Lauren's Passport

The End

2010-06-02T15:50:00.017-05:00

Well, we're done traveling for the time being. Thanks for following along with us! Please check back in a few years for updates on our next destinations such as South America and Africa.

Tokyo

2010-06-01T14:32:00.010-05:00

View from Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building:

Tsukiji Fish Market:

Future car:

Sushi:

Shibuya:

Sumo:

Area by Sensoji Temple:

Vending machine for ordering food:

Himeji

2010-05-30T18:18:00.000-05:00

In Himeji, we enjoyed a couple of hours in the town, exploring the area around the castle, and the main shopping street - Otemae Dori.

Himeji Castle:

Views from around Himeji::

Hiroshima

2010-05-29T13:40:00.000-05:00

In Hiroshima, we toured the beautiful Peace Memorial Park and adjoining Peace Memorial Museum. The park itself contains many smaller memorials and monuments with the actual museum building on one far end of the park, and the A-Bomb Dome located on just the opposite end. The whole park area is wonderfully maintained, and is tastefully designed to be a very pleasant park despite the inherently heavy setting. Although touring the inside of the memorial museum was a very sobering process, it was a completely worthwhile experience and we were glad to have done it. The outside of the park was the perfect setting to decompress and just enjoy the our time there and reflect on the history of this remarkable location.

Peace Memorial Park & Museum:

Kobe

2010-05-28T23:18:00.000-05:00

Kobe is a great little city filled with historical sights such as the Kitano district, but the highlight of our stop there was the Wagyu beef we had for one meal. World renowned for its flavor and tenderness, the steak lived up to all of our expectations!

Ikuta Shrine:

Street Scenes:

Kitano Ijinkan Foreign Residence District:

Yummy Kobe Steak:

Osaka

2010-05-28T03:41:00.000-05:00

In Osaka, we had time for one touristy event and a quick meal before heading on to our next destination in Japan.

Umeda Sky Building:

Front garden area:

Escalator to the upper floors:

Views:

"O" is for Osaka:

Foods:

Nara

2010-05-27T21:11:00.000-05:00

Next, we took a quick train ride over to the small town of Nara. It is only about an hour ride away from Kyoto by way of bullet train, and the main draw of the town is a large park with great walking paths, and of course, temples and shrines. Plus, there are tame deer all over the place that you can feed and pet. The town itself is also very walkable, and the hostel we stayed at was convienently located just 5 minutes from the park as well as the fun downtown area.

Sarusawa-ike pond:

A Pagoda:

In Nara Park:

Kofukuji Temple:

The Pink Hats:

The Green Hats:

Todaiji Temple:

At a lake in Nara Park:

Nigatsu-do Hall:

View from Nigatsu-do Hall:

A rare find in a vintage clothing store. Interestingly, the store was also a fruit & vegetable stand!

Pachinko!

Super clean trains:

Kyoto

2010-05-24T05:10:00.000-05:00

After arriving in Kyoto, we quickly realized that this city is jam packed with historic monuments and temples. In fact, there are 17 UNESCO world heritage sites in and around the area. One could easily spend weeks here and still not see them all. Some of the areas we saw included Arashiyama/Sagano, Gion, and Higashiyama. After a few days of exploring, we found Kyoto to be very enriching with its historical sights and beautiful gardens to explore. However, Kyoto is also a modern city with all the conveniences of good public transport, fun shopping, and great restaurants. The best of both worlds!

Practically all of the sights and areas of the city can be reached by bus, so that was our main mode of transportation. This was a bit of a departure from all the subway cities we've been to, but once we figured out the routes, it worked out great. Two of our favorite sights were Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) and Nijo Castle. Kinkaku-ji was originally built in 1397 and its top two stories are covered in pure gold leaf. Nijo Castle was a little more understated, but it was surrounded by a beautiful tranquil park that we enjoyed just wandering in. In Gion, we went out geisha spotting and we were successful on a couple of occasions! The culture and history of Japan combined with the modern 21st century age is truly a sight to behold.

Kinkakuji, formerly known as Ryonanji, also known as The Golden Temple:

Tossing coins:

Shijo-dori, a busy shopping street:

View from near the Arashiyama area:

Bamboo Forrest:

Hmmm:

Kyoto Tower:

Bus ride:

A pond by Nijo Castle:

View from Kiyomizudera Temple:

Ryozen Kannon:

Someone's house that we walked by:

Ichiro:

Toji Temple:

Beijing

2010-05-14T02:56:00.000-05:00

In Beijing, we saw many, many famous sights: Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, Houhai area, Beihai Park, and the Olympic Park, to name a few. We couldn't believe how much there was to see! Luckily, the city has a great subway system, so we were able to get everywhere we needed to go pretty quickly (and for about 25 cents/ride). During the first few days of our visit, Beijing was very smoggy, which is why a lot of the pictures of the sights may seem gray. Midway through the week however, there was a rainstorm that cleared the air for the rest of our trip. Thank goodness!

One of the days, we had a chance to meet up with our friend Adil from Calgary who we met while we were traveling in Istanbul. He was visiting his brother who is studying in China, so we made it a point to catch up with him. We had a great day touring some sights with him, and ended up meeting with some of his friends from China and getting a great Beijing duck meal at Quanjude restaurant (a famous duck restaurant established in 1864). That was only one of many delicious meals we had in Beijing - you really can't go wrong no matter what you decide to eat!

Tiananmen Gate:

Mausoleum of Mao Zedong:

Monument to the People's Heroes:

The Forbidden City:

Jesse and Adil on Qianmen street:

Quanjude restaurant:

Bird's Nest and Water Cube:

The Great Wall:

Dumpling party at our hostel:

At the Lama Temple:

Over here, they just call it "food":

Family dinner:

Hong Kong

2010-05-04T09:23:00.000-05:00

In Hong Kong, we were lucky enough to have Jesse's parents as hosts and tour guides during our visit. It was great to see them again and staying with them was a very welcome change from hostel living! Since this stop was a little longer than most, we were able to see the sights at a pretty leisurely pace. This left plenty of time for relaxing, chatting, and eating. Boy, did we eat! Of course, we got to enjoy some much needed home cooked meals, which were delicious. Plus, Hong Kong has what seemed like thousands of different restaurants all within a quick subway ride away. Although it seemed like we tried about half of them, we didn't even scratch the surface. One evening, we met Jesse's uncle and his first cousin once removed, Renee for dinner. We had a great feast of many different Cantonese dishes. I don't know how we managed to eat it all, but we did!

One thing that surprised us about Hong Kong was that it wasn't just tall buildings and neon lights - there's actually a lot of really pretty nature in and around the city. The area around the city is quite mountainous, which provides a scenic backdrop to all the modern architecture. There are also numerous parks, with really beautiful landscaping. One day, we took a ferry ride to Cheung Chau, which is a small island not far off the coast of Hong Kong Island. It's primarily a fishing village, and we spent some time hiking around in the hills above the town and enjoying the fresh island air. On other days, we visited a seaside shopping area called Stanley, bussed to Victoria peak (although our only view was of fog, unfortunately), toured a Hakka museum, visited the Hong Kong Heritage museum, and much more!

View from Nan Lian Garden:

Chi Lin Nunnery - Buddhist Temple:

Rock exhibit in Nan Lian Garden:

Bruce Lee statue at the Avenue of Stars:

The Clock Tower:

With parents at Victoria Harbour:

A great view of fog:

Home food:

View of a busy street in an older market area:

Restaurant food - just the first round:

The ruins of Old Hong Kong:

Getting ready to try durian fruit for the first time. The aroma is already quite strong at this point:

Initial taste, this isn't so bad...

..."The King of Fruits" claims another victim. This is Jesse clutching his forehead and turning away in agony:

Fisher:

Hong Kong skyline:

Hanoi

2010-05-01T19:15:00.000-05:00

To get into Hanoi, we took yet another cheapie overnight sleeper train. Fun times! No matter how many times taking them, you never quite get used to these little gems of mass transport. By the time we arrived in Hanoi, nothing sounded better than just bumming around for awhile. For the better part of three days, we hung around the neighborhood near our hotel, ate street food, slept in, watched TV, and read. There was also a nice lake nearby where we could get away from the crowded streets and relax. It's a tough life vacationing from a vacation, but somebody had to do it!

