J'ADORE Paris!!

View from our hotel

Romantic cafe where had a most delicious meal

View to the river Seine

View from other side of our room

We're on day two here in Paris and couldn't love it more-- despite the fact blogging proves to be pretty difficult when you don't speak French. But thanks to Mrs. Hartman, my high school French teacher, we are getting by. The train ride beneath the English Channel and then through the French countryside was lovely and we arrived in time to walk along the Seine and have an absolutely delicious meal. Later we found ourselves in what I can explain no better than a cave that served great sangria. Parisians are quite passionate as we have seen a lot of public make out sessions and street fights. But despite rumors to the contrary, we have found Parisians to be quite amicable.

We're taking Monkey to see the sights today-- the Eiffel Tower; the Louvre, etc. We will try to blog again before leaving France, when we'll be headed to Barcelona. We are doing well and hope everyone at home is too.

Love and miss you!

PS Recognize the lack of clothing change??Paris and London are even colder and rainier than usual this time of year, and we each brought just one long sleeve shirt that we've been donning for almost a week now. We smell great.

Mind the Gap, Monkey

We made it to merry old England, and so did the monkey. None of us slept a wink on the plane, but it's not exactly our first all-nighter. Thus far, Monkey has enjoyed the British Museum, where he saw the Rosetta Stone and parts of the Parthenon. Thanks to Jack, we felt like quite the experts in the print room! Jack- is it Durer that did the angel print above the staircase?

Monkey took a stroll along the river Thames with views to Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster. He was quite confused by all that he saw in Tate Modern, especially the large square canvas painted grey that he was told was art. But the Picasso and Grosz were fabulous. Monkey finished his day with some fish, chips, and a pint- this he understood.

We put Monkey to bed and went out, first night to china town and around the theatre district. Last night, we saw a great punk show- Dogs- in Islington and then went to a fun club in Notting Hill.

Today, we are off to Rough Trade, T's favorite record store, and to the Victoria and Albert in S0uth Kensington. I am most excited that we'll be seeing Les Mis tonight- my very fave musical of all time. My mom can attest that seeing it here has been a life long dream!!

So we are happy and safe. Having the time of our lives. We miss you all and look forward to posting pics of Monkey at his next big stop, the Eiffel Tower. Note: That's Tori and Jay attached to the monkey-- they wanted to come along, too!

PS Our very sweet and talented photographer, Stacey Bode, was kind enough to post some incredible images from our wedding on her blog. Check it out- isn't she great??

http://staceybode.blogspot.com/

We did it!

This is the only pic we have on our camera of the new Mr. and Mrs. Lance, but fear not, there are about 5,000 more we will be sharing soon!

Meet the Parents

It only took 4 years, but our parents have finally made one another's aquaintence. Good thing, since we're officially family in 2 days!

Where will we end up?

We thought it might be interesting to list all of the places we hope to make it now for comparison upon our return. If all goes well, we will make it these places and more: London, chunnel to Paris, train to Barcelona and elsewhere in Spain, trains down the west coast of Italy to Sicily, then onto Tunisia (the only place we'll be needing vaccinations for!), back for more Italy (hopefully Foggia where my fam is from), ferry over to the Greek islands (definitely Corfu, Paxos, and Santorini), up to Istanbul, fly to Amsterdam (see you there, Soupy!), and finally back to London!
Can we do it? I think so!

Pre-Planning

Plane tickets- check

Eurail passes- check

Clean sheets- check

iPod loaded- check

Biggest backpacks made by man- check

Now for the nuptials and we're OFF!