Traveling the World...One Step at a Time

Sea World and Little Italy

2011-11-17T02:28:00.000-06:00

Sea World was on the agenda today. I had read online that it is best to set your schedule according to the shows and feedings, so shortly after we arrived we made an agenda of the things we wanted to see. Sea World is expensive- $70 per person, plus $14 to park. After seeing how much Sea World contributes to conservation (and how much whales eat), we felt okay about paying this. It's funny, both Sea World and the zoo have disclaimers to tell people who are against animals in captivity that they shouldn't visit the park (ya think?). I don't really get this. I LOVE animals. I'm certainly not for anyone holding an animal in captivity- whether it's a dolphin or a housecat- if they do not treat it well. But both Sea World and the zoo not only treat their animals extremely well, they also participate in so many research and conservation efforts that allow many more animals to survive. Not only that, but they allow people to interact with animals in a way that they wouldn't otherwise get the chance to. Especially with kids, this can trigger behaviors that are good for animals and good for the Earth. Over 6,000 animals live at San Diego Sea World, including 200 endangered species.

Oh, I think I have found my true calling in life. I'm pretty sure when we get back home I'm going to quit my cubicle job and start applying to be a dolphin trainer.

The seals/sea lions were soooo funny. You could buy fish to feed them for a few bucks. They went absolutely berserk when someone had fish. Some would bark excessively, some would sort of whine, and one of them made the most annoying, high pitched scream each and every time. You also had to watch for sea gulls- they would try to steal the fish!

They had a really cheesy but fun sea lion show. Here they're doing the tango as if they were on Dancing With the Seals.

They didn't have a big dolphin show today, but we did get to see a few tricks and a feeding.

And we even got to pet them!

They have a pretty interesting penguin exhibit. There are only 3 places in the world that have Emperor penguins in captivity- San Diego Sea World, and places in China and Japan. I love the little penguin waddle.

Warm weather penguins

A white beluga whale:

Of course, the stars of the show are the killer whales. It is truly amazing to see a nearly 5,000 pound mammal jump out of the water and do a flip. They are beautiful creatures. Mark made us sit in the splash zone; he didn't think they could or would splash 15 rows up. They could. And they did. And it was cold.

After Sea World, we headed downtown to Little Italy. San Diego has the largest Little Italy on the west coast. We ate at a place called Boun Appetito. It was good, very good. We shared a pear salad. I got lasagna and Mark got gnocci in pesto sauce. While pregnant you are not supposed to eat goat cheese (or any soft cheese), and I must say that is one of the most difficult restrictions for me. I didn't get the dish I really wanted because of the goat cheese (and because I already had some this week). It's a sacrifice I'm happy to make, but I'll be really glad when I can eat goat cheese again!

We then met our friend Todd for a drink. Todd is from San Diego but went to college at Missouri to play football. We met him in our business fraternity. We haven't talked to him for years, but got in touch with him when we planned this trip. Todd is a super nice guy and we had a great time catching up with him!

That's it. Tomorrow we fly home. The week had flown by and we're not quite ready to leave. Our flight leaves at 2 PST and we arrive at midnight CST. Not sure what we're going to do in the morning. We looked into doing a brunch cruise, but there isn't much on a Thursday morning. Our hotel has free rental bikes so we may enjoy a ride before we leave.

Until next time...

Midway, La Jolla Children's Beach, and a Night Out in Gasla

2011-11-16T02:27:00.000-06:00

Today was one of our busiest days yet. We started off by touring the USS Midway. This old Naval ship carried wartime aircraft from the 1940s to the early 1990s. She served in WWII, Vietnam, Dessert Storm, and other battles. At times she carried up to 4,500 men and/or over 100 aircraft. She has been a museum ship since 2004. The ship's tour is rated the #1 thing to do in San Diego on Trip Advisor.

If I have to describe the ship in one word, it's BIG. Really really really big. Nearly 1,000 feet long.

We checked out audio guides for the self guided tour. This is one of the first stops, where the lowest-ranked men slept. This picture doesn't really show how tight this space really is. They had virtually no room to themselves- they called them sleep coffins. As you increased in rank, you got a little more personal space.

I acted up on the tour and got put in the ship's jail.

The top deck of the ship was completely flat and open for the aircraft. Mark's sitting in this one.

This is the top of the ship, taken from the flight deck. It's pretty intimidating looking.

The USS Midway is one of those museums that you could spend an hour or five hours at, depending on how much time you have and how interested you are. Truthfully, I found it a bit boring. It was really neat to be on such a large ship and learn about some of her missions. They had some veterans speaking and it made one take time to reflect on the sacrifices so many people have made for our freedom. But, I'm not all that interested in naval history and I'm certainley not interested in how much horsepower the engines have (212,000), so I was ready to go after about an hour.

After the ship we headed to a ritzy suburb on San Diego, La Jolla (Jolla is prounced like the last part of Oscar's last name). La Jolla is about 30 minutes north of the city. It is to San Diego what Johnson County is to Kansas City, only not quite as cookie cutter. It does have a lot of neat little shops and restaurants.

One thing I didn't realize until we got here was how big microbrewing is in this city. Karl Strauss is one of the biggest microbreweries in town, and although they don't have brewery tours, they do have a restaurant in La Jolla. I got Mac and Cheese that the menu told me "might change my life." It was good, but not life changing. Mark got one of the best Greek salads he's ever had. The best part of lunch, for Mark more than me, was the beer. He tried several different kinds, and every one was awesome. They had rich, full, unique tastes. I would definitely recommend both the restaurant and the beer (I might have had a few sips)!

After lunch we headed to Children's Beach. I had really been looking forward to this part of the trip. This beach was built so that local children and citizens would have a place to enjoy the water, but in the last 10 or 15 years seals and sea lions have taken over. Today, the beach is a hot political topic with beach goers on one side and wildlife conservationists on the other.

I didn't know exactly what to expect. As we approached the beach, I could see several gray little heads bobbing in and out of the waves. As we grew closer, we saw a few seals sunbathing on rocks. There were a few seals playing together in the water, but for the most part we just saw dozens of single seals. We spent quite a bit of time observing and taking pictures. We walked along the shore line when an old man told us to keep going. We did, and before we saw more seals we heard them. Imagine dozens and dozens of seals barking at once. It was loud. And awesome. This part of the beach had many, many seals. It was breathtaking, almost spiritual. I'm not sure I have ever seen wild animals like this. There were a few people swimming with the seals, which is allowed but not advised. Here's a few of the hundreds of pictures we took:

Children's Beach is another must-see for anyone visiting the area that likes animals even a little bit. We finished our time in La Jolla by stopping at a couple places for drinks and dessert (creme brulee, which is very popular out here).

Tonight we went to dinner in the trendy Gaslamp district. Mark picked a Spanish Tapas place called Seville. The atmosphere was cool, but the menu was out of my comfort zone! I didn't know what any of the food was, and the descriptions of the food used a bunch of words I didn't know! I was worried. Mark didn't know much either, so we eventually told the waiter to bring us some of his favorites. We got lamb chops with Northern Beans, sweet potatoes flavored with something really spicy, and chicken with garlic and peppers. Every one was delicious!

I had heard a pub called Henry's had swing dancing on Tuesday nights. We walked a few blocks to get there. A lead singer/guitarist was accompanied by drums and a stand up bass. They were playing a slow song when we walked in, and Mr. Miller pulled me onto the dance floor. The second song came on, and Mr. Miller headed to the bar. A guy asked me to dance, and before I could tell him I had no idea what I was doing, he was spinning me like a top. It was so fun! That was the end of our dancing, but we had a blast watching the talented regulars.

Tomorrow is our last full day, and we're going to Sea World!

San Diego Zoo

2011-11-15T00:58:00.000-06:00

Today we spent all day at the world-famous San Diego Zoo. The zoo is on 100 acres and has over 4,000 animals. We meandered through the confusing trails to see the majority of them, and the pictures tell the story better than I can. We especially enjoyed petting the oldest animal in the zoo, a 150-year-old giant tortoise, watching the rhinos fight, learning how the zoo uses domestic dogs to buddy with wolf pups and cheetahs (we didn't get a good picture, but a golden retriever was in the cheetah cage!), and watching the orangutans somersault. It was apparent throughout our visit that the zoo is extremely involved in research and conservation, and takes these roles very seriously.

A Monday in November was the perfect day to go. The zoo wasn't crowded at all, and zookeepers were at several exhibits to tell stories and answer questions.

The zoo is part of Balboa Park, which is a 1,200 acre park in the city- sometimes compared to Central Park in New York. Balboa Park has fountains, gardens, and lots of museums. In the summer, the symphony plays here. The park has a lot going on, and we had planned to explore the park after the zoo. But after six hours of walking, more walking was the last thing we wanted to do. We drove through the park but didn't do much else. We did stop at the Science Museum and saw the IMAX film Born to be Wild, about women who rescue baby elephants and orangutans that have been orphaned by poaching or deforestation. Good movie, and our tootsies appreciated the break.

After taking a break at the hotel, we went out for a late dinner. We were looking forward to a nearby pizza place that is rated highly on Trip Advisor, but they were closing as we got there. Instead we went to a sports bar, which was just so-so.

Here are zoo pictures:

Ocean Beach

2011-11-13T22:42:00.001-06:00

We didn't really have a plan for this afternoon. After resting at the hotel, we decided to head to an area of town called Ocean Beach. A friend of a friend described this part of town as the land of hippies, with the "scent of marijuana" in the air. Things we read told us Ocean Beach didn't have a lot for tourists, but at just under 2000 feet, they had the longest concrete pier on the west coast. People from this area are very proud. They call themselves OBeachians (O-Bee-Shuns) and display OB bumper stickers on their cars. We thought we'd give it a try, and if there wasn't much to do we would head downtown for a dinner cruise.

The drive to Ocean Beach took us through residential areas that opened up to a beautiful view. We set the rules for a game- the first person to see dreadlocks was to yell "Hippie alert, no challenge!" It didn't take long to spot our first hippie (Mark won). The main street in OB was lined with antique stores, bars, and smoke shops. We parked at one end and headed towards the pier. We liked the charm of the neighborhood and could tell pretty quickly we wouldn't be going on that dinner cruise. There were dozens of surfers dotting the water. The sun was setting and it was truly beautiful:

We took lots of shadow pictures:

And watched fishermen do their work. There were lots of fishermen. The pier had built in fish-washing stations.

After the pier we hit up a few of the shops and stopped at a couple bars for drinks. Well, Mark drank.

For dinner we went to a little joint called Hodad's. A "hodad" is someone who is a wannabe surfer- like me! This place is small, junky, and has been around for decades. They've been featured on national shows of the Travel-Channel type as having the best burgers in the world. There was a line out the door for most of the night, but it was thankfully gone by the time we got there.

We each ordered burgers, aka heart attacks. Health food this is not. The burgers were great, similar in style to Five Guys. And they serve beer in mason jars!

After dinner it was still early- just 7:30. Mark said "You can do a lot when you wake up early!". We spent a few minutes looking for things to do, but we had seen everything we wanted to see. We went back to the hotel and called it an early night. Day two was a success!

Tomorrow, we go to the zoo.

Cornado Island!

2011-11-13T16:51:00.002-06:00

It occurred to me that I should tell you where San Diego is. It's in southern California, about two hours south of Los Angeles. It's not too far from the Mexican border. Tours to Tijuana used to be popular, but not so much anymore with the drug violence in Mexico.

This morning we woke up around 7am, which is incredibly early for us. I guess our bodies are still on Central time. I was excited to get a good start on the day, but the husband had other plans.

My husband loves to workout, and he needs to work out or he gets very grumpy. Every time we travel he exercises, and every time we travel he forgets either his workout shorts, shirts, socks, or shoes, resulting in a last-minute trip to the nearest Target or WalMart. This trip was no exception. As he was preparing for a morning jog, he realized he forgot his shorts and socks. I tried but couldn't persuade him to run in his swimming trunks and normal socks, so off to Target he went. So much for our early start.

As he was getting his workout on, I decided to wander around our hotel. Since it was rainy yesterday, we really didn't get to see much of it (today is beautiful!). Plus, we recently got a new camera and I wanted to get some practice. Here's what I shot:

View of the marina from our room:

From May-October, the hotel holds concerts for artists like Diana Ross and the BareNaked Ladies. I guess I'm glad we're not here at that time because I'm sure the rates go through the roof, but our room would be awesome for that:

View of our room from the outside- ours is the one with the door cracked open:

Some very vocal macaws:

The pool and hot tub area- and I even found a ping pong table!

