Back to Normal

So after a long journey back to Canada (think one small plane ride, one coach bus ride, one international flight and 6 'magic pills' later), I finally made it back to Canada. I wanted to add that this has been a life experience I will never forget, filled with amazing sight seeing, delicious food and amazing people. Thanks to Marianne for being my partner in crime and for making this trip a duo instead of a single experience. Now she is back in the UK where I am sure she will grab an amazing job and maybe a brit boy or two ;)

I am,however, glad back to be in Canada where they understand what air conditioning and free toilets are (had to pay to go to the bathroom in many places in our journey). Mar- I'll drink a Timmies coffee today for you but I expect you to have Pims for me!

Until the next M&J adventure...
Ciao!
J

Home for a rest...

After a wonderful 3 weeks of adventure We left Croatia yesterday and made our way back to England and it was here that we parted ways. Marianne made her way to unkie David and Jenny back to John in Canada. At the moment Jenny is somewhere over the atlantic ocean, hopefully enjoying the benefits of here magic relaxation pills and Marianne is just begining to start her day in England.
We both had an amazing trip and like all things, this one had to come to an end. But like the song says "Every new begining comes from some other beginings end". Jenny looks forward to a new job at Mercedes while Marianne begins a new adventure in the uk.

Thanks everyone for following our adventures!
Much love,
M&J

Fun in the Sun

Today we have spent another relaxing day in the sun. It is a hard life here. Tonight we plan to go parasailing over the Adriatic Sea.

Last night we took Baka and Dida out for a very lovely dinner in a town about 40 mins away called Baska. The entire meal for the 4 of us plus 2 rounds of drinks and apps cost just over 100 Canadian dollars- cheapy cheapy!

Tomorrow we plan another hard day under the sun!

Much Love
M&J

Croatia - Fun in the Sun with Baka and Dida Novosel

We have safely arrived in Croatia and are staying with Mr. & Mrs. Novosel (Jenny's grandparents). They have been very hospitable and make sure we are MORE than full after every meal; Baka is the hostess with the mostess. We went to the beach yesterday and swam a lot in the Adriatic sea, went back for an early dinner then returned to swim until 8 pm when we watched a romantic sunset together (yes John, there is a lot of romance to live up to now... Marianne - 7, John - 3).

Marianne is especially loving the mountains that surround the ocean and Jenny is loving the scorching heat. We are both really enjoying just sitting back and relaxing, especially following our intense travels earlier. We both have had enough of trains and meeting departure times after transfers. Example: We had a 4.5 hour train ride on Saturday which just passed into Venice. We thought, great, we can also visit Venice... but no. We only had 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to the Port where we needed to catch our spped boat with VeneziaLines to take us to Pula, in Croatia. We missed the first boat bus (yes, thats how it is in Venice) and subsequently had to pay 60 Euros to take a Taxi over to the port in order to make it on time for our Ferry.

We were SO SO SO happy to see Baka and Dida in Pula and cannot express our gratitude enough for the personal pick up. We arrived very late in Pula and made it back to their place at 12 am. While they were waiting for us at the port, apparently NO ONE knew about our boat and many people told them that they didnt believe we were coming that day because it was a European holiday. Safe to say, you already know the outcome of the story, we did in fact make it to Pula and are now toasting in the sun for the next 3 days until the next day of travel on Friday back to Pula and then to London (and then to Canada for Jenny and Chichester for Marianne). Whew. We will sleep as much as possible until then. (We will be taking A LOT of transit on Friday and I think we all know how that goes for us over here...)

Pictures are coming, next time we update the blog we will bring our camera! Back to the beach for us right now...

Much Love,
J & M

When in Rome

We heard good things about the railway system in Europe, however, we have yet to experience it. Our trip from Paris to Rome was the longest part of our journey and safe to say the hottest. The 15 hour journey was only made worse by the broken AC in only our bunker. After an additional hour and a half of delay it was safe to say we were "well done".

Anyways Rome has been the best weather so far. Hot, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. We are staying at sweetest hotel which is clearly a family run business where it feels as though we are visiting a long lost Italian auntie who is certain we are comfortable and has directed us to many great sites.

We are now about to walk the Spanish steps. We have just come from Vatican city where we toured the Sistine chapel and St. Peter's Bacillica as well as the Papal crypts. We now both have St. Christopher pendants thanks to Marianne's mother. Tomorrow we have a private tour of the Colleseum and the ancient ruins.

Ciao for now.
Much Love
M&J

Paris - The City of Lights

So we have now passed 3 days in Paris and are having a BLAST. Everyone is very nice to us and dont worry parents- we are being safe and cautious.

