Biking in Romania

After visiting so many amazing cities, we decided to go to the mountains of Romania. After doing some research and realizing that there was more to Romania than Dracula, we found a small independent travel company, called Green Mountain Tours. They offered self-guided Mountain Bike tours in the Western Alpusini Mountains of Romania, home stays, etc. So we booked a trip!

Heading from Budapest, we arrived at the Romanian town of Huedin last Sunday. We were whisked away to a neighboring town of Sancraiu, where we went over all of the details of our week long mountain bike trip. It was a lot of information, but very thorough. We were given maps, directions, a list of phrases to use, etc. Then, we were fed a huge and amazing home cooked Romanian meal by the lady of the house. We realized then that the amount of food we were expected to eat would often be ridiculous and we would have to politely decline the wishes of our host to eat everything they gave us. This lady also told us that there was a festival in the town to celebrate St. Stephen that evening because most of the town was of Hungarian origin and fireworks would be on display that night! We lucked out again with the fireworks! So after watching the locals go around on lofts of hay in horse pulled wagons (literally) at around 10pm, we took seats on the balcony of our room and watched a very nice firework display before going to sleep before our big adventure.

The next day, we headed out on the mountain bikes on a journey of about 40 km to the village of Risca. Because we were on mountain bikes, we often took the road less traveled. We began by heading over some farm fields, through a few small villages, and then up over a set of hills and around some farms. We ate lunch, got lost (a pattern that would repeat almost every day) and then made our way around a farm and over a ridge where we could hear the sheep dogs barking and coming for us. We kept going without trouble and finally made our way over some cow pastures. We stopped for another lunch break (we had made many, many sandwiches with the excessive amount of food we were fed) and took time to really enjoy the scenery. Gorgeous! The hills were rolling and green, with farms and haystacks in all directions. Romanian farms in this area of the country are still very traditional. We did not see any plows or tractors and all of the hay is cut with a reaper by hand and then stacked up. The scenery resembled the area of Solvang and San Luis Obispo (Central California) we have loved biking in over the years. We got lost in another town and then finally made it to the place we were supposed to stay with great surprise! From the road in front of a very large and cozy looking farm house, we heard a very loud “Bye, Bye”. We slowed down and took a closer look, seeing a smiling girl about our age and a cute old grandmother piling hay. In the next breath she said something along the lines of “you stay here!” This was getting very funny and only after we realized she was serious, we headed into the farm and did in fact make the connection that Ramona had been expecting us and was surprised because we were coming from the wrong direction. She introduced herself, gave us water, and helped us settle in. After we cleaned up, she and her sister served us an incredible meal! There was everything you could think of and all from their farm! The salad was grown in the garden, the soup was made from their vegetables, the meat JJ was eating was from, well I think you can figure it out by now! Amazing! They made this special blend of vegetables and spices for me also. After visiting with a group of Dutch people who were also staying there, we learned there was a birthday, and offered to sing “Happy Birthday” in Hebrew in exchange for some cake! Great idea, best cake I have had all trip, with fresh whipped cream made from the cow’s milk. After chatting with Ramona more, I asked her if JJ would be able to go assist the grandma to milk the cow after dinner! Of course! Only if we helped bring them into the barn, toured her garden, sampled the apples off the tree, and herded the chickens into their pen. Ramona’s garden was amazing and she was very proud that most of my dinner had been collected from it. Next, JJ was ushered to milk the cow. He thinks that he could have used more practice, because he was afraid of hurting the cow. The scene was hilarious; the grandma was shouting instructions to him in Romanian and I am snapping pictures, while Ramona is laughing her head off! After watching some music videos with Ramona, showing her the blog (she had wifi installed for her “tourists”!), and going over directions for the next day, we went to sleep. In the morning, her mother prepared us the largest breakfast I have ever seen for two people. There were fresh peaches, some sort of sweet corn meal mush, eggs, fried cheese, fresh cheese, meat, etc. etc. We said goodbye to everyone and the grandma said a nice blessing for us to have safe travels. We had a great time in Risca and we hope to go back there one day, especially if we are hungry!

Throughout the day, we traveled down a mountain on an awesome dirt road, and then up and up hill! We biked over a mountain ridge, got accompanied by some boys on bikes, and biked through a forest! The scenery was amazing, even though the biking was very challenging for me. I loved the last stretch when we were on a paved road and I could see a lake peering at me through the pine trees as we coasted downhill. We arrived to the village of Poina Horea and then a little further to the town of Podina, where we met our next hosts, Charles (Carol) and Monica. We learned that they had hosted over 500 tourists over the past five years, but we were their first Americans! They were very happy about this and so were we! We had a great meal that consisted of risotto and amazing wild yellow mushrooms in a paprika sauce (called paprikosh). The next day, we opted to do a hike instead of riding our bikes around. Charles and Monica had gone out and marked their own 5 hour (12 km) hiking trail around the neighboring mountains by their house in the protected forested area (which is still illegally forested). In the forest we found blueberries and raspberries along the way. We hiked up through the forest and onto a meadow where we had 360 degree view of the entire mountain area. The view was amazing and we were really happy we did the hike. A friendly old lady talked to us and we noticed that her hands were stained blue from picking blueberries and she had a gigantic bucket with her! She also had a special tool with wires that allowed her to collect the blueberries more easily as she scooped it across the bushes. We noticed a lot of people also collecting blueberries with the same tool on the way down and found out that they sell them (and the mushrooms they collect) to Italian companies. We had another nice dinner and watermelon for desert! Then, Charles invited us into their home to see the rest of the house, hear stories of how he acquired the land, and to see videos about other parts of Romania we would have to visit some other time. Charles was quite a good videographer, and we enjoyed watching his videos about the Nature Reserve area of Padis in Romania we hope to check out someday, which is famous for gorges, waterfalls, and ice caves. Monica and Charles also had a dog named, Bush, after our former president. He told us when his neighbors heard about this, they named their dog, Bin Laden. Awesome!

