Jon and Lynsey's Blog

Well folks, another Masters is behind us and it was a good one! Congratulations to Trevor on his first major victory and his ability to hold off Tigers rather feaible charge on the weekend.

I want to thank you all for participating and helping us to raise $534 for the scholarship fund. I look forward to seeing you all again for the US Open Pool this June. For those of you who provided an e-mail address, entry forms will be going out electronically. For those who have yet too, you will still recieve a hard copy in the mail and we ask that you provide us with you e-mail then!

Thanks again for entering and helping us raise money for our local scholarship fund!

Here are results of the pool along with a breakdown of what each golfer earned and how many people picked them.

See you in June!

Click HERE for Golfers List

Click HERE for the results of the pool

Here ya go folks! Your 2008 Masters Entry Forms. Be sure to have them in the mail by Wednesday, April 9th by the latest. Good luck!

Masters Entry Form

WOW, is all I can say about this years US Open. What a great finish and congrats to Angela Cabrera for a fine victory!

As far as the final results for the pool, they are in! CLICK HERE for a breakdown of earnings per player. CLICK HERE for the results of the pool and to see just how you finished among your fellow competitors!!

Thanks again for participating in this years US OPEN Pool. We raised just over $400 for the local scholarship! Way to go everyone!!

Check in soon for the next big thing!!


Thanks again,


Greg

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR VERY OWN 2007 US OPEN ENTRY FORM!! IT'S GUARANTEED TO BE A GREAT TOURNAMENT!

GOOD LUCK AND PICK WISELY!!!!

The Master Results are in and this years winner is.........Better click HERE. We want to thank everyone who participated in this years contest. We were able to raise $541 dollars for The Scott Ingham Memorial Golf Scholarship Fund and it was all thanks to you. If you would like to be on the mailing list for an entry form, please leave a comment with your name, mailing address and email and we'll add you to the list! Only 359 more days until next years Masters!

Thanks again,


Greg Hall

P.S. IN AN ATTEMPT TO GO ELECTRONIC, WE WILL BE DISTRIBUTING ENTRY FORMS BY EMAIL AND THROUGH THIS WEBSITE. WE WILL BE DOING ONE MORE MASS MAILING FOR THE US OPEN BUT AFTER THAT IT WILL BE ALL ELECTRONIC. THIS WILL SPEED THINGS UP AND COST DOWN ON EXPENSES. SO PLEASE CHECK BACK IN HERE FOR YOUR US OPEN POOL ENTRY FORM IN EARLY JUNE! THANKS AGAIN

Wow, time sure does fly when you're busy doesn't it! It seems like it was just yesterday I was updating you on our lives but in all reality it's been 3 weeks already. As bad as it sounds, I don't even know where to begin either because I can't remember that far back! Ooops! I guess I'll just have to do my best in trying to recall everything and I can tell ya this much, St Patty's Day didn't do much for my memory!

So, after a thrilling UW vs MSU game at the Kohl Center, Lynsey, my dad and I helped a guy move some stuff out of his house. It wasn't hard work at all but to drank away any potential back pain that might have been incurred, Lynsey and I meet Brad and Sarah out downtown for a few. It was a good time but I sure was tired come Sunday! My week was pretty much the same old, same old. Class and work all week! That following weekend, the 9th, the moment we've been waiting for was finally here....we were going to start laying the new floor in the living room. After my dad had a few rows already had down, it was Mr. C's and my job the rest of the way while my dad supplied us with perfectly cut boards. After a late evening, and an early morning, the living room and hallway was complete and we had a normal looking house again...only for an instance though. After everything was back in place, we all agreed the floor looks amazing! Stop out and check it out if you are around. Now that that project is complete, the next project is the master bedroom, bath and closet! Mr. Sibley just finished painting so the next step is the floor!

Of course we went to Whitewater for St. Patty's Day! It's always a good time and who can pass up the oppurtunity to see so many old friends. We crashed at Ty's both Friday and Saturday night and managed to go out for a bit Friday night and then spend somewhere in the ball park of 14 hours in the bars (ALL THE BARS) for the 20 hours they were opened for. Pretty impressive and I have definetly felt better Sunday morning that's for sure. Guest appearances were made by, Tyson, Chris, Dohr, B-rob, Greg, Steph, Heather, Ryan, Jenny, Adam, Dave and way to many others to remember. It really was good seeing everyone again.