After a month or so of traveling in Southeast Asia, Hanoi was our last stop before leaving the region. It was definitely an adventure! We enjoyed it thoroughly and would love to come back again someday to visit all the places we missed out on.

Guy meditating at Hoan Kiem Lake:

Tai chi:

Flowers by the lake:

In the background, crazed scooter driving. In the foreground, crazed scooter driving in training:

Tight quarters in the sleeper train:

Pineapples:

Hoi An

2010-04-28T08:33:00.000-05:00

We took an overnight train from Saigon to a town called Da Nang in order to connect to our next stopping point - Hoi An. It is located about a 40 minute drive south of Da Nang along the ocean coast. The drive there and back was actually quite scenic.

In Hoi An there are a handful of historic cultural sites in and around the old town area. There is also a nice beach nearby, but perhaps the most notable of all the characteristics of this town were all of the tailor shops. There were tons of them. So as to not miss out on such an important local tradition, we had a custom suit all done up for Jesse - Vietnam style.

Beach scene:

Rooftop view:

The Japanese Covered Bridge:

Street corner:

Boats:

The shore:

A tiger statue in the river:

By the river at night:

Cao Lau and White Rose, two local specialties:

Saigon

2010-04-24T23:05:00.000-05:00

After S.R. we took a 10-hour bus ride to Saigon, in southern Vietnam. The city is huge and bustling with people at all times of the day and night. It had the craziest street crossings with cars, trucks, scooters and people everywhere. Each crossing was an adventure!

In Saigon, we visited the Reunification Palace, which was South Vietnam's Presidential Palace. It had been pretty much left untouched since the war ended, so it was interesting to see it just how it was during that time period. We also went to see the nearby Notre Dame Cathedral.

Night time in Saigon is really interesting. Instead of quieting down, it seems that everyone in the whole city gets out of their homes and heads for the local parks to exercise, sit and chat, eat, play games and just hang out. Hacky sack (with a weighted feathered contraption) seemed to be the game of choice for a lot of people. All in all, we would describe this city as a very lively place, both day and night.

Reunification Palace:

View from Reunification Palace:

The rooms are preserved with the original designs from the 1970s:

Some sort of machinery from the basement bunker of the palace:

Courtyard area just outside the palace:

Notre Dame Cathedral:

Street scene:

Scooters everywhere:

Angkor

2010-04-22T13:09:00.002-05:00

Angkor is just a 20 minute tuk-tuk ride from where were staying in Siem Reap. We set out to explore Angkor Wat and the other notable temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park. Built between the 9th and the 15th centuries, the park covers more than 400 square kilometers and contains the remains of many temples, including the most famous, Angkor Wat. The sights were amazing - it's hard to imagine how such huge and elaborate buildings were constructed in the middle of a jungle so long ago.

Angkor Wat:

One of the inner towers:

A bride posing for wedding pictures at the temple:

Bayon Temple:

Tuk-Tuk transportation around the temple sites:

Siem Reap

2010-04-21T23:05:00.002-05:00

In Siem Reap, we visited a local workshop, where artisans are trained in traditional Cambodian handicrafts like wood and stone carving and silk painting. From there, we were also able to tour a real silk worm farm to see how the silk is made, from start to finish. Now that I know how much work goes into producing a single silk scarf, I can really appreciate its value!

Although the trip to Cambodia was worth it just to see Angkor Wat, we ended up really enjoying the town of Siem Reap as well. The town is relatively small and easy to navigate. It was also very affordable - our hotel room was $16/night and our meals generally cost about $2/person. Cambodian food turned out to be perhaps my favorite in Southeast Asia.

Silkworms eating. You could actually hear a faint munching/crunching sound as they ate:

Silkworm cocoons:

Fine silk threads. You can see the 100+ spools and threads:

Weaving:

Kuala Lumpur

2010-04-18T23:04:00.000-05:00

Next, we had a 12-hour bus ride from Phuket south through Thailand. The bus made a couple of stops in quaint farming towns for snacks and meals. Mostly it was just simple on-the-go food for travelers, but it was tasty & cheap. Also, it was interesting to see the gradual change from Buddhist communities to Islam as we approached and entered Malaysia. After a night stopover in Penang, we headed out for another 6 hours on a bus to Kuala Lumpur.

We had read online that, apart from a couple of notable landmarks, there aren't a whole lot of must-see attractions in KL. Instead, the real enjoyment of the city comes from wandering the streets, observing the people and eating your way through the different neighborhoods (for cheap). So that's exactly what we did! One day, we managed to get completely lost and we wandered the streets for quite awhile before finally finding our way back to our hostel.

The Petronas Twin Towers:

Neighborhood scene with KL Tower in the background:

Conveyor belt sushi restaurant. You just pick up what you want as it goes by. Fun!

Evening street food:

I thought this restaurant only existed in Seinfeld!

Phuket

2010-04-12T23:04:00.000-05:00

Next, we took a short flight south to Thailand's largest island, Phuket. You may have heard of it as one of the resort destinations that was devastated by the tsunami in 2004, but now it's back to being a beautiful island paradise. Most of our time there was very relaxed, but we did experience one of the more interesting things so far on our trip while in Phuket.

Our visit in Thailand happened to coincide with the 3 day Thai New Year's celebration, called Songkran. Traditionally, Songkran is a time for the Thai people to visit relatives, pay respect to elders and...engage in a giant country-wide water fight! We had heard about this celebration a few days before it started, but we didn't really grasp the extent of it until we left our hotel on our first day in Phuket to find somewhere to eat lunch. Within 5 minutes of leaving the safety of our hotel, we were completely and utterly soaked from head to toe with our regular day clothes on. The streets were already lined with people, all armed with water guns, buckets and hoses. Some were even using ice chilled water. We had no weapons ourselves, but that didn't exempt us from the fight. After a brief retreat to the hotel to change into swimsuits and tank tops, we headed out again knowing what to expect. We had a great time, as it turned out to be just one big party! Someone even gave us some free water guns so that we could retaliate. I wish we had some pictures of the whole event, but all that water would have been camera suicide. Needless to say, it was the wackiest New Year's celebration we've ever experienced!

Patong Beach:

Bangkok

2010-04-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

In Bangkok, we experienced market shopping (day and night markets), Thai street food, Tuk-Tuks (scooter-rickshaw-taxi vehicles), Red Shirt protesters wanting democracy, The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and a 1st rate movie theatre, among other things.

Even though there were protest demonstrations going on close to where we were staying, we never felt unsafe or threatened. It always seemed reasonably safe to observe the daytime gatherings of red shirt people from a distance, so we did. Even after reports of 20 people being killed in protests one night, the streets were back to normal with crowds of pedestrians the very next day.

Suan Lum Night Bazaar:

DIY grill restaurant:

Delicious doughnuts shaped like sushi:

Side view of the Grand Palace with lawn:

Statues:

Wat Phra Kaew - temple containing The Emerald Buddha:

The Emerald Buddha:

A chilled coconut:

View from the water taxi on the way to the Grand Palace:

Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha):

Wat Pho mini:

Gong!

Red shirts protesting for democracy:

Bangkok Dangerous?

Nagarkot

2010-04-02T08:36:00.000-05:00

The second day's hike was longer but less strenuous than the first day - it took us about 8 hours to reach the next stopping point which was Nagarkot. At that point, our feet were starting to get pretty tired. After a good night's rest there(in a place with electricity!), we finished the final day of the trek with another 5 hours of walking and then a ride back to Kathmandu. Along the way, we got to see the beautiful mountains of Kathmandu valley, the terraced farmland and the local people - it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Views from the second & third days of the trek:

With our guide:

Chisapani

2010-04-01T23:03:00.002-05:00

In Nepal, we decided to get out and see the sights on a trek. It turns out there are lots of different types of these hikes, all the way from trips to Everest taking several weeks to short hikes around the Kathmandu valley, and everything in between. Since we only had a week in Nepal, we elected to do a guided three-day, two-night trip around the valley.