The next day, we got water from the fresh bubbling spring by their home and set out for Scrind. The road was gravel and paved most of the way and it was a nice transition back into mountain biking from our break the day before. We saw some very beautiful scenery including meadows, lakes, and valleys. After a very long downhill, we set out on a side trip to see a waterfall, known as the Wedding veil. It was up the road about 6km and was a very nice sight. We headed back to the main road, got some ice cream before arriving at our pension in Scrind, which was more like a hotel than a home stay. We read and relaxed the rest of the day and called it an early night.

On the last day of biking, we were headed back to Sancraui to complete our loop in the Alpusini mountains. We began by following a river upstream and then continuing to climb up a gigantic mountain, although we had no idea until we reached the top and received the great views! We some how got off the main road and ended up walking our biked up the side of an alpine meadow near the top of the mountain. The views were the best all trip and although it was very challenging, the scenery made it worth every second! We finally arrived at the town of Cabana Valdassa and it was downhill from there because we were at the top right by the ski lifts! Before we left, we verified our directions with a nice guy around our age who spoke perfect English (lucky us!) and had a wonderful picnic under a tree. We headed down on the bumpiest, rocky road of all time, only stopping from time to time to pick raspberries and for JJ to change his flat tire in record time. We finally arrived at the bottom and raced through a few of the neighboring towns (in order to avoid the Gypsies who we were warned about by multiple people, but we did not see them because it was probably too hot). The last stretch of the road was very beautiful. We arrived safely back at the guesthouse and were informed that we were smelly, dirty, and needed a shower, which we happily agreed to. After a great dinner and chatting with a very nice Italian couple that were staying there also, we headed to bed.

Now we are on our way to the Romanian city of Arad to catch the night train to Vienna, Austria. From there we will head to Salzberg, Austria! Will write more soon! Hope you are all fantastic! Lots of Love.

Budapest

After getting off the train a few mornings ago and putting our stuff down at a hostel, we walked through what I had thought would have been a very typical Eastern European city. Everything was shutdown; there were very, very few people on the street. There was no clear indication of daily human life. We decided to do a bike tour of Budapest, based solely on the fact that we might actually meet some other “living” people by doing it. Well by this point we realized potentially everyone in Budapest had evaporated, was on vacation, or was somewhere that we should definitely be! After meeting our bike tour guide, Ana, we quickly learned where the coffee was and that it was Hungarian National Day! We could not believe our luck! We have hit so many European national days and now that we knew there were living, breathing people in Budapest! We began our “private” biking tour of Budapest (only private because no one else showed up for the biking tour!) by riding to Heroes square, where we learned the history of the city of Budapest; originally settled by 7 nomadic tribes 1100 years ago, becoming 3 separate cities, and then only in the last 100 years becoming the united city of Buda and Pest (Budapest!). While Ana was explaining Hungarian history, military planes were flying overhead, military music was being played, and there was a processional. Heroes’ square was a giant area in front of the city park, with monuments to all of the most famous heroes, saints, and military leaders in Hungary. We also saw one of the most famous Turkish bathhouses in Budapest with a beautiful exterior building, although due to the gorgeous weather it was packed. After dodging people in the crowded streets, we rode to the opera house and St. Stephen’s Church, the most grand in Hungary. St. Stephen was the first king in Hungary, so the national holiday is to also celebrate him and the city was preparing for the largest mass of the year. From there, we went over to the Danube River and learned some history about the first cable bridge that crossed the river, joining the towns of Buda and Pest. We also heard about the Communist occupancy in Budapest and saw a giant communist sculpture on a hillside above the town, next to the Citadel. We learned the Scottish architect of the bridge claimed that he built the entire thing perfectly and if anyone could prove him otherwise he would jump off it into the river. Apparently, he did have to jump in the river because someone noticed the giant stone lions guarding the bridge on all sides did not have tongues. There were two very clear things we noticed on our Bike tour. First, there was a ton of stuff actually going on for the National Holiday. Second, Budapest is huge and not concentrated in a main city center like many of the other European cities we have been to. There is a large variety of architecture due to the Austrian occupancy for a long time and the strong Russian influence. After putting up the bikes, we decided to go back over the river area and see more of the festivities on foot. The streets were packed with people and there was live music and interesting food everywhere! We first tried some sort of Hungarian sweets that we are still unsure about, but they seemed like chocolate covered pan forte (mix of mashed up dried fruit, nuts, and spices). Delicious! Next, we observed that many people were lined up in front of a truck. This was not just any truck, it was a milk truck! People were lined up around the corner to drink and fill their bottle with fresh milk! I could not believe the people having huge glasses of milk, standing next to people with huge glasses of beer! We decided on some sort of paprika veggie dish for dinner and a corn on the cob. We walked back to our dorm (called a hostel, but really a dorm) and relaxed until fireworks came on later in the night and we walked outside to watch them with the locals from the street around the corner.

