Top 10 List...Why because everyone loves them.

Ok, so this is my last night in Europe. Up at 3:30 to be on the bus by 4:00. Zurich, Switzerland to London...then to Houston, Texas then back to the good ol' LV. So in memory of this great month long trip that I've taken I have create a few top ten list for you, all of my followers to enjoy.

Top 10 Things I did in Europe:

10) Go Canyoning in Innsbruck
9) Explore London and got lost
8) Learned to speak some french
7) Drank wine and saw the Italian country side
6) Gambled at the Monte Carlo casino
5) See the Olympic Stadium/ Get lost in London AGAIN
4) Went to the top of the Effiel Tower
3) Drank a Beer in Munich
2) Meet some amazing people
1) Remember everything I did, tonight on the cruise

Top 10 Countries for Beautiful Women (That I've been to):

Honorable Mentions: Mexico, Cayman Islands....so now that's every country I've ever been to.

10) Liechtenstein
9) Monaco
8) England
7) German
6) American
5) Canadian
4) Austrian
3) Italian
2) French
1) Switzerland

Top 10 songs playing in my head as I head home:

10) Hold On I'm Coming- B.B. King & Eric Clapton Cover version
9) Get to Me- Train
8) My Texas- Josh Abbott Band feat. Pat Green
7) Neon- Chris Young (I have no idea why?)
6) Mama I'm Coming Home- Ozzy Osbourn
5) Leaving on a Jet Plane- John Denver
4) Somewhere down in Texas - George Strait
3) Home Sweet Home- Carrie Underwood cover version
2) Home - Michael Bluble
1) Anywhere in Texas- Kyle Park

Welp time for bed.....then after a day of travel...litterally, it should almost be a full 24 hrs... I'm back in LV,
So to all who followed this blog at all thank you!! I really appreciate it and I look forward to telling all of you about my trip in person. So Long, God Bless, Thanks and Gig'em. This is your traveling Ag, for now at least, saying happy trails to you, until we meet again.

Wrapping it up in the land of the Swiss...

Ok, So I'm pretty close to the end of my little European adventure now...two company visits tomorrow, a wrap up session boat ride, and a quick day long hop over the pond stand between me and a decent plate of Tex-Mex food yet again. I didn't really do my last post justice but, now is as good a time as any to update the pictures that i short handed everyone from the last post and update ya'll on my trip here in Switzerland so far. Other than that I'm going to keep enjoying life, staying proud, yet humble, or trying to be, and I look forward to seeing all of you guys back in the states soon.

For those of you out there who care...I know some of you do... This was the first beer that I had in Munich, it's a "little" one only .5 Liters. A HaufBrau Hefenwiessen

This Big boy is what they call, Eine Maß , it's the equivalent of 1.0 Liter of Beer, the one I had was a Löwenbräu Pils finished all of it in one sitting...so I can claim that I truly experienced Bavaria.

My Future Ducati that I'll own sitting right in the middle of the Audi museum floor, apparently Audi is a really big deal...they own both the Porche and Ducati brands...which I had no idea of...so that was cool to learn

For those of you who are big wine drinkers you will appreciate this next company visit that I took...

Guys just chilling at the office...ya know hand blowing glass for wine glasses....molten hot glass, no big deal

The Whole factory floor in action, all teams are working on different types of glasses, vases, etc.

This is a pic I stole from a friend that is the Monument at Dachau w/ the flowers that our group left

Here's another picture that i stole from Sydney, they surf the river in Munich...pretty cool to see in person

The Castle that Walt Disney based Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland on Neuschwanstein

A better, more detailed picture of the Castle

Nice view of the lake and mountains that I got thanks to my short hike up the muddy path

sadly not allowed to take pictures inside the castle since it damages the paint and what not But, here are some pics of what I saw inside thanks to Google:

The throne-room...truly incredible thing to see in person

This is the room where the king could see plays performed in the comfort of his lavish home

This is a pic of the last hotel that I will be staying at here in Europe...nice sized room can't complain about it too much. Definitely comfortable.

Today  got to go on a gondola up to the top of Mt. Titlis which was pretty cool they have a glacier up there along with a snow park, nice change of pace to playfully fall in the snow for a change rather than wiping out on skies. Unfortunately though we had one of my fellow travelers got hurt via a collision, she's fine but still a little shaken up and bruiseed so if all of you, who are into this kind of thing, could pray for her I'd appreciate it. That's all I've really got for all of you followers. Nothing but, positive thoughts and prayers back to you guys in the states, take care and I'll see the rest of you later this summer!!

Deuschland Uber Alles!!!!!

Ok, folks so I had to pay 23 euro a day for wifi in Munich...which was a no go...BUT, here in Fussen it only cost me 5 euro for all of this afternoon and tomorrow morning...which I'm much more willing to pay....BUT, I digress yet again, as I always tend to do. Since our last trip I have gone both canyoning and skiing in the Alps. Here are some of the pictures from my one and a half hour bus ride up to the glacier, lots of waterfalls and such, and a picture of me just chilling with a snow monster at the ski resort...ya know...usual European stuff.

Me and my Ski Buddy Alan's view as we rode up the gondola @ the Glacier we were about to ski

The lovely view of an icy cold lake as we rode the gondola further into the ski area

Picture that I had taken after I "Conquered" the mountain...and by conquered I mean, Fell down on the European version of an easy slope about 15 times....all and all, successful morning and early afternoon on the slopes of the Alps.

Following this we traveled all the way from Innsbruck, Austria to the lovely German city of  Munich,Or rather the Bavarian City,they prefer that to Germany....it's like their version of Texas. Point being Munich and all of Germany I instantly fell in love with. The first day in Munich was a Sunday so as I have learned on this trip....EVERYTHING was closed or shut down. BUT, that didn't stop me, for you see our first night in Munich something else was going on....what exactly? The German National Soccer team was playing against Portugal. So we quickly made our way to the Hofbrau House and enjoyed authentic German food before finishing the game back at the hotel bar. It was one of the coolest things ever to see a whole country pull together like that for a soccer  game, inspired me enough to buy a German soccer jersey even. Anywho this update is from the short stop travel stop city of Fussen, so I'll keep this post, shorter than usual. Here are some pictures of things I saw that day on the trip and that afternoon in Munich and the next two days afterwards:

For all of my history nerds our there, this is the cite in Munich's town square from where the infamous beer hall putsch of Adolf Hitler occurred. From the top of the steps at this monument Adolf would rally the people of Munchen and eventually all of Germany, and take then into WWII.

This tower houses the infamous Glockenspiel clock, which goes off in mildly spectacular fashion at 11, 12, and 5 O'clock everyday

Two of the coolest flags in the world hung up together at the former site of the Luftwaffe Headquarters in Munich, very interesting building....oddly enough it was never bombed since the building was earth colored and blended in perfectly with the English Beer Gardens which were right near by.

This is the entrance to Deutsches Museum, which is about the size of the Smithsonian and is in the top 3 for largest museums in the world...I only had about 30 minutes before it closed for the day to see all of the exhibits in the places that I could.....

Here's a picture of Alan in front of an old school water wheel...amazing I know

After this we got to sleep for a night then it was up bright and early to head off to both the Audi factory and the BMW factory here a few pics I snapped at each.

BMW museum there in Munchen

Not the Audi Factory, but we saw this on the way there...Thought I should snag a picture for all of the Futbol fans out there....for those who don't know, this is where they had the world cup in 2006

Gotta Run, time to hop on the bus.... Carpe the heck out of the Diem and All of ya'll have a great day! I look forward to seeing all of you in the Ameericas soon and It's a bitter sweet last few days here in Europe with some of the coolest people I have ever met. But, I'll update as much as I can soon. Love you guys.

Oh, little town of Edelweiss...errr, I mean Innsbruck...and Verona too I guess..

Ok, so fear not...I am not dead....or in the words of Monty Python, "I'm not dead yet!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh8mNjeuyV4

Ok, so I left Nice, France if you didn't already know and the next place that we headed to was Verona, Italy. Here I had a chance to see so very cool stuff and to actually tour a winery where I bought a very nice  red desert wine which I enjoyed already. But, meanwhile the important stuff...

So while I was in Verona, Italy I got to take a brief delay and see important things around the city like Juliet's (Of Romeo and Juliet fame) house and the Coliseum of Verona and just the lovely Northern Italian countryside. Here are some pictures with Landon-ian commentary as always.



For those of you well versed in Literature, this is Dante...He lived and actually was a important political figure in Verona. Statue of him in the middle of Verona is really nice.

Statue of Juliet in Verona.. sadly people have vandalized that area around the statue...at the same time it's actually very cool because most of them are romance related, including many Love locks. Tradition states  that If you squeeze her right boob with you left hand 3 times if you're single, 2 times if you're already in a relationship...you'll have good luck in Love.

One of my favorite pictures that I've taken...this is a picture of the Verona Clock tower at dusk.

For one of our company visits that we did in Verona we actually toured the winery of Sergio Alighieri so it was very cool to see how the Venicien's, long story but Verona is in the same province as Venice and they're really excited about it, do their wine...also BEAUTIFUL scenery as seen in the pics:

.

The rows upon rows of Italian wine grapes...though not in season

lovely view from the arch of the vineyard villa to to surrounding countryside of Verona

From the little town of Verona we push onward after two nights which included yet again me staying in a room of 3 people...but, can't complain too much my view was a good room and I even had a private patio area outside of our room, as seen here:

I digress though after Verona, Italy where I learned alot about both the people and the culture in only about a day I got to travel to the beautiful town of Innsbruck, Austria that we are in now, it is basically a ski village and it is fantastic. Nothing can compare to the Colorado Rockies, but the Alps certainly give the Rockies a run for their money.Today I got to sign up for a couple of things that I plan on doing over the next 2 days, both of which are free for me to do outdoor, extreme sports activities. The first one which I signed up for is Canyoning after this is was originally going to sign up for paragliding...BUT, due to poor weather, I am currently planning on Skiing Friday. I hope that Uncle Marvin is excited about this decision...surprisingly this is actually pretty cheap once you consider I don't have to buy any of the gear. A snag in the plan though is when I ask the presenter at the sign ups what level of slopes are open he replied, "Oh, I don't know I think in the American system they are...Double Black Diamonds?....but we have Reds Open too." So I will be trying my hand at Skiing the Alps, weather permitted, on Friday...don't worry I will be going in a group too so it should be entertaining and not too out of my element as they are actually expecting powder up top..possibly Friday. I'll update this once I start looking over this more, and hopefully update you more once I know the ski conditions and # of slopes open, etc. once I research that after this. But, never the less...weather here in Innsbruck is something I'm much more used too from family trips to Colorado. I've did a couple of things yesterday..I got to tour Swarovski crystal today and see the crystal display world that they have, which is pretty famous. And I'm back to being in my own room which is a refreshing change of pace. Here are some pictures of things I've done in my first day here in Austria/Innsbruck and it's been a ton to all take in:

Here's a pic of Lady Gaga's crystal dress in Swarovski Crystal's showroom

Me out in front of the entrance to Swarovski Crystal world which is this really cool art exhibit that is modernest and honestly crazy to look at

Here's a picture of just the Swarovski entrance without my lovely face

Pretty little Austrian church here in Innsbruck

Last but, Not least a nice little view of the berry farm that's here in Austria that we toured

Second pic of the berry farm, I think just as lovely as the first, Also amazingly they have this odd jam that is actually really good and sounds like it belongs in Texas, Strawberry and Chili pepper. SO GOOD.

Well that's basically all I have for you guys! BUT, before I go I've got this little video that I've made this morning so....





Howdy from Nice!

Howdy Friends and family back there in College Station, Houston, and various other parts of Texas and the United States! As I said a couple of days ago I've spent some time seeing the sights and doing the usual tourist thing here in France the last couple of days. BUT, you don't car about that you want to see pictures and why would I let you down?!?...so Here they are:

Le Chateau de Versailles, I thought the building was big...then I saw the gardens

(Which are about 10 times the size of the actual building)

Here's a picture of one of the "smaller" fountains at Versailles

Paris Skyline at Night from the Riverboat cruise we took

Le Arch de Triumph, oddly enough though, and the french being the french,

put it in the middle of a round-about...makes it tough to get to see up close

Here's a picture of about 20 of the 80 people from our group in front of the Eiffel Tower

Here's a picture of the Paris Opera House, a.k.a where the Phantom of the Opera was set

one of the prettiest buildings I've ever been in...liked it more than Versailles personally

Here's a View from the foot of the tower, not the prettiest thing in Paris during the Day...

Beautiful to see at night with all of the lights sparkling on it

Here's a picture of Notre Dame from the front by river at Sunset

An then one from the back of Notre Dame by river, again at sunset

After Paris we got to experience one of the longest trips, via bus, that I have ever taken. We got to travel all the way from the city of light to Avignon, France. Which was about 700 Km give or take...that translates into about a 7 hour trip, again roughly using math. After the drive though we ended up in the lovely little town of Avignon. Neat little town full of awesome things like the palace of the popes, the bridge to nowhere, and random tidbit of the day...our first citing of a lady of the night. In a smaller town of all places? Here are a pictures of the town, sans harlots:

Avignon Town Square

More streets of the little Ol' Village modernized

...any who, Avignon= Nice. Which is odd because our next stop was the city of Nice (Pronounced Niece), France. Here we're staying in a 4 star hotel, which is nice because I get a lovely ocean view...the bad news though is that I have to stay in room, not a suite built for 2, with 3 people in it, while some of the other people in the group get to stay in a suite, that's 3 rooms including bathroom, with only 2 people. Leave it to me to be to one to criticize but, I would think that 3 people would feel a little more comfortable in a suite with a couch vs. 3 squeezed in a room with 2 beds. But, hey such is life on the road and I have no room to complain since I've had my own room in each city thus far. But, Long story short I've made it to Nice, France and the city by the city is lovely. Very vibrant and colorful, also I had the chance to go to the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco just a 30 min. ride up the road and I did gambled there. Didn't do too bad, though I  lost about 20 euro, another girl won 290 euro on a single slot machine go. It was defiantly worth the experience, I even got to feel very James Bond-ian since I wore my bow-tie there. 

The world famous Monte Carlo Casino, as seen in Casino Royale and Iron Man 2

Me looking very suave and debonair in my bow tie, or as some would put it goofy and oddball

 Once we got back from the Casino we went to dinner, which of course was delicious and then I jumped into the Mediterranean Sea which is freezing cold, figuratively not literally, but nothing I can't handle. Finally, a few wrap up notes for this post.

1) Sorry, that I've taken so long to update this thing again...wifi as I may or may not have said is spotty a best here sometimes and even with a wifi spot in the hotel it can suck.

2) Also for those of you who have yet to receive a postcard that I said I would send you FEAR NOT! I have put, my first set in the mail today and I will try to get those to ya'll A.S.A.P.

3) I miss all of you guys and hope that all is well back in Texas or wherever you may be! Tonight's that last night in Nice for me then it's off to Verona, Italia tomorrow.