Trip Wrap-Up and Leaving for Portland

Well, we have made it back to the U.S. in one piece. We went out to dinner last night for some Mexican food, which was nice because there is no real Mexican food in Europe. We will be off to Portland in a couple of days. We thank everyone who followed along with the blog for our journey; you really helped make our trip more fun and we hope you enjoyed hearing our stories and seeing some photos.

So, as a final hurrah, here is a mega-post with some of our favorite stuff from the journey:

Top 10 experiences of the trip (in no particular order):
Normandy region, France
*Taking a scenic, 10k walk from the town of Pontorson to the castle of Mont St. Michel
Paris, France
*Visits to the Centre de Pompidou (library, art museum, and architecturally awesome building), which became practically part of our daily routine
Rome, Italy
*Walking around the ruins of the Colosseum/Palatine/Roman Forum on a warm sunny day (all we forgot was the picnic lunch)
Athens, Greece
*Being one of the first people at the Acropolis in the morning and the surreal experience of walking amongst the ruins virtually by ourselves on a chilly February morning
Arnhem, The Netherlands
*Riding white bikes through the woods and dunes of Hoge Veluwe National Park and enjoying the awesome art collection at the Kroller Muller museum located within the park grounds
Berner-Oberland region, Switzerland
*Being taken to the Jungfrau peaks in the Alps by train and walking through the snow and glaciers along the Jungfraujoch
Rome, Italy
*Seeing the beauty of the Sistine Chapel (it lives up to the hype) after a long days walk throughout the Vatican museums
Barcelona, Spain
*Enjoying the interactive architecture and fantasy-land landscape of Antoni Gaudi's Park Guell
Windermere, England
*Hiking through woodland, sheep pastures, and small English villages in the Lake District (note: don't get between the sheep and their babies, they may want to fight you)
Isle of Skye, Scotland
*Seeing the huge upright rock the Old Man of Storr and hiking around the highlands for four hours (in our emergency ponchos and lots of rain), seeing the amazing views and the volcanic rock formations

Top 5 cities
Paris
*This was our favorite city overall because it had everything you could ask for as a visitor (many things to see and do, excellent veggie food, excellent desserts--especially Laduree's, generally nice people, world-class museums, interesting historical sites, and excellent public transportation). Time seemed to fly by in this city. It was quite easy in Paris to leave the hotel in the morning at 8am and then be out at midnight wondering how the day could have gone by so fast.
Rome
*This city has probably the most jaw-dropping sites of any big city in Europe (amazing history, enormous ruins, massive cathedrals, outstanding art), but among them lies the craziness of a bustling loud city with lunatic drivers and millions of people with black leather jackets and enormous sunglasses. The only way to survive is to jump in, start pushing people in public (literally), and just pray to God that nobody runs you over when you cross the street.
Barcelona
*This city is hard to explain. There isn't one particular thing that we could put our finger on, but the city's vibe is just incredibly laid-back, friendly, and straight-up cool. There are awesome food options in this city and nobody seems to ever go to bed before 4am. Also, the Gaudi architecture that is all over the place gives the city a feel that is different from any other big city we visited.
Berlin
*In many ways the people here are still dealing with the fact that the city was decimated by two world wars in the 20th century. It's easy to become completely engrossed in the amount of modern historical information that lies within the city's streets....and the city still does not seem to know how to adequately address the issues of its Nazi past and the massive genocide and destruction it caused. It's also great to see how places like East Berlin have rebounded and are now quite buzzing with an excitement that can only come after years of getting the short end of the stick. P would say that it's essential to visit this place on any trip to Europe.
Athens
*This place would probably be a disaster in the summer--overcrowded, hot, smoggy, and with unbelievably horrible traffic. However, we were there in February with cool weather, few tourists, and less-frazzled locals. There is some good food to be found here, but you'll have to be up to doing a bit of looking for it. The National Archaeological Museum is one of the best of its kind in all of Europe and you kind of feel bad for Athens after you leave because every other European country that came to power in the following centuries basically came here and stole as many precious historical artifacts as they could carry.

Top overall country controversy (take your pick)
Italy
In this one country there is just so much to do and see that it really stands out. We spent more time here than in any other country on the trip and went to Milan, Venice, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Naples, Pompeii and the five villages of the Cinque Terre.
France
Great countryside, much better food than we expected, and the country has a great mix of cosmopolitan cities, pristine countryside, and nice beaches. Also, it is hard to overstated how tasty a hand-held banana and sugar crepe is in the morning.
Spain
Free-spirited and friendly people, a distinct personality in both art and architecture, and the genius of tapas. Where else can you eat dinner at 11:30pm? Also, the people of Spain identify much more with their particular region of the country than with the nation as a whole....as you can see from the Basque or Catalan people.

