Welcome to the Amsterdam airport! … And the future!! Where everything is in English, tulips are more popular than ketchup, and dutch children are painted on napkins.

We survived our 9ish hour flight by binging out on movies, playing group Tetris, and getting a spectacular arial view of the northern lights! Ryder managed to capture a few great photos. It’s hard to describe the northern lights with out waxing poetical with shimmering vertical clouds of ever changing color and shape… gosh I’m sleep deprived.

When we got off the plane it was straight to the restroom, or as I like to say, the beautiful water closet where everything you do is completely private. Why oh why can’t we have bathrooms in the US like this?? Mom and J were shocked at all the English everywhere. We wondered around the airport (5 hour layover, yay for sarcasm) and found some amazingly satisfying Poffertjes each the size of a half-dollar.

Currently we look like the walking dead with my mom slumped over her backpack, hugging the blanket I stole from the plane, my sister lying next to me across the air conditioning unit, Ryder on his phone per usual, and my dad, after some coffee, rearing to go. OK, only 2 hours left, then a 2 hour flight, then a 1 hour train ride on no sleep so far… I think I can, I think I can… 🙂

Hello Again!

The Ross family is back! This time we are on a journey to Italy, specifically Florence and Rome, with the Grossmans for 2 weeks! This will be Tawny, Steve, and Justine’s first time to Europe 🙂

Yesterday we drove down to SF from Sacramento. I can’t believe how terrible the air quality is right now, not just in the valley, but even in the bay. We had to drop off the Koa dog at the dog kennel in Elk Grove (I would highly recommend Duck Pond Kennels for anyone needing to leave furry family while traveling). I cried like a total baby when we left him, but he is in good hands.

We spent the night at a motel near the airport, got up early this morning to eat breakfast and catch our shuttle to the airport. We are currently sitting, waiting for our flight. Only 15 hours until we are in Rome, yippee!!!  We will be connecting in Amsterdam. I might have time to post there (5 hour layover) otherwise see you all in Rome!! 🙂

For the first time in my life I saw fireflies. Check out this quick video I took of Amanda catching and releasing a firefly.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjrMTXZJ6lE

Aside from seeing beautiful luminous bugs, for the past couple of days we’ve either been lounging around Liz & Dave’s saltwater pool or trekking around Boston. Their pool is absolutely fabulous! I’ll never have a regular chlorinated pool after feeling how great this pool is on your skin and eyes.

As you may have seen from the previous blog post, we did a Duck Tour this morning after taking the faster (and more expensive) commuter rail (purple line) into the city instead of the green line (which is a slower subway rail). The crowd on our duck tour was lame and didn’t play along with the driver’s antics very much. Amanda said she’s been with better group/driver combinations where they had much more fun. With that said, it was still fun and we got to see quite a bit of Boston. Here’s a photo of Amanda posing next to Samuel Adams –

After the Duck tour, we took the rail to the North End for some Italian lunch at Bella Vista. Interesting little place. The lasagna and chicken were decent but nothing to write home about. After that we did a little tour of Paul Revere’s house and walked to the Granary Burying Ground to see where Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock are buried. Then, a detour to see The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX near the Boston Commons, and a quick sprint to Georgetown Cupcakes (OMG AMAZING) and then the commuter rail back to Needham. Dave brought up a great point of getting a pedometer to see how far we walk each day so I may look around each place we go to see if we can find one. Most of the time today, we opted for the stairs instead of the escalator or walking a couple miles instead of using the rail system again. Gotta burn off all the local Boston & Portland Maine beer’s we’ve (I’ve) been drinking 🙂

We said our goodbyes to Dave as he’ll be working early in the AM and took a quick photo “for the blog” 🙂

Wow, what a fun ride so far!! Time to play catch-up….

Ryder and I arrived in Boston last night at around 9:00pm. We met my mom’s long time friend Liz who was so sweet to pick us up from our long flight! We made our way to their home and were fed a gourmet meal of chicken and pasta made by Dave and their niece and husband who were visiting from Long Island. We had a blast eating and talking about our trip and kept Dave up until WAY past his bed time! Poor Dave 😉

The next day, Ryder got up early and let me sleep an extra hour (yay!). We had a great breakfast, packed up our day packs for a two day stay in Maine and caught a ride from Andi and Brett to the Metro Station outside of Boston. The ride into the city was so relaxing. I love how easy the public transportation system is in Boston. We arrived at the Government Center and Ryder dragged me directly to the closest Dunkin’ Donuts. He explained that he wanted to see “what the big deal is.” We ordered two donuts and two iced coffees. The donuts were a hit, the coffee, not so much.

We munched our donuts and strolled around the downtown Boston area. Passing between the skyscrapers we happened upon an older looking structure dating back to the colonial era. We walked around the building and discovered a tour starting in 5 minutes about the Boston Massacre! We signed up and went on this great hour long tour around the old Town Hall in Boston, ending right in front where the Boston Massacre occurred. The tour guide used Paul Revere’s illustrated rendition of the event reminding of my college days (thank you Prof. Murphy). After the tour we ambled around a few side streets, making our way slowly towards the train station.

Down a street we found an old church, which we discovered to be the Old North Church where the lanterns were hung signaling the British invasion of Boston by sea! We walked around the interior of the church until it was time to catch our train. The ride from Boston to Portland, ME lasted only 2 hours. We saw the beautiful countryside, greatly enjoying the comfy chairs and LOTS of leg room! Ryder’s cousin’s, Russ and his son Ben, picked us up at the Portland station and drove us to their lovely home in Cape Elizabeth. We got in and chatted until late into the night.

and now to the present…

Today we took a 2 hour schooner ride out of the Portland Harbor. The views were spectacular! We saw a few lighthouses and three old forts built around the time of the civil war. Emily, Russ and Jackie’s daughter, was so excited to see the sea lions swimming around in the harbor. We had a blast helping the crew hoist sails and spying on ritzy houses along the coast. We got back to the house and went for a swim with the kiddies, Maggie, Ben and Emily and their neighborhood friends. Russ and Jackie served up a true Maine meal of lobster and steak with Blueberry pie for desert. Needless to say, we are quite satisfied and stuffed! 

Now we are watching the Red Sox game, but I just had a call with my dad and can safely say, GO GIANTS!!!

We’ve successfully made it to the Sac airport and are waiting to board our first flight. We have a layover at LAX for 40 minutes then a long flight to Boston.

It was a little hard to sleep last night, for both of us, because we were so excited (and nervous) to start this trip. I didn’t want to be a story where a couple plans this huge trip and then some accident happens while getting to the airport. So, I’m stoked we’re here and on time! 🙂

Amanda’s dad dropped us off. There were lots of hugs and tears here and when we said good bye to our mothers as well.

Amanda ended up switching from her big backpack to a rolling suitcase early this morning. We both feel better knowing that the 5 bulging discs in her neck won’t be causing any problems. Just hope we don’t break a wheel.

After Boston and Cape Elizabeth, ME we’ll be on our way to Iceland. Wish us luck!