And one of the many pretty flowers:

Once we finally got going, we went to a farmer's market we had heard about on our tour. The City Market in Kansas City is one of my favorite things to do, so I was quite excited about a Cali farmer's market. I imagined lots of fresh, organic berries and fruit that you can't find in Missouri. No such luck. The market was a bust. It was more like a small craft fair. I did buy a couple apples and plums from the only fruit vendor there.

Then we headed to Cornado Island, which is actually a peninsula. There is a beautiful bridge to Cornado that I didnt get any pictures of. We learned that they were originally going to build the bridge a few miles down shore, but it would have been a short bridge. They wanted some federal funding, and at the time the feds weren't funding any bridge projects less than two miles. So, they moved the location of the bridge and made it windy in order to receive federal funds. Gotta love the government!

Cornado island is supposed to have some of the most beautiful beaches around. We weren't disappointed. I've been to a few beaches before, but mostly the destination types that are crowded with tourists. There were people around, but Cornado Beach was not packed with beach chairs and sandcastles.

We saw birds and boards:

I really, really, really, really want to learn how to surf. It's the number one thing on my bucket list. But apparently it's not a smart thing to attempt while pregnant.

We walked barefoot along the beach and saw the famous Hotel Del Cornado, which was built in 1888. It's huge! They are supposed to have a great Sunday brunch, but at $80 per person, not including drinks/tax/tip, we passed.

We came across some pretty rocks, where I mugged for a photo shoot:

I took pictures of Mark while he wasn't looking:

And finally we left the beach and drove to a place called Miguels, which has decent Mexican food. While there, we realized they are owned by the same group that owns the seafood place we had last night. The food was good, the atmosphere was amazing! It was tucked behind some buildings and had an awesome outdoor area.

Then we headed back to our hotel. Time for a pool-side nap!

A Rainy First Day in San Diego

2011-11-13T00:19:00.001-06:00

We planned our San Diego trip just a few weeks ago. There was no real reason behind it. Call it an anniversary trip as we will be celebrating five years on the 18th. Call it a "babymoon" as it is the last time we'll travel without kids at least being on our minds. Or say we saved up a lot of vacation time to travel for adoption, and now we have to use that before the end of the year. Call it what you want, but we have been so ready to get away and just enjoy each other's company.

We woke up a little after 3 a.m. to catch an early flight. Besides an incredibly rude stewardess and a quick Houston layover, we had an uneventful time getting here. We arrived in California, the first time for both of us, around 11 am their time.

After we got our car, we headed to our hotel. It's close to the airport on a little stretch of land called Shelter Island. We are staying at Humphrey's Half Moon Inn and Suites. Deciding on a hotel was difficult for us. Mark wanted to stay on the ocean; I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on lodging. This place was a compromise. It's not on the ocean, but it does overlook a big marina with lots of sailboat yachts. Our room wasn't ready when we arrived, so we headed over to the hotel restaurant to feed our starving bellies. Nugget becomes pretty active when s/he's hungry.

I'm not much of a foodie, but my sister is. Check out her blog all about great food you can make at home. She has asked me to document my food experiences. For lunch we both got grilled jerk chicken paninis on ciabatta bread with pesto, goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and arugula. It was very, very good.

Our room still wasn't ready after lunch. I vetoed Mark's vote to take a nap in the car, although the weather was very inviting. San Diego typically doesn't get much rain, but it had been raining since we got here. Not very hard, but enough to make you walk, head-down, quickly in between destinations. The temperature was in the low 60s, but the rain and wind made it feel very cool.

We headed to a part of town known as "Old Town." This is one of the oldest settlements in California. Today it is mostly filled with museums, haunted houses, artist's shops, cheap souvenir shops, and lots and lots of Mexican restaurants. We bought plastic ponchos and quickly walked between shops. This is supposed to be a cool part of town, but we weren't in the mood for museums, had just eaten, and the weather wasn't great for appreciating the character of the area. We spent an hour or two here and then headed to the Gaslamp district, a trendy part of downtown.

We had a Groupon for a Segway tour of this part of town. Neither one of us had been on Segways before, but we were not that excited to be riding them around in this weather. The tour was rain or shine, so ride we did.

Here's Mark learning how it works:

It took a few minutes to get used to how the Segways worked. The first time, I felt like I was going to die by way of concrete faceplant. But I didn't, and we were ready to go in no time.

The Gaslamp district looks like most any big city's downtown area- lots of tall buildings. Our guide pointed out some interesting things, like the convention center that holds the big Comic-Con conference every year. They are possibly expanding it (and it is already HUGE) just for that one conference. We saw the most expensive real estate in San Diego, fancy lofts that have a helicopter landing pad on top. He pointed out an area that had a great Farmer's Market, and told us the history of how the area came together. It's called Gaslamp because the streets used to be lined with streetlights that actually ran on gas.

Before too long we came to PetCo Park, where the Padres play. Mark's a huge baseball fan and we always like to check out ballparks when we travel. PetCo park is awesome! It is right in the center of town. The outfield area extends way past where most parks end. There are gates that keep things closed in during games, but when there's not a game you can ride right up to the outfield. There are residential lofts inside the park. There is a hill where you can watch away games on the big screen. You can also watch home games from the hill for just $5, and you can even bring your pet! The park has only been there for a few years and it was controversial to build since there were a lot of historical buildings on the site. They ended up lifting one huge brick buildings on hydraulics and moving it several feet over! They incorporated another building into the park.

From the park, we rode over to the bay area. I hadn't really realized how much of the city revolves around the water. The bay offered pretty views, even through the clouds. It had mostly stopped raining at this point and we even got to see a bit of the sunset. There were boats everywhere, and pretty views of the city.

Our guide said that in clearer weather, you could see Mexico- just 13 miles or so away. He also said it hasn't rained like this on a tour for about a year! Gotta love the Miller luck. We continued our tour along the water. I guess this is usually a happening area, but there weren't many people out tonight. We saw lots of military boats, some of which we'll tour later this week.

The tour ended just as I had lost all feeling in my fingers and toes. We tipped our guide and hurried to the car to warm up.

Back at our hotel, our room was ready. I am very impressed! The room is modern and our view is delicious. The resort has a tropical feel. There are lush greens, brightly colored fish, and palm trees everywhere. It's a little oasis in the city. I'll try to get some pictures at some point. We made our way to the hot tub to warm our bones, but I couldn't spend too long in it as I didn't want to cook Nugget.

After cleaning up, we headed just down the street to a seafood restaurant called Brigantine. Mark found online that they are known for their swordfish tacos, and they did not disappoint. I am not much of a seafood fan, so I just got a salad.

After a long day we were ready to come back to the hotel and crash. Mark is sleeping beside me as I blog, and as I look at the clock I realize how good that looks. More tomorrow!

Day 9: Lunch and Home!

2011-04-13T21:37:00.000-05:00

Written on Sunday...

Our flight did not leave until 5:00 today, so we still had most of the day to spend in DC. We slept later than planned so it got off to a slow start. We packed and checked our bags at the hotel. We took the metro to a little place called Ben’s Chili Bowl. A few different people had recommended this place to us so we were anxious to try it out.

Ben’s is off the beaten path. We ordered chili dogs, fries, and shakes. The food was average/good; the marketing and atmosphere was genius. There was nothing fancy about the place; it reminds me of Arthur Bryants. It has been open for 50 years and pictures the celebrities who have eaten there- notably Bill Cosby, Bono, and Barack Obama- grace the walls. Mark is sure to grace the walls soon.

After lunch we still had a few hours before we needed to head back to the hotel and get our bags. We had a few things we wanted to do, but nothing really worked out. We wanted to go to the top of the Washington Monument, but we didn’t plan far enough ahead and it was a cloudy day. We (I) wanted to have a picnic on the National Mall, but it was cloudy and a little cool. We wanted to rent bikes again, but did not really have enough time. So, we decided to check out a pub in the area. Drinking in the afternoon isn’t a problem on vacation and travel days, right?

We came across a place, called RFD (Regional Food and Drink) that had LOTS of types of beer. They had about 30 on tap and we had only heard of a few of them, and they had hundreds of bottles. There weren’t many people here so I asked them to turn one of the tvs to ESPN2, where cheerleading was on. Mark just shook his head at that. We passed a bit of time here, collected our bags from the hotel, and headed to the airport. Now we are waiting on our flight back home; we have a 2.5 hour layover in Ohio and don’t get home until 10:00.

A few other observations about this trip that I have not yet written about:

DC has a great metro system, but it is not cheap. We got here Thursday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon, and spent $35 each. It’s definitely the way to go, but it was more expensive than I thought it would be.

Even with the metro system you do a lot of walking. Comfortable shoes are a must. Even on a Friday or Saturday night, you don’t see many girls out with heels on. Flats are very popular. My kind of place!

Planning ahead in DC is also a must. Many trips are possible, even fun, if you wing it as you go. But DC requires several months notice if you want to tour the Capitol or White House, and many of the monuments and some museums have time-stamped tickets you have to get the morning of or pay a small fee to reserve online. Also, the Supreme Court is only available for tours M-F, the museums have limited hours, etc, so not having a general plan of what you’re going to do on what days could cause you to miss a lot of neat things.

Security guards are EVERYWHERE! This is one protected city.

Overall we had a great trip. It’s always nice to leave reality behind for a bit. We did not get to relax on this trip, but we saw and learned a lot about our nation’s history. I was never that into history until we went to Germany- I truly believe that history comes alive when you’re seeing and touching it. You just can’t get those experiences from a textbook.

Until next time…

Day 8: Cherry Blossom Parade, Spy Museum, Arlington, and Georgetown

2011-04-10T00:44:00.002-05:00

We started the day off early with the Cherry Blossom Parade. I was really excited about this. Mark was not. This is a big parade- an estimated 100,000 people show up for it. I wanted to get there about 90 minutes early, but in typical Miller fashion we arrived about 30 minutes early. This actually turned out great. We found a good seat and watched as the hoards of people filed in:

It was nuts. The parade was pretty typical. We got to see the bands from all the branches of the armed forces:

And some huge balloons:

At one point, the parade stalled. For a really long time. This was a little over an hour into the parade. We waited and waited, wondering what the heck was taking the next group so long to catch up. They stalled and stalled. Finally we decided we had had enough of the parade and left to get brunch.

As we crossed the street we saw the reason for the hold up: A car that was in the parade had caught fire! When we saw it, the hood was open and the flames were pretty small. However, over the next few minutes the flames grew pretty large and chaos was beginning to happen. People were running all over to take pictures. Mark said “all the fire trucks are in the parade so they can’t put out this fire”! Mark and I watched for a few minutes but didn’t stick around for all the action or the rest of the parade- I don’t even know if they finished. I think they were about 2/3 of the way through at this point. It was an eventful parade, but I felt sorry for all the people who had put hours of hard work into organizing it.

We got brunch at a place called Austin’s Grill, a place we had happy hour at earlier this week. Then we went a couple blocks over to the Spy Museum.

Most of the things to do in DC are free, and the Spy Museum is $18 per person. We had heard it was cool so decided to give it a shot. As you enter, you are escorted through a hallway and futuristic elevator while spy-music is playing. Then you are put into an enclosed room and told that you have four minutes to memorize an identity. I chose Sandra Miller; I was a 62-year-old living in Australia. I was born in Illinois and headed to Austria. I owned a clothing store and was in town for 10 days for business. After our four minutes were up, some doors opened and we went into the main museum. We learned spying tips and techniques and learned about how spying was used throughout history, notably in the mid/late 1900s Cold War. We were quizzed about our identity at certain points and given a mission: mine was to meet a clothing store owner (I forgot her name- guess I wouldn’t make it as a spy). My cover story was I wanted to learn about German fashions but my mission was to obtain a catalog with a secret document coded in it. The very last room was about how spying can be used in modern day to hack into computer systems and possibly shut down electric plants. It talked about the implications of this- no communication, no refrigeration, no water treatment, etc. Scary stuff. We were not allowed to take pictures in the museum, but here’s a picture of the outside:

We strolled another couple blocks over to Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was shot. It is still a working theatre, but is open for tours when a show is not running. When we visited a show was on stage so we did not spend much time here. Still, it was very cool to be in a place where such a historic event happened.

There was a big street festival going on a bit down from the theatre, but we figured it was one of those that you have to pay to enter and then pay to do anything inside so we passed.

Our next stop was Arlington Cemetery. It is HUGE, but you can take a bus tour that stops at the major sites. To be buried in Arlington, you have to had served your country. Most of the graves are from service men and women, but there are also nurses, Supreme Court justices, etc. There are currently 320,000 people buried here, and the cemetery is still active, burying people every day. As we drove around, it was breathtaking to see all the grave markers. The very old ones look like they’re from any standard cemetery, but the vast majority of them are small standard markers. To see them all laid out you can’t help but think of all the people who have died for our country and to be thankful for the freedoms we enjoy because of them. It seems like there are so many, but 320,000 is a very small percentage of the people who have died.