So that's been our exciting weekends, now we'll fill ya in a little bit about our school and work situations. As far as I go, I'm still taking my last class to graduate twice a week and scuba diving finished up last week. It was a great course and I can't wait to get certified this summer! Work at First Weber is going great. I truly do enjoy heading to work everyday which I guess is a plus right I'm studying for my real estate license so who knows, I could be selling here pretty soon. As far as Lynsey and work and the job search goes, she actually started last week as a temp for Associated Bank in the Wealth Management Department. She enjoys it and it is a great resume builder and position right now for her. We both interviewed with the VA Regional Office in Milwaukee which went really well and I'm sure we'd have a job there if we wanted. But, we aren't to excited about living in Milwaukee or working 8+ hours a day in a cubicle. So we'll have to see what happens there. Lynsey has also had an interview today with the State here in Madison for some banking position which wouldn't be bad at all for her! As a little side note from school, I gave a presentation to a group of South Eastern Wisconsin Executives, ICE (International Creditors Executive Group). This group gave both Lynsey and I a $1,000 scholarship for our study abroad in Europe. Since Lynsey was working, it was just me doing the presentation. They treated me to lunch and I gave them a 15 minute presentation with a little info on the Czech Republic and showed them a short slideshow of pics taken all around Europe. I think they really enjoyed it and appreciated the fact I came and thanked them all in person. All 100+ of them.

Who knows what lies ahead of us in the upcoming weeks. I guess you'll just have to keep checking in and seeing what the two of us are up too! Take care and thanks for reading!

Jon and Lynsey

Wow, was this past weekend a LOT of fun partying it up in good ole Waupun for the wedding of two amazing friends, Adam and Jennifer Nisler. Lynsey and Jenny met the begining of their freshman year at Whitewater and have been best friends ever since. Lynsey and Adam were friends and Jenny met Adam through Lynsey and as you can see, the rest is history. They were married in Waupun where they have purchased their first home together. All of the women in the bridal party looked fantastic, especially Heather and Lynsey and certaintly Jenny herself. The wedding was very nice and the party afterwards was just like old times. We got to see a lot of friends we hadn't seen in awhile and enjoy the snow storm of the century both driving in it and shoving it. Oh how we love living in Wisconsin So this week has been a pretty good week thus far. Lynsey has had several interviews and should be finding out if she has a job the begining of next week ( we need to find her a job ) I love you hunny! This weekend is the Badger Men's Basketball last home game and I'm looking forward to going to the game with my dad and ripping on Drew Neitzel when he comes out of the locker room below me! I might tackle him during the game if he starts to heat up! Haha, just kidding. So we'll just have to see how the weekend goes! Check back soon, I'll be posting some pictures from the wedding for everyone to see. Take care and until next time, have a little fun!

Jon and Lynsey

I always thought that once I got back here to beautiful Middleton, Wisconsin, I'd have all the time in the world to do as I please and of course, keep all our faithful reader's up-to-date on our daily and weekly activities and what it is like being back in the US of A. So, I'll apologize now and tell you in the same breath that pictures are being posted so when you are done reading, head over there to check out the last months worth of pictures.

So, where do I start? Well, we got back in the US of A on January 24th (Wednesday) and spent the remainder of the week with Lynsey's dad and bro. It was a great time and the best part was I didn't have to watch the Bears that Sunday because it was the week before the Super Bowl! Poor Bears But before we arrived back home and after my dad and grandpa left on the 21st, the three of us, Lynsey, Tyson and myself made our way from Munich to Prague to spend a few days touring around the beautiful city. Ty had never been there so he was in amazement how nice of a city it was. We saw as many of the sights as we could see in the city while battling the cold and enjoyed many of laughs and memories along the way. We took a trip out of Prague on a bus to a small town by the name of Kutna Hora to see a church completely decorated in over 40,000 peoples bones. Yes, you read that right, 40,000 people's worth of bones! It was very interesting to say the least. So, the last day we were in Prague it decides to start snowing. This is really the first snow we've seen since the begining of November when it snowed for a few mornings in a row, so it was a welcome sight. Little did we know that when we should up to catch our night bus to Frankfurt, Germany at 2355 the night before we are scheduled to leave at 1430, ALL bus service in the Czech Republic was cancelled due to the snow storm. Great we said! After a very interesting evening in the train station and some scary back alleys, we caught a 0500 train to Frankfurt and boarded our fortunately delayed plane and headed back to Chicago where we touched down at excactly 1730! It was extremely sad leaving what we had known as home for the past 5 months but also very nice coming back to a land that is so familiar to us and where we can understand everyone around us. Overall, the journey was an amazing one. We saw over 17 countries and met some amazing people along the way. Oh heck yah, we would have liked to stay longer but like every good trip, it must come to an end at some point right. There are so many places we want to go back and explore more in depth when we find the time and money here in the near future! Soooooo, if you want to plan a trip to Europe with some friends, count the two of us IN for sure!

