You want the truth???

bill actually was really nice in how he made st.p-burg sound. you want the truth? there was human feces on the ground. enough said!!! there was sh*t on the ground. not by a dog (Lord i hope?). not by a horse. a living breathing human being just took a number two on the ground outside of our hostel. aside from breathtaking architecture and amazing food, there is nothing too fantastic about st.petersburg. it makes mexico look like beverly hills. do not get me wrong, russia is amazing but do not ever waste your time at st.p-burg. the people are EXTREMELY RUDE and the place smells like a porta-potty. well, obviously that is because people TAKE CRAPS ON THE GROUND!!!

we are now in Novgorod, russia which is a quaint little town about an hour or two outside of the burg as the locals...well, b and i call it. the place is beautiful! the people are so polite and the food is still awesome! it does not smell too bad here either so that is always a plus. right now we are banging out reservations on the computer looking for our next destination. we are looking at a little town called Valday. we are waiting for a reply on our hotels reso's so in the mean time a little blog action.

we are really happy to see that everyone is slowly but surely getting their postcards. we sent out so damn many!!!!! around 50ish. we really want to know that you guys got them, but we are worried that a lot did not make it. so...if you did get yours please let us know. if you did not get yours...tell us you did! we actually spent about three or four hours last night banging out more of them. everyone should be getting another round in...i guess a month! hopefully not. if you want a postcard and have not given us your info please email us at snyder4@gmail.com. bill says no porn please, NIALL!!!! we really enjoy doing it for you guys because we know some of you's are living vicarioualy through us. bills says "at-ye-bis!" which means "piss off!", but not to you guys. i guess he is just practicing because these guys do not know what "a**hole" means.

we have a lot of really good postings and pictures as well as some really good links. thanks to everyone for still looking us up. like i said we are still learning how to use this blogspot and a lot of these places do not let you upload pictures so that is our delima for right now. please continue to keep checking everyday. i know we are not posting everyday but it has beena challenge to find a place here to blog. i mean...this is the oldest city in russia and there is still A LOT of communism in the air. so things are current...if you like 80's music and mullets. at home we call it retro. here, they call it high fashion. i am waiting to see if platforms and the bee-gee's make it back.

St. Petersburg, Russia

Just a quick post. We're in St. Petersburg. It has some very beautiful architecture and one of the best known museums in the world, the Hermitage. It can also be dark, smell very badly and has a lot of shady looking characters. We have one more night here and then we're going to try and find a place a little more quiet (our hotel window is open to a very busy street). Anyway, got some great pictures and are gonna roll around Russia until we hop the train to Moscow Aug 24. We'll keep you all posted. Miss everyone.

Beautiful Mykonos, MySpace pix and a little red Speedo

Susan showing us how she has perfected the art of the "MySpace" picture.



Hey D, that ain't bad.



Hey Bill, that's a little scary (at least that's what my reflection thinks).



Phyllis doesn't even have a MySpace page, but she did have a few martinis.



Susan: martini connoisseur or closet lush?



Two Snyders, one island and a Dickson.



Everybody in Mykonos' Little Venice.



Bill and Mom in front of the Mykonos windmills.



The Mykonos skyline and harbor.



"Hey, I'm looking for that little white house up the street, you know, the one with the blue doors and trim."



The streets of Mykonos are twisty and narrow to confuse invading pirates and Bill.



B: Mom loved the local drink, Ouzo. D: More like, yuck-o!



D: I think red's your color.



One of the formal nights on the ship.

Catching Up - Pics from July 13, starting the cruise

Pick my pocket! I look like a tourist!



Don't fall in Bill! Good think you have your lifejacket on...inside the boat.


Where's Phyllis?

A running tally

BnD are going to try and keep a running tally of some of the things they do on their trip...over and over again. This is our best guess from July till now and we'll try to keep better records from here on out.


-Times we've tripped: 6
-Times we've tripped and fell: 1/2 (Bill ALMOST fell down a hole)
-Times said "it's hot": 4
-Times said "I'm cold": 8
-Postcards sent: 57 (pray the Polish postal service works)
-Times Bill bumped his head: 2
-Nights spent in a vehicle: 4
-Altercations with the locals: 2 (one was this guy in France-ask for details)
-Little old ladies who've cut in front of us: 3
-Little old ladies who've stayed in front of us: 0
-McDonald's visits: 3

So I pushed an old lady...

and she was not the first. this is D here just coming in for a little comic relief. so, yeah...i pushed an old lady and i"ll push more i hafta! see you gracious polite americans, manners do not exist in europe. yeah! no joke! i have a feeling some of you already knew that though. for you older folk, you have to do what is called "throwing bows". it means throw them elbows, and that is exactly what i did. from the little old lady in itlay who just casually walked up in front of us waiting in a long, smokey, sweaty line to the old lady who almost got into it with bill at H&M...(she would have gotten it too!) you CANNOT let little old ladies push you around! we have been riding busses lately to get from country to country. no, no, stop it. it is not all glorious as you all may think. you have to get there about 30 minutes before the bus leaves to stand in line where people who got there 2 minutes ago cut in line in front of you. that is another story for another paragraph. so, we go get some 2 zolty ($) mickey d's burgers...cheaper than the dollar menu. we get about six of them and actually got seven. we thought the guy hooked us up, but i think he charged us. i fed a poor homeless man, you know me and my bleeding heart, and then got to the line to get the best seats possible. see there is a strategy to this. you either sit in the second two rows in the front because the bus driver keeps his stuff in the first two front rows so no one is in front of you...or you go for the set of seats that is right in front of the door in the back because you have a table right in front of you. well, me and bill are all ready on this like white on rice. the bus pulls up right in front of bill, so i stand back because he has two tickets and then i just raise my hand and they allow me entrance. there was little old lady...i mean little and OLD! i thought, well, i will let her go in front of me. no worries right? bill gets first dibs on seats, hell to the yes! i say excuse me to get to the front to get on. this old bat would not budge!!! i said excuse me once more and she satnds there like she does not speak english...and she probably did not but tapping did not do it nor did the politeness. so, i push the old battle-axe out of the way! i know what some of you might be thinking, and well, yeah! we got good seats! so, the next time somebody says, "rude americans!". say, "YES! we learned it from the europeans...just like cologne showers and chain-smoking!"

Vilnius, Lithuania/CONTEST! PRIZES!

Hey all, we're checking in this morning from the basement computer room/kitchen of a hostel we've checked into in Vilnius, Lithuania. We just came off a nine hour bus ride from Warsaw, Poland. You see, we're trying to get to St. Petersburg, Russia. The problem is that the trains from Warsaw go through Belarus and Belarus is like the last Soviet-style throwback commie country and we have to have a visa to just ride a train through and it's a hassle. So we had to take the bus. We got in at about 8am this morning and as you can probably guess, you don't get very good sleep on the bus.
Anyway, we grabbed our stuff and went into the train station and we're booked for a train to St. Pete's at 6pm tomorrow. Our necks are very sore because all through the night, as one does when they're trying to sleep sitting up, our heads would slowly nod forward as we'd nod off and then jerk back abruptly. So I booked a sleeper for tomorrow.
That's about it for this post. We've got a couple days to check out Lithuania and then it's on to Mother Russia. We'll try and put some pictures up too.
To keep ya'll busy while we're gone we're going to start an essay contest. The best answer gets some sort of souviner from our travels.

We'll give you two possible subjects:
1. Why you miss BnD and can't wait for us to come home and hang out.
2. Why you're glad BnD are far away and why we should never come home.

Enjoy!