The first stop was where John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis are buried with their two very young babies. This is a nice site that is marked with an eternal flame.

The next stop is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. This was very cool. There have been many people who have died with their identities unknown, and this memorial honors all of them. It is marked with a big white stone that says “Here Rests in Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But to God”. It is guarded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The guard faces one direction for 21 seconds, turns another direction, does some stuff with his gun, faces this way for 21 seconds, takes 21 steps, and repeats it all. (I think this would be the most boring job ever). The 21 represents the 21 gun salute. Every half hour the guard is changed and there is a very…ceremonial ceremony for that. It was very neat to watch. Due to the DNA testing we have these days, there will be no more unknown soldiers.

The final stop was the Arlington House. This house is pure history. George Washington’s step son inherited this house and wanted to build a memorial for Washington. It served as his living residence for many years. It was a typical plantation, but he and his wife paved the way to liberate their slaves. In 1831 their only surviving child married Robert E. Lee, who was just starting his career with the Armed Forces. They eventually got married in this house and raised their family here. They left this house in 1861 to fight in the Civil War, and the house became a place where the Union troops protected the Capitol. Shortly after this, it became government property and then the military cemetery that it is today.

The house is currently going through some preservation so all of the furniture had been removed and some areas were closed off. Even given this, it was still very cool to walk through this place and take in the beautiful views of Washington:

After Arlington we freshened up at the hotel and then set out to meet our friend Andrew Rhodes and his girlfriend Carly. Mark and I met while joining a business fraternity, and Andrew was in the same pledge class that we were. We used to hang out with him pretty regularly but have not seen him for years, so we were really excited when we found out he was living in DC and wanted to meet up.

There’s a neighborhood in DC called Georgetown; the college of the same name is located here. Andrew is in law school here and suggested a bar called The Tombs. The Tombs is in the basement of an old 19^th century house and once counted Bill Clinton as one of its regulars. We had a great time meeting his girlfriend, catching up about everything that’s happened over the past several years, and talking about our past and future travels. It was really good to see Andrew again and to talk to someone other than each other!

On our walk back we passed a street that had a quiet zone:

After dinner, Andrew and Carly went home and we strolled through Georgetown. The metro is not really convenient to Georgetown; we had to walk about a mile from the metro to the restaurant. As we walked back, we came across a pizza bar called Pizza Paradiso. We stopped here and had a few drinks. It was a really neat place with a lot of unusual brews on tap.

We left the pizza place and were walking back to the subway. Georgetown is a happening place; it’s about what you would expect walking through a college place after midnight on a weekend. We saw these guys in an alley and it looked like they were getting ready to fight. Mark yelled “HEY! What's going on back there”? They came out of the alley and said “Nothing, mind your own business”! Then later they yelled “Thank you”! Dumb college boys.

Tonight was a really fun night. Tomorrow is supposed to be very nice, about 70 degrees, and we don’t really have plans. It will be fun to see where the day takes us!

Day 7: Smithsonian Museums

2011-04-08T22:59:00.000-05:00

Today the weather was colder and rainy, so we planned to go to some of the Smithsonian museums. The Smithsonian consists of 19 museums and galleries along with the National Zoo. We wanted to go to three of them: The Museum of Natural History, The Museum of American History, and The Air and Space Museum. These are some of the most popular museums and they line the National Mall. And all of the Smithsonians are free!

We started off with Natural History. Walking into the doors, I felt like I was stepping onto the set of the movie “Night At the Museum”. It had a similar feel, a big open room lined with big fossils, the exhibits in clearly marked wings. We knew we didn’t have nearly enough time to see everything; we had agreed to focus on the things we really wanted to experience. We started off with dinosaurs and fossils:

That progressed to mammals from around the world. Here’s a fox from the Sahara desert. Doesn’t he look like our dog Hooch?

This part of the museum had a lot of information about evolution and presented it as fact.

We ended this museum with a look at the Hope Diamond. This diamond is over 45 carats and it’s really old (I think a BILLION years. But I am not sure and unable to verify with a quick Google search). It is blue and very sparkly and beautiful. I'm not a fan of the necklace it is set in- while it is very pretty, I think it distracts from the actual diamond. This exhibit had a lot of guards!

Next we went to the American History museum. It rained a little on us on our way there. We grabbed a quick lunch in the cafeteria ($11.50 per pound of salad) and then set off to explore. Mark and I were interested in different things so we decided to split up.

First I saw Julia Child’s kitchen:

Then I headed to the First Ladies Exhibit. It took an in-depth look at each of the first ladies and included many of their gowns. I couldn’t figure out how to turn off the flash on my phone, so please excuse those spots.

Abraham Lincoln’s wife’s gown- she had a tiny waist:

The gowns Lady Byrd Johnson and Pat Nixon wore to the inauguration ball (Lady Byrd's is pretty hot, huh?!):

The gowns Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush wore to the inauguration ball- Nancy was a lot smaller than Barbara and I’m not sure these gowns should have been placed next to each other:

Hillary Clinton’s and Laura Bush’s inauguration gowns:

And Michelle Obama’s gown. Her designer did not know she had chosen his dress until he saw it on TV:

Next I went to an exhibit about entertainment throughout American history. Here are some objects of interest.

Slippers from Wizard of Oz- covered in sequins:

The Muppets:

Nastia Liukin’s leotard with the Olympic torch:

Michael Jackson’s hat:

In other exhibits, Mark took pictures of a fallout bomb shelter:

The lunch counter from Greensboro:

And a steel beam from 9/11:

He also saw Lincoln’s top hat but did not get a picture of it.

This museum also had the original flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner. Did you know that this has only been our National Anthem since the 1930s? This flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes, but it is damaged and has some small parts missing. The original owners of the flag (military generals) would cut off small parts to give as gifts. The flag was beautiful and took our breath away. We could not take pictures, but here is the outside of the exhibit:

By this time it was about 3:30, and the museums close at 5:30. That is not really enough time to do a whole museum, but we decided to see what we could get done at the Air and Space Museum.

This museum has exhibits focusing on things like the use of aviation in WWI and WWII, the Space Race, Space and Art, How do Things Fly, Landing on the Moon, and so on. There were people EVERYWHERE and we were sort of getting museumed out, so we did not fully examine everything like we might have if we had come earlier in the day. Plus, I am not a science type of girl. That stuff is all really boring to me, but Mark loved it. Just a few pictures from here:

Lots of planes (and lots of people) everywhere:

The Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh’s plane that was the first to successfully cross the Atlantic. I went to Lindbergh Elementary School so remember learning all about this!

A drone, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is being used in the war today:

The coolest thing about the museums is that everything is REAL. You're not seeing replicas or pictures. You're seeing real things that shaped America into the country she is today.

After the museums we stopped for happy hour at a place called the Chop House, where we had half price microbrews and a giant piece of chocolate cake. We freshened up at the hotel and then headed to dinner at an Irish Pub. It was located in DuPont Circle, a trendy part of town. The food was decent and the place was popular. The bars here show CNN on the tvs! After dinner, we found a place called The Big Hunt. It was a neat bar; it had lots of beers on tap from very small microbrews across the country- neither Mark or I had ever heard of a single one. We grabbed a couple of drinks and called it a night. Only a couple days left!

Day 6: Arriving in DC!

2011-04-08T00:27:00.079-05:00

This morning we woke up in Virginia, got around, and left for Washington, DC. As we drove into town, the word that came to mind was "grand." Everything in this town is grand. Unlike most cities with skyscrapers, nothing here is that tall. The buildings are wide (like a whole city block) and sturdy and, well, grand.

Our hotel is very nice. The only problem is I booked it using name your own price on Priceline, and I accidentally checked the wrong neighborhood. And it is sort of in the ghetto. But, the actual hotel is modern and spacious, it has high security, and the subway stop is right outside, so no complaints.

Now, we have heard that traffic in DC is some of the worst in the entire country. Not only that, but it is hard to drive because the streets start and stop, signs are confusing or nonexistent, drivers are rude, and so on. Our plan was to return our rental right after checking into the hotel. Traffic wasn't bad during the late morning, but we definitely got to experience how confusing it is to get around.

We then grabbed lunch at Union Station. My book said they had a large food court, and that was the truth. Biggest food court I have ever seen. Not only that, but it was packed with people. And it's not just the food court, the entire station is happening. It has a lot of stores and things to do; it is like a gigantic, people-filled mall. This isn't a great picture; I was just trying to show how crowded it is.

After lunch, we headed to the Capitol. A guy I went to high school, Brett Spitzer, is interning there and volunteered to give us a tour. Since we had just gotten into town I hadn't really had a chance to orient myself yet and I was not even sure that the building we were standing outside was the Capitol (seriously, there are a lot of big, important looking buildings). I asked a bystander if the huge building in front of us was indeed the Capitol building. Mark was embarrassed.

While we were waiting for the tour, we did some people watching. It was swarming with suits and people advocating for their causes to get funding in the budget; specifically there were a ton of people wearing Planned Parenthood shirts. Here is one large group on the Capitol steps:

Brett did a fantastic job at giving us the standard tour. We weren't able to see the Chambers where Congress is currently trying to figure out a budget to prevent a government shutdown because there was an incredibly long wait, but we did get to see a lot of neat things. Here's the inside of the dome:

We went into the room where the Senate met for years. Here is the VP chair:

We also got to see the old Supreme Court chambers, which they used for years before they got their own building, the room for the Ways and Means Committee, a chandelier that Congress bought from a Baltimore church for $1,500 in the 1950s that is currently worth $6M, and stand in the spot where a representative strategically placed his desk so that he could hear the whispered secrets of the opposite political party due to the acoustics of the room. It was hard to grasp that we were standing in the building where so many important decisions had been made.

The weather forecast is 71 and sunny today, then 50 and cloudy/rainy for Friday and Saturday. Our plan was to take advantage of this beautiful weather and do everything we could outdoors today. But our feet were already tired from walking, so we rented bikes! It took us forever to find the rental place, and by the time we found it we were really ready for those bikes. Here's an awesome picture of Mark:

The first thing we came across was the Washington Monument. This is the tall pointy statue. It is surrounded by American flags at the bottom and further out are beautiful parks. I hope we get to have a picnic here sometime this trip.

We then stumbled across the WWII Memorial. This was quite beautiful. Those pillars around the water reflect the 50 states.

Next up was the Vietnam Wall. This is the long black wall that has the inscription of each soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice in this war. It is understated and I imagine it would be quite touching if you had lost a loved one in that War, but we didn't have any names we were looking for and it was packed with people, so we moved on fairly quickly.

The Lincoln Memorial was next. This is at the West end of the National Mall. It is HUGE. It was very cool to stand in the same spot where MLK Jr gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.

It was a bummer to find out that they are doing some rehabilitation work on the Reflecting Pool that you typically see when looking out from the Lincoln Memorial. This was our view instead (note the Washington Monument in the background):

Next we headed around the Tidal Basin. We were really glad for the bikes at this point.

The Tidal Basin is surrounded by cherry blossom trees that were a gift from Japan in 1912. There is a big spring festival this time of year called the Cherry Blossom Festival. It is supposed to be one of the best times to visit because it is so beautiful. The beauty cannot be doubted, especially around the Tidal Basin where the trees are planted:

However, I'm not sure I agree that it is the best time to visit. Maybe if you're into photography or flowers. But if your main goal is to see the sites, it is so crowded that it can become frustrating. Brett told us they usually process about 2,000 visitors a week and for the last few weeks it has been 10-12,000.

The opposite side of the Tidal Basin has the FDR Memorial. This Memorial is really spread out and really pretty.

The unemployment lines that were common during FDR's presidency:

Next up was the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. We were pretty pressed for time at this point, so we basically rode up, snapped some pictures, and left.

Then we rode our bikes back so fast that I was a little worried about falling into the Tidal Basin (there's no barriers)!

After we returned our bikes, there was more walking. We found that little house at 16th and Pennsylvania:

This was about the only view you could get. We tried walking around to see other angles, but they were completely blocked. We are standing in a really beautiful park, President's Park, across the street.

From here we navigated the subway station to get back to our hotel. The subway station is really safe, clean, and easy to navigate if you spend a few minutes understanding how it works. We freshened up at our hotel and then had dinner at a "Cheers" type bar called Black Rooster Pub. We met a girl from St. Louis who really liked to talk a lot.

And that was our first day in DC!

