Back Home Again, in Indiana...

September 25th, 2011- Parker's first day!

2011-12-25T15:17:00.003-05:00

I got settled into my room on the mother/baby unit around 3:30 in the morning on the 25th. The nurse got me set up with a breast pump, since Parker wasn't allowed to eat yet. I didn't sleep... Bryan tried, but there were interruptions nearly continuously until 7am, when we were told I needed to move to a room on the other side of the unit. I had to wear a heart monitor, and the signal wasn't being received from the room I was in. We got into the new room, and Bryan got a little bit of sleep. I had some breakfast, and we went to see Parker around 11 in the morning. He still had his CPAP on, but they were weaning the settings, and were hopeful to have him on nasal cannula by early afternoon. We weren't able to hold him yet, but touched him and talked to him in his isolette.

We had a little bit of lunch, and when we went back to see Parker at 2pm, we were delighted to see that he was not on nasal cannula... he was on room air!! The nurse said she had placed him on nasal cannula, which he promptly removed. She decided to see how he would do without it, and he maintained his sats beautifully! She asked us if we'd like to hold him... she didn't have to ask, we'd been dying to!

He doesn't look to thrilled to be face to face with his mommy, but I was sure happy to see him! I can't describe the feeling of finally getting to hold him, after waiting over 14 hours. It was completion, in the truest sense.He was very happy to see his Daddy... he'd been waiting to see who read him Dr. Seuss for all of those months! I had been reluctant to introduce a pacifier, but the NICU nurses suggested we let him have one to deal with the stress of being on the CPAP and having the IV.

15 and a half hours after delivery, Parker finally got to eat for the first time. All of my fears of him being unable to nurse were laid to rest, as he was a pro! It was so nice to be able to bond with our son. Bryan decided to go home that night to get a good night's sleep in hopes that Parker could join us on the mother/baby unit the next night. I slept very little... I was so excited to be able to go feed Parker every three hours, I couldn't get to sleep! I'm convinced that the frequent trips walking the halls to visit him made my recovery from the c-section much quicker than if I had been laying in bed. Nothing was going to keep me from our baby! That first night, sitting in the rocker in the NICU feeding him, were some of my first sweet memories with Parker... reunited at last.

38 weeks... Parker arrives on September 25, 2011

2011-12-25T13:21:00.005-05:00

There's no 38 week picture... because Parker decided late on the last day of the 37th week that it was time to make his grand entrance into the world!

Bryan's parents were visiting, and we were talking about going out to eat dinner. I started having contractions at 6:40pm on Saturday, September 24, 2011. Bryan came upstairs to see if I was about ready to go out to dinner, to which I replied, "Well, I'm not sure if I should go or not..."

After about an hour and a half of contractions from 3-6 minutes apart, I called my doctor, who had me come into the hospital. My scheduled c-section was still 9 days away!

We got to the hospital around 9pm, and after seeing three contractions on the monitor, three minutes apart, the nurse called my doctor, and plans were made to deliver by cesarean that night. We were in the operating room by 11pm, but after getting prepped and getting an arterial line for blood pressure monitoring, it was 12:04am on September 25th before Parker Kent Holcomb arrived! He weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz, and was 20.2 inches long.

He wasn't thrilled to have been removed from his warm uterine home, and displayed signs of distress almost immediately.

The doctors attempted to stimulate Parker to breathe more effectively, but the decision was made pretty quickly to move him to the NICU.

I got a brief glance at our beautiful son before he was whisked away. Bryan followed him, to make sure he was OK, and came back to give me updates while Dr. Gallagher was finishing my surgery.Once in the NICU, Parker was placed on CPAP to help with his respiratory distress. Blood cultures were drawn to check for infection, and an IV was started for fluids and antibiotics. He had an oral gastric tube to prevent aspiration. I went to recovery for an hour after surgery. By this time, our parents had arrived, and Bryan went to get a little something to eat. I was taken into the NICU on a stretcher to get another peek at Parker before being taken to my room on the mother/baby unit. It was bittersweet, seeing the beautiful little person I had been carrying for nine months, and not get to hold him in my arms.

Photo Card

2011-12-04T20:56:00.001-05:00

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Baby Human, week 37 (September 18, 2011-September 24, 2011)

2011-09-24T18:03:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 37 weeks pregnant! Full term!

Size of Baby: Baby is as long as a stalk of swiss chard!

Cravings: Cheerios.

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams, some swelling and contractions.

Best Moment this week: My fluid was 8.2 on Monday, and 11.2 on Thursday! That bedrest works after all! We couldn't be happier. While we were prepared mentally for an early arrival, we are thrilled that our son is thriving and continuing to grow strong and healthy in his uterine home. Speaking of strong and healthy... I had another growth ultrasound on Thursday, and our son is officially at the 100th percentile for weight at 8 1/2 pounds at 37 weeks and 4 days! What a big boy!

Baby Human, week 36 (September 11, 2011-September 17, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:58:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 36 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a crenshaw melon!

Cravings: Grapenuts cereal.

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams, contractions.

Best Moment this week: That I am still pregnant! I saw Dr. G on Monday, and my fluid was 6.8 (10-20 is normal, less than 5 necessitates delivery). Baby Boy was happy and active on his monitoring. On Thursday, my fluid was 6.2, but everything else remained satisfactory, and he scored 8/10 on his biophysical profile... he was practicing his breathing the whole time!

Baby Human, week 35 (September 4, 2011-September 10, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:52:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 35 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby weighs as much as a honeydew melon!

Cravings: Toast with butter.

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams, some contractions.

Best Moment this week: Well, it didn't start as the best moment... I had an appointment and growth ultrasound on Thursday, and learned that I had oligohydramnios (low amniotic fluid), and Baby was not very active. I had been sick with a bad cold, so Dr. G was hopeful that with hospitalization and fluids, both would improve. I was in the hospital overnight, and received two doses of steroids to prepare the baby's lungs for a preterm birth. We learned that our son was a good size for 35 weeks and 4 days at 6 1/2 pounds! We were released on bedrest, drinking 3L of water a day, and will see Dr. G twice weekly for ultrasounds, NST monitoring, and visits until delivery. We are so grateful for such a proactive, skilled, compassionate doctor.

Baby Human, week 34 (August 28, 2011-September 3, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:49:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 34 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is 18 inches long and weighs as much as a large cantaloupe!

Cravings: Toast with butter.

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams, some contractions, a little swelling.

Best Moment this week: Reading and talking to this big boy, and learning that he loves the Price is Right on television!

Baby Human, week 33 (August 21, 2011-August 27, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:45:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 33 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a pineapple!

Cravings: Anything sweet and unhealthy!

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams, some contractions.

Best Moment this week: Celebrating our son at a baby shower at Bryan's Mom and Dad's house! We had a great time!

Baby Human, week 32 (August 14, 2011-August 20, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:42:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 32 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a jicama!

Cravings: Oatmeal cream pies!

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams, some contractions.

Best Moment this week: Bryan got to come with me to my appointment, which included a growth ultrasound. Our son weighed 4 1/2 pounds!

Baby Human, week 31 (August 7, 2011-August 13, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:26:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 31 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby weighs as much as four navel oranges! Cravings: Oatmeal cream pies Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams. Best Moment this week: My baby shower at Aunt Linda's! It was a great time of fellowship with friends and family, celebrating the upcoming arrival of this little boy!

Baby Human, week 30 (July 31, 2011-August 6, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:10:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 30 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a large cabbage!

Cravings: Grilled hot dogs and milkshakes!

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams.

Best Moment this week: Feeling lots of movement... it's even a joy to be awake at 3:30am from this little guy moving so much!

Baby Human, week 29 (July 24, 2011-July 30, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:06:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 29 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a butternut squash!

Cravings: Steak and Shake peach milkshakes... half price from 2-4!

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams. I completely missed out on that burst of energy that was promised... ha ha!

Best Moment this week: Feeling how the baby moves differently when he hears his Dad's voice. He recognizes his parents! He also likes the high pitched voice of my hairstylist, Hannah.

Baby Human, week 28 (July 17, 2011-July 23, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:04:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 28 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a chinese cabbage!

Cravings: Steak and Shake peach milkshakes... yum!

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams.

Best Moment this week: Glucola! No, really... I thought it was delicious! And Baby Boy did too...

Baby Human, week 27 (July 10, 2011-July 16, 2011)

2011-09-24T17:01:00.004-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 27 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a head of cauliflower!

Cravings: Grilled hot dogs

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams.

Best Moment this week: Looking more and more "pregnant", and just enjoying feeling our son move inside of me!

Baby Human, week 26 (July 3, 2011-July 9, 2011)

2011-09-24T16:58:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 26 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is as long as an English hothouse cucumber!

Cravings: Grilled hot dogs

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams.

Best Moment this week: Going to the surgery residents' graduation ceremony.

Baby Human, week 25 (June 26, 2011-July2, 2011)

2011-09-24T16:54:00.004-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 25 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a rutabaga!

