Sunday, July 19, 2009

looking for a pot of gold

So Fran and I arrived into Dublin yesterday afternoon and was collected from the airport by his Aunt. Aunt Mary gave us a quick driving tour of the city and pointed out some of the cool things to see and do while here. The hospitality here has been awesome! After lunch we went out to see the Guinness tour with cousin Michael only to come back to a delicious steak dinner. There is no doubt I have had some good food on this trip, but nothing beats home cooking. By the way, Guiness in Ireland tastes different, and way better here. I thought the recipe was pretty standard but this was so smooth.
Today Fran and I are heading out to the Cliff's of Moor, Doolin, and Gallway (I think thats how you spell it) on the west coast just as a couple day trip. We don't really know what to expect, but it will be a fun short adventure.
I'm excited to come home and see everyone in a couple days!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

cervesa grande y patas bravas

Our last couple days in Rome were as good as the first. We saw all the sights and did all the things you do in Rome but met some cool people at our hostel and hung out with them. Rome has delicioous food and amazing gelato (ice cream) with sights and ancient treasures around every corner. We got a recommendation from someone in our hostel to go see this church that you can go down through the layers of foundations. Apparently this more modern church was build directly on top of old pagan worshipping alters, original christian alters, and some guys room dating back to the first centruy. Kinda wild!
So Fran had a phone interview so we bumped back our original flight out of Rome 2 hours later. We mapped it out and decided that we would have enough time. So the phone interview goes well and we head off about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Start taking the metro to where it connects. I meet a guy along the way that says there is a faster way. Ok. Ill go with it. We get off with him and twist and turn and sure enough he brings us to the right place in a much easier and faster way than we would have. Things are looking up. We just miss the first train, but no worries there is a second one and we will be just fine. So we sit play some cards and as planned the train comes. This is where it starts to take a turn... We have our first experience with a grifter, and let me tell you he was good and had us fooled for a second. He tried to charge us for our bringing our bags on. But have no fear, were on the train and will be just fine. The devil himself would hate this train. It is about 90 outside and they are pumping in heat! On top of that it moves at about 10 mph!? So what should take 20-30 minutes takes 40+. Things arent loking good. We run into the terminal only to find that unlike American airports, not a damn thing is labeled. We run in circles, stand in the wrong line for a minute, ask someone quick realize we are in the wrong line sprint over to the correct line only to be told we are a minute too late. SHIT! We meet a nice guy named Roberto that worked for the airline who is going to try to get us through quickly but since we have to check our baggage were out of luck despite our despirate pleading. So we find the new line to stand in to find the next flight at 10. It is a short line but with only 1 attendant who is working at a snails pace. A couple of people in line have been waiting for and hour and a half. We patiently wait while the attendant lady (who is quite good looking, but dumb as rocks) putzes around on the computer, shouts back to her colleauge in the other room, and meets and chats it up with friends she knows passing by. We finally get to her and explain the situation and discover why it takes her so long. She finger types with ONE hand! This is your job and you dont know how to type?! She putzes around on the computer and after about 30 minutes she copy and pastes whatever screen into word presses print and low and behold we our on the new flight. Oh, but of course for a heafty penalty. Our original flight has now quadruppeled in price and we still have to add 20€ for checking baggage. We find our way to our new line to get our boarding pass. Roberto finds us and we explain the situation of how and why we missed the flight. He feels for us and pulls some strings to get us the exit row on the plane. So we payed loads extra money for 3+ inches of leg room, not much but its better than nothing. We make our way to the front of the line and like before the attendants are beautiful, but saddly slow. After a bit of time and many questions later we get our boarding passes and only need to check our luggage. Luggage doesnt in fact get checked there but some dude off in the corner. We find the guy, our bags get scanned and he says just to leave them there. Ok? We didnt pay for it and now its just sitting in some random corner. We cross our fingers and venture to our gate. Our gate gets delayed an hour and the only way to our hostel other than cab is by bus, which closes at 1. The flight takes off at 11 and like before all the attendants are beautiful. I tell you, whoever does the hiring for this company has one of the best jobs in the world. So the flight lands at 12:20 we make our way to luggage claim and BINGO! our bags make it and we get one over on our airline. Its 12:45 we find the bus and yes! are on our way to and thin mattress and a deflated pillow. Once we pull in to the hostel it is about 2 and any bed and pillow will do. Success! We have survived Rome's airport!
The hostel here is pretty barebones. But somehow Fran and I have the room to ourselves AND more importantly each have a fan to blow directly on us as we sleep! So far we hit the beach and just came back to shower before heading out again to find cervesa grande and patatas bravas!
Adios!