Day 5: Camden Yards

2011-04-06T22:38:00.001-05:00

The last few days have been uneventful- just work and lazy evenings. But this afternoon marked the end of work and the beginning of vacation- PAR-TAY!

After work we headed back to Baltimore to catch an Orioles game. Mark is a huge baseball fan, and he is sort of obsessed with Camden Yards. I listened as he told me about how he sat cross-legged in front of the television as he watched Cal Ripken Jr. break the record for the most consecutive games played. I relived all the moments where he chose Camden Yards as the stadium his Nintendo team played in. I learned Babe Ruth's whole life story- the house he was born in once stood in what is center field today.

In short, I sat back and let Mark shine in the glory of Camden Yards.

And it was wonderful.

Here are some pictures;

This made me laugh- notice all the typical grilled foods, and then...crab cakes?! That's how you know you're in Maryland.

Tomorrow we check out of the hotel we've been staying in and move to a hotel in the city. I hope the government gets their budget figured out so that things don't shut down!

Day 2: Baltimore

2011-04-04T21:33:00.003-05:00

Actually, today is Day 3. But I will be writing about yesterday.

Yesterday we slept in (we even missed breakfast) and then headed to Baltimore. Baltimore has 2.7 Million residents in the metro area, which makes it the 21st largest metro area in the United States. It was founded in 1729 and is located in the north-central part of Maryland, off the Patapsco River, which is an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic and was once the second leading port of entry for immigrants (thanks Wikipedia). Today, many DC commuters live here and Oriole baseball reigns supreme.

We headed to the city without any plans for the afternoon. We knew the Harbor was famous, Mark wanted to try Maryland's world famous crab cakes, and we had a concert to be at by 6:30. We toyed with the idea of taking a tour, but logistically we couldn't make it work. We parked a few blocks from the Harbor and headed that way. I got a little frustrated with the lack of plans and put Mark in charge.

The Harbor is beautiful, but I honestly did not like it that well. It is very cookie cutter. Chain stores and restaurants surround the water. It is like the Plaza in Kansas City with a giant body of water dumped in the middle of it. There's a Cheesecake Factory, Ruths Chris Steakhouse, McCormick and Schmicks, M&S Grille, etc. When we travel we like to eat at local places, so nothing here really appealed to us.

Baltimore is also known for its huge aquarium, kids' activities, and art museums, but we are not that into any of those things and it was a pretty nice day, so we just strolled around the water. The water is dotted with ships: a few old time replicas, a few tour boats, and several personal watercraft. On land, there were lots and lots of people and many runners. We came across some paddle boats that were set inside these dragon things that looked just like the Viking Voyager ride from Worlds of Fun. Here is a picture of the Harbor. This is just from my phone, there are way better pictures on Google.

We got to the other side of the Harbor and came across a giant hill. We climbed all 42,038 steps to that hill and looked out over the water. It was beautiful. It turns out that the hill has a lot of history. During the war of 1812, it served as a vital look out point while defending the US from British invasion after the Brits burned Washington DC. Francis Scott Key was a lawyer who witnessed the battle from on board a ship while negotiating the release of a prisoner. It was from here he wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

Today, the hill offers a pretty park that attracts soccer players, picnickers, runners, and kids. It also offers pretty views of volleyball courts and the Harbor:

From the hill, we wandered into some neighborhoods off the Harbor. Mark abused his in-charge powers to deny me a bathroom break for 5-7 minutes, which turned into 10 minutes, which turned into a long time. We got a glass of wine in Little Italy at a place called La Scala. We sort of wanted to go to an old neighborhood called Fells Point, but we were tired of walking and that was in the opposite direction of where we needed to end up, so we turned around.

We came across a place called Mos Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant and Mini Market. Mark saw someone eating crab cakes through the window and decided this was where he wanted to eat. The crab cakes were good- it was my very first time trying them- but my steak and the overall experience was just okay.

After dinner it was concert time! I am sort of obsessed with Sara Bareilles, probably best known for her hit "Love Song" (I'm not going to write you a love song/cause you asked for it/cause you need one....) I've been a big fan for about three years and have seen her twice before, and this girl bleeds talent. Not only is her voice amazing, but she plays at least four instruments and as if that's not enough she writes all her own lyrics too. She was nominated for a Grammy this year and will be opening for Sugarland this summer, but I really love to see her in small venues and it was not a coincidence that our trip was planned for when she would be here.

The concert was at a place called Rams Head Live! Rams Head is in a district called Power Plant Live! and it is EXACTLY like Power and Light in Kansas City. Some of the surrounding bars are Howl at the Moon, Angel Rock Bar, PBR Big Sky Bar, and Mosiac. Sound familiar? I saw somewhere that it is owned/managed by the Cordish Company, the same people that manage Power and Light. Rams Head was actually pretty cool, three levels of standing room and balconies. Sara put on an amazing show as always:

The show was a little long and we did not get back to the hotel until very late, which is why I'm just now blogging.

Overall, we had a good time in Baltimore and I'm glad we took a day to visit. I think we're going to go back after work on Wednesday to go to an Orioles game at Camden Yards. However, I think the trip could have been enhanced with a little more planning so that we could have optimized our time there and really learned about the sites we were seeing.

Today, tomorrow, and Wednesday we are working so I probably will not be blogging. The most exciting thing I could tell you from today are the weird street names I am noticing. So far I have seen Gay Street, Battery Avenue, Temporary Road, and Frying Pan Road. I am not making these up!

Day I- Travel and Alexandria, VA

2011-04-02T23:17:00.001-05:00

Mark and I originally planned to go to DC in 2008, but we cancelled the trip so that we could save money to go to Europe instead. It was a good move, and now we are getting a pretty good deal on our visit! Mark and I both work for Sprint and we both needed to visit their Reston, VA offices for work. Reston is about 45 minutes from DC. My wheels got to spinning and I decided it would be a good idea to coordinate our work trips and extend them with vacation. So here we are. We will be here for nine whole days. The first five days we are staying close to the office, and the final four days will be very close to DC.

Our journey started this morning. Mark's mom graciously gave up her one sleep-in day to take us to the airport, and she was supposed to pick us up at 6:45 am. When she called at 6:40 to say she was on our street, there was just one problem: We were fast asleep. Nothing like a phone call like that to get you going in the morning! Luckily we had completely packed the night before, so although we were rushed we were able to leave about 7. We had a direct, uneventful flight into Dulles. We took the shuttle to our rental car (an Escape) and drove to the Sierra Inn. The hotel is very nice and it's huge- it's like a big New York studio apartment! It even has an office area and kitchen:

I'm usually a big-time planner, but we didn't have much notice for this trip and we don't really have any set plans. We grabbed a quick lunch and then came back for a nap. Then we decided to take a short trip to Alexandria, VA.

Our guidebook says that Alexandria was once "a bustling river port before anyone had even dreamed of a District of Columbia- or a United States! When the time came to plan for revolution, George Washington and the other founding fathers did some important planning in what is now called Old Town" which is where we spent our time. Old Town is a storybook picture from a time long ago. The sidewalks are brick and the buildings are three hundred years old. We strolled the main strip and stopped to get a vanilla bean cupcake with mocha icing at Alexandria Cupcake.

We then came across a store called Ten Thousand Villages, which sells fair trade crafts from around the world. Do you know what fair trade is? The link gives more info, but basically it's a sustainable business model to help promote business in developing countries. It's something I recently discovered and have been wanting to learn more about, so a whole store full of these goodies was right up my alley. Mark got some coffee and a book, and I got these pretty rings made by women in Indonesia:

From there we strolled the brick sidewalks for a bit and eventually came to a stop at an Irish bar- I can't remember the name. We got to talking to the couple next to us. They had lived in the area for a year, but before that they lived in Kansas City for two years! They were very interesting. My dad really likes to do photography and so did this guy- check out his site! I was very impressed (and sort of glad my dad wasn't with us because we would have never left that place).

Next was a place from our guidebook- the Union Street Public House:

It was okay. It was in a really cool old building, but the guidebook said it was known for its local beer and we were a little disappointed in their beer selection. After dinner we grabbed some ice cream from a place that looked like it was from the 50s, and then we headed back to our hotel. The roads are crazy here- we knew driving in DC was bad so we are avoiding that area, but even the surrounding areas are not fun. The lanes are narrow, people are rude, and the tolls are expensive. Those of you who have ever driven with the Mister know how he sees himself (as the enforcer of all road rules, both official rules and unofficial), but he was pretty well-behaved.

Tomorrow we head to Baltimore for another day trip!

Three Entries at Once. Oh yeah, get ready.

2010-01-15T19:52:00.000-06:00

January 12, 2010

Yesterday, Monday, was the first day of the cruise. I planned on getting up early and going to a cute diner that Kaydee and Tyler discovered the day before. I got up and showered, but when I came out of the bathroom everyone was still asleep. Kaydee told me that the boys had stayed up until 4:30 talking about business, God, and philosophy. She couldn’t fall asleep with them talking….and no one else was ready to get around either…so I crawled back into bed for awhile. We ended up skipping breakfast and getting to the ship around noon.

After check in we headed to lunch. Kaydee came back with a big grin on her face- she loves food and the ship has great food. We took it easy the rest of the day until dinner. Our tablemates were really…interesting. Besides being extraordinarily drunk, one was a drag queen! We had a total of six tablemates, not counting Kaydee and Tyler; a couple from Quebec who didn’t speak English very well, and a group of four flaming gay guys. Dinner was so fun, these guys were very entertaining. They broke every political nicety you can imagine. When the head guy, Kevin, would say something that one of the other guys didn’t like, they would say “at least I’m not black!” They referred to the rest of the table as “the straight people.” At one point we were talking about Kaydee and Tyler’s wedding and they asked Mark if he was in it. Mark told them that he was a lowly usher, and they misheard him to say lonely usher. Then one of the guys told Mark he didn’t have to be lonely and winked at him! For some reason, we also teased Mark about being a drag queen and decided his name was Marquetta. The Quebec couple had bought a bottle of wine and one of the guy guys didn’t realize it belonged to them, so he poured himself a glass. At first the Quebec guy seemed really annoyed by all their behavior , but he was laughing by the end. They kept apologizing for being obnoxious but we didn’t mind at all; they were really fun. We especially didn’t mind when they bought the table two bottles of wine to make us forget about them!

We went to bed early last night because we arrived in Key West at 7:30 am. We had breakfast delivered to the room and left the ship around 8. We docked at a military base; a trolley picked us up and took us into town. The trolley driver was hilarious. He told us he was driving the trolley as part of a work release program. On the ride to town we passed the zero mile marker on a highway- it’s where it all begins! The first thing I noticed in town was the roosters- they had wild roosters cock-a-doodle-dooing all over the place! I loved them. They are protected there. We walked down the main drag, Duvall Street, looking for things to do. Most places hadn’t opened yet. We stopped in a coffee shop and I noticed a pamphlet for a bicycle tour. We love bicycle tours, so I called the guy, Lloyd, and signed up. He was a local businessman who doesn’t advertise heavily. There were only two other people on our tour. He took us to some non-touristy places around town. The first stop was Nancy’s garden. Nancy is the quintessential hippy. Everything about her is hippy. She has a palm tree and bamboo garden oasis where she rescues parrots. We toured her garden; it was a really neat place. She lectured us on eating organically and let us try some organic fruits. After we left Lloyd told us that sometimes he will go weeks without seeing her, but when he does run into her during tours that she slows things down because she really likes to talk. After that we just rode around back roads. Lloyd kept stopping and pulling fruits off trees for us to eat. We had some weird fruit. We ate an avocado off an avocado tree seasoned with Key Lime. We had fresh coconut that he cut open with a machete. The coconut water tasted like sweet watery milk. The shavings were sort of bland. We also ate fruits we had never heard of. We had something called a Clarissa that tasted like strawberries and cream. We also tried something, I don’t remember the name, but it looked like a bright orange pear. It had the texture of an avocado and tasted sort of like pumpkin.

We continued our ride to the Southern most part of the continental United States, just 89 miles from Cuba. It was windy. On our way back, we passed an elementary school where a bazillion kids were playing outside. Lloyd rode up and blew in his Conch shell, which makes a really loud noise. The kids started screaming and running away, but then came running back over to the fence. Lloyd played them a couple of songs and they all clapped for him.

After we returned we walked back to the trolley. On our way, we stopped at the Hard Rock. It looked really cool; it was inside an old Victorian house. It had some Beatles memorabilia my dad would have loved, including a Paul McCartney guitar. The rest of the day was uneventful. We grabbed lunch and hung out by the pool for awhile. It is getting warmer but is still a little cool. We wear sweaters outside. There was a Men’s Hairy Chest contest this afternoon that was hilarious. After that we took a nap and then got ready for dinner. We skipped the main dining today and just ate at the buffet. Now we are waiting for the show to start and a fun night ahead- we don’t have to wake up early tomorrow. We arrive in Cozumel at 1:00.