The next day, we took the metro into town and headed back to the festivities. But first, we purchased a compass for our upcoming biking trip in Romania! We had a fun time trying to explain what a compass was to the ladies at the outdoors store. We also tried some delicious sandwich type snacks on the way to the folk festival. I had a cucumber-yogurt based spread and JJ had a paprika delight with meat, I think that is what he named it at least. On the way, we made a detour to go look at the Budapest synagogue with Moorish architecture. It was after Shabbat services on Saturday, so it was all closed up, but the size of the structure, the colors, the incredible stonework, iron work, and history behind the synagogue were really impressive. There was a life-size Willow tree of life in one of the courtyards made of steel that was really unique and eye catching. On every leaf of the tree was the name of a Holocaust victim from the Jewish community of Hungary. Also, there were many gravestones in the center courtyard because prior to WWII the area was turned into a Ghetto and the area was used for a cemetery. We were really glad we walked over to the synagogue. When we got to the festival, we were very happy with how many less people there were compared to the day before. We bought tickets to go through the folk festival, which turned out to definitely be the largest folk festival I have ever been to. It took us about four hours to walk through the entire festival. We saw all sorts of crafts, but the majority were: basket weaving, gingerbread painting, the usage of seed beads for necklaces, handmade clothing, leather work, woodworking, iron work, pottery, hand-made toys and my favorite, felt work from local wool. There was so much to see and do, it was literally exhausting! So, doing what we do best, when we were tired we sampled food! The first dish was some sort of Paprika soup with veggies (letcka), next was a green bean casserole type of thing, JJ tried the Hungarian pizza, a slab paprika of chicken, then we tried this dish called Dodolle, which was tiny little potato pancakes with vinegar cabbage coleslaw, beets, and sour cream on top! Are you full yet? We also walked out of the castle a little ways to see a picturesque church on the Buda side of town, called the fisherman’s church because they defended it from destruction at some point. We spent the rest of the evening listening to Polish and Hungarian folk music, eclectic world music that sounded like death metal mixed with Klezmer, and traditional gypsy music. We walked back and fell fast asleep after our long, full day!

We are now on the train to Huedin, Romania, which is on the western side of the Carpathian Mountains. We will be biking for 5 days on the farm roads and through the mountains, watching out for bears, wolves, gypsies, Dracula, and each other! It should be beautiful and we are really excited to stay in the farm houses and spend time in the country side! My hope is that JJ will be able to milk either a cow or goat for the first time in his life! I guess he did not grow up in the South where I received these important life skills! HA! I will write more about the biking trip pronto! Hope you are all doing excellent and we send our love!

Prague

After checking in to the fact that we were in Eastern Europe by the looks and sounds of the trains we rode on to get there, we decided to check into our hotel and get some dinner. The pizza place around the corner was highly recommended and so we ventured out to find the most interesting themed pizza place possible. Oh yes – the theme of the Czech pizza place was… “Native Americans.” All of the pictures on the wall were of chiefs and the pizza’s were named “Big Bear Sunrise, Thundercloud Desert Dream”, etc. I was speechless as I took it all in. We tried to explain to the waitress that we had never been to a pizza place like this and she was actually really surprised by that! I can’t describe to you what a surprise this place was – and the food was pretty good too! We were staying at a hotel called Merlin, and the only “magical” thing about it was that they had a very filling breakfast buffet of cheese, bread, deli meat, and a different random fruit every day. So the next morning, we filled up and head out on another Free Walking Tour. We met in the center of Prague, right next to St. Nicholas Church and the old astronomical clock. We started the tour by learning about the main features of the square and then received a very thorough explanation of the 600 year old clock. Apparently most tourists who come to Prague are very disappointed when they see the clock do its thing every hour from 9am-9pm. Pretty much it has 4 mechanical figures that move their jaws and hands around for about 30 seconds before a rooster at the top yelps out. Well, we did eventually see that show – but the first time we saw the clock we were amazed by it! First of all, it is about 600 years old! It has a separate dial for the phases of the moon, the bohemian numbers, Roman numerals, Saints Days, and just about everything else a clock should have besides a heart monitor. From there, we walked to the Opera house where Mozart actually had an opera performed while he was alive. We headed to get a view of the famous, Wensclas square and then to the Powder Tower, where guns and ammo were once held. We learned about the Jewish quarter of Prague, the Communist Regime, and decided to investigate more history the next day. At the end of the tour, we walked across the river to Prague Castle. It was huge! In the middle is a gothic church with beautiful stained glass windows. We toured the entire castle and enjoyed throwing the Frisbee in some of the Royal gardens. Then on the way down, we sampled a special Czech pastry called Tredlnik. It is a pastry dough heated from the inside out and covered in cinnamon sugar while it is baked on a rotating steel rolling pin above a fire. Amazing! The result is a pastry with a hollow center that tastes unbelievable! We ended up walking past some outdoor stores on our walk back to the center of town from Charles Bridge. They actually had a great selection, although the gear was super expensive. We opted to get out before we began to “need” some fancy gear and we ate dinner at a Prague Brewery known as U Medvidku. JJ had a very traditional Czech dish of meat dumplings and cabbage and I had a strange concoction of Kashka and veggies in a cast iron skillet. While we were finishing up, 3 Czech guys sat down next to us. We had a really nice time talking with them, comparing our cultures, and hearing about what it was like to live in Prague in the present day.

The next day, we walked to a very untouristy part of the city, where there is a giant park and some bars we wanted to try. We walked up to a giant gymnasium sort of building that just screamed “communism”. It was very dilapidated, but seemed strong and mighty, especially compared to the field of weeds growing around it. The Czech people are very focused on ridding themselves of their Communist past and I was surprised this building was even there. We threw the Frisbee in the park and within an hour, someone with an Alaska Ultimate sweatshirt engaged us in conversation. Bryn, had played at Carleton College but was originally from the Los Angeles area and had been living in Prague the last 10 years. We enjoyed chatting with him and meeting his Toy Chihuahua, Maxi. We headed over the bar, U Sadi, only after noticing a giant and pretty ugly Communist era (I hope) radio tower with sculptures of dark colored giant babies crawling on it. Definitely one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. For dinner, I decided to try the Czech potato pancakes, which were actually potato dumplings filled with cheese and fried. Yum! JJ tried the absinth liquor drink after dinner. Green Fairies and a thorough cleansing of our senses is all I have to say about that.

