whirling and twirling world...

Not sure why my tolerance has fallen apart so quickly...I mean I did drink a delicious Moretti beer out of a can while walking through the streets of Siena for lunch yesterday. However, during our trip to the Chianti region yesterday, my world started spinning again.

We had a great time touring the Chianti region despite being a part of a large bus tour and sort of grossly took over small towns with our short stops. But, we stopped at two wineries and tasted some fantastic varieties of Chianti, Chianti classico, and other yum yums. It seems a waste to taste and then pour the remainder of the poured wine into a little tub to be tossed out, so I made sure to swish and slurp each lovely drop. The result though was stained red teeth and a whirling world...oh and a receipt for purchasing a few too many bottles to be delivered home (my fiscally conservative wife is extremely excited about that...).

Anyway, the world has slowed down yet again and we've booked another wine tasting tour to the Brunnello region (southern Tuscany where the soils are better for even tastier wines). My fingers are crossed that we...I mean I...don't purchase more wine.

That's all the post that we have time for today. Oh...and I'm really not perpetually drunk on this trip as it may seem from reading these posts...just enjoying myself and good Italian beer out of the can.

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Oh Fiorentina...

After giving Rome a systematic beat down during a two day visit where we essentially saw everything (or at least it felt like it after walking hours upon hours), Paula and I watched Roma receive a beat down by ACF Fiorentina last night. As Paula described in pretty great detail, it had taken a lot to get tickets to the match. Here's why...although I think only 2 of you might care...skip ahead if you don't...

So, each Italian soccer (or calcio) team sells its tickets though different online vendors. The problem is that they don't really sell them online. Instead, you have to buy them in person. Then, say you want to go to the Fiorentina game, but you're in Rome. Well, they won't sell the tickets to people from out-of-town, like Rome...especially if you're trying to buy the tickets in a city that is going to be playing Fiorentina. According to the guy we talked to in the AC Roma team store, the fans will likely get violent to one another. So, you have to buy tickets in Florence in person for the Fiorentina game. Fortunately, it was the first thing we did after arriving in Florence off the train.

Paula and I had spent much of the day wandering around Florence. Yes, we did the Uffizi museum (a well known museum in a horrible building and horrible lighting for a museum) and the Academia museum (not much there except the original David statue, which is pretty amazing). We looked into renting a car (which essentially would have cost our first born) and then mosied over the Boboli gardens. Afterwards, we made our way to the stadio for the match.

The night was spectacular! We started off grabbing a panini and Coke from a street vendor similar to a tail-gate type situation you might find at a Seahawk game. The difference of course was the wild boar laying on the chopping table where they were slicing off fresh, delicious meat for the sandwiches (apparently, with the swine flu outbreak, its a good thing the boar isn't from the Mexico). Then, everyone has to go to their own enterance to keep people organized and separated. In all honesty, the stadio isn't very nice in comparison to any stadium you might find in the states. It's essentially a community field where the team plays. Actually pretty refreshing from US sports where if they don't have a nice stadium they complain and threaten to move the team (or actually move it...bring back the Sonics).

Fiorintina played in their purple home jerseys with gold lettering. Roma was wearing their away whites. I didn't know anyone on the Fiorentina roster at the start of the game but recognized Totti, Baptista, Riise, and Pizzaro off the Roma squad (Pizzaro got a red card in the game). However, Fiorentina played fantastic. They were much more aggressive and strung several series of beautiful passes together. They drew an early goal, and then another, and then another, and finally another. Alberto Gilardino (number 11) had 2 great goals and played a great game overall. As did Stevan Jovetic (number 8) who was perhaps my man of the match. Julio Baptista from Roma put in a late goal to break the shut out, but it was nothing to write home about... The 4-1 result solidified Fiorintina in 4th and Roma in 6th on the Italian Serie A table.

Here's a video of the Fiorentina fan's celebrating after a goal. The guys in front of us were elated and gestured thier pleasure towards the Roma fans...especially the bald guy who was amusing the whole time. You'll notice I turn to the small section of Roma fans (fenced in between barbwire) being pelted and insulted by Fiorentina fans as part of the celebration...

(Back to news about our our actual trip)

Today we took an early bus to Siena. It's a bit rainy, but not too bad. However, the town is small enough that we've been to most places that we're excited to see (we're done with museums and churches now...and that's final. I think we're going to try to tally all of the museums and churches we've been to and add it to our blog in the future). So, we spent about an hour trying to figure out where a restaurant, situated in a cave somewhere outside of town and recommended by my friend Cory, was located. However, that didn't pan out so well.

