We're pooped.

I'll have to tell you all about the last 10 days of our trip in person. Looking forward to coming home on Monday :)

Country Number 9 Tomorrow!

Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, France...Luxembourg!

Crepes and Paninis :)

We certainly got spoiled with cleanliness in Switzerland. It's back to the city now that we're in Paris! The weather is much more typical "Paris weather" than the time I was here before. It has been windy, rainy, cloudy, and sunny all within 20 minutes. This cycle continues in a random pattern throughout the day. It is, however, a perfect recipe for the most beautiful rainbows you will ever see! The ominous clouds also make for great backdrops :)



We've spent much of our time here in Paris checking out the "typical" Paris sites and, naturally, filling up on crepes and paninis. Yesterday, we made our way towards Notre Dame, where both of us decided that we definitely appreciate the "back" of this monument as much more impressive (architecturally) than the front. We walked along the Seine River towards the Louvre and Les Champs Elysses. We passed through the Toulerie gardens along the way to the Champs and stopped into Angelina Cafe for a cup of their famous hot chocolate. This warm, thick sweetness is unlike any other hot chocolate. It comes with a dollop of fresh creme and a small carafe with two cups. A perfect snack to warm our tummies before venturing into the rain again.


By the time we made it to the Champs, the rain had cleared a bit, and we enjoyed strolling down this famous shopping district. We made our way down Rue S. George V towards the Eiffel Tower and had fun playing in the wind and rain. By the time we got to the Tower, it was raining really hard and it was freezing! We made it to the center of the Tower and said, "okay, we the Tower", and found shelter quickly. We waited for the sun to peek out after the rain as it had been doing all day, but apparently the sun was all done for the day. We made our way back home and took a couple shots of the Louvre lit up at night.


We will return to the Louvre for a bit tonight since students get in for free after 6pm on Fridays. Hopefully we will both be feeling well enough to also see the Tower lit up at night. It's not too fun to be out in the rain when we both are fighting colds.


This morning, we set out for Sacre Cour and Montmarte. The weather was a struggle again (which explains the lack of pictures) but we still enjoyed a couple crepes along the way and the magnificent paintings in the art district. Now, you can't go to Paris without checking out the Moulin Rouge. So, we made our way towards the Red
Light District to see Moulin Rouge (not so spectacular in daylight) and what used to be Le Chat Noir.
Enjoy the pictures...we're off to Luxembourg tomorrow!

If You're in Switzerland, is it just "_____ Cheese"?

It is a trek and a half to get into Switzerland! We left from Salzburg towards Interlaken a couple days ago and spent the majority of the day hopping from train to train. Those darn Swiss Alps just get in the way sometimes!

We arrived as the sun was setting and marveled at the breathtaking view as we stood by the bus station, surrounded by massive vertical peaks in every direction. It is an incredible feeling to be standing at the center of 13,000 feet tall mountains whose vertical ascent is within walking distance. There’s a strange feeling of being protected by the mountains in this city. The Alps seem so close that you could nearly reach up and knock some snow off the side of the peak.

We set out for a day of hiking yesterday and found our way towards Murren. We began by catching a ferry to Interlaken (we stayed in a city called Iseltwald) then taking a train up to Lauterburren. We passed several white water rafters along the way to Lauterbrunnen and caught a glimpse of a massive waterfall, cascading from a sheer vertical rock face. The beauty of our surroundings as we climbed higher and higher into the Alps was breathtaking.

Once we arrived in Lauterbrunnen, we took a 5 min cable car up a vertical face to the ne-t city. From there, we set out on a 4 mile hike to Murren. We passed through a town called Winter Egg along the way. The hike along the Alps was gorgeous. I think it would be impossible to take a lousy picture. Every ne-t corner seemed to present an even more brilliant, picturesque view of the “Top of Europe”, or “peak of Jungfrau”. In between the peaks of Jungfrau and Monch, sits the Schilthorn which was used on the James Bond “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” film set.

