Ciao Bella!

So the last few days have been crazy crazy!
We went to Florence for two days, but almost didn't make it with all of us on board... the next time I have more internet time I will explain how we got on the wrong train to Rome, lost Carissa who got pushed off the train, survived no communication and a delayed connection due to a TRAIN ON FIRE... then showed up to Carissa's missing passport and Eurail pass, got to the hostel which resembled a WW2 infermary but felt more like an inferno. and yet had the best time in Florence ever!
The Uffizi Gallery, the Arno river, Michelangelo's lookout hike, statues, gelatto, the David, the Duomo, the night life and meeting up with Cassandra Quilantang!
We then trecked to Rome where we have seen the Vatican, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Sistine Chapel and are going to see the Colosseum tonight. A friend of Brandon Polley's named John who is interning at the US Embassy here generously saved us from a terribly shady hostel, way off the Roman map and we will stay for one more night with before training up to Venice tomorrow morning!
We are off to do laundry and dinner, then a night jaunt possibly dancing. Love you and miss you. Talk to you in Venice!
Lo

An American in Paris

Today was wonderful :)
We woke up in our awesome hostel and had free breakfast including real coffee... Carissa went to Versailles with some friends she met here while Crystal, Ames and I went on a walking tour to see the entire city. We had a great story-telling tour guide, a girl named Narini who was from Boston but has been studying at the American University in Paris for the past three years. She was very knowledgeable about the history of Paris from Rome to Medieval times to the Renaissance to the Revolution to the Enlightenment to the World Wars to Sex and the City and made it so exciting.... I felt like I wanted to go back to school to become a history major after that.
We saw: the Louvre, Arc De Triomphe, Parc du Monceau, Palais Royale, Pont Neuf (New Bridge), Grand Palais, countless towering Roman statues, Fountain at St. Michel, Hotel Des Invalides, Notre Dame, the Egyptian obelisque (which the Egyptian govt. wants back... sorry! No can-do), the opera house, some weird interactive black-and-white striped art cylinders sticking out of the ground with little kids playing on them and all sortsa fun. The coolest story is to hear how Paris was saved from Hitler's destructive hand. When Nazi forces occupied the ~most beautiful city on earth~ Hitler ordered one of his most loyal generals to bomb Paris the moment it looked as if the Allies would reclaim it. The General (whose name escapes me) could not do it, however, and while TNT was strapped to everything from the Eiffel tower to the Royal Palace, the only thing he did was drop bombs in the river Seine and set fire to the part of the Grand Palace that was all stone, so nothing of importance was destroyed. Cool story ah?

After that, C-Rain, Ames and I gathered some blankets, bagguettes, cheese and wine and walked several miles to the Eiffel tower and had a late afternoon picnic on the lawn there called the "Parc du Champs De Mars." I brought paints and did some painting and sketching. We laughed and caught up on the simpler things in life.... stretched out on the grass, looking up through the trees at the ginourmous metal asparagus above us, listening to some concert in the park nearby. It was a picture-perfect end to a picture-perfect day. Thank you God for beauty. Soon it began sprinkling, so we packed up and headed towards the south quarter to the Gare de Lyon to get our Eurail Night tickets then had quite the late night odyssey getting back home to the northeast quarter. The highlight was catching the a glimps of the Eiffel tower's light show, it glitters and glows like a sparkler on the fourth of July, every hour on the hour.
Back at St. Christopher's hostel we've met some great people, and I do confess I REALLY love speaking english and not getting a perplexed, furrowed brow in return. :)
Tomorrow is Moulin Rouge and the Louvre before taking the night train to Florence! AH! pray it goes well, we've never done this Eurail thing before and I sense we're on the cusp of another grand adventure.
looooooove!
LOVE YOU DADDY!

PARIS!!!