So, we've booked a tour to Chianti tomorrow to imbibe and celebrate the wine there. The next day, we're looking into booking another tour to south Tuscany to enjoy the wine from that region. Unfortunately, the cost of renting a car and our hope to buy a house when we get back home has prevented us from renting a car and spending true quality time in the towns recommended by everyone that offered advice to us. So, we'll be stuck to visiting via a crowded tour bus full of potentially drunk and poorly behaved Americans. Oh well...

That's all the news for now...talk to you soon.

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These boots AREN'T made for walkin'...

Guest blogger Paula again with another eyewitness report of the most enthralling happenings of Per and Paula. Well, not so much enthralling but here is what I've got...

Since Per sobered up (by the way he forgot to mention that he left the camera at the restaruant when his "world was spinning"...luckily the waiter came running after us) we have made quite a journey. First Crete to athens via overnight not super comfortable ferry, though Per did let me sleep on the couch while he slept first in two rock hard chairs then on the linoleum floor (he's such a good hubbie). Then via plane from Athens to Roma...which was much more comfortable and they even served food and didn't charge us for our checked baggage!! I didn't know airlines did that anymore. Amazing!

Anyway, as we had a half day in Athens before we had to catch our plane, we visited the National Archelogical Museum which was quite impressive though I did feel that I'd seen many of the antiquities before in the smaller museums that we'd visited. We pressed on though and despite sore feet and mushy minds (I am not a museum girl, hard as I try, I'm better outside enjoying natural surroundings) I felt we put in a solid showing at the museum...3 hours is pretty darn good! We also visited a local market, saw some freshly caught fish and freshly cut meat (took picts for Ani...yum yum), visited the Plaka and had one last gyro (oh how I will miss them) and cafe before heading to the airport and a bit more harry potter...love it!

So on to the airport and to Roma! We got into our place, took showers and crashed. to be blunt we both stunk and we're quite tired since we'd been in the same clothes for 2 days with very little sleep. Then, this morning, drill sergeant Per had us up at 0645 and off to the Vatican to start a day of walking, and more walking, and, just to top it off, a little more walking. I wish I had a pedometer! We got appropriately dressed (no shorts or tanks for the vatican...and I even put on a necklace and my new cute red shoes which are Merrils...I know you all thought I put heels on or something didnt you...not so...but they could have used a bit more breaking in before today) and off we went. St Peter's Basilica was amazing! absolutely gorgeous. Really can't be described. I was particularly excited to see the Pieta by Michelangelo which did not disappoint. We again put in a solid hour plus showing (with the assistance of an audio guide to lengthen our stay) before we rushed off to the Vatican Museums. Again...amazing...tons of cool incredible stuff which can't really be described. Definately worth seeing though. I did find it a bit odd that there are a ton of "pagan" works there...Greek and Roman gods and what not which are more beautiful than those in the National museum in Greece...seems a bit wrong to me but that's just my opinion. The rapheal rooms and Sistine Chapel were stunning. Per got some contraband photos of the Chapel but got stopped in the midst of one of his famousn panoramics...it would have been an entire circle.

From the Vatican we did a walking tour of Roma. And, yes, for those concerned, we did stop at the AS Roma store to try and get tickets to the Roma v Fiorentina game on saturday. Oddly enough, the tics are only available in Florenece so we have another soccer related project for tomorrow...woohoo! We also spent a good half our trying to find a specifically recommended gelato place...for those that know Per...you understand. We didn't find it...turns out the address was wrong...but we found a replacement. From there visited the Pantheon...freakin' big dome which makes it totally not conducive to picts...jeez...the forum, spanish steps, trevi fountain and a bunch of other stuff we happened to along the way. We had a nice din din at Campo di Fiori amidst the thunder and lighting (per made the excellent observation that due to the high number of bronze statues around the town it's unlike that you'll be struck by lightening) and then came on back to our place...to check email and learn that our tics to the liverpool match have arrived safely in scotland (thanks lou).

Tomorrow is another big day of visiting the colosseum and palatine, then to florence and the doumo! my red shoes might have to be put away...bring back my tennis shoes!

Happy day to all and much love and special thanks to our parents again for taking care of our animals. kisses and hope that wasn't too boring!

Oh and we can't post photos from the computer we're using. probably a good thing since we probably took 200 today (not joking) and it would probably take too long to figure out what we should include and we're too tired to deal with that at the moment.

