A few random thoughts...

1. Who knew it would be THIS hot here? I mean, it's seriously hot. And sure, we're hiking and riding bikes around like maniacs all day everyday, but still. I thought it was going to be a little less St. Louis summer-like here. But ohhhhh no, it's freakishly hot. My fingers were sweating during dinner tonight. I didn't even know my fingers had sweat glands!

2. Every single country/city we've been to so far has had a different toilet-flushing mechanism. It's like an undercover mission to try to figure it out. Some have buttons on the toilet lid, some have buttons on the floor, some on the wall. Some have these weird square lever buttons on the lid, but we haven't seen a lot of those. I've seen pull-chains, I've seen American flushers, and I've seen rods that pull out of the toilet lid. I must admit, I had no idea there were so many flushing mechanisms out there.

3. Venice has water buses and water taxis - how cool is that?!?

4. I really wish the US would get more excited about the World Cup, because it's pretty impossible to not have World Cup fever over here. I've decided England has the most fun fans, but that could be because I understand their cheers and songs better than the ones in other languages. And I can read the lips of the players on the screen when they speak in English, but not so much the ones that speak in Swedish.

5. It doesn't get dark in the northern parts of Europe until 10:00 or later. And it gets light in the morning anywhere from 4:30 - 5:30. Talk about a lot of daylight hours to fill!

6. Air conditioning is not real popular anywhere n Europe. Do they enjoy sweating? Or is it unseasonably warm now? Or is it just considered unnecessary?

7. Wearing a tanktop and then wearing a 20 pound backpack for about an hour is NOT fun. I might have rubbed my shoulder raw yesterday, but don't worry, the skin grew back today despite all of the sweating.

8. We go to Munich tomorrow! Wessel and Rolvi ancestors, here I come!