London - Last Place before heading home to the States

We have been to London once before (when we were so young and carefree) that we weren’t too keen in doing the touristy things. We did see a couple of touristy places like the London Eye, but we mostly just enjoyed getting to know and hang out with Londoners as well as immersing ourselves in the London scene. On our first night, we were able to party with our British friends that we met 2 months prior in Burgundy. It was a super fun night. Then, the next evening we got to hear Paul’s (a friend of Lisa) band Afro funk. Afrofunk is a very cool and awesome band.

In one day we hit the following places: Piccadilly Circus, the covenant garden, Soho, Trafalgar Square, England’s National Art Museum, square of the parliament, Kensington garden - beautiful, and Notting Hill. For posterity’s sake, we did our last new europe tour, where we walked around London and saw the Big Ben, WestMinister Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, House of Parliament and etc... In the midst of our tour, we heard the breaking news that Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged. Man…it was the biggest news EVER…it was everywhere and people were lining up outside of the entrance of Prince William’s house. We went past it in our tour to get a picture of the guards…it was funny to see all the hoopla. We ended our last night of traveling at a pub in Brixton called the Rest is Noise, which was a cool place.

Traveling has been an unbelievable experience for the both of us. This adventure has stretched and grown us in countless ways. We want to thank all of you that have supported us through prayer and encouragement. Our travel days are not over. We have just begun... Next Stop: Australia and New Zealand - Here we come!!!!

Israel

Our first day in Israel started at 3am and did not end until 2 am the next day. To say the least it was a fun filled but jam packed day. It began with Miles picking us at the Tel Aviv airport at 3 AM and driving for about an hour to Ramallah, where he lives in the West Bank. Later on in the morning, we went to Jerusalem (the old city part) , where we saw the Western Wall (wailing wall), walked along the Via Delarosa, where Jesus walked with the crucifix; and the Church of the Sephlecure, where we had the unique opportunity to touch the stone where Jesus’ body was washed and the rock where the cross was placed on. We also visited a few old churches and an underground well place, where they used to draw water in the past. This underground well place was amazing because of its acoustics. We (Miles, Joyce and 2 fortunate tourists) were given a special performance by Joh, where she sang Amazing Grace for us. The walls of the cavern bounced her beautiful voice all around us creating a peaceful and serene atmosphere. Our ears were filled with her awesome voice and we did not want it to end. For me (Joh),it was an amazing feeling to sing there and hear my voice bouncing off the rock walls. At night, we went out to Tel Aviv for an incredible seafood dinner by the water and then later on met up with Miles’ friends and hit a local bar. And so our first day of Israel came to an end at 2 AM the following day. It was an awesome day.

The next day we proceeded towards the north of Israel, where we ventured towards Nazareth, the city that Jesus grew up. We went to the Basilica of the Annunciation, where the cave (where Mary received the message from the angel, Gabriel) is located and visited Joseph’s chapel as well. Then, we moved onto Tiberius, which is near the Sea of Galilee. We had a nice dinner by the Sea of Galilee. The following day, we drove off to Haiffi where we went to see the famous Bahai Gardens, which were amazing. Bahai is a religion that came after Islam. It is a combination of christianity, judiasm, druism, and islam. The garden has 18 tiers and the gardens are magnificently kept. From Haiffi, we went to Akko, an incredible city that is built within the ruins of the old city. We had a couple of drinks at a local Arab place, where there was traditional music playing and people dancing. The music was really great! We had the most amazing dinner EVER at Uri Buri. It was just INCREDIBLE!!! After dinner, we walked around Akko and stumbled upon an Arab Israeli wedding, where we were allowed to crash and had lots of fun.

The next day we went to see more of the Sea of Galilee, the church of the Beatitude and Capernaum. The church of the beatitude grounds were beautiful and had a great view of the Sea of Galilee. After enjoying the gorgeous view, we were off to Capernaum, the place that Jesus performed many miracles. It was unreal to see the ruins of the church and the area where he preached. It was also incredible to sit along the shore lines of the Sea of Galilee, where we could touch the water, the same water in which Jesus walked upon 2000 years ago. It was surreal to see the Bible come to life. AMAZING!

We got to walk around Ramallah where Miles lives, which was interesting. It’s a beautiful city but it is still in the midst of development. Since we had to go back and forth between the West Bank and Israel, we could see the difference between these two areas. At first, it was a bit daunting to go through the check points in order to pass between the West Bank and Israel; but we became accustomed to it – it is just a part of everyday life there. It is sad to see so much strife and racism in an area, where it’s the mecca for many religious beliefs.

We went to Jericho, which is the oldest city - it’s 10,000 years old. We got to check out the tree where Jesus prayed at and the montesary, which is up on a hill. Then, Joh drove us to Masada and the Dead Sea. Masada is an incredible place, where King Herod built a fortress on the side of a cliff. For many Jews, this place symbolizes the determination of Jews to be free in their own land. Then, we went to Eui, where we got to chill and swim in the Dead Sea. It was a really cool feeling to be floating no matter what in the Dead Sea.

