Happy Halloween

Our sock monkeys insisted on doing a little trick-or-treating this year ... and have vowed that next year they're going all out with their costumes!

Allan and his booty!

Those of you who know me ...

... know that I am not a morning person. I loooove to sleep in whenever possible. So perhaps you're wondering why I'm up and doing a blog post at 5:20 in the morning?! Good question! Unfortunately, I don't really have an answer, but it's likely one of the following reasons:

• I'm finally getting over being sick and my body just doesn't need as much sleep right now
• My neck is so royally screwed up that it hurts to keep my head on the pillow (I'm in desperate need of massage therapy!!)
• I have far too much on my mind, and stress is keeping me awake

Perhaps it's a mix of all three? I dunno. All I know is that I've been sleeping SO well for weeks now (perhaps too well) and now I haven't slept a wink for the past 2 nights. Ugh.

Still sick

Dan got sick when we were in Europe - he first noticed that he was getting a cold when we arrived in Munich on September 29. Then I managed to pick it up from him once we hit Paris (it first got to me on October 7). My cold/bug didn't seem too bad until we got back home (thank goodness, flying with a cold would suck!) but then it hit full force. Dan seemed to be pretty much over his cold by the time we got home on October 11 - well, he was over the worst of it anyways.

Last week I thought I was finally over it. I felt okay on Wednesday. But then on Thursday it hit again, and I was sooo nauseaus on Thursday and Friday. Ugh. It was around that time that Dan started complaining about a sore throat ... and I thought, "oh noooo, here we go again!"

So yep, now we're both back to being sick. We both think that it's a new bug though, not the old one lingering. Ugh! It's getting tough for me, as I've been feeling so shitty for so long now (okay, not that long, but still - it's been around 3 weeks). And I've been so unbelievably lethargic - honestly, I've slept between 10-12 hours every single night since we've been back ... that's not normal!

Here's an example of how crappy I've felt - since being self-employed full time, I've only taken 1.5 sick days -- and both of those days have been over the past 2 weeks. :(

(*cue sad music*)

Amsterdam, the Netherlands - October 10-11, 2008

We really only stayed in Amsterdam for our last night because we were flying out of there. Dan & I have been to Amsterdam waaaay too many times over the past few years - nothing really changes, so it's not like there was anything new to see or do ... and therefore, I didn't even take one photo! So sorry, no pics from Amsterdam this time around. :)

Paris, France - October 5-10, 2008

Got some moody pics of La Tour Eiffel this time around ...

A little tree graffiti alongside the River Seine

Crissy checking out a Monet painting in the Musee de l'Orangerie in the Tuileries Gardens

Dan at the Palais Royal

In the Paris Catacombs

Paris has introduced thousands of rental bikes, available on various streets

Crissy in the Jardin des Tuileries

The Eiffel Tower (again)

Versailles, France - October 10, 2008

Unfortunately, none of the fountains were on when we visited Versailles. Too bad!

A very cool Jeff Koons exhibition was on when we went to Versailles!!!

Brugge, Belgium - October 2-5, 2008

Kinda looks like he's attached to the wall, doesn't it?

Dan really liked this little fry (or shall I say, frite?) guy. He looks kinda wasted if you ask me!

Oktoberfest 2008! (Munich, Germany)

Yeah, after a few litres of beer you'd be laughing your ass off at this stein too!! Ha ha!

Inside the Hippodrom tent

It appeared that I would begin to pose after drinking a few litres of beer - LOL!

Munich, Germany - Sept 29-Oct 1/08

Yeah, the size of the pretzels correlate to the size of the beer in Munich!

Dan Flavin installation at the Pinakothek der Moderne (modern art museum in Munich) - very cool!

Typical bavarian meal (fried spaetzle, pork and egg)

Vienna, Austria - Sept 24-29/08

Just a street shot

Someone stuck a foot/soccer ball on the head of the statue - funny!

Crissy & Dan in the Schönbrunn Palace garden

Schönbrunn Palace garden

St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom)

A quick stopover in Paris - September 23/08

We spent one quick day/night in Paris, en route from southern France to Vienna, Austria. We had an early morning flight from CDG airport so we had to sleep in Paris the night before. We had an enjoyable day - the weather was nice and overall, it was a relaxing day.

Southern France - September '08

Southern France - Arles, Avignon, Nimes

In Avignon

Dan in Avignon ... mmm, Leffe!

Crissy in Nimes

Sunny southern skies in Nimes!

... or maybe not

On second thought, I might not spend too much time doing detailed postings on all the places we visited on our latest and greatest Eurotrip (honestly, I don't know how many people read this thing, so I don't know if I should bother!). Who knows, maybe I'll do some, but as of now I'd say don't count on it. I'll try and post a few pics at least though.

I can't believe we've been home for a week and a half already. I'm still sick, but getting better every day - it's really just the lethargy that's getting to me at this point. That may, or may not, be from the cold though - I have a lot going on right now, so it could just be due to stress. I'm still not ready to deal with reality - can't I just go back to Europe and never come back??? I wish.

Back to reality

Eurotrip 2008 came to a close last Saturday ... I was very, very sad to see it come to an end. What an awesome trip! We had SO much fun. Unfortunately Dan & I both picked up a Euro-cold-bug near the end of the trip so we came home sick (hence my lack of postings). We got home late last Saturday night and have been taking it pretty easy, just trying to get better as soon as possible. It was hard enough coming home, back to reality ... I so totally didn't need to come home sick too. Ugh!

Over the next while I'll try to do some individual postings on the places we visited. To recap though, we flew into Paris, headed to southern France, back to Paris for 1 night, over to Vienna, over to Munich, then to Brugge, back to Paris and home from Amsterdam. We covered a lot of ground and had a blast doing it. A few quick thoughts/tidbits on the places we visited:

• Southern France - gotta love the south ... sunny, gorgeous blue skies ... yummy food ... we did a lot but it still felt relaxing.
• Paris (visit 1) - walked, walked, walked. We were only here for 1 day but it was a nice warm day so it was perfect for wandering.
• Vienna - it was our first time to Vienna so we really didn't know what to expect. One of our friends loves Vienna and raved about it but we found that the people are very somber and not very friendly and they seem to really love deep-fried foods (ick). Oh, and contrary to what we were told - it seems that pretty much nobody speaks English there (which wasn't a problem for us anyways, but still, it was kind of strange). The city definitely had a more "eastern" feel to it than other places we visited, but I guess this is to be expected, considering Vienna is located right beside Czech Republic and Hungary.
• Munich - ahhh, Oktoberfest! Oktoberfest was completely and utterly crazy. I really can't describe it, as you really need to be there to know what it's all about. But it was a lot of fun!! If you like beer then you need to experience the authentic Oktoberfest at least once in your life. Spent Dan's birthday at the Hofbrauhaus tent and had loads of fun. We also met up with one of my friends (Elaina) who is currently doing an internship in Munich - that too was a lot of fun.
• Brugge - How can you not enjoy Brugge? It's so mellow and beautiful, and Belgian folks have got to be some of the friendliest people in all of Europe. And, of course, there is the beer (mmm...). Selmer, Bart & Ilona came down from the Netherlands to meet up with us one night - it's always great to see our Dutch buddies. :)
• Paris (part 2) - Some good times were had in Paris - lots of stories to share! We met up with friends Janine & Arne one night at the apartment they were renting there - had some good laughs with them (along with good food, wine and beer!). We finally got to check out the Catacombs - Dan & I have tried so many times over the years but every time we've gone they've been closed for one reason or another. We also went to Versailles for a day - a very cool Jeff Koons exhibition was on at the time, so that was great.
• Amsterdam - we were only here for one day/night before jetting home. Amsterdam is Amsterdam, nothing really ever changes. Had a yummy meal and beers at one of our regular bars in town before we headed back to our hotel at the airport.

And that about sums it up! I have lots more to share, but I'll do that when I do individual posts on the cities we visited. Overall, a wicked trip that I was very sad to see come to an end. :(

Munich-Brugge

Didn't get a chance to update in Munich or Brugge, I think we were too busy drinking all the beer. ;)

Oktoberfest was AWESOME! More on that later ...

Brugge was lovely, as always. We had some good eats (mmm, Flemish stew) and definitely some good drinks. We also got some of our Dutchie friends to come and meet us one night, so it was great to see them.

We're now on the last leg of the trip. We arrived in Paris yesterday and have another 4 nights here before we train to Amsterdam for one last night. I can't believe how fast time is flying by! Oh how I wish it would slow down. I'm not ready to return to reality yet ...