PARIS...

Our final stop on our European journey... PARIS!! Oh, how I love this city! And, boy, was John back in his element.... the bike-tour element, that is. We enjoyed the many tours offered by Fat Tire Bike Tours (formally, Bullfrog Bikes when John spent a summer as a tour guide). We highly recommend that everyone should experience Paris on a bike! It was fun to catch up with old friends in Paris as well as make new friends. I really enjoyed walking through the city and exploring the less explored areas of town, as well as all of the gardens. John spent much time reminiscing various experiences all week long. Even though he "recreated" his Thinker photo, he kindly left his clothes on this time! We also enjoyed a concert at St Chappelle... a must-do for those that visit Paris! We were sad to end our fun vacation; it went by way too quickly... but, we are so thankful to be surrounded by such great friends back here in Austin...

Murren Switzerland!!

The Swiss Alps are absolutely amazing! We spent our days here in the Jungfrau region, hiking and mountain biking. While hiking up a mountain that was quite humbling, we came across cows and sheep, all of which stared at us as if we were crazy for doing such a thing. What's even crazier, it that the weekend after we left, the town was holding a triathalon and half marathon where both running races were to summit at the top of Schilthorn (the trail we were hiking!!) John did a fabulous job at documenting the scenery along our hiking and biking trails... he had time to fill up the camera's memory stick as he waited for me to catch up to him! We met a really nice couple from Corvalis, OR in Murren... we spent a full day of mountain biking with them and enjoying several meals! What a treat!

Bellagio, Lake Como

Talk about beautiful! I kept having to pinch myself as we sat and observed the lake with the breath-taking Alps in the background... it all just seemed so surreal. We only spent a day and a 1/2 here in Bellagio exploring the quaint, cobblestone roads and walkways. We took a boat ride out to Villa Bilbianello - the most beautiful villa on Lake Como. Scenes from the movies Casino Royale and Star Wars have been filmed here. It was absolutely spectacular. As we toured around the lake, we discovered that many from Milan own summer-villas. We wondered if any of them needed a house-sitter. We might just have to look into it!

Off to Florence

What a beautiful city! The Duomo, the famous David statue, Piazza Michealangelo... things in Florence are much more relaxed than fast-paced Rome. That is, except for the leather markets. You have to watch out for those salesmen! Once they get you into their "tent", they may not let you out until you drop some cash on some Italian leather. We went to a wonderful concert in the Anglican church, where 2 sopranos and a pianist performed beautifully. We took an excursion on some bicycles out toward Sienna from Florence. We were both up for the 4 hour ride... that is, until John's chain snapped into 2 half-way into the ride. With much laughter and thankfulness to not be too far from one of the few-but-far-between bus stops in the Tuscan countryside, we only had about a 20 minute wait to hop on a bus back to Florence. It was definitely a blessing in disguise b/c I had my first experience with contractions that morning (too much exertion on the bike, i think)... and we decided that we should wait to have this baby until we returned to Austin!

ROMA!

Navigating Rome was quite comical, given that little motor scooters would pop out from the narrowest roadway and even walkway without warning! We did a lot of exploring... the Roman ruins, Mamertime prison, Trivi fountain, gelato tasting, Colloseum, Pantheon, Spanish steps, Piazza Navona, Sistene Chapel, Vatican City, more gelato tasting... Needless to say, the camera wore itself out in Rome! One of John's favorite things to do was heckle the men who would pass out roses to women on the street, expecting the respective husband/boyfriend to pay a large sum of euros for the roses. Upon several occassions, I would be aggressively handed roses, and when the "flower-guy" turned to John for payment, John would just start repeating "Grazi" over and over again, with a huge grin on his face, pretending not to understand English! Some thought it was funny while others ripped the flowers out of my hands in order to find a willing customer.

Happy Anniversary!

I can't believe how quickly our first year of marriage has flown by. I feel so extremely blessed and honored to be married to John... my best friend! We traveled over to Europe during the first few weeks of August to celebrate. Rome was our first stop. This photo was taken upon our arrival in Rome. (16 hours after departing Houston). We were so hungry, we literally walked into one of the first restaurants we saw as we walked with our luggage from the train station to our hotel. John looked forward to a glass of Italian red-wine; however, something was lost in translation... the "vino" ordered turned out to be an Australian beer! :) oh well... 8 more days in Italy to get the order right!