Home Sweet Home

Well, I know I have not written in a few weeks but we have been busy. And those of you who do not know........we are home now. We made it back on Sept. 6, so I will try to catch you up on what we did our last few weeks in Europe.
After we left Germany we went to Belgium. There we met up with Camilo's niece(Kora), her 3 year old son(Renzo) and her mother-Camilo's sister-(Morella) who was visiting her daughter for a month. We stayed about an hour south of Brussels. We spent a few days with them and while we were there we took a train about 4 hours to Amsterdam for my birthday. It was nice to see and the cannals were really pretty to travel through but as far as the Red Light District goes I was a little dissappointed. It was very commercial and touristy so there really was not anything there that we needed to see. We also went to the city of Brugges, which we had a great time at, and just walked around for the day and enjoyed ourselves. After we left Belgium we traveled back to Switzerland for our last 10 days. We stayed in Vevey with our friend Sylvie and just hung out. While we were there we saw the World Chanmpionships of Paragliding and the World Championship Triatholon. We also did a little hiking and then we had fondue in the mountains. We spent our last 2 days in Zurich where we biked around the lake and just walked around relaxing for our final days.
And now we are home recovering, going through our pictures, washing clothes and looking for jobs. So if you hear of any job openings that sound interesting then just let us now.
And since this is a travel blog and we are not traveling anymore then I guess this will be my last blog until we travel again, which I hope will not be too long. Thanks for reading, I am glad that we got to share our experiences with you.

Happy Travels
Jennifer

Day-trips

Well, I think I have a little more to report since the last time. The weather has warmed up and we have gotten out a little more. We have been to Regensburg (which is where the new pope is from) a few times, it is only about 15-20 minute drive on the autobhan (depending who is driving). They have a really nice church and the Danube River flows right through the city. We also went to Nurenburg, which was an important city for the Nazis party- they held a lot of rallies here. Now they have the pillars of Human Rights. And they still have a walled fortress around the downtown area. Thursday we took the train to Munich and went to a palace and walked around the downtown area. But the most impressive day-trip we have taken since we have been here is to the Neuschwanstein Castle. It is the castle that was the inspiration for Disney's castle. Now Kelsey and Marliisa will have to tell me which one it is because one book I have says that it is for Sleeping Beauty's castle in California but another brochure says that it is for Cinderella's castle. It is the number one tourist attraction in Germany and you can tell. There were so many people there. It is about 3-4 hour drive from here so we did not get there until after noon. There ended up being a 4 hour wait to get inside so we decided not stay and wait around. So we thought we would go to another castle close by but we ended up getting lost and driving along the border and into Austria for about 2 hours. So, it was just as nice, ecspecially since I was not driving.
This weekend we do not have any plans, we are just going to hang out here and get ready to move on. Monday we have our train reservations to go to Belgium to see Camilo's niece and sister. So I will report again once we get there.

Winter has arrived

Well, we have left the land of pizza and pasta and arrived in the land of beer and sausages.
And as we arrived in Germany the winter season arrived at the same time. They said it was very unusual weather for this time of the year because even though it is a rainy time it is usually a lot warmer. So, we were not really prepared for it to be this cold and we had only packed a few things for cooler weather but we are making it okay. We mostly stay inside. We are staying with friends of Camilo's from Venezuela. We are staying about 2 hours north of Munich. Everything is really green here and so beautiful. We took the train from Venice, Italy to Munich through Austria. It was so pretty. We would like to have the chance to go there, but it may have to be another trip.
It is a good thing we are staying with people here that speak the language because we have no clue. So far we have made it okay because even though we do not speak French or Italian we know a few words to get by and it is pretty easy to pick up. But German is a whole other thing. We know danke (thank you) and that is about it. When someone speaks to us we just stand there and smile.
Well, I am sorry I do not have much to report on this blog, I know it is not too exciting, but I will try to update in a few days with something a little more exciting.

Despues de Francia a la bellisima Italia....e tuto posto

Hola Hola...mi querida gente. Bueno ya despues de unos cuantos dias sin escribir en español, ya es hora de ponerles al dia de nuestro viaje.

