A whirlwind of adventures!

Hello all! Sorry it took so long to update, a lot has happened! Where did I leave off....from a couple of blogs ago....

After our night in Madrid, we jumped on a train from Madrid to Pamplona and got in right after the last bus left the city for the campground we needed to go to...so we caught a taxi around 9:45, and we were hoping the reception was still open...it was, we got there and the party was just starting! The whole place was crazy, everyone gets there early for the San Fermin festival, and there were a ton of tour groups there, so no need to worry, reception was definitely open! The place didn`t get quiet until close to 4 in the morning every morning, so we didn`t sleep much while we were in Pamplona...We spent the next day walking around the city, missed the last bus back that night and had to walk with all of our groceries in the dark back to the campground (for 45 minutes) while it was starting to lightning, and got back just in the nick of time, we sat down and started eating our (late) dinner, and 5 minutes later it started thundering and raining...luckily we were in abuilding near our tent, but everyone dancing to the live band got rained on, and they kept losing power to the campground and the music kept getting cutoff, it waspretty funny to watch :) The next morning we packed up really fast and spent the day at the crazy San Fermin festival! My gosh, Pamplona knows how to party. We checked our luggage for the whole day, then went around the city seeing traditional folk dancing, eating, watched the BEST fireworks display of our lives!, then wandered around meeting people for the rest of the night and going in and out of places that were warm, it was FREEZING there compared to everywhere else we had been in Spain...probably because it was closer to the mountains...we went back and slept for 3 hours at the luggage storage place (what an adventure, we were homeless for a night :), then went to the first running of the bulls of the festival the next morning! AWESOME! It was one of the coolest parts of the trip, we bought tickets to be in the ring to see everyone and the bulls run in, and Katie got some really good pictures and video (that will hopefully get put up on here in the future). No one got seriously injured at the one we saw either, and we didn`t think about running, rest assured :)

We spent the rest of the day on the train t Nantes, France to see the tour. We stayed at the same campground both nights, but didn`t plan on that, so we had to pack up all of our stuff and drag it around with us to the time trial in Cholet...that was fun, you get to see a lot more riders and the atmosphere is really neat...we watched the start for a couple hours, cheered on the American teams, then went and sat in a grassy area near the finish for the rest of the afternoon an watched the finishers...the caravan that comes before the riders go is like one big parade and it`s all the team sponsors and they all throw out free stuff and we all fight over it, grown adults (well, I`m not in that category yet... :) fighting over keychains and bags of pretzels...it`s a funny sight :) The next day we saw the longest plain stage of the tour and we were two kms from the end in the Ville de Chaterouex, and we got there super early and stationed ourselves on a turn so we could see them coming and then continuing along towards the finish...luckily a hotel kept our bags behind the desk (so nice!) and we stood and talked with a couple from Austrailia...so at least we had people to talk to for the 3 hours we waited for the caravan to come...that was fun, and Vittel (a water company) has a `team`of riders that go around and entertain the crowd, and one left Katie his card with a picture on it and gave her akiss on the cheek :) But after waiting for so long, we almost missed getting the camera out when the riders finally came by! But it was 30 secondsof madness as everyone yelled and screamed for everyone, and then they were gone :) We found out that night how exciting a finish it was, and the pack passed the 3 sprinters right after where we were standing...we saw the exact corner where we were on tv that night but didn`t see us :)

Stayed in Paris that night, then went to Brugge, Belgium in preparation to catch a ferry the next night in Zeebrugge...but I called the company, and the ferry was full, and there wasn`t another one until Monday! It was Thursday, and we needed to be in Edinburgh on Saturday! Ah, the joy of traveling and having to replan :) So we figured out a bus to take us from Gent to London overnight, and then from London to Edinburgh all day Saturday...We spent all day Fridaz in Gent, and jumped on the bus at 11:45 that night...we met a really cool guy named Jonathan from Austrailia taking the same bus ride, and he made a not fun situation pretty darn fun :) We had to get off the bus an go through customs at 2am before getting on the ferry, then played yahtzee on the ferry :) Said goodbye to Jonathan in London, waited for 4 hours in the bus station, spent 10 (absolutely dreadful) hours on the bus to Edinburgh, got there and called the lady who would let us into our flat, found out that Mom and Sue missed their flight and were stuck in London for the night (WHAT?!), walked 20 minutes to the flat (wheeling a satchel full of wine that we had bought in Paris for the week ahead, it was heavy), got there, and had one of the best nights in a long time...we got to shower, eat food we cooked, did laundry, and watched tv in English! Went to bed, and Mom and Sue woke us up with the buzzer at 8:45 the next morning :) It was SO GOOD to see them...we talked, had a late breakfast, then hiked the large hill that we could see from the window of our flat that overlooks all of Edinburgh. We had a traditional Sunday dinner that night (delicious but expensive!), then headed back, talked and went to bed...we were all pretty worn out just getting to Scotland (quote from Katie while we were on our treacherous 10 hour bus ride: `Mom and Sue owe us big time...they picked the hardest place in Europe for us to get to and told us to meet them there.` But it was completely worth it :)

More to come on Edinburgh....we just got into Bern, Switzerland, had lunch, gave Katie a nap, now we`re going to go explore since it`s actually sunny out here! It was cloudy and rainy in Scotland the whole time it felt like....so I`ll get on later tonight or tomorrow and let you know about Scotland :)

Congrats on getting your permit Jake! Can you take me for a ride when I get back?! :) Good job on directing Zach, hope the last performances went well! Dad and Jordan, you would love to bike here, it`s gorgeous. Kels, I`m glad you got your email working again, even though I haven`t been on to email you :)

LOVE YOU!!!! Only 10 days until we`re back home, we`re making the most of our last days of this crazy adventure! And we`re introducing Mom to all the joys of international traveling... ;) More soon!
love sarah and katie