the trip is over

Well it has ended. We are home. sad. here is the itinerary for our trip. If you would like to see photos please email me and I will send you the link for b's old website.

It begins!
Friday Sept 29
Flight departed Ohare at 8:15pm

****layover in Heathrow airport*****

Saturday Sept 30
Landed in Munich 3pm - met Peony and Brendan, headed to Oktoberfest - crazy tent experience - off to another pub - end of night fuzzy

Sunday Oct 1:
woke up late from jet lag.... yeah that's it.... jetlag, had lunch then went to Dacau - the nazi concentration camp - came home and watched movie with Penny (it was a long day)

Monday October 2:
Mikes Bike tour around Munich- very funny australian tour guide - had very large beer and sausages in park - stopped for shopping - dinner at Hausebhohrei (some famous restaurant I can remember how to spell) then went home to pack and make our overnight train to Paris.

******talk to Carolyn in person to learn of the very large person in the bunk above her on the overnight train and how she didn't sleep for fear of her life*******

Tuesday October 3:
7am to 7pm in Paris - lots of touristy things, eiffel tower (C bought a mini eiffel tower on the eiffel tower, she was very proud - might be lack of sleep), Arc de Triomph, Champs de l'essyes, Louvre (closed on Tuesday so just the outside), Notra Dame (VERY beautiful), some musuem with funny water fountains that weren't on, lots of coffee and 21,000 steps later, took Eurostar to London, met Camille, chatted her ear off, drank her beer and promptly passed out

Wednesday October 4:
All day London - Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Leicester square, China Town, the place the queen lives sometimes, fantastic bangers and mash for lunch, stop in the internet cafe, Carolyn buys scarf here somewhere, off to Harrods (almost got lost in store till we found a map!), tubed to the Tower Bridge, the London Tower (didn't go in), walked across London Bridge, saw Shakespeare's playhouse, walked across another bridge to St. Pauls church which was closed for 2 hours so we didn't go in, off to meet Camille and Aaron for dinner but stopped at a pub in some place I can't remember name because I am at work, then had curry with Camille and Aaron (if you smush their names together it is almost Carolyn.) sleep once again

Thursday October 5:
off to heathrow to rent car, drive to Stonehenge (its a nice pile of rocks) stop in Swindon, England for lunch at Connie's (yes we had cripsy duck) then to Bath (a steamy pile of rocks), then to John and Louise's house - dinner at an authentic English pub (fantastic din din), then home for more sleep.

Friday October 6:
up and out in the morning after a fantastic shower, off to Warwick Castle, stopped for lunch, toured Warwick Castle (a little drafty but I could live there), off to Stratford upon Avon (where do they come up with these names?!?!) saw Anne Hathawya's cottage, saw Shakespeare's home town, got caught in traffic, then left for Swindon and dinner at Three Crowns - b's fave restaurtant when he lived there with Mike and Lorraine (thansk for housing us!), Alex and Katie, Tom and the waitress who was flirting with Mike ( i guess she didn't really eat with us but whatever she is in the pic), play with jasper, then bed

Saturday October 7:
wake up, take car back to heathrow - see the other place the Queen lives - just make it in time for the 12:00 deadline before being charged for another day with the car. tube to Camille's - Carolyn passes out from exhaustion, pops her eyes open one hour later and is ready to go. (I'm awake!) We head out to Camden market were C buys more scarves for really cheap then we went back to the Tower Bridge area, had good food, good wine and good company with Camille and Aaron. Toured the town via pubs then home for more needed sleep.

Sunday October 8:
up for Bfast with Camille and Aaron, then off to Heathrow again for our flight. The flight was ok besides the guy sitting next to C who was wearing WAY TO MUCH COLOGNE (blah), home in Chicago at 6pm, off to Indiana for poochie, get home by 9 in bed by 10.

Europe in a nutshell. I may have missed some sights but you get the gist.