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.

Cinque Terra

Two days ago, we arrived in Levanto, Italy. Levanto is just Northwest of Cinque Terra National Park in Italy. It is a strip of coastline about 12 km long containing 5 ancient villages with the most beautiful sparkling blue water, rocky shores, and colorful buildings imaginable. Actually, it is exactly what I have always thought of as the Mediterranean shores. Well that was in Levanto, not Levante. Yes, we got off the train in Levante, not Levanto – pretty funny looking back, we only asked 3 people if it was the same place – it wasn’t. That’s okay, minor 1 hour hiccup – everyone has those right? J

Right, arriving in Levanto, the sun was shining and we were happy to finally be off the train. We headed up to where we thought we would set up camp, only to find out there were 5 different camping options in Levanto, so we just stayed at the closest one, Pian de Picche, which was actually very nice. We set up camp and then walked into the main village on the beach. So gorgeous! We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sun, picking up sea glass, and jumping in the crystal blue water. We had a great time, even though JJ got stung by a jellyfish and we almost hit a few people with our Frisbee. It was wonderful and we even watched the sun set over the mountains. For dinner, we ate at a fabulous place and enjoyed ourselves very much.

We woke up around 6am the next morning only because we could both hear thunder through our earplugs. Yeah, the whole camp ground was up, bracing for the storm that was due to come in! People were frantic, it was quite a scene. JJ and I were more sleepwalking around though and decided to actually go back to sleep. We woke a few hours later to a heavy rain and waited a little while to get up and eat breakfast. I assumed a down day was in order due to the clouds, although I should have known better. JJ and I weighed the consequences of the rain, less people, chance of sunshine, etc. etc. and before I knew it, we were on the blue trail of Cinque Terra, set out to hike about 9 miles on the way from the first village to the last. We had a great start in Monterosso and enjoyed a Farmer’s market there. The rain had stopped and we got great views of more picturesque Italian coastline. There was no sparkling, blue water, but we still enjoyed the people free trail and all of the great views. Next town, Vernazza, the rain had come back and was pouring down more than ever! We hiked up to the top of the village and had lunch at this very fancy place overlooking the whole village. Imagine us drenched head to toe, except for our awesome rain jackets, backpacks under our jackets so we look like turtles, and we show up to a fancy place for lunch and order hot cappuccinos before we even have lunch (this is most likely illegal in Italy). The waiter was not pleased. We had a great rest of the meal and laughed a lot. Outside, thunder and lightning was booming across the sky and the rain kept coming harder and harder. By the time our Tiramisu arrived, the sun was shining and the sky had cleared?! Can you believe it! We hiked on to Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore heading back on the train to Levanto. Each town was so beautiful and different. We really enjoyed the hike and had mostly dried off by the time we returned to the tent and took a shower. Our tent had fared pretty well and nothing was exactly wet, just damp. In other words, no puddles, but definite moisture. We headed into town for delicious pizza and using the internet. We have really had the best food in Italy. Just to give you an example, we had pesto covered focaccia, green bean tart, spinach tart, etc. etc.. At the bar where we used the internet, I had a hot chocolate. The Italian version of a hot chocolate is more like a hot pudding. It is so thick you just want to spread it on something! As soon as we started with the internet, it began raining like cats and dogs again! Thunder and lightning, the whole works. We prayed for our tent and waited until the storm stopped. After walking back, we found our tent was still going to keep us reasonably dry from the rain and we slept very well.

This morning, we executed “operation: dry our stuff off as fast as possible” into place. We took everything into a sunlit parking lot in phases, laying it all out to dry, rotating, fanning, etc. It was a ridiculous scene and everyone was wondering what we were doing! We made it work though, and are now happily on the train headed to Interlaken, Switzerland to hike and bike around in the Swiss Alps! Our stuff is dry and we are filled on Italian Focaccia and the best Biscotti ever!

When in Rome...

Our time in Rome was definitely packed full of sightseeing and good graces (right?, I mean I guess you have to get some good marks for visiting so many sacred sights!). We began our time traveling to Ostia, the beach town adjacent to Rome and about a half hour away. Our campsite about 100 meters from the beach. We spent the later part of the afternoon and evening walking on the beach, seeing the gorgeous sunset and eating more pizza than we ever imagined possible.

