berlin

hello all!

we are now in berlin, and are staying with friends of friends in an area outside of the city center. it is a super nice housing project, where 12 women live in an old converted factory - it's beautiful!

we went to a concert last night that was also an art opening. we saw a band that both adam and ian really like called "stereo total", and they were great. it was in an old school that had been converted into an art space, and the gymnasium served as the concert venue. we then went our for some beers with some of the residents of the flat we're staying in. i came home early, but the guys stayed out for a bit and adam had some green beer in a chalice apparently, on accident.

i can't believe that it's already been three weeks since i've been over here, but every place has had it's own charm and character.

see you all soon!

More Photos

We've arrived in venice and spent the morning looking at the first half of the biennale which was really exciting. Adam H. joined us when we got to the city yesterday afternoon and the b&b we're staying at is nice and cozy. The work in the biennale was diverse and some of it was truly amazing. The exhibition included everything from photography to a scuplture garden to a room with rings which challenged you to traverse it without touching the floor.

Tonight we're planning on all meeting up again for dinner and then will probably walk around the city again as the evenings are quite pleasent with the warm italian air hovering in the city's canals. Tomorrow we'll go see the rest of the show, then we'll head over to the beaches in venice and then the morning after we're off to berlin via plane. The trip keeps pushing us along and its been hard to keep track of all of the beautiful things we've come across. Everything has just been so beautiful so far!

We just added lots and Lots of photos from italy, mostly rome:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30541750@N00/sets/72157621778589780/

Roma

Rome has treated us incredibly well so far. The first day we were here we were able to see the vatican and walk around the downtown district for a while. Ireland-England-Scotland were all really fantastic, however i think we all found it refreshing to be in a culture which truly seems unique and it has been a nice change of pace for us all. Yesterday we were able to go to all of the older roman sites like the colloseum and the forum, as most of the rest of the city was shut down for sunday (the city was filled wth the sound of bells for most of the afternoon).

Now, after we're done checking our e-mail and posting on the blog we're headed off to see the sistine chapel and the other vatican museums around the city. We've taken lots of photos so far, and once we find a good internet cafe we'll be sure to upload them all for people to see. It's also been nice having Nick here along with us and to have someone new to share all of the experiences with us. After Roma, it's off to Venice for the art biennalle there, which i'm looking forward to a great deal. We were able to see one of the modern art museums yesterday which had some exciting stuff in it, and i can't wait to see what the other city has to offer. Love you and miss you all!

More Photos!

Here are the latest photos, which include Edinburgh, Dublin and Cork. We'll start trying to update the flickr account more regularly!

Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30541750@N00/sets/72157621341837009/

In Cork

It was quite nice staying with Dara and we were able to go out and do out first night of drinking in Ireland which was quite nice. A few of Dara's friends met up with us at the pub and afterwards we walked back to his place to catch some sleep.

The next day we headed down to cork via bus and met our host james, who has been very gracious so far and showed us around town this morning. We plan on exploring the city today and then renting a car tomorrow to go see the cliffs on the west coast of the island which i'm looking forward to a great deal.

Seeing Ireland has been everything I thought it would be and Cork is truly a charming place. It's hard to believe that we're headed to Italy in only a few more days, but it'll be nice to have a change of scenery. Hope everyone is well!

Dublin, cont....

Dublin has been a wonderful town. It has been nice to settle in a location for more than a couple days, and have a more relaxed place to explore. We stayed in a hostel the past couple of nights, which was a private four bed room with a private bathroom. Sounds nice enough, but as all travelling adventures go, we got quite a surprise as we came in to find the most pungent mold smell you can imagine! We also shared our room with what we thought to be a Sweedish/Norweigan/something similar man in his mid-thirties who we never really met (he came in every night at 4 am or so and was always sleeping when we left. Ahhhh, hostel adventures!

Our second night here, we got a bit mixed up temporarily lost trying to find a social center, and we wandering in a residential part of town with lots of tiny side streets. What do I run into on one of these little streets, but the Catherine McCauley center. Wonderful!

This evening we'll be staying with one of Ian's friends here - Dara, who he knows through his activist networks. It will be nice to stay with a native Irishman. Tomorrow, we are off to Cork, where we have an enthusiastic couchsurf host awaiting our arrival. We'll be taking the bus there and back. We are also planning to rent a car one day while there and do a day trip to Killarney and the Cliffs of Moher. Hopefully we can post some pics when we get to Cork.

Dublin

Within 12 hours and we've already been to the Guinness and enjoyed a pint at the very top with a marvelous view.

Last night was relatively low key as we just watched a movie with our host and then went to sleep to wake up for our early flight to Dublin.

After not being in the air for what couldn't have been longer than an hour, we landed, swept through customs (not without making fun of me for pronouncing a street name wrong...) and arrived at our hostel. Dropped off our stuff and went exploring.

Trinity College was awesome with it's fantastic architecture and great open fields. Then we walked to the Guinness factory as said before which allowed us to see a little bit more of the city.

Much more exploring will happen tomorrow, but first we're seeing bruno!

Edinburgh

We made it to Edinburgh yesterday and were able to walk around the city a bit before meeting up with our couchsurfing host who cooked us a very large dinner.

This afternoon we plan on doing the 'tourist' thing all day, seeing the castles museums and landmarks of the city while trying to avoid all of the scottish meats which seem to occupy a lot of the shop windows :-). We haven't seen any kilts yet except for in the souvenir shops, but maybe that will change when we actually spend some time in the city centre.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Dublin and start our week in Ireland, which we're all looking forward to quite a bit. Hope everyone at home is doing well - we miss you all!

First batch of photos

here's the first batch of photos from england! http://www.flickr.com/photos/30541750@N00/sets/72157620952329105/

A day into London, and already leaving

So we arrived in London yesterday morning and eventually met up with our host at a squat. We were all kind of bushed still from the flight, but decided to head out to a barbeque anyway. It was a pretty simple day, hanging out with London squatters and shotting the shit for a while. Once we got back to the squat around 8, we were all completely tired and turned in early instead of going out that night. Here we are now, still in London in an internet cafe before we take a train to York to meet up with Alistaire.

Already we wished that we were spending more time here in England, but it was the only way to make the rest of the trip possible. There's always next time!

Until the next post from York,

Love,
The Paul kids

we're here!

after one missed flight out of sfo, bruce and i arrived shortly after the princess... and are at heathrow! we're heading into town now to meet ian :) will update soon!

Off We Go!

Ian, Bruce, and I are off tomorrow morning for England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, and Germany. Follow our blog to follow us as we travel...