Cravings: Grilled hot dogs. Lots and lots of grilled hot dogs.

Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams.

Best Moment this week: Hearing Bryan read Dr. Seuss books to our son.

Baby Human, week 24 (June 19, 2011-June 25, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:42:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 24 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of an ear of corn! Cravings: Dairy Queen Blizzards! Symptoms: Fatigue, strange dreams. Best Moment this week: Our Baby Boy, if born now, is considered viable!

Baby Human, week 23 (June 12, 2011-June 18, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:39:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 23 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size and shape of a small doll! Cravings: Dairy Queen Blizzards! Symptoms: Fatigue and leg cramps Best Moment this week: Bryan could feel the little guy move this week! We are also enjoying some time in the pool... quite a treat for a pregnant girl in this heat!

Baby Human, week 22 (June 5, 2011-June 11, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:35:00.005-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 22 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a spaghetti squash! Cravings: Dairy Queen Blizzards!

Symptoms: Fatigue, increasingly strange dreams! Best Moment this week: We've been reading to our Baby Boy, and I'm not sure who enjoys it more... us or him! I'm hoping Bryan will get to feel him move soon, too!

Baby Human, week 21 (May 29, 2011-June 4, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:32:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 21 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a banana! Cravings: Dairy Queen Blizzards! Symptoms: Fatigue (Where's that 2nd trimester energy everyone told me about?!) Best Moment this week: Feeling the little guy moving more and more is truly a joy. Knowing that we're nearing viability is also a blessing!

Baby Human, week 20 (May 21, 2011-May 28, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:29:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 20 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a canteloupe! Cravings: Dairy Queen Blizzards!! Symptoms: Fatigue, a little lingering nausea, strange dreams! Best Moment this week: We were so busy, we forgot to take a picture! Things are blooming every day in the yard... we've had so much fun walking around and watching the new flowers and plants pop up! We're also trying to get the pool in shape. No luck yet, but hopefully soon we will get to enjoy it!

Baby Human, week 19 (May 15, 2011-May 21, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:25:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 19 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of large mango! Cravings: Swiss cake rolls Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue, some leg cramps. Best Moment this week: Seeing that little boy again! He had a full stomach as soon as they checked, but the great folks at the maternal fetal medicine center got some great video for us, and even turned on the 3D imaging for a bit. Baby Boy was tired, yawned a few times, and settled in for some thumb sucking. What a cute boy! I'm also starting to feel him more, which is very exciting.

Baby Human, week 18 (May 8, 2011-May 14, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:18:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 18 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a sweet potato! Cravings: Swiss cake rolls (he likes healthy food... ha ha!) Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue, strange dreams. Best Moment this week: It's a BOY!! We had our anatomy scan this week. Our little guy was tipping the scales at 9 oz., a full 4 oz. ahead of schedule! He was measuring about a week and a half ahead, size-wize. At this point though, babies develop at different speeds, so his due date remains the same. He sure is a handsome little fellow! He wouldn't drink fluid to fill his stomach during the ultrasound, so we will get another peek at him next week!

Baby Human, week 17 (May 1, 2011-May 7, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:09:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 17 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a red onion! Cravings: Fruity pebbles cereal Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue, and continued strange dreams! Best Moment this week: I felt that first little "tap, tap, tap" this week while we were watching television! There's someone in there!

Baby Human, week 16 (April 24, 2011-April 30, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:06:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 16 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of an avocado! Cravings: Fruity Pebbles cereal! Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue... and some strange dreams! Best Moment this week: Getting bigger! I'm thrilled to "see" how our little guy is growing!!

Baby Human, week 15 (April 17, 2011-April 23, 2011)

2011-09-13T20:04:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 15 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of an orange! Cravings: Grilled hot dogs! Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue Best Moment this week: We forgot to take my picture! We have been busy finishing things at the condo to prepare it for sale, and continuing to settle in our new home!

Baby Human, week 14 (April 10, 2011-April 16, 2011)

2011-09-13T19:38:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 14 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a lemon! Cravings: Canned spinach with white vinegar Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue (can you tell by the picture? Ha!) Best Moment this week: Noticing my clothes getting tighter due to the little person growing inside of me! We are also really enjoying getting settled into our new place, and making it "home".

Baby Human, week 13 (April 3, 2011-April 9, 2011)

2011-09-13T19:35:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 13 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a peach! Cravings: Canned spinach with white vinegar Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue Best Moment this week: Did you notice the picture change? We have moved into our new house! Lots of thanks to our wonderful families for their tireless assistance!

Baby Human, week 12 (March 27, 2011-April 2, 2011)

2011-09-13T19:25:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 12 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a plum! Cravings: Fried fish Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue Best Moment this week: We had a nuchal translucency ultrasound (since I'm nearly "advanced maternal age") this week. We got to see our baby in high resolution, complete with a 75% certain prediction that we are having a BOY!!

Baby Human, week 11 (March 20, 2011-March 26, 2011)

2011-09-13T19:16:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 11 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a lime! Cravings: Cheetos Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue. And Bryan says, "You're starting to look pregnant!" Best Moment this week: I had some bleeding after a long day at work, so we had an ultrasound to check on Baby. Everything looked great, and was measuring perfectly! I have a 30 lb. lifting restriction until delivery, to be safe. We have also found a house, and will be moving to Zionsville!

Baby Human, week 10 (March 13, 2011-March 19, 2011)

2011-09-13T19:06:00.002-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights: How far along: I am 10 weeks pregnant! Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a prune! Cravings: Buffalo wings! Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue Best Moment this week: House hunting... looking for a place to raise our first baby!

Baby Human, week 9 (March 6, 2011-March 12, 2011)

2011-08-28T19:42:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: I am 9 weeks pregnant!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a grape!

Cravings: Buffalo wings!

Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue

Best Moment this week: Knowing that our little baby is thriving! We've also started looking for a house!

Baby Human, week 8 (February 27, 2011-March 5, 2011)

2011-08-28T19:37:00.003-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 8 weeks!

How big is Baby: The size of a raspberry! 1/2 an inch long.

Cravings: Buffalo wings! (I had never even had one before now!)

Symptoms: Nausea and fatigue continues...

Best moment this week: My first OB appointment, and seeing our baby for the first time! He had a great heartbeat: 177/min! It was such a thrill to see that little peanut in there doing so well.

Baby Human, week 7 (February 20, 2011-February 26, 2011)

2011-08-28T19:33:00.004-04:00

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 7 weeks!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a blueberry this week! Approximately 1/4 of an inch.

Cravings: Still going strong with the cheeseburgers!

Symptoms: Fatigue and nausea

Baby Human, week 6 (February 13, 2011-February 19, 2011)

2011-08-28T19:29:00.005-04:00

Below is a little bit of Heaven...

A Five Guys Barbeque Bacon Cheeseburger with fries...

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 6 weeks!

Size of Baby: Baby is the size of a sweet pea!

Cravings: See above picture... ha ha

Symptoms: Feeling a little bloated, cravings, and some nausea and fatigue.

Our Baby Human

2011-08-28T19:17:00.004-04:00

Has it been 5 months since I last posted?? Well, here's what's been going on! On January 26, 2011, Bryan and I learned we were expecting! And so the story begins...

Pregnancy Highlights:

How far along: 5 weeks!

Size of Baby: the size of a sesame seed

Cravings: Barbeque Bacon Cheeseburgers! Lots of 'em!

Symptoms: The cravings, of course, and some nausea.

Christmas Catch-up 2010 (Kitty Holcomb)

2011-03-27T22:12:00.007-04:00

We had to be careful not to let Kitty know we were celebrating Christmas late this year...

we don't think she caught on.

She started the evening with a special Christmas dinner. (Sadly, she hated it, and didn't eat hardly any of it!)

Next it was time to see what Santa left in her stocking... Ohhh! Some new Greenies treats!

Next came the gifts. A nice new purple mousie...

Resting for a minute between gifts.

A new ornament from Mom and Dad.

Some VERY cleverly presented baby mice from Meme and Papaw Moore!

The baby mice were a hit... here she is in action.

Chasing a baby mouse around the corner.

And going in for the kill.

What? Where are the pictures of Bryan and I?

Apparently we forgot to take pictures! Or, perhaps you can see from this post who holds a place of great importance in this household! :)

Christmast Catch-up 2010 (Beezley-Moore)

2011-03-27T22:02:00.003-04:00

Bryan and I were so happy to be back in Indiana near our families for Christmas 2010!

Despite being near, as health-care professionals, we're never guaranteed Christmas off. Bryan, being the "new guy", was on call over the week of Christmas. Me, being the "old new girl", worked the 24th, 25th, and 26th of December!

Nonetheless, I had three days to spend with the Beezleys and Moores up North, while unfortunately, Bryan was in Indianapolis taking call.

We all met at Mom and Bill's house for dinner and gift opening.

Mom made shrimp fettucine alfredo, which was a HUGE hit! I think my Dad went back for seconds and maybe thirds!

