Hello from
the beginning of our trip! April and I are at the Arc de Triumph
with a couple of nice french fellows we had met earlier. We were
simply sitting on a bench, enjoying the sun, when the three (two pictured
behind us) roller skated in front of us. Within a few minutes they
decided to come talk to us and ended up inviting us for some ice cream
and conversation! We gladly joined them and had a lovely afternoon
discussing things from the eurodollar to weird american commercials (at
least i think that's what we were discussing in very broken french/english).
Paris was a beautiful, very artistic city, in which we lost half the height
of our shoes in from walking from one end to the other. We were even
able to see a Shakespearean play, The Merchant of Venice, in the open-air
theater in the large park of Paris. Best things about PARIS:
fresh baguettes, delicious wine, and the city skyline ... the
worst: dog pee on the sidewalks...you just never know what the liquid
you are stepping in really is....
We are now in Scotland - the land of mystery and intrigue, where the
mist lays low on the hills and sheep rule the roads! April, Chris,
and I spent the Summer Solstice amongst these mystical stones listening
to a lone bagpiper play in the distance. We had met some unique girls
on our way up there who camped out with the other nomads just down the
hill from these stones. They were very impressive and allowed the
imagination to run wild dreaming of where and why these stones were put
here! Our way back proved to be a wee bit longer than we expected...we
received the wrong information on the returning bus to our hostel and there
was 15 miles of literally barren land between the stones and our warm bed.
Luckily there were some nice locals who took pity on our meager thumbs
and gave us a ride to the door of our hostel! I say friends, think
again when passing youngsters in need of a ride! :)
Oh this was a BEAUTIFUL day in Ireland! The Gap of Dunlow within
the Ring of Kerry was our choice for the day of biking. (The fellow
with us is Chris, who we knew from college and picked up in London where
he had been living for a 6 months) I was PUMPED this day...we had
an incredible ride through the back countryside of Ireland dodging the
sheep and horse drawn carriages..and the cars! (this made the ride
exciting, especially on the FAST ride down on the blind corners...nooooo
problem!) Good thing I discovered my brakes were broken Before
the downhill - may have been a different story!
I love this picture!! This is the last day with Chris, we departed
with him at one of the most beautiful spots thus far in our travels, the
Cliff's of Moher! We also met a very excited girl from Colorado at
the cliffs who ended up joining April and I at a very cool hostel we were
allowed to camp outside at. That evening we went with her and a fellow
from Iceland to a local pub where I was inspired to learn the irish fiddle.
It was the most amazing irish band we saw in Ireland, in the little town
of Doolin!
Ahhhh, the beauty of the top of the mountain. For some reason,
even when fog eliminates all view of a huge climb, it still doesn't take
away from the bliss of reaching the top! We did get some magnificent
views when the clouds lifted down into the Ben Nevis valley! It was
frigid, it was cloudy, but it was worth it!! Camping this evening
was wrought with the annoyance of the british isles - MIDGES, The
little biting bug that swarms when the sun goes down! Luckily Chris
was their sweet meat and our bug repellent! Thanks Chris!
The magnificent
London Bridge, I didn't realize how blue it is! London was a lovely
city, great Indian food, wonderful jazz club, and ravens!! Did you
know that the ravens within the walls of the London Tower have their wings
clipped...this is to ensure that the tower never falls...so the legend
goes. If the tower was ever to loose all the ravens, it was sure
to fall! So there are 8 ravens always found within these hallowed
walls!
COWABUNGA!! Leslie and I tried our hand at a little surfing off
the coast of Ireland, where she is now living with her husband, Steven.
Leslie is a great friend of mine from high school who married an amazing
lad from Letterkinney, Ireland (which is where this is taken). The
day before, they took us out sea kayaking in northern bay of Ireland.
Wet suits were mandatory, but the swimming in the clear water between the
crashing waves was unforgettable!!
Finally we make it to where the weather was SUPPOSED to be warm, and
the sun ALWAYS shines, but alas we arrived in San Sebastian, Spain to gray
skies and a nippy breeze. But we still had a wonderful time chillin'
at this beautiful beach, where people still braved the cool weather to
achieve that bronze skin and dip themselves into the waters of the Atlantic!
The love seen here was rampant, I tell ya, the affection shown in the Spanish
countryside is that of full appreciation and attention of the beautiful
women who receive such love!