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An Unorthodox Easter

This may be our last post for a couple of days since we're staying tonight in Rethymno on Crete and then making our way to Iraklio for a late-night boat back to Athens and then fly to Rome for a couple of packed site-seeing days. Perhaps we'll have a chance to post in Rome, but we'll probably be too tired from circumnavigating the city by foot.

So, here we go...

Paula and I survived Greek Orthodox Easter. It was actually pretty anticlimactic for us as we thought there would be more festivities. The night before easter (the 18th) there was a late-night service that was apparently the place to be seen. We got there plenty early and found a spot in the courtyard outside the church. At some point shortly before the service began, trumpets and drums sounded from the street and a procession of Greek military personell from all the different branches marched in and lined the courtyard, esentially creating a walk way for higher ups to get to church (see photo with the dudes in berets in front of the church). Despite the service taking place inside the church, every time a dignitary showed up they would play a little instrumental piece and then stand at attention. Quite the ordeal and an interesting blend of church and state.

At the end of the service, the pastors/priests/internet-reverends (whatever they're called) walk out with their banners and a candle. They then light the dignatary's candles who in turn light the lay person's candles and it spreads through the crowd like that (see photo of Paula with her candle lit). Sort of cool... Then, the head pastor/priest/etc. kisses the dignataries and all is pretty much done. At that point, we're told that everyone goes out to eat, since they've gone 40 days (in theory) without eating meat, and there's a lot of fireworks (we were thinking 4th of July style). However, the fireworks were little more than 12 year old boys lighting things that went 'bang.'

The next day was another service that Paula and I decided to skip. We thought there would be more festivities However, all the restaruants had lamb roasted on a spit. Each taverna and restaruant had their own spit and their own lamb. Here's where our Easter became a little less orthodox...

Paula and I decided to try a cute taverna away from the marina that had their own lamb on a spit. Since I try essentially anything that is 'Greek' or 'Cretan' cuisine (the mountain snails aren't really worth trying, FYI), of course I had to try the easter lamb. Our meal was great. We had a Chania Salad (essentially a Greek salad with local feta-like cheese "masithra" - I think its feta from goats that have a large wildflower diet, so its seasonal), lots of bread with local olive oil, Paula had a chicken souvlaki, and washed it all down with a liter of their home-made barrel red wine (see photo). According to Paula, we both drank essentially the same amount of red wine. However, I find that claim to be hog wash...cause my world was beginning to turn... Then they brought out the raki (remember the Cretan moonshine - see Photo). I killed the raki at the expense of my sobriety and pretty sure I might have tipped them handidly. Because of our meal and more imporantly the beverages we enjoyed, I had to spend a few hours in bed, which sort of ended our Easter rather abruptly.

Today was a new day though, and I feel terrific...thanks for asking. We drove to the head of the Samaria Gorge (longest Gorge in Europe at 16 km). Paula really wanted to hike it, but its closed until mid- to late-May from what we understand. However, the drive was great in our cute lil' Toyota Aygo. Now we're in Rethymno, which is not all that great after Hania (or Chania). Rethymno is a college town surrounded by resorts along the coast. So, there's plenty of people and lots of tavernas, but Paula and I would probably prefer to be in Hania another night. No complaints though.

Tomorrow begins the long slog back to Athens arriving by boat at 5AM the following morning. We'll have a half day in Athens to catch the Athens Archeaological Museum before heading to airport. We'll arrive in Rome later that night and prepare for Rome in 1 day. It's totally going to work, don't worry about it...

So until then, I hope this post didn't bore you to death. We're both sober and healthy. We'll chat again soon...

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Overwhelming Response...(NOW WITH PHOTOS!!)

Thanks to all that posted their recommendations to our blog for where we SHOULD NOT go in Italy. Looks like we had the exact thoughts as the majority of you... The only thing we were sort of excited about in Venice was taking a gondola ride. But, I think we'd prefer to spend more time in Florence and Cinque Terra. So, that's settled. Thanks again.

Also, apparently we didn't have the blog open to comments (thanks Merry). We heard that several people had wanted to comment but it wouldn't allow you to, so we've fixed that. Sorry...

