France, Slovenia, and Switzerland

Comments later... I can+t wait any longer to go outside and see them!

Switzerland

OK, so I'm alive. It's been hard to find internet and I've been really busy, but I'm staying in hostels again and shouldn't have so much of a problem.

When I left Paris I headed down to Toulose, France to try to visit an old neighbor from Thompson (who I never had met in Thompson) and to see the Tour De France. My train got in early and since the internet or call center was not open yet I headed to the down where the Tour was having time trials. Before many racers had begun it started to rain heavily. One guy even slipped coming right out of the start gate, which was pretty heartbreaking to see. He limped to the bike so I can't imagine that he did too well. That's what he gets for not mountain biking more and getting some handling skills! Right?

So after I walked between the start and finish lines I headed back to Toulouse and soon made my way to dinner with that neighbor and some friends. The next day we went to see a castle. It was perched high up on a cliff and actually consisted of four towers. This tower is one of many that existed as a refuge during a crusade by the christians to wipe them out.

From here I headed to Ljubljana, Slovenia and met up with a friend of my fathers. I spent the day riding around town and getting a feel for the place. Later that night I met up with his older son and we went out partying in town. Ljubljana is a medium sized city that has lots of charm. The next day I took a train to another town and visited Postonja cave. You actually take a small train deep into the cave and then walk for over a mile. It was spectacular and very different.

Then I headed up to the Slovenian National Park Triglav. I went hiking here, saw some neat waterfalls, partied in the small town, and spent a day climbing with some cool Germans.

Yesterday morning I arrived in Zurich and after wandering through that city and seing its sights I came to Interlaken. This place is made for me. It is in the shadow of the Eiger and Jungfrau. I went for a hike to the top of one ridge and when that took a lot less time than I thought I also went to Grindelwald and watched the sun set on the Eiger. There were even some crazy mofos who were on the place because their lights came on when it got dark.

Leaving Paris...

I'm heading down to Toulouse on a night train tonight. Pete is making a nice summary of our trip together here. http://peytah.blogspot.com/ Sorry this is short but I've spent most of my time making plans.

Seeyall,
Eric

In Paris...

Jus checking in quick o le you know I'm in Paris, really like i here, and I spent a marahon 12 hour day in the Louvre. I was great. Onvce again the internet is horrible here so that''s it for an update. www.louvre.fr

A method to the madness... maybe...

I went to Innsbruck, Austria and spent a day there with Pete before I took a night train back to Florence to go to the Uffizi Gallery. I spent a whole day there after I finally got in and saw some great classical art. Later that night I took a train to Rome and met up with Kevin again. We weren´t able to get a reservation on the train we wanted so we had to leave a bit earlier the next afternoon than I had hoped. We still had plenty of time to wander through the center of the city and see many and it really was everything I hoped it would be! The colleseum was especially exciting and I´m really looking forward to going back to spend a day in the Vatican Museum. So we took a train all night to get to Ghent, Belgium and are with my friends Matt and Kelsey for a few days enjoying the exceptionally weird Ghent Festival. Having a great time and finally found some internet to let you know what's up. None of mine, but I will have some good pics as well:

Innsbruck:

Scloss Ambras in Innsbruck:

The halls of the Uffizi:

A michelangelo painting that I really liked in person:

5000 people a year were _____ here. Fill in the blank.

The main stage at the festival:

Some New Pictures...

Yeah, I thought so too...

Out of the mountains...

Out of the mountains now and had a second to start this post. We spent a couple of days outside of Rovereto, Italy and a couple of days in the Dolomites. When I find some better internet I will have some great pictures and some stories, so check back.

Suprise

So, there is a LOT of rain all through the Alps, so we decided to head south to Venice. Pete and I will be headed back to the Alps to climb on Thursday night through Sunday morning. In the meantime Venice is just a wonderfully different world and we've done alot of walking again. I was actually suprised by how clean the water looks and even though the city in general looks pretty run down, it still manages to be charming. We went out to Murano to see the famous glass works today. Some great things there, maybe a gift or two? Here are some quick downloads...

Bergen:

Fjords:

Venice:

Still having a great time and I don't miss you at all yet... ;-) Love, Eric

Quick Update...

We made it Stuttgart yesterday night and met up with Pete. He took us out in town with some local friends of his. He lived here for a summer so he knows the place pretty well. We are spending the night here again tonight and then heading to a town outside of Salzbourgtomorrow to do some hiking. Still enjoying everything and staying REAL busy.

We went to a bunch of museums in Amsterdam and Den Haag over the last couple of days. The highlight was probably the Van Gogh museum. It told his life story very well and I ws suprised how little I had known of the details.

Maybe someday I will find internet where I can download some pictures. Look forward to those!

Cheers, let me know if anything is new in CT,
Eric

Just letting you know we are still alright

As the title says...

We are headed to the Netherlands tonight and should be meeting up with Pete later in the week. He is going to be our guide through Germany. Hope everything has been well. Leave a note to say hi.

Eric