Now we're in Bath. Went to go see stonehenge today but it was really cold and rainy. we have one umbrella which is pretty cool, unless we're both trying to fit under it and then it's not. But it was really pretty and cool and it was pretty amazing that the guide tape managed to last 40 min even though they know absolutely nothing about it.... and they used the word "mysterious" about 100 times.... Sarah found a really cute sheep that she wanted sooooooo badly but it cost £5 and that's just stupid.
We walked around Bath last night and saw a lot of the sights. We plan on being regular tourists tomorrow, and we're going to go visit the roman baths and look at the georgian architecture that dominates the city. After that, it's on to canterbury where we will spend tomorrow night.

5/26

Sorry for the delay... finding internet access has been close to impossible for the last few days because we have been traveling all over Northern France. Mont St. Michel was absolutely amazing, and Boobah had a pretty good time. We took our bags all the way up the very steep climb and got some very interesting and pitying looks from people. After paying 5 euro to go into the abbey (well... Sarah didn't but Erin did) we decided to make the most of it and spent about 3 hours just doing random stuff. We sat on a stone bench for awhile while random people stared at us, and then we went tanning on the entry way to the church which had an absolutely amazing view of the English Channel, and it felt like we were on some sort of a Disney land. The monks were really good singers, and we wanted to find their CD. The mont has a pretty interesting history, which Erin will definitely include in her presentation. We met a very nice woman, coincidentally also named Erin, who was backpacking across France after going to her friend's wedding. She didn't speak any French, which seemed extremely odd to us, but she gave us heads up on places we should and shouldn't go. She took the train back with us to Caen but she got off on an earlier stop to go to Paris.
The next day, after arriving back in Caen, Sarah decided that she really didn't want to go see the sights on the WW2 beaches, so Erin woke up very early in the morning and caught a train to Bayeux, which is considered by some to be the first liberated city of the invasion. While in Bayeux, Erin also saw the Bayeux tapestry, a 900 year old depiction of the battle of Hastings, which was amazingly well done, and she went to the cathedrale de Notre Dame de Bayeux or as Sarah would say... another church. She then met up with an American named Grant who was from Illinois and heading up to Ireland from Spain. They were joined by a body-builder from Hershey, PA studying in Germany, and another guy from Utah who was headed down to Spain, who recommended going to see Wicked in London... which Erin will look into. They all went to the American Cemetary which is right above Omaha beach. It was a really good visit that Erin is glad she made, although whenever she saw a gravestone with MN on it, she always wondered where they lived and what they did.
She went back to Caen and she and Sarah left for Lille through Paris... which almost kind of, sort of was on the way... but not really. They ended up at the wrong hostel, although a very nice guy from New Zealand working on the hostel, who also didn't speak French, helped them along the way. After getting to the hostel, they were given a room that didn't exist, and they barely fit in the elevator with their backpacks... although they DID get to watch Nouvelle Star, or American Idol only worse and in French.
The next morning they went to the musee des beaux-artes and we couldn't figure out how to pay even though we tried 3 times, but eventually we found our way upstairs to the Impressionist paintings that Erin loves. They then caught a VERY expensive train to London, where upon arrival, Erin gave the woman 17 euro, and got back 8 pounds... They thought this was bad, but then they gave them 100 US dollars, and got back 46 pound. They were not pleased at this moment... and then they tried to get on the Tube, which can be ridden for the small price of 4 pound apiece. They then decided mutually that it would be a BRILLIANT idea to just walk to the hostel because honestly how big can a city be. Then however, as they quickly realized, their hostel was so far away that it didn't even show up on their map. After 2 hours of walking with their 15 kilogram (33 pounds) backpacks, they arrived at the hostel, which was very nice, and when they informed the woman that they walked, she laughed at them, and said she wouldn't make that walk even without a backpack. She then overcharged them 7 pound each for their room.
They had 2 very nice roommates, Faye from Brazil (who considers herself Australian), and Kate from Australia, who encouraged them to go out and see the city instead of staying in the hostel. They met a lot of cool people... most of whom were Australian, and who tried to teach Erin and Sarah about cricket and rugby... and utterly failed.
Today, they head out to Bath... on a bus because they refuse to pay for any more overpriced train tickets. Hopefully there, they will have internet and get to see some interesting roman artifacts. Boobah is also enjoying himself as he watches Europe go by from his seat in Erin's backpack.