The next day, we took the morning easy and headed into Rome for sightseeing around lunch time and made our way over to the Coliseum. As soon as you step outside of the metro station, it stares down at you! Wow! The size, the history, the giant blocks of travertine – something I will never forget. Hungry, we headed a few blocks away and found this little pizzeria, we got a slab of what looked like some veggie pizza, but was really the most delicious broccoli Panini ever! Walking back over to the Coliseum and Palantino Hill, which holds the Roman Forum and many other very important historical ruin you can think of to the ancient Romans, we laid out our battle plan (ha!). We decided to go through the Forum areas first and purchased the audio set to guide us around. Of course we shared the headphones and it was a pretty funny scene to see us leading each other around. I was impressed by all of the ruins and what it must have been like back in the ancient times, although to me – the most memorable part of Palantino hill was the amount of excavation that had been done and that still needed to be completed! I think about half of what we saw was still being excavated and it really makes you think about history being buried one layer under another for centuries! Next, we headed over to the coliseum and the lighting was just perfect! The inside was well worth the visit and in the last 10 years they have really cleared out the dust and you can see where the gladiators trained and where they caged the wild animals below the central area. JJ and I enjoyed learning about the gladiators, but I really just tried to take my time, imagining the scene where the Romans would have watched gladiators fight each other, wild animals, stage battles, etc. all for entertainment of the Romans. I also learned that public executions were done there as part of the half time show. Well I am glad times have changed, I would prefer cheerleaders dancing any day to that. From the coliseum, we went over to the Trevi Fountain, walked down the Spanish steps and headed in to Trastevere for dinner. We took a long train back to the campsite and decided to stay in a hotel the next night.

On our second day in Rome, we began by visiting the Campo De Fiori market. We enjoyed tasting great fresh produce, buying dried fruit and nuts, and having a spectacular presentation of cooking tools done by a very old Jewish man. He was a perfect character for the Muppet show and I wish that we had taken a video of him. He sold us some amazing kitchen tools that JJ thinks we will use (yeah right) on our travels, but regardless, just being around this crazy old man was worth the investment. He had a whole gimmick for selling his julienne slicer, potato curler, and other things with plastic food, animals as props, and a container of bubbles. It was beyond ridiculous and I loved every minute of it. We headed from there over to the Parthenon. Definitely one of the most amazing things I have seen so far in our travels. The dome of this original Hellenistic prayer house is the largest brick one in the world even still today. The Parthenon was built by the Romans as a tribute to the Gods, although it was quickly converted into a church and very well preserved. The whole at the top was letting in amazing amounts of sunlight and the ability to follow the beam of light from the ceiling to the floor was amazing. I read that architects find the structure almost impossible to replicate even in modern times. WOW! After this amazement, we walked to the Vatican and past an impressive old castle (insert name). We arrived in front of St. Peter’s Basilica literally with no clue that it was the Costco sized church of all churches (we would find this out later). We headed a long way around to the entrance of the Vatican Museum. Once inside, we were astounded by the amount of Egyptian and Mesopotamian relics. We saw works by Chagall and then started to drool over the Pope’s apartment rooms painted by Rafael. The highlight of course was the Sistine Chapel because of the incredible detail all of the paintings had. The Genesis painting by Michelangelo was the most incredible, and the thought of how he was actually able to paint that way on the ceiling. Did he paint lying down? He definitely was not afraid of heights! Next was St. Peter’s Basilica. Oh JESUS! This place was so huge! I could not believe the size! I have no idea how large it really was, but I would guess it was as big as the entire Mall at the U of A? The marble, stone work, iron work, and the mosaic tile images were unbelievable. Why did they put them so high up where you have to lay down (not allowed by the way) to see the whole image? I don’t know, all I am sure of that if that place only took 150 years to built, Michelangelo was not the only one doing the work! Incredible.

We are now on our way to Cinque Terra (Le Spezia/Levanto), Italy for camping, hiking, and swimming around the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Ciao!

Brenta Dolomites, Molveno, Italy

We are now back on the train headed to Rome after a fantastic 3 days in the Brenta Dolomites of Northeast Italy. We left Venice last week and headed towards the town of Trento in order to figure out where the best place would be to approach these mountains on the edge of the Alps. What makes the Dolomites unique is that they are an extremely steep range and in parts they have a pink glow at dusk. This whole region of Italy was once underwater, but has been uplifted over millions of years and the pink stone is actually ancient remnants of coral reefs. In Trento, we went over to the local Alpine Association and after seeing a picture of the view in Molveno, we were off to the Brenta Dolomites. Several hours later, we took a bus into Molveno and were stunned by the view! Gorgeous! We set up camp at a very nice campsite, Campaggio Spaggia and got some sleep. The next day we took the morning really easy. The village of Molveno sits on the largest alpine lake in Italy and the water is a brilliant turquoise color. I enjoyed sitting under a tree on the lake and reading until lunch, while JJ worked away at his secondary applications for med school. Later in the afternoon, we decided to hike up to one of the Rifugios (little mountain house where you can stay overnight or get a meal) because the trail started next to our campground. Apparently, there is no backcountry camping (Like what we have done in the Sierras and Alaska) because the mountains are just too steep and they want you to use the little rifugios. Therefore, we slept every night in the campsite and just adventured out during the day. The hike we took up to Rigugio Andalo was so steep! It was pretty much just like climbing up on continual set of stairs above the town. When we got to our final destination, we were rewarded with an excellent view of the mountains and enjoyed trying to communicate with the little old Italian Lady who keeps the place up. She suggested a few hikes for us to do while we were in the area. We headed back down laughing, because we could not believe how steep the hike actually was. We became buddies with two Czheckloslovakian guys who were camping across from us, Lukas and Peter. Peter had been to Molveno with his family a few years before and also suggested some hikes in broken English.