On the first day, we were driven to the starting point of the hike by a town called Sundarijal, which was just outside of Kathmandu itself. From there, we hiked for about 6 hours (mostly uphill) with our guide, a local college student. It was pretty tiring! Luckily, the temperatures were cooler than in Delhi, so that made it more bearable. As we hiked, we passed through several tiny villages (just a few houses each) and got to see how the rural Nepal people live. Late that afternoon, we arrived at our resting point for the night, a small town called Chisapani. The hotel we stayed at was pretty rustic - no electricity! The next morning, we were up early to start the hike to the next town, Nagarkot.

A view of the valley from Sundarijal, near our starting point:

View from Chisapani:

Our hotel in Chisapani (the tall building):

Our Chisapani hotel room - lots of wires, but no electricity:

Room with candle light (with camera flash):

And without camera flash!

Kathmandu

2010-03-30T23:02:00.000-05:00

In Kathmandu, we stayed in the Thamel district which was hectic and crowded but close to many points of interest. We took a day tour of the sites: Swayambhunath, Durbar Square in Patan, Pashupatinath Temple, and Boudhanath. There are at least half a dozen other cultural sites that we didn't get around to visiting - we just wish we had time to see them all! We really enjoyed observing the peaceful nature of the monks and pilgrims at the religious sites. Perhaps the most moving experience for us was witnessing a Hindu cremation ceremony at Pashupatinath Temple.

Thali meal:

Street by Thamel:

Fruit stand:

Vasubandhu Chaitya with prayer flags surrounding:

Inside a temple at Swayambhunath:

Buddha statue:

Swayambhunath stupa with a Hindu temple close by:

Durbar Square:

Water well in Durbar Square:

Cremation ceremony - mourners at Pashupatinath Temple:

Dyes outside Pashupatinath:

Boudhanath Stupa:

Monks:

Agra

2010-03-25T13:00:00.002-05:00

We got out of Delhi for one day, on a bus trip to see the sights of Agra. The highlight of this trip was the Taj Mahal, and we also visited Agra Fort and Sikandra (Akbar's tomb). While on this tour, we met a new friend from Afghanistan named Ajmal and now we have an open invitation to visit his country anytime! Maybe one day we can take Ajmal up on his offer. The tour ended up turning into quite a day. Seeing the sights to and from Agra is definitely an experience that cannot be missed, however there were also some heart wrenching moments while there and en route. It is difficult to know what else to say without trivializing the the lives of these remarkable people, so instead we recommend anyone with the desire to experience this country to do so for themselves and formulate their own impressions of this fascinating and deeply rich culture.

Main gate entrance to the Tomb of Akbar the Great:

Ajmal (our new friend from Afghanistan) at Agra Fort:

The Taj Mahal:

CBS Sunday Morning Show reporter asking about visiting the Taj Mahal:

Delhi

2010-03-23T08:13:00.002-05:00

First, we have to thank our good friend Dietz for all of his help during our visit to Delhi. When Jesse mentioned our trip, Dietz insisted on playing host while we were in India (anyone who knows him understands that this is classic Dietz). After living in both London and the U.S., Dietz now lives with his wife Shivani in his hometown of Delhi. Aside from entertaining us on more than one evening, he set up a place to stay, transportation, and even a sightseeing list for us which we later dubbed the "Folder of Fun". As a result, our stay was made much easier with all of these things already arranged. Thanks Dietz!!

In Delhi, we saw as many sights as we could (considering the heat usually knocked us out sometime around mid afternoon). Some of the sights included the Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb, Qutub Minar, India Gate, Raj Ghat, Baha'i Lotus Temple, and Gandhi Smriti. All were very interesting and impressive, but there's not enough space here to describe them for you, so check them out on the interweb! I had a somewhat strange experience at the Lotus Temple...about a dozen children surrounded me in a mob and wanted to shake my hand and have their picture taken with me. I felt like a celebrity!

The Folder of Fun:

Isa Khan's Tomb:

Humayun's Tomb:

Baha'i House of Worship (aka Lotus Temple):

Making new friends:

A street:

Street market - bicycle rickshaw perspective:

At Dietz's:

Qutub Minar:

Martyr's Column at the Gandhi Smriti:

Simplicity was one of Gandhi's life principles. This is reflected in Gandhi's room at the Gandhi Smriti:

Singapore

2010-03-22T13:13:00.000-05:00

We only had a one night layover in Singapore before heading to India, but what we realized is that we could have easily spent many more nights here. The feel of the city is that of a cosmopolitan lifestyle, but also accessible to those on a budget. We made our way to the hostel and checked in to our bare bones room without any trouble. So, we headed out to explore the city. Incidentally, the hostel happened to be in the Little India area. First, we made it to a sidewalk cafe for an inexpensive bowl of noodle soup. Next, we found our way to a mall for a 2nd dinner of dumplings and bok choy (food was so cheap in Singapore). Finally, we took the subway to Chinatown and ended up getting even more food - this time it was dessert. Overall, the city was very clean, and easy to navigate. We would love to come back and spend more time here.

A Hindu temple by our hostel:

The Sidewalk cafe:

A cheetah statue:

The streets are busy with markets in the evening:

Feeling grand in Chinatown, onlookers are confused:

Dessert concoction from Chinatown - almond jello, shaved ice, condensed milk, fruit, bubbles:

Kuta

2010-03-18T08:12:00.000-05:00

After a few days in peaceful and quiet Ubud, we made our way to Kuta which is definitely geared more towards catering to tourists. In Kuta, there was easy access to beaches, resorts, and many nice restaurants. Of course there was also the constant barrage from street vendors selling cheap goods. We were glad to have experienced both aspects of the island.

Sunset at the beach:

By a gate, and a statue:

Jesse by a statue:

An interesting looking house:

Ubud

2010-03-15T08:11:00.000-05:00

Our visit to Bali, Indonesia got off to a bit of a rough start when we arrived to the island on the eve of Nyepi. Nyepi is a day of silence, fasting and meditation, but the night before is a big party. Essentially, this was like arriving at Times Square on New Year's Eve. This created a bit of a problem for us. We needed to get cash out of an ATM in order to pay for our tourist visas into the country (no credit card payment allowed). Due to the holiday, all ATMs in the airport were completely out of cash. Likewise, in order to leave the airport to get cash, we needed to have valid visas. As you can see, this was a real win-win situation for us. Luckily, there were a few other people in our same situation, but that didn't matter to the security guards. After some confusion and deliberation, we "snuck" past immigration (is that frowned upon?) and got a cab to drive us around the town during mid-celebration. It turned out to be a pretty thrilling experience riding around on Nyepi Eve, without valid visas, and desperately looking for a place to trade credit card charges for cold hard cash. Eventually, we headed back into the airport through the exit doors to wait in line for over an hour to finally get our visas. Yikes! We were ready to call it quits right there, but luckily, things improved pretty quickly after that.

In Ubud, we stayed at a 'homestay' - there were a few little cottages for guests, but the people who ran the homestay also lived there with their families. It was a nice way to see how families live in Bali, which we wouldn't have seen if we had stayed at a more traditional tourist resort. It was especially nice on Nyepi - all tourists are confined to their hotels that day, but we had the family to take care of us and bring us food.

Ubud is in the central portion of the Bali Island and is regarded as the cultural center of the island and is home to many artists and craftspeople. It's also home to Monkey Forest, where we saw lots of temples, ancient looking statues, and yes, monkeys. They were pretty aggressive little things too. The signs posted in the area said that feeding the monkeys was okay. Jesse attempted to give one a piece of fruit out of a plastic bag and ended up having to quickly throw the whole bag down to avoid attack. Oops!

The visa "line":

Hanging out on the front porch at our homestay:

Monkeys:

Cute!

