Proost!

Hello to all from Bavaria! We enjoyed a wonderful vacation from out vacation in Dubrovnik and rested our weary feet just in time to gear up for more sightseeing...So off to Venice we went, for two wonderful days and nights...no celebs to be seen unfortunately, we just missed the film fest. But we did enjoy numerous cheap pizzas, live music, long strolls, and romantic water bus rides...no gondolas for us....verrrry pricey.
We caught a night train to Munich and slept soundly, which is a good thing because we started our sightseeing right away with a walking tour of the old city..man will I be telling you all about that when I have more time...quite the historical epicenter for WWII and the nazi movement. After the tour we embibed some delicious bavarian beer with our guide at his local watering hole. Oh yes, people wear lederhosen here..seriously. Yesterday we took some time out to go to fantasy land in the form of an extravagant castle build by mad king ludwig, as the inspiration for the disney castle, this place did not disappoint. Ready to take on some heavier history, we took a guided tour of the Dachau concentration camp. I can go on for hours about that experience and our tour, but somehow a blog doesnt seem like the appropriate place to do it. I can just say that it is an experience not to be missed nor taken lightly.
Tonight, we are off on another train to Prague, where we will regale you with more detailed stories and photos...As always we hope all is well at home and can not believe that we will be back there with you all in two weeks....

Hey everyone, we've been relaxing on the Dalmatian coast in Dubrovnik, Croatia, for 3 days now and are starting to feel rested enough to update this thing. We left you last in Florence just before we split south for Rome, and plenty has happened in the in-between. Rome was hot, as expected, but well worth the visit. We spent our first full day there exploring the Vatican, visiting the tombs of the popes, admiring the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and generally Catholic-ing it up. We burned ourselves out in the morning by getting lost and walking the long way around Vatican City, so we rested up in a park before heading downtown to see some beautiful sights like the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and some really interesting marketplace areas. Dead tired, we made it back to our campground (yes, we were camping in Rome) to swim in our pool and read a little before an early bedtime. The next day we woke up early and spent about 4 hours exploring Roman ruins before the heat got to us, and after an afternoon dip we went back and spent the evening in the fabled Coliseum. It was bigger than life, and twice as old. Forgive the lack of color commentary but I have nine minutes left on this computer.
Two full days in Rome was "enough", but we would definitely like to return one day to complete our tour. The next morning we bolted (via a four hour train ride) to the rainy port town of Ancona, where we caught our ferry to Croatia. We didn't pay for a sleeping berth, so we just crashed on a couch in the bar like all of the other backpackers but were rudely awoken by the bartender at 1:30am telling us the bar was "closed"! How dare they! Sleepy and disgruntled, we pulled the cushions off of some chairs in a hallway and quite peacefully resumed our sleeping. By the time the sun was up, we were in sight of land and happy to be in beautiful Split, the largest coast town in Croatia. From here we caught a four and a half hour bus across the country to Dubrovnik. It was a decent bus ride, and at least we took solace in the fact that due to measurement differences, Croatian buses can go 30 km in the time it takes a regular American bus to go 20 miles. Look it up, it's true. We also didn't almost get left behind when the bus took a pit stop half way through, so rest easily parents!


There is so much more to say and I'm trying to get some pictures up, but they don't want to go up. I'll figure it out and tell you more about dubrovnik before we leave, I promise.

Off to Venice in four days though and will let you all know!
Adios!