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comment to shawn

Shawn, the touring days really wear us out but fortunately we have time to rest. Many peaple are friendly but alot of people seem to be tired of tourist. Some do not have much patience with us since we don't know the language. I learned that if you make eye contact with a person trying to sell something then they won't leave you alone. One day on the island a man pulled up and open his back trunk and then started yelling at me. I thought he was mad at me but then he pulled a fish out his trunk and tried to hand it to me. I found out that he was trying to sell fish and I guess I looked like I was hungry. Can't wait to get back and play some golf and go to coffee, American coffee!!! Andy

Hi everyone, its been a while since I've written. We were without internet while we were on the island of Brac. It was very fun. We got to take boat rides into coves. In one cove we saw very large boats. Merritt, Emily's father, said they were probably more than 1/2 a million dollors in cost. On our last evening at the island we walked to the town and saw 10-15 fairly large sailing ships. We asked about them and found out that they were students sailing around the Medditerian for the summer. They stopped there every year for one night. I think most were from Austria.
On Friday we traveled south along the coast to the very old town of Dubrovnik. It was a walled city and we got to walk along the wall. At times it was very high above the ground or sea. During the war(1991-2) serbian troops lobbed shells into this city. You could see where buildings had to be repaired. After that we traveled north-northwest to Serajevo where my father-in-law lives with his family. Merritt's daughter has had the same teacher since 1st grade. Much different then we do in the states. We have seen many buildings in which you can still see blast damage from the war years. We shopped at and open air market where a bomb killed 60 people during the war. Today we got to walk in the old town of Sarajevo. We saw the spot where the Arch-Duke of Austrai-Hungary was fatally shot and started WWI. lots of history and great chances for people watching. Miss everyone back home and hope to see you all very soon. Andy

life on the islands

We are on the island of Brac, near Split,Croatia. It's quite beautiful, but we have limited internet access, so we won't be posting much. We are staying with my dad and younger sister at their beach house. All is well, and we are enjoying the rest! Today we went to mass - the service was all in croatian, but the church was lovely!
more from Sarajevo!
Andy, Emily, Keri and Katie

a quickie....

I have three minutes left on my internet card...we are on our way to Brac, Croatia, an island off of Split in the Adriatic sea. Internet access is limited, so we won't be updating,but rest assured we will be thinking of all of you as we relax on the beach, LOL.
Venice is beautiful, by the way! I wish all of you were here with us. (tacky postcard message....)
Gotta go, hugs to all!!
Emily

Venizia!!

We made it into Venice last night, after a long day in Florence. We toured the Uffizi museum, which houses many famous works of art, including Botticelli's "Birth of Venus". It was great, but tiring! We are spending the day here in Venice before leaving for Brac, Croatia this evening. We will be ready for some relaxation, believe me!! We are having a lot of fun, though!

monday in Roma

Today we made our way back to the Vatican to visit the museum. he wait was not long but once inside it was very crowded. The Vatican was a major collector of art and you could tell. Rooms and rooms full of art and sculptures. One long hallway us in tapestries. We wound our way to the Sistine Chapel. The work by Michelangelo was really breath taking. We finished the tour by a door that led to the Popes quarters. Katie pulled a fast one on me and said "look dad the pope." I turned my head so fast I think I Pulled a muscle. Needless to say the Pope wasn't there. Very neat tour. To many sights to see and so little time. Most of the shops are at street level and on almost every block. You can find pretty much everything.

At the Coloseum, Keri at Dachau, In front of the Rathaus in Munich, and Katie on the bike tour in Munich

1st day in Rome

We arrived in Rome around 9:30 this morning. Our train sleeper was a 6 by 8 by 10 foot room and it slept six. Kind of crowded but we all seem to sleep well. Driving through the Alps did not seem bad at all. We are staying at a place in Rome called Night and Day. The building was built in 1800. It is simple yet clean. We ventured out about 11:30 and made our way to the collisium. Very neat we took a million pictures. We noticed that many of the stones had holes in them. We found out that steel rods were put in these holes to hold them together. From there we ventured to the Arch of Constantine. While there I talked a vendor about some hats. I left withour buying and he followed us and tried to make a deal. When we looked back he was wrapping up his stuff. A moment later a police car showed up. We think that he was selling without a license. Interesting. After that it started to get hot so we headed back to our hotel. Tonight we plan to go to church at the Vatican then dinner and maybe the Trevi fountains. Andy

More thoughts on Berlin, with gratuitous effusive praise

We spent three days in Berlin, which is where I was stationed in the Army. Thanks to Dave Devine, a good friend of mine, we had a really good time. He was an excellent tourguide, which was great because the last time I saw the city, there was this Wall that divided it into two sections. I doubt if it would have been as much fun without his help!! (Satisfied, Dave???)

Seriously, though, it was so good to go back to this wonderful city. Our old barracks building was converted into a hotel, so the nostalgia started the minute we set foot on the grounds. I could point out my old room to the family. We took a verý nice bus tour on Thursdaý, which was great because it was pouring rain, and then had coffee at Kaufhaus des Westens, the largest department store in Europe. That night, I got to take my family to the restaurant where my friends and I used to eat at least twice a week back in the 80s. Dave had the number for another friend of ours, and he came to have dinner too. Friday, we played tourist. More tomorrow ´- our train is coming soon....

Our night on the train

Spent most of Friday sightseeing-shopping around Berlin. Keri bought two flags and two hats. We saw many various historic sights like the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building. The Reichstag is the Parlament building and it was burnt by Hitler as he was taking over. A lady approached Emily and wanted money for food for her kids. After she followed us around for a while Emily gave her ten Euros and she kissed her hand, kind of strange. It was still pretty cold, but not nearly as rainy. We took the train last night from Berlin to Munich. The train ride was ok but the only problem was we didn't have sleeping spaces. We tried to sleep in the regular seats. Ok for a while but we kept waking up. We are now in a internet cafe looking up some activities. Tonight we get back on the train and head for Rome. Don't worry we have sleeping berths!!!! Andy

Friday in Berlin

We took a guided bus tour yesterday. It worked out very well becaused it rained off and on most of the day. Berlin is a very busy city, people seem to be everywhere. Its very hard to tell east Berlin from west Berlin except for a few Russian style buildings. Berlin has a giant wooded park near its center, kind of like New York. Lots of really neat old buildings and churches. Today(Friday we are going to look at some of these) as we go on a walking tour. The famous wall seems to have almost completely disappeared. They've put bricks in the roadway to mark where it used to be. Everyone in our little group seems to have gotten over the jet lag. No one(Keri) woke up this morning at two and couldn't get back to sleep so they(Keri) woke up everyone else. As you can guess Keri woke up yesterday and called me on our phone at 2:00 in the morning complaining. I recieved my first chewing out by a German lady yesterday. I pushed the wrong elevator button and she went berserk and let out a string of words in a mean tone. I didn't realize what I had done until later. We had a good laugh about it afterwords. Well were getting ready to take off. Tonight we take a train to Munich. More later. Andy

first Berlin Picture

This is a picture my friend Dave took of us in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtnis Kirche (The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church). It was mostly destroyed during the bombing of World War II, but this part was left standing as a reminder.

Andy's first day in Berlin

Well we made it! Hard to believe we're in Berlin. Sonja, we had a Issin(sp) last night, they were great! Its like a spiced sausage with curry powder on top. The first thing I noticed about Berlin is that people do not cut their grass past their sidewalks. It just seems so unkept, the grass is about 3-4 feet long next to the street. I just want to grab a weed wacker and go to work. Lots of people on bikes and lots and lots of small shops at street level and then two to four levels of apartments above. People in their cars really zip around fast so you have to be very careful crossing streets. I almost saw a car take out a bicyclist yesterday, crazy!! Space seems to be at a premium and everyone parks in those grassy areas. Hum! maybe a connection there!!! Katie mentioned that there is a big graffite problem in the city, even on the top floors of buildings. Today, after we meet Emily's friend, we will set out to do some sight seeing. I want to see the historic buildings. I havn't talked to anyone yet other than hallos(hellos) in German, I'm still a bit nervous about how I will look. Rick Steeves says to throw caution to the wind and don't worry about 'making a fool of yourself.' So I'll keep that in mind. I can here the nearby church bells ringing, very loud. They ring for several minutes. So long for now, I'm a little homesick but enjoying!! Andy

Berlin, Berlin

Well, we made it to Berlin safely. No pictures yet though - we were all too fried to do much of anything today except get to the hotel and then go for a walk to find dinner. We ended up going to a supermarket and buying broetchen (hard rolls), butter, ham and cheese. It was very nice! Tomorrow we put on our tourist clothes and see how the city has changed in the last 20 years!

Kansas City

Well, we have made it this far - three hours from home. It was much cheaper to fly out of Kansas City, and in the interest of saving my dad money we chose to do just that. Jon and Kate are jabbering on about how much they love their kids. Whatever. I am far more interested in what Rick Steves has to say. He is my hero - I think I've memorized every word of his guidebooks over the last year.

Keri is on facebook (hurray for free wi-fi), Katie is watching TV and Andy and I are just taking it easy before we head out tomorrow. Mom is reading a book, and is happy that I brought her back some salt packages. I would post a picture, but really, does anyone care about the LaQuinta Inn, KCI?

Getting ready for the trip

Tomorrow evening, Andy, Keri, Katie, my mom and I are setting out on our European odyssey. The first leg of the trip is Omaha to Kansas City, where we will spend the night before catching our plane to Berlin, Germany. I will try to keep this blog updated with pictures and information about our trip.