Monkey 1, Jesse 0:

Cool bridge in Monkey Forest:

At a pretty rice paddy near our homestay:

A delicious dinner of roast duck with accompaniments:

Bali is a very religious place - nearly every store and house had an offering similar to this one in front of it at all times:

Darwin

2010-03-13T08:10:00.000-06:00

In his book about Australia, travel writer Bill Bryson described Darwin as a place where "nearly every person on the streets was bearded and tattooed and scuffed along with a wino shuffle, as if some very large mission had just turned everyone out for the day." This is a pretty good observation based on our own experience there! The heat and humidity were quite strong, and seemed to contribute to the town's sleepy atmosphere. One morning we took a short bus ride to an area called Nightcliff, which is known for its Sunday markets. It was a quaint setting with fresh food, music, and various local goods. Another nice area was the Darwin Wharf Precinct with beautiful sunsets!

The wharf area:

Cairns

2010-03-08T08:09:00.000-06:00

From Sydney, we flew up the east coast of Australia to the small city of Cairns. Cairns is the place to go for excursions to the Great Barrier Reef, which was the main purpose for our stop there. We took a day trip to the reef, which consisted of about 4 hours on a boat and about 3 hours of snorkeling/relaxing time at the reef. What a beautiful sight! We don't have a lot of pictures of the day, since the fish like to hang out under water where our camera couldn't go, but it was just as amazing as we'd imagined! The rest of our time in Cairns was pretty relaxed. We had a couple of rainy days, which was a good excuse to hang out at our hostel, catching up on our reading and our naps. When the sun came out, we spent a day at the "Lagoon" in Cairns. Since the beaches within the city are not safe for swimming, they constructed a public pool that is right next to the beach, so you get the best of both worlds - the feeling of being at the beach, with the safe and calm (and warm) waters of the pool.

Our boat for the Great Barrier Reef tour:

Some fish:

Do you recognize this fish?

The lagoon:

Manly

2010-03-05T06:59:00.004-06:00

On one of our days in Sydney, we took a ferry ride out to the Manly area. We spent the day enjoying the boardwalk near the shore, and we took a short hike around the coastline area. Somehow, we managed to get completely lost during our hike, but eventually stumbled our way back to an area that was moderately recognizable on our map. Even though the weather was not great, we had an excellent time just exploring the area and seeing a different part of the Sydney area.

Manly:

Sydney

2010-03-03T22:05:00.001-06:00

From Melbourne, we took a 12-hour train ride to Sydney, seeing a lot of the Australian countryside along the way. It primarily consists of farmland, a few hills, and green grass. It was fun to see all the sights that you've seen in pictures so many times. We saw the Opera House, walked across the Harbour Bridge, took a ferry ride to an area called Manly, went on a walking tour to see the historical sights, and hung out with the bats in the botanical gardens. The weather was great (except the day that we went to the beach at Manly, of course) and the city was beautiful.

Opera House and Harbour Bridge taken from near Mrs. Macquarie's Chair:

The Opera House:

The Harbour Bridge:

A shot of the Opera House while walking across the Harbour Bridge:

Downtown Sydney:

Bats:

Melbourne

2010-02-27T23:39:00.000-06:00

Our first stop in Australia was Melbourne, which is the second most populated city in the country and is located along the southeast coast. We really liked Melbourne - it was easy to walk around, the people were friendly and there were lots of things to look at. The weather was a little cool and cloudy most of the time we were in the city, but other than, it was great! The highlight of our time there was a day that we spent outside the city, on a day-long tour. We started at a wildlife preserve, where we saw kangaroos, wallabies, dingos and an emu, among other things. From there, we went to a koala conservation where we lots of cute koalas hanging out in the the treetops. After that, we went to our main destination of Phillip Island. There, we visited a farm where we watched a sheep shearing demonstration and then listened to some impromptu poetry from the sheep shearer - he was actually really good! Finally, the main event - watching the penguin parade at Phillip Island. Each night after the sun goes down, hundreds of little penguins come ashore and walk in groups across the beach to get back to their nests. They were so tiny and cute!

Downtown Melbourne:

A wallaby:

A kangaroo:

Jesse feeding an emu:

Koalas:

Sheep shearer/poet:

Penguins on parade (picture from the web, we weren't allowed to take pictures):

A pretty picture from Phillip Island:

Christchurch

2010-02-25T23:26:00.000-06:00

Before leaving New Zealand, we spent one day in Christchurch, which is the largest city on the South Island. Christchurch is a very pretty city, with large botanical gardens and a picturesque river running through it. The center of the town is Cathedral Square, where the Christ Church is located. We visited the church and got an added bonus since there was a flower show taking place inside the cathedral. We also hung out in the botanical gardens and watched a performance by some Maori dancers.

Christ Church:

Inside Christ Church:

Maori dancers:

Glenorchy

2010-02-24T06:45:00.003-06:00

On one of our days in Queenstown, we took a van to the nearby town of Glenorchy and went on a 2-hour horseback ride through the countryside. My horse, Bear, recently starred in a movie in New Zealand and was a bit of a prima donna...he liked to stop and eat whenever he wanted and kicked the horse behind us when he got to close. So, that was exciting. We had a good time, but I think we have had our fill of horse riding for a good while!

The view on the drive to Glenorchy:

Me & Bear:

Queenstown

2010-02-22T23:18:00.002-06:00

Next, it was off to Queenstown, on the South Island. Queenstown is a small town on the southwest part of the island and is a hotspot for all sorts of outdoor activities and adventure sports. We decided to do some nature hiking and horseback riding. Our major hike was the Ben Lomond track, which we reached by first hiking up Bob's Peak. The Lamond track is 6.8 miles and it took us about 7 hours roundtrip. Whew! It was pretty tiring, but the day was beautiful and we had great views every step of the way.

Queenstown at dusk, from our hostel window:

The view after our climb to the top of Bob's Peak, before we started going higher:

And higher:

And higher:

And higher:

Finally, the view from the summit!

Whitianga

2010-02-19T04:22:00.000-06:00

After some time in Auckland, we headed out of the city to spend the weekend in Whitianga, a small town on the Coromandel Peninsula. Although it isn't far from Auckland, the peninsula is a whole other world of beautiful rainforests, mountains and beaches. Our first activity was a short hike to Cathedral Cove, where we got some beautiful views of the ocean. After that, we spent some time at the beach in the small town of Hahei. Jesse just couldn't stop saying: "Hey Hai-Heeeyy!" much to the annoyance of myself and Jenny. The water was a little too cold for me, but that didn't stop Jesse and Jenny from swimming. To wrap up a very full day, we headed over to a place called Hot Water beach. The beach has underground hot water springs and when the tide is low, you can dig your very own hot tub! The water really is hot, sometimes too hot to even stand in, let alone sit.

Jesse & Jenny at the beach near our hostel:

Views on our hike to Cathedral Cove:

At Hot Water beach. You can barely see the steam coming from the water pools. It really is hot!

The beach at Hahei:

A fried food buffet for two, in Whitianga:

Scenic stops on the drive back to Auckland:

Auckland

2010-02-18T04:21:00.000-06:00

We're off on our next adventure! After about 24 hours of travel time (including a 13 1/2 hour layover in Los Angeles), we landed in sunny Auckland. It was a bit of a shock to go from the freezing winter weather of Kansas to the balmy temperatures of New Zealand, but somehow we managed to survive the transition. In Auckland, we were lucky enough to stay with Jesse's friend Jenny, who he worked with in Kansas City. She has been living and working in Auckland for just over a year now, and she was a great hostess! She took us for a tour of downtown Auckland, a harbor cruise, and up the volcano near her house in Mt. Eden to see the beautiful views. We couldn't have asked for a better tour guide! Thanks Jenny!

View of Auckland from Mt. Eden:

Paris

2009-12-02T11:40:00.003-06:00

We had one afternoon and evening in the city before leaving early the next morning to fly back to the US for the holidays. We decided to do our two favorite things: wander around aimlessly for a few hours and then eat a delicious meal! To be continued in Feb. 2010.