Well, that was the end of our adventure in Europe, but that doesn't mean the excitment has to end once back in the states. It's been almost 4 weeks now and we've been keeping ourselves busy enough that's for sure. Lynsey is done with school so she is busy looking for a job in the Madison area and I'm taking 4 credits (two classes) still at WW, driving down there 3 days a week. When not at class we are busy cleaning up the house and trying to stay warm during our artic freeze since our return home. We have seen a lot of our friends and family and if you're one of the ones who we haven't seen yet, we apologize! It's been great watching and listening to the Badger Men's Basketball team roll through the season thus far and even better watching them in person which I've had the oppurtunity to do so thanks to my dad letting me use his tickets! Thanks Pops! Dohr and I even managed to turn another year older, while only one of us will get better insurance this year! Happy Birthday Dohr! One of the most exciting things we have to look forward to this week is the marriage of two amazing friends, Adam Nisler and Jennifer Neevel. Not only will they be "taking the plunge" but we'll get to stay a ton of friends we haven't seen yet so we are extremely excited!

So that pretty much brings us up to today. I start work again with First Weber Realtors here in Madison this Friday (no, I'm not selling but possibly soon) and Lynsey is busy with interviews and the whole "real world" approaching way to quickly syndrome! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the "warmer" weather we are having these days (warmer compared to 0-10 below). Take care and we hope you continue to check in and see what we are up to these days!

Jon and Lynsey

Yah, I know it's been awhile since I've written on this thing and posted the last of our pics but I promise someday I will. First I just want to see if anyone out there still reads our blog now that we are back?? So if you are still checking in, drop us a line and let us know you're still reading! Stay tuned for more postings and pics!!

Has it really been 2+ weeks since we last updated you on our travels? Ooops, sorry about that one but we've been pretty busy since then and having one hell of a great time! Yah I know, this will be yet another long one because we have some catching up to do but don't worry, it will be worth your time reading everything.

So where do I start?? Well, we'll have to go back a couple weeks to our final departure from our home away from home, Brno. So, the night bus from Brno to Munich was pretty painless and uneventful. We go tot the bus station, caught a cab to our hostel, stored our bags, convinced the guy behind the counter to let us crash in a room for a bit seeing it was 0530. So we slept for a bit, got up, walked to a small cafe to get breakfast and the internet and then got sick! I think I had mild food poisoning or something but by the end of the day I was all better. We spent the rest of that day and Sunday in Munich before getting up Monday morning and heading south in to the Alps to Garmisch, Germany to spend a few nights at the amazing Edelwiess Hotel and Lodge. Thank you Uncle Sam! The hotel was absolutely amazing and it was nice having full access to English (American) speaking people, American food and being able to pay in US dollars. So we spent the first two days relaxing and sitting in the amazing hot tub outside gazing at the nearby Alps. Altough it was way to warm to ski, that was ok because we enjoyed every minute of it. So Wednesday morning came around and our visitors were arriving any minute. Yeap, they flew down the Autobahn to Garmisch and arrived a little earlier then expected. It was GREAT seeing my dad, cousin Tyson and Grandpa Hall for the first time in over 4 months. We spent a few hours catching up and laughing before Grandpa took a short nap, then Ty took a nap and the remaining three of us drove around town for a bit. The weather was great. Mid 50's and sunny. We had a good buffett dinner and then all of us except Grandpa went downstairs and spent a few hours having some great German beer and playing 12 games of BINGO. Of course none of us won but what's new! We awoke early Thursday morning and after a short discussion we decide it was better if we packed up and checked out a day ahead of time and start our journey south and get a good jump on the trip. So off we were!

After a very long and very eventful and laughing filled car ride through the beautiful Alps of southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy we arrived at our destination in St. Caterina. Our hotel of choice was one called the Hotel S. Matteo run and owned by soem distant relatives of my Grandma Hall. The hotel was amazing and the setting was breathtaking. The relatives were some of the nicest people I have meet in my time over here in Europe. We were up way to late talking about anything and everything and of course eating WAY to much good food and drinking a few bottles of wine as well. Lynsey, Ty and I borrowed some schnazzy ski outfits from the relatives and hit the slopes. We skied the entire afternoon and swore I was high enough up in the Alps to reach up and touch the big guy. I did my fair share of falling but never got hurt and always got back up. The views were amazing and the skiing was the best in my life. It was a great time. All I can say about the relatives is thank you for an amazing time and your generous hospitality and open hearts. It was another late evening and an early morning for our journey in to the south of Italy and the real start of our journey.