Now, we've had a busy day and its only going to get busier. This morning Paula and I wolk up early (7am bus...she's like a drill sergeant) and we caught a bus to the start of the Imbros Gorge (see photo). We had wanted to hike the Samaria Gorge, but that's still closed from the rains this past winter. It'll open up next month apparently. The Imbros Gorge was beautiful though and Paula and I had it to ourselves since we left so freakin' early. The plus side is that we were back to Hora Skafion where we had stayed the night and parked our car by 11am. Getting a good 13 km in by noon is pretty productive.

Then we mosied up to Hania (2nd largest town on Crete) where we're in a freakin' adorable pension . It's in a really old (14th century) venitian building in 'Old Town' right next to the marina (see photo of the view from our terrace in Hania). We grabbed lunch, walked around a bit, and found the Greek Orthodox Church where we're going to an 11pm Easter service tonight which goes till midnight. After that, apparently there's fireworks and everyone goes out to eat since they've been avoiding meat for 40 days. Then, tomorrow morning, there's a second Easter service from 8am to 10am that we'll go to as well.

That's about all that we've got planed so far. However, now we have some work planning our trip to Italy in a couple days. Thanks for all your thoughts, seriously.

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New Poll is Up...

Hey folks,
We're again soliciting thoughts on what we can skip in Italy. We don't have enough time to see everything we were hoping without just doing drive-bys at each place. So, please share your thoughts in our poll (see the right hand side of the blog).

Thanks again.
p&p

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Guest Appearance by Paula

Hello all, this is Paula, my first "guest appearance" on the blog. (Per said I coundn't check email unless I blogged. If only I had tricia lenssen's creative writing skills I'd be more up to the task. Neveretheless, I'll try not to bore you.)

So here it goes...

Since last Per wrote, we have watched 4 more soccer games and spent another 2+ hours on the internet trying to obtain tics to the Liverpool v Newcastle football match. Have no fear, they were obtained and are being shipped to scotland as we speak. (note, the immediate task after I finish is to spend another 5 bazillion hours on the computer trying to get Roma v Fiorentia tics...per tried calling fromt the cave of Zeus's birth but to no avail...He is persistent though and I don't doubt he will prevail...not even Zeus can stop him!)

Anyway, as for the rest of our trip...

We left Iraklio, barely making it out of the tiny streets unscathed in our mini rental (which gets remarkable gas mileage I must say.) Per evaded walls and cars and went the wrong way down one way streets numerous times while I cried and panicked in the passenger seat. Honestly he did great...I would have crashed! Then we headed to the east side of Crete. Went first to where Zeus was born, a big cave up on a beautiful plateau in the mountains. Per though it would be funny to have picts of him taken being "born" in the cave...if I could post them I would. The cave (Dikteon) had lots of stalagtites, mites and a little pond. Apparently was a place of cult worship at one point because of it's association with Zeus.

We wandered from there around the the towns surrounding Lasithi plateau. It was once a rich farming area with 20,000 windmills on the plain. Now many of the towns are in disrepair though quite quaint and cute in their own way. Seems to be quite the potato farming area now as all the abandoned building are full of spoiling potatoes...not sure what that is all about but interesting nevertheless.

We drove for a long time then around the eastern side of Crete and despite the moratorium on ruins, stopped at Lato which is a Dorian site. I fought glondor in the circle of death, won easily of course, we watched a goat stand on his hind legs and eat olives and decided we'd seen enough of Lato and headed on to Myrtos for lunch. Thus far, this lunch was my worst...8+ (I know I'm prone to exaggeration but this is not one) cats surrounded us the second we got our food. One stared at me through my whole meal but I had to resist the temptation to feed them because the last time I did that I got bitten and thought I might get rabies. It was hard, they looked sad and hungry...honestly, there are a lot of cats in greece and to that point they'd all looked very well taken care of.

We ended up that nigh in Zaros, a pleasant mountain town where we stayed in a super cute tradition pension. The owner was lovely...spoke rapidly in greek constantly...we nodded and smiled. Went for dessert at the place she recommend (just dessert mind you because we had a large late lunch)...a little more miscommunication and we ended up with 3 side dishes, a large salad, bread, and 3 or 4 main dishes....our tummies were quite full. then came the raki (traditional liquor of Crete...basically moonshine.) Per and I were doing our best to take it down with smiles on our faces when, low and behold, the TV popped on behind us and you'll never guess what channel it got turned to...wait...try and guess...yep...go ahead...that's right CHAMPION'S LEAGUE!! woohoo! Ended being quite fun as we watched the game and chatted with a couple of the people our age that live in the village. they were a lot of fun and it gave us a lot of extra time to finish the Raki...unfortunately when you finish, unbenownst to us...they just bring you more. In the morning we had another copius cretian meal, which was delicious, and headed to Rouvas Gorge to work off some of the massive calories we'd consumed. It was a fun hike, lots of cute goats and beautiful scenery.

