Barton Bro's Unite!!!

After 6 long years, it has finally happened. The planets have aligned and made is possible for Derek, Kurt , and Jeff to be together again. We had a great night sharing some good memories.

And yes, I now am officially the smallest of the three... but I think I still weigh most.

Europe #3 - Firenze and Roma

Next we visit Florence, the home of the works of the Medici. So there was this mega powerful and rich family that gathered some of the greatest minds and art from Western Europe. The result, a great vacation spot.

We made our way to church there and it was really fun. Spanish and Itialian are very similar, so it wasn't too hard to understand the talks (one talk paralleled the holy ghost to a car GPS - clever)

David at the Accademia was too cool! He totally lived up to the hype and our expectations. Michelangelo was the man!

Here was a huge plaza that had some cool art in it.

To all the ice cream lovers of the world, feast your eyes upon the Gelato capitol of the world! Gelato truly is an edible art form given to man for pure gluttany.

Here is Katie over the South Florentine River.

**We now enter Roma**

This is just inside St. Peter's Basilica. Just as you enter and you turn to the right, you get to behold was Katie considers Michelangelo's greatest work, his Pietá. Bellisimo!

Here is Piaza de San Pietro right in front of the Vatican / St. Peter's.

Next we made our way to the Spanish steps. They had these corny gladiator dudes that would take pictures for a price. Luckily, we snagged a pic and walked away without him noticing.

At the Trevi Fountain

At the Colesseum.

This was the saddest part of our Europe trip. We found a cool restaurant by the Pantheon and it served great food. I got a Pepper pasta. It had the most intense flavor, so much that I couldn't finish the dish. This would be the only time that I left food on my plate. Sad day.

Now we're at the Vatican Museum. "Something in this picture doesn't belong..." We later saw the Sistine Chapel. Stunning!

Here we are at Piazza Navona. Tons of street artists and performers and gelato.

Well, we did a lot of other stuff and saw some great art, but we can't post it all. Rome was so much fun, but our favorite destination is coming up next - Cinque Terra...

Europe #4 - Cinque Terra

Here is the last leg of our Trip - Cinque Terra (=Five Lands). It is a series of 5 small towns that are on the western coast of Italy. They are part of a National Park, so there are no cars, and no craziness. This is the place we were at on July 27 for our 1 year anniversary!

We bought snorkling gear for way cheap and went swimming in the pebbly coast. We met a cool family from Holland and went diving with them.

Here is the town of Vernazza, where we stayed for 2 nights.

Here is our 1 year anniversary dinner. We had some great pasta and salads.

Katie's chowing down the gelato.

That evening we took a walk from one town to another - it was called the "Via del Amore".

Every day we had pasteries with jogurt. Delish!!

Snorkling Garb.

Behold the Foccacia and Calzone!

Here's Ms. Hotness herself.

Here's the second town we stayed at called Manarola.

After staying there, we took a train to Paris and then flew home, to where we are today. All in all, Europe was too cool! It was so much fun and it helped us appreciate the US, carpet, and standard air conditioning. If anyone is up for doing the same kind of trip, don't hesitiate to call us cause we'd love to talk about it. Party on!

Europe Post #2

Hereàs the next set of pictures.

Our next adventures...

Here is the the castle of Neuschwanstein, which Disney used as the model for the Sleeping Beauty Castle. It was so beautiful inside and out, but we got soaked!

Sporting some attractive Austrian Hats.

Katie fell in love with the massive sugar pretzel donuts in Salzburg.

In Salzburg Austria we hopped on the Official Sound of Music Tour. It was amazing.

Here we are 16 going on 17

Here's Katie in front of the Belvedere Palace. This is near an area where her dad served as a misisonary.

We traveled from Vienna to Venice in a night train. In our little room there were 6 couchettes. The others were filled with Koreans. We ended up talking about American movies and pop culture for a long time.

Here's a pic of us on the Rialto Bridge. It had a great view of the canal and gondolas.

Here's a shot of our first authentic Gelato. Words can't describe how good it tastes.

He is a shot of the venetian streetway, aka, the rivers! It was a beautiful little town. Imported sideways. sorry

Made it to Europe!!!

Hello all. We#ve made it to Europe in one piece and weäre loving it. Here are some pics.

First - Paris
We had a great time in Paris amid all of the hectic people, rushing and bustling. One of our most memorable events was finishing our pizza dinner, getting a crepe with nutella, and walking to the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was all lit up blue with flashing lights. That was cool. Versallies was incredible too. There was so much art and golden stuff. The gardens were massive!

We put some audio tours on the iPod and weäd listen as we walk. On the side of the Notre Dame Cathedral.

the Pizza in Paris was soooo good. the mozarella cheese was delish.

At the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versallies.

In front of the Gardens at Versallies.

At the Orsay Museum.

In front of the Louvre

This goes out to all of the coldplay fans. Viva la Vida!

The Arc de Triumf

Next - Bern Switzerland

Bern was too cool. It is the captial citz of Switzerland, but there wasnät a lot going on there. It was quiet and serene. It was fun to stroll the streets and go people watching. We attended church here too, after we got lost for about 2.5 hours. The little branch was so cool. One of the american sister missionaries translated for us. Das is gut! We spent the rest of sunday chillin at the hostel watching the Nadal Federrer duel. You could rent bikes for free too, so we biked all over the town.

This was a Saturday night in Bern. All of the older men from the town gather and play chess. We met a nice man named Hans here. He told us of all of the hot spots in Bern.

Up on a hill that looks over the town: The Rose Garden.

We got bikes for free and cruised the town. Here Katie is in front of the baby eating town Ogre. click on it and zoom in. Funny!

Next was Lauterbrunnen and Gimmelwald Switzerland

The alps were soooo big!! We were taken back at the sights and sounds of the moutain ranges. The grass and trees had such a dark beatiful green to them. Every little home had flowers out in front and they were all so friendly.

Here was our view of the city of Lauterbrunnen. It was gorgeous!

We ate some of this "beer" one night. It was too good and very addicting.

here is a pic from the top of the shilthorn Mountain. Incredible. They filmed the James bond movie In Her Majesties Service here.

Now - Ruette, Tirol, austria.

We love austria first becuase of the cheap prices. We are in a great little town called Ruette. Last night we ate Goulash soup, and today we had some wienersnitchels. So tasty. Tomorrow we plan on visitng the Neuschwanstein Castle, which is the one Disney based its castles off of. Weßre loving it so far.

We are now in a little city called Ruette, Austria. We hiked up a mini mountain this morning to go to an old castle.

That´s it for now. We hope to post again in a week or so. Party on! (send money please! the Euro blows)