After a wonderful stay in Spain, where we did find the sun and Portugal, where the beautiful beaches were only surpassed in beauty by the clear blue water that splashed upon its shores, we took a 3 day train trip to Rome, Italy. After some much needed showers and a good night sleep we set out in the town where one can walk upon history!! This picture was in the Coliseum, which the original wooden floor is now removed to reveal the mazes where the beasts were kept before letting them out to fight the fearless gladiators. Rome was absolutely beautiful, I wish I could show you more pictures of this town! We were also able to attend an opera in the olympic stadium in Rome that was wonderful...in italian...but still magnificent! Another highlight of Rome was going to Sunday morning mass at the Vatican! Quite a site for sure! We stayed three days here before heading to Florence with a wonderful fellow, Russell from Australia, who we met in the hostel here in Rome. He was able to travel with us for a few days! I might also add here that I do think the Italian men are quite beautiful...just thought I'd mention that!
Mmmm Good!!
This picture is of two extremely happy gals in Venice, Italy eating their
usual treat...Double Magnum! If you ever run across these in the
States, I HIGHLY recommend them! Its like heaven on a stick!
Venice was, of course, incredible! We had such a good time getting
lost within the narrow passages and alleys of venice where we ate the biggest
juiciest grapes I've ever eaten! From here we went to Vienna,
where we had a great time and allowed ourselves some much needed sleep...sometimes
you've just got to give into some sleep, even on the best trip in the world!
However, after running out of gas for our stove and finding the only gas
avaliable, unleaded fuel, didn't burn very well at all, and the fact that
April had lost her good hiking boots and we were about to head to Switzerland,
we decided to go back to Paris to refuel, and reshoe. This
trip back was quite an adventure...to make a long story short, I'll just
tell you the modes of trainsportation we had to take to get there:
bus to metro to train to bus to another bus to train to another train..none
of these with more than 3 minutes in between...it was exciting! But
we got those shoes!
After getting our gear, we headed to Holland were we met our distant,
and very welcoming, relatives, The Terwels who live in Apeldoorn, Nederlands.
This is me just a'bikin' in front of their house! We had such a great
time visiting with them. I hadn't seen them since I was 6 years old,
yet they were as welcoming as if I lived next door! Had some amazing
typical dutch food, I think I may have gained a pound or five!
I also was so honored to have the queen of the Netherlands take a moment
to pose with me for this picture! Very lovely woman, but I'm a bit
worried by her color! I fear she may be a bit under the weather!
:)
After a lovely visit with the Terwels, we headed on to Munich, Germany. We had our evening meal at the famous Haufbrau house, which I am in now with this old German fellow! (yes, he really was scary!) The night was filled with lively music, large amounts of food, and good company! While in Germany, we also visited Dachau, which was a very moving experience...I pray we never come close to any such thing ever again!
We then left
for Salzburg, in which we thoroughly enjoyed. However, the sunny
weather we had been having for our whole trip turned quite wet on us and
our plan to go camping in the Swiss Alps with heavy wet gear started to
look a bit nasty! So, we did what we always fell back on if
we weren't sure where we wanted to go on any given day....we headed to
Budapest! This was a picture of our romantic ambiance for dinner
in one of the many train stations on our trip! Noodles again!!
BUDAPEST! This was a town that we took a break from the usual
museum visit and palace tour and just treated ourselves to the cheap lavishness
this beautiful city provides! We had turkish baths complete with
soaking our strained muscles in mineral water, getting full body masages,
and steaming ourselves of all impurities in the heat of the hot sauna!
We walked out of there fully rejuvinated and completely relaxed!
The bath house was just on the closest part of this famous bridge on the
right! Ahhhh, makes me feel relaxed just thinking about it!
This picture needs no shrinking..This is our last morning together
out in our travels before April had to go home. We woke up to the
clear blue sky's and massive glaciers of Kiental, Switzerland..a very small
town southeast of Interlaken way off the beaten path! In fact, THE
english speaking girl in town told us we were the first Americans she had
ever seen in that town! I can't even begin to tell you what an amazing
time we had camping for a few days in these mountains!
This is one EXTREMELY happy gal who has had an INCREDIBLE summer!
I haven't even touched on the stories or experiences of the summer,
but I wanted to show you a few pictures and share a few memories.
This is just a preview for the visit I'll have with you guys! Ahhhh,
it was great! I do have a few more pictures on the way to put on
this page...I'll email you again when I get them in!
I had many new and exciting experiences on this trips, but the topper
is probably the tomato fight in SPAIN. Words could not fully descibe this
experience. These pictures will help, but you need to smell and FEEL the
splat of hundreds of tomatoes hitting every part of your body for several
hours thrown by hundreds of people in the one narrow main street of this
little town..
Everyone went down the will to use the communal Showers.
Our home away from home, with a view of our kitchen , laundry, storage, parlor and sleeping facilties
ONE MORE PICTURE!!