Colorado

Geneva

So, it has been a couple of weeks and we have not been on top of our posting game. We have met people from around the globe as well as spent quality time with friends from home. We visited the United Nations headquarters and attended the third session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We have taken a final, worked on papers, and best of all completely forgotten about class in the evenings.

The most fun activity for me so far? Bridge jumping and floating down the Rhone (minus the back buster on the double front flip). The river is so clear you can see the bottom as you float, even though it is too deep to reach. Two weeks ago we headed to Gimmelwald and stayed at the Mountain Hostel (probably the most beautiful in the world) and ate dinner while looking out at the mountains carved by ancient glaciers. We went to Jazz Fest in Montreaux last week (Roman Polanski was there). Up next, we are headed to Italy this weekend to hike Cinque Terre, lounge on the beach, and see Pisa. Finally, I think we may stay in Geneva for our last weekend in Europe to celebrate Switzerland's Independence Day (August 1st). Or we may make it to Germany. The time is flying by, but we have many pictures and videos to update.

Returning home too soon with too much to do when we get there. Hope all is well Stateside.

Den Haag

Just a brief update so the readers have some info and we will put more up later. This week has been amazing. We have seen so much and met so many great people at the ICTY. Thanks to Mrs. Murnane for making it all happen. We have been touring the building, listening in on cases and getting lectures from the best in the world with our new cadet friends from Westpoint and the Air Force Academy. The ICTY is a trailblazer for international criminal law and necessary enforcement for international humanitarian efforts. We get to visit the peace palace tomorrow on our last day in Den Haag (a beautiful city) and then we are off to Brussels and then Geneva for school. Way too much to include here on our week at the ICTY, ask us about it when we get home!

00041.mp4

Amsterdam

For a place whose official travel pamphlet says things like "as for prostitution- if you choose to spend time with one of the women, please be warned they are not always women," Amsterdam is surprisingly wholesome. The whole visit I just kept thinking, how much my Mom would love it. It's a perfectly preserved and updated piece of history. The canals are amazingly beautiful, and we spent a lot of time on the deck of our hostel catching the Netherlands sun. The food was beautiful, I even indulged in some Salmon overlooking the canals. We managed to do all the Amsterdam "musts", we rented bicycles with three new German friends and rode around the city and outskirts for an entire day, we took a taxi boat tour, we stood in line and saw Anne Frank's house, and even strolled through the red light district at night. All in all Amsterdam is like food for the eyes. Everything was beautiful excepting maybe the often cranky attitude of the tourist-sick locals. Now, onto The Hague for a different side of The Netherlands~

00040.mp4

00039