Lauren and Harrison's Blog: The Fugitive!

A lot has happened since the last time we wrote... We have added to this blog over the past few days, but haven't been able to post it until now.

Here are some of the more memorable events that happened.

1. Change of Plans in Paris

The last day in Paris, we did not see Versailles. Instead, we went to the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Musee D'Orsay. We saw some great stuff. I liked the Musee D'Orsay better than the Louvre. They had a great Van Gogh collection. (and anyone else you could think of). I just feel like Musee D'Orsay had a much more impressive collection than the Louvre. They had full rooms of Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Pissaro, and really neat exhibits.

2. Lauren is a Fugitive of Paris

Anyway, the most important story we have to tell you is how Lauren is now a fugitive of France. In case some of you aren't aware, Harrison exaggerates a little bit. We were getting on the Metro in Paris and she lost her ticket. So I said, "hang on one second, and I will go try to find a ticket booth inside". I put in my ticket and started through the revolving gates and out of nowhere comes Lauren from behind me trying to sneak in with me. I didn't realize this was the plan so I already let the gate up. However this did not deter our little Lauren. In a state of pure panic, she ran up behind me and jumped the gate to get into the Metro. That's right, she jumped the gate. I couldn't believe it either. Apparently she was terrified of the Metro and didn't want to be left alone. The next 2 hours consisted of me answering questions like, "What am I going to do? Are they going to arrest me? I didn't mean to, I was scared! We need to find somebody, I have to buy another ticket! I didn't want to stand there alone, I had no choice! Will they let me leave Paris? We have to find a worker to tell. Are they going to take me in for questioning? Did the camera's catch me? Should I buy a mask? Can we still get on our train? " That was a short summary of the next day of my life. We did look around for someone to tell or explain our situation to, but there was no one there (And as we later discovered, there was no ticket office in that Metro, so I would have been hanging out in the scary Metro station for a long time). So we just bought another ticket, got to our gate, and then left Paris. That is why Lauren is now a fugitive of France. (Later that night, buried in my purse, I found my Metro ticket...)

3. Europe Train System

The train system in Europe is widely acclaimed to be the best in the world. I disagree. I felt like I went through Chiefs training camp trying to get from Paris to Venice on three different trains. I wouldn't have been surprised if they had employees standing in the station handing out cups of Gatorade for sprinters running by, like the do in marathons. First, I would like to applaud Lauren. I remember looking over my shoulder and seeing her move through traffic like a running back. She was carrying a bag that weighed more than her, yet she was jumping over blockers and doing spin-moves around passerby's, never afraid to lay a shoulder into someone who wasn't ready(Ok...I did not lay a shoulder into anyone...I just ran around them). On our transfer from Nice to Milan, we literally threw our bags into the first car of the train and jumped in seconds before it started moving.. It reminded me of Marcus Allen jumping into the end zone. Besides that, the view along the southern coast of France was the best site I have seen, hands down. It was a beautiful train ride--mountains on our left, the waters and beaches on our right.

4. Venice

We left Paris and arrived in Venice the next day. Venice is the most picturesque city we have been to so far with the canal's, gondola's, and the Italian sunset.. It is quite amazing how you have to take a boat to get anywhere. We didn't see a single car. It's fun for a vacation, but I would never want to live there. We spent sometime walking around and navigating the maze of a city before finding an nice place to eat dinner along the Grande Canal. The next day we took a boat around the entire city to take pictures. Then we went to San Marco to walk around and look at all the shops. Did the same in the Rialto market. Lauren bought a painting that we are shipping back. It was a simple and nice visit.

5. Sunset Gondola Ride

Maybe just as funny as Lauren being a fugitive of Paris was Lauren getting seasick from a Gondola ride. Well, probably not as funny because there isn't anything more to the story, but it was noteworthy nonetheless. (And she wasn't "sick" sick, she just felt seasick for a while after we got off the boat).

6. Florence

We got to Florence on an train with no air-conditioning. Well, all the other cars had AC, but ours was broken. The temperature here is about 102 in the mid-afternoon, so luckily we traveled in the morning when it was only in the 90's. Anyway, besides the train ride, Florence is my favorite city simply because of the peoples hospitality. They are nice, caring, and don't try to scam you everywhere you go. We get free breakfast, pizza, and Internet. (And I am talking eggs and bacon breakfast, not the un-toasted "toast" we got in Dublin). Also, this is the only place I have seen that doesn't charge for water. Great city, and did I mention you can buy 3 bottles of wine for 10 €? They have so much wine here they practically give it away. Yesterday, we arrived and saw David by Michelangelo. I had seen tons of pictures so I didn't expect to be as blown away as I was. The statue was huge and truly amazing. I now realize that it can't be portrayed well at all in a picture. With other artwork, you can get the main idea by looking it up online, not this.

7. Today

We woke up ate breakfast and went on a walking tour of the City. After the tour was over we ate lunch and went to see the Duomo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Cathedral - Wikipedia. Tonight we are going to see the Uffizi. It's a very famous museum in Florence.

8. Pictures

Here are some pictures. The quality is poor but it's the best we could do with a phone camera. We also can't get pictures of us together with the camera phone, but we have plenty on the regular camera.