Places we have visited include the Pantheon, musee d'orsay, Louvre (going back for a second time today), the eiffle tower, notre dame and sacré-coeur churches, seine river cruise, arc de triomphe, walked through champs de l'elsée... had some vino under the eiffle tower, had some nice dinners and have had too many coffees to count.

The weather has been cooperating but today is most definitely the nicest. so it is safe to say we are going to make this post a little shorter and go and enjoy the day that awaits us. Tonight we are going to a show called LIDO- this should be a ton of fun and is a cabaret-style show. Apparently it is better than the Moulin Rouge so we opted to go there instead.

Also- just a quick note- Marianne is apparently more connected than she thought. We have run into a couple of people from Western and yesterday ran into her friend Vadim. We were thrilled to run into someone from Canada (no less an ACTUAL friend) and spent the day touring Paris with he and his friend who were only there for the weekend. Explain some lmore later, lust go have a baguette or 3...

Much Love,
J&M

Bonjour

So we made it to Paris... Finally. Let us explain.
I may have missed the last into Paris last night due to no fault of our own but due to the transit system running late. We may have also had to spend the night sleeping on the cold station floor... Just kidding, the hotel we did end up staying at was covered the train ticket company.

Anyways we are here and have seen Musee d'Orsay, the pantheon, had some French vino, and just toured Notre Dame. We are now in a park on the Seine river behind the ND. Ahhhhh Paris.

Much love,
M&J

Bikes and beers!

Update:


We are currently sitting on a patio enjoying some cold Heinekins. The sun is shining, there is a beautiful breeze and this seems to be the life! We leave for Paris in just over an hour.
Much love,

M&J

London and Amsterdam... sorry we took a while

OK we have been REEEEAAALLLLLLY busy and haven't had a chance to post (sorry parents if you got worried) Apparently it is not the best idea to only spend 2 days in a city you travel hours to reach (Not enough hours in a day to do all that we want)! Regardless we are having a blast and packing in as much as we can.

London~ Saw London Tower, took a FREE boat cruise (thanks to a lovely man that gave us his ticket that he wasn´t going to use), saw a broken London eye, Saw the most AMAZING production ever `La Cage aux Folles` (and made friends with two very lovely gay chaps while there), wondered through Trafalger Suqare, found the Canadian Embasy, took a ride on a FIXED London Eye, saw Picadilly Circus, had a bit to eat at Harrods and of course... Jenny did a little shopping. We are also masters of riding the tube, now- black belts to say the least!

Took a ferry ride that we slept through so no much to say about that and woke up in The Netherlands.

Amserdam~ Spent first 3 hours sorting out a train ride to Paris (So much fun possibly the trip highlight... haha), FINALLY got into the city and had a bit to eat after wandering through the red light district (ehem..), saw some buskers in Dam Square and a large phallic looking statue, we then strolled to the flower Market along one of the many canals, saw the Bols Experience and all our senses were awakend, and saw the outside of the Rijksmuseum and Van Gough Museum (no time to explore inside), also found the `I AMsterdam` sign... then the sun set. We will leave this part to your imagination as what happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam. (side note for the parents- don´t worry we were by FAR the nmost well behaved females there.) Which brings us to now.. we are going for pancakes and a bike ride before leaving to Paris tonight.
I would say update you tomorrow, but that might not be true.

Much Love,
M&J

Day 1: Arrived alive!

We were a little scared for our dear little Jenny and thought she might not make it through the flight alive. But we are happy to report that 3 unmentionable pills later we are here safe and well!(Side note: We somehow managed to score 2 empty seats on a full flight, next to Jenny, and so we had a very comfortable flight in!)

The flight was a safe an smooth one (following a not so smooth baggage check in- side note to all readers: your new mission is to boycott AirTransat whenever possible!!). Marianne had a steep fine to pay due to all of the Peanut Butter she carried along. Tisk tisk. Rule #1 of travelling Marianne: Only 1-3 bottles per person per flight!

We were greeted by a happy and enthusiastic Mr. Hollands-Hurst (a.k.a. 'Unkie David' for our readers). Unkie David was there waiting for us despite our having arrived 20 minutes sooner than scheduled. We shortly made our way in the backwards car to Maple House in Birdham, England.

Today we already managed to have a quick trip down to the beach to take in some sea air, had a scenic bike ride down to the Chichester Yacht Club. It was highly recommended that we try the "PIMMS" (drinks) and both of us manage to suck that one dry. Great mix of gin, "lemonade" (which is actually 7-up here), and other fruity wonders. MMM.

Following a well-deserved cat nap, we are now off to have a little something to drink, some crisps (i.e. chips) and plan out tomorrow's fun adventures! PS. Time here is 7pm.

Love,
J&M