The next day, we packed our bags to take the night train and stored our stuff at the train station. We headed over the Jewish museum of Prague and made a day of seeing the sights. First, we entered a synagogue that was changed into a memorial for all for all of the Czech Jews who perished in the Holocaust (over 75% of the Czech Jewish population). Almost every corner of synagogue was filled with a name. There were so many names and it was so powerful, emotional, and truly upsetting. It was like a slap in a face to see all of those names. Seeing over 100,000 names is a lot more intense than actually saying the number, let me tell you. Next, we saw heart-breaking pictures drawn by children of the Terezin ghetto. Although faced by the evils and horrors of the Nazi’s, the Jews at this ghetto/camp developed a secret curriculum of Jewish studies for the children there. As a part of the curriculum, students were able to draw their feelings. The children drew pictures of everything from a really happy scene with rainbows and arrows pointing to Palestine to really upsetting stuff dealing with death. Most of these children did not survive. Although over four thousand drawings were carefully hidden into suitcases and discovered after the war. I definitely recommend seeing these if you ever come to Prague. From there, we walked through the Jewish cemetery of the Prague Ghetto, used from the mid 15^th century to the late 1800s. The tombstones are mostly written in Hebrew, have shifted in position over time, and are very slowly deteriorating. The cemetery is a very special place and as eerie as it was walking through, you can just feel the sense of history and purpose these people had. We entered a few more museums with well preserved Jewish artifacts from Prague and Czech Jews. In one of the synagogues (converted to a museum), there were some of the most detailed and descriptive information charts and artifacts of Jews I have ever seen. The Jewish artifacts were actually placed into a museum in Prague during the early 1900s and then almost left untouched by the Nazi’s because Hitler wanted to keep the Museum to show people what the exterminated race of Jews was like. We all know that did not happen! Not only was I am impressed by the museum, but the vast amount of people who were there to see it from all backgrounds and cultures! There were so many people there and that made me feel very satisfied in a way. Last, JJ and I walked through the Spanish synagogue of Moorish architecture. This is supposed to be the most beautiful synagogue in Europe, although JJ and I think the one in Florence I wrote about is a little more impressive. However, it was absolutely breathtaking, especially all of the geometric patterns incorporating gold paint, Stars of David, and stained glass. Really something I will never forget! So all in all, I am really glad we spent a lot of time exploring the Jewish history of Prague together. It is unbelievable to me that so many atrocities have happened throughout history to the Jews. Although, I am very pleased there is a museum that visually describes these events. JJ and I are so fortunate to live in this time and come from a country where we have Freedom of Religion. We are so thankful for our family members who made sacrifices so that we would have the life that we do.

After throwing the Frisbee around and grabbing some dinner, we boarded to sleeper train to Budapest!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Hope everyone is enjoying the blog. I just posted several series of pictures. They are on the right hand side of the screen you can access the album by clicking on the picture.

Berlin

On the 6^th floor of an apartment building in the Charlottenburg area of Berlin, we made ourselves at home in Hotel Amadeus. We had already learned from people on the train coming into Berlin, the more English a German knows, the friendly they are. We had a very nice young lawyer (or judge?) sitting by us on the train from Brussels and he gave us some recommendations for dinner. We took a walk, explored our surroundings and settled on an excellent Chinese dinner as we watched the rain.

The next day, we went for a free tour of Berlin. We luckily had an amazing Australian tour guide, named Katie, who worked solely off tips. She was very passionate about Berlin and we were excited to hear what she had to say since we knew very little about the city. First of all, Berlin is huge and this walking tour was 4 hours! We began our tour at the Brandenburger Gate, which has a whole history of itself, but it is pretty much a massive structure that survived the bombings of WWII and is in front of many embassies. During most of the tour, it was raining, but our rain gear kept us dry and easy to spot. After hearing a pre-WWII history of Germany, we head over to the Holocaust memorial for Jews in Berlin. In my opinion, it looks like a massive cemetery of huge concrete blocks. There are many interpretations of the memorial, but it definitely provokes the thoughts of darkness, confusion, and loss. I thought it was very powerful and impossible to miss. After wandering around the concrete blocks, we headed over to the site where Hitler’s bunkers were (the place he committed suicide). You can no longer see them, but there is a dog park above them where people from Berlin come to “let their dogs shit.” From there, we walked over to the German Tax Office, which is actually a former Nazi building that survived the bombings. The Nazi architecture was extremely forbidding, but there was also a mural of socialism left on one of the outside walls. The propaganda in the message was very happy, but it was clear at this point, the city of Berlin and its people have suffered a lot throughout history. Behind the building is where some of the only remaining portions of the Berlin Wall still exist. The graffiti and the holes were left untouched. At this point in the tour, we started learning about the entire division of Berlin for almost 30 years as East Berlin and West Berlin, divided by the wall. Families, neighbors, and daily lives in Berlin were interrupted by the Communist regime that ruled East Germany. We began to learn how people escaped and were fascinated at the lengths people would go to leave their “imprisonment” in East Berlin behind the Berlin Wall. Many people died and if you were caught even planning an escape, the Stasi (secret police of East Germany) would most often make you “disappear.” The next spot, was the site of the book burning in Berlin. 20,000 books by Jewish (and other people the Nazi’s targeted) authors were burned to make a statement. The surprising thing that happened while we were there was that there were several Weddings taking place across Berlin the same time as the tour. A motor-brigade and motorcycle line-up came straight across the square and made laps honking their horns, etc for the people who were going to be married. It was a happy scene among a very horrible site from history. It just really hammered home that time has passed and things have changed very much in Berlin, although history must never be forgotten, which they made very clear. There were many more things that were discussed in the tour, really too much to even write, but if you ever get the chance, you should definitely visit this VERY historically relevant city.