We headed out the next morning for a hike, but soon realized that the gloomy clouds and chance of thunderstorms later in the afternoon might not make it a good day for it. We opted to rent mountain bikes instead and using our trail maps of the area, JJ lead the way for my first true mountain bike experience! We started off by making a semi-circle around Lake Molveno and then heading Northwest into another village and along “cart roads”. Some of the trails were so bumpy, but all of the sights were incredible and I could not believe all of the great views! We saw some amazing countryside and on the way back we probably saw about 50 -75 other bikers in big groups doing the same trails. We headed back just at the right time and returned the bikes just as a big storm decided to come through. We did our laundry, took a nap, and watched the rain. Our tent, cosmo, was a superstar and kept us safe and dry! We enjoyed our dinner of minestrone soup, wearing all of our rain gear, and winter clothing! Just to think, the day before I was in my swimsuit!

On the third morning in Molveno, we woke up early to get stated on our loop hike to several rifugios. We had clear skies and decided to take the chair lift up to avoid some of the steep hiking at the beginning. We watched the clouds move in, but there was no rain and the up close views of these steep mountains made them even more spectacular. After the first hour, we arrived at Rifugio Cross Altissimo and our mouths began to water. The smells coming from this restaurant in the middle of the mountain range were incredible! Why do they not have this in the USA!?! We would love to be able to hike and then get a hot, home cooked meal! The prices were pretty good too! But, it was not lunchtime yet – and we decided to continue on to the next rifugio, Selvada. The menu was not as extensive, but we enjoyed a beer and just relaxing under the spell of the mountains towering in front of us! We continued on and headed down the Dolomites until reaching our campground. We were very happy with our hike and the perfect weather! We spent the rest of the day relaxing and working on the next parts of our trip. We are heading to Rome today for 2 days and 3 nights. Then we will head to Levanto, where we will hike around Cinque Terra National Park. From there, we will make our way to the Swiss Alps! Ciao!

Venice

We took an easy high speed rail from Florence to Venice and arrived at lunch time. With JJ’s awesome sense of direction, we found our hotel, tucked away in a perfect, quiet place I would have never found. Venice is such a special place for many reasons. First of all, it is truly an island that is falling apart over time and weight. There are no cars, no reason for a bike, all you need is a boat to get around. Everything is on canals and the “bus pass” is for boats that take you around the canals. We walked around to get our bearings and then decided to take a boat to the island of Murano. It only took us about 20 minutes to get to this island with the most impressive blown glass. The effect of all the colors seemed to be numbing on my brain and after about 1 hour, it all seemed to look the same. Even though, each piece of glass is a work of art. We headed back, watched the sunset, and had a seafood dinner around the corner from our hotel.

The next day, we took a boat from where we are staying, through the Grand Canal to St. Mark’s Square. The boat ride was great and we got front row seats as we passed so of the most beautiful scenes of our trip. It is truly like a Disney ride come to life, except better! We got off the boat and walked through, quickly spotting the many pigeons. It is amazing that in that one place, it seems perfectly acceptable to feed pigeons and let them jump on you, yet everywhere else it is socially unacceptable, unless you are eating them in Egypt I guess. Well I guess that place is pigeon heaven. The cathedrals were really impressive, but due to the heat, we ducked back into the side streets for shade, and JJ guided us on a street parallel to the Grand Canal as we walked back to our hotel. After a nice rest, it was time to take my Mom to her bus stop and tell her goodbye. She was heading back to Paris and then to the States. We had a great time with her and made many wonderful memories. JJ and I went for a run before the sunset through the streets of Venice and the Jewish Ghetto. It was so nice to see more of the place and soak in the colors of the water reflecting on the buildings and the boats at this time of day. Venice is truly a painter’s paradise, no wonder so many artists have tried to capture it. We picked up some salad and a box of wine and headed over to watch the sunset from the same spot the night before. The colors on the water were so spectacular. We spent a long time just sitting on the edge of the island and relaxing, waiting for these colors to slowly fade away into the night sky.

We are now on the train headed to Trento and then the Dolomites for a few days. In front of us, there are three very smoky smelling men speaking some sort of Italian dialect and playing cards like there life depends on it. They are yelling at each other like they are the only people here (it is so funny), they also tend to rotate seats every 20 minutes??? This blond Norwegian girl is sitting next to them looking scared– just imagine the scene. Behind us, there is a girl around our age that looks straight out of the year 1985. She has a blue t-shirt sideways on one shoulder and her hair is in a curly afro at least 1 foot out from her head. JJ really wants me to start wearing my hair like this. J The Northeast Italian countryside is whizzing by.