Monday, July 13, 2009

When in Rome

The last day or so in Berlin was pretty fun. We rented some bikes and took our own tour of Berlin. Within about 5 minutes of renting it started raining. We wandered to the Berlin wall and some guy was shoveling some into a wheelbarrow so I leaned over and asked for a piece. He found a good size chunk and handed it to me. Sweet! Shops throughout Berlin are selling bits and pieces of it for about €15.
Trying to leave Berlin was a bit of an adventure... We thought we had figured out which line would take us to the airport only to be disapointed. The stop we thought was incorrect, so we scrambled a bit to figure out which one. Once we did we had the wrong ticket and while trying to buy the correct one the train came and went leaving us to wait about 30 minutes for the next one. No worrying yet, we left with plenty of time. So we hop on the train fully believing that it will take us directly to the airport. NOPE! Just kidding, it stops at some random stop with no explanation. We chat it up with some German who didnt speak a word of English and determine that we need to take a bus to the airport. Well the lot of busses is horribly marked and luckily we jump on the correct one. We got about an hour and 15 or so till our flight leaves and a and 20 minute bus ride. The worry level is starting to creep up. As soon as the bus parks we hop off sprint to the counter get our boarding passes, but wait! Our bags our too big and have to check them, what I have to go over to that other counter and pay for it there and come back to you? That doesnt make sense but, ok. 45 minutes and counting... Woo! got it! Again hurry through security only to find that our doesnt have a gate assigned yet. Once it is and we get there it is more or less a free for all to pick out whatever seat you want. People literally ran to the plane. Whew! On the plane and peacing out of Berlin.
Hello Rome!
First night in Rome we met up with my friend that I met on the study abroad portion. We meandered through the streets found a local fair at the Roman castle. Food, music, and drinks. We were pretty tired and it was late by then so we just settled for dinner. Made our way to Piazza Novara with a big oblisque/fountain.
The next day was the tour of all of Rome. We saw just about everything and walked SO much! We would just be walking along and then boom! Trevi fountain or Spanish Steps. It doesnt matter where you wander there is so much cool stuff in the city. Saw the Colleseum, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, and whatever else that was highlighted on the map. We walked for about 8 hours straight... But totally worth it! Today we had went to the Vatican and took a private tour under the vatican. Unbelievable is the only way to describe it. St. Peters remains are there so got to see that along with other tombs and foundations there. The bonus was that got us to cut through the hour plus long line that everyone else waited in to see the bascillica. The bascillica is not just enormous and incredibly imposing but the ornate decorations are just unreal. I know none of the pictures I took will do it justice.
Time to go find some food/wine and mingle with the other people here.
I love Rome! We got a couple more days here, I cant wait to see what else there is!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Walked a marathon

So Fran has arrived and shenanigans have ensued. So I met up with Fran at the airport and found our way to the hostel. Not too bad of a hostel, we're in a room of 6, 2 Australian girls, 1 guy who is from Germany, but lived in California and talked with a British accent (I didn't get it, but he was cool so it was ok), and one ninja girl who doesn't talk and hides under the covers and pretends to be sleeping as soon as people walk in.
So the first night we walked around aimlessly for a bit in search of a market with beer. After a long and barely successful beer mission, we made our way back to the hostel met up with our roommates and another Aussie and played cards. they loved the games and all was well. Finished off the night with a late night run for a doner kebab, which is basically a gyro but they eat them like we eat Taco Bell here.
The next day we walked and walked and walked all over the city. We saw prettz much all the sights, Brandenburg gate, Check Point Charlie, the Hollucaust Memorial (which was the most sobering museum I have ever been to). Along the way we came across a church that had been bombed during WWII that still has part standing and Mike Tyson and his pose of street break dancers. Later on we found some great authentic german food and beer and met some cool people at the bar.
Today we are moving a little slow going to find the Berlin Wall and try not to walk so damn far.
Hope all is well at home! Miss everyone!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

School's out for the summer!