Hope and Mike before dinner...

Dad, probably wondering if he's going to like this shrimp fettucine... ha! Two beautiful young ladies look ready for gift opening!

The gracious host and hostess!

Hope, busy taking pictures, while Mike was in the center of the action.

A Captain America shirt!

I think I was too busy enjoying the evening... I seem to have not taken many pictures! Even if I was short on pictures, the night was certainly not short on love and enjoyment of the Christmas season and spending time with loved ones!

European Journal July 19, 2010

2011-03-13T23:15:00.002-04:00

It was our last morning in Paris. We got up, showered, dressed, and subjected ourselves to one last buffet breakfast before getting a call that our shuttle was nearly 20 minutes early!

It ended up being a good thing, when we got to the airport and saw the line for American Airlines! It stretched on and on and on. We took our place at the back of the line, and slowly made our way to the counter. After an hour and a half in line, we were able to move to the self check-in. we checked our bags (which were thankfully under the 22kg limit), and headed to security. We had just enough time to grab a little something to eat and stop in a bookstore. We boarded our plane a little after 11:30am. We had a window seat and the next seat on an aisle, so we were very comfortable. This plane didn't have all of the amenities/entertainment that the first one did, but we did see two movies during the flight. Though it was a 9+ hour flight, it was virtually always lunchtime (we left Paris at 12:30pm, and arrived in Chicago at 2:30pm!). We had two "lunches" during our flight.

After a quick flight from Chicago to Indianapolis, we were happy and thankful to see Kristy, who delivered us home to our yet-unpacked condo and a very excited Kitty.

It was good to be home!

European Journal July 18, 2010

2011-03-13T22:39:00.011-04:00

I was still feeling a little sick, so after sleeping in until 10:00am (!), Bryan decided to go back downtown while I hung out in our room watching our two favorite channels on TV. OK... the only two channels in English! BBC World, and CNN World.

Bryan took the Metro (subway) to the Opera House to take some pictures.

He then walked around by the Louvre, and stopped at a little cafe for a coffee and a crepe with Nutella (which is HUGE in Europe).

It was a picturesque, sunny day in Paris!

After a little more walking around, Bryan took the Metro back to our hotel. It was MUCH easier than using public transportation in Rome! We got ready in the afternoon for our last group outing, to Montemarte and the farewell dinner.

We took a bus ride to Montemarte, a bohemian area of Paris, with lots of artists and musicians who congregate in a Square. It's also home to the very large Sacred Heart Church.

We walked through the church, where there was actually a service in progress.

After visiting the church, we walked around the little square that was full of artists and musicians.

We spent about an hour and a half at Montemarte before taking a funicular back to our bus. We then drove to a restaurant called "L'Escaramouche." We drove by the famous cabaret, Moulin Rouge, on our way to the restaurant.

The restaurant was very quaint; we sat in a little private room that reminded us of wine cellars in Napa Valley. The walls were exposed rock, and it made for a nice atmosphere. We had several choices for each course of our four-course meal. They served unlimited wine, beer, and soft drinks. For our first course, I had french onion soup (for the third time in Paris!), and Bryan had escargot.

Our friend, Alice, ordered duck liver pate... I didn't try any...

Both of our appetizers were very good.

For our second course, Bryan ordered duck.

I had shrimp flambee.

The third course was an assortment of cheeses and bread.

We took a minute to get some pictures of the friends we had made on the tour, since this was the last night we would all be together. Below are Tony and Jen, who were from California.

This sweet Mother-Daughter duo were from Australia. The daughter taught us many slang phrases used in Australia.

Below are Alice and Robyn, also a Mother-Daughter pair from Australia. Alice was quite the shopper on our tour, and was worrying about how much her hand luggage was going to weigh on the trip home!

Dessert was profitteroles for Bryan, and peach melba for me. We joked that profitterole sounded like a medicine, but it was actually a yummy chocolate dessert.

I spotted some goldfish on a trip to the "toilets."

After dinner, we took some photos with our group and tour director, before heading back to our hotel.

Here's Bryan and I with Chiara.

Bryan had arranged for our airport shuttle earlier in the day, so we strategically packed our suitcases before going to bed so we could get ready to go quickly in the morning.

European Journal July 17, 2010 Part 2: Seine River Cruise and Eiffel Tower

2011-03-13T22:05:00.008-04:00

After the Louvre, we drove once again to Rue de Rivoli and then to our drop-off for our Seine River cruise. Here's a funny sign we saw along the way.

Our bus driver, Jean-Claude, was going to be going off duty for the remainder of our tour, so we took a few minutes to bid him a fond farewell and get a picture with him! We rode beneath several beautiful buildings as we listened to a commentary pointing out famous landmarks, some of which we saw by land earlier in the day.

Our cruise lasted about an hour.

We met Chiara on the shore, and collected our free beverages before walking across the street to the Eiffel Tower.

We had a few minutes to wait before our 8:00pm reservation, so we visited with our friends, and did our best to avoid gypsies and other merchants selling miniature Eiffel Towers. The people selling trinkets are illegal immigrants, so when police officers were sited, they scattered! I had to suppress the urge to yell, "Police!", just to see what would happen.

We lined up at almost 8:00pm to ride an "inclinator" to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower.

The view was phenomenal! Bryan took a lot of pictures, and we walked around, enjoying the sites from this incredible vantage point.

It is possible to visit the very top of the Eiffel Tower, but we were happy just hanging out on the second floor, which is still quite high.

It's hard to believe that the Eiffel Tower was supposed to be dismantled after the World Expo in 1889! It is now the most visited landmark in the world!

The Tower has also been painted several different colors, and is currently a golden brown color.

We got to stay in the Eiffel Tower for about an hour before we began the arduous task of going back DOWN!

There was a huge line of people, and every time the elevator doors opened, the line would push and shove until the alarms indicated that there was too much weight. I think on the third shoving we were finally on our way back to the ground. It was a very long day, and I think we were all happy to be getting on the bus to drive back to our hotel! It took us about 30 minutes to get back.

Bryan and I hadn't had dinner yet, so we stopped at the hotel's "Hippopotamus Restaurant" (very glamorous name, don't you think?!). Bryan had beef cooked five ways, and I got some goat cheese on toast. We returned to our room after, where Bryan got to enjoy his "Cote de Nuits" Burgundy wine from Burgundy. We both had some Gruyere cheese from Gruyere, Switzerland. It was a nice finish to the day.

European Journal July 17, 2010 Part 1: Notre Dame and The Louvre

2011-03-13T18:45:00.013-04:00

Our wake-up call was at 7:00 this morning, so we got to "sleep in" a bit compared to the other days! Breakfast was at 7:30am. We arrived a little late, and it was like a cattle drive trying to get through the buffet line! The breakfast was similar to the others... breads, fruit, eggs, sausages, yogurt, cereal, juice, and coffee.

We met at 8:30am to board our bus to do a guided tour of Paris with our local guide, Brigitte.

Our first stop was the famous "Notre Dame," home of Quasimoto. It was beautiful inside, and we were able to take photos.

Brigitte was sure to point out the stone carving of Quasimoto in the corner of a wall outside the cathedral.

The weather was COLD and windy, which caught many people off guard, since it had been in the low 100s many days on our tour!

Several of the women (me, included!) bought a scarf at a souvenir shop near Notre Dame to keep warm. It was the best 6 Euros we've spent this trip! Ha!

After Notre Dame, we boarded our bus with Brigitte and drove to a spot near the Eiffel Tower that she recommended for picture-taking.

We drove around a bit more with Brigitte, locating the Louvre, the Arche de Triumphe, and the Champs-Elysees.

We arrived at our drop-off point, "Rue de Rivoli", at 11:30am. We then had free time until 3:30pm, when we were meeting up with Brigitte again to visit the Louvre.

We walked to the Louvre to take some pictures of the outside, and enjoyed beautiful fountains and gardens surrounding the area. We then began our never-ending search for public restrooms, finally finding some (in working order, that is) along the Champs-Elysees.

We walked along a little farther and chose a small cafe to have lunch. I was feeling a little under the weather, so I only ordered some french onion soup. Bryan got some chicken and french fries. After lunch, we walked the remainder of Champs-Elysees to the Arche de Triumphe. It was really quite impressive.

The streets of downtown Paris are all very pretty and well maintained. They also have managed to keep a very similar style of architecture; tall, rectangular buildings made of white or light grey stone/bricks, and blue roofs. It was funny, because we weren't the only ones who noticed the striking similarity to "The Paris" in Las Vegas!

After the Arche, we made our way back to Rue de Rivoli to meet the rest of our group to go to the Louvre. Brigitte was our guide for this as well.

We visited only the "major" pieces of art during our almost two hour visit.

We were told that if you spent just one minute viewing each piece of art, you would have to spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for SIX MONTHS to see everything!

We got to see the Mona Lisa, as well as daVinci's other works.