Bueno creo los ultimo que les dije era que estabamos en la costa de Cannes en Francia y les dije que saldriamos de alli a la ciudad de Turin en Italia a encontrarnos con la mama de Jenny; bueno les cuento que tomamos un tren de Cannes a Niza (igual costa francesa) y alli estubimos un par de horas y para no perder tiempo fuimos a ver un poco la ciudad. Niza mucho mas grande que Cannes con un despliego de lujo increible, pero la verdad terminamos un poco cansados de lo mismo; yates, ferraris, mercedez, roll royce, rolex, restaurantes finos etc ect ect, y par un ser como yo que esta acostumbrado a este tipo de lujos la cosa se torno un poco aburrida jejejeje.

Les sigo contando despues de ver Niza regresamos a la estacion y tomamos un tren a la Ciudad de Genova(Italia) el pueblo natal del descubridor accidental del nuevo continente Cristobal Colon y alli la cosa empezo a cambiar; la gente no es como el frances que como he dicho antes es un poco cra dura, la gente es mas amable, te sonrie y les gusta ayudar.

Prosigo de Genova tomamos el tren a Turin alli llegamos a un hotel bien bonito y despues de refrescarnos salimos a hechar un paseito por la ciudad y lo mejor de ese dia fue la pasta y el vino tan bueno que tubimos por un economico precio; en la mañana sigueinte fuimos a ver la ciudad; la verdad que Turin vale la pena es una ciudad con mucha historia, museos, buena y economica comida, buen vino, buen chocolate y lo mejor de todo Gelatos (helados) artesanales. Turin es una ciudad cerca de los alpes es una zona industrial y alli sin encuentra la FIAT(Fabrica Italiana de Automobiles de Turin); era una ciudad poco conocida para el turista, pero gracias a los pasados juegos olimpicos de invierno "Torino 2006" la ciudad esta en pleno apogeo. Alli estubimos 4 noches y a parte de visitar museos fuimos a conocer los alrededores que son increibles. Fuimos a castillos y nos hechamos una caminada montaña arriba para visitar la Chiesa de San Michelle un monasterio muy antiguo. Tambien fuimos a la montaña de Sassi Superga a visitar la catedral y visitar la tumba real de los Savolla la ultima dinastia que goberno a Italia.

Ok luego de Turin bajamos a la costa y estubimos en una zona llamada Cinque Terra (5 tierras) es una zona recientemente declarada parque nacional y agrupa 5 villas italianas muy bonitas y pinturescas (la verdad muy italianas) con increibles vistal del mar mediterraneo. No permiten la entrada de vehiculos solo hay trasporte a traves de autobuses o tren; pero la idea es hecharse el trayecto a pie cosa que nos tomo unas 8hrs en concluir, pero la caminta vale la pena; entre pueblo y pueblo hay muchas cosas que ver, hay viñedos, sembradios de olivos y el los pueblos comida tradicional y mas gelatos . Tambien visitamos otro pueblo fuera del parque llamado Puerto Venere y alli estubimos en un castello bellisimo y andubimos por el pueblo.

Bueno ya para terminar les digo que ayer dejamos Cinque terra y tomamos un tren a Pissa alli estubimos un par de horas y estubimos en la plasa de los milagros, lugar donde estan el Duomo (la Iglesia), el batistero (lugar donde se bautiza la gente) mas grande de Italia y la torre inclinada de Pissa....ya luego de terminar con nuestra corta visita toamos otro tren a Florencia.

Florencia es increible y con razon dicen que es la cuna del renacimiento, hay un monton de museos y estubimos hoy en uno de los museos mas importantes el Museo Fizzi en donde estan obras de Boticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rafael, Miguelangel, Donatello, hay exposiciones sobre Galileo Galilei, encuentras esculturas de Amercio Vespuscio, Da Vinci, Machiabello etc etc....tambien visitamos el Museo de la Academia y hemos visto el Davis de Miguelangel y ha valido la pena. Es una obra muy perfecta y con razon dicen es la escultura del hombre perfecto.