January 14, 2010

Cozumel was crazy! We slept in yesterday morning - it is so easy to sleep in, our room is like a cave with no natural light - and then wasted some time until we docked. Kaydee, Tyler, and I watched the ship come in. It was pretty cool to see a massive ship pull so close to the dock and to see the gigantic ropes that hold it secure being pulled into place. After a quick lunch onboard we headed to the shore. We had paid $50 a person to go to Playa Mia, where they had all kinds of fun things to do. They had paddle boats, kayaks, a water trampoline, a water iceberg, hammocks, and most importantly, unlimited free drinks. And we took advantage of the free drinks.

It was a beautiful day, finally warm enough to lay out in our suits. The sun peaked through the clouds a few times but for the most part the day was overcast, but we were just happy to be warm. We spent the day just being lazy and having fun. We buried Kaydee, turned over rocks, and did handstands. We watched people make fools of themselves and we pet a huge lizard. We took a paddleboat ride and talked about how unbelievably clear the water was. We took romantic walks on the beach and took pictures of Kaydee and Tyler writing their name in the sand. What we did NOT do is climb the iceberg or jump on the trampoline. I was not very happy about this. I really wanted to do these things, but not badly enough to do them by myself. No one wanted to be wet, so we did not get to experience the awesomeness that could have been.

The beach closed at six, so we headed back into town and went to Senor Frogs, a club right by the port. We got the boys to dance with us. Senor Frogs helped us by giving us free tequila. After getting balloon hats made, we left and quickly shopped before heading back to the ship. Mexican men kept hitting on Kaydee, which did not make Tyler happy. Tyler really liked to give people high fives and say “Hola Mi Amigo.”

We got back to the ship around nine and had a yummy dinner. The ship has very good food fit for every taste bud. We called it an early night and headed to bed.

This morning I heard noise and thought it was time to get up since Mark was out of bed. He told me that he had just gotten up to get a drink and to go back to bed. He also asked me if I wanted anything from room service for breakfast. When room service came a few hours later, they delivered four cartons of milk plus a glass of orange juice. He really was thirsty. J

Today is the last day of the cruise, and it’s a full day at sea. We get back to Miami at 7am. We got up fairly early and had breakfast looking out over the ocean. Today is fairly warm but very overcast and very windy, so it’s not a nice day to lay outside. We went to the adults only area at the back of the ship and sat in the hot tub for awhile. It was heaven.

Later this morning we played Battle of the Sexes with about two dozen strangers. The boys won, but they were good sports and let us lay claim to the title.

After lunch Kaydee and I went to a dance class where we learned a fun line dance. Then we all went to a Couples Game that was set up like the old-school game show The NewleyWed Game. Tyler didn’t want to volunteer to participate. We had fun laughing as the three couples in the game, including one guy who was supposedly a priest, answered risqué questions and revealed personal secrets. We especially laughed when one lady who spoke English as a second language didn’t understand what the “happy dance” was and instead told us details about actually dancing.

This afternoon we tried to go down the big waterslide on the ship, but it is closed due to the wind. Mark and I went mini-golfing instead. Not sure if you’ve ever golfed on the top level of a ship in the middle of the ocean on an incredibly windy day, but it is not easy. Let it be known that I beat Mark, unless you don’t apply the six stroke limit rule. He doesn’t.

Now I am sitting on a window seat looking over the ocean. It’s so beautiful. In a few minutes I will meet the others, who are having sushi as an appetizer for dinner. We’re going to the show at 7:00 and then to real dinner at 8:15. If anything eventful happens- and with our tablemates that’s a real possibility- I’ll write again on the plane tomorrow.

January 15 2010

Nothing exciting happened. We went to dinner; the gay guys didnt come. Then we tried to go salsa dancing but Mark was having none of that, so we went to bed and now we're safely home. Until next time, friends.

Instead of Skirts and Bikinis I should Have Brought Sweaters and Fuzzy Socks

2010-01-10T17:06:00.000-06:00

We are in Miami. We planned this trip as an escape from the cold cold temperatures in Kansas City. The last couple weeks in KC have been the coldest recorded in 20 years.

Miami is cold too.

The high today was 51, a big improvement from the ten below temperatures in KC. However, 51 and windy (and I'm convinced it was only 51 for a few minutes today, right now it is 37) is not conducive to lying on the beach and drinking frozen fruity drinks. We did go to the beach today. We wore coats and gloves there.

The bad thing is that there is no escape from the cold. This is also the coldest Miami has been in 20 years. In fact, we’ve heard that Miami has only been this cold twice in history. Miami has winter warnings because the wind chill is 20 degrees (that’s ABOVE zero), but because this weather is so atypical no place has heat. People actually choose to eat outside because that’s where the heat lamps are.

So our trip is off to a cold start.

It is supposed to get warmer. We leave tomorrow for our cruise and expect temperatures in the mid sixties. I know I’m not getting much sympathy from anyone reading this…but it has been cold.

So what have we done so far? Well, we’ve taken it pretty easy. We got in Saturday afternoon and Mark and I went to a sports bar by the hotel, where we watched unranked Mizzou beat #10 KState. Then we came back to the hotel and took advantage of their horrible happy hour service while waiting to meet my sister and her new husband Tyler.

Last night we went to Bayside, a trendy shopping and restaurant area on Biscayne Bay. We went there a couple years ago and it was full of life and fun. Lots of local vendors and live music. Last night was dead. The whole town shuts down in the cold! We ate some delicious Puerto Rican food (love the plantains) at Mambos café, and then Kay and Tyler came back while Mark and I went to Hard Rock. We drank and swapped cruise stories with some people from San Antonio and Toronto. Mark wanted to have one more and then we headed back to the free metro around 12:05. Turns out the metro closes at 12:00. Luckily it was a cheap cab ride back.

Today I really wanted to go to the Everglades, but we didn’t really plan to do that in advance and weren’t able to get it together at the last minute. We went to South Beach for lunch and then headed back to Bayside, where we did a boat tour of the city including some celebrity homes such as PDiddy, Ricky Martin, Will Smith, Shaquille ONeal, Rosie ODonnell, and the house from Scarface. We also saw some dolphins swimming right next to our boat!

Now we’re back at the hotel trying to figure out what to do tonight. Tomorrow we will have lunch on our ship after we board; it leaves port at 4. Probably wont post the rest of my journal until we get back as I’m not into paying outrageous amounts for internet. Cross your fingers for some warm weather!

Final Reflections

2009-06-10T15:29:00.000-05:00

My last post for this trip. We have done some reflecting about what we like about the states vs. Germany area, and vice versa. Here you go:

Things we like better about Germany:
Dogs everywhere- At one point we were talking to an Englishman who had a beautiful bloodhound with him on the train. We were talking about the differences between Europe vs. the States and I brought up the dogs. I said you would never go to a restaurant or get on a train with a dog in the US. He made a funny face and said “That’s Weird.” I love it!

Menus of restaurants posted outdoors- Every restaurant does this. It’s very convenient to see if you want to eat there before you go inside.

Public transportation- So easy to get around.

Everyone multi-lingual- It’s pretty amazing.

Prices are really the prices- they include tax and tip is minimal. If the sign says 2 Euro, that’s how much you pay.

Outdoor cafes everywhere- Pretty much every restaurant has an outside area.

Bike-Friendly- Pedestrians and drivers both watch out for bikes, and there are wide sidewalks and lots of designated lanes. And bike racks everywhere you look. It’s awesome.

Things I like better about the US:
Free bathrooms- Enough said. 50 cents to pee? Stupid.

Free condiments- Again enough said. 30 cents for a ketchup packet? Can’t I get at least a few included in the cost of the fries?

Air conditioning- When it’s hot and no place has AC, you cannot escape the hotness. You know when you’re really hot and you walk into a nice AC’d room? How nice and relaxing that feels? Yeah, you never feel that here.

Ice- Didn’t know how much I loved ice until this trip.

Mexican Food- mmmmmmmmm.

Pepperoni on pizza instead of salami- mmmmmmm.

Soft drinks and water- Unlimited free refills on pop. Free water. Both good things. A regular size drink at fast food restaurants in Germany is about the size of a child-size here. Maybe good for your health, but not enough to drink with a whole meal.

When all is said and done, I’m very happy to be back in the states. Happy that I can read signs and communicate with the people around me. Happy to see my friends and family again. Excited to sleep in my own bed and shower in my own shower. We had a blast, and I can’t wait to go back, but I’m glad I live in the good ole US of A.

Tips for Future Europe Travelers

2009-06-10T15:28:00.000-05:00

Our last day in Berlin was not super exciting, though it was fun. We rented bikes and had the city as our cul-de-sac. Biking is such a great way to get around town and I wish that Kansas City was more bike-friendly. We really enjoyed riding through the streets of Berlin. After lunch and some shopping, Mark headed back to the hotel for a nap and I went back to Checkpoint Charlie and to an open-air exhibit called the Topography of Terror, which was really boring. We met up to return our bikes and had a nice dinner, then tried to get some sleep before our 3 a.m. wakeup call.

Now we’re over the Atlantic, halfway through our 9 hour flight. And that’s just one out of the three legs. I cannot stop thinking about seeing Turner and Hooch again, and about the cheese dip and margarita I’m going to get from 54th Street tonight. And Mexican food in general. Mark says “Chipotle” every 10th word. By the time I get a chance to post this we will be home sweet home.

I know a couple of people have been reading this because they are planning upcoming European trips, and I have some insight for you. I hope that some of my mishaps can save you some time, money, and frustration.

First of all, if you have connecting flights on different airlines, do everything you can to know which gate the connecting flight leaves from, or at least what terminal the airline is in. If you don’t know this and ask someone official-looking at the airport, they will lie to you. With certainty.

Second, if you are flying on an airline that is not a major airline in the country you’re in, realize that they may not have their own ticketing counter. When we flew out of New York, it took us forever to find the Air Berlin counter because there is no Air Berlin counter- it is an American Airlines counter with a small Air Berlin sign.

If your connecting flights are not on the same airline, allow at least 1-1.5 hours for your layover. I usually want the quickest layover possible, but it can take time to switch between airlines….especially if you check bags.

Mark has been keeping our finances straight while we’re over here, and he noticed two $30+ charges were pending and we weren’t sure what they were. When they both cleared, we realized it was for two phone calls we made. Each was less than a minute. We called from Austria to Switzerland and Austria to Germany to take care of some business with places we would be staying. We called from the train station- that is the mistake. If you have to call when you’re in Europe, do not call from the train stations…unless you enjoy spending close to $70 on two short calls. You can call much cheaper from Internet cafes or by using calling cards.

Stay at least two-three nights in each place. We didn’t and felt rushed and unsettled at times.

Pack light. Roll your clothes and only bring things that have multiple uses. I am not usually a light packer, but I was able to fit everything into a carry-on. Or at least a bag that they let me carry on….not sure it would have fit in the little box they use to measure it. You are moving around so much and having lots of luggage or big luggage would have been a big hassle. And get good, durable luggage…I thought mine was…it wasn’t. Carrying a suitcase is not fun.

Check the carry-on limitations for each airline you’re flying on. Most are not strict about

Pack a water bottle, an alarm clock, and a calculator. The water bottle because you cannot get a small cup of water for less than $3. I just filled mine up at the hotel and carried it everywhere. I didn’t have the last two and wish I did. Hotels do not generally have clocks. The calculator would have been handy for calculating exchange rates, especially when you’re traveling between countries that use different currencies, and also for when you’re charged and given change in one currency, but paying in another.

Ladies, tampons over here do not have applicators, so plan accordingly if that will be an issue.

Take a bike tour…most big cities have them. They are fabulous. Rent bikes to get around. Also fabulous. I much prefer it to using the subway system, and wished that we had done it earlier in the trip.

Travel sites say to get an international student ID, which costs around $25, to take advantage of student discounts. We used our UMKC IDs and never had any problems.

If you’ll be traveling between cities by train and have questions, feel free to ask me….it can be complicated to figure out. I didn’t understand it until we got there….and still don’t understand all of it, but I have a good feel for it.

Invest in a good guidebook. We used ours a ton. Also learn basic phrases in their language.

This sounds stupid, but check the weather for where you’re going and really think about that when you’re packing. June in Germany is not the same as June in Kansas City. I packed like it was. Germany June is more like KC April….I brought one cardigan and one hoodie, and they are both pretty stinky now.

Save a lot and budget well. We paid for everything in cash and stayed within our budget. It was very enjoyable knowing that we don’t have to pay for this vacation after we get home.

Start a blog and send me the link so I can read it!

Thanks for reading and I hope this is helpful. I love to travel and am thinking about stating a show Samantha Brown style…whadda ya think?

Mark Guest Blog

2009-06-09T03:37:00.001-05:00

Jayme fell off her bike during the bike tour.

Randomness

2009-06-09T03:24:00.000-05:00

A couple of things I forgot yesterday:

The beggers here are nuts. We met our bike tour yesterday at one of the main squares, and as we were walking this sweet lady who looked like she was from India came up to us. She had the head covering and was holding the hand of a precious little girl. She asked if we spoke English, and when we said yes she handed us a sheet of paper that said something like “I am here from Bosnia with my small child and have no money to eat. Can you please help?” These types of things break my heart. But we told here we had no cash but would say a prayer for her. Well, as we were waiting for the tour w1e were approached at least a dozen times by different women with the same story. They were everywhere, like mosquitos in the summertime! One woman even came up to us while she was breastfeeding! At this point I started thinking it was a scam and stopped feeling bad.

The other thing I forgot was something we learned on our tour. We learned that Berlin is one of the most liberal cities in the world with the highest Turkish population outside of Turkey and the third highest gay population. We also learned that they have a very high percentage of atheists- 50% of its citizens recognize themselves as such. However, we then learned that you are taxed based upon your religious affiliation. The religious pay higher taxes to go towards the rebuilding of religious buildings that were destroyed in the war. We found this very interesting. What if you love God but don’t want your money to go towards buildings? Is that considered renouncing your faith? Some interesting discussion questions if nothing else…any thoughts?

The pub crawl last night started off as fun, though we were ready to go home at the end. We met a bunch of guys from England who were celebrating their buddy’s stag party. They were fun. We weren’t really that impressed with the bars…we went to three bars that were nothing special or different than what we would find in KC. Nothing wrong with them, just nothing exciting. Then we went to two clubs that had crazy lights, people dancing on tables, and loud techno music. Not really our thing, but it was fun to get out and talk to people from around the world.

One funny thing that happened on the pub crawl. Mark was talking to these Canadian guys about where we have been, and he asked them if they’ve ever heard of Baden Baden. They hadn’t. Mark started telling them about how awesome, terrific, and wonderful it is. He says “You just walk around naked, and they massage you, they rub you all over, it is so great!” He goes on and on about it. The Canadian asks if it’s a girl doing the massaging and Mark says “No, it’s a guy, but it’s not weird. It’s so awesome.” Then the Canadian guys started giving Mark weird looks and slowly backed away. Hahaha.

Today is our last day. There’s not another bike tour available today, so I think we’re just going to rent bikes and get around the city on our own. Already started praying that we don’t suffer the same fate that the Air France flight did……

Berlin

2009-06-08T12:01:00.000-05:00

We are in Berlin. We’re staying at the Courtyard Marriot, which is very nice, except that it’s supposed to be “City Center” and it’s not actually the center of anything. But it’s close to a subway stop so nothing is too far away.

After we got into town last night, we relaxed a little and then tried to take the Rick Steves self-guided tour. But we ended up getting lost and headed back to our hotel area. One thing we did see before getting lost was this old church:

Which was bombed during WWII…you can see its missing spire. After we got back we had a late dinner and called it a night.

Today we took a bike tour. Let me tell you, we are hooked on this! Bike tours are my new favorite way to see a city. You can cover way more ground than a walking tour, and you can get more up close and personal than a bus tour. It was great. We’re thinking of doing another, more focused one, tomorrow.

Berlin has a rich history, which I did not appreciate until we got here. I’m sure many of you already know this, but here’s the Cliff Notes version for those who slept through history class. After losing WWII, the Allies (US, France, Britian, and the Soviet Union) got control of Germany. They split it between the 4 countries. Shortly after, the US, France, and Britan territories joined together to become West Germany, which was a capitalistic, democratic society. The Soviet territory became known as East Germany and was under Communist rule. Berlin was in the East territory, but the other countries didn’t think that the Soviets should control the entire city, so they split the city into West and East territories as well.

It didn’t take long for East Germany to become oppressed and its people started escaping to West Germany. To prevent this, the Soviets created a barrier (the Iron Curtain) down the middle of Germany. Then people started escaping to West Berlin (remember, this was in Eastern Germany). Once in West Berlin, they could become a citizen of W Germany and then go there freely. The Communists didn’t like this either, so they built the Berlin wall. The Berlin wall stayed up for close to 30 years and was just torn down in 1989. In 1990, Berlin was reunited into one undivided city, and shortly thereafter became the capital of Germany again.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me show you some pictures from our tour:

Marks sexy bike:

The TV tower in East Germany. The Communists are mostly atheists, and after they built this tower they realized that when the sun shines on it, it leaves a very distinct reflection of a cross. They tried and tried but could not get rid of it. The Westerners call this the “Pope’s Revenge”.

On this square, the Communists burnt thousands of books that promoted capitalistic ideas. You cant really see in this picture, but below that glass is a monument of an empty library.

I don’t remember the name of this gate, but it is very famous. The statue on top is of Victoria, the goddess of victory. Once a French ruler fell in love with the statue and took it back to France with him. This made the Germans very upset, so they eventually stole her back and put her back on top of the gate- this time with her butt facing France.

Me “climbing” the Berlin wall. Not much of it remains today.

Another shot of the Berlin wall. It’s much thinner than I was expecting. There were actually two walls with a strip down the middle called the “death strip”. People were shot if they tried to cross. The top of the wall is rounded because W Germany tried to help out the East with their plumbing systems by giving them pipes. The Eastern leaders split the pipes in half and put them on top of the wall.

This is the most famous wall checkpoint, Checkpoint Charlie. Not after a person, but because Charlie is the third letter in the military alphabet. These actors are acting as guards for the East and West. We went through the museum after the tour. People tried desperately to escape. They were smuggled in cars, in suitcases, through tunnels, even in hot air balloons. They were desperate.

The Parliament building as it stands today:

We saw many more interesting sites, but these were the highlights. Berlin has changed a lot in the 20 years since the wall has been torn down, and it’s fascinating to see how a city rebuilds itself.

Berlin is also known for its nightlife. Mark and I are not known for our nightlife. However, they do these pub crawls where you can see several bars/clubs in a few hours so we’re going to check that out tonight. The clubs here stay open until 6am, and I can assure you that we will not stay out that late. I am excited to go out- we haven’t gone out the whole time we’ve been here- but I think we will feel like an old married couple….we’ll probably be laughing about what the kids are doing. Haha.

Tomorrows our last day, then traveling all day on Wednesday. Sort of a bittersweet feeling. That’s all for now….

This Weekend

2009-06-07T10:32:00.000-05:00

To those who have been asking for a post from Mark…I’m working on him!

It’s currently noon in Germany, though I won’t be able to post this for several hours. We’re on a train from Prague to Berlin. The train is a Czech train and is 45 minutes behind schedule….that would never happen in Germany. Germans are known for being extremely punctual. Mark is in the dining car drinking a Budweiser beer…not an AB product, but the Czech Budweiser. Remember that lawsuit from last year? He says it is good and lighter than most Czech beers. We learned that the Czechs recently took the number 1 spot in the world for most beer consumption per person.

So about Prague….I’ll start from the beginning. After my last lunchtime post, we strolled around the city for a bit. The streets are lined with majestic old buildings- Prague has never been destroyed by natural disaster or war, one of the only big European cities that can say so- but these majestic old buildings are splattered with graffiti and litter dances in the wind. Not the “most beautiful city” that we had imagined.

Friday evening we booked a river boat dinner cruise. This was about what we expected. The food was good and the people were fun. Our guide was amazing- there were people on the tour that spoke six different languages and she spoke them all fluently! I asked her how many languages she spoke and she just said a lot. Most everyone over here speaks at least two languages. This makes me feel a little uneducated and selfish, but living in the middle of the US there is really just not a need unless you regularly work with people who speak a different language. If people in Kansas spoke a different language than in Missouri, and people in Nebraska spoke a different language still, I am sure I would know more than just my own language. That’s kind of what it’s like in Europe. Anyway, back to the cruise. The views were incredible, and looking at the city from the water at sunset, we began to see its beauty.

Since I get motion sickness easily, I took two motion sickness pills before the cruise. I didn’t feel sick at all, but after the cruise my eyes were as heavy as lead. I could not keep them open no matter how hard I tried. We went back to the hotel around 10:30 and I went straight to bed.

I must have been tired because I got a full 12 hours of sleep! We had no intentions of sleeping so late, but I guess we got some much-needed rest.

Also on Friday, we did laundry at the hotel. This is the second time doing laundry on the trip. I intended to do it in their laundry room, but they did not have one. They did have a laundry service. A laundry service that charged per item, and the cheapest item was a pair of socks….and they were $4/pair. No way in heck I was paying that much. And the laundry had to be done. So we went to a mini-market, got a bottle of detergent, and filled up the bathtub with the detergent, water, and clothes. We jostled the clothes around a lot and let them soak for awhile, then rinsed them off and hung them up all over the room. Not the most glamorous part of our vacation, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
After we got around on Saturday, we walked around town for awhile. I like to learn about a town’s history when traveling and I wanted to do some sort of tour, but none of them really fit our schedule. So I will have to Wikipedia Prague when we get back. I know that until the early 90’s it was part of the Soviet Union and under Communist rule, but that’s about the extent of my knowledge. A little bummed that I spent two full days there and still know very little.

We spent Saturday afternoon at Prague’s castle, which I believe is the largest one in all of Europe. Now when I think of a castle, I think of something like we visited on the second day of our trip. Prague’s castle is like a full city with a wall around it. You would not even know you were in something considered a castle. We could have spent hours here, but it was drizzling and cold, so we cut it short and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the night.

They have those guards that don't move:

This is the cathedral that is in the castle.

Before our evening plans, we ate dinner at a nice restaurant called Uno. It was in the middle of a shopping complex and we ran into one of our classmates that is doing some traveling on his own. Small world!

Dad would be proud of me for what we did Saturday night- we went to a classical concert! He loves classical music and I have always given him a hard time for it. I’m not sure why- more Wikipedia research to be done- but classical seems to be a big thing here in Prague. The concert was in a beautiful building called Semanta (Municipal) Hall. I don’t really have anything to compare it to, but it was a nice way to spend a chilly evening and we left the place feeling pretty classy. After the concert we got a few drinks and headed back to the hotel.

Another thing we’ve noticed about Prague is how rude the people can be. I don’t know if we’ve just had bad luck or if that’s their culture. Even the service at our nice hotel was rude. People have not been willing to help or answer our questions like in the other countries we’ve visited. Also, again not sure if this is bad luck or culture, but three times we have tried to order something that is on the menu and they say they don’t have it. Not “I’m sorry, we’re out,” or any other explanation, just “We don’t have that.” Well why the heck is it on the menu then?? There are also more bums than in other places, though not as many as you might expect in a big city. And they are pushy! After the concert we were enjoying some wine on a little courtyard terrace that was separated from the sidewalk by a flower garden. A bum who reeked of alcohol reached his hand over the flowers and begged for money. I like to think that I have a heart for homeless, but I realize the best way to help them is by supporting programs that support them, not by giving them money. It’s a little scary when they’re so pushy. That was a lot of complaining sorry, we really did like Prague, but it was a lot different than Germany.

This is getting long so I am going to cut myself off. Shout-out to my parents for celebrating their 28th wedding anniversary yesterday, and hope you feel better soon Daddy-O!

PS

2009-06-05T08:01:00.001-05:00

Chris, Sean- We went on the school part of our trip with a guy named Stephen Knutter who went to school with you guys. He was pretty excited to find out we were all related.

Prague

2009-06-05T07:39:00.001-05:00

We’re in Prague. We checked into our hotel with no issues. It is a very nice hotel; I got a steal on Priceline. The problem with nice hotels is that they charge for things that are normally free at less nice hotels. For example, internet is $25 for 24 hours. So now we are at a restaurant with cheap wifi waiting for lunch. Be patient if I don’t get to update tomorrow.

Prague is in the Czech Republic. Although CR is a member of the EU, they use their own currency and do not accept Euros at some places. Switzerland was similar, they are not a member of the EU and only use Swiss Francs. They have their own currency, which is really annoying when you’re only in the country for a couple days. You end up with all this money that isn’t good anywhere else. In Switzerland it was pretty easy to figure out the exchange rate, because 1 Swiss Franc roughly equals 1 US Dollar. Not so easy in Czech. To find US dollars we have to divide the Czech price (I’m not even sure what their currency is called) by 19.8 or something crazy. And that’s not all there is to it. They say a price in Czech currency, you ask them how much that is in Euros and if they take Euros, they usually say yes, you pay Euros, and then they give you your change in Czech currency. It can get pretty confusing and you have to trust that they are charging you the right amounts and giving you the right amount of change.

