Final Post

Final Post

Back where it all began in Milan, Italy 110 days ago!

It's been an amazing journey!

We've learned a lot about each other had history lessons galore!

We are talking about our next trip which is to begin in October but all looking forward to our flight back tomorrow.

Thank you for following our blog, for your emails and skype conversations.

We have missed you all and can't believe the first leg is done already!

Love to you all,

Mark, Joanne, Hunter and Nathaniel

Chillin' out in Piedmont

Final Countdown to the trip

Chillin' out in Piedmond, Italy

Mark enjoyed the technology of the Italians cart system for shopping- Put in a Euro get a cart, put the cart back and get your Euro back. We all enjoyed having to not go out for dinner for every meal, but Mark's patience for grocery shopping hasn't improved!

Bottom picture is the boys enjoying more water!

Lake Como, Italy

Lake Como, Italy

Nathaniel enjoying the water and all of us enjoying the amazing views.

No George Clooney, but the weather was hot and a great way to end summer.

Joanne

Dinner in Trieste, Italy

Trieste,  Italy

At a popular dining spot in Trieste, our mom wanted to order the fish and you could only get it for two. This is a picture of the gentleman who not only shared dinner with my mom, but who ate dinner with us. I learned my Spanish is close to Italian and was the only one who could really speak to him.

Hunter

Luge at Lake Bled, Slovenia

 Bled had an extremely fun summer monorail luge. To go faster you'd push forward and to slow you'd pull backwards on the bar. the course was filled with drops, turns and a tunnel at the end. In the pictures you can see our Dad taking the vertical drop into the tunnel after a no braking run and Hunter starting up. The very last picture is the big turn at the end.

Fun Summer!

Nathaniel

Julian Alps tour

Julian Alps tour

1st picture is Mark helping me down from climbing to see the second largest waterfall in Slovenia- apprently flip flops are not the necessary climbing shoe!

3rd picture is the second larges waterfall

2nd picture is the Worlds longest skip jump and the World record is 329 Meters

Beautiful drive through the Alps

Hungary/Bulgaria

Getting out of Hungary seemed scary when we were the only ones waiting for a train and the train station was closed and it was literally in the middle of no where, but the train luckily came.

The next pictures shows how big the boys are getting-They are now almost as big as a squirrel! This was taken in Ljublanja, Slovenia, which is a truly beautiful city.

The last picture is at Lake Bled also in Slovenia and for you crew watchers, they are having the World Championship Crew races there this weekend. The lake is spectacular!

Joanne

Visit to Poland

Our visit to Poland

Top picture of Krakow

Middle picture the horrific past, Aushwitz

Bottom picture the church bell which could be heard 18 km away

Budapest - Water Everywhere

Szechenyi Bath

Auqa World

Budapest reminded us of the pool culture in Iceland. We had a great time at both the Szechenyi Bath in City Park and at the Aquaworld on the city outskirts. The Szechenyi Bath was packed and had so many pools, water features, therma tubs and saunas. This is definitely a must visit! The boys have longings for Raging Waters, so we headed to Auquaworld with its water slides, wave pool, and wake board pool. Nathaniel did a SPOT check-in. While not as large as Raging Waters, the elavator, lack of lines and digital readouts of your speed on the slides were all winners. Joanne went down the Lazy River a little fast and cut here elbow, requiring a quick medical stop.

We leave Budapest - from the Pest side - today for the resort town of Havre in southwest Hungary.

Segway-Prague

Prague by Segway

The views

the fun on Segways

the food