Risotto with roast duck and artichokes:

Lauren's seafood over gnocchi in red sauce:

Barcelona

2009-12-01T08:09:00.003-06:00

After Valencia, it was time for our final bus ride in Spain to Barcelona. Barcelona is a huge and beautiful city, with great architecture, markets and nightlife. At this point in our journey though, we were a little worn out, so we didn't see as much of the city as we would have liked. But, we did make the walk across town to see the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Familia is a Catholic church that was designed by Gaudi and has been under construction since 1882! It is expected to be completed in 2026.

Another highlight of our time in Barcelona was visiting La Boqueria, which is a huge public market dating from 1217. It is just off one of the main walking areas: Las Ramblas. We love looking at all the different fresh foods and sampling a few of them. For our lunch, we shared a plate of a kind of seafood we had never tried before: razor clams. They were as fresh as they come and cooked right in front of us at a small lunch counter inside the market.

Sagrada Familia:

Gaudi museum:

Outside La Boqueria:

Inside La Boqueria:

Our razor clam lunch at La Boqueria:

Valencia

2009-11-26T08:09:00.000-06:00

The trip from Granada to Valencia was our longest bus ride yet: 9 hours! Thank goodness the buses in Spain are very nice and fairly comfortable. Somewhat unexpectedly, Valencia was one of our favorite cities that we've visited on the trip so far. It's located on the east coast of Spain and has beautiful beaches and a quaint old town, as well as very interesting modern architecture. It is also the birthplace of one of Jesse's very favorite foods: paella! We splurged a little and went to a nice restaurant on the beach so that we could make sure to get an authentic version of the dish. We went for the "Mixed" option. It had chicken, seafood, and rabbit - it was just as good as we had hoped for. Another really cool part of Valencia is the dry riverbed that runs all through the town. When the city got tired of the river flooding, they built a dam in the 1950s and diverted it outside of town, leaving behind a huge amount of empty space. They turned the entire thing into a huge park that includes gardens, sport facilities and lots of space to exercise and play.

Our paella:

At the beach:

The riverbed park:

The City of Arts and Science:

Granada

2009-11-24T08:09:00.000-06:00

About four hours north and east of Gibraltar is the city of Granada, most known for La Alhambra. La Alhambra is a medieval complex that overlooks Granada and is one of Spain's most famous attractions. Constructed in the 14th century, it encompasses palaces (for Granada's Muslim rulers at the time), a fortress, gardens and government buildings. The entire complex is huge and very impressive, as were the views of the city that we got from the top of the watch towers. While in Granada, we also experienced another thing that Spain is famous for - tapas! To ensure that we got a better quality of food, we went to a very nice restaurant and tried three of the small dishes - octopus with paprika and olive oil, potato & ham croquettes, and cod with a garlic cream sauce. All delicious. So good, in fact, that we forgot to take pictures before eating them all up!

Inside La Alhambra:

Views of Granada from La Alhambra:

Peering over the edge:

Gibraltar

2009-11-22T08:08:00.000-06:00

Gibraltar is actually an overseas territory of the United Kingdom located just beyond the southernmost point of Spain (who knew??). The residents of Gibraltar are British citizens (and very proud of it), and English is the primary language spoken there. Ever wonder where the term "gibberish" comes from? It stems from a mixing of English and Spanish spoken in Gibraltar!

We took the bus in from Seville and stayed in the Spanish border town of La Linea de la Concepcion. From La Linea, you can just walk across the border to Gibraltar, where the highlight is, of course, the Rock of Gibraltar. We accepted the challenge of hiking up the rock (no lame cable car rides for us!), which took about 5 hours in total. The best part was seeing the many Barbary Macaque monkeys that live towards the top. These monkeys are found only in the mountains of Algeria and Morroco, as well as in Gibraltar. It was the first time either of us had seen a monkey in the wild and we got excited about each one we saw (as evidenced by the dozens of monkey pictures on our camera)! However, Jesse did his best to avoid coming too close to any of the monkeys, while directing me to get as close as possible for pictures.

Presenting the Rock of Gibraltar! (recognize the Prudential logo?):

The town of Gibralter in the foreground and La Linea is in the background. Gibralter's airport runway is in between and you have to walk across it (carefully!) after you cross the border:

About halfway up the rock:

Some of our favorite monkey pictures:

Seville

2009-11-20T08:08:00.000-06:00

After a six-hour bus ride, we arrived in beautiful Seville, which is a relatively small city in southern Spain and just happens to be the sister city of Kansas City! The Country Club Plaza shopping area in Kansas City was modeled after Seville and we could see some resemblances in the architecture and tilework as we walked around the city. In Seville, we got more of a taste of life in Spain, including siestas (most of the shops close down for a 2-3 hours in the afternoon) and late mealtimes (lunch around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, dinner around 10 or 11 at night!). While we were on board for the siestas, we couldn't quite hold out that long to eat our meals!

La Giralda, the bell tower of the Cathedral of Seville:

At the Plaza de Espana:

Madrid

2009-11-17T08:07:00.000-06:00

Madrid was our first stop in what has turned out to be a whirlwind tour of Spain. It's the capital of Spain as well as the country's largest city, so three days wasn't quite enough to see all of it! We visited the famous Prado Museum, where we saw several famous paintings by Spanish artist Francisco Goya, and the enormous Royal Palace. We also ate some delicious Spanish food, including calamari, chorizo and ham - lots of ham. We had no idea how popular ham was in Spain - there's even a restaurant called the Ham Museum where you can eat your ham surrounded by what looked like hundreds of hams hanging from the ceiling. Mmm, appetizing.

Chorizo and calamari - lunch of champions:

An artist in action at the Prado:

There are lots of street performers around Europe, but Madrid had some of the best musicians and "statues" that we'd seen yet:

Trying out for the Spanish gymnastics team:

Blarney

2009-11-15T15:25:00.001-06:00

Just about a 20 minute bus ride outside of Cork is Blarney. There, we visited Blarney Castle and of course, we had to kiss the Blarney Stone. It remains to be seen whether we will be able to speak more eloquently in the future, but it was worth a try!

Blarney Castle:

The stairs leading to the top the castle where the Blarney Stone is - very steep (practically a ladder) and slippery:

This guy keeps you from falling through the hole while you lean back to kiss the Blarney stone - it's a long way down from there! Jesse said: "Give the guy a hug for preserving your life!":

The area surrounding the castle:

Cork

2009-11-14T18:10:00.002-06:00

After a few days in Dublin, we took a 4 1/2 bus trip to Cork, which is on the southern edge of the island. We got to see a lot of very pretty countryside during the bus ride - everything really was very green in Ireland, even in November! Cork seemed to be a nice little city, although we didn't spend too much time exploring the city itself. Mostly, we just walked the main town drag which had shopping and a nice pedestrian walkway. We were more than just a bit disappointed to find out that the butter museum was closed for the season, but perhaps it was for the best. Free samples may have spelled trouble for us.

View of town:

Dublin

2009-11-11T09:47:00.000-06:00

We didn't know a lot about Dublin before we visited, but it's a very interesting place with a turbulent history. It seemed to lack the beautiful architecture that we've seen in a lot of the other cities, which makes sense when you learn that it was a very poor country until fairly recently. The guide on the walking tour that we took compared the city to a poor person who won the lottery - in other words, when their economy took off in the 1990s, they spent their money on really silly things. One example he gave was a huge clock that they put in the riverbed that counted down to the new millennium - unfortunately, the river water was so dirty that the clock couldn't be read from above. Whoops!

City view:

Dublin Castle - a good example of the interesting architecture around the city (all five of the structures you see are part of the same building):

Traditional fish & chips - it's hard to tell from the picture, but this was a huge amount of food, all just dumped in a paper bag for takeaway:

Bath

2009-11-09T09:46:00.003-06:00

After Stonehenge, the second stop on our day trip out of London was at the beautiful town of Bath. The 2 main points of interest are Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths themselves. The atmosphere was very neat because since the weather was cool, you could see the steam rising out of the hot springs. It just made you imagine how the area was used thousands of years ago.

Bath Abbey:

Street Performer:

Roman Baths:

Fountain:

Amesbury

2009-11-09T08:44:00.006-06:00

The first stop on our day trip from London was in Amesbury to see Stonehenge. It was truly fascinating to see the structure itself and hear about all the history and conspiracy theories surrounding this great monument.

