Well, we’re back in the good old U S of A. Actually, we got back a couple days ago but we both needed some downtime after the trip. It was a good time, although trying to see six cities in ten days isn’t the most relaxing of vacations. But having never been to any of the cities before and not knowing if and when I’ll ever go back again, I felt somewhat obligated to at least make an effort to see things.

The flights to and from were looooong. On the way there, we had a six hour layover in Amsterdam so we had a total travel time of something like 19 hours. Coming back it was slightly better, although we did have a lot of time to kill in the Barcelona airport before our flight left.

I almost feel like I should write about all the places that I went to in detail, but I don’t think it’d be very interesting reading - not even for me and I was there. So I’ll give you the quick and dirty cliff note version:

• Europe is really far, especially when flying from the Midwest.
• I didn’t go outside the airport in Amsterdam, but I was skeptical after hearing about all their “cafes” and the Red Light District. The airport is very clean, though.
• It seems like everyone smokes in Europe. Nobody really cares if you are breathing in their second hand smoke either.
• Being in Barcelona and not speaking any Spanish was difficult and quite frustrating. I’ve heard from others that lots of people in Europe speak English. “Others” lie.
• Air conditioning in Europe isn’t like AC back here in the U.S. Their “cold” was never cold enough.
• It was really hot and humid almost everyplace we went. That in combination with the AC thing was kind of a bummer. Oh well… at least I’ll be acclimated for those hot days here.
• Everything in Europe is more expensive than it is here. The dollar weakening isn’t helping things.
• Serving sizes are “proper” serving sizes there. There are no 32 oz sodas (much to my dismay). There are no free refills. :(
• I was so relieved when I finally got on the boat and folks spoke English and I could sleep comfortable under a big pile of blankets.
• I’ve always had this rosey picture of Naples, Italy for some reason. Like it was some exotic vacation get away. Actually, it’s pretty much a dive. I can’t see myself ever going back there again.
• Women don’t necessarily have the same idea about body hair there as we do here. One lady was telling us about this shop that we were in and she created quite the gasp in the crowd when she lifted up her arms to show off one of the pieces. Her armpit hair rivaled the hairiest guy’s pits that I’ve seen.
• I don’t know if it’s the culture or the heat and little AC, but folks have more body odor issues there than here.
• Rome is entirely too big and has too many things to see in just one day.
• Traffic in Rome is a mess, which is amplified considerably more when the taxi drivers in Rome decide on a whim to go on strike.
• As much as it pains me to say it, France was probably the nicest country that we visited in the Mediterranian. Although really, it was probably just due to the fact that Carol can speak a little French so getting around was easier.
• Monaco is really nice. Just be sure that you have several millions of dollars in spending money before you go.

That’s a long enough list for now. If anyone has any questions specifically, I’ll be happy to talk about them in more detail if you want but I don’t want to bore you. We have some pictures from the trip that I’ve uploaded into my gallery.

The cruise itself was nice. It seemed a bit crowded in places at times, but tolerable. We had great company for dinner. There were four couples including us, and two of the other couples were also newlyweds so we were all give or take similar in age.

I didn’t train as much as I thought I was going to. Actually, throughout the whole trip I only ran twice and did a 45 minute spinning class once. But on a good note, I didn’t eat as much as I probably would have had it been the off-season so I came back only a few pounds heavier.

The push to Wisconsin begins. I was 164 pounds yesterday. I want to get as close to 150 as possible by September 1st (when I’ll probably be midway through my taper). That’s less than two pounds a week and should be healthy. I’m going to try and FitDay over the next few weeks. My food journal is here for public display, so should I slack please do call me on it. I do reserve the right to celebrate my best friend’s birthday and give myself two free trips to the state fair, guilt free - three meals in total. Should I go to Las Vegas at the end of the month, maybe another meal or two there.

Hope everything has been well with you all. Yikes. After ten days off training, I’m almost frightened about how today’s workout is going to go. Just 30 miles on the bike and over 4 miles of running, but that’s a lot compared to what I’ve been doing (or not doing). At least I have AC to look forward to when I get back. :)