Luck of the Irish

Hello All:

Sorry to be a little late with our Ireland Blogging, Dublin has kept us oh so busy!

Our first night in Dublin lead us to a place that made us feel at home... IKEA! Just a 15 minute walk from our hotel was that beautiful big blue building. After we hopped off the airplane it was too late to go into town so we hit up IKEA for dinner. It was delicious. I recommend the Moose Pasta, it's organic. :) I also found so many things I want to purchase when I get home, I can't wait to go in Kent!

We visited so many places in our two days in Dublin! We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity College, the Book of Kells, the old Dublin Castle, our favorite European Grocery store, LIDL, the largest indoor clock in the world, the Guinness Storehouse and Factory, numerous parks, and to top it all off we saw RIVERDANCE LIVE IN IRELAND. Yay! I will have to say, seeing how Guinness is made and watching RIVERDANCE have to be my favorites. How about you Dino?

Drinking Guinness has been my favorite! The factory was awesome. It was a seven floor tour that lasted about 3 hours for Steph and I between our free tasters, food and gravity bar (360 bar on the 7th floor overlooking the entire city of Dublin). I had to have Steph's drinks since she is not a big beer drinker! ; ). I also enjoyed our visit to the Dublin Castle and our RIVERDANCE show. We had great seats!

Sadly, our Guniness and pub time has come to an end and we are prepared to go to London for one more day before we head back on the states. We had a pretty relaxing one the last couple of days and we even got to sleep in a bit to recover from all the plane, bus, train an taxi rides we have taken.

We are currently at the airport, ready to head to London a tiny bit early to make sure we catch our flight back home to Seattle.

Thank you to everyone for all of their love and support on our Eurotrip and we hope you enjoyed the blog! Our trip has been amazing and we hope that we can do another round of trips like this in the near future!

Talk to you from Seattle!

Love,

Steph & Dino

¡Hala Madrid!

Friends and Family:

We have taken Madrid by storm! What a day it has been! We woke up early and noshed on our complimentary breakfast at the hotel and then promptly headed out into the city.

We decided to take a loop around the entire downtown of Madrid hitting the Royal Palace, Palace Cathedral, Aveniva del Manzanares River, and ending at our favorite park, Parque del Buen Retiro. This was a feat, let me tell you. This was not a small loop, but an extremely large loop, almost 53 miles long. Well that maybe an exaggerating but it was long. Since it was Sunday everyone was out and about walking, rollerblading, and biking. There were so many good places to be outside in the sun and perfectly manicured parks and green spaces, Madrid was a joy to walk in. The river had a park/bike trails running along both sides which gave us a chance to sit down and relax here and there. I even found a swing that was attached to the bottom if the freeway. Scary stuff!

On our loop we ran into a Sunday flee market. What a treat! It was huge. There were thousands of people up and down ten streets selling extension cords to fine pottery. If you need it you could find it.

On the way back we stopped for a bite at the park. We ran into a little cafe but could not read the menu, thank goodness the waiter wanted to help us. He didn't speak English so we resorted to... Animal noises! To explain ham he snorted to symbolize this meal had piggy in it. I quickly snorted back with a shake of my finger that pig was a no go. Dino chimed in a moo hoping for some beef. There was no moo in return. In the end we sat down and waited for our plates anxiously. We received a mixed salad and potato frittatas! Pretty delicious for our hungry bellies. (Dad: It wasn't as good as yours... Let's be honest!).

We then went back to the hotel to regroup and watch some U.S. Open Tennis, go Fed! Soon we headed to find Manchester United playing on a television for us to watch. Where did we end up you ask? T.G.I. Friday's of course, on a Sunday mind you! I'll let Dino finish the rest...

Thanks Steph, I guess I'll take it from here :). T.G.I. Friday's was right next to our hotel so I decided to sneak a peak inside to see if they were going to be playing the Man Utd game. An American restaurant right??? That is right but most of the employees don't speak English :/...a bit weird, but back to the main point, they found the game for us and we sat down for food and drinks to enjoy the game with.

Man Utd was giving me a bit of a heart attack the whole game. They were down 2-1 from the start of the second half and with the game almost ending I just wanted to get out of the restaurant to pout outside. But wait...there is no giving up with this club. We manage to score two goals in stoppage time to win the game 3-2! Steph and I were the only ones in the restaurant and all eyes were on me as I was jumping up and down like the kid I am. Apparently the bartenders were having a training class which I'm sure I disrupted a couple of times :).

After that adrenaline rush, Steph and I had to rush ourselves to the nearest metro to head to the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium! We managed to find tickets to the Real Madrid home game with the help of our friendly receptionist! Real Madrid isn't any team, it is one of the biggest soccer clubs in the world. Although not my favorite, we had to go and check out the home game. The Bernabeu Stadium fits 100,000 spectators. Insane right? We had great seats but it was hard to find them with 100 different gates you had to go through. It turned out to be a great game with Madrid winning 3-0. They only part we didn't like was all the smoking. We were surrounded by smokers and would take turns gasping for some clean air : p. Nonetheless, we had a blast.