I am officialy done with school after a pleasant 2 hour essay exam. What fun it was! Tonight we have a good-bye dinner followed by good-bye beers!
Meeting Fran tomorrow at the airport then onto phase 2 of my trip. Yeah... phase 2 should be quite different than phase 1, wish me luck!

Monday, July 6, 2009

beer, brats, berlin

So in a land where delicious beer flows like water, I have yet to have a drop... Surprising I know, but I got a small bug so have been trying to get healthy quick. Nevertheless, Berlin has been pretty cool place. First night here I walked around for a couple hours with one other guy, just exploring the sights. We came across some remarkable buildings, including Brandenburg gate, some large imposing church, and a memorial to the individuals who fought against nazi's and for communism.
Today we had our last class (yay!) but it was a review scession for tomorrow's final (boo!). Afterwards we had a guided tour of Berlin seeing the Berlin wall (I got a piece), checkpoint Charlie, and just a bunch of other random stuff. There is loads to see here and the overlapping history as it has been a war torn nation for so long is interesting.
Berlin is prettz much 2 cities still, east and west with the west still far richer and better off than the east.
I was sad to miss out on all the 4th of July celeebrations but we threw our own celebration in Prague with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was as close to American as we were going to get. They had a cover band playing all kinds of American songs so it was pretty fun. It was no beer and brats poolside but it worked.
Got to go do my laundry. Hope all is well at home! Miss everyone!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

City planners 1,200 years ago didn't think about how confusing their roads are for American tourists

As I am finding out it doesn't matter where you go in Europe, everyone is obsessed with Michael Jackson. Yes, Michael Jackson was a great musician and all, I get that his death made news but with only a couple channels in English it is pretty much all Michael Jackson. Both in Strasbourg and Frankfurt there was a channel running 24/7 as a Michael Jackson montage. Then we met some local who in broken English claimed to have cried for 3 days over his death! Seriuosly? He may have been on drugs and a bit crazy and not the best representative of other Europeans but still. And then we get to Prague and sure enough, more Michael... I can only assume the continuous coverage is worse in the States. Anyways! Yesterday was a long day. We had a presentation at the European Union Bank in Frankfurt. The presenter was a press secretary and was smart and knowledgable, but incredibly dry. After the first hour it was a struggle just to keep my eyes open. So I resorted to what any good student would do, I doodled; and made quite the kick ass flip book if I do say so myself. So after the less than inspriring presentation we piled onto the bus and took off for an 8ish hour ride to Prague. Low and Behold our bus breaks down in the middle of Timbuktu, Germany leaving us stranded for 4 hours until the repair men come and fix us up within 15 minutes. So we hit the road again, and pull into Prague around 11:00. So we got some local tip that there was a club within walking distance, but people were feeling lazy so we climbed into a cab which is good because not only was it a 15 minute drive (crossing the same river twice, perhaps not the most direct route) but Prague doesn't know what a straight road is. Every single road zigs and zags, some on cobble stone, some not, some with trains passing by, some not, some one way, some not. Whoever the city planner was some 1,200 odd years ago when this city was build clearly didn't take into account that American tourists could easily become lost. But if nothing else, we got an early tour of the city via a crazy speeding cabbie.
We had class this morning then followed up with a proper tour of the city. It is a beautiful place with so much history. We saw all kinds of interesting things and although I took a ton of pictures I fear they will hardly do it justice. It got its independence back in the early 1900 but since then has been under both Nazi and Soviet control until about 20 years ago. It is by far the most Westernized city and since freedom from the Soviets they have been trying to catch up on everything Westernized (there are a ton of McDonald's here).
That's all for now!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Playing human frogger in Frankfurt