Well... we finally left Paris and are now currently in Caen, which is a medium sized town about two hours north of Paris. We found a very nice, inexpensive place to stay last night, and then went out for a meal that included meat and potatoes, and to Erin's chagrin, sauercraut. Yesterday we also visited Versailles which was not looking too attractive because for nearly two years now, they have been doing resteration. The gardens were absolutely spectacular however, and Erin had a fun time wandering around with Boobah. Our "good" luck continued, and we are now digital camera less, and are at the mercy of the cheapest camera Sarah has ever seen despite the fact that it cost nearly 6 euro. Caen was the town of William the conqueror and there are many cool sites to see. In addition, we are next to the Normandy beaches, and plan to do a half day tour of some of the sites when we come back here in a day. Today, we are planning to head out to Granville and Mont St. Michel, which is a really cool church in the middle of the ocean. Boobah enjoyed the train trip through rural France and is excited to go on more trains!!

5/20

Today was a rainy, dreary day in Paris, and we chose to take the day off and relax. This was aided by the fact that most of Paris was shut down because it was a Sunday. Erin still has her cold, which we hope hasn't infected any of our roomates, and Sarah was attacted by some unknown mosquito-like bugs that she's apparently allergic to, but we went to the pharmacy and because France is Socialist it wasn't that expensive. The unlimited metro passes we bought have proven to be useful, as was the umbrella we considered not bringing, they both have kept us out of the rain.
We went back to the louvre, one of the only things that was open, and people watched for a while, commmenting on French culture. We then went and bought authentic French music (rap). Erin broke her camera, so she went and got disposable ones. It was a good day and Boobah got to rest his tired feet before the trio head off on their northern-France adventure for tomorrow.

5/19

Yesterday we went on a massive monument tour. We saw most of the major things that people go to see: eiffel tower, arc de triomphe, notre dame, champs d' elysees, place de la concorde, and many other sights around Paris. We have gotten very used to the metro system, and boobah's battery is holding up much to our despair... we appoligize for the very short post because the keyboard is different in France and thanks to our type to learn skills it is very hard to type coherent sentences. Today we tried for the second time to go to the top of the eiffel tower but the gargantuan line that never seemed to get any shorter once again detered us. We did, however, calculate how much net income the city of Paris made per elevator per day on this one attraction before heading off to the Pantheon. In the Pantheon we saw the graves of France's greats including Voltaire and Rousseau. Boobah was a bit freaked out duiring his time in the tomb, but he managed his way through it. After that, we went to the musee de orsay which used to be a very beautiful palace and its interior modern architecture is a far cry from the splendor it once was. Then we spent the next hour desperatly looking around the shopping quarter of Paris for a gift for Erin's sister. Although asking 10 odd random people for directions to the Longchamp store may have been entertaining on another day, today after miles of trecking around the city boobah's feet were less than amused. Tomorrow we plan on finishing up the sights we planned on seeing before heading to Versailles. Hopefully, tomorrow brings another fun adventure for Boobah (that will include less walking).

5/17

After our 6 hour plane ride to Paris (arriving at 8 am) our hostel didnt open until 3pm and we decided that we should cross some things off our to do list and visit the Louvre at what was 4am our time. Considering we both got middle seats on the plane ride here, we didnt get much sleep and were quite tired. However this did not deter our enthusiasm and we continued takng pictures of boobah in all his favorite places.

Twas the night before...

Ok... well... it's the night before Boobah's big trip to Europe with Sarah and Erin. Boobah right now is sitting on Erin's bed, waiting to get packed up in the backpack that she ended up borrowing from a friend so she wouldn't have to pay for one. Everything is nicely coming together so that we should be ready to leave in about 4 days... Unfortunately, we leave tomorrow... We plan on updating this blog as often as internet cafes or kind hostel owners allow. This trip is meant to document Boobah's grand adventure, and also the antics of his two friends. Our flight leaves tomorrow afternoon, and Erin gets to see her first glimpse of Quebec... an area she's always wanted to visit. From there, it's on to Paris and adventures beyond...