We learned that the Mona Lisa was once stolen by an employee of the Louvre who fell in love with her! He kept her rolled up under his bed for three years!

We saw the famous Winged Victory of Samothrace, also known as the Nike of Samothrace (who's also missing it's head). It's also the emblem for Rolls Royce.

We saw some sculptures by Michelangelo, as well as the apartments of Napolean III.

They were very opulent, with too many chandeliers to count!

We would definitely like to visit the Louvre again to see more, but it was nice to have someone take us to the main exhibits in the time that we had.

European Journal July 16, 2010

2011-03-13T18:28:00.003-04:00

We were sad to leave our lovely Novotel this morning, but excited to be driving to Paris!

We had our luggage out at 6:45am this morning and were down for breakfast shortly after. It was a great buffet this morning. Not quite as good as the London Novotel, but very very good. We had lots of fresh fruit, bacon, beans (?!), potatoes, mushrooms, yogurts, cereal, toast and croissants, and eggs.

We boarded our bus at a little after 7:30am to begin our journey to Paris. You could tell we are all a little weary from traveling nearly two weeks now... there was a lot of napping on the bus! The weather was gorgeous again; sunny and not a cloud in the sky. We drove a couple of hours to the beautiful town of Beaune for a comfort stop. After Beaune, we drove another hour or so to the Burgundy area of France, famous for its wine. We found a quaint little cafe and had our lunch and some wine. Bryan ordered the traditional coq au vin, and I ordered croquette monsieur y salade. It was all very good! We walked to a little wine shop to select a good regional wine to have with our Gruyere cheese.

We boarded our bus and drove a couple of hours to our next comfort stop in Venoy. We had a chocolate eclair and some cafe creme.

We then boarded our bus for the last part of our drive to Paris!

We had a couple of hours drive to Paris, and we were all thrilled to see part of the Eiffel Tower as we arrived. Our hotel was on the North East side of Paris, inside the "Peripherique" (maybe the equivalent of the 465 loop for Indianapolis). We had a little traffic, since it was Friday at 5:30pm.

We arrived at our hotel, Forest Hill LaVillette, close to 6:00pm. We checked in, checked our email, and got ready for dinner. Bryan asked the receptionist where to go for some typical French food, so we walked across the street to a little "brasserie." The food was great. I got some "soupe d'lognion" (french onion soup), and Bryan got "d'escargot" (snails) for appetizers. For our main course, I had "canard" (duck), and Bryan had a "cote de boeuf" (steak). We also had a bottle of red wine, a Bordeaux. Everything was very good, and the service was excellent. We walked back to out hotel after dinner, excited that we were going to stay in one place for three whole nights!

It was a nice hotel; the rooms were fairly small, but certainly clean and comfortable. the bathroom even had a proper clothesline in the bathtub for doing hand laundry.

European Journal July 15, 2010

2011-03-13T15:38:00.014-04:00

There was no danger of oversleeping this morning! Our hotel was next to an old church, and along with every hour bell chiming, at 6:00am, the bells played for a long time and a dog was howling along with it!

We had our typical breakfast, and boarded our bus at 7:30am.

We drove to downtown Lucerne after stopping to see a famous lion carved in a huge rock face. It was raining pretty hard, and we were very thankful we had packed two umbrellas!

We poked around downtown Lucerne, and even found a bookshop with a fairly large selection of English books.

While we were boarding our bus, another tour bus backed into our coach. We learned that some curse words translate to any language! Ha!

We drove to pick up the rest of our group who went on an optional boat cruise, and stopped for our driver to complete insurance forms with the driver of the bus who backed into ours. From Lucerne, we drove to Stanserhorn, Switzerland to see the beautiful Mount Stanserhorn. We took an old-time funicular up part-way, and then a modern aerial cable care to the 6.300 foot peak.

There were Brown Swiss cows with bells we could see and hear on our way up, as well as sheep, goats, and little deer-like wild animals called shamwar.

The director of the cable car told us that only young cows who don't produce milk yet are allowed to roam up the mountain. They are out night and day, and it can be dangerous for them. He said a storm came through last night and seven calves were struck and killed by lightning.

At the top of Mt. Stanserhorn, there was a small restaurant with a revolving seating area. Bryan and I had lunch here; a traditional Swiss meal in a flame-heated Aidelveis pot. It was "spatzel"- a macaroni pasta with cheese, potatoes, and toasted onions. We also had a local Swiss Lager.

Here was a nice little area for pets to get a drink of water.

After our lunch, we walked up a little farther to see the marmots, little, well actually, BIG rodents that are native to the Alpine Mountains.

They were in a large habitat on the side of the mountain. Though it was no longer raining, there were large clouds rolling through regularly that occasionally obstructed our view of the beautiful mountainside.

The air was so fresh and clean. After an hour and a half at Mt. Stanserhorn, we rode the cable car and funicular back down the mountain to our bus.

From Mt. Stanserhorn, we drove 1 1/2 hours to Interlaken, which means literally, in the middle of lakes. We had an hour of free time in this beautiful little town.

Bryan and I hadn't had Swiss Chocolate, and we had some Swiss Francs we had to spend, so we found a little chocolatier and got some truffles.

We walked a little further to a small cafe to have some "Kafee" and a cappuccino with out truffles, which were delicious!

After our stop in Interlaken, we started our two hour drive to Gruyere, home of Gruyere cheese. We stopped for some photos of the beautiful Swiss Mountainside.

Shortly after our photo stop, we had to stop for a roadside bathroom break, and one of our tour members crossed the road without watching and had his foot run over. With our coach getting backed into and someone getting run over, it was a very eventful day.

We drove along Lake Thun to the hilltop village of Gruyere.

We had an hour to walk up to Chateu Gruyere, a castle built in the 13th century, and stop in one of the shops to try some Gruyere cheese.

There were some wooden mice positioned throughout the village.

This village, as with everywhere we stopped in Switzerland, was very clean and beautiful, with lots of beautiful landscaping.

We ended up having a beautiful day, with our high temperature 29 C, and lots of sunshine in the afternoon.

After Gruyere, we had a short drive to our Novotel Hotel in Lausanne. We were all excited, because the Novotels in Europe are all very modern and nice.

It was very nice, indeed! We were like children on Christmas morning when we got to our room. It was modern, spacious, clean, and it had wash cloths! Our beds were two twin beds, but we just pushed them together.

We went to the Novotel Cafe in our hotel for dinner. We had a nice green salad, and chicken with potatoes and roasted peppers. Bryan ordered a half bottle of Swiss red wine to try. The Swiss export almost no wine, so it's likely the only time we'll get to have it, unless we come back.

We sat outside, and the weather was lovely. The hotel had a nature pool that you could swim in, but the air had cooled off, and I think little animals lived in it, so we decided against going for a little swim. I did, however, have a nice long shower in our ultra-modern bathroom with two shower heads!

European Journal July 14, 2010

2011-03-13T13:28:00.019-04:00

We were very excited today about being in the front seat on the bus! We've been rotating seats, and it's our turn today to be in the front seat behind our driver, Jean-Claude. We had our breakfast at 7am... the "usual" of cold cuts, hard boiled eggs, cold cereal, and coffee. They had the red orange juice as well, which just looks a little strange to me still!

We boarded our bus at 7:30am to drive to Pisa.

Chiara pointed out a sign for Pinocchio Park, in Montecatini. The author of Pinocchio was born there, and they have a little children's park named after Pinocchio.

We arrived in Pisa at 8:30am, and took a little "Tschu-Tschu" or "trenino" (choo-choo train) to the Piazza del duorno, also called Piazza del miracolo (Square of Miracles). There was a cathedral in the center of the square, and the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, which was actually built to be the belfry for the cathedral.

The Tower construction began in the late 1100's, but wasn't finished until the 1400's. Four years after it was completed, it started showing signs of damage and began leaning. It was closed to people for 10 years, and reopened again in 2000. A lot of work has been done to stabilize it and make it safe.

It's possible to go up to the top, but we were satisfied just to admire the outside.

We had about an hour and a half of free time in Pisa, so we decided to get some more of the delicious Italian Cappuccino and we had a pastry with ricotta cheese inside. The pastry was scrumptious, and only .80 Euros!

We sat in the shade for a bit, and used the "toilets" for the low price of .30 euros. We walked back to our "trenino" at 10:15am, and rode back to our beloved air conditioned bus. We had another beautiful, sunny day. The temperature was only 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit) at 10:30am.

We boarded our bus and drove about two hours to a rest stop near Parma to have our lunch. On the way, we passed the Barilla pasta factory. Chiara said it's the best pasta brand in Italy. We also drove by the Carrera Marble caves, the same ones where Michelangelo would go to get his white marble for his sculptures.

We had tortellini and penne pasta for lunch. We then began our drive to Switzerland to Lugano, on Lake Lugano.

We got to Lugano at 3:30pm, and had 1 and 1/2 hours of free time. Bryan and I walked around part of Lake Lugano on the very nice promenade.