We reached Murren and enjoyed a bite to eat while we sat facing what seemed to be a cinematic backdrop of snowcapped mountain peaks. We made our way back down in the late afternoon and passed some cows along our hiking path. (Mom, I thought of you :))

Because of a change in our itinerary, much of the last two weeks of this trip is getting bumped up, so we only had one full day in Interlaken. Between me getting sick today and the day lost in Interlaken, we feel like we need about 5 more days in Switzerland to truly e-plore and appreciate the beauty of our surroundings.

We are in Bern, now, and heading back to Interlaken tomorrow to e-plore more of what we missed today. It’s only an hour train ride, so we’re looking forward to spending the day strolling around the city after taking it easy today.

More on Bern and our double-take on Interlaken soon!

L.A. Fair + Beer Gardens + Lederhosen = Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest really wasn't the wild and crazy event that we thought it would be. We had a great time, but we definitely e-pected it to be more out of hand than it was. We went on a Friday and the crowds were dense, but the brezen (pretzels) fresh. Oktoberfest in its most simplest e-planation is like the L.A. fair with more beer.

There are beer gardens set up all through out Oktoberfest--each tent with a different type of beer. The atmosphere inside the tents is incredible. Traditional German bands are set up in the center of the tent on a platform and long, brightly covered streamers line the ceilings of the tents. There are waitresses and waiters running around like crazy to cater to the lines of customers seated on the picnic benches that fill the tent. People with baskets full of huge brezen run through the aisles like buying peanuts at a baseball game. Each picnic bench is cluttered with huge beer steins (I don't remember the correct name)...most of which are usually close to empty. The crowd is rowdy in the tents and having a heck of a great time. The majority of Oktoberfesters are donned in Lederhosen and Dirndl and seem to come from all over Germany.

There were also LOTS of Australians and other English speakers. Instead of deep fried twinkies, there are roasted nuts and and bratwurst. Between the unhealthy typical fair food and the German language spoken all around us, I felt quite at home. :)

Pictures coming in the next few days :)

No way to upload them for now...keep checking!

Wendy´s Favorite Movie

Brent really really wanted to watch the daily showing of "The Sound of Music" at our hostel today. I tried suggesting things we could do outdoors in Salzburg, but he would have none of it. He refused to budge until we sat through the 3-hour musical with a dozen or so others from the hostel. So, I finally gave in and we spent the rainy morning inside listening to Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children belt out those classic melodies.

Vienna and the Salzburg Fair!

Yesterday was our second and final day in Vienna. We enjoyed the famous Sacher Torte that Steffi recommended and had fun wandering around the city center. The weather feels like Christmas in California. It is such a nice change to be a little cold rather than uncomfortably hot.

We strolled along the center and passed by a famous church, Stephansdom. Mostly, we just spent time people watching and enjoying the scenery. Austria is a beautiful country. It is quite enjoyable to simply watch the scenery go by as we travel through the country by train.

Today we took a morning train to Salzburg and set out to discover the city. Although we had a map in hand and a list of site to see, we didn´t anticipate running into a huge festival in the middle of the city! We were bummed to miss out on the L.A. fair this year, but this Austrian festival made up for our losses. :)

We stepped around a corner and all of a sudden, we were in the middle of countless foodstands and booths filled with Austrian nick-nacks. A beer garden was set up in a large tent and an Austrian men´s choir sang proudly at the center. Children wandered through the streets carrying large handfulls of cotton candy and brezen. My favorite "fair food" was a croissant roll filled with a creme that tasted very similar to marshmallow creme. It´s a good thing we´re walking everywhere with all the food we´re enjoying. :)

(By the way...we haven´t taken too many pictures here in Salzburg since it has been so rainy and we don´t want to mess up our cameras.)

Cool Weather and Warm Meals at Mozart Strube

We arrived in Vienna late yesterday evening and easily found our way to Hostel Ruthensteiner amidst the drizzly, cool weather. We have finally pulled out our warm clothes from the bottom of our bags!