When the game finished, we had to fight past the 100+ thousand fans to reach our metro. It took us only 20 minutes to get home and we had to take showers right away to wash all the smoke smell off of us. The day turned out great and we look forward to our trip to Dublin tomorrow.

Love and Miss,

Dino + Steph

Hola Madrid!

Hi All!

Steph and I have only been here for about 5 hours and we have experienced so much! Our flight from Rome was pretty quick and pleasant. The Alitalia planes had plenty of leg space. My knees never hit the seat in from of me at all!

Like good tourists we researched ahead of time so that we could be prepared to get to our hotel in a quick manner. Madrid has a great underground metro, much like the one in London. Our hotel was located right in the center of the city and it took us only two transfers to reach our hotel. The Hotel Quatro is probably our favorite hotel so far...as far as service, location and design go :). After some quick tips from our friendly receptionist, we headed out to explore the streets Madrid.

Our first stop was a nice little café to quench our thirst and refuel our tummies with some delicious sandwiches. We then headed off to see the Plaza de la Cibeles and the Falacio de Comunicacion building. We let our gps instincts go to work and we headed to a massive park in the center of the city called Parque del Retrio. The park reminded us of the openness just like Hyde Park had in London. We were amazed at how many folks were there. Pretty popular for a Saturday night. I was stopping at every other section of the park to see the street performers in action! A guy was even juggling a chainsaw...crazy. So much stuff going on. They even had a man made lake with rent-a-boats for use...so romantic. Might have to do it tomorrow!

After our long walk we heard loud noises and chants coming our way. The streets were filling up with red and white jerseys, flags and scarves. The local team, Atletico Madrid had won the Uefa Super Cup yesterday and they were back in town to celebrate with their fans. I thought I've struck gold! As soon as we found out what was going on, I had to pull Steph in the middle of the crowd to get the perfect view of the players and the trophy celebration. The streets were packed from all sides. All Steph and I could understand and sing was the "We are the Champions" song. Nevertheless, we had a blast. After that celebration, Steph and I headed to grab a late night snack from Haagen Dazs and went back to the hotel to get some rest for our next day.

So much going on and so much to do. Steph is already asleep but I couldn't leave all of our Eurotrip followers out of the loop with our activities. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

-Dino & Steph

Rome in a day? YES!!!

Hello Family & Friends:

I didn't know it was possible but it certainly was... Dino and I hit Rome in one day, a major travelers success! We saw so many things we didn't even know what we were looking at or taking pictures of half the time! All we knew was that it was old and cool!

We started off our day early and hit the streets armed with a fully charged camera and a map. Our first stop took us by The Vatican City to grab an open air bus by which to tour. After finding the best bus (other tourists were giving us tips as to which busses were bad and how they were ripped off) we hopped on! We then quickly hopped off at our first stop, the Pantheon. Wow. I had no idea there was more to it other than those column things! While trying to walk to the Pantheon we ran into workers rioting and hitting their hard hats on the ground, tourists were in a frenzy taking pictures. After arriving we were in awe at the enormous dome and structural integrity of this massive work. We were so impressed we had to stop and eat spaghetti right there, starring at the dome and columns. So cool. Awesome.

We then walked to a recommended attraction (thank you Jen) Fontana di Trevi! Another amazing work. There were naked guy sculptures and ocean scenes everywhere. It is said that if you throw coins behind your shoulders into the pond, you will one day return back to Rome, so we threw some coins (leftover Kunas from Croatia: 1 Euro = 7.36 Kunas) in the fountain, made a wish, and moved on. No one ever stated which currency we had to use.

Back to the bus we went! We hopped off at the Colosseum! It was smaller than I thought! Jk jk lol. Haha. It was pretty impressive, and so was the Arco di Constantino and the Piazza di Venezia and the ancient ruins! There we were caught in a massive rain storm and had to hide under the Colosseums arches in order to stay somewhat dry. Gypsies tried to sell us umbrellas 100+ times. Little did they know we were from Seattle.

We then walked to the Circo Massimo, not as impressive, it is mostly gone and is now really just a big dirt pit. We just barely caught the bus again an headed to The Vatican. We attempted to enter St. Peters Basilica but were denied. Like a good tourist I brought a sweater so my shoulders were covered but my dress barely missed my knee. So we headed back to the hotel for me to change.

When we went back there were girls in a lots worse outfits than I. Sweaters around knees and scarves around shorts. It was a mess. But I looked good and they let us in. Let me tell you. Boy was it spectacular. What a sight.

Gold, mosaics, paintings, frescoes, and statues everywhere you turned. It was huge, the domes and marble columns were higher than the eye could see it felt like. After two trips in we felt we had taken up enough of the Popes personal time it took him to show us around so we decided to go.

Where could we go thought? SHOPPING! We hit up some small shops and grabbed some nick knacks (Damir: pronounced "gnajks") and our second round of gelato ice cream. We then finished the night walking around what looked like an old moat converted into a dog park (Court: we were dog less, everyone was starring, embarrassing) and headed home to pack, check in for our flight, and write this blog.

Talk to you from... MADRID!

