Sorry that we haven't been so great at updating the blog on our latest travels. On this lovely Friday evening we find ourselves in the Eternal City of Roma. But let's back up for a bit and let you know what's been going on...
We went from Venice (our last update) to the Cinque Terra where we had a blast hiking the whole thing. The Cinque Terra is five cities along the Italian Riviera that take about 6 hours to hike through each one. We had a blast and even though the path was sketchy in some parts (a german man in front of us actually fell off the edge to a terrace 6 or 7 feet below) we made it through safe and sore. Safe and sore pretty much describes our whole vacation thus far. Tyler got a quick swim in the Mediterranean and we had a lovely time relaxing in the countryside. Next we went to Florence. It was SO HOT there. I wasn't feeling to great and I think the heat is starting to get to me a bit. But Florence was lovely and before we arrived in Florence we stopped in Pisa to see the leaning tower. It was actually pretty cool. We saw the David in Florence and I think they used Tylers bum as a model because it is just as good as David's (if not better...sorry Grandma!). Our favorite part of Florence, and Italy in general, is starting to become the gelatto. We are trying to not splurge too much but gosh it is so good I can't hardly walk by a gelatto stand and not stare at all the different flavors.
So now we find ourselves in Rome and for our Friday night date we wondered over to the Colosseum (spelling? a note on spelling, I looked up how to spell wienerschnitzel Scott, so don't be too impressed with my last post). Ok it wasn't a night in Vegas or anything but we saw the REAL Caesar's Palace and they even had guys dressed up as Gladiators and Soldiers (although the costuming is better in Vegas). Tomorrow morning we are off to see the Vatican and explore the rest of Rome. We fly back to Madrid on Monday morning and we will be in the USofA by Tuesday! Yeah baby! We miss you so much and hope all are doing well. We sure love ya!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Buongiorno!
Greetings from the homeland...well Tyler's homeland. We arrived in Venice this afternoon and have been having an awesome time so far. Here is the update...
We went from Prague to Salzburg, Austria about four days ago. Really? Only four days? It seems like a lifetime when you are country hopping. Salzburg was one of my favorite stops thus far. It was such a beautiful and quiet place. The buildings were really well preserved and there were not too many tourists which was a relief from Prague. We decided to be ambitious in Austria and do two things...Try the local food, and go on a bike ride through the country. First came the food. Tyler had bratwurst (Sorry Scott we are going to butcher the spelling on these!) and I had wienerschnitzel. We were both hesitant about what would come out on my order because none of us really knew what wienerschnitzel was. Well it came out and guess what. It was amazing! Tyler's food was good too, but man that wienerschnitzel sure hit the spot. Until I found out what exactly wienerschnitzel was made of...veal. Ok so while we were in Spain I was on this PETA crusade to not eat the local baby pig dish and here I am in Austria enjoying baby cow to my heart's content. I am sorry for all you animal lovers out there. I am hooked and there is simply nothing I can do about it.
So the second part of the trip was the bike ride. We decided to go to a mountain lake just outside of the city. It was, according to my dear husband, "not too far" so we rented some bikes and set out. It was mostly uphill and pretty difficult after awhile. But the countryside was gorgeous and the villages we passed through were just picturesque. I loved it. Until the trouble started. Tyler is a pretty fit bike rider so he was ahead of me most of the time. When I started to notice him stopping quite a bit, I knew things were taking a turn for the worse. At first I thought he was not feeling his best, but then I noticed he kept getting off and fixing the pedal of his bike. When we finally caught up to each other he told me that his pedal was loose and he had to stop every so often to fix it. Well, we were about half way to the lake by then so we decided to keep going and try to find a bike shop along the way. Slowly and surely the pedal got worse and worse. It came to the point where when you rode the bike you didn't have any power in your left leg so your right leg began to really get sore. A little more than 2/3 of the way to the lake was uphill so it was pretty hard to get there. We were exhausted by the time we pulled in. We did find a bike shop and they were able to give us a wrench and some glue for the screw but unfortunately we found out on the way back that didn't help. Side note to the bike drama. The lake was AMAZING! It was the most beautiful color of blue I have ever seen and sat right between two large mountains. I really wish we could have spent some more time there. So back to the bike drama...On the way back we thought we would be ok because most of the trip would be downhill. Well when I was taking a turn on the dud-bike the pedal actually fell off completely! It was a disaster. We were able to screw the dumb thing back together and continue hobbling our way back to the hostel. 11 hours after we had set out, we pulled back into Salzburg exhausted. For some reason the "not that far" experience seemed a bit too far. So we did the math and found out that we biked over 37 miles! That may not seem a lot but factor in the mountains and the bum-bike and see if you can do any better. Tyler was furious and had a speech ready to demand his money back on the bike because we discovered the problem was due to a long overlooked repair on the pedal, but luckily for her, the receptionist was nice enough to offer a refund and the speech was put away for another time. All in all, Austria was wonderful.
