Best of Europe

Hey All!  Scott and I just wanted to check in and let you know what we've been up to since we've been back in the good ole US.  Though traveling in Europe was amazing, one thing we both agree upon is that there is no place like home.  It's really been great to be back with our family and friends.  I spent a few weeks in Missouri and enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree with all 10 of my nieces and nephews at Gram's house (Gram is my mom), watching my nephews wrestle, and also went to a Christmas party at my dad's special lady friend, Shirley's, house.  Scott's been in Charlotte with his family but I'm not really sure what he's been doing.  Okay, that's not true.  He did make a cool video clip from our trip you can check out on you tube at http://www.youtube.com/user/msstrawn.


I'm currently in Charlotte, NC visiting Scott and his family.  I got here on Thursday (12/10), just in time for the 'Most Ridiculous Michael Jackson Christmas Party' hosted by Becca and Jason.  I think a good time was had by all and for the record it was quite ridiculous! And we have the pictures to prove it! 

Tomorrow I fly back to Missouri and on Monday Scott will also come to Missouri to visit my family through Christmas Eve.  Then we are off to Portland, Maine on Christmas Day to meet up with Scott's family.  Julie's fiancee, Jeremy, is from Maine so we are going to be joining him and his family for what we hope to be a white Christmas. 

So now for the fun part.  Scott and I have had a chance to reflect on our Europe trip and have come up with a variety of categories of our favorite things which we'd like to share with you...

The Best of Europe by Brooke and Scott:

Favorite Church:  St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City (close behind was Il Duomo in Milan)
Favorite Castle: Blarney Castle in Ireland
Favorite Museum:  The Louvre in Paris
Favorite Meal: Brooke- 'Munich Meal' of pork with a mushroom cream sauce and spatzel.
                       Scott- 'Hungarian Meal' of pork gristle (actually it was taken off of Brooke's plate from her meal) 

Favorite overall type of food:  Italian
Favorite Beer:  Guinness
Favorite Wine:  Chianti
Favorite Bar:  Szimpla Kert in Budapest
Favorite Haircut: Tie between Hungarian Haircut and My Big Fat Greek Haircut (c'mon neither of us plan to ever get those haircuts again..they were both real bad)
Favorite Mode of Transportation: Train (the ferry to Greece was also awesome, but taking the train in Europe is the best way to get around)
Favorite Train Ride:  Milan to Munich (through the Alps...simply amazing!)
Favorite Site: Eiffel Tower
Favorite Sunset: Santorini, Greece
Favorite Event: Oktoberfest in Munich
Favorite Day Excursion: Tuscany Tour
Favorite Architecture style of a city: Prague
Favorite Language to hear: German
Favorite 'Discovery' (means a place/site we sort of just found): The Old Head of Kinsale in Ireland (see blog entry from Ireland)
Favorite Hostel/Guesthouse: The boat in Amsterdam (we found it on Hostelworld.com)
Favorite Hotel/Resort: Santorini, Greece (going in the off season = more affordable)

Top 5 Favorite Cities (this was really tough to decide):
- Barcelona
- Salzburg
- Prague
- Amsterdam
- Paris

Top 5 Favorite Scenic Places:
- Santorini, Greece
- Dingle Peninsula/Kerry, Ireland
- Salzburg, Austria (includes the Alps)
- Venice, Italy
- Nice and Monaco, France

We hope you enjoyed our favorites from Europe!  There will be more from us once we start traveling again, which will likely be the end of January/beginning of February.  Our destination is South America for about 1 month.  We will have a chance to visit our good friends Vicente and Lora in Santiago, Chile while we are down there so we are really looking forward to this trip and it also doesn't hurt that it will be summertime :)!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Safe travels wherever you may be visiting for the holidays.  Take care and know that we love you all!