Happy New Year!

CHRISTMAS ACCOMPLISHED! BOOM!

On to 2010!

Below is a video from JibJab (the same people who did the "elfyourself" videos). Enjoy and have a good New Year!

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Back in the U S S A!

I am BACK IN THE STATES! Despite the pilot choosing to circle Chicago about 24 times-- he did eventually land the plane.

It is four kinds of awesome to back. We were greeted at the gate by Mandy's parents (who are amazing) and then gorged on pizza.

Its so good to be home :)

Also-- its Christmas EVERYWHERE here. In Europe we went to about a thousand Christmas markets (rough estimate) but it wasn't really like Christmas in the States. Mandy's house is exploding with Christmas cheer, though--so its okay.


(sounds a bit ironic--but watch with the sound on)

I just elfed myself

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Photo of the Day: Train Station in Cordoba

In the early mornin' rain with a dollar in my hand/
And an aching in my heart, and my pockets full of sand/
I'm a long way from home, and I miss my loved one so/
In the early mornin' rain/

"Waldo" apparently doesn't translate well...

A lot of things get lost in translation and other things are just changed so that they are more relevant to the culture. This change doesn't make much sense, though....



"Where's Charlie?" I think not, France. His name is Waldo.

We found another book-- "Where is Shen-Shan." I flipped through it-- he's a lot harder to find than Waldo.

Meet me in TROLL VILLAGE!

We finished up Spain-- our last city being Barcelona and we are back in France. We have the edge this time, though, because CATHERINE met up with us in Toulouse.



At first, we were wading through the sea of humanity at the Christmas market. It was cute-- but when Catherine told us there was a troll village, we abandoned the Christmas market immedietly.



Do not be decieved by the perfectly manicured gardens or the confident nature of the french people. France is insane and troll village is a perfect example of that insanity. It is a hastily constructed village on the side of the square-- decorated with many of the same things you would find in a kindergarten's arts and crafts supply bin.

Each house had spoofs of famous paintings and movie posters-- which was kind of hysterical:







More French strangeness to come....

This is intolerable

The search for the Grail is the search for the divine in all of us.
Marcus Brody

Well, no problem, Marcus. We found the grail.

I was reading my guidebook and it described Valencia thusly:"The birthplace of paella, the home of the Holy Grail, and the host of the 2007 American Cup, Valencia is a friendly, if a slightly chaotic-----"

HOLD THE PHONE!

Home of the Holy Grail? Who cares what else is in Valencia? Pretty sure that once you have the holy grail, you don't really need to brag about anything else in your city.

The grail is apparently the only one that the Vatican recognizes as "authentic." People felt they needed to bedazzle the grail over the years, though, so now it is covered in jewels and whatnot (which is how Jesus would have wanted it, I'm sure).

But I still cannot BELIEVE that we are actually going to get to see (what the Vatican considers to be) the HOLY GRAIL.

And I'm not going to lie, our visit will involve a lot of quoting\ re-enacting scenes from Indiana Jones and te Last Crusade.

Let's hope our visit doesn't end like this



I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne. Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky...
Professor Henry Jones

Photo Post: Pompeii

The first picture is from the "Villa of Mysteries"... which is a fantastic name for anything. The second picture is the foum at sunset and the third is another picture from the Villa. I have about 90 pictures in all-- but these were some of the highlights.

I took 2 siestas in the name of cultural understanding!

We are in Salamanca Spain-- which is BEAUTIFUL. Mandy studied abroad here so we had to make a pilgrimage.

It is nicknamed the "Golden City" because all of the crazy gorgeous buildings are made with the same golden colored sandstone. The New Cathedral and the University are probably the most dominant buildings in Salamanca (and they are beautiful) but there are a bunch of monasteries that are spread out throughout the city as well. Plus-- Salamanca probably only has the cathedral in the world with an astronaut worked into the facade.

Pictures to follow!

Spain also has AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmazing food.

This was my BREAKFAST


Churros with chocolate. So delicious... but now I know why the Spanish have siestas...