Last night was the most fun I´ve had thus far!! We went on a pub crawl all around Madrid and met a lot of cool people from all over the world and danced the night away. Ask me about it and I´ll give you all the details another time. We are off to see one more "museo" before our flight to Paris, and then hopefully we´ll meet up for dinner with my friends Katie, Mallory, and Cassandra somewhere near the Tower dÉiffel!
Loves.

Bon Voyage! ¡Hola Madrid!

We arrived in Madrid yesterday afternoon and toured la ciudad :) The rain has followed us once again, but it can´t keep´us down. We´ve seem beautiful gardens from the 16th century and the Palace Royale, along with the Plaza de Mayor with artists and people and restaurants everywhere. Our four bedroom hostel is getting the job done magnificently, considering we have a shower and a place to take a midday siesta.
Last night we ate at a place called "Aboo wag" and it was fantastic fun. Huge red lanterns from floor to ceiling, great service and sparkling white wine.
Tonight we are going on a free pub crawl and dressing for the occassion. We leave tomorrow for Paris byut until then, fiesta!
Love you!

Merci beaucoup!

Last night we visited some friends on Hugo's boat again after a full day of doing really nothing but chillaxing. Eating dinner at 10 PM takes some getting used to, but we enjoyed the dance of communication and watching Bastien cook meat on a tiny barbeque with a wind up wind-blower thingy to fan the flame. We then slept in bunk beds on the boat after star-gazing on the back netting overlooking the moonlit water... We talked a bit about God, and the guys were open to say they were not practicing Christians and Claire does not believe at all. It was hard to hear that her experience in Bible classes at her Christian college in Chicago didn't do anything to make her question spirituality. The prof didn't take the time to explain the stories and the people in them, because everyone in the class was presumably Christian (or raised so anyway). As she said, "They would tell us about how so-and-so went here and did that...I would think, 'I don't even know who that dude is.'" I think what's harder for me is seeing how hospitable and truly loving she is, more so than even I could be, and there is no God to point to. A lot of experiences make me want to ask God how to share/live the gospel and what it looks like? I don't really know how to approach the subject.

She says, I don't believe in God, but I know you do, and that's great.

I say, okay. Fair enough.

And we go on loving. And I keep praying because my words and actions fail altogether to often.

K, moving on...

Today we slept in on the boat, then came back home and had a lovely picnic out in the backyard garden with Claire's parents and sister. I got to paint a little bit, which was really nice, and other than that we've been sipping "long coffee,"  (American coffee, not straight espresso which is normal coffee here served in the tiniest cups I ever saw), reading, and catching up on Facebook, of course... Crystal, Amy and I went for a walk down the country lane and ended up walking all up and down the narrow, colorful, cobblestone streets of town. Then we went to market and bought wine and a mini cactus as a going away present for the Jeannets, to remind them of the Arizonan girls. 

We arrived back at home and rested before dinner at 9-- a crepe party! All nine of us had our own little spot on two 6-circled skillets and we made crepes of all kinds-- goat cheese, shaved ham, Nutella, and teensy killdeer eggs that were speckled on the outside and bright blue on the inside. We talked about soccer with Claire's best friend (also named Claire) and heard about big game for Manchester tonight. The convo ended with Claire saying, "I don't really watch soccer. I just watch the players. MMm MMm!"

We fly to Madrid tomorrow morning at 11 AM! We leave this haven around 7:30 AM because there will be a transportation strike and the roads to Marsailles are expected to be packed. 

Ima try to hit the hay early and say my prayers quietly to myself....

Or as Claire's best friend said, "Waah Waah Waah!" (That's how we sound to them, dang it!)

LOVE (to Jess and Mom :) !! 

PS. Virgin radio is amazing... we should opt for it.

Heaven is in Southern France

Bon jour!