Stonehenge:

Heel Stone, aka Friar’s Heel, aka Sun-Stone:

London

2009-11-05T14:24:00.001-06:00

After traveling for close to 3 months in countries where English is not the primary language, it was a very nice change to be in London! Although we haven't really had any trouble finding someone who speaks English anywhere we've gone, it felt good to be able to read signs, menus, etc. by ourselves again. We felt so competent! :) There is a lot to see in London and we tried to see as much as we could: Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Tower Bridge, the London Bridge, and Buckingham Palace, to name a few. We also wanted to see a little bit of England other than London, so we took a day trip to see Stonehenge and also the town of Bath. England's countryside is really pretty, so I'm glad we were able to get out of the city even though we didn't have much time.

The Thames River and some ministry buildings (the sun actually does shine in London - just not very often!):

The Tower Bridge:

At Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard - it was just a little crowded:

Some of the yummy-looking food at our favorite market that we visited, the Borough Market:

My attempt to find Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station - it doesn't look quite like it does in the Harry Potter movies:

Istanbul

2009-10-28T13:23:00.000-05:00

We spent a full week in Istanbul and we really enjoyed every minute of it (even though it rained for about 85% of those minutes)! Other than the weather, everything was great about our visit - our hostel, the food, the people and of course, the sights. After a stretch of subpar hostels (mainly in Greece), we were very happy with our Istanbul hostel (Agora Guesthouse), which was a very good thing because we ended up spending a little more time than usual there as we waited out the frequent rain showers. Every morning, the hostel offered a free, all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with traditional Turkish breakfast foods like meat, cheese, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, dried apricots and figs, yogurt, fresh bread, and Turkish tea and coffee. We ate so much every morning that we usually didn't need to get anything for lunch!

The area of town where our hostel was located was the old city, or Sultanahmet. The highlights of the area include the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and the Grand Bazaar, among many other things. Since Istanbul is 99% Muslim, mosques are a very familiar sight throughout the city. We were very excited to see something other than a Catholic cathedral. As with other types of churches, visitors are welcome, but we did have to remove our shoes and women have to cover their hair before entering. The Blue Mosque (actually called Sultan Ahmed) was located very close to our hostel and therefore we clearly heard the call to prayer as it was broadcast through the mosque's loudspeakers five times a day.

Something that is unavoidable in Istanbul is shopping! There are several different bazaars located throughout the city, most notably the Grand Bazaar, which is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. It was overwhelming! In addition to the bazaars, most of the streets are lined with shops and the sidewalks are covered with people selling various goods laid out on the ground. They were very persistent in their attempts to sell us everything from packets of tissues to scarves to rugs.

Istanbul is the only city in the world that spans two continents. Although the old city and most of the sights are on the European side, we crossed the Bosphorus Strait one day to visit the Asia side of the city. There is a bridge that stretches between the two continents, but we took the ferry across, which took about 20 minutes. The Asian side was much less touristy - we walked through some neighborhoods (including one where the local kids gathered around and mistook Jesse for Michael Jackson - hmm...) and the smaller local markets before heading back over to the European side.

Our sleeper room on the train from Thessaloniki to Istanbul, where we spent 15 hours (no, Jesse has not grown that much - the room really was that tiny!):

A small portion of the Grand Bazaar (it has over 4,000 shops in total):

At the Egyptian Bazaar (also known as the Spice Bazaar):

Outside the Blue Mosque:

Inside the Blue Mosque:

Hagia Sofia, which was the largest cathedral in the world for almost a thousand years and then was turned into a mosque:

The Galata bridge, which connects the two European parts of the city and is lined with fisherman:

Jesse with the bridge from Europe to Asia in the background:

View of the Asian side of the city from our ferry:

What time is it? Time to enjoy a favorite local snack, called a simit, which is similar to a toasted sesame bagel:

A whirling dervish performing at a restaurant:

View from the terrace of our hostel - I wish we'd had more sunny days to enjoy it:

Puffy bread served before our meal at one restaurant - the expression on Jesse's face is: will we be able to eat the whole thing!? answer: yes.

Waiting for our chicken doner (sandwich), one of our favorite things to eat in Istanbul:

One of the many stray dogs in the city - this one adopted us and spent part of a day following us across town:

Thessaloniki

2009-10-26T13:04:00.000-05:00

After leaving Naxos, we were faced with the prospect of a 20-hour train ride from Athens to our next destination. Since that didn't sound like much fun, we decided to split it up and spend one night in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. While we were there, we took in the city's main landmark, The White Tower, and enjoyed walking along the coastline and through the busy streets. The town seemed particularly busy when we were there because the next day was Ochi Day, a national holiday that commemorates Greece's decision to refuse to let Axis forces occupy the country during World War II. We saw lots of military personnel who were in town to participate in a big parade to mark the holiday.

The White Tower (a prison where mass executions took place during the period of Ottoman rule):

Naxos

2009-10-22T06:30:00.000-05:00

Since a visit to Greece didn't seem complete without seeing at least one of the islands, we decided to take a 5 1/2 hour ferry trip to Naxos. Naxos is a major tourist destination during the high season, but since we visited just after that, we got the best of both worlds: the weather was still good (mid-70s and sunny for 2 of our 3 days there) and the prices were fairly low. St. George beach was exactly 56 seconds (walking at a leisurely pace) from our the front door of our hotel and we took full advantage of it! The water was a little chilly, but that didn't stop Jesse from getting some swimming in.

Views of Naxos:

The only "ancient" thing we saw in Naxos, a temple entrance called Portara:

Lauren and the sea:

Jesse and the sea:

Jesse's whole fish mixed platter (and Lauren's Greek salad):

Athens

2009-10-18T06:15:00.000-05:00

We found Athens to be a study in contrasts. On the one hand, the city is (obviously) full of history and ancient landmarks that are fascinating to see and to learn about. On the other hand, we found the "non-ancient" parts of the city to be a little rougher (i.e. more litter, smog, stray dogs & cats, etc.) than some of the other cities that we have seen. Despite the downsides, we really liked the feeling of the city - the people were friendly, the transportation systems were good and the weather and the food were great!

Athens:

Temple of Olympian Zeus. Construction began in the 6th century B.C. but wasn't completed until the 2nd century A.D. Of the original 104 columns, 16 remain (15 standing, 1 tumbled):

View of temple from the Acropolis:

Above the Theatre of Dionysus, which was built in 325 B.C.:

Waiting for the show to start:

The Parthenon, which is undergoing renovations:

At the 1896 Olympic stadium:

Our favorite thing to eat while we were in Athens - pitas from a place right by our hostel:

Rome

2009-10-13T10:25:00.000-05:00

After the calm and quiet of Lucerne, we were well rested and ready for some activity and Rome didn't let us down! There are so many things to see and do in the city and we kept very busy during our five days there. We saw all the must-see tourist sites, including the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, St. Peters Basilica and the Sistine Chapel at Vatican City, Piazza Navona, and the Trevi Fountain. Whew! In between all the major historical sights, we wandered the streets of the city, which are full of expensive shops, street vendors, cafes, and of course, beautiful Italian people. We also had some great food while we were in Rome. When we cooked in at our hostel, we had fresh pasta from the local market with pesto and shavings of real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. There was also a small pizza place right across from our hostel where we had margherita pizza that was made with a thin and crispy crust and came right out of the wood-fired oven. Yum!

The Colosseum:

The Pantheon:

St. Peters Basilica:

A group of monks outside St. Peters:

Trevi fountain, where we both tossed coins in over our shoulders to ensure that we would return to Rome one day:

On our last day, we came across a huge anti-racism protest. It's a good cause, so we joined in the march!