After wandering around for a bit to find dinner, we settled on a place near our hostel called Mozart Strube. Brent had his first taste of schnitzel and I had a delicious egg noodle dish that had bits of ham and baked cheese over the top. We enjoyed our delicious warm meal in the quaint restaurant while a group of musicians sat in a corner booht, happily playing music. A young woman with a violin and two older men, one with an accordion and one with a double-neck guitar (Brent knows the correct name I´m sure) sat around a table sipping steins and chatting amongst themselves. We enjoyed the ambience of this new country as the night slowly came to an end.

Leaving Ljubljana

Tina escorted us to the train station this morning with one last word of wisdom to try Burek. Burek is a very common fast food in Slovenia. We tried Mesni (meat) Burke before hopping on the train. It is similar to the dough of a croissant, but it is rolled in a different shape and filled with minced meat. The meat tastes similar to a Canadian meat pie. Very yummy snack!

Tina helped us figure out everything at the train station and the 3 of us said our goodbyes. Tina even left us with a DVD about Slovenia and some chocolate covered dried fruits. We felt like we should have given her more gifts than we already had!

***

We are now almost to our next destination; Vienna, Austria. The train ride has been beautiful with a constant landscape of rolling green hills and forests. Thanks for Steffi, Brent and I have a whole list of things to do in Vienna over the next day and a half. We're especially looking forward to Sacher Torte. :)

Best Part of Our Trip!

Spending time with Tina and Spela (the two women we met in Seville) in Ljubljana has been awesome!

Tina took Brent and I into her house and has bee such a hospitable host. Her family was so sweet to us and really made us feel welcome and at home. On the 20th, Tina met us at the train station and brought us to her house where we met her parents and brother and were shown around the guest quarters where we would stay for a couple nights. They had a complete FLOOR for us to stay on and they had even filled the fridge with groceries for us! We crashed onto the most comfortable beds of our lives after a full day of traveling.

The next morning, Tina took Brent and I to the city center of Ljubljana. What a beautiful area! We strolled through a flea market that lined the streets above the river that ran through town and took in the crisp cool weather. It was a nice change to breathe in fresh clean air--it felt like Lake Tahoe! We also noticed that, for being in the city center, the landscape was hardly littered by trash. Of course, there was the occasional graffiti, but red hearts and the words "green dragon" seem more of an attempt at vandalizing.

After making our way through the flea market, we climbed up a pebbly path, lined with rich green trees, up to the Ljubljana castle. Seems so strange to have an ancient castle 15 minutes from your house. We climbed up the bell tower and discovered a great view of the city. Tina pointed out a couple universities, a huge library, and the "triple bridges", which we had crossed over when we walked through the flea market.

The castle had an adorable square at the center that happened to be dedicated to a children's craft fair that weekend. Tina even mentioned that families often visit the castle for the afternoon on the weekends to enjoy the nice weather and activities for their children. We made our way back down from the castle and soon found a chocolate shop filled with large bowls of chocolate covered dried fruits. (Dad, you would have LOVED it!)

We filled a baggy and continued along the older district of Ljubljana. Tina brought us to the university library and to an outdoor ampitheater, where concerts and freshman orientations are held. Eventually, we all haeded back to Tina's house where we were warmly greeted with a traditional Slovenian lunch.

Brent and I enjoyed sitting around the table chatting with Tina and her family. They seemed truly interested in us and we felt bad there was a slight language barrier. I wish we could speak Slovenian! We started the meal with a soup similar to chicken noodle, minus the chicken. Then Tina's mom brought out a huge and very tender pot roast that had been cooking all morning and was glazed with marmalade. Yummy! We also had salad and potatoes with onions that had been baked in the oven. Everything was absolutely delicious!

After lunch, Tina and Spela and Brent and I drove over to Lake Bled (BLIT). What an amazing landscape! The lake is a cool turquoise color with translucent water as you peer over the edge. It is surrounding by lush forests and deep green grass along the edges of the lake. There is a rocky cliff along one side of the lake where a castle majestically overlooks the lake from a couple hundred feet above the water. It looks as if the castle was built right into the cliff. Perhaps the most exquisite part of the lake is the small island that sits in the center. The island is extremely small, but somehow a church fits perfectly and is a popular site for weddings. (The pictures would be amazing!)