After the tour, JJ and I spent about an hour walking through a gigantic park in the middle of Berlin that were formally the royal hunting grounds. We could not believe how large and empty this park was. A perfect place to throw the Frisbee we forgot at the hotel! We had dinner on our long walk back at a very good Thai restaurant. After dinner, we headed to a local bar that we noticed the night before. Apparently, this awesome local dive bar had a “toilet” theme and the beer was even served in hospital urine containers. They delivered the beer on zip lines and there was a professional “heckler” who commented on every person who walked into the bar. I really think that is where the Fragles from Fragle Rock have been hiding out all of these years. It was a very crazy place and one of the most memorable bars I have been to so far. We had a nice chat with some guys from Denmark and Swedish girls there.

The next day we slept in very late and then headed back to Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous checkpoint between East and West Berlin. We read all of the display boards about the history of Berlin and the area where this checkpoint was. We learned more about the Death Strip and the Berlin wall as well. There were also a few pictures of the memorials to the people who lost their lives trying to get across the border. From here, we walked all the way into the area of Orangiburger and found a perfect dinner spot. We enjoyed sitting in an outdoor courtyard filled with flowers and Christmas lights, while JJ sampled famous German Schnitzel. On the way back to the train station, we found a very nice park to throw the Frisbee in. We threw around until it got too dark to see and then followed the sound of music we had heard. Around a few corners in the park, and we walked into a Flamenco Guitar concert! We parked ourselves on the cobblestone bridge and listened to the beautiful music until the end of the show. We were very happy to have stumbled in on this live open air concert, it was very beautiful and right on the Museum Island of Berlin, with a river and skyline in the background.

So there you have it, Berlin “das good”. We are now on our way to Prague! I am so excited to explore this city! Although, JJ just pointed out an amazing castle on the hills in the German countryside we are passing as I write this. Amazing!

Belgium

Belgium

Beer, chocolate. Beer, chocolate. Waffle. Waffle. Bike, Pancake. Flowers. Waffle, fireworks.

Yep, that pretty much sums up Belgium!

OK, ok… here are the details…

We arrived to Brussels on Monday afternoon and headed to a busy part of town for dinner after setting up camp in the campsite behind a church. We wound up at an Irish pub and felt as though we had chosen to eat dinner at the United Nations. French spoken to our left, English (from England) to our right, German behind us, and Dutch in front. We had arrived in the capital of the EU for sure! Everyone was so friendly and fluent in English.

The next morning, we headed to the center of town to get our bearings and wound up with a pretty good base tour of the sights in Brussels. We found these amazing maps that were created for young travelers and named very un-touristy, local places to dine and entertain ourselves. We had a delicious lunch of plat du jour and when the waiter brought us out little pieces of Belgian chocolate with our coffee for desert, our smiles were so big – well he brought us about 3 more pieces each. From there, we walked through the downtown area to the museum of musical instruments in Brussels. First of all, the building is something of a spectacle, built in the early 20^th century in the art nouveau style. There was gorgeous iron work everywhere and because it was so tall and narrow, we got a great view of the rest of Brussels from here because the landscape in Belgium is so flat. We were given a pair of headphones and told a the front desk that whatever instrument on display we wanted to hear the sound of, we only needed to stand in front of the instrument and magically, music would begin to play in our headphones. I think something may be wrong with my ability to accept radio signals in my head, because I could not always get the sound to come through. JJ said that most of the time in the museum I was wandering around looking like I should be beamed up to outer-space any second. We had a nice time walking through the museum hearing everything from bagpipes (from all over the world!) and accordions, to sitars and drums of all sizes. We both enjoyed hearing different music from around the world and learning that the saxophone was invented in Belgium. From the museum, we stopped by the park in front of the Royal Palace to throw around the Frisbee and bought tickets to the silent movie at the Cinemateque for the next night. After that, we headed for a waffle and to avoid the rain that had just started outside. We waited until the weather let up and then made our way to Café Markten, stopping in some local markets along the way to admire the amazing Belgian beer for cheap prices and the most extensive amount high-quality of supermarket chocolate ever (I can only say that having sampled most of it by now!). Café Marten was very nice and relaxing. The staff there was so friendly and spent a while talking to us and hearing about our travels, so far the Belgians have been incredible sweet and so has their food (ha,ha).

The next day, we headed out on more of a walking tour of Belgium. We walked through some African and Morrocan neighborhoods. It seemed like the fast food of choice was falafel and we began to admire how many falafel and kebab restaurants there were everywhere! We made our way to the Gauze Brewery, the only brewery in Belgium brewing Lambic beer. We were lucky enough to join up with what seemed like a private tour of the brewery with a local pub owner and two representatives of Brew Dog Beers who were educating themselves about the specific ways to brew Lambic beer. The man showing us around was a Jean from France and boy, did he love Lambic beer – he seemed to know everything about it! I would say the most interesting thing (although JJ would say probably everything was interesting) was that the beer gets inoculated by the natural yeast in the air of Brussels and from the live cultures that exist in the wood of the building in only one night, pretty amazing. Then, to give the beer a strong sour and complicated taste (actually incredibly good), they store the beer in old oak barrels for 1 to 3 years before it is blended to be bottled. Sometimes they add fresh fruit like raspberries and cherries to create a Framboise type of gauze beer as well. If you ever get the chance to try this beer you should, and then sit picturing us walking through a brewery where only family has worked for over 100 years and where spiders reign the concrete walls that haven’t changed a bit over the century. As they said, it is a “live” brewery, with the brewery itself inoculating the beer, the spiders controlling the flies, and the cat’s controlling the rats (very organic). It was a very interesting tour to say the least. From there, we headed for a quick bite and then to our silent movie with live piano accompaniment. I had no idea what to expect, but I did not the chance to see a silent film with live piano came so often, so there we were. JJ was full of food and fell asleep in the first 20 minutes when we both realized that the only subtitles rarely provided in the film were in Russian and French. The film was about the rise of Communism in Russia, but that was not very clear until the very end of the film almost two hours later when an elder woman smiled as she shared her pot of potatoes with wounded soldiers. JJ was awake for that part. After walking out of the theatre, JJ promptly asked two women what the movie was about, and they confirmed his suspicions.