Then we set out for Switzerland. We decided to go to a small town called Grindelwald in the Swiss Alps. It was Tyler's favorite part of the trip so far. The town was beautiful and I felt like we were Heidi and Peter off to find our goats on the mountaintop. Well, sort of. It was great and as if our 37 mile excursion wasn't enough to kick our pants off, we decided to go on a hike as well. Our consisted of 7 hours of hiking, 900 meters up in elevation (2952 feet), and one heck of a steep trail. They don't believe in switch back trails obviously so we pretty much were going straight up the darn mountain! But it was amazing and we got to see some pretty cool glaciers and tried some local soup on the mountain top while looking over the valleys below us. To inspire us to keep hiking we borrowed a phrase from Spencer as we were climbing the Swiss Alps on 08/08/2008. "We are living the dream!" On the hike down we kept seeing curious structures on the side of the path made of rocks, branches, pinecones, etc. Tyler said it was a mark to tell us we were going the right way, but I think the Swiss hikers worship Pagan mountain gods and build these shrines as offerings. If somebody can Wikipedia it for us and let us know to settle our bet that would be great. Thanks! We really loved Switzerland and even better, they had Dr. Pepper! Woot! Woot! So now we find ourselves in Venice, Italy about to embark on the last week of our travels through Italy and are so happy and blessed that we have been able to see what we have seen. Thanks for all the love and support. We miss you all and see you next time!
We went from Prague to Salzburg, Austria about four days ago. Really? Only four days? It seems like a lifetime when you are country hopping. Salzburg was one of my favorite stops thus far. It was such a beautiful and quiet place. The buildings were really well preserved and there were not too many tourists which was a relief from Prague. We decided to be ambitious in Austria and do two things...Try the local food, and go on a bike ride through the country. First came the food. Tyler had bratwurst (Sorry Scott we are going to butcher the spelling on these!) and I had wienerschnitzel. We were both hesitant about what would come out on my order because none of us really knew what wienerschnitzel was. Well it came out and guess what. It was amazing! Tyler's food was good too, but man that wienerschnitzel sure hit the spot. Until I found out what exactly wienerschnitzel was made of...veal. Ok so while we were in Spain I was on this PETA crusade to not eat the local baby pig dish and here I am in Austria enjoying baby cow to my heart's content. I am sorry for all you animal lovers out there. I am hooked and there is simply nothing I can do about it.
So the second part of the trip was the bike ride. We decided to go to a mountain lake just outside of the city. It was, according to my dear husband, "not too far" so we rented some bikes and set out. It was mostly uphill and pretty difficult after awhile. But the countryside was gorgeous and the villages we passed through were just picturesque. I loved it. Until the trouble started. Tyler is a pretty fit bike rider so he was ahead of me most of the time. When I started to notice him stopping quite a bit, I knew things were taking a turn for the worse. At first I thought he was not feeling his best, but then I noticed he kept getting off and fixing the pedal of his bike. When we finally caught up to each other he told me that his pedal was loose and he had to stop every so often to fix it. Well, we were about half way to the lake by then so we decided to keep going and try to find a bike shop along the way. Slowly and surely the pedal got worse and worse. It came to the point where when you rode the bike you didn't have any power in your left leg so your right leg began to really get sore. A little more than 2/3 of the way to the lake was uphill so it was pretty hard to get there. We were exhausted by the time we pulled in. We did find a bike shop and they were able to give us a wrench and some glue for the screw but unfortunately we found out on the way back that didn't help. Side note to the bike drama. The lake was AMAZING! It was the most beautiful color of blue I have ever seen and sat right between two large mountains. I really wish we could have spent some more time there. So back to the bike drama...On the way back we thought we would be ok because most of the trip would be downhill. Well when I was taking a turn on the dud-bike the pedal actually fell off completely! It was a disaster. We were able to screw the dumb thing back together and continue hobbling our way back to the hostel. 11 hours after we had set out, we pulled back into Salzburg exhausted. For some reason the "not that far" experience seemed a bit too far. So we did the math and found out that we biked over 37 miles! That may not seem a lot but factor in the mountains and the bum-bike and see if you can do any better. Tyler was furious and had a speech ready to demand his money back on the bike because we discovered the problem was due to a long overlooked repair on the pedal, but luckily for her, the receptionist was nice enough to offer a refund and the speech was put away for another time. All in all, Austria was wonderful.