After we hiked up to the castle to see the view, the four of us just spent a couple hours talking and walking along the edge of the lake. It was so peaceful and relaxing. Before we left Lake Bled, we visited a cage along the lake where we indulged in the original Lake Bled cream cake. This famous pastry has a phyllo-dough base, then a thick layer of cream (similar to a light custard), then another layer of whipped cream, all topped with a crunchy flaky thin crust, sprinkled with powdered sugar. Amazing. Tina and Spela even brought home some slices for their families.

The four of us headed back towards Ljubljana, where Brent and I said our thanks and goodbyes to Spela with a promise to return to Slovenia. Brent and I were surprised once again with ice cream sundaes from Tina's mom when we came in the door. We really couldn't believe how incredibly sweet her family had been. We felt like they went completely out of their way for us and we just couldn't thank them enough. It's so great to meet such sweet people across the world.

We turned in early after a long day of exploration, sad that we had to leave the next day. Brent and I are looking forward to repaying the hospitality when Tina comes out to California next summer.

It's great making friends from Slovenia :)

The plan was to spend 3 nights in Venice. But, we ended out grabbing an afternoon train to Ljubljana today to meet up with a friend (Tina) we met while we were in Sevilla about a month ago. She picked us up from the train station today and we'll be here for a couple nights. Yippee!

But let me back up a day. Yesterday (and the afternoon before yesterday) we were in Venice and absoutely LOVED it there! Both of us had heard lots of rumors from fellow travelers about the city being overcrowded, smelly, and very overpriced. I don't know if we just officially passed up smelly tourist season, but the city was extremely pleasant and actually one of the cheaper places we have been. Venice has been my favorite city by far. But, we wondred...what's with the Italians always building towers that lean....?

It is so fun to walk down the streets along all the canals, filled with water taxis and gondolas. There are absoutely no cars around and it seems that little canals meet at the end of every alley. It felt like we were walking around the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland the whole day. We visited a farmer's market this morning where we filled up on fresh produce and we went back to St. Mark's square for the second time.

St. Mark's was really fun to walk through. Brent had fun running through the crowds of pigeons that fill up the square. :) The birds are so used to people, though, that they hardly even moved when Brent ran through the cluster!


We also saw a woman doing glass blowing in one of the Murano glass shops. It's such an interesting art to observe. Makes us really appreciate the huge, intricate pieces of Murano pieces that we see in all the fancy stores.

Tomorrow is Lake Bled and discovering Ljubljana with the locals. Yay!

No more cruises when we have to sleep on deck

It's way too cold.

Last of the island pictures!

Here are a couple more. We got in trouble for climbing on the roof but got some awesome shots of the windmill during sunset. Whoops :) The rocky picture is one of the volcano craters on the island from the volcano that formed Santorini. And, I just liked the orange flowers.

Sailing North!

We left Paros a couple days ago, eager to move on to a new country. Island hopping around Greece has beeng reat, but we're ready to move North.

Our last jump to Paros was a quick one. We arrived in Paros on the evening of the 16th and decided to be spontaneous (oh, how I love that) and take up one of the hawkers at the port on their offer for a room. Everytime zou land in the port, there is an area filled with people flashing brochures and flyers, enticing you to book a room in one of the free spaces they have at their hotel. And, because we weren't able to book ahead of time, Brent suggested that we try out the hawkers at the port. And it actually worked like a charm. When everyone approached us, asking us to name our price, I cut our budget in half and we ended with a pretty decent place for super cheap that evening. Guess it works to be spontaneous sometimes. :)

We were both bummed that we only had one night in Paros, though. The area seemed really cute and a heck of a lot cheaper than Santorini. Santorini even lost its appeal to us as we got to know the island better. There are certainly beautiful, serene areas of Santorini, but beyond the high prices and crowds in Fira and Oia, Santorini was not the magical island we thought it would be. The cities outside of Fira and Oia are actually quite a mess and very run down. I'm sure Satorini would have been a completely different experience if we would have stayed in Fira or Oia. Nonetheless, we enjoyed putting around on our quad and exploring the island. :)