The next day, we headed on a morning train to the “romantic” city of Bruges, the Venice of the North. In the 13^th century, Bruges was a boom town, but then the canal leading to the central port dried up and well, the rest is history! We heard great things about Bruges from everyone though, and all in all we were thoroughly impressed! We began our day trip by renting bikes from the train station. There are canals that made up the barrier to the city in ancient times and now have a bike path running alongside, which takes about an hour to complete the loop. Within 20 minutes we found an amazing children’s playground with hexagonal blocks that JJ had a great time on across from some very impressive windmills. We enjoyed our relaxing and picturesque bike ride until it was time to go for some pancakes! Bruges has a very strong Dutch (Flemish) influence, whereas Brussels has more French influence. So pretty much – Brussels has waffles and Bruges has pancakes? Questions? Okay, I had many, but moving on… we sat down in a very cute restaurant right by the pancake making station. Flemish pancakes are made like crepes and we had a blast watching them being made and then devouring them! We had a great rest of the afternoon riding around Bruges and admiring the interesting stair-step style roof architecture, scenic canals, and quiet of the streets. We went into the city center and entered to a very old church to see Michelangelo’s Madonna and child” statue. We also watched a colony of swans for a while and then had a beer in the oldest pub of Bruges, established in 1515. Yep, that bar is almost as old as our country! We got on the evening train back to Brussels and then headed out for a “tourist” waffle. We arrived at the Grand Palace plaza where there was a sea of people and probably the most amazing and elaborate flower display I have ever seen, the size of a football field. In an elaborate pattern, a vast array of colorful Begonias were set out on the center of the square surrounding a fountain. We found out that there would be fireworks and music there later. We arrived at the famous Mannequin Piss (the fountain of the little boy peeing) and had a waffle covered in strawberries, ice cream, whip cream, chocolate sauce and well a heart attack. Just as we made our way back to the center square, music began playing and fireworks went off. We spent about an hour talking to some Americans we met who worked for NATO and then wandered around. Before heading back, we visited for a short while with a local man around our age who had wandered to the top of the steps we were viewing the flowers from also. He said that the display of the flowers had been going on for centuries and the best view was for the rich, just like in ancient times for the bourgeoisie class (upper-class aristocrats in ancient times). We asked him what he meant and he told us that in order to get the best view of the flowers, you needed to view it from a raised platform, like the stairs, and only the richest people in Brussels could see it from an office or their apartment in the square. We agreed that the view was much better from there and ended our stay in Brussels with an interesting political note, it is the capital of the EU after all! We are now on the train to Berlin, Germany! Discos get ready haha!

Amsterdam

We arrived in Amsterdam early last Thursday morning after having slept on our first overnight train. The family of 4 Italians joining us in the sleeper car had already settled in. They seemed very sweet (2 sisters and their daughters) and before we shut the door to go to sleep, one of the women pulls out a huge chain and padlock to put around the door. Yeah, we were in lock down! JJ tried to explain that there were already locks on the door, etc. etc. – but the Italian women would hear nothing of it and so we slept locked up real tight! In the morning, we headed from Amsterdam Central to Camping Zeeberg and met a huge crowd due to the Gay Pride Festival happening in Amsterdam over the weekend. Of course, we were completely unaware that this was “the biggest event” in Amsterdam the whole year, but we were excited for the party! After settling in next to a goat and chicken pen they had at the campground and JJ making friends with all of the farm animals, we headed out to wander the streets on the Central Area. We walked through the Red Light District and wandered the streets getting our bearings. The highlight of the walking was a few of the really cool furniture and design stores they had set up in the area. For dinner, we found a nice quiet restaurant called Soup Enzo. I had some sort of mustard and barley soup that was so good and well spiced! The bread was fresh and delicious and so was the salad we also ordered. We were very happy with our healthy and very tasty meal. We also stumbled upon the equivalent of Whole Foods in The Netherlands, “Markt” or something like that. We sampled tasty breads and got a complimentary cheese lesson from an employee at the store. We decided on a whole grain bread with pistachios, walnuts, raisins, and figs and a chunk of gouda with cumin seed (my favorite!). After eating more chocolate than we probably should have, we traded directions for chocolate from a nice girl and headed out the annual Amsterdam open-air independent film festival. We arrived at a huge open air field with a large screen set up. We grabbed two very comfortable lounge chair and rented warm wool blankets to watch the sky turn darker as we waited for the film to begin. We could not resist getting some fresh crepes and beer in the mean time. To our surprise, the movie (usually with English subtitles) was in Italian with Dutch subtitles – so the locals were all out in force and very pleased! We left at Intermission in order to avoid the challenge of understanding the rest of the film and because we were tired after a nice full day!

