Conclusion

Now that I think I've loaded all the pictures I want of the trip I have to say, Europe was amazing. The history was overwhelming and so awesome. We watched the Gladiator shortly after returning from Rome and it was so cool to see it all and recognize things and places. Touring these places was so much more of an education than we had anticipated. The people were great, the food was amazing, the places were all very picturesque and we will definitely go again...and again. However I have never been so proud to be an American. I never realized how much the rest of the world relies on America, for everything. Not only political influence, which was quite a bit, we were very surprised. Europeans follow American politics closer that most Americans. Everywhere we went people were commenting about the election. The candidates were in the news almost as much as they were here. Crazy. We felt very ill equipped to discuss any European politics. But its not just politics. It's everything, movies, books, clothes and especially music. We heard more American tunes than anything else. I'm convinced that's how they all learn english, they listen to American pop at the grocery store. We loved all the places we went, it was an experience of a lifetime to be sure. But when we came through customs in New York and heard all the loud Americans being all bossy and saying welcome home, I wanted to sing the national anthem. I was so psyched to be able to read all the signs and talk to all the people. I went to the grocery store yesterday and I could read the ingredients of everything. Not to be taken for granted, knowing what's in your frosted mini wheats. Anyway point is Europe is a really fantastic adventure, great place to visit. The U.S. a really great place to be born and live.