European Mustache Championships and Rest of Europe‏

Dearly Beloved,
Oh so much to catch you up on. We actually got home from Europe on Sunday and are here for the next 2 weeks (Turkey Day and Mustachios). I feel like we should start with the European Mustache Championships because it was one of the craziest things I have ever seen (pictures are amazing!), but I think I will go in order.
First off we headed to Belgium to drink some of the best beer on earth and meet up with a couple of friends we met in Morocco. Then we all hopped in the car and drove down to Champagne to visit one of my wineries which was awesome. After that we met up with Lisa’s parents and headed down to Burgundy to taste some more wine. Got to eat escargot and frogs legs, which I think actually feel and taste more like fish than chicken. Next up was Nice (for those of you that are yet undercultured pronounced niece), and Monaco. Monte Carlo was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen. Everyone had a Lamborghini or Ferrari, the port is filled with hundreds of the biggest yachts you have ever seen, and everyone looked filthy rich and plastic.
Next it was off to Italy. We hit up about 10 cities and gained back most of the weight I had lost from all of the awesome Italian food. Highlights were hiking the cliffs and villages in Cinque Terra, the little medieval village of San Gimignano, riding a scooter all over the Amalfi Coast (which decided to break down on us in the middle of nowhere), and of course Rome. We ended up landing in a free tour of Ancient Rome which was mindbottling.
Then it was off to Eastern Europe. First off was Prague, which was cold as heck but beautiful so we decided to stay for 4 or 5 days. Then we headed to Krakow in Poland which was a very cool city. Just outside we went to the Auswitz and Berkenau Nazi concentration camps. Definitely the heaviest day of my life, but it was incredibly eye opening and educational. From there we went to Zacopane and into the mountains of Slovakia to Zdiar. Lots of great hiking and food. Then we hitchhiked halfway to Warsaw and caught a train the rest of the way.
Here is where the story gets interesting. I decided to email the Berlin Mustache Club to see if they were going to be meeting while we were going to be there so I could learn a bit about the ways of the Mustache from them. They informed me that unfortunately they would be out of town because they were going to the European Mustache Championships in Stuttgart. We took this as fate and booked tickets to go there with them. When we showed up at the airport they immediately basically adopted us into there club, and away we went. The pictures show most of the mayhem, but imagine all of my friends with about 10-50 extra years on them and huge beards and mustaches, and that pretty much sums it up. They helped me style my mustache for the competition (who would have thought that a toothbrush is better than a comb for styling). I entered in the Imperial Mustache category (Schnauzbart Kaiserlich in German), and got 7th place. WOW what a feeling! We basically partied our butts off with these guys and Lisa even got Yodeled to.
We finished up our trip in London with a few friends and decided to try to put a twist on the "normal" touristy photos people usually take. And that’s it. 20 countries in 4 months and 5 days. I think we deserve some R & R. Hope everyone is doing great and would love to catch up with everyone before we take off again for Thailand.

Here are the rest of the pictures and the Mustache Championships:
http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=706171226965854100/l=437627414/g=7367679/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

XOXO,
Gregorio and Lisa

The next leg...

Well quite a bit has happened since our last post. First off, the Tomatina tomato fight in Spain. Let’s just say we didn’t want to eat, see, or smell a tomato for quite a while afterward. Next up we headed to Barcelona and made our couchsurfing debut. If you don’t know what it is, go to couchsurfing.com and check it out (our username is “lisa & greg”). It has been the coolest experience and has basically made our trip twice as much fun. The guys in Barcelona were running an adventure company, but let people from the couchsurfing website stay for free. It was awesome. We also checked out the Salvador Dali museum which was quite an experience.

Next up was Portugal. In Porto we went to one of my Port houses. We tried such amazing Ports that Lisa went from hating Port to loving it now. Then we traveled down the coast of Portugal hitting up about 5 towns and couchsurfing the whole way. Then to Lisbon where we saw the Portugal vs. Denmark football game, and ate the best deserts either of us has ever tasted (Pasteis de Nata). Finally it was off to Lagos which was quite the little party town.

Then we made the last minute decision to head to Morocco. We almost skipped it because we didn’t have much time, but we ended up liking Marrakech the best of anyplace we have been thus far. To start, we caught a 20 hour bus-ferry-bus ride where we were the only non Moroccan people on it. The driver didn’t actually have our name on his list or anything, but with a couple of close calls (especially getting on the ferry into the country as Eva and Marrian, the names that were on the tickets they gave us), and help from the other passengers we made it through in one piece. There was one thing about the ride that we did feel a bit bad about. So the Muslims do something called Ramadan for one month every year where they don’t eat or drink from sun up to sun down, then have a huge feast at night. Well little did we know, it is very rude to eat or drink water in front of them during this period. Well lets just say that 20 hours on a bus made us pretty hungry and thirsty and we were basically pigging out the whole time, completely oblivious the whole time until sundown when everyone started breaking out the food and offering it to us. Oops. Morocco itself is basically how you would imagine it with crazy markets, crazy food, snake charmers, and people constantly trying to rip you off, but it was so busy and full of life that we would have loved to have stayed for much longer. You basically never knew what you were going to see next. We also did some hiking outside of the city in the mountains which were beautiful and actually snow capped (who would have thought in the desert).