Europe has been quite the adventure so far, then comes Strasbourg and Frankfurt.
Educationally speaking Strasbourg has the European Parliment, which after the tour I realized was the most inefficient and waste of money. The parliment has some 700 odd members who all work in Brussels but then come to Strasbourg once every 3 weeks to vote. So the building sits relatively empty the majority of the time. Our tour guide was boring and didn't add much, overall it was a bust. Then tomorrow we will visit the European bank, hoping for better results this time.
Strasbourg is hard to explain... It is currently a French town but has switched between Germany and France multiple times over the years. It was initially a hospital and is rumored to be the start of syphallis.... Not sure how true that really is. Nevertheless, it has some very pretty German architecture that lines the river. There's not a lot to do in the town and has a quite a few of crazy drunk homeless. We found a local Irish pub that was playing the US/Brazil soccer game. Apparently it was the only place in town that was actually showing it. There may have been a USA flag and USA chants involved, the French weren't too pleased with us...
Frankfurt is dominated by the bank. It has all modern buildings (not surprisingly because everything was bombed in WWII) that are all pretty and whatnot but it lacked soul. There is little to do and there are dirty strip clubs and homeless are all over. A group of guys and I did manage to find a small outdoor festival with a live band that was more like a wedding singer band. Despite a great brat and beer, I am glad we are only spending a day here.
As I am discovering in Europe, I am finding some common themes. I have decided that no matter where in Europe crossing the road can be a bit risky. At times it is like you are playing human frogger and just hope you time it right.
Got a long bus ride to Prague tomorrow. We have a paper due at the end of the week that needs to get written sometime during this time.
Ciao!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

99 bottles of beer on the wall!

You know the song 99 bottles of beer on the wall? And you know how no one ever gets to the end? Well replace 99, with 2,000 and that's this bar in Brussels. Despite my best efforts I didn't make much of a dent. But it was fun choosing beer by flipping through the book and pointing at a random beer.
So Brussels is still a great place and because it isn't a tourist hot spot it's quite nice to not get swarmed here. Tomorrow we leave for Strassbourg. It will be a slow bus ride compared to the 180 mph train we took earlier. According to the itinerary it looks like we're going to blitzkrieg right through, though that might not be the PC term considering it is a French city right on the German boarder.

Friday, June 26, 2009

2,000+ Beers!!!!

Brussels is so far my favorite place! No one really thinks or hears anything about it, but this place is a good time. There may not be tons of sights to see like London or Paris, but the town itself is beaituful. And then the best part! A bar with 2,004 beers!!!! I may not get through all, but I'm going to see how far I can get. Oh and the chocolate and waffles are pretty delicious too. This pretty sums up my diet for while I'm here.
The reason we are here is because the EU is headquartered here. The whole city revolves around it and has such an international pressence here. We made a visit and talked to someone who works there. He was relatively interesting, but it was early, in a hot room and he had a tendency to trail off. Later a previous parliment member and now a current lobbyist. He was super interesting and we had a great open discussion.
I am glad to be out of Paris and into Brussels. The French arogance became pretty obvious towards the end. Paris is an cool city with beautiful sights to see, but the dirtiness/smelliness and some of the people I met on the last day left a bitter taste leaving.
I am super excited about the rest of the trip, especially Prague and Berlin. It doesn't look like I'll be able to post my pictures, so unless something changes I'm sorry about that and I'll show you all when I get back. I've all ready taken about 700...
We have the day off tomorrow and I found their national war museum which has a bunch of airplanes in it, so I'll obvious be there. And for tonight going to take another shot at 2,000 beers.
Hope all is well at home!
Cheers!!!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

bonjour from across the pond

Paris is a pretty cool place, but it def. has it's ups and downs. So here's my Paris trip in a nut shell... We arrived through the chunnel which is not as cool as you would think. You go fast but theres really nothing too special about it. You go underground for a bit then pop up and bam! you're in France. We took a quick, and pretty poor private bus tour of Paris. But at night there was a music festival that just had thousands of bands playing throughout the city. I heard everything from Southern Baptist, to classical, to techno raves. It was a good time... But we walked around that night ended up eating dinner on the Champs Elysses.
The next day we had class, had a representative from the US Embassy come and talk to us for a bit. Interesting, but pretty diplomatic. That night everyone studied. Yes, you read that correctly, studied for our midterm the next day. Granted abottle of wine was involved, but still. The midterm could have gone better. It was a written exam, 4 questions each 400 words. We had an hour and half, i finished 2 questions in an hour so had to rush the last 2. Oh well.
Yesterday a group of us walked around the Sine river, ate at the Notre Dame, saw the Eiffel Tower again, and Champs Elysses again.
Today was the Louvre. Similar to the British, the Franch stole a bunch of cool looking shit too. The mona lisa is overrated. It was small and super crowded. But there was tons of things of things to see so it was pretty cool and since it is so big its impossible to see everything.
So Paris has tons of great things. The people are actually pretty nice and helpful despite the stereotype. The crepes and wine is delicious! And theres tons of things to see and do. On the other hand it is dirty and smells pretty bad, especially the metro. There is also a higher risk of pickpocketers and mugging. But all in all, I can't say anything bad about Paris.
I'm having a great time and have some great stories and memories already.
On to Brussels!
Au revoir!