I never would have thought leaving northern Italy at 0830 and driving to the Naples area (actually it is a town northeast of Naples called Cassino) would take us nearly 9 hours to get there going anywhere between 120 and 180 KPH (75-100+ MPH). Yah, my dad was flying and surprisingly still getting passed by crazy Italian drivers. Once we were in Cassino, we drove around a bit and finally found a nice hotel in the heart of town and called it a night. Lynsey got really sick at 0500 the next morning so sleep was extremely limited for the two of us. After breakfast we loaded up the car and set off to start the real journey of our trip. In 1944 my Grandfather landed in Naples, Italy and pushed inland to Cassino where they met heavily fortified German troops. This would be the bloodiest and deadliest battle site in all of WWII. We saw several sites in the surrounding country side and visited the war memorial cemetry and museum. It was an extremely once in a lifetime experience. From there we headed west to the coast to a small town of Anzio where American troops landed and headed north to drive the Germans out of Rome. After driving around for several hours trying to find the city and finally finding the beach, we drove around Rome and headed towards Pisa. Once in Pisa, somewhere around 2130, finding a hotel room that wasn't ungodly expensive was a chore but when we finally found our hotel we were only 3 blocks from the tower and it was one of nicest hotels I've ever stayed in. We spent two full nights in Pisa to refuel our bodies and actually relax and not always be on the go. It was a good thing because both Lynsey and I and my dad were all under the weather with some 24 hour bug. We toured the city a bit and saw all the city had to offer (basically just the tower) and then enjoyed our amazing hotel. But come Tuesday morning we were up bright and early and on the road towards the French Riveria where we would spend a few days!

After a very quick and painless drive up the coast of Italy, we crossed over in to France for the first time during this trip. Our destination was a town on the riveria called Cannes. We drove right in to the town, found a tourist office, called the hotel we had looked at the night before and found the hotel and checked in like we knew what we were doing. The room was right on the ocean and extremely reasonable for the location. We got situated, ate some lunch and then toured the city for a bit. We made a simple dinner in our kitchen in our room and then had a few cocktails and played some euchre for the first time in months until well after midnight. Wednesday morning saw us up with the sun (somewhere around 830-845) and taking a short day trip down the riveria to where Grandpa made his invasion in to southern France. We just happened to stumble upon the exact beach and a large memorial dedicated to his division and their landing and aid in liberation of the French people. It was pretty cool to say the lesst. From there we headed inland towards another small town and an American Military cemetry for those who lost there lives coming ashore during the war. The cemetry was beautifully maintained and very touching. It is always cool to listen to my Grandfather talk about his first hand military experiences as well as him teaching us even more about the war from his deep knowledge on the subject. Once done there we headed back to Cannes where the four of us, Grandpa excluded, headed across the street and down to the Mediterrean. It was probably 50 outside but that didn't stop us from diving head first in to the Mediterrean. It was COLD but hey, I can now say I went swimming in the sea! Hell yah! We walked around the city some more that afternoon, made some dinner and finished a few more bottles of booze before trying to go to the casino before realizing the hotel basically locks you in after 2000. It sucked so we just went to bed. It was going to be another early morning anyways.

Thursday morning we were up bright and early again and heading north in to the heart of France for some more exploration. Our first stop was a small town by the name of Allex, France. This is where my Grandfather recieved the Distinguished Service Cross (the second highest award behind the Medal of Honor) for his actions in battle in clearing a German roadblock. The city was on no map we had so it was a shot in the dark finding the city but we found it with no trouble at all. Once in the city we stumbled upon a rather large church and just happened to get hooked up with the local priest (80 years old or so) who spoke amazing English and was a fountain of information. We spent nearly 30 minutes talking with him about various topics before getting back on the road. It was one of the highlights of the trip for sure. Hopefully we can keep in touch with him and get more information from him. From there we continued north to a town by the name of Vesoul. This was one of the last stops for my Grandfather before he was wounded and taken off of the front lines. We got to Vesoul early in the evening and after some driving around, found a hotel, checked in, dropped our bags and got some dinner to eat. Not much to do around town and it was raining pretty good so an early bed was well needed for another early morning.

Friday morning we were up and on the road by 0900 headed north to a town by the name of Remiremont. This is the closest town to where my Grandpa thinks he was wounded in 1944. He showed us what the terrain looked like and explained to us how he was wounded and then we headed east/southeast towards Switzerland and ultimately our final destination. What we couldn't get over was how much standing water there was in the area. What we didn't realize was a HUGE storm had passed through the area just hours before we arrived in Vesoul and smaller storms that night that dumped a ton of rain in a short period of time. The rivers had swollen their banks and water flooded everywhere. We were able to drive through it and in to Switzerland and to a town on the German/Swiss border by the name of Konstanz. This is where I sit writting this to you now. The town in located right on the border and is nestled along the shores of a huge lake. The city is very clean and beautiful and managed to stay unbombed during the war so a lot of old buildings still remain. We found a 4 star hotel right in the heart of downtown and checked in. They even had a sauna in the basement where the 4 of us spent a bit relaxing. Tomorrow we'll head in to Munich to find a hotel for my dad and grandpa's last night in Europe before heading home.

