Kerry and Kristin's trip to Europe

Well this is everyone's lucky day...3 entries in one day! The internet facilties at our hostel are fantastic, (not free, but relatively cheap)so we've been able to go on twice today. Like Kerry mentioned before, this is by far the nicest place we've stayed at yet (and one of the cheapest too...only 18 Euros a night!). We're in a 4-bed room with a really friendly young couple (about our parents' ages ) from Quebec, the beds are comfortable, bathroom facilities are nice, and there is a common kitchen.

We ate out tonight at a Thai restaurant, which was delicious; Geneva is very internationally orientated and reminds us a lot of back home! As Kerry also mentioned I believe, French is the official language, but English is also very widely spoken. So Kerry's fluency in French has come in handy, and it is also a very nice change to be able to speak in English and have most people understand you!
As well, after having our first Swiss chocolate bar (which was amazing), a 1 Euro cappuccino, and finding discount shoe places (typically unheard of here!), we yet discovered why exactly Switzerland is thus far our favourite country...

This is what it looks to be...we found our first European Starbucks; it has a been a good day to say the least. I won't tell you what we paid for our coffees, but in our minds, it was a good investment! Other than the great coffee, it felt good to sit in a oversized chair and chat; it was a familiar environment in what has been for the last week and a half, a very, very unfamiliar environment. Anyways, it's off to bed for us! Write again tomorrow. Take care and Bon Soir!
xoxo Kristin & Kare

It has been really nice reading all of your comments and hearing that people are enjoying our journal. We're doing our best to keep it up every day, and we love hearing from you allso please feel free to comment or email us beacause we love hearing from you all!
You can comment right on the page on the site or email either of us!
Kristin - kristin_canby@hotmail.com
Kerry- kerry.paterson@hotmail.com

Miss you lots,
-Love Kerry and Kristin

Ciao from Florence! So today is our first (and only) full day in the absolutely beautiful city of Firenze. We were extremely exhausted yesterday and were both in bed by 9pm. We woke up around 9am, to the sounds of a man belting out an Italian opera in the piazza not far from our hostel. You know you're in Italy when! We were out the door around 10am, and went to explore the covered market (because it was raining..again!) Afterwards, we ventured over to a small cafe where we had our first cappuccino and fruit danish. Though, we had to drink awkwardly standing up because they charge you double the price of whatever you bought just to sit down! But the coffee was good, so that's what matters!
The sun finally came out around noon and we headed over to the ''marceto chentrale" (central market); it was made up of hundreds of small venders, selling everything from jewelery, clothing, and lots of little replicas of the statue of David. We did a bit of souvenier shopping and then headed over to the indoor market which reminded us a lot of Granville Island! It had a fish market, meat stands, bakery, and lots of fruit and veggies. We were able to grab some bananas and oranges which really hit the spot and was much better than eating yet another protein bar..or spending €6 on a sandwhich!
We got our second serving of Gelato and enjoyed sitting and people watching in one of the main piazza, piazza d'repubblica. Everything here is just so Italy!
Anyways, we don't have many plans for the rest of the day..will probably grab dinner in a couple hours and then hopefully will do some more sightseeing! We're leaving for Venice tomorrow, so hopefully will be able to connect once we're there! Take care for now.
Lots of love, Kristin & Kerry

So we were up at 9:00am today, checking out of our hostel bright and early and getting ready to head to Venice. It would be no understatement to say that neither Kristin nor I were ready to leave the beautiful city of Rome or the new friends we had made there. But we caught our first Eurorail train of the trip and it was quite the adventure in and of itself. Turns out we ended up getting off at the wrong stop in Florence, and long story short, after a bus ride into the city and an hour and a bit of walking around aimlessly ( with huge backpacks on I might add) we found the hostel. Only to find that the hostel we were at had moved. So we waited fo 20 mins until the owner came to find us and walk us another 20 mins to the right hostel where we climbed up 5 flights of stairs (still with 30lb bags on our backs) and finally were able to crash. Post adventure trek however, Florence is beautiful. Very pedestrian oriented and very very typical European architechture. We will hoever have more to say tomorrow when we actually get the chance to explore a bit more. Take care and love you all!
-Kristin and Kare.

HOLA!
So it's 12:38am... neither of us has finished packing....we need to be at the Vancouver airport at 8:45am. HI-FIVE! (aka we're really organized...)
So hopefully be able to update regualrly to keep you guys up to date on all our crazy adventures SLASH to let you know that we are infact alive and well...(mostly for the sake of our parentals)
So with that said, we're off... Next Stop? ROME!!!
Peace!

- Love Kristin & Kare