Monday, June 22, 2009

the wine is flowing on the Champs Elysse

Arrived in Paris yesterday! It is great here, just a beautiful here! I don't have a whole lot of time, we have a meeting with a US embassy official in a little bit. Last night ate and drank wine on the Champs Elysse, then walked to the Eiffel Tower. It is so so so beautiful. There was a music festival where all across the city cafes would have musicians and djs set up so that there were thousands of people out dancing in the streets. It was pretty neat. Ok, time to go!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Cheers!

It's been a great time in London but all good things must come to an end... And on to Paris! London has been fun, but so damn expensive! Hopefully it improves a bit by going to the Euro.
So the last few days have been interesting. I can say that I saw everything that I really wanted to see and loads of stuff I hadn't planned but were well worth it. I've been to Churchill's war bunker which still has the maps of the world with pins in it from where the troops are. I saw Picasso, Monet, Michaelangelo, Van Gogh, Raphael and many more at the Tate modern and Natational Gallery. Saw some dinosaurs and rare gems at the National History Museum. I saw Abby road and took an absurd amount of pictures trying to recreate the famous beatles album cover. I just got back from the British Museum which houses a collection from every corner of the world. Pretty much the British just stole a bunch of cool shinny shit when they were conquering people. Now its all on display and "properly preserved" for anyone to see it, rather than giving it back to the original country. It worked out well for me and I got to see Cleopatra, the Rosseta Stone, and countless other priceless artifacts. It was by far the coolest museum I have ever seen.
School/class has actually been very interesting. Our professor is a cool guy and even though classes are 3 hours long, they usually go by relatively fast. But the best part has been the field trips. On Thursday we met with the CFO of Eastern Hemisphere for Conoco Phillips, the big oil company based in Houston. He is probably one of the top 10 people in this multibillion dollar company and he was willing to take a couple hours out of his day and talk to us about what he does and international business. He was very honest and allowed for an open discussion that was great; and although no tough questions were asked like about being a greener company or recording record profits last year it was still very informative.
This is one of the coolest places I've ever been to. You can go anywhere and get anything you need just by hoping on the subway (or the Tube as they call it here). Yesterday we felt like Asain food so went to Chinatown and had the most authentic Chinese food ever and then checked out a Moroco pub! I mean how cool is that! We tried to catch Bruno doing his stunt of walking around in hot pants and one of those fuzzy British hats, but just missed it. But did see some stuff for the Harry Potter premire, as you can imagine, they like their Potter. Whenever I go to a pub or the store I try a new beer. I have only had to try the same beer twice a couple times - and I have made sure to culture myself via beer... I haven't been too disappointed, in fact have been quite happy!
Tomorrow morning (7 am!) we take the chunnel over to Paris, but tonight it is going to be a cheap dinner and drinks in Kensignton Park.
Love hearing from everyone!

Cheers!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Parliment, Tate, and War Museum

Today was a great day, but loads of walking. We met under Big Ben went into a Parliment meeting room to talk to a member of parliment. He had great insight and talked very openly, candidly, and uncensored. From the way he made it sound, the political pressures involved can make independent thought away from the party's message.
After the meeting we got a tour from a a very knowledgable guide. It was really neat to see everything and hear about the history that is involved. At one point we had to stand, remove our hats as some senior whip leader walked by. They still employ many of their older traditions including silly white wigs. The longer and more rolls in a wig, the higher you rank. It was a great tour and I even saw the Magna Carta!
After Parliment a small group of us went to Tate Modern. Some stuff was really sool including giant furniture, some picasso and other neat works. There is also a handful of very strange "videos" that are considered art. To me these are just the strange works of years of heavy drug use.
Since the Churchill's War Room cost money, no one else wanted to go, but I did, and it was way worth it! Holy history that was neat!
Overall it was a good day. Tomorrow is class lecture (and to turn in my first homework assignement) followed by a visit to Conoco Phillip. So we'll see how that one goes.
Glad to hear the brewers are still in first place and I'm missing out on the whole Favre never ending saga.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Class... Ugh!