Florence

After meeting the owners of our mini Bed and Breakfast (home stay), Veronic and Nycolas Martin, we played with their 2 year old son, Lukas. He loved JJ and probably already understood some basics in English, Italian, and French! We soon learned that the gorgeous old building, literally in the best location we could ever imagine in Florence (5 minute walk to the Uffuzi or Piazza de Republica – 5 minute walk to the Ponte Vecchio or Duomo), was built in the 13^th century! No wonder they didn’t have air conditioning!

The first night in Florence, we decided to check for a trattoria (Italian restaurant) nearby. We soon discovered that directly below us (at the bottom of our building), there was “Trattoria Nelle”. It actually was hilarious being able to walk down the stairs and into a restaurant! We had a fantastic meal and JJ had the “best gnocci” he ever tasted there. We could not believe how cheap the wine was and how many Americans were at this restaurant that was tucked on our side street. The Italians must have been all at the beach, escaping the heat. JJ and I separated from my Mom in our attempt to make it to Shabbat services at the Synagogue of Florence. After winding our ways through the streets, we stumbled upon this incredible structure. I could not believe the beauty of this place! I could not wait to go inside and literally as JJ reached for the handle to the door, a very large Italian military office stopped us in our tracks. Yep, we missed services. We soon learned that the Chabad was having a Shabbat diner around the corner and were ushered in to their room by some Israeli girls walking down the street. We said prayers and had some wine, but did not stay for the whole meal. We really just wanted to see the inside of the Synogogue, as JJ’s brother Zach had directed us to. The rest of the first night, we walked and walked. All of the big sights are within walking distance and there were so many people out. After only walking 5 minutes away, JJ and I stopped dead in our tracks at the first sight of the Duomo. Holy _______ (you can fill that part in yourself). Well it was holy! The Duomo is an incredibly large church with white, green, and pink marble covering it! At first, I thought it was paint, but upon taking a closer look, I realized that every single detail of this incredible building was stone! Built to last! After many hours, we made our way back.

The next day, we headed out to the Mercado Centrale. We wound our way there past the Piazza Santa Lucia Inside the market, we were amazed by the smells and sights! There were fresh meats, dried meats, dried anything (really!), seafood (also dried haha!), flowers, fruit and produce stands, etc. etc.. There were so many Italians there also! We really enjoyed going there and purchasing a few goodies! Next, we headed to get some lunch by the Uffizi museum for our appointment to enter (yes, it is so crowded in the museum you need to reserve a special time to come in or you could be waiting for hours – even days! Where we had lunch, we finally found brown pistachio ice cream Zach set us out to find. The difference was incredible! We will never have green colored again. The detail of the painting’s at the Uffuzi ridiculous, but what was more memorable was the different hand-painted frescos taking up every inch of ceiling space through the entire museum. The highlights of the museum were the “Birth of Venus” and “Spring” by Bottacceli. Even though there were so many incredible paintings there, the ones about Greek mythology were our favorites. We even saw Zephyr (the God of Wind and the name of our beach ultimate Frisbee team) in a few of them. After 3 hours of wandering through the museum, we headed for rest and then to dinner at a local restaurant where our host, Nycolas was the chef! The meal was delicious and so was the liter of wine we drank for only 8 euros! After dinner, JJ and I set out for the Piazza Michelangelo, a place high on a hill, where you can see all of Florence! It was amazing and breathtaking! We hiked up there in the dark, but JJ went back the next day and said it was just as great!

The next morning, my Mom and I went to the Boboli gardens (part of the Pitzi Palace). We had no idea that the whole garden was built on the side of a mountain, yet we trekked through, seeing marble sculptures, hidden grottos, and beautiful homes. We got JJ for lunch and then went over to the Synagogue again for a tour. As incredible as it looked on the outside, it looked even more beautiful from the inside, completely decorated in Moorish and Bezzantine styles. This place was a geometric shape lover’s heaven! We couldn’t take any pictures there, but take my word for it, if you ever go to Florence, you must go see this place! We also learned about the history of the Italian Jews and that the temple survived World War II even though the Nazis used it for a garage and then tried to mine it (blow it up). After that, we all headed over to the Edison bookstore and read up on the next place we are going to, the Italian Dolomites. We had to get more of that pistachio gelato and walked over to the same place even though there is gelato everywhere – we had to get the good stuff (thanks Zach!).

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Sorry it's taken me a while to upload the pictures. Here they are, we tried to edit them down but did not have too much time to work on it. Hope you enjoy!!!

A review of Provence and on to Italy!