We also got to visit three wineries in Israel which was lots of fun. We got to taste some pretty good wines and bought a couple of bottles as well. Then we ended the evening with traditional Arab food that was delicious.

On our final full day in Israel, we went to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, and saw the star of David and the place that he was born. Afterwards, we walked some more in Jerusalem and also drove through the Mount of Olives. Miles ended our trip by with a fun BBQ. We were warned about how tough it is to get through all of the security at the Tel Aviv airport but thank God that we were able to breeze through it.  Thanks Miles for such a wonderful visit to Israel!

Siena and San Giormionni

 

Our final days in Italy were spent in the small town of Siena and a day trip out to San Gimignano.  Unfortunately, most of our final days were in the rain, but the sun finally came out on our last 2 days in Italy.

San Gimignano 

 
San Gimignano is a small walled in town with lots of medieval towers, which reminded us a bit of Cortona. It has cute churches, a great view of the countryside of tuscany, and several piazzas. A cool piazza is called the Piazza della Cisterna, named after the underground cistern in the middle of the piazza. San Gimignano is small enough town to see the sights and do lots of shopping.

Siena

Siena is a small city/town with lots of cool medieval architecture. We saw the Piazza Del Campo, the Tower, Siena's duomo (a large and beautiful cathedral), and the Piazza Salimbeni. Siena is famous for the Il Palio, a town horse race that occurs twice a year in the Piazza Del Campo. We also finished all of our Italian shopping. We ate twice at this fantastic sandwich restaurant/bar and had our last Italian meal at a chic restaurant. Our last Italian meal was delicious, where we had great pasta dishes, a yummy duck dish, a tasty dessert and awesome red wine. It was a great end to our last night in Italy. We were incredibly sad to leave Italy because we LOVE it. We miss you, Italy.

San Rocco - 9km outside of Siena

Oh my goodness, the countryside of Tuscany is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  We stayed at this beautiful villa called, Fattorini Caviorigni.  We want to purchase a villa outside of Siena, harvest olives and produce our wine here.  Seriously, it is SIC out here!  We had five days of utter bliss.  During our first two days here, we met an awesome mother and daughter, who were traveling around Italy and Spain.  We had great conversations with them over breakfast and dinner.  On our last day, we also met a woman, Susan, who was traveling for 6 months, and had a fun time with her.  Mainly, we just chilled here.  We did lots of walking and biking around the countryside area.  It was the perfect place for us to relax, read, reflect and slow down.

Cortona

 Love,Love, Love this small town in Tuscany!  Hands down, it has the best and most delicious food in Tuscany.  Every restaurant we ate at was amazing and completely affordable.  I know we’ve stated in other blog entries about how delicious the food is in every town but Cortona truly is the best out of all of them. The scenery is just as amazing as the food, and the town is incredibly serene.  We can completely understand why Frances Mayes and her husband decided to purchase a villa in Cortona  and made it their part time home.  We would too if we could afford it.  Basically, we just walked around the city and ate ALOT!
   One night by chance, we met Frances May's husband, Ed, and his three sisters at a restaurant.  At first, we didn't know who he was until his eldest sister asked us if we had seen Bramasole (the Under the Tuscan Sun villa), which we hadn't yet.  Then, she proceeded to tell us that Ed was the owner of Bramasole and the husband of Frances Mayes.  It was such a pleasure meeting them. They are really great people. They also directed us to a restaurant that has the BEST pasta and Tiramisu EVER!!! 

Perugia and Florence

Chocolate Festival in Perugia

Christy, Joyce and I traveled to Perugia from Florence. Perugia is known for it's chocolate and is a quaint town in Tuscany.  It's a small city and located up on a hill, so its a bit chilly.  There were loads of chocolate vendors from Italy, Germany, Spain, and all over Europe at the festival. The idea of the chocolate festival was born out of the Oktoberfest in Munich, where instead of lots of beer there’s lots of chocolate. It was loads of fun and we got to hang out with Kamalia and her cool friend, Hannah (an exchange student from London).  Kamalia and Hannah took us to a delicious gelato place called Grom, which was excellent!  It was a great day in Perugia.  FYI: Had the BEST pesto linguini pasta at Perugia…yummy goodness!!!

 

Florence

Florence is a nice, calm and pretty city.  This was our final big city in Italy.  The next couple of days were filled with touristy attractions.  Here are the highlights: The Duomo, climbed up the dome of the Duomo (which consists of 425 stairs), Ponte Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery (which holds all of the beautiful Renaissance paintings), and the Academia (which holds the stunning Michelangelo's statue of David).  We treated ourselves to an abridged opera of La Boheme at St. Mark's English Cathedral, which included a narrator, four singers and an amazing pianist.  We also did lots of shopping and scored some sweet leather goods (at least I (Joh) scored some really cool leather goods).  I finally got to go on a couple of runs around the city and it was amazing. I ran along the Ponte Vechhio besides the river and then around the duomo, which was so awesome!  We thought that Florence was a really sweet city.