Now, let's fast forward to yesterday, the 17th. We left Paros on our 10:45am ferry as planned to make our way back to Piraeus (the port town on the east coast of Greece) then to Athens. Everything went fine. Typical ferry ride. We even hopped right on to the Metro from the Piraeus port to make our way towards the train station in Athens. No big deal--we were on track to get to Patras (the port on the west side of Greece) a few hours before boarding the midnight ferry to Venice.

We arrive to the Athens train station around 4:00pm, walk in to check the time for the next FREE train to Patras and stare balnkly at the kiosk.

"STRIKE."

Cool. The train station decided to go on strike. Makes it easy for us. But, the hilarious part was that they were only on strike for the 17th. Good ole 24-hour strike and we got lucky.

Brent spoke to the info office at the train station who told us that we had to take a local bus to get to the central bus station then catch a bus to Patras from there. We made the 5:00pm train without losing much time due to the hiccup in our plans, but we were out about 50 bucks. Bummer. At least we made it in time for our ferry.

Now we're passing time on this two night "cruise" up the Adriatic towards Venice. We're a little jealous of everyone around us with sleeping bags, but hey, I guess we should appreciate the cooler weather. :)

Happy 23rd Birthday Brent!

What a way to spend your birthday—sipping smoothies on the beautiful coast of Santorini. Brent and I had a great day rela-ing on the beach and e-ploring kamari a little better in the evening after a fun birthday dinner. We had heard that Kamari was very overdeveloped and the coast was lined with shops and restaurants and little stores. But, hey, we’re tourists so we enjoyed the area. Besides, the beachfront restaurants are beautiful and the prices in Kamari are a lot better than any of the towns overlooking the caldera.

Just to clarify (since I didn’t realize myself before Brent e-plained) the caldera is the side of the island that overlooks the “center” of Santorini, where the volcano is situated in the middle of the ocean. Santorini is in the shape of an elongated “C” and the volcano that formed the island rests in the center of the “C”, so the caldera side is anything along that inside border of the island. The famous sunset pictures of Santorini are all taken on the caldera side of the island. They’re spectacular!

I think one of my favorite things about Santorini has been driving the quad through the clouds in the late afternoon as fog rolls in. Around 5pm, the clouds drift over the island and because we are situated so high above sea level, we are literally driving through the clouds. It’s the craziest feeling. At first, Brent and I were kind of squinting as we drove through the clouds because it looks like a huge cloud of dirt coming your way. Then we realized that, hmmm….our faces feel damp. It’s absolutely beautiful to watch the clouds drift over head and below as you drive through the windy cliff roads.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Santorini and we are off to hike the volcano and swim in the hot springs. Then it’s off to Paros on the 16th!

Greek Islands Pictures!

I couldn't pick out only a few so this space will soon be filled with pictures from the islands. Keep checking! :)

Sesame Sticks are Awesome

There is this little local bakery ne-t to our hostel that is open 24 hours a day with the most amazing sesame sticks. It’s just like a bread stick, but covered in sesame seeds. They probably even have these in the states but, jeeze, they taste amazing! We only discovered them because the very friendly owners include them with any purchase made at the bakery. Yummy!

We got a $800 painting!

For free! Because we’re that awesome.

While we were in Oia, we strolled into yet another interesting art gallery. We gawked at the gorgeous paintings as we strolled through the gallery and chatted candidly with the artist.

“This one is 900 euros, but I can give it to you for less if you pay cash,” he cheerily remarked.

‘It’s beautiful,” we both remarked and followed along the wall towards exceedingly larger paintings. We made guesses at the cost and Brent was right on key when the artist confirmed that this particular painting was 4500 euros. Yikes. The artist jokingly encouraged us to split the price between the two of us as the three of us walked into the next room of the gallery that was filled with smallest, yet equally magnificent paintings.