Then we set out for Switzerland. We decided to go to a small town called Grindelwald in the Swiss Alps. It was Tyler's favorite part of the trip so far. The town was beautiful and I felt like we were Heidi and Peter off to find our goats on the mountaintop. Well, sort of. It was great and as if our 37 mile excursion wasn't enough to kick our pants off, we decided to go on a hike as well. Our consisted of 7 hours of hiking, 900 meters up in elevation (2952 feet), and one heck of a steep trail. They don't believe in switch back trails obviously so we pretty much were going straight up the darn mountain! But it was amazing and we got to see some pretty cool glaciers and tried some local soup on the mountain top while looking over the valleys below us. To inspire us to keep hiking we borrowed a phrase from Spencer as we were climbing the Swiss Alps on 08/08/2008. "We are living the dream!" On the hike down we kept seeing curious structures on the side of the path made of rocks, branches, pinecones, etc. Tyler said it was a mark to tell us we were going the right way, but I think the Swiss hikers worship Pagan mountain gods and build these shrines as offerings. If somebody can Wikipedia it for us and let us know to settle our bet that would be great. Thanks! We really loved Switzerland and even better, they had Dr. Pepper! Woot! Woot! So now we find ourselves in Venice, Italy about to embark on the last week of our travels through Italy and are so happy and blessed that we have been able to see what we have seen. Thanks for all the love and support. We miss you all and see you next time!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Czechin' Germany
Ok so far our great European vacation has been just what we expected. FANTASTIC! Now we are in the Czech Republic and I am on a computer that has a foreign keyboard so I can't figure out how to change it to English so there may be a lot of grammar mistakes in this blog. Sorry! Ok so we flew into Germany last Thursday and we flew to a small airport about an hour outside of Frankfurt. We took RyanAir which is a totally cheap European airline and it cost 42€ for both of our tickets. That is amazing! From the airport we took a 90 minute bus ride into Frankfurt am Main which is the main train station. I fell in love with Germany in 90 minutes. The bus took us through the countryside and it was just gorgeous. I couldn't believe how green everything was and how lovely all the towns were. I was already sad that we weren't going to be spending more than three days in Germany. It just wasn't enough!
Originally we were going to go to a town in the Rhein Valley but we mis-counted how many days we were going to be traveling so we had to cut that trip out. Instead we decided to go to the Frankfurt temple and do a session there and see the area. I am really glad we decided to go there. The temple is located outside of Frankfurt in a lovely suburb and we were able to stay in a hostel the church runs on the temple grounds. I guess they figure that because you are married for eternity you can spend a couple of nights apart from each other because Tyler and I had to stay in separate dorms, one for men and one for women (I originally 'wrote one for boys and one for girls' but I figure that because I am now married, I just might have to face womanhood). A great part about Frankfurt was the Chinese food restaurant we found that was cheap and gave you a TON of food. Yeah for good eats! It was also really great for us to start out our trip attending the temple. It brought us so much peace and it was one of the most profound temple experiences I have had thus far. Very spiritual and very peaceful. The church is true!!!
From Frankfurt we took a train to Berlin and again I fell more in love with Germany. Berlin was such an amazing city. There was so much history and it was surreal to be walking those paths. We found an awesome free walking tour that took us through all the major parts of the city. The tour was a tips-only basis because the tour guides believe that everyone, no matter their budget, deserves to experience Europe. It was an amazing and exhausting 3.5 hours but totally worth it. It was an emotional trip for me as we learned more about the Holocaust and the horrors that hatred can bring to people. One of the most profound things I learned was that hatred of the Jewish people stems from the death of Christ and their part in it. However, Christ, as he lay dying on the cross asked the Father to forgive those who were crucifying him. Therefore, how can the Nazi's and others who kill in the name of Christianity even be understand true Christian principles. Christ, who taught us to turn the other cheek, could never be the force behind such hatred. Berlin is a must-see for anyone visiting Europe!