I am on the train again now. This time I am headed with my Mom and JJ toGenova, Italy for the night. So far the whole train ride from Aix (Ex) has been gorgeous views of the Mediterranean. This is exactly what you would think of as paradise, the crystal clear blue water, gorgeous colorful homes on the rocky cliffs above the water, and lots of sunshine with a slight breeze. We are making our way (in a 2 day trip) to Florence! I can’t wait to get in the water sometime later today! We have already been on 4 trains today, but this is our last one and it has been easy. My Mom has been taking pictures of everything along the way. So a bit of rewinding again, when we got into Aix a few days ago and found our hotel, we headed out to the supermarket to get a light dinner. (7/12) The supermarket the nice girls at the front desk directed us to was called Casino, which is very representative of the size. This was a supermarket/Target type store that was about the size of a Costco. Ok, it was the Walmart of France. Yep! It was fun to get lost in there and see all of the French versions of everything. The next day, we woke up and headed into the main part of Aix for the market day. Everything was gorgeous again! There was fresh produce and a little flea market where people were bartering and making deals on antiques, lots of lavender products, and home made goods. We enjoyed walking around the city and finding places whereCezanne (a very famous impressionist painter) painted and lived his life. We then got back into our rental car and drove through the Luberon Valley and mountain area (just North of Aix) with some expert driving (JJ), navigating (me), and translation (mom). (JJ Writing: we rented a diesel car that only had a few thousand kilometers on it. They mostly rent manual transmition cars, and this was a 6 speed and it really moved. I was getting passed on the freeway when I was going 170 km/hr!!!) About 20 minutes into the drive we started seeing fields and fields of sunflowers, grape vines, lavender, and anything else picturesque you can think of. We made our way to the small village of Cadanet and had a true French lunch. Mom and I got the local fish dish (incredible) and JJ got the “plat du jour”, a four course meal including pate and a main entrée of duck (a regional dish of Provence) and amazing desert like crem brulet except with fresh fruit on top. After lunch, we went to the next village north, Lourmarin, to see a castle (chateau) built in the Middle Ages. Being off the beaten path was perfect for this. The castle was so large and you could just feel the history in it. There were four stories and the spiral, stone stairwell going up through the main part of the castle was very worn and well used! Next, we headed out to a lavender farm and took pictures in the most amazing purple, sweet smelling field you could ever imagine. The light and the sunshine was something I will never forget there. After that, JJ had some real fun driving around the most windy, mountainous roads, with countless hairpin turns to Bonnieux, where we had a brief to overlook the Luberon valley and all of its Lavender fields with the most breathtaking view! We headed down into the valley and headed to Gordes, to village of Borie Huts from the Stone Ages. The whole area is covered in limestone and in order to make room for farmland, the ancient people would pull slabs of the rock out of the ground and pretty much break it up with a hammer to make brick size pieces and form homes from them. From there, we headed back to Aix, only stopping to view the white homes of Gordes, which so perfectly sat on a hillside.

(7/13) The next day, we went straight to Arles. This place is famous for ancient Roman ruins in the time of Julius Ceasar and because it is where Van Gogh spent the last few years of his life, painting some of his most famous works (Mostly while he was in a metal asylum for chopping his ear). Arles was the quintessential French country town in Provence because it had all of the flower covered windows, chipping bright paint, and hidden cafes. Although, there were also incredible Roman ruins like an arena/coliseum (where they still have bull fights) and theatre. My highlight in Arles was walking over to the café where Van Gogh painted one of his most Cafe Terrace at night. It looked just like the painting! After leaving Arles, we headed back to Aix and my Mom went to the Granet museum. JJ and I took a walk and watched the town set up for the Bastile parade and fireworks display. Later that night, when the sky finally got dark, JJ and I headed out to see the fireworks in the main area of Aix, above the central fountain. The girl at the hotel was so funny because she said that the “fire” was starting at 10pm (instead of fireworks – haha). We gave her some funny looks and laughed with her about it. That was definitely the best fireworks show either of us has ever seen! There were no regulations for the show, the fireworks were only about 50 feet above us, they were loud, bright, and French classical music was blaring through the entire 25 minute non-stop show of incredible fireworks! We could barely watch the end of the show because there was so much soot and ash falling all over us and the rest of the thousand people there. The fireworks were so bright we wish we had sunglasses we left as they were blaring Michael Jackson over the sound system. What a great ending to France! Now on to Italy! Ciao!!!!!