Funny Facts
Number of Days (out of 89)
- V had her precious ice - 8
- we heard unbelievable snoring sounds in a hostel - 7
- V went without hair conditioner - 80
- we went between doing laundry - 18
- we could wear sandals outside - 2
- we played in the snow - 1
- we swam in the ocean - 1 (freezing!)
- where potatoes were in at least one meal of the day - 79

Top 5 places we stayed (that we paid for...)
Berlin, Germany
*Circus Hostel - we had an amazing penthouse apartment with great views of many of the city's best landmarks
Biarittz, France
*Plaza Hotel - a treat, this place had awesome designs in the rooms and throughout the hotel and we had a great view of the beach
Cashel, Ireland
*O'Brien's Holiday Lodge - situated in between the two attractions of this small town (the ruins of a church and abbey), the lodgings are in an old rock building with a cozy kitchen, sofas and fireplace - you really feel at home
Venice, Italy
*Pensione Gueratto - great room but it was breakfast that was really awesome.... since Venice doesn't have the best food, we ate until we were ready to burst
Rome, Italy
*Beehive Hostel - simple dorm rooms but the hostel gives you this awesome recommendation book when you arrive, free internet, and they have a mini-restaurant that offers great Italian veggie food at night

Top 5 meals out
Rome, Italy
*Trattoria Chiuso la Domenica - This place was recommended by the Beehive Hostel. Great pasta. Small local joint. (serves meat too!--if that's your thing). The Italians operate from a "less is more" perspective with their food and here you definitely get the sense of how simple is sometimes better than flashy. The eggplant, artichokes, and potatoes at this place were amazing.
Florence, Italy
*Il Vegitariano - Good local place. V especially liked that crowded rush of it all. They open the door, you rush to check the white board for today's specials - then you write it down (all in Italian by the way) and pay. You grab a tray and wait in line and take the order to the counter where they fill it immediately. Don't forget to put something on the table to save it or you will be out of luck in the seat department. We ate here twice and the place was always packed. Our favorites were the mushroom polenta and beans with quinoa.
Paris, France
*Le Potager du Marais/La Victoire Supreme de Coeur - We couldn't decide which of these places we liked best because both were fantastic. Among the tasty treats were veggie pate, pears au gratin, carrot beignets, and veggie chicken with echatole (this awesome white gravy). We pigged out in France and went way over our food budget....but it was totally worth it.
Barcelona, Spain
*Sesamo - This was a really cool veggie place that was only open for a few hours each day. There was an excellent roasted almond carrot soup, P had a chufa souffle (made from this type of bean/seed thingy) and V had vegetarian moussaka (a kind of casserole). Also we had awesome tapas at this place called Mylka....great papas bravas (potatoes with spicy sauce), veggie tortillas (a tortilla in Spain is a thick cooked dish different from a Mexican tortilla), and some tasty Sangria that gave V the giggles.

An Art History Education
We saw so much priceless and amazing art on this trip that we feel that we should get university credit. There were amazing museums in every country (so much so that it would take too long to list them all by name). Some of our favorite artists on the trip were Caravaggio, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Bernini, Jan Van Eyck, Bosch, Raphael, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Klimt, Van Gogh, Dali, Signac....just to name a few. At times, we seriously felt like we were part of a three month art history course....it was truly one of the highlights of the trip.

Huge Thank Yous
... to those we stayed with on the trip (Donna, Trine & Jesper, Jason & Megan, Alice & Luke, and Victoria D.)...who housed us and feed us (a lot of great food) and made us feel welcome with their hospitality
... to you for reading this
... to those who prayed for our safe journey... it was blessing to be gone this long and have the only things that went wrong be missing socks and "tiny-tim" coughs.

Photos and more info
If you want more photos, email or comment.... and if there is good response we will put some more up. It is V's goal to put up more country specific stuff so within the next month so when others go to these places we'll remember our favorite parts.

Our Next Adventure
We leave on Thursday to drive up to Portland. V starts work at a library in Beaverton on Monday the 21st. So we will be apartment hunting this weekend.

Thanks for following along again,
V&P