Paris with the fam!

I bet you cannot guess where we are here! Just kidding. After Rome, the four of us headed to the city of romance.... Paris. It's so easy to fall in love with Paris, especially once you visit again. Plus, we had two of our most favorite people in the world with us to enjoy the great city.

On another note, my dream of owning my very own Louis Vuitton came true. We ended up at the flagship store down the street from the Arc d Triumph. It looks like all my hard work of tutoring this summer paid off!

Later in the evening, Scott and I took a stroll to Notre Dame to try and see the Pope. We didn't get a chance to see him in Rome, but we found out he was in Paris! No luck that night though, but we did experience the crowds of people thinking the same thing we were.

Here is a video of the walk down the Seine River to Notre Dame.

Another video down by Notre Dame. This shows some of the security that was in place and all the interested people.



We did not get to see the Pope this evening. However, the next day we did...

We went to the Hotel des Invalides in Saturday to find that he was having an open air mass. 250,000 people arrived to get communion consecrated by the Pope. Scott and I were overcome by the service. Amazing.

Here is a short video of what it was like during the public mass.

That same day, while Mom and Dad were at the Louvre, we went to the Palace of Versailles. I have been looking forward to viewing the home of Marie Antoinette for sometime now, and we were not disappointed.

The picture above is of us in the hall of mirrors. At that time, in the 1700's, Venice had the monopoly on mirrors, but the King of France outdid himself by buying 17 mirrors to face windows out to the garden in this beautiful room. If you have not seen Sophia Coppola's movie, Marie Antoinette (with Kirsten Dunst), you must rent it to see the scenery. They actually filmed in the Palace itself!

Also, the Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919 after the end of WWI was signed in this hall between the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy.



Above is a video of us walking through the Hall of Mirrors. Notice the beautiful detail throughout the entire room, especially the ceiling. Also, take a look at the view out of the window into the gorgeous palace gardens.

Mom and Dad Martyn are now safely back home in Michigan. We were so sad to see them go, and it really made us miss family much more. We are so excited to come back for Christmas to hear all about your lives and your adventures. We wish everyone could have a blog just to keep up with everything happening back at home.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.


Love,
Scott and Brooke

Rome, Italy

You guessed it! We made it to Rome with Mom and Dad Martyn. We had an OUTSTANDING time, and really enjoyed hanging in Europe with the rents (for those of you that don't know..... rents is short for parRENTS).


The Pantheon was built by Emporer Hadrian in 125 A.D. originally for the Greek Gods. Later, the building was made into a christian church to save it from thieves and ruin.

Scott and I walked up 500 steps to reach the top of the dome at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. The view was well worth the pain to get there! My husband really kept me going on this one because the heat was almost unbearable.

This video shows the scene in St. Peter's square on Wedensday as the Pope address the crowd via satellite. He was not in the Vatican City. We waiting in the security line to get into the Basilica to climb to the top. Only took us about ten minutes to get in.

Halfway up the dome, we stopped to take some pictures and videos at the 'halfway' point.



Above is a short video above of the view from the bottom of the dome.

Above is a video of us actually climbing the stairs between the inner and outer layer of the dome.



Above is a video of the view from the top of St. Peter's Basilica.



Above is a video from inside St. Peter's Basilica standing just in front of the canopy and altar. Below the altar is where St. Peter's remains are buried.

This postcard in particular is being sent out from Vatican City to Matt and Julie. We thought it was important enough to take a picture so they would believe us!! We miss you so much Mom and Dad.

Our first visitors in Zurich!

Mom and Dad Martyn made it to Zurich on Wednesday, September 3. Scott and I couldn't be happier to have family here, especially Mom and Dad, because we have missed every one so much. They traveled from Detroit, through Chicago and London to get to our little home of Zurich. Thursday was a day to explore the city of Zurich.

The tram is always the most effective way to travel, so of course we took them on plenty. I think they look very happy sitting on this one!

On Friday, we went up Uetliberg to eat at the wonderful restaurant up top. The views and weather were outstanding that day! You could see straight to the Alps.

If you look past our shoulder, you can see the top of the Alps. Past those mountains is Italy. We are going to fly over those mountains in a few days to get to Rome!

A short video clip of the view after we got off the train at the top of Uetliberg!

Later that day, we took a boat ride around Lake Zurich. The sign above says Kleine Rundfahrt, which means short roundtrip. We all thought it looked more like a small fart. =) Even more interesting is the exit signs off of the highway....."ausfahrt". Hmmmmm.... a#* fart.

Again, we could see the Alps from the boat ride as well. I'm so glad the weather cooperated enough for our visitors to see beautiful Zurich.

On to Luzern, Switzerland...

Then, of course the weather didn't want to cooperate any more once we got to Luzern. On Saturday, we all went to Luzern for a short day trip. We are standing in front of a super Swiss restaurant.

Above is a short clip of our train ride from Zurich to Luzern. Although the sun refused to show its face, the countryside can't hide!

The lion monument sits engraved inside the rock face in the city of Luzern. It was built in the early 1800's to commemorate fallen Swiss guards during the French Revolution. The Swiss do not fight in wars. However, they are commissioned to guard certain figures in other countries from time to time as mercenaries.




For instance, the Swiss Army guards the Pope in Rome. At this particular time in 1792 the Swiss were guarding the home of King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and their children during the time when an angry Parisian mob stormed the palace in search of the aristicrats.

More than 700 Swiss officers and soldiers died trying to defend the palace. Without them knowing, the King and his family had already left the building. The Lion stands in Switzerland to commemorate those soldiers.

Right before we left Luzern, we went to look at the beautiful Jesuit Catholic Church next to the river. These people were throwing candy from the wagons at the time. Interesting idea for a parade...