Ahora estamos de regreso que es una nota y despues de recobrar energia nos vamos a hechar un paseito por otra plaza y a un lugar llamado ponte vechio (puente viejo) que segun dicen es increible; pero de eso les contare luego.

Bueno mi gente me despido......cia ciao y hasta la proxima , de nuevo disculpem mis metias de pata

Down the coast of Italy

Well, after we left Turino we made our way south to the coast. We stayed at Riogamorie one of the five towns that make up Cinque Terre. Yesterday we had a full day there and walked from our town all the way along the coast to the fifth town. I think it might be about 10km between them. It was a little cloudy yesterday and the sea was really rough so we could not get in but it was almost a blessing since we were doing so much hiking. I was very proud of my mom though because she made it all the way to the last town. The trail was not an easy flat path, we went up and down and up and down some more.
Today we left and on our way to Florence we stopped at Pisa. We all took a turn holding up the Leaning Tower. Now we are just doing some laundry and chilling out tonight before we have another big day of sightseeing. We have reservations to see the David tomorrow.

On a side note: Out of all of Europe Italy has been the one country that I have wanted to visit and now I am here. I have eaten pasta in Italy and eaten chocolate in Italy and best of all I have eaten gelato (ice cream) in Italy. They are in every corner and we cannot help but to have it atleast once a day. Of course, my favorite is chocolate gelato but I always try to get a second flavor of something different. But I have compared the ice cream at each place we go and it is all good. I cannot decide which is best. So I will have to continue my search for the best gelato throughout Italy and I will let you know when I find it. And hopefully when we go home I will not be as big as a cow from all the gelato.

Ciao for now

Too Much Vino in Torino

Only kidding! Well this is Lynn writing on Jennifer & Camilo's blogspot. I arrived in Turin on Sunday, had a little jet lag but still went out that evening to see the city. The city of Turin has a population of about 1 million people, lot's of apartment buildings and historical sites. We walked the next day to see alot of old palaces, churches and musuems. We took a tram to see the Basilica Supergra which had a wonderful hilltop location. Today we took the train outside of Turin to a small village. From there we hiked up an old mule trail, 3100 feet to an old monastary called Sacre de san Michele. It was awesome. It took us an hour and a half to hike up this rugged trail. The monastary was built in 900 ad. Then we had to hike back down. We are really tired and tomorrow will have lots of sore muscles. Tonite we went out to eat at a "typical" restaurant to celebrate our last nite in Turin. The meal was very delicioso! And some of us drank too much wine. Tomorrow we are off to Cinque Terre where we will hike along the Italian Riviera. Will try to post again soon. Ciao!

Riviera Francesa

Bon jour....!!!!!

Ohhh la la

Bueno estamos en la Riviera Francesa..en la costa Azul para ser mas preciso. Les comento que en el ultimo blog que coloque les comente que iriamos de Paris a Barcelona España. Bueno les comento que Barcelona estubo bastante bien, un montononon de gente y un calor mollejuo. Despues de alli decidimo entrar a territorio Frances de nuevo, tomamos el tren de Barcelona a Port Bo frontera de España con Francia y al pasar a territorio Frances vergacion me han hechao un susto....pa ser breve los Franceces no me han sellado el pasaporte al entrar de Suiza a Francia y me han dicho que he trtado de entrar Ilegal al pais y toda la cosa; y como el negro de barinitas tiene un pasaporte de un pais un tanto en problemas me han detenido y me han hecho un monton de preguntas en Frances y yo mas perdio que el hijo de Linberg no he entendio nada...me han hecho firmar papeles y pa rematar me han mandado en patrulla con la policia española a todas estas Jenny esta en la estacion del tren de la parte España esperando por mi y yo preocupao y asustao tenia mis bolas (me disculpa el termino) de corbata. Total que rgersamos a Barcelona para ahablar con la embajada de Venezuela y pa rematar no me ayudan me mandan al aeropuerto de Barcelona pa que hable con la Policia Nacional y me han dicho que debo dejar el pais. La solucion fue tomar un vuelo de Barcelona a Ginebra(Suiza) y alla como es territorio neutral y fuera de la Union Europea volvimos a comprar un boleto en tren a Francia y esta vez asegurarnos de que la policia francesa nos pusiera el sellito e el pasaporte.....la cosa nos ha costado unos cuantos verdes pero en fin ya estamos tranquilos.