We saw many beautiful flowers, pigeons, and several swans.

Switzerland is very clean, and everything looked well maintained.

We saw this tight-rope walker practicing in the park.

At 5:00pm, we reboarded our bus to drive to our Hotel Hirschen, in Lucerne. It was very interesting to learn that Lugano and the region it is in speaks Italian. Lucerne speaks German, and other parts of Switzerland speak French. Chiara said that most, if not all residents of Switzerland can speak all three languages!

We ran into some traffic on our way, and ended up arriving at our hotel around 7:45pm. we drove through a tunnel on the way that was 17km long! Dinner was included at Hotel Hirschen. We've learned that when Chiara says that a hotel is "characteristic" of the area, it's probably going to be without air conditioning! The room was small, but clean, and we could open the windows to get a breeze. Our dinner was soup, fettuccine with creamy chicken sauce, squash, and turnips. Dessert was some delicious ice cream cake.

European Journal July 13, 2010

2011-02-24T20:04:00.006-05:00

It was a morning to "sleep in!" Our wake up call was at 6:45 am. Suitcases had to be out at 7:15 am, which was also when breakfast started. I think we're both growing weary of eating cold cuts and cheese for breakfast! The orange juice at this hotel was made from blood oranges, so it was red! We boarded our bus at 8:15 am to leave beautiful Rome. We passed many beautiful fields of sunflowers in bloom. We are fortunate to be seeing all of the sunflowers in bloom. Chiara said they usually bloom a month earlier, but the longer, colder winter delayed them this year. It really adds something special to being in Italy when you look out and see huge fields of sunflowers. We drove out of the Umbria region into Tuscany, and made our first stop at 10:00 am for a restroom break and to have some cappuccino. We re-boarded for a short hour and a half drive to Florence.

After arriving in Florence, we walked for 15 minutes or so to one of the three squares. We visited Peruzzi Leather Shop for a demonstration of gilding, and then we had some free time before meeting our local guide at 2:00 pm. We stopped for lunch at a little trattoria (family owned restaurant) called il Francescano. We had a prosciutto e funghi (prosciutto and mushroom) pizza, and crostini misti (little toasts with different toppings). We also had some red wine.

After lunch, we met our local guide for a walking tour of Florence with radios. We walked to the main cathedral, which was very pretty on the outside. The guide told us the locals don't care for it, and think it's too flashy.

This golden door depicted different Biblical stories.

We visited the other squares, and saw a kind of open-air museum/gallery of sorts with several sculptures. Most of the famous Italian artists and poets have their tombs in one of the churches in Florence. Michelangelo was born in Florence, and his tomb is there.

We saw a couple of gypsies, but they were very well dressed gypsies! We noted that they had very nice shoes!

After our walking tour, we had almost a little too much free time (2 hours) to explore more of Florence on our own. it was over 100 degrees F again today! We walked to the main bridge in Florence, and looked in a Farmacia for some body lotion. We weren't successful.

We poked around in a wine shop (taking advantage of the AC), and eventually made our way back to the meeting spot and some of our tour group members.

We walked back to our bus at 5:00 pm, and we were SO happy to be back in the AC!

We drove around an hour to our hotel, The Minerva Palace, in Montecatini Terme. It was awesome! The room was huge, as was the bed (which was two beds pushed together). There was a lot of room for our suitcases, a very large bathroom, and even a bidet!

We had dinner in the hotel at 7:30 pm. It was one of our best included meals. We had two types of pasta for our first course; penne pasta with tomato sauce, and shells with pesto sauce.

The second course was baked chicken, carrots, and green beans. It was excellent. We had ice cream and cake for dessert.

After dinner, we walked around the hotel for a bit, and then took our MUCH needed showers after being in the 100 degree heat all day!

European Journal July 12, 2010 Part 3: The Colosseum

2010-12-19T15:28:00.012-05:00

Continued from "Part 2"... After a quick lunch, we boarded our bus and drove with our local guide to the Colosseum.

There was a small line, again, to get in. It was truly awe-inspiring to be walking in the presence of the ancient Roman ruins and the huge Colosseum.

It was so hard to imagine people building it in the first century A.D.! It could seat 50,000-70,000 people and could be evacuated in 3 minutes!

We noticed holes in the walls, and learned that in the 5th century during the invasion of Rome, they bored into the walls to retrieve metal that was used to stabilize the stone blocks. They melted the metal to use for ammunition and weapons. The result was weakened walls, and the outer facade partially crumbled, presumably from an earthquake.

We walked on to the Roman Forum and saw more ruins, some in the process of being excavated. Everything was, again, so large and impressive. At 1:30pm, the group met up with Chiara, and we said good-bye to our local guide, Marta. Several members of our group chose to stay behind, and the rest rode back to the hotel. Bryan and I decided to stay.

We talked along toward the Spanish Steps, stopping to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and entered the Italian War Museum. It was a nice break from the scorching heat!

We stopped at a ristorante with outside seating and had a glass of red wine. We don't know what kind it was, but it was good, and it felt good to rest a bit.

We had originally intended to stay in Rome all day and have dinner downtown, but by 3:30pm, we were so hot and tired, we decided to look for a place to buy a bus ticket. This ended up being quite a challenge! We were told that newspaper shops, tobacco shops, and bars sold tickets.

We stopped at three different places before finding one that sold bus tickets. They were only 1 euro each. We also had to have a little gelato before leaving, tiramisu and pistachio flavored. We walked to our stop near the Spanish Steps, where fortunately, the bus line we needed was just pulling in.

We weren't sure what to do with our tickets... the driver just motioned for us to get on. Some people were scanning their tickets. It almost seemed like anyone could get on, even without a ticket. We didn't have too long to ride, but there was a little confusion on where to get off. Regardless, we arrived safe and sound to our hotel at 4:30pm.

We took some MUCH needed showers, rested, and got ready for dinner. Our hotel had a nice restaurant inside, so we decided to eat there. It didn't open until 7pm, so we chatted a bit in the lobby with some friends we made from Australia. We hadn't reserved a table, and were told we'd have to wait until 8pm. We noticed in the lobby that the internet was working (it had been out of order the first night), so we purchased 30 minutes for 2 euros and updated family back home. At a little after 7:30pm, the waiter said we could be seated in the restaurant. It was a very small restaurant, with maybe 6 tables where we sat. There were 4 Australians from our group eating as well. We ordered a bottle of Chianti, which was very good. Bryan ordered bruschetta and a potato crusted beef steak, and I ordered a caprese salad and spaghetti pomodoro. At 9pm, two members of our group from New Zealand stopped in, so we chatted with one of the women, Carolyn, and had tea and cappucino. We went back to our room around 9:30pm, and had to use the hair dryer on some of our laundry that was being stubborn about drying from when we washed clothes the first night. Some people did laundry the second night, and I'm not sure how they were able to get it all dry... ours took all of the two days to dry completely! Here's some European currency... notice that the smaller denominations are smaller, and all are a different color.

European Journal July 12, 2010 Part 2: St. Peter's Basilica and Square

2010-12-19T11:07:00.012-05:00

Continued from "Part 1" ... We then made our way to St. Peter's Basilica, where again, photography was actually allowed! It was a surprise, but we were so happy, and took, literally, tons of pictures.

It was really something, seeing the famous dome from the inside. There were several tombs of past Popes, and there were two embalmed bodies of prior Popes on display. One was a very short man.

We exited the Basilica into St. Peter's Square, and looked up at the balcony where the Pope addresses the masses of people.

A couple of members of the Swiss Guard were on duty.

We could also see where the black or white smoke comes from when the Cardinals are in conclave to elect the new Pope. Marta said that in the past, the black smoke was made by burning wet leaves and other materials, but now there is simply a black button and a white button that releases the proper color of smoke.

We could look across the square and see the Papal residence. He was currently at his summer residence, Castile Gandolfo in the Roman Hills, as it was too hot for him in Rome. Marta said the Popes travel by helicopter now, for safety.

After leaving St. Peter's Square, we walked to a nearby cafe for lunch. Bryan had tortellini, and I had gnocchi and sausage. It felt so good to sit down in AC, it was nearly 100 degrees outside!

European July 12, 2010 Part 1: Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel

2010-12-11T18:15:00.008-05:00

We left our hotel at 7:30 this morning, then drove by bus to the Vatican State. It is entirely enclosed on the sides by very tall brick walls. We met our local guide, Marta, and received radios to be able to hear her commentary.

She and our group got in line to enter the Vatican Museum. We had a reservation, and didn't have to wait very long to enter. Just inside, we had to pass through a metal detector and security.

We then made our way through the museum, which allowed photography!

We took many pictures... the museum was beautiful.

The roof in one part looked three dimensional, as though it was sculpted, but Marta told us it was all painted!

We walked from the Vatican Museum into the Sistine Chapel. I think we were both in awe, and couldn't believe we were seeing it in person. There was no photography allowed, but sadly, some people tried to sneak pictures. You had the feeling of being somewhere very special; it was just so glorious and grand.