The trip has been an extremely memorable one thats for sure. A lot of stories have been shared and a lot of laughs have been had. It is truly a once in a lifetime experience for all of us. It is extremely late and I have to get up extremely early to head to Munich so I'm gonna get some sleep. Less then a week and we'll be back in the states (atleast for awhile). We look forward to seeing and hearing from you all once we get back. Miss ya and we'll talk to you soon! Until next time, ciao!

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very drunk and Happy New Years!! Lynsey and I have been enjoying ourselves to the fullest these past 2 weeks or so. Christmas in Paris was absolutely perfect and New Years in Belgium was a blast. Since the last update ya'll recieved was while we were in Cologne, I'll give you another update of the past week or so. So after I wrote you all the last time, we made some dinner and ran in to a couple from the states. She actually was born and raised in Marshfield so we all got along great. Needless to say after dinner we made our way down to a local Pub where we consumed way to much beer in way to short a time and then stumbled home to pass out. I guess during the night one of the guys in our room got up sleep walking and was looking to get to the bathroom but only managed to make it to the other 2 people in the room and stood over them in the peeing position. Both woke up and were quite startled. It was funny. So we slept in the next morning and then poked around the city all day before getting to bed early for an early morning and day of traveling. We got up the morning of the 30th and headed to Luxembourg for the day because we both wanted to see the city before we left. Of course as soon as we got there and stored our bags and started walking, it started raining! So we walked around for a couple hours and then jumped back on the train and headed to Antwerp, Belgium to meet up with some friends. We arrived in to Antwerp around 1830 and they picked us up and we headed to their house. Filip was my old roommate at Brno and Caroline is his girlfriend he meet in Brno. We headed to Caroline's house where her mom had prepared an authentic Belgium 5 course meal for the 5 of us. It was amazing! We visited for awhile and then headed back to Filips house to meet his parents and get some sleep. We woke on New Years Eve Day rather late, got ready, ate breakfast and headed for the city. Another friend of ours, Kristof (Filip's roomie the last part of the semester) met up with us in the city so now we were 5. We wandered the city, saw the sights, had Belgium fries that Lynsey was craving and then headed back to his house for another typical Belgium New Years feast. His parents are so much and we are so grateful for their hospitality the 4 days we stayed. The meal was another good one and after relaxing a bit after dinner we got ready and headed to a party at one of Filip's friends house nearby. We drank some more Belgium beer and rang in the New Years in fashion complete with champaign and fireworks. From there we caught a cab in to Antwerp and partied at a very busy bar until 0430 or so before catching the bus back to his house. After seeing 0600 on the clock and having to wake up by 1100 we were tired. We took a drive out to the coast and spent a few hours walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather and fresh ocean breeze. Great way to wake yourself up after a long evening. We had Belgium hot chocolate and waffles and then headed to another city to see some sights and have dinner. It was another late evening but a great day indeed. Tuesday morning we got to sleep in a bit before getting up and catching the bus in to town to catch the train to the neighboring city of St. Niklaas where we met Caroline and headed to a big outdoor biking event. Biking is the number one sport in Belgium so we were glad we got to see such an event. Since it rains so much in Belgium, the outdoor course around the entire lake was complete mud as well as the bikers. It was fun to watch and even a few Americans where competing. Caroline dropped us off at the train station and we said our final goodbyes to hear and we caught a train back to Antwerp. We got back to Filip's house after a long delay in the train station and had another wonderful meal. We spent some time with Filip and his parents before heading to bed for an early morning.

We were orginally going to go to Amsterdam on Tuesday (the 2nd) but decide to go to the cycyling event instead and just make a day trip to Amsterdam on Wednesday. So we were up bright and early, said our goodbyes to our wonderful Belgium friends again and headed to Amsterdam. We spent a good portion of the day wandering the streets, visiting the Anne Frank House, seeing all the hard working women in the "Red Light District" and smelling weed and other various drugs all day. The city definetly has a completely different vibe then the rest of Europe and we couldn't get over how many people were there! Having to be back in Brussels last night, we boarded another train and got back in to Brussels at 2030 after yet another short delay and checked in to our hostel and relaxed.

So today we will tour Brussels before boarding the Student Agency bus around 1800 for yet another 15+ hour bus ride back to Brno. Then we will spend 12 hours or so in Brno saying goodbye to friends, grabbing our bags and checking out before getting on another bus for 9 hours and heading to Munich. But I can fill ya'll in on that another time. Right now we have some sights to see. We miss you all back home and can't wait to see you in less than 3 weeks. Take care and until next time, CIAO!!