We left Berlin early Sunday morning and are now in the Czech Republic. Prague to be exact. We met a nice Japanese family on the train and I wowed them with my knowledge of Nipon and counting to ten in Japanese. Thanks Dad. Prague is such a great place to visit. It is everything one imagines Europe to be, from the cobblestone streets, to the cathedrals and churches, to the castles and other ancient buildings still standing. Another must-see!!! We have loved our experience here too. Europe has so much to offer. We have heard only good things about Prague and were excited to visit here. The only thing left out was the HILLS...HELLO?!?! Prague is on the side of a mountain practically, so our legs are worn out and we sleep like the dead! We are staying in an elementary school that is converted into a hostel during the summer so it has been a little interesting. But hey, you live and learn. Speaking of learning...Here is a tip for the day...never, Never, NEVER take a taxi from the Prague train station to the Olet Hostel unless you want to pay 400% more than the tram or metro costs, double what a plane ticket to Germany costs, or quadruple what our 2nd fabulous Chinese dinner cost. Trust us.
So in the morning we are heading to Salzburg, Austria...best known as the location where The Sound of Music was filmed. Watch out Julie Andrews, here comes me! We miss you all and can't wait to see you again!
Originally we were going to go to a town in the Rhein Valley but we mis-counted how many days we were going to be traveling so we had to cut that trip out. Instead we decided to go to the Frankfurt temple and do a session there and see the area. I am really glad we decided to go there. The temple is located outside of Frankfurt in a lovely suburb and we were able to stay in a hostel the church runs on the temple grounds. I guess they figure that because you are married for eternity you can spend a couple of nights apart from each other because Tyler and I had to stay in separate dorms, one for men and one for women (I originally 'wrote one for boys and one for girls' but I figure that because I am now married, I just might have to face womanhood). A great part about Frankfurt was the Chinese food restaurant we found that was cheap and gave you a TON of food. Yeah for good eats! It was also really great for us to start out our trip attending the temple. It brought us so much peace and it was one of the most profound temple experiences I have had thus far. Very spiritual and very peaceful. The church is true!!!
From Frankfurt we took a train to Berlin and again I fell more in love with Germany. Berlin was such an amazing city. There was so much history and it was surreal to be walking those paths. We found an awesome free walking tour that took us through all the major parts of the city. The tour was a tips-only basis because the tour guides believe that everyone, no matter their budget, deserves to experience Europe. It was an amazing and exhausting 3.5 hours but totally worth it. It was an emotional trip for me as we learned more about the Holocaust and the horrors that hatred can bring to people. One of the most profound things I learned was that hatred of the Jewish people stems from the death of Christ and their part in it. However, Christ, as he lay dying on the cross asked the Father to forgive those who were crucifying him. Therefore, how can the Nazi's and others who kill in the name of Christianity even be understand true Christian principles. Christ, who taught us to turn the other cheek, could never be the force behind such hatred. Berlin is a must-see for anyone visiting Europe!
We left Berlin early Sunday morning and are now in the Czech Republic. Prague to be exact. We met a nice Japanese family on the train and I wowed them with my knowledge of Nipon and counting to ten in Japanese. Thanks Dad. Prague is such a great place to visit. It is everything one imagines Europe to be, from the cobblestone streets, to the cathedrals and churches, to the castles and other ancient buildings still standing. Another must-see!!! We have loved our experience here too. Europe has so much to offer. We have heard only good things about Prague and were excited to visit here. The only thing left out was the HILLS...HELLO?!?! Prague is on the side of a mountain practically, so our legs are worn out and we sleep like the dead! We are staying in an elementary school that is converted into a hostel during the summer so it has been a little interesting. But hey, you live and learn. Speaking of learning...Here is a tip for the day...never, Never, NEVER take a taxi from the Prague train station to the Olet Hostel unless you want to pay 400% more than the tram or metro costs, double what a plane ticket to Germany costs, or quadruple what our 2nd fabulous Chinese dinner cost. Trust us.
So in the morning we are heading to Salzburg, Austria...best known as the location where The Sound of Music was filmed. Watch out Julie Andrews, here comes me! We miss you all and can't wait to see you again!
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