while older people rented row boats. We ate lunch in a great cafe on the palace grounds. What a grand place!

Later that night we met up for our final dinner with Monica. Scotch and Phil never showed which was interesting...but we had a blast with Monica, ate at a really nice French restaurant, and drank some nice French wine.

On our third day we spent our time in the most famous museums in Paris (and the world really). The Louvre and Musee D’Orsay were well worth it. The Louvre is enormous - and there too much to describe - but we took a lot of pictures and we posted some of the highlights. We had a blast and got to see most of both museums.

We left Paris on the 4th day--on our own now that the Intrepid trip was done. We headed to the train station and hopped onboard our train to Caen!

Rheims, France

Bonjour!

On the way to Rheims, the champagne region, we learned a lesson about Joan of Arc. Surprisingly, this was one saint that Kristen hadn’t researched before so, of course, she was intrigued. In short, young Joan hears three saints telling her to lead an army and defeat several troops so that a king could be coronated in the Notre Dame cathedral in Reims. At first, she didn’t have much luck trying to convince higher authorities of this task but eventually she convinced them that divine authority is telling her to do this..... so she does, but after the king is crowned, she gets greedy and wants to continue fighting. After some time Joan gets caught and is brought to Rouen where she is tricked into signing a document and is later burned at the stake. If you are interested, juicier details can be provided when Kristen gets back.

Aside from Monica teaching us about Rheims and Joan of Arc, we also got to experience our first train with the compartment of 8 seats - 4 each side facing each other. That was pretty neat - all our trains up to this point had been regular train cars with 2 seats, an aisle, and 2 more seats. It’s the little things sometimes that get us excited...moving on:

Salut! We got to clink our champagne glasses several times towards the end of our Veuve Cliquot champagne tour. We were lucky to go underground into the chalk cellars to see the history and making of some of the best champagne in the world... just one step below Dom (or so the French say). We got the skinny on which years were the best and vice versa. 2008, not a good year. 2004, drink it up! Matt’s idea is to buy many bottles when we get back. Since the vintage champagnes age incredibly well we will drink some every five years on our anniversary. Each year will get better and better!

We had fun exploring the downtown area in Reims. We ate the best dessert in France, crepes and creme brule. We also got to see the impressive Saint Remi Cathedral and the part of town where 2 people once lived that inspired Disney to write about Quasimodo and Esmerelda in Hunchback of Notre Dame.

On our last night we heard out our hotel window a bunch of chanting and singing. It sounded like a riot breaking out so, of course, Matt was brave and went out to see what the racket was. He thought it was probably some soccer fans cheering for their team but when he rounded the corner onto the main street he saw a bunch of teenagers with orange cones on their heads climbing up one of the angel statues in the center of town. Weird... Since no one spoke English we still don’t know what the orange cone protest was all about.

We are heading into France’s capital city tomorrow and we are excited to see some of the sites that we have seen on tv and in pictures many times before. Au Revior!

Dijon, France

Today we day-tripped to Beaune, the burgundy wine region in France. This was our first day in a new country so we decided to study some phrases to help us with the basics thanks to Matt’s ITouch applications. We first stopped at a French pastry shop where, of course, we tried cream puffs and eclairs. Yum! Not as many French people know English like the Swiss did so “Bonjour Madame or Misuer” did us well.

We rented bikes and rode through the countryside vineyards. It was picturesque, as the grapes were ripe and ready to be picked two weeks from now. We stopped at Chateaus to taste great wine. Our favorite was Chateau L’Ange Gardien “Guardian Angel”. Pierre, the owner, shook our hands and did the tasting for us himself. We tried fantastic 100% local vine wines plus some sparkling wines that were just as good as champagne. (He’s too far south to be able to call it champagne). We’re bringing home a special liquor (Creme de Cassis) that he makes that has been proven to prevent Parkinson's disease and some cancers - or so says some study done at Chicago University. So, if come visit for pancakes with this goodness drizzled on top you will get to try it! Food update: Matt has yet to try escargot. Kristen loves french bread and blends into the crowd carrying a baguette around the town.

Our next stop: Rheims champagne region! We are really trying to study our french basics because we are quickly learning that we must try to attempt their language before speaking ours so that they are somewhat kind to us. Au Revior!

Bern, Switzerland

On our way to France we made our last stop in Bern, Switzerland. This is the capital city. Bern means bear and got its name because the man who founded it said the city would be named after the first animal he killed.

Today, they have bears you can go feed which we did. It was sad because they’re in this pit but I guess the city is building a very large place for them next year where they can play in the woods and fish. In this city Einstein once lived. We went to an amazing Albert Einstein exhibition. Matt enjoyed reading the similarities between him and Albert. :) We read every sign and learned so much about this genius. Did you know ---- that Einstein had a schizophrenic son? or that he was asked to be president of Israel but turned down the offer because he felt he was too old for the job? or that at one point in his life, he was so tired of being well known that he wished he were a plumber.

We eventually hopped on a train and crossed over into France! Bon Sioux!

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

You know how at Christmas time it’s common to see train sets with cute little trains puffing through mountains in neat little villages... We feel like we are in that scene up in Lauterbrunnen. Seated at the bottom of the valley between soaring mountains with waterfalls cascading down from above us; we are loving our new destination. For three nights we’re in the most beautiful land where the mountains are snow capped and yet it is still about 75 degrees down where we are.. perfect. The waterfalls create rivers and these rivers run all over the place. The water hasn’t had anytime to get dirty since falling from the glacier above so people can fill up their water bottles right in the river. The rivers make Lauterbrunnen seem like the Caribbean waters have come to the mountains. Poland Springs... this is better.

On our first afternoon we walked through the valley to Trummelbach Falls, where ten cascades make up the waterfall; most of which is inside of a mountain. The 20,000 liters of water that it drops every minute comes from a glacier that sits on top of Mount Eiger “The North Face”, Mount Munch, and Mount Jungfrau (the tallest in the Swiss Alps).

We spent several days here and got to cable car our way to the Schilthorn. This is where James Bond shot the skiing scene from his movie Her Majesties Secret Service. We sat where he did and saw the most amazing views. We were eye level with the three large mountains I already mentioned and could see into other countries as well as down below into the gorgeous town of Interlaken. We definitely had some Swiss hot chocolate here since the temp. was significantly lower over ten thousand feet up. As for other Swiss favorites, we tried Rosti which is a potato dish and fondue.

On the way down the mountain from the top of the Schilthorn we stopped in a little town called Murren (which we want to return to during the winter as it looks like it’d be an amazing ski town) for lunch. We ate at this little restaurant in the middle of the village which had views right down the valley and looking up into the mountains. It was amazing. We’ll post a picture to show everyone - but it was by far the best view we’ve had while grabbing an afternoon meal.

As we left this fairy-tale land we cheered out our train window as marathon runners ran past us on their way from Interlaken headed towards Jungfrau. They waved back and then we waved goodbye to such a great place. Au Wiedersehen!