Per wants me to stop writing now...getting too long...and he needs the computer to find tickets, so quickly. We spent the rest of that day at the beach listening to Harry Potter (that's right, you all know I love it). Saw some nude folks enjoying themselves. Sorry mom, Per and I did not partake in the nudity...I know you are disappointed with us. Forgive us. Today has been another mainly beach day as well. Went to Prevali Beach after visiting the the Preveli Monastary which has a rich history of being a center of resistance in Crete, both against the Turks in the early 1800s and again during WWII where the monks (armed in both cases with major weaponry...monks + guns = sweetness) helped allied forces escape the Germans. The beach was fab. It is at the base of a gorge with a palm forest and freshwater stream flowing into it. I stuck a toe in the water, a first (way too cold for me) and per enjoyed his hammock (thanks mom and dad).

Ok, that was long. we're off to hike some more tomorrow and then we'll enjoy Greek easter! much love to all

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Ruined Out...

We arrived in Crete yesterday after a bumpy ferry ride. This morning, Paula and I went to Knossos, the largest palace of the Minoan civilization. It's pretty crazy that these folks showed up about 6,700 BC (or something) and then disappeared about 3,500 years ago. One of the thoughts is that they disappeared as a result of the volcano eruption that shaped Santorini. However, after visiting that ruin and then the archaeological museum here in Iraklio, Paula and I are about spent with old rocks and portions of frescoes. Tomorrow, we're heading to the cave where Zeus was reportedly born. Since that's quick trip and we'll get a bit of a hike out of it, we're going to see that mythological 'ruin,' but after that I think we're putting a moratorium on old stuff. We need more beaches and mountains. The car we've rented should help us get out and about.

Paula is getting a little perturbed with me...tonight is the Champions Cup matches and we're surrounded by tavernas (restraunts) that will be showing the games. She thinks all we're doing is watching soccer on the trip, which is not entirely true. Oh, and today we spent about 3-4 hours trying to figure out how to buy tickets to the Newcastle v Liverpool and Fiorintina v Roma matches while we're in England and Italy. Haven't had much luck on that front yet, but I'm working on it.

This could be our last post for a couple days since there's likely not much internet in these small Cretan towns that we'll be staying at. I'm also trying to figure out how to post some of our photos to the blog. Until then, toodles.

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Poll Outcome and Brief Update

As I sit here in an internet cafe drinking a Mythos beer and watching the Barcelona game, I am pleased to say that with your help we have decided to head south, to Crete. We were hoping to combine a couple options by taking a ferry to Crete to the Peloponnese Peninsula and head to napfolio. However, due to our booked flight to Rome on the 22nd and Greek Orthodox Easter shutting everything down in Greece on the 19th, this is out of the question. So, we'll live it up in Crete and enjoy greek easter and its red egg until we have to head to the mainland for our flight.

As for what we're up to now, well we're in Santorini staying in a cute little pension (room for rent) that has a shared terrace that overlooks the island's caldera. For those of you who don't know, this island is the sight of perhaps the world's largest volcano eruption. Now, the island is essentially just the outer rim (crescent shaped) of what was a pretty good size round island. We spent most of today on one of the black sand beaches, although Paula and I just got done enjoying a take out gyoro's and a bottle of local red wine from our shared terrace. Tomorrow we take a boat trip around the island, stopping at a couple small volcanic islands in the center of the caldera to swim in the hot springs and have some lunch. On Monday, we'll head to Crete.

It's seems like such a long time since we left home although its only been a little over a week. For those of you who don't know, the Greek islands and Greece itself it seems, is covered in dogs and cats. I asked a person here if there's any Greek person alergic to cats or dogs, but they either didn't know what I was asking or they thought it stupid question because of course the Greek aren't alergic. Either way, it's made us think about our cats and pooch a lot. Yes, we love our animals. We also VERY much love our parents who are jointly looking after them while we're gone. Thank you so much for everything, familia.