Lucerne

2009-10-10T10:06:00.000-05:00

Lucerne is a small city about an hour away from Zurich by train. Both the town and the surrounding scenery are very beautiful, but we discovered that October may not be the ideal month in terms of temperature! The weather for most of our stay was chilly (40s and 50s) and overcast, raining off and on for 2 of our 3 days there. When it wasn't raining, we saw the sights of the town, including the two main attractions, the Lion of Lucerne and The Chapel Bridge. The lion commemorates the Swiss Guard massacred during the French Revolution and was described by Mark Twain as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world." I couldn't have said it better myself! The Chapel Bridge was constructed in 1333 and is said to be the oldest wooden bridge in Europe. While the bridge and the lion were neat to see, my favorite part of Switzerland just might have been the chocolate! Although one of the most famous (and expensive) brands of Swiss chocolate is Lindt, we quickly discovered that even the store-brand chocolate bars at the local supermarkets are very high quality and delicious!

Lion of Lucerne:

The Chapel Bridge:

Pretty pictures of the town:

Zurich

2009-10-08T12:54:00.000-05:00

After Munich, we had a short stay in Zurich before heading to our ultimate destination in Switzerland (Lucerne). Our hostel was located right in the middle of the old part of the city, where there were several nice shops and resturants nearby.

Steeple of St. Peter, which has the largest church clock face in Europe:

Jesse in a very nice grocery store, trying to convince me to buy this $100 Toblerone bar:

Fussen

2009-10-07T15:25:00.003-05:00

Since we wanted to squeeze every last bit of value out of our 1-day train pass, we continued our busy day by training for 2 hours over to Fussen to see Neuschwanstein Castle. As previously noted, this castle was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyworld. Neat! The actual transport was a bit of a rush. We had to get off the train, figure out the bus to the castle (which turned out to be the last one of the day), jump out of the bus, run up a hill for about 25 minutes, snap a bunch of photos before the sunlight went away, and finally run back down the hill to catch the last return bus. Whew. It was tiring, but we were glad to have seen it all!

Neuschwanstein Castle:

Views of the countryside surrounding Neuschwanstein Castle:

Ingolstadt

2009-10-07T09:52:00.003-05:00

One of the days when we were in Munich, we decided to get a 1-day pass for the trains servicing the surrounding area. We spent the morning touring the Audi Headquarters & Museum in Ingolstadt. Jesse was in car heaven. The town itself was also quite nice. Mostly it was suburban houses, and it had a nice little downtown area too. Then, in order to get full use of our train pass, we hurried to catch the train back into Munich to jump on another train further into Bavaria.

Audi Headquarters:

The first Audi (although technically made by its predecessor company), from 1903:

1982 Audi Quattro:

Munich

2009-10-05T12:06:00.005-05:00

When we were in Berlin, we were mapping out our upcoming travels and thought that it made sense to visit Munich then, since we were in the area. As it turned out, they were in the midst of a small festival called Oktoberfest (you may have heard of it!) and unless we wanted to sleep in a tent for $90/night, there was nowhere in the city to stay! So, we decided on a different route and ended up arriving in Munich the day after Oktoberfest ended.

As far as I can tell though, the party in Munich never ends! We had a great time seeing the sights in the city and learned a lot about its history on a 3-hour walking tour. The next day, we bought a one-day Bavaria train pass and made the most of it! First we rode an hour north of the city to visit the Audi headquarters and museum in Ingolstadt. From there, we went back through Munich and rode 2 hours southwest to Fussen to see Neuschwanstein Castle (the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyworld). It was a lot to do in one day, but we were glad we got to see so much of the beautiful Bavarian countryside.

Statue of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (according to our tour guide, the beer cans in his hand are removed by cleaning crews every Sunday night, but reappear in his hand every Monday morning!):

Venice

2009-10-02T11:44:00.000-05:00

Well, Venice was...Venice! It is a little bit like visiting Disneyworld, where everything is very pretty and quaint, but nothing feels quite real. I even read that during the peak tourist season, the city actually has more tourists than residents! Since it's very expensive to stay on the island itself, we stayed on the mainland in a part of Venice called Mestre. Our hotel was only a 15 minute bus ride away from the island, but it was a very different world where normal people actually lived and worked. We enjoyed venturing into Venice during the day, walking the tiny streets and window shopping in all the expensive shops, but it was nice to return at the end of the day to our quieter part of town.

One of the many gondoliers we saw throughout the city (we decided not to pay the exorbitant prices to take a ride ourselves!):

St. Mark's Square and St. Mark's Basilica:

The Grand Canal:

Sunset over a canal:

Me over a canal:

Ljubljana

2009-09-29T14:43:00.000-05:00

Ljubljana, Slovenia was a destination that was decided upon by default. It is one of the only places (in the direction we wanted to go) that we could get to by train from Split without using up more than one day on our Eurail passes! Luckily, it's a very nice little city and was a good place to spend a day or two. The main attraction is Ljubljana Castle, which we reached by climbing up a steep hill (there's a funicular to the top, but that seemed like cheating!). The view from the top was beautiful, although it was a little hazy on the day we visited. Another main attraction of the city is Dragon Bridge, which stems from the legend of the creation of the city. According to the story, the Greek hero Jason was sailing to the Adriatic Sea and was stopped by a large swamp where he fought and killed a dragon. Jason became Ljubljana's first resident, and the dragon became the symbol of the city.

View of the city from the castle:

The castle:

Feeding time:

The Dragon Bridge:

The Fransican Church, in the city square:

Dubrovnik

2009-09-23T13:21:00.000-05:00

From Split, we took a five-hour bus ride south to Dubrovnik. I had first heard of the town from some fellow travelers in Prague, but as it turns out, Dubrovnik is one of the most popular tourist resorts on the Mediterranean. I guess I haven't spent enough time watching the Travel Channel! Even though it's a very popular tourist destination, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that it's actually a very affordable place. For less than $50/night, we had a room at Apartment Gordana, which was actually a private home with three guest rooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen. The owner (Gordana) lived in the home just above ours with her mother and she was a wonderful hostess. She and her mother even made us a special dinner one evening, which we enjoyed on our private terrace. You don't get that kind of treatment everywhere!

We spent a day wandering around the old city, which is very well-preserved, despite being heavily bombed during the war in the 90's. Another day was spent on an excursion to the nearby island of Lopud, where we spent a great day at the beach. The weather was beautiful every day that we were there, so we tried to take full advantage of outdoor activities. (Although we also got in plenty of naps and reading time as well!).

A much better picture of the old city than I could have taken (thank you Wikitravel!):

Views from our terrace at the apartment:

View of the old city from the stairs leading down to it:

On a ferry to Lopud island:

The beach at Lopud:

With our hostess Gordana (middle), our fellow guest Gail from Australia, and Gordana's mother (looking at this picture made me realize that my 90 SPF sunscreen is really doing its job):

Split

2009-09-22T13:48:00.000-05:00

Before we began our trip, Croatia wasn't even a place we had given much thought about visiting. However, we had heard great things about it from several other travelers, so we decided it would be well worth the trip. And we were right! After our mis-adventure getting into the country, the first planned stop was Split, which is an ancient port city. One of the most interesting things to see in Split is the Diocletian palace. Built at the turn of the fourth century, there are now many hotels, restaurants and other businesses within the palace walls and some people still actually live there as well. Another thing will we enjoyed while we were there was the bustling outdoor market that was between our hostel and the palace. There were hundreds of stalls where people were selling everything from fruits and vegetables to lingerie to pig's ears. When you walk through, the stall owners all call out to you, trying to get you to buy whatever they're selling. Split also had a very nice beach, where Jesse swam in the sea and I spent some time reading and soaking up the shade.

Split:

The harbor, with the palace in the background:

The cathedral inside the palace:

A home inside the palace walls:

A small part of the market:

Enjoying the shade and my Kindle (thanks again, Lesley and Zach!) at the beach:

Zagreb

2009-09-21T21:11:00.005-05:00

The train ride from Vienna into Croatia turned out to be a bit more than we bargained for. We left Vienna in the morning with the intention of arriving in Split by evening to check in to our hostel. However, on the way there, the train hit a person. We're not sure exactly the details of what happened, but the ride ended up being delayed there for 3 hours while the police did investigations. During the delay, we meet a girl from Japan who was traveling around Europe, and she was also heading to Split that evening.

