So long, farwell, Auf wierdensehen, adieu...

...Adieu, Adieu

To you and you and you

In light of my favorite movie The Sound of Music and they day we spent touring Salzburg to see the sites, I thought it appropriate to end our last blog posting with a tribute.

Does anyone see Leisl dancing off the set and up the grand stair case in their head now?

I just wanted everyone to see Ragan how I saw him for most of the trip.

As much as we have LOVED our time in Europe, we are happy about getting back to the good 'ole United States. In some ways we feel like we've been here for such a long time! Then part of us still had some steam for a few more cities...countries...whatever. We both know we are blessed to live in such a great country, but it REALLY  hits home when you leave it for awhile. I cannot wait to stuff my face with biscuits and gravy! Seriously, might throw some peanut butter on them. I miss me some PB people!! I might find Ragan bathing in sour cream tomorrow night.

There are some great adventures ahead for us! After 7 countries and 19 cities, I think we've gotten our feel for traveling for awhile. This was the one thing we both wanted to do before we "grew up," hunkered down  somewhere and finally called some place home as a couple. Obviously, with the news of a baby on the way in March, that seems more important than ever.

Here's a little summary of our trip...

Favorite big city: Munich, Germany
Favorite small city: Brugge, Belgium
Place we were most surprised with: Portugal
Place we thought we'd LOVE and really didn't: Most of Italy (we found the people to be generally rude)
Things I missed most from home: the Ruie Doo (dog), MY BED, my body pillow, protein in the morning or at least the option of, reliable internet service, and getting some form of exercise-this walking thing gets old, the ability to go anywhere and have 10 options of medicine for whatever ails me- I don't need a pharmacist to know I have too much acid in my stomach! It's practically coming out of my nose and I don't need to go to 3 countries and 15 pharmacies to find some relief.
Things I will miss about Europe: spending every moment of everyday with my sweet husband, exploring and constantly learning something new,observing other cultures every day lives, eating pastries without guilt, and on that note- ALL the great pastries!
Things I WON'T MISS: the CONSTANT smoking all around me!!, paying for condiments with our food, paying for bread at the table we didn't eat, unreliable internet, cracked heels from so much walking, not having to pay for me to go potty while we're out
Goals we had for our trip: to come back still married, eat McDonald's french fries in every country, to not make any major screw ups along the way, and to have the time of our life!~Accomplished!

Thanks for joining us on this journey! It was fun knowing we had people who cared enough to just peek in on what we were doing. I am sure this blog will be going out again once Baby Thomas (new last name for those who forget-not finding out the sex) decides to makes its way into the world sometime in March. Love you guys!
Melody & Ragan