Love and Miss,

Steph & Dino

P.S. Julia, I am wearing a specialized bun in my hair for the night and I think it looks splendid. Thoughts? Xoxo. Miss you.

P.P.S. Look at bun picture for you!

Romeing around...

Well...

After a ride to the bus station with our Grandpa landlord, two busses, a delayed airplane ride, and an extensive taxi ride... We are in Rome! Our hotel sits right on the border of the Vatican. Cao Pope! We see him from our balcony.

So it's only fitting that we went and said hi to the Basilica right when we arrived and took some snap shots for you all. We then walked along the Tevere River admiring little gypsy shops and street vendors. We also saw the Castle Sant Angelo which looks pretty cool at night.

We had dinner at a little Pizzeria on the water and had our first experience with customer service, not so great. They forgot our salad all together! You know how I get without my salads... Hopefully tomorrows will be better.

Till then, ta ta for now,

Steph & Dino

Cao Makarska!

Hello All:

Today is a sad day, Dino and I will be saying goodbye to sun soaked Croatia. It has been wonderful catching rays all day, eating ice cream, and walking the beaches - but I suppose it is time to get back to work... exploring the rest of Europe that is! Rome... see you tomorrow!

Our last day here in Markarska has been grand, we will see just how grand it is when Dino wakes up with a sunburn tomorrow lol. We had lunch on the beach right on the water. For all of you Hard Lemonade lovers out there (Aunt Susie and Uncle Don) I urge you to explore the world of Hard Ciders. I have just dipped my toes in their deliciousness and have been pleased so far. I would recommend a Somersby Pear Cider or Somersby Apple Cider, but pear is the best.

On a more serious note we finally caught the sunset today. After two days of missing it. (Dino's sun calculations were slightly off due to the mountains he said... Hmm...) it was beautiful. So we included some pictures so you all can pretend you were here too.

There is also a picture of the huge mountain that Makarska is butted right up against. They are really between a rock and a hard place in terms of escape from this town (unless you have a boat) maybe that is why no one wants to leave or can find there way out? Haha. I know my jokes are bad.

So tomorrow morning our Grandpa Landlord is giving us a ride to the bus stop, then we will hop on a bus from here to Split and another bus from Split bus station to the airport and a plane from Split to Rome. Then we will be in Rome.

Trip Advisor has set a course for us to figure out Italy from there. So... Off we go.

Love and Miss,

Steph & Dino

Home of the Dalmatians

Our third leg of our Eurotrip starts here in Makarska, a beautiful sea side city that sits pretty on the eastern coast of Croatia. Our trip started last night at 10:15pm. We decided to travel with the night bus so that we do not lose a day with the lengthy 5 hour drive. The bus also worked in our favor as it was not as blistering hot as it would have been during the day time. Steph, myself and another fella were the only ones on the bus which gave us plenty of space to sleep! We slept through most of the bus ride with the occasional wake up from some pot holes on the streets. I would nudge and wake up Stephanie so that she could see some of the sights as we traveled through the southern region of Bosnia.

With the temperatures being in the high 90's yesterday we had a little storm during the night that we didn't think too much of... as we neared the Bosnian/Croatian border. Right above our cliff side route, there seemed to be a forrest fire that most likely started from a lightning strike high in the hillside. Our driver quickly passed as to not get stuck on the road if the fire would come down. After the border it was all smooth sailing. We reached our destination Makarska an hour ahead of time. Right around 3:45am. We stepped off the bus and were greeted by an older gentlemen asking us if we need lodging accommodations. After I asked about the location and if his apartment complex was close to the beach, we negotiated on a price and headed to our new home for our four days here. (Steph speaking, I had no idea what was going on and this weird Grandpa with no teeth was now giving us a ride. I felt as though I acted pretty calmly and turns out Dino, as always had it all under control.) We ended up paying €90 for our four day stay which is a killer deal. We even have a/c in the room!!! The landlord makes his own wines, champagnes and rum. He was offering us drinks at 4:00am this morning but we were just pooped from our bus ride. When we woke up, he greeted us at the door with a 2 liter bottle of his home made champagne. This was too good to be true! But it tasted great! (see photo) (Steph again, I am pretty sure this guy went and picked all the wild fruit he could find and has been fermenting it for the past 100 years, its straight sugar alcohol, its sweet so Dino thinks its amazing, he put 5 sugar packets in his chamomile tea last night! FYI) Wish I could sneak some back home so everyone could try but I don't want to get in trouble at customs.

After we got ready and put our sunscreen on, Steph and I went down the to beach. Steph said she has never seen water as blue and clear as here. Bonus points for me for picking this place I guess! We did our first session of tanning and swimming and then went out to explore the shore. We are just finishing up our pizza lunch and getting ready to go back to tan. This place is great and would recommend it to anyone who just wants to get away and have a real relaxing vacation!

Dino and I just had to switch sides of the table so we tan both sides evenly. So sunny. Not one cloud in the sky

P.s. Croatia/Croatians are often called dalmatians because this is the birthplace of you guessed it, the Dalmatian dog!
Love and Miss,

Dino & Steph