By the time we got to Zagreb, we had missed our connecting train to Split, so we had an evening to spend in town. We visited with our new friend and walked around the old town area which ended up being quite nice. We stopped for a dinner in a Chinese restaurant, and made our way back to the train station to catch the overnight train to Split. In the end, we enjoyed our unexpected evening stopover in Zagreb.

Zagreb:

Vienna

2009-09-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

Vienna was a quick stop (just two full days), but we made the most of our time there. On our first day, we spent a couple of hours wandering through the Naschmarkt, which is a large outdoor market with lots of gourmet (and not-so gourmet) foods, restaurants and pretty much anything else you might want to buy. After that, we walked into the old city and saw many of the city's famous sites, including St. Stephan's Cathedral. Construction on the church first began in 1147, but the cathedral's trademark patterned roof wasn't added until 1952. We spent our second day in Vienna exploring the area and beautiful gardens around the Schonbrunn Palace, which is a former royal summer residence. The surrounding gardens are now a place where tourists and locals can go to enjoy beautiful flowers and trees, fresh air, and a great view of the city.

St. Stephan's Cathedral:

Getting in some playtime at the park:

At Schonbrunn Palace:

Prague

2009-09-14T04:51:00.000-05:00

Prague has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Central Europe and it was very crowded with other tourists, but that didn't detract from the beauty of the city. As usual, we spent most of our time just walking around the city, enjoying all of the sights and trying to take in as much as we could. Although Prague may not have been quite as clean and perfect as some of the other cities we've visited, it had a lot of character and we enjoyed seeing a different side of Europe than what we had seen so far on the trip.

Tyn Church in Old Town Square:

Astronomical clock in Old Town Square:

Prague Castle:

Cathedral at Prague Castle:

View of the city from Prague Castle:

Traditional dinner out at Pivovarsky Dum (roast pork with sauerkraut and dumplings on the top, sliced beef with dumplings on the bottom):

Berlin

2009-09-10T06:05:00.000-05:00

After leaving Stockholm around 8:30 in the morning, we traveled on three different trains and one ferry to arrive in Berlin after 11 that night. It was exhausting! Once recovered from our long day and night of traveling, we set out to see the sights of Berlin. The weather was beautiful on our first day and we walked throughout the city, stopping to see the Berlin Wall Memorial, the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie, among other sites. The following day, we took the train (well, three different trains and one bus - travel in Germany is not easy!) to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside the city. Unlike the previous day, it was cold and rainy, which seemed appropriate for visiting such a place. Although most of the original buildings were torn down after the camp was no longer in use, there were a few buildings that remained and gave us a picture of what it had been like for the prisoners. While the visit to Berlin may not have been entirely pleasant, we did learn a lot about the history of the city and how it is still recovering from its turbulent past.

At the Brandenburg gate:

Berlin Wall memorial:

Checkpoint Charlie:

Barracks at Sachsenhausen:

Stockholm

2009-09-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

When we arrived in Stockholm, we discovered something that we'd really missed in Copenhagen: the sun! The weather was perfect for our entire stay in Sweden. Our hostel (Castanea Old Town Hostel) was located on the island of Gamla Stan, which was central to everywhere we wanted to go. My favorite place that we visited was Skansen, which is an open air museum and zoo that was founded in 1891. There is a full-replica of a 19th century Swedish town, and many of the buildings are authentic and were transplanted from their original locations around Sweden to Skansen. Jesse's favorite was the Nobel Museum (and I liked it too because I could sit on a cushioned seat and watch movies about the winners!). On our last night, we went out for a nice dinner of traditional Swedish dishes. Jesse had meatballs with whipped potatoes and I had thinly sliced salmon that had been lightly cured with salt and dill potatoes. Both dishes were delicious and a very nice change from our usual sandwiches! Overall, Stockholm was awesome and was definitely worth the detour up into Scandinavia.

The tiny street our hostel was on:

Stockholm at sunset:

At Skansen:

Our delicious Swedish meal at Pelikan Restaurant:

Copenhagen

2009-08-30T08:03:00.000-05:00

Since we had spent the first couple of weeks of the trip traveling every few days, we decided to make our next stay a little longer so that we could take some time to relax. After reading that Copenhagen is one of the most enjoyable cities in Europe, we thought it would be the perfect place to spend 7 days. Well...don't believe everything you read! Although Copenhagen is a very nice city and would be a great place to live, it does have a couple of major drawbacks for travelers: the weather and the prices. Almost every day was cool, windy, cloudy and had rain for at least some portion of the day. We did have one perfect weather day (sunny and in the high 70's) and we took full advantage by taking the metro to the beach at Amager Strandpark. It was beautiful! The beach is actually on an artificial island that was built in 2005, but it feels just like a real beach. The water was too cold to get in, but we enjoyed walking in the sand and watching the wind and kite surfers. The second challenge that we encountered was the prices...most things seemed to cost about double what they would cost at home. For example, a cup of hot chocolate at a coffee bar was about $8 and the dinner entrees in most restaurants were $25-$30. Needless to say, we didn't do much eating out! We also tried to take full advantage of the various free activities/museums that the city offered, including the National Museum, the Museum of Danish Resistance, and the Danish Design Center. As always, we spent a lot of our time just walking around the city and enjoying the sights.

Our the night train from Amsterdam to Copenhagen, where we spent approximately 12 hours sharing this closet with 4 other people:

The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen harbor (from the Hans Christian Andersen story):

At the beach:

Trying out the indoor swings at the "It's a Small World" exhibition at the Danish Design Center:

Assistens Cemetery, where we saw the graves of Hans Christian Andersen and Niels Bohr:

Rosenborg Castle in The King's Garden, which was used as a royal residence until around 1710:

Amsterdam

2009-08-26T00:55:00.000-05:00

After Ghent, we continued heading north to Amsterdam, which was actually kind of similar to Ghent, just on a larger scale. More canals, more cobble-stoned streets, more beautiful old buildings. We really enjoyed the city and we especially loved the bed & breakfast that we stayed at (Seven Windmills Bed & Breakfast). We had a kitchen, dining room, living room, parlor, bedroom and bathroom all to ourselves! It was a very welcome change after sharing rooms with 2 other people (in Paris) and 6 other people (in Ghent). The owner of the b&b was great, too - she even took us on a 3-hour walking tour of the city at no charge. It was great to hear about the city from a local perspective and really helped us get a feel for the city. When we were on our own, we visited the Anne Frank house (where she and her family hid during World War II) and the Van Gogh museum, both of which were great.

Seven Windmills Bed and Breakfast. (1st & 2nd floors of the middle building):

Living Room:

A view of the canal from the bridge nearest our b&b:

Jesse's afternoon snack, raw herring from a street vendor:

Ghent

2009-08-24T23:10:00.000-05:00

After the whirlwind that was Paris, we decided to take a couple of days to explore a quieter part of Europe and Ghent, Belgium was the perfect choice. Never heard of Ghent before? Neither had we! We found it through some internet research and ended up loving it. Ghent is a college town of about a quarter of a million people and is a 30-minute train ride away from Brussels. We spent the majority of our time just wandering around the canals and cobble-stoned streets and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. We tried all the local specialties, including chocolate, fries, and of course, waffles! The waffles were especially delicious...sweeter than the American version and covered with powdered sugar and whipped cream. Yum! Our hostel in Ghent was also very cool - it was on a barge!

Our hostel (Ecohostel Andromeda):

Pretty canals and old buildings:

Paris

2009-08-19T15:00:00.000-05:00

We kicked off our trip with five days in Paris and believe me, five days is not long enough to see everything there is to see there! We went to as many museums, churchs and landmarks as we could and spent the rest of our time walking around the city, just enjoying the sights. By the time we left, we were exhausted (the constant noise and construction outside the window of our hostel room might have also contributed to our lack of sleep!). Overall, a great start to our trip.

Absolute Paris Hostel:

Bunks:

Sacre Coeur:

American Cathedral, where my grandparents got married during World War II:

Inside of American Cathedral:

Arc de Triumphe:

Eiffel Tower: