Loyal followers...

We come to you today from the skies somewhere over Canada, on route from London to Denver. It's 7hrs into the 10hr flight (we've already ticked off the 3hr Rome - London leg), and I've already watched 'Crazy, Stupid, Love', 'Glee the Concert movie', and 'Becoming Santa - the documentary', and unfortunately sleep is still escaping me. So blog time it is!

Last time we wrote we were weary and sore after our day skiing the slopes of the Swiss Alps. How great that was. Unfortunately our high was short lived when we stopped for a night in Neuchatel, a Swiss town between Interlaken and the Swiss Riviera. Far from memorable, it was dirty and felt very un-Swiss, so it was good planning that it was only for a night!

Our disappointment in Neuchatel quickly vanished however, as we drove towards our next destination, and decided to stop for lunch on route into the gorgeous town of Gruyeres. Yes, as in the cheese. What an awesome little village set high up on a hill in a stunning part of the world. Full of people and atmosphere and sun, we decided that what better place to try our first fondue than at the home of cheese itself. Wow. Who knew that hot cheese (cleverly mixed with plenty of white wine) and bits of bread could be so satisfying and delicious. Herein an obsession was born in me, and let's just say that during our final few days in Switzerland we ensured we ate our fair share of cheese fondue. How the Swiss stay slim is beyond me....

Full of cheesy goodness we soldiered on to what was to be our final Swiss destination for a few days, Montreux, on the Swiss Riviera. Well, if you remember James' excitement at pulling into Baden Baden and finding out the races were on, my excitement at pulling into Montreux was comparable. The town, set on the edge of Lake Geneva was WORLD FAMOUS for their Christmas market. And wasn't just a once off Christmas market - it went for a month!!! Think rugged up on cold nights, carols playing over loud speakers, the smell of chestnuts roasting on open fires everywhere, hot wine, 180 amazingly decorated stalls (although they were kind of each like their own mini Christmas hut - gorgeous!), all next to a stunning Lake with views of the Swiss Alps in the background, and that was Montreux during our 4 day stay.

Don't get me wrong, we did more than just stroll at the Christmas Market and soak up the loads of Christmas spirit (although we did a lot of that!). The town also had a beautiful chateau that we spent a day at, as well as a full on 'Christmas Village' (in addition to the market) set way up in a tiny town called Caux, from which the views of Lake Geneva were breathtaking. We also managed to take a day trip to Lausanne, home of The Olympics, and visit the Olympic Museum which was interesting.

Unfortunately we had to say farewell to Montreux after 4 nights though, and with that, farewell Switzerland. It was a day of goodbyes, as we also finally, and a bit emotionally, parted ways with Jane, our trusty chariot for almost the last 4 months. We felt like one of our arms had been cut off as our freedom to do what we wanted when we wanted that we had become so used to, was quickly gone, and we were reduced to plebs, dependent on public transport.....On the up side however, we succeeded in fitting everything we had accumulated over 4 months, thanks to the luxury of having a car with a big boot!, into our original bags without having to cull anything of importance (helped by the fact that we disposed of the clothes that must have 'shrunk' in the wash....damn laundromat....)

So we left Geneva and flew to our final European destination....Roma! After a hassle free flight we arrived at the apartment we had rented for 8 nights, and headed out for a brief explore, and James' main plan, some pizza! Wandering around it was pretty clear that we had hit the jackpot location wise with our apartment, it could not have been better.

Rome was, as expected, fabulous. While I knew what to expect having visited almost 10 years ago, James was instantly taken, and after 4 months in Europe, it is definitely in the top couple of favourite large cities we've visited. We did a lot of walking in this great city, saw a lot of amazing ruins (Termes of Caracalla, Forum, Palentine Hill, Castel St Angelo, and of course, Rusty's home, and James' favourite, the Colosseum), visited heaps of churches and basilicas (favorites being Santa Maria Maggiore, Chiesa Nuova, San Giovanni di Lorenzo, and of course the big daddy, Saint Paul's), popped into the Pope's hood, marveled at the monstrous dome in the Pantheon, threw lots of coins into the Trevi fountain (we worked on the hope that it was quantity of coins that helped make the wish come true, rather than quality - 1 euro cent coins aren't much good for anything else!), and ate some really good food.

We also happened to be in Rome on Dec 8, which is the anniversary of Mary's Immaculate Conception. This is a big deal we found out, as each year on this day the Pope comes to the statue of Mary located at the Spanish Steps, and gives a blessing and changes the wreath. We figured, 'when in Rome', so decided to pop along to see the Pope and see what all the fuss was about. Us and what seemed like the millions of Italians. What a crowd! For miles around the Spanish steps the streets were just a sea of people, hoping to get a glimpse of the Pope himself. Really, I was more interested in seeing the much talked about pope-mobile! Anyway, after a long wait we did see him and the Pope-mobile in all its glory (albeit surrounded by more security than one could ever imagine!) and although neither of us are religious, it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime things that was kinda cool. All in all Rome was a fitting end to what was an absolutely fantastic European adventure.

So, After just under 4 months, 40 different destinations, around 12,000km, about 2500 photos, and loads of amazing memories and experiences, we sadly packed up and left Europe at some ungodly hour this morning. We are on our way to Denver, where we pick up our SUV (how American!!) and head for the ski village of Breckenridge, where we will spend our next 10 days skiing Breckenridge mountain (the highest in North America), Vail, Keystone, Beaver Creek, and Arapaho Basin. We're pretty excited, although the weather in Denver currently is -10 degrees celsius, but not to worry, up on the mountain it's a very pleasant -25 degrees celsius. We knew sooner or later the thermals would come in handy!

Anyway, the air hostess is coming around with some meal that I'm sure is a culinary delight, so that about wraps it up for now. We will report back soon in all things American, mountainous, and cold.

Bye for now y'all...
Nic and Jim-Bob xxx

Ok update on this....
Seeing this was written while on the plane obviously we couldnt post straight away. Anyway, as we were clearing immigration in Denver we hear our names over the loudspeaker asking us to contact a member of ground staff. Yup, we were in Denver safely. Unfortunately our bags were still in London. They thought. Great, there James and I were in -15 degrees in our trackies, cons, tshirts and vests, without any baggage. Luckily, our coats didn't fit into our baggage due to space, so fortuitously, we did have our coats, and they thought that 'hopefully' our bags would arrive in 36hrs. Annoying but bearable. So we headed to pick up our rental car. Unfortunately, the quote for around $350 that we had been given, somehow ended up being around $980 at the rental desk. Change of plan! We scrapped the car idea, headed back to the airport, and booked ourselves onto the shuttle! Anyway, we are here now, we both feel like we have shocking hangovers due to some altitude sickness, we are freezing and would love some fresh undies and to brush our teeth, but it can only get better, and our apartment is awesome and Breckenridge looks amazing!