Bueno despues de nuestro susto, hemos tomado un tren a Lyon y de alli uno a St Rapahel en la costa mediterranea e francia . La cosa aqui es muy bonita hace un calor muy muy fuerte...el mar es muy bonito pero las playas son aridas y estan llenas de piedras lo cual hace de ir a la playa una actividad un poco dificil y con el sol abrumador la cosas es seria. Aca no es como en Mexico que te llevas el pareo a la playa y ya.....no no no aqui tienes que tener un equipo que consta de sombrilla, esterillas , toallas porque si no te fries sin darte cuenta. La verdad como las playas del caribe no hay....nosotros somos muy dichosos de lo que tenemos por alla.

Bueno ahora estamos en Cannes la ciudad del Festiva de Cine...esta ciudad esta llena de vida, muy turistica para nuestro gusto, pero tiene su atractivo. Es una ciudad hecha para ricos y famosos en donde la sofisticacion y el lujo estan a la orden del dia Ferraris, Yates, Casinos, y restaurantes donde la cena mas barta te cuesta 100 euros ... fuera de nuestra liga. Pero por supuesto esta la parte local en donde encuentras las cosasa mas accecibles. Hemos ido a visitar pueblos cercanos pero es casi la misma cosa.

En fin 4 noches en esta ciudad han sido suficentes, ya mañana salimos de Cannes a Genova Italia y de alli nos vamos a Torino para encotrarnos con la mama de Jenny que viene por 10 dias, vamos a ir a una region que se llama Cinque Terra (cinco tierras) es una cadena de 5 pueblitos cerca del mediterraneo my pinturescos y menos turisticos y de alli a Florencia , Venecia y Roma a vernos con Betty mi panita de Barinas....

Por ahora es todo..

Camilo y jen

French Riviera

Bonjour
Well, to update from the last post..... I think I said something about leaving Barcelona and going along the French coast. Well, we had a slight detour when we tried to leave Spain and enter France. We had an unlucky run in with the French border patrol.
Just to give a tip...... you should always ask to have your passport stamped when you enter a new country. When we entered Switzerland and presented our passports they just looked at them and sent us on through. We thought this odd and I was a little disappointed. I mean what is the point of having pages in a passport if you do not get to fill them up with stamps of all the places you have been. But well... I thought if they do not need to stamp them then okay. So then when we headed to France they just wanted to look at them and same in Spain. Now when we crossed the border in France, for the second time, they of course just wanted to look at them. Except one man became interested in Camilo's passport and started to flip through it. They took him off to the office and of course I followed. Since there is a slight language barrier we didn't really know what was going on but after a little while find out that there is a problem because he doesn't have any stamps showing that he arrived in Europe. I show them that i don't either but that doesn't matter, I'm fine since I am American. So they only have a problem with Camilo. To make a really long story short, they sent me back to Spain to wait on Camilo and not too many hours after they deliver him and tell him to fix his problem in Spain. Even though we have proof that we spent 2 nights in Paris- that doesn't matter. We go back to Barcelona where they tell us to fix our problem where we entered, which is back in Switzerland. How do we get? We cannot cross the French border using our $1000 railpass so we have to find a flight. We fly to Geneva, get stamps in our passport and then after talking to the French border patrol and feeling like an idiot, we then make our way to the coast just like we planned. So we found a town called St. Raphael and camped out there for 4 nights and then went about an hour to Cannes. We have not spotted anyone famous yet but we still have one last night. Tonight is our last night here before heading to Torino, Italy to meet my mom. The coast is nice but not like the beaches in Mexico. I don't think anything will compare and we have both been spoiled by that. Not that you should really compare the two because they are totally different and it's nice to experience something new but if I had my choice I would pick the Caribbean any day.