Paris Was Hot but Now it's Not

We woke up this morning to a rainstorm. Finally, it cooled off a little! There has been record heat in Paris and we enjoyed the lack of sweat as we packed our bags and made our way to the train station in order to make our way on the high speed rail at almost 200 miles per hour to the South of France on the Mediterranean coast (Marselille and Aux-en-Provence area). So as I write this, I am on the train, watching the French countryside outside of Paris literally zip by! It is very dramatic, picturesque, and crazy because we accidently booked first class seats and they did not kick us out! Probably because the conductor did not speak English and he also smelled of alcohol. There are lots and lots of yellow fields, a cloud filled sky, and farm chateaus. I feel like I have seen images like this in paintings over the last few days and indeed I have, so let me rewind and tell you about what has been going on since the last time I wrote. We woke up a few days ago 7/10 and made our way to Notre Dame Cathedral. There were so many tourists out front, but we finally made our way in to get a closer look at the grandeur of the place and the stain glass “rose windows” as my Mom called them. It was beautiful and gothic, but also cared for. It was amazing to me that place has been around since 1100BC and still looks the way it does (even with a few remodeling jobs). We paid tribute to Saint Joan of Arc (of course) because that was what Bill and Ted would have wanted us to do. After walking around the outskirts of Notre Dame and viewing the flying buttresses that keep it held up, we made our way over to the Rodin Museum. On the way we stopped at a huge green space in front of Hotel de Invalides, built by Louis the 14^th, the house the disabled war veterans, and had a picnic lunch. There we took in the trees and the groups of older men playing Boules games (kind of like Bocce ball with steel balls instead of plastic ones). At the Rodin museum, we began by walking around the beautiful gardens and seeing many famous sculptures cast in bronze, such as the “Thinker”. The gardens were cool, well planned, and felt like a giant maze. We went inside the house to see more of his sculptures (there were so many) and to view other pieces in the museum collection by Monet and Van Gogh. JJ took a break from us to go to the catacombs, but missed the last tour by 15 minutes and instead directed himself over to a cemetery, where he wandered and found some (JJ writing: The cemetery was really interesting, reminded me of the old cemetery I saw in New Orleans, but with much older crypts. The Jewish section was interesting and saw really neat stained glass in the crypts with stars of David and other Jewish symbols. After that I walked around a Paris swap meet where people were selling everything from antiques to modern art.) We all met up later and headed over the Champs Elysee, which is a beautiful tree lined boulevard/park with lots of shops. There were too many tourists there, so we got a cold drink and made our way to the Arc de Triumph at the end of the boulevard. The Arc of Triumph, which is an extremely large stone arc that one of the King Louis (we think the 14^th) built in order to honor all of the French War heroes and soldiers. We would have liked to have seen it lit up at night, but it was not getting dark until 10pm or so. The next day, we all went to the Sunday Morning (7/11) Famer’s Market in the Bastlille Neighborhood on Richard Lenoir Blvd. It was amazing! There was so much fresh produce, cheeses, seafood, clothes, etc.. My favorite think there was all the color and the light! We could not pass up a huge stand of cooked food and got some Paella and veggie dishes to heat up for dinner later. After the market, my mom and I went to the Museum D’Orsay, and JJ worked on his secondary applications and went running. It is an elaborate and very large art museum that takes up a former train station on the Seine. The inside was gorgeous, with many marble and bronze statues and excellent natural lighting. We saw so much, but the highlights were the impressionist paintings by Monet, Renoir, George Serat and Signac (pointillist painters). As much as I liked all of that, Van Gogh stole the show! There were about 20 of Vincent’s paintings on display (all very famous). He is my favorite painter so I just was in amazement of the colors and the actual detail of seeing the painting in person! After more walking around, we left to go to Montmontre, a neighborhood in Northern Paris on a hill top. The first thing we saw out of the subway was the original Moulin Rouge, which translates into Red Mill (and there was a red mill on top of the night club). We walked almost straight up the hill (which was actually very steep) and through this very quirky and cute neighborhood. For the first time in Paris I thought how romantic the city actually looked. At the top of the hill was a huge Church and a great view of Paris. We took it all in and headed back to JJ to have dinner and watch the final game of the World Cup, Spain vs. Holland. It seemed like everyone in Paris was cheering for Spain and when they won, JJ and I headed out to the streets for a crazy, crazy party! People were yelling and screaming, cars were honking, it was a great time! After waking up this morning and heading to the train station, here we are on the way to Aix in Provence (the South of France), to take in the landscape, try to escape heat, and to celebrate Bastille Day.

Monet, Matisse, Picasso, and more!....