The other thing unique about the Czech Republic is that they speak Czech, not German like all the other places we’ve visited. In Switzerland, they actually speak 4 languages, but predominately German. We have a little German phrase book and are fairly comfortable with basic expressions, but guess how many Czech words we speak? Zero. Our first impression is that most people here speak English, and I hope that holds true.

Tonight we are taking a river boat dinner cruise. No plans for tomorrow; we’ll figure it out in the morning. Maybe a walking tour to learn about the history of the town. It’s supposed to be the “most beautiful town in the world”….I don’t know who that is according to, but have heard it several times. I’ll make sure to post some pictures on my next post; I feel like I’ve been slacking in that area lately. Have a good weekend, can’t wait to see everyone again soon!

Train Woes

2009-06-05T07:15:00.001-05:00

A note about the overnight train, which we are still on….

I forgot to tell you about my suitcase. I love my suitcase. It was a undergrad graduation gift. It has four wheels so I can pull it like a normal suitcase, or I can pull it sideways. It’s great.

Well, on the way here, one of the wheels broke off. I didn’t even notice; somebody following me out of the plane told me about it. Down to three wheels. At the airport I went to the bathroom, and when I came back Mark had ripped off another wheel for some completely un-understandable reason. Two wheels. This is sort of annoying, but not a huge deal. I can still pull it like a normal suitcase, it just doesn’t stand up on its own- I have to lean it on something. Well, yesterday in Baden-Baden I was a little rough with it, and one of the remaining wheels popped off. So now my poor little suitcase only has one wheel. Which means poor little me has to carry it everywhere. It’s not super heavy- maybe 40 pounds or so- but after awhile it does get to be heavy, and it’s definitely uncomfortable to carry, especially when you only have a few minutes to catch the train. And you have other bags you’re lugging around, and a husband too.

The trains are, for the most part, easy to figure out. They only stop at most stations for a couple of minutes, and once the doors shut there is no reopening them- if you miss it, you are out of luck. We were waiting for the train last night after I posted- we gave ourselves PLENTY of time since it was our first overnight train and we weren’t sure what to expect. We had assigned beds and weren’t sure how to find them. The trains are unbelievably punctual here, and it was one minute before our train was due to leave and it was nowhere to be found. We were getting a little worried. Also, the electronic signs at the stations usually say the trains ultimate destination. This sign had two- Prague, where we were going, and also Berlin. No clue what that’s about.

The train gets there and we rush to get on. Our assigned car is 266 and we boarded on car 277. As we go towards the front of the train, the numbers decrease, so that’s where he headed. This is annoying. You are walking down narrow aisles full of sleeping people, me while carrying my suitcase, all while the train jostles you about like a drunkard. Well we get to car 270 and that’s it- the front of the train. No where else to go. We then notice all these signs that say stuff about Berlin. At this point I had, as Mark stated it, worked myself into a frenzy. I was not happy and was convinced we were on the wrong train. This would be an absolute disaster and would totally ruin our next day.

Mark left me there with the baggage while he went to find the conductor. He eventually came back and said that the train would be splitting at some point in the night, and that the cars towards the back of the train would be going to Prague. Mark and I jumped off at the next stop and started running towards the back, but I got nervous that the train would leave without us, so I made us get back on to find our seats. Annoying again. We eventually did find our car and our beds. After we learned how to lock up our luggage, all was good. We climbed into our beds- they are tight, six in a room- but comfortable. Our stranger roommates were quiet and did not give us any problems. We both got a good night’s sleep and are now looking forward to a day in Prague. And to getting off the smelly train.

Heidelberg

2009-06-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

It’s currently about 10:30 in Germany and we are sitting at an Internet Café in the train station, waiting for our train. We are taking an overnight train to Prague- it is close to an 11 hour train ride. We paid about $50 to get beds- we figured it is cheaper than a hotel and will allow us to actually get some sleep. We’re excited and anxious to see how the overnight trains work- hopefully we get a good nights sleep. There could be up to four other people in our cabin so it could be tight.

This morning we woke up in Baden-Baden, had breakfast at the hotel, and checked our bags with the front desk. We then went to the ‘fun” bathhouse. We paid for our tickets, changed into our suits, and then entered the bath. The first floor had a lazy river, indoor/outdoor pools, heat lamps, a cold plunge, a aromatherapy steamroom, a waterfall you could stand under, etc. The second floor was nude and had foot baths, Jacuzzis, saunas, etc. The average age of the place was about 65 so we saw a lot of saggy boobs. It was fun, but not nearly as relaxing as the one we went to yesterday. Also, you were free to go where you wanted to, compared to yesterday where we had a routine. We liked having a routine; it gave some rhyme and reason to what we were doing. We left about 1:00 and had lunch at the Baden-Baden train stop.

We then took the train to Heidelberg, which is only about an hour away. Heidelberg is a big college town. I was excited about Heidelberg- there's a restaurant in Columbia, our college town, called Heidelberg- but we did very little research on the town and weren’t sure what to do. We got a map and some information from the tourist center and then headed off into the old town. There are lots of shops and restaurants on the cobblestone streets. We shopped for awhile (Kaydee, I got you something I think you’ll like…) and then headed across the river that divides the town. They have a steep hike to a lookout point over the town. It was pretty, but we are becoming a little bit of view snobs- we have seen so many pretty views lately that it is becoming hard to impress us.

After that we went back to the Old Town and did a little self-guided pub crawl. We went to several local places, including Hard Rock Café, and just got one drink at each place. We had dinner at a little Irish Pub. It was a good time, but definitely would have been better if we had done our research beforehand.

So, sort of a boring day. We have two days in Prague and then three days in Berlin, and then back to Kansas City! I read about the Air France flight last night- haven’t really been following the news- and am a little freaked out about flying internationally. That’s scary stuff. More tomorrow!

No Time for Modesty

2009-06-03T17:32:00.000-05:00

We checked out of our hostel around 8:00 this morning and hopped on a train for a 4 hour ride to Baden-Baden. Baden-Baden is a small town (about 50,000 people) that we learned about from Rick Steves. It is known for its large, historic casino and for its spa bath houses. Neither Mark or I are into gambling so we focused on the bath houses.

When we got to the town, Mark and I got separated- I say he wondered off, but he would tell you that I did. I ended up finding our hotel and checking in; then set off to find him. After close to an hour of being separated I finally spotted him sitting on a bench. It’s tough without cell phones! Mark had lunch at a local place and I had McDonalds. One thing I’ve been meaning to type is how prevalent Burger King is over here. There are also a lot of McDonalds and Subways. The other US chain that we’ve seen quite a bit of is Claires, the teenage jewelry store. I had no idea they had an international presence.

After lunch we took the self-guided tour in my guidebook. Then we drank a little liquid courage to prepare for the baths.

So here’s the thing about the baths…if you only know me professionally you can stop reading now. They are in the nude. Totally in the nude. I was so nervous about this….definitely not a comfortable feeling for me….hence the need for some liquid courage. We figured "When in Rome...".....right??

We got there, bought our tickets, and stripped down. Boys and girls are separate for most of the time so I was by myself. I wondered around naked for awhile until a nice (fully clothed) lady led me the right way. You take a nice shower and then sit in a sauna. Just when I thought I was so hot I couldn’t handle it anymore, I went into the next room- it was an even hotter sauna!!! I didn’t stay in there long. Then I got a short (10 minute) massage with a soap brush- heavenly. The next 10 rooms were all pools of some sort….some hot, some cold. Some with jets, others just peaceful. Two of the rooms were with the guys…kinda weird. But after awhile you stop thinking about it. It’s funny how the attitude towards nudity differs between Americans and Europeans.

After those rooms, I went to the lotion room and covered myself with the stuff. Then I went to this room where they swaddle you like an infant. You lay there in your little cocoon, completely relaxed, very soft music playing in the background. You are so relaxed at this point. I feel completely asleep and didn’t wake up until some lady came in and started rubbing my legs. Our friend Larry always talks about being “zen” and that’s exactly how I felt- totally, completely Zen. That’s pretty much it- the whole thing takes about 3 hours.

Baden-Baden is known for this…it used to be where all the rich and famous people would come to relax and gamble. Today it’s pretty touristy, although many locals still frequent the spas. No pictures today…I’ll spare you that. J

Tomorrow is a pretty free day. They have another, non-nude bath that we may check out. It’s supposed to be less relaxing but more fun. At some point we will take the train to Heidelberg and spend the day there. It’s doubtful I will have internet access tomorrow night- we are taking the overnight train to Prague (this is a change of plans- we originally planned to stay in Heidelberg). So tomorrow day Heidelberg, tomorrow night train, and Friday in Prague! Can’t wait!

Cliff Jumping and More

2009-06-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, first things first before we get to the exciting stuff.

Woke up this morning in Interlaken, Switzerland. Here is a picture of our hostel…the bar downstairs:
And our room:

We sort of already knew this, but we have learned that Switzerland is VERY expensive. VERY. As in, we were going to go to this Mexican place for lunch but one quesadilla was over $20. We went to McDonalds instead- We both got fries, I got a hamburger, Mark got 2 cheeseburgers and a drink….and it was $20. Not exaggerating. The Swiss are very proud of their products- their cheese, chocolate, watches, and army knives and other outdoor gear. We have seen lots of Swiss flags (which is in sharp contrast to Germany, who is not very patriotic because of the weapon national patriotism was once used as) and many signs advertise “Swiss made.”

This morning I woke up before Mark to souvenir shop. I was feeling brave, so I stopped by the hotel desk to sign us up for our adventures. They have everything here…skydiving, hang gliding, bungee jumping, etc. But more about that in a second. After souvenir shopping we walked around town. We stumbled across a little chocolate bar- I was in heaven! We selected about 9 pieces of mouth-watering chocolate and got it in a to-go bag. We took it to a place we had seen earlier that was a wide-open green space. We thought it was probably a park, but when we got close we noticed it was roped off and thought that was strange. We sat on a bench facing the green area with the mountains behind it and thought about how lucky we are to be here- then all these parachuters started falling from the sky! It was a parachute landing area! We watched about a dozen people land as we ate our chocolate.

As I’ve mentioned before, Interlaken is a small town (<6,000 residents), but is well-known for two things- Extreme sports and the mountain Jungfrau, which I believe is the highest point in Europe. We didn’t have enough time to do Jungfrau so we concentrated on the extreme sports. After lunch it was time to go…and I was scared to death.

The first thing we did was something called canyoning, which I had never heard of before. You put on all this gear- two wetsuits, water sock/shoe things, a lifevest, a helmet, and a harness with a plastic tarp thing over your butt. They drive you up in the Alps, and you hike 10 minutes to reach a BEAUTIFUL natural water source. The water goes all the way down the mountain running over rocks, around corners, and creating waterfalls. Then we got into the water to get back down the mountain. At times we repealed, other times we laid on our backs in the water and let the current carry us around twists and turns. Other times we walked under giant waterfalls, slid on our butts down rocks, or jumped sideways off a rock into a small pool. We even went down natural waterfalls backwards. It was so cool! Because we were in the water, we could not take pictures, but we did buy some from the tour company. They were actually a reasonable price. However, they gave us a CD of all the pictures and this computer does not have a CD drive, so I’m pretty bummed that I can’t look at them, let alone post them, yet.

After that it was time to do the REALLY SCARY one- something called canyon jumping. If you didn't see the video from my first post today, watch it....I swear, you have to be insane to do this. I was so scared. They drive you 30 minutes up a mountain to get to this huge natural canyon with a river rushing below it. Then you go out on this little platform, attached only to a rope, and jump. You free fall 150 feet, stopping 10-15 feet above the river. Then you swing. You miss one of the canyon walls by only 10 feet. Did I say I was scared?

Mark jumped before me, and he lived. He’s scared of heights so I was very proud of him. Then a few other people went….and then it was my turn. After a little encouraging I jumped off the platform and started falling…and falling….and falling. I wondered if people who commit suicide by jumping off things have second thoughts when they’re on the way down. I couldn’t believe I was still falling, so I just shut my eyes and screamed. Eventually I reached the end of the fall and started swinging between the canyon walls like Tarzan. What a rush!!!

See that platform at the very top? That's what we jumped off of.

This is what it looks like from the top:

Before I went:

That little black dot is me! So fun!