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Choose Our Own Adventure

Paula has given me perhaps 10 different itineraries on where we should go for the next 10 or so days we have to spend in Greece. The problem is that there's too much to see. I mean, do we want to spend much of our time traveling around the Peloponnese penisula and see places like Napflio (Matt Diggs, Patricia Lenssen, and Joel/Denice Saxman loved it), make our way to the Ionian Islands to see Kephelonia (Mike/Katie Matesky loved it so much and their photos were beautiful), or go to Crete (a HUGE island with reportedly the friendlist people, located further south with warmer weather, and Zeus was born in a cave there). See what I mean? Too many choices.

So, we're taking our dilemna to you... Please vote in our pole on the right-hand side of our blog.

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Mykonos

Paula and I are enjoying our last day here on the island Mykonos before catching a ferry to the Santorini tomorrow. The weather has turned for the better for at least a couple days, so Paula is down at the beach now and I'm soon to follow.

Mykonos is beautiful with the main town (hora) of narrow, meandering streets. It makes for a confusing walk sometimes. All the buildings throughout Mykonos are white washed walls and roofs with typically blue windows. Very greek and beautiful. We found a great cafe along the waterfront where we could have dinner and desert while watching the Champions League games over the past two nights, so not much more I could ask for.

Yesterday, Paula and I took a day trip to Delos, a small island in the center of the Cyclades that is where Apollo and Artemis were born according to legend. For a long time, Delos was considered the center of Greek religion and culture. There were huge statues and temples on the small island to all sorts of gods and dates back to 8th century B.C. (although the first on the island dates to 3rd Millenium B.C. When the Romans took control of the island, around 200 BC, they turned it into a major port and its esimtated that 10,000 slaves were sold out of the port each day.

When we were in Boston, Paula and I talked about how great the history there was and what it was like to walk the Freedom Trail where Paul Revere rode. However, when you get to a place like Greece and explore sites like the Acropolis and and Delos, its such a long history that its hard to even appreciate fully without a better understanding of Greek mythology and the different civilizations that have lived here. Nevertheless, its very beautiful and interesting.

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Whirl Wind Tour

Yesterday, we landed in Athens after a 10 hour flight from JFK and officially began a whirl-wind tour of Athens around noon (Greek time). One thing we realized, is that Greece is not always hot and warm. Unfortunately, we havent' spent much of our time in anything but 2-3 jackets and our rain coats. Hopefully, we'll be able to wear those shorts and sandles we brought.

Athens is a huge city of about 3 million, but most of the city is essentially concrete apartments and communities that have sprung up since the 1970's. So, we spent all our time in the historic part of town where many of the ruins are within walking distance. Paula found a self-guided walking tour off Rick Steve's website that we decided to try out. It's designed for a full day of sight seeing, which we further compacted into 5 hours. Without boring you of all the details of our tour, we ended up seeing the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Roman Agora (essentially the Roman town square) and the Temple of the Winds, Hadrian's Library, the Ancient Agora and the Acropolis of course. We enjoyed winding through the streets and taking everything in until the time difference caught up with us...we then took a 3 hour nap...oops!

We thought we'd try to get an authentic Greek dinner while in Athens. We shared a greek salad, Paula had a bowl of fish soup (essentially a full cod broiled with potatoes and carrots), and I enjoyed octopus in wine. The dishes weren't much to look at and our experience with Greek cuisine wasn't exactly like Anthony Bourdain's. However, we're unfazed and will try again.

Now, we're here on Mykonos in the Greek Islands. Despite the gray and cloudy weather, it's beautiful. We're excited to get to know the town and explore the island a bit over the next couple of days.

That's all for now from the McJohnson Times.

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A little wetter than expected...

We've been in Boston now for about 24 hours and our trip has started off a little wetter than expected. After seeing our good friends Drew and Kelli last night, the four of us went over to Eirik and Heidi's house to see them and our new nephew, Skye Roger Johnson. He's super cute (has Heidi's mouth and Eirik's nose, and Eirik's propensity of wetting himself).

Today, Paula and I dinked around town and walked part of the Freedom Trail. The history of this town is pretty amazing, although we were dripping wet since it happens to be raining. I just assumed it was sunny everywhere but Seattle. However, we're drying up now in time to grab Indian food for Paula's birthday.

After that, more Skye time!

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Packing

We're supposed to be packing right now; however, Holland v Macedonia is on and obviously a huge distraction. Paula's pretty much already packed (over achiever). Last minute laundry, packing, errands, cleaning, and cuddling our pooch is pretty much what we've got planned for the rest of the day though. Tomorrow night we'll be in Boston visiting our friends Drew and Kelli and getting to see Eirik, Heidi, and our new nephew (Skye). Very exciting...

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