First off, I hope all those reading this had a very Merry and wonderful Christmas with their families and loved ones. Lynsey and I had a nice little Christmas strolling the streets of Paris, gazing at the Eiffel Tower and Midnight Mass at Notre Dame. The organ and choir sounded amazing inside and the whole experience was definetly one to remember. I will go in to more detail later about our travels due to limited time right now. So just a quick update for everyone! We left Paris yesterday (27th) and headed to Cologne, Germany. We are spending 3 nights here before heading to Antwerp, Belgiumto spend New Year's and a few extra days with some friends we made in Brno. So while we are here in Cologne we are going to see a few sights around the area and just take it easy. No since in rushing around everywhere right?? We are looking forward to Belgium and then Amsterdam and Brussels for a night before heading back to Brno on the 4th. Then it is only a short period before our "guest" arrive and spend 1.5 weeks strolling around Europe. We just need the snow to come in the Alps so we can ski while we are there. Keep your fingers crossed!!

So, this is a short one for sure, but there is a line forming behind me and I don't need to keep them waiting. We miss and love you all back home and appreciate you checking in and following our adventures around Europe. Can't wait to see you all when we get home!!! Until next time, CIAO!

I want to start off by wishing everyone out there reading this a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! As you all may know, Lynsey and I choose to spend this holidays away from home to allow ourselves a longer travel period and the chance to experience Christmas in PARIS!!!! So here we are, spending Christmas in a very beautiful city, full of incredibly way to many people and way to expensive everything. Yes, we are very sad that our families are at home celebrating Christmas without us, but hopefully they all know how much we miss them and how much we love them and that we will be right there beside them all in spirit! Being away from your family during both Thanksgiving and Christmas really makes you appreciate how much you truly do love and care for them. I know both of us have and I can safely say that for anyone else who has spent the holidays away from there loved ones. Alright, enough of the sappy stuff, I'll give you a little update on our past few days of traveling!

Alright, so after getting back in to the Czech on Saturday the 16th from Croatia, we spent the next 2.5 days packing, cleaning, cooking and saying goodbye to all of our new found friends. It was tough saying goodbye because we never know when our paths will cross again. I hope I can say they will cross again soon but who knows what will happen between now and then! So, Tuesday morning I checked out of the room and we grabbed our couple bags and set out with the Belgiums (Filip, Caroline and Kristof) for the start of our journey to Belgium!! After roughly 16 hours of traveling across the continent of Europe we arrived in Brussels, Belgium. We said goodbye to the three of them, only temporary (we will be spending 3 days or so with them over New Years), jumped on a train and head to the Belgium town of Gent. We found our hotel, checked in and immediately took a nice morning nap to refuel our bodies. We walked around the beautiful city for awhile before trying to figure out our next leg of the journey...getting to Caen, France and the beaches of Normandy. We were soon notified by the train ticket lady that all trains between Belgium, Caen and Paris were completely FULL for the next week or so. So this put us in a tough spot. We quickly adapted, found the LAST 2 bus tickets for the week to Paris leaving the following morning at 0800 and quickly snatched them up.

So this is where you find us now...in Paris. We arrived in to Paris on Thursday with no idea what we were going to do for the next 2 days before our reservation at our hotel was ready. So we checked for buses to Caen, France and none were avaiable so we found a nice, little cheap hotel right next to the bus stop and a main metro line that would allow us easy access in to the city. It actually turned out to be a nice litlte place and it was painless getting to and from the city. So we are very glad we came to Paris 2 days early because we got a lot of sight seeing in that I'm not sure we would have been able to do in just 4 days. A few of the sights visited so far: Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Notre Dame, Pantheon, Arc De Triomphe, National Military Museum (Napoleon's Tomb), Mini Statue of Liberty and a bunch more! We have done a lot of walking, dodge a lot of non-stopping cars, scooters, bikes and motorcyles and pushed our way through countless herds of cigeratte smoking, wee wee speaking, crepe eating, American hating French people! But it has been an awesome time so far and we can only imagine what else we are going to see in the next 3 days! Oh and for all of you who are wondering what we will be doing tomorrow night on Christmas Eve, we are going to the Cathedral of Notre Dame for the "Lighting of Lights" and Christmas Mass! We looked at a few places to eat Christmas dinner but the prices were ungodly expensive! 45-60 Euros (60-80 US Dollars) for one person to eat an appetizer, main course and dessert but no drinks!!! So, we are still looking. It truly will be a Christmas to remember for the two of us and we are very excited to be here in Paris to celebrate it together.

