97 Days, 12 Countries, 1 Kangoo

We proudly present the Fall 2007 European Traveler Awards (brought to you by your local Renault dealer)

The First Category of the evening is for Best Costume.

The nominees are:

• Traditional German dirndls at Oktoberfest
  
• Tuscan winemaker in a blue onesie
  
• Emaciated Santa Claus on the streets of Faro
  

Category: Hardest Place to find a WC

Nominees:

• Amsterdam
  
• Portugal
  
• Madrid
  

Winner: After walking around crosslegged for over two hours trying to hold it in, the Euro goes to Amsterdam.

Category: Most interesting shower experience

Nominees:

• Strasbourg (our first night in the European tiny no curtain showers)
  
• Ghent (ice cold and flooded moldy floors in the bathroom)
  
• Certaldo (electricity randomly going on and off while showering)
  

Winner: Since we spent seven days experiencing the Certaldo shower, the Euro goes to Certaldo.

Category: Best Street Food

Nominees:

• Spicy sausages in Prague
  
• Sweet Waffles in Brussels
  
• Lemon Gelato in Italy
  
• Violet crepes in the South of France
  
• Cheese hotdogs in Paris
  
• Roasted corn on the cob in Madrid
  
• Toasted Chestnuts in Rome
  

And the Winner is: Cheese hotdogs. If you can eat the street food every single day and still want more, that's a winner!

Category: Biggest Disappointment

Nominees:

• Pissing Boy Statue in Brussels
  
• Leaning Tower of Pisa at night
  
• Foot Statue in Rome
  

The Euro this year has to go to the Manneken Pis (Little Boy peeing) Statue in Brussels. Big Let down.

The next category is "Most Picturesque Town"

The beautiful nominees are:

• Halstatt, Austria
  
• Vernazza, Italy
  
• Gourdon, France
  

After much deliberation, the judges have decided on Halstatt.

Category: Ugliest European Car Award

Nominees:

• Ford KA

• Fiat Multipla

• Two wheels in front, one in back Motorcycle (the reverse Mullet of bikes)

Winner: There is no contest here, the clear winner is the Fiat.

The next category is Cars we wish they sold in the U.S.:

Nominees:

• Alfa Romeo 159

• BMW 1 Series

• Kangoo

Since these Euro awards are sponsored by Renault,(and since it took good care of us for 3 months) we have to give the Euro to the Kangoo.

Best Blog Commenter Award

Nominees:

• LAO48 (aka Mom, Linda, Mrs. O, Itty Bitty Kitty Brain)
  
• Pfrancis4 (aka Peter Francis, The Franchise, Franny)
  
• skohn (aka Stephanie Kohn, Anthony, Scone)
  

This one was a race to the finish line. And we have to break the rules and give out three Euros to all these amazing blog commenters. Good job guys!

This concludes the Fall 2007 Euro Awards. Thank you for tuning in and don't forget to tip your waitress.

Moving on... Our Trip by the Numbers!
Days in Europe - 97
Languages attempted - 9
Kilometers driven by Chris - 16,701
Kilometers driven by Steph - 94
Kilometers drivien by Taice - 0
Hotels bed slept in - 62
Number of all-nighters - 2 (Only for the Pats and Carlos y Rodrigo y Gabriel)
Friendly faces from home - 15
Number of times we ate at McDonald's - 7
Run ins with the law - 3
Number of ham/schinken/speck/proscuitto/jambon and cheese/kase/formaggio/queso/fromage sandwiches eaten - 962

Clocking the Kilometers. Also known as "where we were when"...
We reached 6,000 kilometers: Statue Park on the outskirts of Budapet
7,000 kilometers: Rovato on the A4 Autostrada on the way to Bellagio from Verona, Italy
8,000 kilometers: North of Pisa on the way to hike Cinque Terre with Tara and Steve
9,000 kilometers: Driving into Rome to meet Carlos at the Vatican
10,000 kilometers: Outside Marseille on the way to Barcelona
11,000 kilometers: Driving to Madrid on the A2
12,000 kilometers: On the way to Lisbon after sitting in traffic for 1 1/2 hours and only going 6 kilometers
13,000 kilometers: With Steph, Dave and Caleb on the way from Lagos to our retirement community
14,000 and 15,000 kilometers: 17 hour drive from Lisbon to Cannes
16,000 kilometers: Last big drive with the Kangoo from Cannes to Paris

And on to the pics!
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=184308425/a=7226152_7226152/t_=7226152
Thanks for coming along for the ride, we hope you enjoyed sharing this wonderful experience with us. Look for our next web venture, the Chris and Taice wedding website. YAY!