Yesterday we had our first class. It was 3 hours on an overview and brief history of the EU. Its actually been really interesting and our professor who is young and pretty cool makes it ok. Today we have a 2, 3 hour classes and are on our lunch break right now. The European perspective on how and why the EU formed is much different than what I would expect to hear from the US.
After class yesterday we took a field trip to the Bank of England. It was actually kind of a disappointment, the tour guide was pretty dull and the movie they played could put anyone to sleep. But I did lift and hold a gold brick worth £277,000!
We had our welcome dinner last night as well. It's like they knew what we would want and brought us to a pub. The food may have been bad, but the beer was good so I'm not complaining.
We got another 3 hour class in about 5 minutes and then it looks like we're going to take a trip on the London Eye.
Tomorrow we visit Parliment and then have the rest of the day free. Tomorrow should be good!

PS. the hell with Favre!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

more fish and chips

Today was another free day. Me and a small group spent it being traditional tourists. We took the tube over to the London Eye, didn't ride it but took lots of pictures. We are saving a trip in that for another day when we have the full group and can get a discount because we're students. We walked over to Big Ben and Westminister Abey. Again, we didn't go in because on one of our school trips we will be doing that as a class. We eventually wound our way to Tate Museum and took a tour there. As it turns out there are actually 2 Tate museums. We went to the British one instead of what we meant to, the modern one. Oh well, we'll save that for another day. Tonight we are just going to go to a local pub for students only and maybe take a stroll in Hyde Park. It stays light till really late here which is really nice.
The people here are great! And Kengsinton, where we are staying is a super nice place, but it makes life a little more expensive.
There's something about class tomorrow...
Take care!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Mind the gap

After much delay I finally made it to London! The trip from Milwaukee was delayed due to weather then the trip from Atlanta was delayed because ground crew needed more time to get all the luggage on (mine). Despite that it went pretty smoothly and maybe managed an hour of sleep. I was actually sleeping but then a woman fainted and everyone started yelling... she was fine but that ended my ability to sleep.
Everyone got here just fine and it seems like it is going to be a great group. Despite all of us being sleep deprived we all explored the best London has to offer... the pubs.
We're staying at a Holiday Inn in one of the nicest districts. Neighboring two bedroom flats cost somewhere around £500,000, super swanky area. I saw more Ferrari's today than I have in years of living in Wisconsin.
Because we have an odd numbered of people on this trip I somehow ended up getting a single room too. This probably won't last in other cities, but atleast for now it is nice.
Today was a sightseeing day. We took a guided bus tour and saw some of the major attractions; Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's, Tower London, Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, Big Ben, The London Eye and drove around the city core. It was awesome! We spent the majority of time at Tower London, and yes Dad I took a picture of your favorite pub, Hung Drawn and Quartered.
Everything is going really well! I am loving it here!
Tomorrow we have another free day and there is talk about going to some of the museums.
Hope all is well at home!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Photos!

I'm not really sure how well it will work but I also set up a site to post my pictures.  http://www.photoworks.com/members/jcoyne check it out!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

T-11 days!

This is my first attempt at a blog, I thought it would be easier then sending out mass emails about where I'm at and what I'm doing.  I don't know what to expect when I'm there and how much I will be able to update this, but I think I should be able to get to it on a somewhat regular basis.  I'm also going to try to find a way to post some pictures, but that part might be a bit more tricky.

11 days until I leave for my journey to Europe, but who's counting really...  

This trip has 2 parts; 4 weeks of class studying the European Union and 2 weeks of play.

Over the 6 weeks I will be in 10 different cities, below is the itinerary.
June 11: Fly to London
June 12-20: London
June 21-24: Paris
June 25-27: Brussels
June 28: Strasbourg
June 29: Frankfurt
June 30-July 4: Prague
July 5-10: Berlin
July 11-14: Rome
July 15-17: Barcelona
July 18-21:Dublin
July 22: Fly Home

It's going to be an awesome once in a lifetime trip!