European Journal July 11, 2010

2010-12-11T17:05:00.013-05:00

We overslept again this morning. Thank God for Chiara's mandatory wake up call at 6:15am! It was just enough time to get ready and have our luggage out at 6:45am. Breakfast was a cold buffet, with cereal, yogurt, whole fruit, hard bread, cold cuts, juice, and coffee. It's very strange to us, but in Europe, all breakfasts we've had have offered cold cuts!

We boarded our bus at 7:30am and embarked on our journey to Rome! The view from our bus was reminiscent of a drive through rural Indiana.. there were many rows of corn and other crops. The Po Plain area we were driving through is a very important agricultural area in Italy We stopped once for a restroom stop, and the women's restrooms had squatting toilets, that were shallow tubs in the ground. We stopped a couple of hours later for lunch at a small town sandwich shop. We had cold ham/salami sandwiches and cokes. The two ladies at the shop were very friendly, and a little neighborhood dog waddled down to snack. She was a pudgy little chihuahua, who Chiara says comes down whenever she sees a tour bus stop for lunch! After lunch, we drove for a couple of hours to Assisi. We had a little over an hour to visit St. Francis Basilica, which was beautiful.

The view from the second level of the basilica looked down over Assisi.

We had some gelato (pistachio and tiramisu) on our way back down. It was a beautiful day... sunny and VERY HOT! 39 degrees Celsius! (96F)

After Assisi, we were back on the bus for a few more hours to arrive at the Hotel Dei Massimi, in Rome.

We were all very excited to be at this hotel for two nights. We arrived at 6pm, and were going to leave at 6:40pm for an excursion called, "Treasures of Rome by Night." We started a "load" of laundry soaking in our bathtub, and headed down to our bus. We took a drive through Rome to the Trevi Fountain, a popular place for tourists... and gypsies!

We had some free time at the Fountain, so we tried some more gelato; stracciatella flavor this time. It was vanilla with chocolate flakes.

After the Trevi Fountain, we walked to the Spanish Steps, another popular landmark in Rome. It was located near the Spanish Embassy. We had a bit of free time at the steps, before walking back to our bus.

We took a short bus ride to Ristorante Mangrovia for dinner. It was a very nice Italian restaurant. Our group sat in a reserved room.

There was unlimited red and white wine (or other drinks), and we had a five course meal! The first course was prosciutto ham, cantaloupe, and bruschetta. The second was a pasta dish with a large penne pasta with creamy mushroom sauce. The third was a lasagna. The fourth was two slices of beef with potatoes and salad, and the fifth was gelato with berries. Everything was absolutely delicious, but there was no way we could eat it all! It was SO much food!

There was also a flutist and guitar player who played for us (for tips, of course!).

The servers were hilarious, and very entertaining. At the end, the waiter gave all of the women a rose and a kiss on the cheek. He had a lot of fun with this, and called one of our Chinese group members "Casanova" because he was sitting with 5 women! Ha!

We left the restaurant and returned to our hotel at 11:30pm! By the time laundry was finished and hung, it was 12:30am! (It looked like a Chinese laundry in our room with our socks and undies hanging everywhere!)

European Journal July 10, 2010

2010-12-11T14:49:00.014-05:00

Our wake up call was early today- 6:15am. We got up around 5:45am. Our luggage was out at 6:45am, and we went to breakfast. It was a cold buffet, with cold cuts, cheese, cereals, breads, yogurt, fruit, "kaffe", and juice. We boarded our bus at 7:30am to travel to Italy. We had a beautiful view of the Tyrolean Alps. We had quite an advantage with Chiara as our tour guide, as she gave us a near continuous commentary of what we were driving by, Italian history, things we should know to order coffee, etc. We saw some vineyards, and I know Bryan and I were both getting excited about trying some Italian wine!

Her lesson on how to order coffee came in handy at our morning comfort stop. Bryan and I ordered a cappuccino, and it was delicious!

We continued on for a couple of more hours before we stopped for lunch. It was at a roadside rest area, but the food was delicious. We've found that, as a rule, European roadside restaurants are very very good. Not like the food you would get at a truck stop in the US. Bryan had fettucine and a red wine called Valpolcella. I had prosciutto ham, mozzarella cheese, and focaccia bread. We re boarded our bus to head to Venice! We stopped on mainland Venice and took a boat down to the Giudecco canal to the island of Venice. It was hot and sunny, and more beautiful than we had imagined.

We saw a glassblowing demonstration by a master glassblower at Murano Glass. We then had almost three hours to walk around.

We walked to Rialtos Bridge, the largest bridge in Venice.

We eventually made our way to a small cafe on the bank of the Grand Canal.

We had a plate of assorted cheese, some bread, and a Bardolino red wine, that was very good.

Our waiter was from Mumbai, India, and was in Venice studying.

Chiara tells us the best school for architecture in Italy is in Venice. After the cafe, (where we couldn't resist feeding the begging birds just a little bit of bread) we walked to Saint Mark's Square to visit St. Mark's Basilica.

The line was not too long, about 5 minutes, and we didn't have to pay to see the main portion.

There is a church dress code for the basilicas, that your shoulders and knees must be covered. They had sheets of tissue paper, and would have people cover themselves before entering.

There were numerous signs that prohibited photography, but some people took pictures. We just admired the beautiful mosaic tile on the floors, walls, and ceiling. It was so detailed, and exceptionally beautiful. We had some gelato, too- chocolate and tiramisu flavored near the basilica.

There were several gypsies begging in St. Mark's Square, and on the bridges.

We met back at the boat at 6pm, and unfortunately, two people from our group were missing. We had to leave them, but two others from their family of eight stayed behind to find them. We took the boat back to the mainland, and then took our bus to Hotel Poppi.

It was a very beautiful, modern hotel. We even had a proper bed! It had a sheet, too! up until Hotel Poppi, none of our beds had a flat sheet; only a duvet. There bathroom had a bidet, which was very entertaining for us to see.

We purchased some internet time (4 euros for one hour) to update out families and check our email. We had time for a shower before our included dinner at 8:15pm. Dinner was very good, and the company was as well. We sat with some of our group from Australia, and the US. Dinner was buffet style, with pasta, tomato sauce, meatballs, roast pork, peas, corn, omelets, salad, and wine (to purchase). Dessert was a kind of chocolate swirl cake. we got to bed at a relatively early time.

European Journal July 9, 2010

2010-11-08T19:40:00.005-05:00

Our alarm worked (because I didn't try to use the snooze button!), and we were ready for breakfast at 7am. It was in the same restaurant at the Anker Hotel. The buffet was not what we'd had at our last two hotels. There was yogurt, cold cereal, cold cuts, cheese, bread, and rolls. We boarded our bus at 8am, and drove about 45 minutes to the town of Boppard. The drive was mountainous and had beautiful scenery.

We got on a small touring ship in Boppard to take a 2 hour cruise on the Rhein River.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we had a nice breeze. The ship had two floors, and there was seating on the top that allowed a great view. Bryan and I sat on top, enjoying the sun and breeze.

We saw several castle ruins and remnants of Roman fortresses. The small villages on either bank were very quaint and pretty, with lots of flowers and attention to detail. Germany was really much more beautiful than we had imagined it would be.

We saw Loreley's Rock... there's an old legend about a woman who sat on the very tall rock ledge and sang to seduce the sailors as they sailed down the Rhein.

We re-boarded our bus and drove until 1pm, when we stopped at a "Restplatz" (rest plaza) to have lunch. It was a very traditional German, self-service restaurant. The toilets were pay toilets, .50 euro, but you could get that money discounted (all of it!) if you made a purchase.

We got some Scniltz-something. It was egg noodles with a pork and mushroom sauce. It was very tasty. We had chocolate pudding for dessert.

We then re-boarded at 1:45pm and embarked on the long drive to Austria. The drive was lengthened by several car accidents and LOTS of traffic, as a result. I watched, in horror, as one of our group member's feet swelled to twice their original size. We had more delays, more traffic, and were even stopped by the German Police! It took them a very long time to go over the bus and driver's records. We could see the Tyrolean Alps, so the drive was at least made more interesting by the beautiful views.

We didn't arrive in Innsbruck, Austria, until 10pm! We had our dinner at the Hotel, Rumer Hof. It was a good dinner, with soup, salad, a boneless piece of schnitzel (pork), rice, and vegetables. Bryan and I had a Fohrenberger beer, as well. We had "Joghurt" with fruit for dessert.

The Hotel Rumer Hof was very pretty and modern. Moreso, when you compared it to our hotel in Andernach! There were elevators, and you could buy internet use for .17 euro per minute. We tried to use the internet, but it was remarkably slow, and we gave up after a short time. The weather was again, unusually hot for the area. There was no air conditioning, and it was 82 degrees in our room! We had a nice balcony with a view of the Tyrolean Alps, but no screens, and it was shared with the entire second floor, so we slept with the doors closed. Regardless, I think we ended up sleeping well after such a long day.Bryan had just discovered our "shared" balcony :)

This picture of the outside of our hotel was taken the next morning... it was too dark when we got in to take a picture!

