Michele and Dave Schanker : International Travel : Schanker European Vacation Part 2- powered by SmugMug

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Paris : Our second vacation to Europe was moslty planned as a celebration for Dave's 30th birthday. We planned it around the things he wanted to do in Europe, although we did miss out one thing we'll have to go back for (a round of golf). The trip started with a bang by hitting the streets of Paris. We both just loved this city. Everyone was very nice despite all the horrible stories we heard before hand. We absolutly loved the charm culture of the city. I think my favorite memories were sitting at oudoor cafes with a glass of french wine. While in paris we saw the main sites including Sacre Cure, Arch de triumph, Eifel Tower, Luxembourg Gardens, Montmarte, Seine River, Notre Dame, Louvre, and the Picasso Museum.

London : Dave and I spent three days in the London area. One of these was spent touring Stonehenge and Bath, so we actually had 2 days in the city of London. During our time in the city we saw Kennsington Gardens, Picadilly Circus, Tralfagar Squaure, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, the Royal Mews, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and we enjoyed several london pubs. We enjoyed London, but didn't think it had the culture of Paris or Italy. It was nice to see all the sights, but I doubt we'll go back anytime in the near future. I have to admit I was obsessed with the telephone boxes, so you'll see a few photos of those here.

Stonehenge : While in London, dave and I took a day trip to visit Stonehenge. This was something on Dave's must do list. It was definalty neat to go see. Since we were there after the park was closed, we were able to go in and actually mingle around the stones and touch them. this is something that most people don't get to do. I was able to get some decent shots and the lighting was good since it was late in the day.

Bath, England : Before going to Sotnehenge, dave and I were fortunate enough to have a few hours to visit the town of Bath. We got to tour the Roman Baths and the city itself. I realliy like the town of Bath. It was a quaint little town with lots of charm and get for photography. dave and I really like the roman times too, so seeing the Baths was quite an experience. The day we were here was absolutly beautiful. A nice blue sky and tempertures hoverd in the 60s.

Edinburgh :

Loch Lomond and Stirling Castler : While in Soctland Dave and I did a day trip to see Stirling Castle and Loch Lomond. Bother sights were amazingling beautiful and we had a gorgeous day. When we arrived at Loch Lomond it looked like it was going to pour on us. I was a little upset aht a strom was rolling in. This totally proved to us that you just never know with the scottish weather. All of a sudden it got pretty windy and the temperture dropped. I had a feeleing we were in for a nasty one this time. The storm hit, it rained for about 5 minutes, passed and all of a sudden the sky was blue again. And I thought florida rain storms were weird. Along the way we did get to see some sheep. I of course tried to get some photos. They were so cute. SOme of them had obviously just been shaved. I even got to pet one of them.

Loch Lomond and Stirling Castler

Glasgow : Originally Dave and I had planned a day or two in Glasgow not relaly knowing what to expect. Honestly if I had to do over again I probaably would haev skipped Glasgow. But It was alright. We only spent a day there since we opted for a 3rd day in the Edinburgh region to v isit St Andrews. I was glad we did that. Glasgow was alright but not to exciting. Defianlty not something I Would put in my top list for Europe. We did take a train out to a country park to see the Burrell Collection. While in the park we discovered they had some highland cattle! I was very excited about that since I got to see these hairy cows up close and get photos. Once back in the city we just wandered around amlessly, had a very late lunch and visited a local pub.

Falkland, St Andrews, and a Fishing Village :

Falkland, St Andrews, and a Fishing Village

Dublin and Newgrange : Yeah Dublin was out of the way for this trip, but Dave really wanted to see the city since I've told him about it and he wanted a Guniess in Ireland. It was a lot of fun showing him aroudn the city. We had a great hotel at the end of Temple Bar. What was really neat was even though it had been 5 years since I was there, I still remebered my way around about 90% of the time. While in Dublin we took a day tour out to Newgrange. This was something I didn't see before and it was quite a unique sight. I definalty recommend this. We also enjoyed the musical pub crawl in temple bar, visting Jameson, and touring the Guniness Storehouse. It was a good end to a wonderful trip.

Dublin and Newgrange

Leopardstown Horse Race : The one thing Dave really wanted to do on this trip was to see a horse race. So off we went to Leopardstown (just outside of Dublin). It was an evening meet and we had lots of fun togethe. Dave had to learn the bet the horses all over again since there way of doing things is different from the US. The track was huge to...very long. I of course had lots of fun photographing the horses and jockies. The one thing we didn't get was that we were in Ireland and the race was sponsored by an american beer (Miller). Kinda weird.

Leopardstown Horse Race

We're on our way! : Okay so I was planning on taking some photos of us on our way to Paris, but condsiering we got up at 3am I wasn't really in the mood. So instead I only have a map of our trip and a couple of photos of dave TRYING to sleep in the philly airport. It was a long day for us. We woke up at 3:30am to leave our friends house in Glendale and head to the airport. We had no lines at LAX at 4:30am and boarded our 6am flight to Philly. In Philly we had a 3 hour layover. It was nice to have a break off the plane, but at the sme time the direct flight we had to Paris last year had some benefits too. In Philly we grabbed lunch ot TGI Fridays then relaxed at the gate to charge our IPODs. Dave tried to sleep before we boarded the flight to Paris. Our plane to Paris was nice an Airbus 330 (I think). It was a 2-4-2 configuration. So Dave and I had seats all to ourselves, plus our own TVs. We arrived at Paris at 7:45 am local time the following day. We were tired but excited so we went sightseeing for the day. (See our photos of Paris)

We're on our way!

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