After Morocco, we spent a couple of days in Madrid, then met up with our friends Emily and Gerry and headed off to Munich for Oktoberfest. I am sure everyone knows what Oktoberfest is all about. May I be the first to say that the Mustache talent was spectacular and I did the Mustachios proud (see pics). That is about it for now.

Here is a link to some of the crazier pictures:

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=508281222632965870/l=428313246/g=7367679/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Until next time

XOXO

Gregorio and Lisa

Update and pictures

Hello To All,

Hope everyone is doing well. We have been having a blast and I think you would all be proud of our performance over here. Pictures are finally up and here is a little recap of the last month since our last email. From the Love Parade we headed south in Germany to visit all of the German wineries Greg used to represent. One of the most amazing wine tasting weeks we have ever had. Dr. Loosen set us up in his guest house, and all of the winemakers were incredibly nice, cooking us dinners and breaking out some amazing wines (many of which were older than we are).

Next up, we headed to Switzerland and checked out Bern and Interlaken. Bern was set on an amazing electric blue river. Interlaken was actually a bit too touristy for us, but we drove around both of the lakes and had a blast checking out all of the little towns along the way. Next it was off to Lake Como. We stayed in Lecco and spent both days just lounging next to the lake. We hunted around for George Clooney because we figured he would want to see us, but unfortunately he was nowhere to be found (his loss).

Next up was Greece. Wow what a country! We went to Santorini for 3 days, rented a scooter and basically covered every inch of the island. Then we went to the party island of Ios. The details of the trip are a little fuzzy, but I can assure you we had a blast. Highlights include meeting some great Aussies (and an Irish Canadien), spending every day at the beach and pool club and every night out on the town until dawn, a new nickname for Greg “Muffassa King of the Jungle” (See pictures for explanation), and spending an otherwise all around wholesome good time on the island. We ended up extending our stay there for 6 days, then went to the island of Paros to recover for a few days. On the way back we stopped in Athens and saw the sights, then it was off to Venice. We loved Venice and recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind being constantly lost in the winding streets and canals. It was definitely as beautiful as you would imagine.

Last but not least we headed to Ireland to spend some quality time with our friend Gerry and his family. The Irish people have been so amazingly gracious and friendly, and we have both put on about 10 pounds from all of the great Irish home cookin’, mmm mmm good! We have checked out lots of old castles, Irish pubs, and even had a few parties. We kissed the Blarney Stone, saw an old restored castle and village (very cool), and even checked out a Hurling game.

That is about it for now. Next up we are headed down close to Valencia in Spain for the huge tomato fight (Tomatina). Should be great fun (210 tons of tomatoes dropped into the town for the fight), and we have our all white outfit washed and pressed for the event.

Some of our pictures are finally up at:

http://www1.snapfish.ie/share/p=430231219504907526/l=421466435/g=7367679/cobrandOid=1023/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Miss you all, and shoot us an email to let us know how things are going back home.

XOXO,

Gregorio and Lisa

Five Countries in Five Days

To start off our trip we flew in to London which was loads of fun but ridiculously expensive. We stayed with our friend Guy, saw the sights, and tried some of the best beers we have ever had (especially Harvey’s WOW).

Day 2 we went to Luxembourg to meet up with our friend Gerry who we are going to be traveling with for the next 4 months on and off. From there it was off to Paris to celebrate Bastille Day which is basically like our 4^th of July. We bought some cheesy berets and met up with a couple of other friends from the states for the party. After a short observation, we realized that the Parisians were not partying hard enough for such an important day, so we took it upon ourselves to make up for their shortcomings. They had a great fireworks show that we watched from the Eifel Tower.

Next it was off to Amsterdam for a couple of days. What a cool city. It has a very small feel to it with lots of canals and old buildings. The best part was that everyone there rides bikes. We rented a couple and checked out the sites. Lots of coffeeshops, bars and a strange red glow.

Finally to finish off our first week in Europe we went to Dortmund Germany to see the original Love Parade. It was wild. 1.5 million of our new closest friends in a little German town. They basically shut down the city’s main freeway and had about 40 semi trucks full of speakers, DJ’s and dancers and had an all night party slowly driving round and round on the freeway. Who knew the Germans were capable of so much love. Also ate some crazy German food (haxe). Basically a big hunk of pig slow roasted with potatoes and sourkraut……mmm mmm good!

Next up we are heading to the south of Germany to do some wine tasting at some of the wineries I used to sell for. Should be fun. Pictures to come soon!

XOXO

Gregorio and Lisa

London

Wednesday, Departure Day, Red Eye to London where we spent less than 36 hours before having to get on another plane to meet Gerry in Luxembourg
One of the many beautiful parks in London.
After 6 hours of walking around we arrived at the Tower Bridge.

Big Ben