It's been a gorgeous and relaxing couple of days here in Nimes (pronounced like 'team' with an N). The countryside is such a refreshment. Crystal's friend Claire (who speaks wonderful English, thankfully) and her family have taken us in to their eclectic wood and glass house and opened our eyes to the slow pace of summer in France. We went to visit some of Claire's friends on their house boat at a nearby port where we had drinks with Hugo's parents, walked along the beach, and had delicious crispy gourmet pizza around 9 PM. Everything is later here and we're finally getting used to it I think :)

We ended up spending the night at Hugo's flat in the city where we stayed up late talking, laughing and listening to European music with his two friends Bastian and Joris. The French people we've met are all very hospitable and share whatever they have. 

Today we went into Montpellier after booking our last-minute flight to Madrid on Thursday and toured the city with it's 18th and 19th century buildings, statues and arches. It rained a bit but it wasn't bad enough to stop us from taking pictures of EVERY crowded street or Kodak moment.

Tomorrow we'll go back into Nimes for lunch then picnic on the beach and meet Bastian for a barbeque at his boat:) I'm  off to write a post card and read Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" before piling into Claire's loft.

Amour!

Parlez-vous francais?.... Nope!

Yesterday was a crazy day.
We woke up late (my internal clock was off, and I woke up at 4 to check out The Office season finale online... fell asleep again and woke up at 10:45 AM) and scrambled to get dressed and out the door. We rushed to the bus stop and onward to the Tube all the way to Covent Garden (The Broadway Theatre district) to meet Crystal's friend Tammy at 11:30. We got there at 1. Thankfully she anticipated the time it would take us, and had time to eat a leisurely lunch and get her hair cut and was waiting for us at the Tube stop.

After exchanging pleasantries, Amy avoided a cheek kiss from a street flower vendor whom she told was her birthday, we walked around in the sprinkling rain in the most happening, swanky part of town. We had a light lunch al fresco under the shade of an old train station-turned-shopping center at an Italian kiosk and then took a Tube that dropped us nearest to Buckingham Palace.

The queen's flag wasn't flying and a constable told us she was summering at Windsor Castle. We walked around the outside in the dreary wetness and watched what I can only suspect was an informal "changing of the guard" for a bathroom break.... there were no fuzzy hats or bright red uniforms, but the Egyptian-looking men in white did do some funny walking and ritual with their bayonets, one that resembled something of a cross between a typewriter and a peacock's mating dance. We then walked quite a distance across the Thames River to retrace yesterday's steps to the Globe theatre, wanting nothing but a place to sit down.
We crossed to Westminster abbey and just missed the free Evensong and our chance to see the "Genius corner" where Newton, Darwin and any number of famous Kings and queens are buried. Instead we went in the bookshop and I read about what I was missing inside and re-lived my studies on King Henry VIII and his six wives: "Divorced, Beheaded, Died. Divorced, Beheaded, Survived." It's a truly industrious way to travel, really, there are no lines, no walking, and the pictures are a lot prettier than reality. Granted, so is sitting at home seeing it on Google... but it was a nice consolation in the frigid weather for me.

Under the watchful London Eye we then trekked a few miles on towards the Millennium Bridge and finally took refuge for a few hours at a lovely pub overlooking the Thames for dinner. Our feet got some well-needed rest and before we knew it, it was Showtime! We grabbed some warm Starbucks (with a free coffee upgrade from our kindly, handsome British baristas, might I add) and headed in to see the incredible Midsummer Night's Dream. The show was incredible, and we stood the whole three hours-- so closely one could see just how cold several of the barely-clad actors were.

We got back late, around 2 AM to a note saying that the Gandon's had an emergency with Andy's father who is not at all well and had to leave (if you think to pray for him, please do). We also discovered our flight was not at late afternoon as we thought, but rather 11:30 AM and it takes an hour to get to Luton from here. So this morning a taxi's picking us up at 8 and we'll hopefully be on our way to Nimes, France on schedule (Lord willing we don't get stopped because our bags are too heavy for Ryanair standards) for our next stay with C-Rain's friend.

Love you mom :)

Mr Gandon's screensaver: "Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance!"