Pisa

Many people told us to skip over Pisa because it's not worth seeing some “old leaning tower”.  Well, we beg to differ and think that seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa (during the day and night) was great.  We loved it! We had lots of fun walking around the city, taking a million pics of the Tower, Duomo, and parks and of course eating some fabulous food. Granted, you only need to spend a day and a night in Pisa but it’s worth a short visit.  

At our hostel, we met some awesome people (a crazy guy from Sweden and an old guy from South Africa) and… surprise, Australians.  For a while, we began to wonder if Aussies traveled to Italy and we finally met our first Aussie couple back in Cinque Terre and some Aussie dudes at our hostel in Pisa.  The best part was meeting our roommates in our 4 bed female dorm.  Our new friends, Christy (from the States) and Kamila (from Poland), were great!  Kamila is an exchange student studying in Perugia and Christy is traveling Italy for 3 months.  Kamila told us about the Chocolate Festival being held in Perugia for a week.  She suggested that we check it out and visit her as well.  Since Christy's schedule was flexible, she decided to join us to travel to Perugia.

Cinque Terre - Montorosso, Vernazza, Cornelia, Manarola & Riogimmiore

Cinque Terre (the 5 villages) is a place of outdoor beauty and goodness.  All 5 towns are unique, beautiful and amazing.  There are two ways to travel between these towns: hiking or taking the train.  The 5 towns (in order) along the coast are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

We decided to make Monterosso our home base.  It is charming, cute town with a great sandy beach.  The food here is delicious.  We never ate one bad meal here.  All the restaurants that we ate at had incredibly delicious food. At one restaurant, we had mussels that were to die for.  We thought that the mussels were great in Nice, but Montorosso's mussels blows Nice's out of the water.  We also stumbled upon an amazing pizzeria that had the BEST pizza (sorry Naples but it was really that GOOD)! Suffice it to say, we ate really well in Montorosso.

We decided to hike between all 5 towns.  Unfortunately, we couldn't hike between Corniglia and Manarola because of a mudslide.  So, we decided to start with the last town, Riomaggiore by taking the train and explored this area.  This place has pebble beaches and huge rocks out by the water, where you can sunbathe, relax, read, write and etc... We had to cross the Via Dell'Amore or the "bridge of love", which was nicely paved (easy stroll), to get to Manarola.  Manarola was also a nice cute little village and had great views as well.  We spent some time looking around and then headed back to Montorosso via train, where as you guess, we ate a yummy meal.

Our main hike was from Montorrosso to Vernazza and to Corniglia.  This was definitely a hike (about medium level) with the steep rock steps and hills.  The view from the hiking was incredible and mesmerizing!  The sea was so blue and gorgeous!   Vernanzza was full of tourists and bit too crowded for our taste so it was a pit stop before heading to Corniglia. In contrast, Corniglia is small, calm and relaxing. Many guidebooks overlook Corniglia, however, we believe otherwise.  We loved Corniglia because of its peacefulness, great artsy shops, and beauty. 

Hiking through the villages was one of the best days that we’ve had!  It was refreshing to be out in nature and see all of the beautiful scenery.  Afterwards, we decided to treat ourselves and splurged on dinner in Montorosso by going to Miky's.  It was fantastic and worth every euro.  We also met an amazing couple from Colorado, who we basically had dinner with because they were sitting right next to us.  Overall, Cinque Terre is the place for R&R and the great outdoors. 

So far...Venice and Cinque Terre our favorite places in Italy!

Venice

Venice is one of our favorite cities in Italy.  The moment we entered this "city of water" on a ferry, we fell in love with it.  It is calm, peaceful and lovely.  There are no cars, motorbikes, cyclists, buses, and trains in Venice.  There are only two modes of transportation: your legs and boat/ferry.  It was nice to be part of a community that functioned without motorized vehicles.

Venice is a city designed like a maze, because it is extremely easy to get lost, which is part of the fun.  On our meanderings, we went to St. Marco's square, the duomo and the Rialto bridge.  St Mark's square was music to our ears because of the dueling orchestras fighting it out by playing movie soundtracks, classical music and sterotypical Italian music.  The dumo was pretty and located in St. Marco's square.  Our last tourist attraction was the Rialto bridge, which is the oldest bridge in Venice and filled with lots of shops and restaurants.

On one of our nights, we organized our own pub crawl, which is really a wine crawl.  We had SO MUCH FUN (maybe a bit too much)!!!  We went to four different places and had glasses of red wine and some Venetian fried finger foods.  At our last stop, we met some really cool Americans ladies, who have been friends for over 30 years, doing a girls trip to Italy.  We also took pics w/ some fun Italian guys and then hung out with some more Americans and Italians. As mentioned above, a very fun night.

In our Rome post, we mentioned that the gelato in Rome was just a precursor of what was to come.  Well, in Venice, we had the BEST (one of the best) gelato at The Boutique Gelato.  It was great yumminess!!!!

Naples, Pompeii and Sorrento within 3 days

From Rome, the three amigos ventured off to Naples, Pompeii and Sorrento. We spent two days in Naples and one day exploring both Pompeii and Sorrento. Honestly, at first none of us were impressed with Naples (at least with the old historic district). We disliked Naples because it was gritty, noisy, and dirty. We also feared for our lives from being run down by motor bikes that don't stop, even if you have the right of way. The only two things that we liked in Naples were the delicious food (esp. the pizza) and the great B&B place that we stayed at.

However, Naples redeemed itself the last day when we ventured out to the Harbor area. The harbor area of Naples is the polar opposite of the historic district. It was gorgeous, calm and clean. It was also nice to not fear for our lives because of crazy motorbikes. At the harbor area, we walked up to a castle, where we were able to see beautiful views of the ocean, surrounding cities (i.e. capri) and the harbor. Then we walked down about 3 to 4 miles down a winding road to the water/harbor. We were happy to discover the prettier side of Naples.

During the second day at Naples, we took a day trip to visit both Pompeii and Sorrento. We explored the ruins of Pompeii, which was awesome. We saw the beautiful frescoes. the amphitheater, numerous temple ruins and how people lived their lives during A.D. Unfortunately, when we got to Sorrento, it started to rain, which hindered our sightseeing. However, it didn't prevent us from shopping, which was lots of fun. We all left Sorrento with wonderful treasures.

We ended our last night in Naples hanging out a local bar and making friends with the staff. We were sad to leave Naples but were eager for some peace and quiet in Rome, where Jen was flying out from to go to Greece and we took the train to Venice.

ROME

We took an overnight train from Munich to Rome, Italy...it was the worst sleep ever!  Joyce and I were excited to finally get to Italy and to meet up with our friend, Jen Diggins, who was joining our travel adventures for 8 days.  We (Joh, Joyce and Jen) met up at the apartment that we rented in Rome (sleepinitaly.com is a great website), which was located near the Spanish steps.  We didn't waste any time during our first full day in Rome.  We saw the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Vatican museum (which has the Sistine Chapel).  Joyce commented on how the paintings on the Sistine Chapel were like 3D art.  And I have to agree that the pictures just popped out into your face.  Also, the Sistine Chapel is Michelangelo's interpretation of the fall and redemption of man through God. It was absolutely beautiful and a definite highlight of Rome.

 I have to say that most of our trip in Rome was hitting all of the touristy spots (which it was hard not too), because of the wealth of ancient Roman history and ruins that you must see.  We saw the Colosseum, the Forum, Palestine Hill, Trevi fountain (at night), St. Peter's Basilica - where we climbed the dome, which  has a spectacular view of Rome, the Borghese Gallery - which has amazing marble statues, especially the one of Napoleon's sister.  Also, Borghese's Gallery is located in a gorgeous park, which is a great place for a run (I had a great run).

We had two outstanding meals in Rome.  One at a place called Trattoria da Lucia located in the Traverstere area.  The pasta and veal were to die for and I think that the waiter would've also died for Jeeeenifurrr:-)  We had a great time that night!  The second restaurant, Cul de Sac, was located nearby Piazza Navona, which is a romantic and beautiful representation of Rome. The walls of Cul de Sac are filled with thousands of wine bottles. The wine here was amazing, which I paired with each course of our meal.

Side Note: Oh yeah, you can't forget about Joyce and Jen’s favorite part of Rome: The GELATO!!! Gelato is yummy goodness.  Joyce and Jen had fun trying out different types of gelatoes at different places to see which one was the best. However, Rome was just a precursor of other more delicious gelatos to taste throughout our trip in Italy.

Munich

Munich, our third city, is a great city but different from Berlin. It is smaller and calmer than Berlin. In Berlin, their monuments and museums are extremely visible to serve as a reminder of the past. However, in Munich, many of their monuments and museums are subtle because they believe that the past is behind them. You must be conscious of your surroundings in order to catch the different monuments that are created in remembrance of the past. Fun fact: Munich was re-built practically the same way before World War II, mainly because people created blueprints of the city before the war even began. We went on a walking tour and during part of our tour our guide led us through the same path that Hitler went on during his first rally against the government. On a lighter note we got to explore two great parks in Munich. One was the Englishgarten where the people can be seen surfing on the river (the park is beautiful) and it has the Chinese Tower/beer garden and Theresienwiese, which is where Oktoberfest is held. While we were at the Beirgarten in the Englishgarten we met some really fun Italians, Francesco and Alessandro (and later Francesco’s brother), who kicked it with us during Oktoberfest as well.

Oktoberfest is a crazy, outrageous and fun festival. On the grounds of the festival are carnival rides, food vendors, drunk people, and on the perimeter are the many beer. Basically, it’s an excuse to drink liters of beer and act crazy drunk stupid. We met people from Switzerland, America, Australia, Germany and Italy while we were hanging out in various beer tents -so many people from different countries while we were hanging out in the beer tents.

Berlin

The second stop on our three city tour of Germany was Berlin. Berlin is a city full of rich history.  This city uses memorials and museums to serve as a reminder of what they never want to see happen again. We saw many momuments and went to lots of museums but here one that stand out in our minds.

1) The Reischstag, the capital building, is where parliament gathers.  Interestingly, they have designed a glass dome that gives a 360 degree view of Berlin and gives parliament a view of the people walking through the glass dome, which reminds them that they are not working for themselves but for the good of the people.
2) The Holocaust Memorial was designed by Peter Eisenman to commemorate the six million Jews that died during the Nazi regime. His design is unique because it consists of 5-sided gray slabs of different sizes (from ankle high to towering above you) that are arranged in a maze-like manner. When you begin to walk through the memorial, it is warmer and the slabs are smaller but as you plunge deeper into the middle, it becomes colder and the slabs begin to tower above you. Purposely, there are no names or dates on these gray slabs because the architect wants you to deeply think and feel what the gray slabs might mean and represent to you regarding the holocaust.
3) Checkpoint Charlie is the American checkpoint for people trying to enter the West side of Berlin from the East.
4) Brandenburg Gate
5) Museum Island
6) My (Joyce) top favorite museum was the Jewish Museum. I have much respect and admiration for the architect and designer, Daniel Libeskind, because he created a thought-provoking, deeply felt, interactive and hopeful museum. He intentionally created a museum that was not only about the holocaust but also covers over two millennia of the life, history and culture of Jews.  
7)The topography of terror, an outside museum, was neat. Not only because of the immense information provided about the rising of the Nazi regime and the effect it had on Jews, gays and gypsies, but also because of its location. It is located by the Berlin wall behind the "Dead Zone", where people were killed for trying to cross over the Berlin Wall.
8) Tacheles Gallery which is a place that showcases and houses art and artists in a grafittied building and the East Side Gallery where amazing murals are painted on the remaining part of the Berlin wall.

Besides learning, experiencing and soaking in all of the rich history of Berlin, we also went on an alternative city tour, which showed us Berlin’s squats, subculture, and street/ grafitti art. On this tour we saw the squats that artists created/lived in and still create art to this day. We learned much about the different types and levels of graffiti (tagging, stenciling, wall pastings and etc..). Our favorite graffiti were by artists that had a political or social statement to make about the past, present and future of Berlin. We also loved the East Side Gallery (located by the river), where murals are painted on the Berlin Wall. A sad reality is that much of the grass roots art culture is being erased by the capitalist media spree that is trying to overtake the art culture in Berlin.

Don’t think that we were being square during our visit to Berlin.  We definitely got our party on during the weekend but DANG were we in for a huge surprise when we found out that going out at 1am is like going out at 10pm in the States…clubs don’t start rocking until 3am and are open until 10am.  It was insane but tons of fun!  Berlin is the place to P-A-R-T-Y!

Heidelberg

Our first stop in our three city tour of Germany was Heidelberg. On the way to Heidelberg we had a stop over at the Frankfurt train station, where we had our first yummy taste of Germany’s bretzel (a.k.a salty soft pretzel). Bretzels shops are everywhere in Germany and are so delicious…it’s going to be the death of me (Joh) because I love soft pretzels and a bit addicted to them. Anyways, Heidelberg is a small but beautiful city nestled in the South of Germany.

We were fortunate that Kate’s sister, Carla, was incredibly gracious and willing to host us for 4 days. Carla and her family were very fun and wonderful to us during our visit. On our first day, Carla showed us around the center city of Heidelberg and treated us to a yummy German dinner, which consisted of an oinion style keish, onion/cheese flatbread and neu weine (new wine…which is a seasonal wine only served in the Fall). Everything was delicious. The neu weine is Joyce’s new favorite wine…it’s super sweet and dangerous because it tastes like sweet grape juice. We tried to purchase a bottle but we sadly found out that we cannot transport it overseas because the bottle has to be slightly open. Near the house was a beautiful wooded area, where Joyce and I were able to walk and see the nice fall scenery.

While in Heidelberg, we had the opportunity to walk up Philosopher’s way in the evening and see the lit up Castle, Old Bridge and city sky line…it was beautiful. We also got to check out a local pub and drink our first German beer. During the day, we toured the outside areas of the Heidelberg Castle, which was quite large. It truly is a beautiful countryside landscape of Germany. Thank you Carla, Marlin and the Watling kids (Noah, Sophia, & Lauyren) for being a part of our wonderful trip/memories and wonderful hosts!

The Netherlands

Our friends, Richard, Henk and Wouter, showed us around the rest of Netherlands (outside of Amsterdam). They were very gracious hosts and tour guides. Holland is a very flat country built upon water, where about half of its land and about two-thirds of its people live below sea level. They have reclaimed much land and have prevented flooding through an ingenious and elaborate system of dams, dikes and windmills. It’s amazing how they have developed the land and created such a thriving community.

The first place we visited was a quaint fishing town called Volendam. It is a delightful fishing town, where it is known for its raw herring sandwich with sweet pickles and onions on top (our sandwich was minus the onions). Joh enjoyed the sandwich, whereas, I (Joyce) found it to be too raw for my taste. Supposedly, it is what one should eat to cure a hangover. I'll take Joh’s word for it because it helped her hangover from the all night (maybe I should say an early morning) pub crawl in Amsterdam that we went to the night before.

Our second stop was Kinderdijk, a town with about 20 windmills. Kinderdijk hosts many of the oldest windmills that were created around the 1700's to prevent flooding by bridging the water level differences as well as pumping water into reservoirs. We rented bikes and rode around this area, which was tons of fun. I (Joyce) had some difficulty getting onto the bike (not due to my ankle), because the bikes are made for the Dutch, who tend be tall (at least much taller than my height of 5ft and 4in). It is a very scenic town filled with charming windmills.

Our third stop was the Neeltje Dams. It is the place, where the delta works was created, in response to the North Sea Flood of 1953, where 25,000 people were killed from a high tide in the middle of the night. It is a complex system of about 13 dams, where they have sluice gate doors that allow marine sea life to flourish behind the dams as well as control the water level to prevent flooding.
Our last stop was another delightful town called Veere. We had some Dutch food, pancakes, and good tasty Dutch Heinken beer (not the American import bitter tasting kind). Thank you to our awesome tour guides: Richard, Henk and Wouter! You guys are always welcome to visit us in the States.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Holland’s capital, is a historic center with a network of canals, bridges and venerable town houses. Many people think of Amsterdam as a place to smoke hash legally and licensed prostitution (red light district). However, it is much more than that. It is a city with a long history of tolerance and understanding of different lifestyles, religions and ethnicities.. The people in Amsterdam live by 3 main rules. Rule 1: Be discreet; Rule 2: Be goodfor business and Rule 3: Don't hurt anyone. They do not like it if you break any of these 3 rules. For example, the people in Amsterdam were the only ones to lead an all city boycott against the Nazi regime when they saw the cruel treatment of Jews in the area.

The main highlights of Amsterdam were Anne Frank's house and the Van Goh Museum. Anne Frank's house was unbelievable and truly a surreal experience. It brought the book, The Diary of Anne Frank, to life and made her experience in hiding more tangible for the visitor. Thus, it touches you on a very deep level. The Van Goh museum was interesting and provided information about his start and life in painting. He was a tormented artist that was on the cutting edge of mixing and developing various bright colors, which he applied on his canvass. As an artist, he is inspiring because he painted for the love and passion of art, which he desired to share with others. The paintings were amazing and inspiring. We also walked around Amsterdam’s well known and beautiful Vogel Park. This is where Joh kicked the butt of an Aussie fellow that we befriended in a friendly sprint match up.

The fun part of traveling is meeting people from different countries and areas in life. We met and hung out with many people, who were not Americans, during our trip in Amsterdam. We actually hung out with many Australlians and a Candian. It’s funny because in every city that we’ve visited so far we’ve met someone from Austrailia. Australians love to travel, where they take as little as 5-6 weeks off or as much as 7-10 months from work or school to travel.

Warning: Do not travel Amsterdam by car because it is the city for cyclists. Cyclists have the right of way over pedestrians and cars. If a cyclist accidentally hits a car, it is the cars fault not the cyclist. There are specific and separate marked areas just for cyclists, where the cyclist always has the right of way. I (Joyce) almost got run over by a cyclist…they are no joke around here and they will run you over if you don’t pay attention. They also fish about 25,000 bikes out of their canals, due to drunk people throwing them into the canal as an amusing sport.

Paris

Paris is a massive city with so much to see and do that it is very exhausting. We stayed in the Montmartre District of Paris for about 4 days and it was not nearly enough time to see all of it. This is what we saw:
1) Eiffel Tower (during the day and evening)
2) Arc de Triumph – located at the end of the Champs-Elysees street and where the eternal flame resides for the unknown solider. The flame for the unknown solider commemorates the soldiers, who fought in both world wars. While we were there, we saw a military company from India, contribute flowers to the eternal flame. You can also walk in and up the Arc de Triumph of 284 stairs to the top, which is totally worth it because of the great encompassing view of Paris.
3) The Obelisk
4) Notre Dame Cathedral - We were awed by the beautiful church and gorgeous stain glassed windows.
5) The Catacombs - the famous underground resting place of about 3 million skeletal remains. You descend a narrow staircase for about 20 meters and traverse through dark winding tunnels before actually entering the catacombs itself. I (Joyce) didn't mind the skeletal remains because the science nerd in me found it to be interesting to identify as many bones as possible. Joh wasn’t a big fan of the place.
6) Louvre Museum - a colossal museum with numerous paintings and sculptures. You can spend a year in this museum and still not see everything. We were able to see the top 2 attractions - the Mona Lisa ( a small painting) and Venus de Milo.
7) Orsay Museum - a much more manageable museum, where we saw 19th century art and Europe's greatest impressionist collection. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures.
8) Sacre Coeur - a church located in the Montmartre District. It is located on top of Paris' highest hill. It is an area, where tourists and locals go to chill, see street performers and watch the sunset. You get a cool view of the Montmartre District and other districts of Paris. It gives you a beautiful night scene of Paris.
9) Moulin Rouge - located in the Montmartre District. Moulin Rouge literally means a red windmill.
10) Champs-Elysees - Paris' grand boulevard. It is a street lined with restaurants, cafes, and stores. We saw the store, Louis Vuitton, where you have to wait in line to get inside.

We met lots of Americans in Paris at our hostel and our walking tour. It was a bit surreal to be chillin' with lots of Americans in Paris. The Americans we met were from Md, L.A., St. Louis, Iowa, & Chicago. We also met a guy from London that traveled Eastern/Western Europe (and few other places) for the past 15 months on a bike…pretty sweet.

Regarding Parisians...Joyce and I agree that they definitely do not like anyone speaking English. One must try to speak French first before they will even think about speaking back to you. But, it's the culture of Paris. Parisians are very nationalistic thus very proud of their language.

Onto a more tasty subject: food. We were in croissant, crepes and wine heaven. On our last night in Paris, we had the chance to hang out at an authentic French bistro called L'express bar, where we were the only patrons that didn't speak French. Normally, the owner doesn't allow English speakers to eat there but we were fortunate enough to have met an awesome Japanese woman, who spoke French. She helped us out with ordering our food and chilled with us as well. We got to try some yummy Foie Gras (duck liver), cold meats, duck with pomme frites, which we washed down with some delicious red wine. We also had a great time hanging out with Seshat and Kokayi's friend, Anouch, who is an artist and mad cool. I (Joh) wish we had more time in Paris to explore the music scene. Au Revoir Paris...until next time.

Beaune, France

Beaune is a small town in the Burgundy region of France.  It's so small, that even French people don't have a clue about it or maybe it was our pronunciation.  Nonetheless, it is a very quaint and prosperous little wine capital.  It is known for making, tasting, selling and drinking wine.  For me (Joyce), it was a little taste of wine heaven.  On our first night, we bumped into two young, proper British guys who were driving around France on holiday.  We ate dinner and had some great Beaune wine.  I (Joyce) tried escargot for the very first time and it was DELICIOUS!  The snail is presented in the shell, where you're given a tong to hold it and a fork to get the snail out.  I recommend everyone to try it once.  FYI: the seasoning of the dish matters a lot.  Joh did taste one and thought it was okay. 

The next day we were off to do tastings in the wine cellars of Beaune.  We were excited to taste different authentic French wines.  Our first wine tasting of the day was at Couvent des Cordeliers, which is dubbed one of the oldest cellars in Beaune.  Our wine connoisseur, Gerard, was extremely knowledgeable and patient as he explained to us the two grapes /four wine classifications about french wines.  Burgundy grows pinot noir grapes for red wines and chardonnay grapes for white wines.  The four wine classifications listed are from lowest to highest grade of classification: Regional Appellation, Villages Appellation, Premiers Crus, and Grands Crus.  Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru 2004 was the last out of the five wines we tasted.  This red wine was one where you breathe in the intense aroma as you slowly drink and savor the smooth, robust and elegant flavors.

The second wine cellar we went to was Marche aux Vins, which was a self guided tasting of 15 different wines (white/red).  You're given a Tasse de degustation (a wine tasting cup...google a picture of it), which you fill up yourself (you're only suppose to pour one tasting per person but you can get away with more than one if you're really feeling the wine).  So you can imagine that one can get pretty "happy" after 15 tastings.  The other plus about this cellar is that half of it is held underground in an actual cellar and the remaining 6 wines are upstairs in a chapel.  It was so much fun and we met a fun older American couple from San Francisco and two Dutch guys.  We became friends with the Dutch guys and they invited us a nice bbq dinner at their camp site. It was a great day. 

Nice, France

Leaving cold (mid 5o's to low 60's) Dublin to beautiful and warm Nice has been a great change. Don't get us wrong, Ireland, esp. the west coast and the Cliffs of Moher are gorgeous, but it is nice to be in warm weather. Nice is beautiful. The color of the water is 2 different blues: light one (closer to the shore line) and darker blue the further you go out. The only con with the beaches in Nice is there is no sand. The beach in Nice is more like a stone beach, where instead of sand there are stones. We ate all you can eat mussels (where you can change the sauces) and fries with white wine, baguettes with cheese, salami with red wine and of course croissants. Wow, the croissants are AMAZING!!!! They are flaky, buttery, delicious and they melt in your mouth. Nice and the southern coast of France is a MUST for everyone. The climate, scenery, food and people are beautiful, amazing and generous. We loved it here.

Just one thing - never go running in Nice, because you never know what will happen, like spraining your ankle the 2nd day you are here. Even with my sprained ankle - I (Joyce) still loved it. The paramedics (3 of them) and the doctor were incredibly cute, which didn't hurt the situation. On a serious note, God is the ultimate rock and provider. God gave me 4 angels in the guise of complete strangers, who helped me numerous times from getting me ice, chasing down an ambulance, playing translator, and calling us a taxi. I thank God for his provision and my awesome sister, Joh. She was incredible with running all over the place and keeping my spirits up. The bonus of spraining your ankle is having your older sister wait on you hand and foot.

Cliffs of Moher / West Coast of Ireland

Cliffs of Moher / West Coast of Ireland

The west coast of Ireland is beautiful and colored in various different shades of green. So much green... green that we never knew existed. On our day tour to the west coast of Ireland, saw an abbey, some mountain, and stonehedge. The cliffs of Moher outshone all of it. The Cliffs of Moher a.k.a the Cliffs of Insanity (Princess Bride fans) are spectacular. Our words cannot do justice to it, so we will let our pictures do the talking. One thing we can say is: It is incredibly windy... the wind was literally pushing us along.

Ireland - Dublin

First Hostel Experience

Our first hostel experience was at Abagail's Hostel. The place was clean, pleasant, secure and friendly. We loved the location of our hostel because it was central to everything in Dublin. Our hostel had a kitchen so we displayed our immense culinary skills by frying pre-made chicken patties and making turkey sandwiches. While cooking our meal, we met a real cook, a Spainard, who amazingly outshone us by making calamari and chips (fries). Talking to him, we discovered that many Europeans come to Dublin to practice their English and usually stay at hostels for over a month. In some ways, it is much cheaper to stay at a hostel than to rent out an apartment. While Johanna was talking to him, she met a fellow American woman from Vienna, Va, who was traveling alone around Europe. Man, it is a small world after all!!!

DUBLIN

We are discovering that like Edinburgh, Dublin is a mix of many people from different parts of the world. Our ears heard many different languages and accents; however hardly any Irish ones. We are loving the walking tours that are given in major cities by Sandeman's Europe Tours. It's a 3 hour tour of a major city in Europe given by an energetic, funny, young and very knowledgeable guide. It is a great way to get a feel for the layout of the city. And the best part of the tour is that it is FREE, except if you wish, you can tip the guide (which we did). We had our first walking tour in Edinburgh and the Dublin tour didn't disappoint. We learned much of Ireland's history, especially the long-lasting and devastating effects of the potato famine. Of course, we met some Aussies (they are everywhere) on our tour and had a drink with them. Then, our next stop was the tour of the Guinness storehouse. It was a nice visit. The best part for me (Joyce) was the Gravity bar, which is located on the very top of the storehouse. It gives you a 360 degree view of Dublin. The best part for Johanna was drinking the cool creamy goodness of a guinness at the Gravity Bar. Our server was talented and drew a shamrock on the top of our guinness.

Scotland

Joyce and I arrived in Scotland last Tuesday and settled into a town called Paisley, where my aunt and her family live.  They have been generous and gracious hosts to us.  It's been great hanging out with them.  We have since traveled throughout the country hitting Glasgow, Edinburgh, Gourock, Greenoak, and different areas on the West Coast of the Highlands.  One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the Military Tattoo festival held at the Edinburgh Castle.  It was amazing...a "must do" if you ever visit Edinburgh (the festival only occurs during August).  Scotland has amazing sprawling parks and beautiful green landscapes.  There is so much rich history in this country.  And definitely the place to come to see guys in kilts playing the bagpipe constantly on the street of Edinburgh.

Yes, if you are wondering we ate some traditional Scottish fare, such as haggis, black pudding, fruit pudding, fish & chips, Scottish ale & lager and the traditional English breakfast.  Note: Good haggis is not that bad - the consistency is something one has to get used to though.