The next morning, we decided to take advantage of the location of our campground (right on the water) and rented a double kayak for about 3 hours. We cruised around the area of Amsterdam known as Ijburg and saw very interesting homes (all with very modern IKEA looking architecture), lots and lots of water fowl, and a so-called beach. We stopped for a break and ate our bread and cheese from the night before and then headed back out, passing a very cool bridge we found out later is known as the “iron bra.” After cleaning up, we headed back into town in the direction of the Van Gogh museum. On the way, we stopped at a side café for a sandwich (or so I thought). When we were about to order, JJ saw someone pick up what looked like a waffle covered in chocolate sauce with a side of vanilla ice cream. Of course he (we) could not resist this and got 2 of them! They were incredible! We happily entered the Van Gogh museum with full tummies. We have learned a very helpful trick in museums, which is to ask what way to best go through the museum before we begin! We were directed over to a movie theatre where we watched a very informative film about Van Gogh’s life and influences. As we wandered through the museum, we were truly enthralled with his work. The paintings are so vivid and colorful. After having viewed many of his paintings in Paris also, I can honestly say that he really was painting the light he saw on things instead of what they appeared to be. JJ and I learned so much about his work, influences, and the tragedy of his depression. Although he may have been misjudged when he was alive, it is clear to me that he was a man of genius in his art. Okay obviously he is my favorite painter if you did not already know that! When we left the museum, JJ was able to pick up some wi-fi signals and found out that he got invited for two interviews! We had to celebrate and went out to dinner at the busiest, most un-touristy restaurant we could find about a half mile from the Van Gogh museum. We had the pleasure of being heckled by 2 elder Dutch men as we ate, although they took some nice pictures of us (they sent via email) and suggested good beer to try. We left dinner and walked through the streets of the Central district, coming across a huge pre-party for the Gay Pride Fest! The streets were jam packed and people were dancing everywhere! We had a great time and slowly made our way down the street and towards the Dutch pancake booth JJ must have sniffed out! (JJ writing-They were amazing pancakes, silver dollar made in a metal pan with half circles and then served with butter and coated in powdered sugar.)

The next day, we decided to rent bikes and as soon as we paid for them, it started raining! We had plans to bike into town for lunch, but stopped at the Science Museum (NEMO) instead. Just to give you a hint of how much fun the science museum was for us their motto is “it is forbidden NOT to touch!” We spent a good part of the day there, making bubbles, testing our brains, and learning about how hard drugs will make you act through this very weird computer simulation program. We only left just as the museum was closing and then headed out to ride into the main part of town. As we got to the first canal, we heard a crazy party going on! We quickly realized that the “party” we heard was actually coming from the floats going through the canals full of gay people having the time of their lives in the pouring rain! The music was live going to a “disco” and people were going nuts! – This was the gay pride parade! After watching the floats and dancing to the music for an hour, we parked the bikes and walked to “party central” and danced to live “disco” performers for about an hour. This dance spot happened to be right around the corner to the same pancake place from the night before and of course, we could not resist. At that point, I decided to get some real dinner at a popular pita place. We had a fantastic and very memorable bike ride back to the place we were staying, ringing our bike bells non-stop! It sounded amazing!

We woke up the next morning to very weird weather and decided to take the morning as a down day. We headed out again around 3pm and went straight to a close brewery under a giant windmill, called Ij brewery – their mascot was an Ostrich. We had some amazing beer and within about 5 minutes of sitting down at these large, long picnic tables in the front, an old blue Mercury Cougar pulled up and a 3 piece rock band set up their stage from inside the car! The signer on the hood, the drummer on the back seat and the bass player on the front! They sang only American rock songs from the 1960s and we had a blast singing and dancing along! After the band packed up their car and drove off, we had a nice rest of the evening talking with a Dutch girl, a Polish girl, and a few Italians. We headed out with them to find “the best fries (frites) in all of Holland” with this big group of people. When I went to get my bike unlocked, I couldn’t work the key into the lock – so after several people tried the lock, we concluded that it was broken from the inside and it was not coming off. Of course at this point, the rental place was closed, so I spent the rest of the evening riding very carefully on the back of JJ’s bike getting the most intense abdominal workout of my life! No wonder those Dutch people are so thin, try riding on the back of a bike (they have been doing this their whole life) and see what I mean!

The next day we went to Brussels, Belgium! We are here now and actually heading to Bruges on the train. I will write a re-cap of Brussels and Bruges tomorrow while we are on our very long ride to Berlin, Germany! We send our love and hope you are all great. Love, Julie and JJ

Switzerland

We were on our way to Interlaken, Switzerland and getting very tired going on 6 hours of our 8 hour set of train rides from Cinque Terra. As we pulled out from Bern, Switzerland, 2 girls around our age sat down next two us. The appeared to be backpackers like us and we started talking. They were Swiss and heading back from a weekend backpacking trip in the Italian Alps. We hit it off with Brigitte and Susan and then they offered to write down some hikes for us to do while we were in Interlaken. They quickly realized how to shorten our time to Interlaken by two hours and made us get off the train pronto. They were so helpful and nice to us. We got off the train and set up our tent in Interaken at a beautiful campsite by a gorgeous river and while it was still light outside!

We woke up the next morning and could not believe what great weather we got! There was not a cloud in the sky and apparently that is very unusual for the Alps. We ate some breakfast and got prepared to go on our hike by taking the hiking list from the girls to the reception office. We inquired about the first hike on the list, how to get there, etc. and we were met with the head lady saying, “Who gave you these hikes to do? Do you have Swiss friends? Whoever they are – they must like you very much, because there are not well known hikes for tourists.” At that point, we headed out to go on a hike out of Isenfluh and sort of felt like we won the lottery with this “hiking list” from some locals.

We made our way easily on train, bus, and then cable car to the village of Isenfluh in the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland. From there, we hiked to a mountain hut where we had our lunch and some very good cider. The hike and views were unbelievable. We saw all of the most famous mountains in a crystal clear view and the scenery was truly stunning. There were little streams and waterfalls everywhere, grassy fields, tall trees, and cows with bells around their necks! The mountains took the main stage though, and when you see the pictures you will know why. There is nothing like the Swiss Alps, they are truly pristine. So after lunch, we made our way past an alpine lake and to the overlook where you could look down on Interlaken (city between 2 lakes) and see the mountains at the same time, pretty awesome. Heading town towards the town of Saxeton, we got a little re-routed because of cows grazing high up on the mountain tops. Apparently, they had trampled over the trail, and we had to get out of their way quick. The most amazing thing about those Swiss dairy cows is that you can hear them from miles away. You know where they are because it sounds like a symphony of bells, since they all have a huge bell fastened around their necks. It is actually a great sound until you get close enough to smell them, and then it’s another story J.

We missed the bus in Saxeton and had to keep hiking down, which made this a very long hike. We were getting a little tired until the trail to a sharp downward turn and we found ourselves in line with an ongoing raspberry bush that followed the trail for miles. Fresh, ripe, wild raspberries! Delicious! We could not stop eating them, until we thought we would either get sick or miss our train and decided to go. We finally got to the village of Wilderswil and happened upon a warm up festival for Swiss National Day (the next day!). The locals were listening to American and Traditional Swiss country music, drinking lager beer, eating bratwurst, and this crazy melted cheese on bread where they use an electric cooker to melt the cheese and then scrape it on the bread with a sharp knife. What great timing! We decided to get some Swiss Francs and partake in the festivities as soon as possible. Not only were they going to have this same type of festival in Interlaken, where we were staying, but there was going to be a firework display as well! Awesome!

We really couldn’t believe how amazing the hike out of Isenfluh was and what luck we had with the hiking list! There were no tourists on the whole hike and the views were incredible! We were hoping for the same sort of luck the next day and we got it! Following the hiking list, we took a bus to the town of Hackburn and began a hike through what we were told was Swiss land with very good energy. Before heading out, we had some spare time and wandered around town. It just so happened that because it was Swiss National Day (Aug. 1^st) the local grocery stores were selling fireworks and of course, JJ had to buy some Roman Candles and Sparklers for later that night. JJ said that the types of fireworks they had for sale was insane and he could not believe that the Swiss would allow anyone to get their hands on them! Oh well, he hiked the rest of the day with the fireworks on his back. Upon arriving in Hackbern, we noticed that it was a very cute Swiss village with traditional homes. As we got more into the forest area, we noticed older people carrying buckets around. We finally went up to a lady and asked her what she was doing with the buckets. In proud Swiss German, she explained to us (we could not understand any of it) that she was picking blueberries and that they were all around because the thunder from the past storms made them ripe. Yep. So, we looked down and literally had a feast of blueberries. I could not believe our luck with all these fresh berries! The rest of the hike was very steep and then rolling. The views of the mountains were once again amazing and the hiking was great too. We really enjoyed walking through more farmland and different forest areas. This hike was very different from the first one and equally as beautiful. We made our way back for the Swiss National day festivities in Interlaken, determined to fill our own bucket of berries, and very happy. As soon as we arrived in the city, a torrential downpour began. Welcome to the real Swiss Alps and their unpredictable weather! We still walked through the town and tasted the Swiss National Dishes (the cheesy bread and bratwurst). We waited for the rain to let up after dinner and it didn’t, but we heard that the fireworks would go on no matter what. Putting on all of our matching rain gear, we walked into town and watched a great fireworks show in pouring rain. Afterwards, JJ shot off all of his fireworks with the rest of all the crazy people in town. Imagine, the whole town shooting off fireworks out of windows, on the street, and in the public park. Totally acceptable!

The next day it rained non-stop. We took our first down day and did not do anything but relax and it was great! We made a great dinner of polenta, veggies, and swiss cheese! Afterwards, there was a theatre group doing a play at our campsite that we watched. They had about 20 jokes in the play making fun of American culture which we found even funnier than the rest of the audience! Apparently, all Americans say “ Rock and Roll” after every other word and have silly nicknames like JJ! Hahah!

The weather forecast did not improve very much for the next day. We took the morning easy and then decided to hike up on the mountains right above our campsite, to a famous old hotel on the top of the mountains known as Harder Klum. What a very steep 2 hours! About halfway through the hike up and up, we decided to take a break and look down. Raspberries were everywhere! There were a few blackberries also and the sweetest, tiniest strawberries! We once again feasted on these fresh berries and then continued on. We got pretty good views of the valleys and the two lakes Interlaken sits between at the top and then headed down to a neighboring town.

Today, was our last day in Interlaken and we lived it up! We took advantage of the great weather forecast and headed out very early to an area of the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We hiked up the “Mountain View Trail” on the way to the village of Murren and could not believe our eyes! There were more amazing mountain views everywhere and only a few low clouds in our sight. We were really in beautiful country and there were not many people! We hiked through Murren and even saw a restaurant flying a California flag! It was a very cute village with great views of mountains, glaciers, and waterfalls everywhere! My favorite thing about it was the garden gnomes everywhere! I took lots of pictures even though JJ did not approve. We continued our hike down the village of Stechelberg at the end of the valley and then headed back to the train. We saw so much amazing stuff today our eyes (and legs) are sore, but we are fully of incredible Swiss chocolate (we have been eating 1 -2 bars per day!). We are on our way to Amsterdam… Hope you are all well and lots of love! JJ and Julie

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Sorry it has taken me so long to get the pictures up. They take sometime to upload. All the pictures are on the right side of the blog. Click on the picture to see the album. Hope you enjoy.