Today we woke up late and headed out to the Jardin de Tuileres - which is the gardens in from of the Lourve. Well of course, JJ and I head out with the frisbee, to soon find out that people in Paris just pretty much sit and enjoy the park in chairs. Actually at that park, no one is even allowed on the grass! It is just trimmed and cut to display beautiful flowers and famous sculptures! It was really hot and we headed into the L'Orangerie museum. This museum had so many famous painters work displayed, but the most impressive was Monet. Monet had 8 of his waterlily paintings and scenes from his gardens in Giverny (his family property where he painted the murals from). Before we viewed his work, we entered the "decompression" room, which was circular and white walled. Monet did this to take the Parisians out of the stress of the city and relax them before they entered his "beautiful painted aquarium of light and color." The paintings were displayed in 2 circular rooms and they were gigantic! Probably about 20 feet long each, which made them even more impressive than I thought they were already. It is amazing that every brush stroke adds up to something spectacular, but a mystery how he was able to gain the perspective he had to make something so perfect in that size. What a guy, a true master is I guess what you call him! The rest of the museum contained incredible pieces by other impressionist painters like Picasso and Matisse. It was so great to have my mom there, the artist and teacher, to guide us and give us some interesting facts and historical info along the way. We walked out and headed down the Jardin de Tuileries to get a sandwich/gelato and head towards the Pompidou Center. We have included a picture because this place looked like a hamster cage for people. It was incredible! Apparently Parisians were very upset about this building at first because it is not traditional, but very modern - suitable because it holds the museum of modern art collection in Paris. JJ decided to head back to the apartment on a walk, for a beer (Leffe triple) some relaxation. Mom and I went through the majority of the museum where we saw some more amazing paintings by the great masters and also some very weird and funky new age stuff that is probably by people that are before their time we must think so at least to accept it! My mom's favorite pieces were the giant Matisse paper cut outs (and mine also!). We headed back to the apartment, met up with JJ and walked to a local Italian restaurant where we had incredible food and the best part was of course the desert, the best creme brulle ever! We enjoyed all of the people watching, the guys behind us playing a guitar out of tune, and the whole scene - like people fighting on the street, making out, and then eating dinner beginning at 11pm. A demain de Paris (till tomorrow from Paris)!

Iceland JJ's Photos

Iceland Julie's photos

Running in Paris/Photos

Went for a nice run this morning through the Bastille and than along the Seine river than around Notre Dame. It was great but the drivers are pretty crazy. I have some links to our albums for Iceland they should appear above.

The first few days of Paris (Par-eeeee)

7/7/2010: Well after taking in (literally) some of the best croissants ever (until we had the next ones today), we drank a ton of coffee and headed on a hike to the Louvre museum yesterday. I say a hike because from where we are staying in the Bastille area, it is about an hour walk. Running on 3 hours of sleep at that point, I thought that would be a very long ordeal, but truly it was magnifique! We walked down Rue de Rivoli (a famous street off the Bastille) and took in all of the sights and smells. The fruit shops where you are not allowed to handle anything, gothic churches from the 1500s, and pastry shops that just made your mouth water (well gush would be more like it!). Of course we could not get to the Lourve without a taste, so we stopped off and took some sandwiches to the closest park on Rue de Halles. WOW! It seemed like everyone in Paris was at the park! There were so many people of all ages just enjoying the grass, the sunshine, and the scene. It was amazing to see people just enjoying being there - something that I admire so much, the interest and pleasure someone has in just taking in the moment. So, we finally made it to the Lourve, avoided some gypsies, and headed towards the glass pyramid. Breathtaking to say the least! All those years of reading and seeing pictures, to actually be in these places is unreal (ah, but it is real!). We really feel fortunate. We decided to lay out a battle plan for the Lourve and we went with JJ's tactic of conquer in 3-4 hours. So we did. Everything whizzed by, yet I felt like I took so much of it in. My favorite parts were Napoleon's apartment, the Egyptian jewelry, and of course the Mona Lisa. Although just seeing the expanse of the museum, and the gigantic works was something I will never forget. JJ was amazed at the scale of the paintings and took a few pictures we will post that show just how large they are some 20X40ft. At about 2 hours in, we took a coffee break and completed the rest. So in the end we walked through about 90% of it. Yes, we know it would take a month and some expertise we don't have to take it all in, but we did it and enjoyed it! Afterwards, we headed back walking along the Seine and down some nice streets to the market to pick up some essentials. We watched the soccer game Spain vs. Germany, cheered, drank wine, and slept!

7/8/2010: The next day, we woke up late and I went to go get Mom at the airport. After she arrived, we came back to the apartment, got oriented, and headed out to Ave Daumesnil, where my Aunt Emily told my Mom about many artists workspaces and their one of a kind boutiques. On top, there was an old train track that had been turned to a garden, and after walking that, we turned around to see the artists - there was so much on Viaduc des Arts! Every kind of metal smithing, bookmaking, paper modeling, sewing, jewelry making, etc. etc. you could imagine! Just taking in the eye candy was incredible! We had a great time walking down the street with my mom. We made a nice stop for dinner at Cafe Lyon nearby the Bastille and I ordered Nisoice salad, JJ had the famous French sandwich Croque-Madame. We took the subway to the Pont de l'Alma and took the boat ride up and down the Seine! Mom wanted to do that in order to get the orientation of Paris and see the major sites quickly. The sun was setting the entire ride and it was picture perfect! We saw everything from a nice distant and it was like the whole city was out watching the sunset too! The best park was at the end when we were passing the Eiffel Tower, they turned on the lights, and I guess for Bastille day coming up, they had twinkly lights on the tower going off! It was like a huge firework display on the Eiffel Tower just for us! We could not believe our luck! After a long subway ride back, it is time to go to sleep! Goodnight from Paris!

Iceland, well yes it is cold!

