Berlin

We almost lost the ugly hat today....It blew away from its owner about 2 this afternoon...best part of the day..seeing James run after his hat...did I stop to help him...of course not...I stopped to take a picture of the hat escaping...

sad sad thing

I can't express how sad I am...I'm done with another book...geez...here is the list
Well I started with Jane Eyre (what a fabulous book...story...movies...Im an addict if you didn't know...I own about 7 versions of the movie...its bad...really bad), then I read the abridged Count de Monte Cristo (whoo hoo for that, the real book is bigger than the bible), then I read Sense and Sensibility (ah, girly books!!), then I tried to read In Cold Blood (but since the book was so bad, I gave up and donated it to the hostel in Rome, should any fool want to read it...I wouldn't wish that book on anyone...its right up there with Conrad...and we all know that I just love him....heart of bloody darkness is the bane of my existence)...moving on, I read the Historian (very good...very cool and very fast), then I read Kiss the Girls (James recommendation...not bad..fast and easy...not a lot of thought involved...nice), after that I read Dracula (I got this far in life without reading that story...and somehow I now wished I hadn't...its any wonder Ive never heard of another Stoker book *even though he wrote at least two others*...Dracula is just boring as a book...really dull...good movie though) after that I had to buy two more books...I'm a reading machine on this trip...I almost wish I hadn't read all of the Peabody mysteries...that would have made excellent trash novels for the trip (I'm not saying the books are trash...I'm saying that they are easy thoughtless reading material...geez...I'm cynical this evening) 7 books in 5 countries...wow...i must be bored on the trains

Prague

Okay...so I really can't speak Czeck..German..Dutch...Danish...hummm how am I to survive...We just finished our stay in Prague..which was really quite nice..and thankfully because of the mass amounts of tourists the Czechs speak a lot of English...whoo hoo...Don't I feel dumb for never learning a foreign language! (the joke is on you, if you thought I could speak french...) We had a nice enough time, we got shipped off from one hostel (crappy Italian hotel!!! and the hotel manager was a jerk!!!) to a really nice hotel closer to the central part of the old town...I guess it was luck...We walked around the old city most of the time, and we climbed the mountain to get to the castle...(I still can't figure out what attracts James to massive hills). I had a good time though but that could have been the massive quantities of beer, that we insisted on drinking...did you know that the Czechs consume more beer than any other nationality...hummm I would too at 99 cents per PINT!!! oh wait...I did....hehe....Other than the occasional refreshment, we did see some art...some not a lot...much to my disappointment...a rather nice Muncha exhibit and a Dali print exhibit....(have a soap box, against the Dali exhibit but James says I'm being a snob...so I wont bore you with it...but the Dali exhibit wasn't even worth the money...geez if I wanted to see prints of his works...Ill buy a book!!! okay I'm better now) Other than that and the weird guy from Amsterdam on the train...Prague was fun and relaxing...exactly what I look for in a vacation spot....oh and in cause I forget...the Prague Dixieland Band...was...well unique...I had to restrain James from buying a CD...We you get the chance...I believe Thank yous are in order..because I just saved your souls from torture...

Venice

Hello all of you
This is my new home!! Leave me here! Despite the tourists and the pigeons (the rats in this city!)...this is truly a cool place! There is not much to say about Venice that hasn't been said...but i will say this I'm going back for a more serious art excursion...James got tried of going from church to church in Rome so as a nice reprieve we stuck mainly to the big areas and the buildings...BORING....but i love him....We had an awesome B and B, with this fabulous girl running the show...Amanda (American from New York) and her baby Giacomo (James in Italian)...I think we hit it off nicely...it was nice to have someone other than James to talk too...don't get me wrong..James and i are never boring together...but ever once and a while a girl-talk is nice...and holding her baby boy makes me miss my nephew Cooper so much...The kid is going to be crawling by the time I get home!! Ah I miss everyone!!

All my love

jeannie

Ps the Prague train at night was crappy!! Between the stupid Americans next to us (I never thought I would say this, but I am amazed they made it this far in Europe, truly dumb, so dumb that the Italian talking to them, came up to James and said ªYour friends not so brightª...and James replied ªNot my friendsª) and it must be my dumb luck, because between James snoring and the Japanese girl snoring (OH MY GOD) I didn't sleep...

Roma

Hey Guys and Girls!!
I'm so sorry that its been so long...I'm in love with Italy despite the funky Italian boys...We arrived in Roma, somewhat early...and stayed in a funky retro outfitted hostel..all they were missing was the shag carpet...The boys that ran the hotel were really sweet Italians (well one was Italian, the other moved to Italy via New York via Israel) I'm in love with these kids!! They did everything they could to be friendly and helpful...I need to email them and send the photo of James stuck in the elevator!! Our first couple of nights were rough because James got sick again...this time just worse than Florence...he has his deep voice again (according to the boys, he was practicing for Italy, with his Mafia voice) I am upset about one thing though...No Vatican Museum again this time...(damn the tourists!! the line was backed up TWO MILES and the other time we tried to go, the guards said it was closed, NOT FOR ANOTHER THREE HOURS...I want to say something nasty about him but I don't want my mother email me about my language!! although if Mom was there she would have said something nasty too) So again no chapel on this trip...I did however get to see some fabulous Bernini, Caravaggio and I dragged (literally) to see Julius tomb and Moses...Poor James...bored again...oh and sad news I am not sharing any of the twelve scarves I now own....its an addiction....a bad addiction

Hope you are all well!
All my love

jeannie

Stuck in Europe

Hey....I'm sorry that its been over two weeks since the last note...I have to much to tell...We have been to Roma, Venice, and now in Prague...which thankfully has the internet! So hopefully after James updates the SOM people, I can get back on and write more information....

All my love! and I hope this finds you healthy and missing me!

Jeannie

Roma II

If i forgot to mention how bad my Italian is, let me take this opportunity right now...On one of the nights James was sick in Rome, he sent me out for food...okay in all fairness, he went out for take out when i was nasty sick in Florence, but somehow I still don't think this was fair of him...our location in Rome was crappy, we were by the train station...and sick James told me not to be long because he would worry about me the whole time...So I went to the McDonald's in the train station (close and cheap, so lets just pass it off this one time...I hate McDonald's) My Italian must be horrible or the chick behind the counter was just mean, because I order a number 3 and a number 5...I got THREE NUMBER FIVES...witch....I don't eat your crappy hamburgers!!!! ug...so that's my Italian...truly bad...