Well...I figured I'd better start writing these blogs before too long. This is actually something I wrote a couple weeks ago concerning the first part of my travels with my family. I wrote this sitting in the airport in Vienna on a six hour layover by myself..(thank God for ipods...especially video ipods!)

vienna airport, 4 pm, 8-25-07

You'll never guess what I just saw walk by...yes..its true...I just saw a middle aged man walk by in leiderhosen. And if that's not enough..oh yes...his son had a pair to match! Ahh..the things that bring amusement on a 6 hour layover by yourself...and I'm only halfway through! oy..

Well I think I will take this moment (hopefully it will take more than just a moment as I still have 3 hours before I board the plane) to reflect upon my eruopean travels thus far.

London...fabulous. Such a great city...so much to see and so little time. A least eh public transportation was easy..it was so cool to see so many things that I've heard about or read about in history...makes me want to go back and relearn it all now that I have a frame of reference. It helps to have something to visualize, something that gives proof that, yes, it is real, and yes, those things really did happen.

key phrase to remember from London..."ask me about my other flip-flop"...hahaha....yeah. I think it's probably still somewhere lost between the domes of st. Paul's cathedral. Note to future travelers...flip flops are not a good decision for foot wear when climbing crowded, open spiral staircases...it could result in a loss of a shoe, and consequently a walk around downtown London wearing only one flip-flop.

Paris was incredible simply because..well...it's paris! Incredible is practically the definition! You can't go to Paris and not fall in love with it. Despite the insane driving conditions and the revolting lack of garbage cans ( which seems to be a prevalent problem throughout europe as far as I've seen) the rows upon rows upon rows of old old architecture, the beautiful monuments and cathedrals, the quaintness yet stark reality of it all is enough to make anybody swoon. It's like disneyland...but REAL, which makes it 100x better! It's about 100x bigger too which means I will be returning for further exploration.

One revelation I had while walking along the Seine River and the Louvre is that you really can't appreciate architecture until you've experienced it. I don't think you can even fully appreciate history until you've experienced the archtecture either. You can see pictures and hear stories, but until you've seen it and walked around it and experienced it, there is no way that you can possibly appreciate or even realize the full magnitude of it. Having to walk for three city blocks just to reach one side of the Louvre to the other and seeing the elaborate detailing over the entire building was mind boggling! And visiting the palace of Versailles where 40,000 people worked for 50 years to construct the palace and seeing the exquisite opulance was breathtaking...I can't even begin to describe it! Pictures are worth a thousand words, but to actually experience it ...you can't even begin to find words....

note to self...don't go during peak tourist season...there is somewhat of the mystery and exquisite magnitude of it all that is lost when there are tourists scrambling all over everything like rabid ants.

that's all for now...I'll write about Romania later, and try to catch up on the rest of my travels so far