We actually just arrived in Paris safe and sound. We have 3 hours of sleep in us, have each had 3 cups of coffee, and of course as I write this JJ is doing push ups (maybe he does not need any more coffee!) on the floor of Jean and Olivier's apartment (we are staying at their place, which is like a baby bed and breakfast in Paris). All smiles. Our plans today are to watch the soccer game (football damn it!) and take a long hike to the louve and then pass out early before my mom gets here tomorrow!

Iceland - well I can honestly say that the sun did not ever set the entire time we were there. JJ stated that it is probably the most North we will ever comfortably be. We arrived at about 2am but you could not tell. The sky honestly did not change the entire time we were there, which was pretty much doom like clouds and an occasional misty rain. We set up the tent at Reykjavik campground and in our delirious state we asked the Icelandic girl working there to tell us the name of the erupting volcano in South Central Iceland. The funny thing is that it took about 30 seconds each time for the girl to say it because the name is actually that long and we still can not even begin to pronounce the name. Here it is for fun..... Eyjafjallajökull (yeah try to say that! ha!)

The first day we were there we took a hike to Mt. Esja, which we were able to take the local bus to get to. It was so beautiful from literally the first few steps! There was an amazing amount of wildflowers and purple Alaskan lupine flowers literally everywhere we looked. There was a gorgeous little stream and as we hiked up this extinct volcano, the rain mist came down - but it was so unbelievable, we did not mind not getting the great view. After the hike we decided to check out the "pool" next to our campground. We later found out that it was the biggest and nicest pool in the country, complete with a water slide, about 10 hot tubs at different temperatures, 2 Olympic size pools indoor and outdoors, amazing showers, locker rooms, etc. etc. - all heated by geothermal activity (open year round) and costing us about a whopping $2.50. YEAH! We loved the Laugardalslaug pool so much and were so amazed by it (but not as impressed as the Icelandic people who apparently like to roll in the snow and then jump in the hot tubs called hot pots for fun in the winter) - we went back the next day after we took the "Golden Circle Tour" of Iceland - which was an all day sightseeing event to a geothermal power plant, waterfalls (surprising to see their size, power, and beauty), an Icelandic church with amazing stain glass windows, Icelandic horses, geysers!, and the most important cultural place in Iceland where their government was founded (and they have the oldest democracy in the world there). The coolest thing about that place, Þingvellir (Thingvellir) is that you can see where the North American Plate and the Eurasian plate are actually pulling apart from each other as a result of the Mid Atlantic Ridge (divergent boundary) Iceland was formed from and located on. Although the plates are moving apart only 2cm per year, in a million years, Iceland will grow about 20 meters wider (East to West). Oh yall know how I love my Earth Science!

The next day was our 2 year wedding anniversary and we really had the best day because it just keeps going on! After packing up the tent, we rented bikes and rode around Reykjavik for 4 hours. The ride was really fantastic and we were on separated bike paths the entire time through the forest and off the main roads! We even found waterfalls, a salmon river, and lakes on our ride! We went to the Perlan outlook on the top of a hill in the city with views of viking inspired Darth Vader churches (refer to pictures) and had ice cream at the top and then had a famous Icelandic hot dog (which is supposedly their favorite food) although it was not like an American hot dog at all. JJ describes the hot dog as a "weird, I don't know sausage and sauce combo with weird stuff - fried onions, raw onions, wasn't bad"..... ok whatever, I had it without the "dog" and I thought it was weird too - but it is better than trying the pickled shark, which is their national dish! Later that day we went to the famous, Blue Lagoon for a swim and relaxing time on the way the the airport. We rubbed down with this weird silica mud and swam around until we turned to prunes and had to get out. It was very blue water rich in minerals. A good once in a life time experience.

Okay so all in all Iceland was great and the people there were very friendly. I saw a gnome house when JJ was asleep but he believes me. It was easier than we thought to get around seeing as all of the names are about 20 + letters long. I have to go stop JJ from eating his 4th croissant~! Will write again soon! and thanks for reading!

NEW YORK!

We began our adventure with several wonderful and relaxing days in New York. After our late arrival, we woke up to sunshine and incredible crisp and perfect weather in Scarsdale. Hotel Gilman (my Aunt Em and Uncle Jeff's home) was a spectacular getaway! We started off with a day on Long Island sound, kayaking around yachts. We also had a excellent Cuban dinner in the city with my childhood friend, Patrick, and the Gilman's (minus Katie! - we missed you!). After some good rest and an excellent home cooked meal, JJ decided to venture out sailing with Uncle Jeff while I visited more with Patrick in the city. We had a delicious lunch in battery park and had a blast watching soccer and catching up. We finished up the stay with another great dinner in the city, big smiles, and some sleep before heading to ICELAND!

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Last Summer's adventures

Testing out the picture link I decided to post our pictures from our trip to Alaska last summer. Getting excited for our trip, just finishing packing up our apartment and on to New York for a few days on the 29th of June to be with Julie's family. If you are in NY send us a email, we are phone less but we can call you from our skype account.