As we were about to thank the artist for his time and step out onto the street, the man sat down behind his desk and simply affirmed, “now, I have a gift for you”.

Brent and I exchanged puzzled looks and watched as the man got up and headed toward the cabinets in the corner of the room. After thumbing through a small file, the artist turned back to us and said “now, you will be even more happy”, in his grammar-skewed English.

We followed him back to the small desk and he chatted away about a proper title for the painting as he signed his name on the left bottom corner of the painting. It finally hit Brent and I that he was giving us one of his original pieces. Now, to clarify, this is not a notecard-sized watercolor. He handed us a 20 by 30 cm original (and quite beautiful!) watercolor of Oia village. He even pulled out a dark blue envelope and a gold certificate that ensured we bought this painting for “oh, 2000 euros,” he said as he wrote the amount of the certificate. Brent signed his name after the artist stamped the certificate as an “official” purchase.

We thanked him several times and shook hands, vowing to return when we could afford to make a proper purchase for one of his larger pieces. Before we turned to leave, he very seriously leaned in to tell us that he usually sells this sort of painting for 500-600 euro during the summer.

Whether that price was accurate or not, we felt special to have received such a gift from this artist’s magnificent gallery. We nearly skipped out of the gallery afterward, excited about our priceless souvenir from Santorini. :)

Finally in Santorini :)

Renting a quad was the best investment we’ve made this whole trip!

We landed in Santorini a couple days ago and, at first glance, were rather disappointed by our surroundings. We were dropped off in front of our hostel in an area that resembled the grungy part of a desert. We wandered toward the black sand beach and walked the roads near our hostel, which were lined with dirt and dilapidated buildings and pretty soon wondered what was going on.

We knew we HAD to be missing something.

Eager to find the Santorini we had seen in pictures, we decided to bite the bullet and fork out some bucks to rent a quad for our time here on the island. Pretty soon we were riding into the sunset on our way to Fira.

We got to Fira late in the evening that first night and quickly felt reassured that this was more like the Santorini we were expecting. We enjoyed 2 euro gyros and made plans to discover the other main city on Santorini, Oia, in daylight the ne-t day.

And what a discovery it was.

Sitting on the cliffs on the tip of the island, Oia is the most beautiful, pure and serene paradise town I have ever seen. Mom and Dad, I know you’re trying to get ideas for where to go for your 30^th anniversary in a couple years, and I think you should seriously consider Oia. You would LOVE it.

The blinding white walls of the city are contrasted by deep blue hues that match the color of the ocean at the base of the cliffs far below. (It was difficult to pick only a few favorite pictures to post on this blog. It’s impossible to take a bad picture here.)

Brent captured a GREAT picture of a man white washing the walls of one of the many luxurious hotels in the area. The bold, vivid colors against pure white walls made Oia a spectacular landscape to take in.

Paradise in the Greek Islands

We landed in Naxos yesterday and have been thoroughly enjoying the small island feel of this town. The Greeks have been extremely helpful and welcoming. We have been so used to watching our backs for tourist scams in other countries that we were reluctant to acknowledge a local who called out to help us find our place when we got off the ferry yesterday when he noticed we were trying to figure out a local map. The older man didn't speak a lick of English but him and his wife pulled out there reading glasses as they sat by their fruit stand and pointed with smiles on their faces in the direction we should walk.


After lots of twists and turns down the narrow streets, we found our hotel nestled in between vines of bougainvillea crawling along whitewashed walls. We've spent the last day and a half wandering around the small town, looking through the local shops and enjoying the rays on the beach. It is a pleasure to have that "island" atmosphere to counter the bustling tourist-filled cities we have encountered thus far. Both of us have even noticed a big decrease in the amount of tourists now that September has rolled around.

Today, we ran towards the temple entrance of the city, which is a doorway-looking old structure that was never completed when it was started in 6th century bc! We tried to catch a shot of it against the setting sun but missed it by a couple minutes. Here are still a few pictures that show what a beautiful silhouette it makes against the setting sun. :)