European Journal July 8, 2010

2010-10-29T14:33:00.009-04:00

Chiara had arranged for a 6:45am wake-up call, and it was a good thing! we had set our alarm for 6:15am, but my idea of hitting the snooze button didn't work too well... the alarm never went off again! We got ready quickly, had our luggage out at 7:15am, and had breakfast. It was another buffet, and again, very good. Bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes, breads, yogurt, and fruit. And again, strong coffee!

We boarded our bus at 8:15am, and drove to Amsterdam's center to meet our local guide, Bridgette.

We took an hour cruise in a boat along the many canals while Bridgette pointed out landmarks and gave us a history lesson on Amsterdam. There were A LOT of orange decorations rooting for the Holland soccer team, as they were in the World Cup finals. We learned a lot about Amsterdam from Bridgette's humorous, fun commentary.

There are an EXTRAORDINARY number of bicycles in Amsterdam. EVERYONE rides a bike! We even saw men and women in suits and dresses riding bicycles! There are bike lanes throughout the city. We also didn't know that Amsterdam is an amazing series of canals, with a set limit of 2,400 house boats that can live in the canals. The canals are freshwater, and kept very clean by almost nightly cleanings. Bridgette said the canals are 3 meters deep... "1 meter of mud, 1 meter of bikes, and 2 meters of water." Apparently, they drag many many bikes out of the canals!

We took a short ride in the bus, with Bridgette as our guide, to the Coster Diamond Center. Here we saw some diamonds being polished, as well as some cut/polished diamonds that were for sale.

We re-boarded to complete the rest of our city tour with Bridgette, and ended at Amsterdam's City Station. We had some free time for lunch. Bryan and I stopped at a little place called Blom.

We had Amstel beer and sandwiches. We sat next to a really nice older lady and her daughter. The older woman had lived in Detroit, Michigan, 40 years ago for about 8 years. She was very helpful and friendly, and asked it we had visited the red light district! We told her no, but that we had sure heard a lot about it! Bryan noticed that the coffee shops had a minimum age of 18 to enter (because of the drugs they sell there).

We re-boarded the bus at 2pm, and passed uneventfully into Germany. The two and a half hours bus ride was used by most people to catch a little nap.

We stopped for a mandatory rest stop in Germany and had some ice cream and stretched our legs. The bathrooms were .70 euro, but you could get .50 euro off of a purchase for using the restroom. We re-boarded the bus to head to Andernach. It was a little past 8pm when we arrived at hour hotel. Our group stayed at the Anker Hotel. Bryan and I were given a room at the Rheinkrone Hotel next door (apparently, there were no double beds at the Anker). The hotels were on the Rhein River, and the view was beautiful. It was hot, mid 80's, when we arrived. We had dinner at the Anker Hotel, which was kind of like a family restaurant. We had leek soup, breaded fish (Alaskan Pollack... ha ha), french fries, mixed vegetables, and ice cream.

We had time for a short walk along the river after dinner. It was very very pretty and peaceful, and the village of Andernach was very pretty.

Our friends from L.A., Tony and Jen, pointed out some playground equipment... and were kind enough to take our picture as we "played." I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard!

We also saw a traditional Biergarten (Beer garden) on our walk!

We went back to our hot room. It had to fan and no air conditioning! There were also no screens in the window. We opened our window anyway, hoping that bugs wouldn't eat us alive in our sleep. Our "double bed" that they very kindly went through the trouble of arranging, was the two twin beds pushed together. :) It's the thought that counted.

European Journal July 7, 2010

2010-10-11T15:35:00.006-04:00

5:30am wakeup call! We had to be dressed and ready with our luggage outside of our door at 6:30am. The idea of leaving our luggage just sitting outside of our room was a little unsettling, but we did decide to go down to breakfast around 7:00am. We enjoyed the buffet and strong coffee again, and met the group in the lobby at 7:45am to wait for our coach. (We did see our luggage on the cart!) It was a very cool morning. I'm not sure of the temperature. We boarded a coach and rode to the port at the English Channel, stopping once to pick up a couple of more passengers. We boarded the "Pride of Callais" ferry, and embarked on our hour and a half ride across the channel to France. Oh, the drive to the ferry was around two hours. I cat napped, while Bryan enjoyed the scenery. The ferry was HUGE! People even take cars on them! There were several lounges, bars, a couple of places to eat, stores, and gambling. We had a "self-service" lunch (of nothing traditional) and ejoyed getting a view of the white chalk cliffs of Dover as we left England!

We got off the ferry at a little after 1:30pm England time, but it was 2:30pm now local time. We walked out to our coach to meet our tour director. I should mention that we didn't have to show our passportsto leave England and enter France.

We met our tour director, a small Italian woman who appeared to be around our age, named Chiara. She had a beautiful, thick Italian accent, and Bryan and I enjoyed hearing her talk. We labelled our luggage for the porter, and boarded our coach for a minute, to drive to some toilets before heading to Amsterdam.

These toilets will be the subject of my nightmares for YEARS to come. Walking up to the restroom, I could see women walking out, gasping for air, their faces horrified. I did not end up using these toilets (which were free, by the way). I made it in to a stall, but was overcome by nausea, and had to escape for air. I decided I could wait!

We reboarded our coach, and Chiara gave us passport forms to fill out. This information is given to our hotels. She gave a good commentary on our way out of Callais, France, in to Belgium. Again, no passports were needed since Belgium is part of the European Union. The drive through Belgium was uneventful. We saw agricultural areas, some industrial land, and stopped at a little after 6:30pm at AC Restaurant to eat. It was a self-service place, kind of like an MCL in the US. It had very nice toilets for .30 euros each. Bryan had Moules with Pommes Frites (muscles with french fries), and I had schnitzel (like a pork tenderloin) and pommes frites. The staff at the restaurant was very nice, and spoke with very good English. We had coke and diet coke with dinner. I looked for our favorite Belgian Wheat beer, Blue Moom, but they didn't have it. Another .30 euros later, we were back on the road for another hour and 30 minutes to Amsterdam. It only took us around 15 minutes to drive into the Netherlands. Chiara gave a lot of information on Belgium and a brief history of the Netherlands. She also said that in the red light district in Amsterdam, people can buy drugs in coffee shops, and prostitution is legal! She did mention that there is a limit to how much drugs you can purchase! :-0

We saw several giant windmill power stations, and Chiara said that the Netherlands is very interested in "green energy". We arrived at our hotel, "NH Schipol" near the airport in Amsterdam after 9pm. It was a nice hotel, and had a bar. We went ot the bar, where the Germany vs. Spain soccer game was on. We each had a Wieckse White beer. It was a cold beer, and was pretty good. The room was nice, and our "double bed" was two twin beds pushed together.

This picture is actually on the morning of July 8, 2010... stay tuned for more!

European Journal July 6, 2010

2010-10-06T17:40:00.020-04:00

After a not-so-great night of sleep (I woke up at 11:35pm, suddenly wide awake), we made our way down to the breakfast buffet at our hotel. It was surprisingly good! There was a hot food line with poached eggs, back-cut bacon, sausages, noodles, beans (they looked like pork-n-beans), "burnt ends", mushrooms, and stewed tomatoes. There was a cold line with thin slices of fish, prosciutto ham, melon and fruits, yogurt, and cheeses. I should stop here and mention that there was a platter of what looked like soft, pale yellow cheese in rather large, flat pieces. Thinking that it was a soft English cheese maybe, I had some. After tasting a big fork-full, I realized it was butter... Back to the buffet- there were waffles, crepes, pancakes, breads, honey and jam, hot and cold cereal, and juice, milk and coffee. The coffee was very strong.

After breakfast, we walke to the bus station and paid 2 euros each to ride to Westminster. At Westminster, we walked over to Westminster Abbey to see the beautiful cathedral and St. Margaret's Church.

We saw Big Ben, the Parliament Building, and several other beautiful, antiquated buildings.

We walked along the Queen's Jubilee Walkway down toward Buckingham Palace, stopping at St. Jame's Park to stroll along the edge of a pond. It had a nature area with geese (even Canadian Geese), pelicans, and several other interesting birds. And lots of pigeons. We saw a few squirrels that look identical to our American squirrels. The weather was beautiful and sunny, with temperatures in the 70s.

It was around noon when we made it to Buckingham Palace. The changing of the guard as in progress, and there were throngs of people craning to get a glimpse. We just saw some red uniforms. We were getting ready to leave, when the police closed off the street and the royal marching band marched by, playing, across to a building on the other side. This we were able to see close up, and take plenty of pictures of.

We asked about going to see the inside of the Palace, but were told this only happens on July 27th or later, "when the Queen goes away." We crossed over to the other side of the Thames River, back by the Parliament Building and Big ben.