"Mind the Gap"

Mind the gap... that's what the automated voice says when you step on the Tube (aka subway). We did almost all of London today!! Went in the National Gallery and saw Van Gogh, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas, and all sorts of amazing art... trecked around Piccadilly Circus, saw Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, and got tickets for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" tomorrow night at Shakespeare's Globe theatre for 5£!!!! (Standing room only for groundlings like us :). We got yelled at by an English boy as we took a picture going up the escalator, "Hey foreign exchange students!! YEAH!" So... the whole inconspicuousness is going great. My fav part of the day was the very end when we attended Evensong at St. Paul's Cathedral-- the gorgeous gilded church with vaulted ceilings and a choir of angelic voices to fill it. We sat and stood and kneeled and prayed during the liturgical service at the place where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married, then returned to the Gandon's home for some incredible dinner and wine. We topped it off with some pound cake and ice cream and a nice game of "Banana Grams" (Scrabble on steroids) with all six of us. Tomorrow is Buckinham, London Bridge, lunch with Crystal's friend Tammy and a 7 o'clock show. Off to bed at 9 PM again! Much love

We made it!!

We made it to London. 12 hours, two movies, two quid (£'s), two busses and two plane meals later... we strolled on down a country lane to the vicarage at "Countess Close" where the Gandons, Vicar Andrew and his wife Margaret, treated us as their very special guests in a cozy two story brick house. A home-cooked meal is exactly what we needed to liven our spirits and Margaret's shepherd's pie and rhubarb crumble more than did the trick. I'm off to bed at 9 PM England time which is 12:30 noon LA time and it's still light outside. Tomorrow we'll be galavanting around London seeing Buckingham palace, London Bridge, the National Gallery and anything else that "strikes our fancy" as they say :) Miss you dearly.... thanks for your prayers. And for driving us, Jen ;)
--Lo

Day 1: We're off!

Well, after an awesome, jam-packed day and a half with the APU crew (you know who you are and I love you) filled with Disneyland, Pick-up-Sticks, Pasadena and Barney's Beanery I am set to jet. Jessica Otto and Megan Klingensmith (my past and future roommates) will be picking up Crystal Rain and driving us to the airport to meet Carissa and Amy. Our flight is around 6 PM and we'll get in to London's Heathrow airport around 12:30 so be praying for that! Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support... it really means a lot. I will try to keep my passport close, my wallet safe, and my wits about me :)_
Hasta la vista baby!

Tucson--> LA

Hey guys!

So I shove off for LA tomorrow morning for a day of fun before meeting up with three lovely graduates Amy, Crystal, and Carissa at LAX airport. The great Pond-Hop starts Wednesday and we'll be backpacking our way through the motherland May 15- June 10. At this point, we're not exactly sure how we're all meeting at LAX (four car-less girls at four opposing points of LA... figure it out) but, as always by the grace of God "everything works out":) Then it's off to jolly old London!

Our first stay will be at a great Medieval church on the outskirts of London. Did I mention for FREE? (Praise the Shepherd....I'm pretty sure the current exchange rate Euro people laughed at my dollar) And our host will be the Anglican Vicar, Mr. Andrew Gandon, friend of the legendary sage, my old Bible teacher, Mr. John O'Hair. Dear Mr. Gandon and I have never met in real life, but judging by his kindly emails, he's probably the most obliging Englishman I've never met :) I feel a little bit like Harry escaping the Weasleys for vacation and I have this weird premonition about that first night. Like I'll be that nervous and excited guest who's bound to accidently discover some ancient secret while perusing the haunted passageways of the old church by candlelight and awkwardly gets caught... Thankfully I'm a girl. And American. So they won't be too hard on me.

Anyway, I love you all dearly and wish you were with me, so I will keep you posted as often as I can.... send me your address if you expect a postcard or something. (I have strict instructions from the parentals not to buy cheap touristry in the streets, so if you wanted a plastic keychain of the David-- I'm sorry. No dice. But I will send you a 3x5 card with a picture of one that you can tape to your keys)

Peace out,

Lauren