We had a great Swiss meal on the river in Luzern to warm up before we headed out into the rain.

Now, it's off to Rome and Paris! Stay tuned for more updates.

If you would like to see more pictures of mom and dad's time in Switzerland, click on the link below.

Zurich Hike & Street Parade

This weekend Scott and I went to the Zurich Street Parade on Saturday, and we went for a 3 hour hike up to Uetliburg ridge on Sunday. We were busy! The picture above is the view from the top of Uetliberg mountain, and the Zurich Lake and Alps are visible.
We usually take a train up the mountain and walk across the top of the ridge, but we decided to take it one step further and hike up the mountain itself. We were in for a real treat. The entire way up was laced with hairpin turns and steps. Scott is standing on some of the steps in the picture above.
Parts of the trail were falling down the mountain side into the valley below, so people built make-shift bridges across certain areas.

We ended up at the Kulm restaurant and hotel. We walked all the way up the telecom tower to have a better view.
Notice the backpack. We have gotten smart lately on our hikes, and we bring along water, snacks and sunscreen. You never know where you will end up on some of these Swiss trails.

Scott just HAD to pet the cows. Gross. I'm all up for getting milk from cows, but these guys are strangers.
This picture may look familiar because we have the similar shot in our earlier Utlieburg blog except the field has not been plowed.

OK- BE WARNED. THE STREET PARADE INVOLVES VERY LITTLE CLOTHING.

The Zurich Street Parade is the most attended event of the year. It was even BIGGER than the Eurocup! I have never seen so many people crammed in the city before. Plus, it's even worse than the Taste of Chicago (That's really bad).
The Street Parade is described as this on their website, "The Street Parade is a demonstration of love, peace, freedom and tolerance. Thousands of different people of all types dance to electronic music and love being with each other in peace and harmony. Let us enjoy this unique day in a spirit of friendship!"

Techno music booms throughout the streets coming from floats driving by on the street. Each float represents a club that's in the city, so they have their own D.J's playing. Plus, there are four different areas to listen to the worlds top electronic D.J's. I'm thinking South Beach, Miami??

The sea of people was just incredible.

This is one float going by us on the street. You must notice what some of the people are wearing because it is very common to wear next to nothing during this festival. I have never seen so much skin and glitter in my life!

BEWARE - THE PICTURES GET WORSE!

So, I'm assuming you've seen enough of the people at the Zurich Street Parade, but if not, please click the link below to see more.

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=773111218457621263/l=412216905/g=7389791/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Also, if you would like to see more pictures from our hike, click the link below.

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=254101218394243430/l=412196966/g=7389791/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Pisa, Italy

We took a one hour train ride from Florence to see The Leaning Tower of Pisa. We had no idea what we were in for!

The foundations were laid in 1173 for the tower and work on the tower stopped after the second story was built in 1185 because they noticed it was starting to lean. The problem is that the marble building is built atop sand.

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Between 1275 and 1284, three more stories were built, and in 1360 the bell tower was added. There has been some serious work to keep the tower from leaning more because it already leans 15 feet more than it should. 15 feet!!!

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And now, some video!

One more of the Baptistry, Basilica, and Leaning Tower...




Of course we had to do the silly pictures too!

If you would like to see more pictures from Pisa, click on the link below.

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=44861218037199446/l=412116901/g=7389791/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Florence, Italy

I know it's tough to explain what makes a good city, but I think Florence is the best European city we've been. It has history, culture, lovely people, beautiful landscapes, and romantic restaurants. I'm in love with Florence, and what better way to spend our anniversary but in this lovely city. The picture above is taken from the terrace on our hotel.

One night we went to the II Latini restaurant which has great house wine, communal eating, and prosciutto hanging from the rafters. We meet a very nice British couple there and ended up staying until closing!

The next morning we got up before 7 and headed to the sights. This is the Duomo in Florence, it is a HUGE Catholic church with tons of history.

We walked up 500 steps to reach the top of the tower to reveal the most amazing view.
However, the climb up and climb down were very interesting and scary to say the least.
View from the top!

This is the Palazzo Vechio, a large structure that is still used for town hall. It was built between 1299 and 1302.

This is the famous Uffizi museum which houses the Birth of Venus painting by Botticelli. Uffizi means office because it once was the offices for the ruling Medici family.
We are standing in front of the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge that houses jewelry shops. The bridge was built in 1354 and was changed in the 16th century to add a corridor along the top of the shops that starts at the royal Palace and ends at the Uffizi. The Medici ruler did not want to walk to his office through the streets, so he had a corridor built from his Palace to his office. Also, the Nazis did not blow up the bridge because they thought it was too beautiful to destroy.

Walk way to the bridge.

After you walk over the bridge, you end up at the Pitti Palace, a mansion that served as Florences' royal home from 1560 to th 1860's.




The Palace has amazing gardens in the back with a huge Grotto.



After you walk through the gates of the Palace, you end up in this huge open space. The fountains above lead to the beautiful Boboli gardens. I wonder if Boboli pizza was named after these gardens...??

Our last night in Florence we went to Piazalle Michelangelo, a huge garden overlooking the entire city, to watch the sunset.

Later, we ate at Acqua al Due, a beloved restaurant with WONDERFUL Tuscan cuisine.

Of course it wouldn't be a trip to Florence without seeing Michelangelo's masterpiece, David. Michelangelo built David at the age of 26 between the years 1501 and 1504.

We took a day trip to Pisa, so be sure to check the next post for those pictures. If you would like to see more of Florence, please click the link below.
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=76661218036248267/l=412116615/g=7389791/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB