Istanbul is the most packed city I can remember being in. I have no idea what the overall population is, but there are apartments on top of houses, businesses under them, and so many people per square mile, it is overwhelming. And any direction that you look, you can see at least 4 or 5 mosques. We took the long way around town and showed up too late for the actual Grand Bazaar, but shopped all around the outskirts. Inside the bazaar area things were 10 tim...

Paris at night is spectacular!!! The Eiffel Tower was everything that Kylie was hoping it would be. She was so excited all day to come and see Paris. She has been asking to come to Paris since she was practically old enough to talk. The Eiffel Tower is the hot spot for the hipsters to hang out on the lawn and drink champagne or wine. There was music playing from randoms, stands that sell hot crepes, and a cute carousel. The plaza leading up has vendors and ...

The gondola capital of Italy was too quick to enjoy properly. Venice is a city that seems like it would be best enjoyed at a relaxed pace. Although we did go into town the night before, we only had a few hours in the city during the day before our flight to Paris left. In the morning, we had to turn in the car, so the plan was to drop me to do laundry while the guys took back the car. Our car ended up going back to a different place than originally expected...

We made it to the tower of Pisa just in time for the thunderstorms! These dollar store umbrellas sure have come in handy. The only really bad thing about the weather is that our schedule is all off. Kylie is hoping to talk with her friends at school via Skype today, and we should already be in Venice versus still traveling there. We'll see if we can make it work.

We made it through the mountains through Lucca and stopped in a small town called Pistoia, deep in the heart of Tuscany. We were planning on going to eat, but ended up at a local grocery store instead and picnic'd in the van, as we head to Venice. We had to take an alternate route due to a freeway closure, and it probably took us a little longer with the crazy rain. We only saw one accident, two Mercedes in just a small fender bender on the side of the mounta...