We walked to the "London Eye", which is a huge ferris wheel with viewing capsults. It takes 30 minutes to complete one trip around. We stood in line for tickets, which were 17.95 euros each. A free "4D experience" came included. It was a short little movie showing the London Eye and a sea gull, complete with smoke, fake snow, and squirts of water. We had another line to wait in to get on the Eye, but it moved quickly.

We boarded our capsule with 18 other people, and started our trip around. Someone offered to take our picture...

The view was beautiful, and we could see for miles.

After leaving the Eye, we continued along the Thames, looking for a place to have lunch. We decided to eat at "Eat." It's a very common cafe-type eatery in London. It, along with Starbucks, was seemingly on every corner!

We had traditional British Pies with "mash and gravy." After lunch, we continued along the Thames River towards the London Tower and Tower Bridge.

We stopped at a little pub called "The Anchor" to have a beer. Bryan had a traditional English Ale, and I, thinking I was choosing something more like an American beer, chose the "Extra Chilled Strongbow." It WAS extra chilled, but it tasted nothing like beer. It was more like a white wine or a sour apple juice. Choosing beer in London can clearly be a little tricky! Bryan enjoyed his beer, and together, we finished most of mine.

We walked, and walked, and walked. We got to the Tower Bridge, and walked across to London Tower. It was very pretty and castle-like; and almost 1000 years old! It was almost 5pm by this time, so we didn't go inside to see the Crown Jewels. At this point, we were quite a ways from our hotel. We decided o use London's underground train system to get back.

We learned that "subway" doesn't mean the same thing as in America. Bryan saw this sign, and thought we were going down to the subway... which was actually just a tunnel under the street!

We asked for some help at the information window after staring at the train routes for several minutes. We had about a 20-30 minute train ride back to the station near our hotel. We walked back, sent some emails to family, and fought the urge to take a nap!

We walked from our hotel towards the King's Mall area and stopped at the Hammersmith Ram for dinner. It, too, was a traditional English Pub. We both had the fish and chips, and while Bryan had another English Ale, I decided to stick with my tried and true Diet Coke. The World Cup Soccer game between Uruguay and the Netherlands was on, and it drew quite a crowd. I helped Bryan finish a second ale, that wa actually good, even at room temperature. We went back to our hotel, where I tooke a bath in the strange, narrow, but very deep bathtub while Bryan got things together for our departure in the morning. I thought I'd mention a few peculiarities/differences we've noticed during our time in London. Some restrooms require that you pay to use them. For instance, we paid 50 euro cents a piece to use the restrooms at the Tower Bridge. Oh... and they're called "toilets." Instead of a sign that reads "restroom", you'll see "toilets". Also the toilets themselves are different. There are no tanks on the back. They all seem to flush very violently, and many have a sensor you wave your hand in front of to flush. I should mention that this is what the ladies room was like... Bryan said the men's room was "just a urinal" and not much different from the US. We also saw a cute sign on a pole that read, "Anyone who allows a dog to foul the footpath will be fined a prosecuted." Susie would have been in trouble... or rather, WE would have! ha ha!

And just some other word differences:

"Mash"- mashed potatoes

"Bangers"- sausages

"Crisps"- potato chips

"Lifts"- elevators

"Clotted cream"- we have no idea!

"Banoffee"- Something with banana and toffee

European Journal July 4-5, 2010

2010-09-28T12:53:00.011-04:00

We arrived in London's Heathrow Airport at around 10:20am, and were out of customs, with our luggage (all of it arrived!) an hour later. Bryan spotted our uniformed host almost immediately, but we're waiting for two other passengers arriving from a later flight.

We left Indianapolis arond 6:30pm on July 4th, for a short flight to Chicago.

We boarded our flight... and waited... and waited. Our 8:15pm departure became a 9:30pm departure. There was a mechanical problem and the paperwork took some time to complete. We were at the back of a huge (to me, anyway) plane. We lucked out, having an empty seat in our row. Bryan got to move to the aisle seat of our section, so neither of us had to sit next to anyone on our other side. We would have loved a window seat; the pilot said there was a great view of fireworks from the air!

I was pleasantly surprised with the on-flight (free!) entertainment. There were video games, movies, music, and tv shows. I played a game of tetris, while Bryan watched a movie. We had "dinner" at around 10:30pm. It was edible, if not a little tasty. A beef stew with mashed potatoes, a brownie, cheese and crackers, and a salad. There was a roll we each stowed away, "just in case," but never ate. After dinner, we settled in to go to bed. Breakfast was served around 9:30am London time (3:30am Indiana time). We deplaned at 10:20am local time.

Our uniformed host directed us to our bus, which took us to the Novotel London West. We registered for our room, and for an excursion to Windsor Palace for 1pm. We had just enough time to run up to the room to "freshen up." The room was modern, the only thing missing was washcloths, which we had packed. (It was recommended that we bring our own in our trip information.)

We took a coach to Windsor Castle with a very funny tour guide named "Owen." He gave a short tour of the Castle grounds up to the State Apartments, and then left us on our own. There was no photography allowed inside the Castle, which was a shame- it was simply glorious, and words aren't sufficient to describe the opulence and just how "over the top" everything wash. Every beam of the ceilings was ornate, and many ceilings had artwork on them. There were countless full suits of armor, and bayonets and other weapons on the walls. It was hard to believe that Queen Elizabeth lived here on the weekends! Our guide said she usually went to Windsor after lunch on Fridays, and returned to Buckingham after lunch on Mondays. We walked down to St. George's Cathedral after touring the State Apartments. Again, no photography was allowed inside. We saw some tombs, including a very non-descript tomb on the floor that King Henry VIII was buried in. We had some time for an ice cream cone at the entry to the Castle grounds, and then boarded our coach to go back to our hotel.

The square, white building in the distance is Eton College, where Princes William and Harry went to school.

St. George's Cathedral

The Queen's quarters... off limits to visitors, and monitored by guards.

Our hotel, Novotel, was very modern and had a little computer area in the lobby. After some emails to family, we asked the receptionist for suggestions for dinner. He suggested "The Swan," a traditional English pub a short walk from our hotel.

There was some confusion with where to sit, and where/how to order our beers. There was a bar downstairs, and a smaller bar with a dining room upstairs. We sat upstairs near a small window. Bryan got braised pork bellywith "mash and gravy", and I got fish and chips. The beer was room temperature. The service was great. We debated on getting dessert... "Eton Mess" was one choice... a play on Eton College. We walked back to our hotel, the effects of jet lag beginning to wear on us. We did a little laundry (hand washed in the sink), and went to bed.

It was a great first day in London, and also happened to mark one month of being married! I almost forgot to mention our dessert! After we left the swan, we walked to a little place called "Crepe Affaire" and ordered a dark chocolate crepe for "take away." It was quite tasty!

Back home again, in Indiana!

2010-08-04T22:35:00.004-04:00

Kitty and I drove back to Indianapolis on June 27th. We made great time, due in part to her incessant meowing and my desire to get her OUT of the car.

We missed Bryan, who didn't get back until June 30th. Thankfully, the movers delivered our belongings on July 2nd, just in time for us to leave for Europe on July 4th!

Kitty LOVED the way the place looked with boxes everywhere and furniture in disarray.

She especially liked the bar stools next to the fiscus tree... it made her feel "wild."

She was so happy to have her Mom, Dad, and furniture back under the same roof! She found every nook, cranny, and corner in the place!

Bryan's Graduation

2010-08-04T22:13:00.006-04:00

Bryan graduated Friday evening! We had dinner at La Pietra Cucina with the other fellow, Cedric and his family, and most of the physicians from Georgia Colon and Rectal. After the dinner, which was incredible, the fellow opened their gifts (framed certificates).

This may be Bryan's last graduation for awhile!

Erron, Dr. Ambrous, Cedric, Dr. Schertzer, Bryan, and Dr. Orangio Cedric and Bryan... victory at last!

As was tradition with the group, the fellows presented each physician with a "gag gift" that poked fun of their individual quirks! Here, Cedric is leading into a gift presentation... You can see his "mini-me" son, Caleb, off to the left of the picture.

The guys had a lot of fun, and spent some time planning each gift!

Dr. Schertzer, her husband, and Dr. Ambrous listening to the description behind Dr. Ambrous's gift...

A "time out" chair to sit down and cool off before losing his temper in the OR! Ha ha!

He did restrain from throwing any phones this year...

Dr. Orangio, who went through a divorce and a late mid-life crisis this year, was given his very own box of tatoos and an earring!

Dr. Armstrong had to leave to see a patient, but he was given a "Dummies Guide to Patents and Trademarks" to keep tabs on his many inventions.

And Dr. Schertzer, the lone female, received a toy tool kit for her mountain home that was constantly in need of repairs. The guys joked that they had trouble coming up with just one thing with Dr. Schertzer!

It was fun spending time with the group in a casual setting, and a nice ending to our year in Atlanta.

Bryan, we are all so proud of your accomplishments! Congratulations on completing your colorectal surgery fellowship with glowing recommendations!