Again, we want to wish everyone back home a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. We are SOOOOO thankful for all the wonderful family and friends we both have for we would not be the people we are today if it wasn't for all of you. You all mean the world to us and we do not know what we would do without you all. Enjoy the Holidays and the time you will be spending with your family and loved ones because those are the people who truly care about you!!

We miss you all and you will all be in our hearts and minds during the upcoming days. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

Love Jon and Lynsey

It's sad, we only have a few nights left here in Brno before we set-off to explore the rest of Europe Since we were so limited on time before we set out to travel, we did a little more traveling to fill up that time. So sit back, crack open a cold one, turn down the TV and relax as you read about our last week's adventures. See, I knew you'd enjoy listening to the Christmas music that should be starting to play as you read this

So last Monday, the 11th, at 1300 we had our final presentation for our internship at Moravia. We spent the morning packing our bags and going over our presentation one last time. We arrived at Moravia early enough to print off our notes and papers and to drop our bags off outside the room where we were to present. The presentation went well. I'd say it was pretty casual as the two vice deans both messed with their cell phones while we were presenting, one even managed to answer his phone and leave the room! So we finished up the presentation, turned in our ID cards, grabbed our bags and headed out for the adventures we had in store!

From Brno we took a bus to Vienna where we would spend two nights exploring the city before heading to our next destination. Vienna is a very beautiful city from what we saw. It was also very cold so walking around at night and all day was very challenging. We survived and managed to see a very good portion of the city, both planned visits and even some when we didn't know exactly where we were (yah, it might have been my fault). We spent Tuesday night having a few beers in the hostels basement and chatting with a couple of Kiwi's who were living in London and traveling for a few weeks before heading to South America for 3 months and then back to New Zealand to live. Rough life I tell ya! While chatting with them, the fire alarm even managed to go off and we even had to get up and start to leave the building. At first, no one really moved until they came running down the stairs telling us we had to leave. It was only a false alarm and we our returned to our drinks. We called it an early night as we had to be up bright and early to catch our train.

So Wednesday morning saw us heading south to the capitol city of Slovenia, Ljubljana! We arrived a little after 1400, found a map and headed out to our hostel. It wasn't exactly in the city center but it was still pretty nice. We ended up having a large 8 bed room all to ourselves which was very nice. They even had WiFi so we could jump on the internet and plan the remainder of our trip since we really had nothing planned! We spent the remainder of the day and evening walking around the city seeing the sights and enjoying the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations throughout the city. The city was very nice and the people very friendly. We found it very interesting that the country was switching from their current currency to the Euro on the 1st of the year. The country must be doing pretty good to be going on the Euro! We grabbed a few groceries from a local store and headed back to the hostel to make some dinner but once we arrived back, we soon found out their were really no pans at all to make dinner with! So, we improvised and ended up making soup in a frying pan. Yah, I know what college students traveling on a tight budget will do to save a few bucks! We spent the evening planning the next few days and a few of our days on our next big travels that will be here soon then we know it! We crashed, only to get up early again!

Thursday morning we were up bright and early to finish a few things, pack and take our time getting to the train station to head to our next destination! We boared the train around 1000 and set off to Zagreb, the capitol of Croatia. We really didn't want to visit this city but it was the only big city in that area of Croatia we knew we could find a room and get to where we really wanted to go in Croatia. Once we arrived, we asked where the bus station was and set out to buy our bus tickets to the Plitvice Lakes National Park. This is why we came to Croatia, but more on that in a minute. After we got our tickets, we headed to the city center and then to our hostel. It was a little difficult to find but we managed and were soon checked in and had our bags dropped. A few things on our hostel. We had a 4 bed room with a bathroom in the room. Little did we know the bathroom was open for everyone in the hostel to use so we had people walking in and out of our room all day and evening, especially when they got home from the bars at 0200-0300. Oh yah, I was extremely happy about that one! It was ridicolous. Ok, enough of that. The city was nothing special so we walked around for a bit, saw the few sights and then headed back to our room that was just above the temperature outside to warm up and get ready for the next day. We tried to get a good night sleep but were awake from 0200-0300 so we were a bit slow in the morning. But regardless we were up bright and early and on a 0730 bus to take us to the lakes. Every city we had been in the previous few days had all been extremely cold, foggy and wet, but once we got outside the city, the fog lifted and the sun came out and the temperature warmed up. We had planned on it being very cold all day and each had on a fair number of layers but we ended up removing a majority of them once we got off the bus. It was a 2.5 hour bus ride and once we were off, we found a map and set out to explore the park and beautiful lakes. We picked up a few "tour guides" at the beginging of our walk. Two local dogs were tagging along with us for the first hour or so. They were muts, but cute. Lynsey named the one Sparky and I named the other one Cleveland, we called him Steamer for short. The lakes were by far the best part of the trip. They were so unbelievably beautiful and the water was so clear you could see so far down. We were 80 m's above the lake and were able to see large schools of trout swimming around in the lakes. Very cool. We walked pretty much non-stop for 5 hours around the lakes and did so in a t-shirt and long sleeve shirt. It was really nice outside. Check out the website for the park here: Plitvice Lakes National Park. We hoped on a bus passing by around 1700 and were back in to Zagreb by 1900. We pooked around the city for a bit and then headed back to the hostel to clean up, pack up, relax and get ready to leave in the morning. We were going to be up bright and early to start heading back to Brno.

We boarded the train at 0725 headed to Vienna and then to Bratislava, Slovakia. We had to make a quick stop there to get a few things and were able to get the few things we needed and get back on a train to Brno, all in under an hour of arrival. It couldn't have worked out any better. So we got back in to Brno, got a few groceries for the last few days and then headed back to the room. We were glad to get back last night and get one more good nights sleep. We even managed to listen to the Badger kick Pitt's butt in B-Ball and WW play a heck of a game against the tough Mt. Union team. Good job and great season Warhawks!! We spent today, Sunday, doing laundry, cleaning, organizing and packing up a few things. So much stuff to do, so little time and no idea just where to start! We'll get everything done though!

I'll post another entry before we leave on Tuesday the 19th for 2+ weeks of traveling I promise. It was a great 5 or so days of traveling, especially since it was with a great travel companion We miss you all back home and our looking forward to seeing each and everyone of you upon our return home. Until next time, drive fast, take chances!! Take care and be sure to keep checking in. You just never know when we'll post something new for ya to read or pics to check out! Until next time, ciao!!

Jon and Lynsey

WE ARE GOING TO HAVE VISITORS IN JANUARY!!! YAY, WE ARE SO EXCITED!!! So my dad, cousin Tyson and Grandpa Hall himself will be making a trip over to the great continent of Europe for 11-12 days the middle of January. We are going to retrace grandpa's route he took during his tour of duty during WWII. It's going to be an awesome trip that is for sure, plus we'll be seeing some landscape we've never seen before! Can't wait! I'll give you all more details as they come about, but they are comning for sure. Tickets are booked and 4 nights of hotels are reserved!!

So, after 2.5 months (actually just over 2) of school (and by school I mean 2 classes one day a week for no more then 4 hours and just over a month of work, 20-28 hrs a week, 2 group presentations for one class, 1 paper for the other and a short paper and presentation for our internship) we are done with our schooling here in Brno!! It's a sad, but happy, day for us. Since it's been awhile since I've last filled ya in on our lifes here, I'll do that quick and then give you some insight to what lies ahead of us for the next 6+ weeks

Last week was pretty uneventful. Spent the majority of the week working (24 hrs) on our project at work and then the rest of the time we were working on the last few papers and projects we had to do. We spent the weekend here in Brno to relax and refuel our bodies from always being on the go. It was a nice weekend. Went to dinner at a restaurant just down the road that a former WW and fellow Brno traveller suggested. Very good and filling. We finished up all our projects, papers and presentations today so now all that's left is our presentation for our internship we give together on Monday and then we'll have nothing left to do here in Brno for school. It's kind of sad actually. To think, we will be staying in our room only a few more nights and then it will be a different city or country every few days for the next month and a half. CRAZY! Since we are done with school and work (as of Monday afternoon the 11th) we figured we'd do some traveling and exploring before we set out to travel and explore Make sense?? Well good, I'm glad it does So here is a little timeline for our next week/week and a half!

This weekend we are heading to the town where HOSTEL was actually filmed (not Bratislava the actual town). The whole town is protected as a national heritage site so it should be pretty cool. We'll spend Saturday and Sunday there and get back Sunday night. Monday we are taking our bags to work and heading to Vienna for 2 nights and then from there we will head to Slovenia and Croatia until Sunday sometime. Don't know exactly where we are gonna go once we get there but we have a few ideas. We'll get back Sunday night/Monday morning, pack up all our stuff, and I do mean ALL our stuff cause we have a lot, clean the room and wait to get on a bus to Brussels with the Belgiums and that will be the start of a month straight of traveling! And some more good news, we changed our tickets home from the 17th to the 24th so we get an extra week in Europe!!!!! Heck ya!

Well dinner is on the table and Lynsey's got her hands on her hips with her head cocked to the side telling me to get over here and eat the dinner she has prepared (like she always does). So I'm going to obey and fill my little belly with some good home cookin. Stay posted and keep checking in. You just might never know where we will be next. Take care and know we miss you all who take the time to read about our lives.

Ciao

Jon and Lynsey