Today was a great day. Not sure what we will do tonight since things close early and are expensive. I haven’t been too impressed with the actual town of Interlaken, but we did have an amazing time here. I’m also very excited about what we have planned tomorrow, but you’ll have to read again to find out. Cheers!!

We're alive!!!!

2009-06-02T11:47:00.001-05:00

Full post to come later....

Today Could Be My Last Day on Earth

2009-06-02T04:42:00.000-05:00

Moms, Dads, Siblings....At 9:00 AM your time, we will be jumping off a cliff and swinging through a canyon. To view what we will be doing, watch this video (It has sound).

I am terrified. If we don't make it, we love you.

Trains and Mountains

2009-06-01T17:55:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe it’s June already! We are halfway through our trip…woke up really missing my family, friends, and dogs.

We slept in Munich last night, and left about 8:30 this morning for Innsbruck, Austria. Our classmates went back to Munich, but Mark and I are continuing on our own from here, so we packed our bags this morning and brought them to Innsbruck with us. We put them in a locker at the Innsbruck train station so we wouldn’t have to carry them around all day.

Innsbruck is known for being a winter sports town. Its nickname is the Capital of the Alps. The Winter Olympics have been held here twice. As you can imagine, it is very beautiful.

Since we were leaving early, we didn’t have much time- we basically popped in and out. We took the bus to a cable car lift and rode the car up the mountain. We thought the cable cars might hold four or so people, but it is more like thirty. We took the cable car to the midway point and briefly looked around- we were more rushed than the class since our train left early.

As we were looking around, I noticed Mark wasn’t wearing the bag he had been this morning- the bag he left in Salzburg on Friday that still had our passports in it...so I asked him where it was. His eyes got really big and he quickly turned on his heel and took off in a sprint. Hahaha! Luckily they took it off the cable car and the guard had it, so it was no problem. I'm happy to say that the passports are now in my bag.

We went as high as the cable cars would take us, and then took a very short hike to the summit. As we rounded a corner on our hike, we came across some wild sheep/goat/llama things! Haha, I don’t know what they actually were, but it was magical to come across these animals. WE CAME ACROSS WILD ANIMALS IN THE ALPS!!!!! How often does that happen?? It was almost unreal. They were tagged so they must be tracked somehow, but I have to think they’re wild- who would farm animals at the top of the Alps? One was very friendly and came right up to me, but he was the only one who liked me. It was an awesome moment; one of my favorite on the trip so far.

From there we continued on, mostly just taking in the views. It was so beautiful. I wish I had a panoramic camera to capture it better. The summit we hiked had a cross at the very top. I have no idea why it was there or what it was from, but it was very cool. And appropriate- I can’t help but praise God at moments like this. I can feel His power and majesty and feel how very very small I am. Here’s a picture of the cross from the top and from a few hundred feet down.

And some pictures of the beautiful Alps, including my signature handstand pic:

Throughout our trip, we have often relied on friendly strangers to help us out. We have been impressed by how eager to help most people have been, sometimes without us even asking. We know very little German- we can say ‘Can you speak English?’,’ We don’t speak German’, ‘please’, ‘thank you’, etc. Something funny happened today. We were taking the bus from the mountain to the train station. We knew we had a connection but weren’t sure where it was, and the driver spoke very little English. Another passenger was going the same place we were, but he also spoke very little English. He managed to lead us there using a few common words and lots of gestures. We were very thankful for his help, so as we were departing I gave him a big wave and heartfelt “Bitte!!!”, thinking I was telling him thank you….as he walked away I realized I just told him Please!!, or You’re Welcome!!! (they use the same word for both)....pretty embarrassing.

Now we are on a train on our way to Interlaken, Switzerland. It’s a 6 hour train ride with 3 changes- not so fun. We’re trying to make the best of it- we bought snacks and drinks at the last station. We have first class tickets…long story, but I thought we were required to buy them and now I’m not so sure….but the first class cars are nice so I’m not complaining. We have a private room with a door, the seats lay down, we can control the temperature, and we have outlets- none of these are available in the normal cars we’ve been using up to now. Here’s Mark:

And me, writing this very post!

It’s currently 5:40 Germany time, 10:40 Kansas City time. I won’t be able to post this for several hours…we don’t get to Interlaken until close to midnight Germany time, 5:00 KC time. We are staying in a hostel for the first time and I am excited/nervous about that. We will be there for two nights. Interlaken is one of the stops I am most looking forward to…it’s known for extreme sports! More about that tomorrow….

Update: It’s now 5:45 KC time, 12:45 Germany time. We’ve checked into our hostel. It’s interesting…it’s pretty much just a bar downstairs, and then you walk upstairs to your room. I think it has 15 rooms total. Hostels often have shared rooms, with anywhere from 4-16 to a room, but we have a private room. We have a sink in our room but not a bathroom. The bathrooms are private- each one has a toilet, sink, and shower- but they are shared by everyone on the floor. Anyway, tomorrow should be a fun day….no idea what we will do, but I’m trying to talk Mark into jumping off a cliff. I’ll let you know.

Quite the Weekend

2009-06-01T01:45:00.000-05:00

A lot has happened since I last wrote! Remember how I came home from the beer garden early and Mark stayed? Well I had a nice night that night….I updated this journal, packed up a few things, and then went to relax in the sauna. I got hot in the sauna so was laying out reading when Mark walks in. He says “Do you have our bag?!” I didn’t. I had left it at the beer garden with Mark. The bag has our passports, Mark’s MP3 player, and Mark’s Kindle. Luckily no money. Mark thought he had left it in the cab on the way to the train. After about 3 heart-pounding hours with the help from our professor’s wife and the nice hotel clerk, we located the bag with a cab company in Salzburg.

Now we had to figure out how to get this stuff back- we were due to leave early the next morning with our classmates. Our professor encouraged us to get the stuff immediately. We left even earlier on our own, took a 1.5 hour train to Salzburg, got a $80 ticket on the train because our train pass was only valid for the 2 hour train, got to Salzburg, met someone who noticed my Mizzou luggage tag and was also from Missouri, encountered a rude cab driver who refused to take us to the police station where our bag was, managed to get to the station anyway, rushed back to catch the train to Munich, and finally made it back to our starting point. Then we grabbed a quick lunch and hopped on a 3.5 hour train to Rothenburg to meet our classmates. We had to change trains twice on this journey, with only 5 minutes in between each. Stressful day. 7 hours on a train before 4:00, but having our passports and electronics back was priceless. Lesson learned: Don’t leave Mark in charge of our bags.

All of the stress melted away as we arrived in Rothenburg. Cutest. Town. Ever. This town oozed charm. Rothenburg is the main stop on a path known as the “Romantic Road.” It was indeed romantic.
Rothenburg was once one of Germany’s largest cities. The city’s heyday was from 1150 to 1400. It’s protected by a wall that goes all the way around the city. In the 1600s, the city suffered damage in the 30 year war and slipped into poverty. Unable to rebuild, the city is preserved as a true medieval town. The streets are all cobblestone. The houses are a scene from a picture book. Entering the gates, you feel yourself taking a step back in time.

We started by checking into our hotel. The city has no chains of anything- stores, restaurants, hotels…so ours was family-run, just like all of them are. It was adorable. It has 70 rooms so it is a legitimate hotel, but it felt more like a bed and breakfast. I was unable to get a picture that captured the room, but I did take this one out of our window:

We then set off to explore the town. Grandma gave me a Rick Steves guidebook that has proved quite handy. We did the self-guided tour from the book and learned about the history of the town. We learned, for example, that there used to be a moat leading up to the castle (which was destroyed and not rebuilt) and the wall. The door from that moat remains today. At that time, they had a curfew for all of their citizens to return inside the towns walls. If you missed curfew, you could still enter- but you had to pay a fine. Here’s me trying to fit into that 700-year-old hole:

We ended up in town center, which was very busy. This is a festival weekend- it’s much like Kansas City’s Renaissance Festival, only the entire town is the festival. And it’s actually a medieval town. So there were all these old-time people walking around, and there was lots of horse poop. Lots and lots of horse poop. Not a good mix with the cobblestone!

Last night we met up with our classmates for the Night Watchman’s Tour. This guy gives the tour every night, and it’s very popular. Rick Steves calls him the medieval Jerry Seinfeld. We laughed a lot and learned little trinkets of knowledge, like that the word “salary” comes from the word salt, because it was once so valuable that it was used as currency. Notice how cute the row of houses behind him are- the entire town is like this.

Today we had breakfast with our classmates and then hit the town. We went through the Crime and Punishment Museum, where we learned about ancient torture techniques. It was pretty dangerous to be a baker those days. Bread was a very important food, and if you messed it up, you could be put in a box and dipped in cold water. If you did something shameful, you had to wear a “shame mask” that made your sin obvious- for example, if you were gossipy, you had to wear a mask with big ears and a long tongue. Another way they punished people was by having them sit in the town center and putting their feet through this thing so that they couldn’t move. Anyone that walked by could tickle your feet, and sometimes they would put sugar on your feet for the goats to lick off. And if you created a drunken disturbance, you would be put in a cage in town center so that everyone could laugh at you. The museum was educational and fun.

We grabbed a delicious Italian lunch and then set off to look at the wall. It’s pretty cool; you can climb up the steps and walk around the perimeter of it, and you can climb up the towers and look at the villages below. Here’s a view of how the wall looks:

And here’s Mark sitting on a low part of the wall- it’s actually about 20 feet tall, but it’s built on a hill:

After this we walked around until it was time to leave. The thing that makes Rothenburg so great are the small things you come across like old people in love:

And random parks overlooking the villages:

We fell in love in Rothenburg- with the town and a little more with each other.

Tomorrow we go to Innsbruck in Austria- the Winter Olympics have been held here twice. Then we leave the class and go on our own to Interlaken, Switzerland. It’s finally starting to feel more like vacation and less like work/school!

Doe, a Deer....

2009-05-30T00:36:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Salzburg, Austria. As previously mentioned, this town is famous for being the scene for The Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart. Since I am not a big fan of either and most things to do in the town revolve around one or the other, I was a little unsure of how I was going to spend my time.

The train ride is about 2 hours. I was a little surprised/disappointed to learn that even though you’re going to a different country they don’t stamp your passport- Salzburg is a popular day trip from Munich and they must have some deal worked out. We were equally entertained on the ride by our sleepy classmates Bobblehead Brian’s and Dan’s growing love for each other:

As we were by the absolutely beautiful views- these are some of my favorites and they were both taken out the window while the train was moving!

When we got to Salzburg, we walked to the city center and had lunch at a café. It was right in the middle of the city and the food was great, probably the best food I’ve had on the trip. Kaydee, you would have loved it. Mark got a Greek Salad complete with sheep cheese and I got spaghetti noodles with parmesan and olive oil. We also got what they call “pizza bread” to share- it was fresh, hot bread that was sort of like pita bread, but flavored with garlic. It was scrumptious and was welcome after a week of sausage and fast food.

We learned on the train ride that Salzburg has been protected by a fortress for many years, and that because of that they were largely untouched by war until WWII.

Here’s what it looks like from the town- we were pretty close when this was taken.

The fortress was amazing. It was so cool to run your hands over walls that had been there before our great-great-great-great grandmothers were thoughts- the building of it began in 1077 and continued for centuries. And the views were breathtaking. You could see the whole city, as well as the Alps behind it. I took more pictures today than any other day of the trip. We took the tour and got to climb up in one of the towers- that offered the best views of all.

Here's one from a window in the fortress:

And one from the main part of the fortress:

And from the tower- a storm was brewing in the Alps!

And me pretending to fire a cannon on the enemy:

And Mark riding a bull- I don’t remember specific details, but Salzburg was once in a battle and they were hurting badly- everyone was starving. The whole town had one ox. The leaders of town paraded the ox in front of the enemy. The next day, they painted the ox black and paraded him again in front of the enemy. The enemy thought they underestimated Salzburg and surrendered!

After the fortress Mark and I wondered around on our own for awhile. He needed a hoodie because he didn’t pack very many warm things, and besides the first two days when it was unbelievably hot, it has been pretty chilly. We found him one, got a gelato, and walked to meet our class at Augensteiner, another beer garden. Augensteiner was a bit of our walk and it started POURING on us. We finally got there, but I was cold and could only think about the sauna at our hotel, so I left before too long to go back to Munich with some classmates. Mark stayed. One thing that is unique about this place is that rather than having the waiter bring your drinks, you can grab a glass, rinse it out, and take it to the counter for a beer. Then when you’re finished, you just rinse it out again and ask for a refill. It’s a cool thing to do, plus it's about $1.40 cheaper!

Tonight marks the end of the formal study abroad part of our trip. The next three days are an optional “post trip” that us and 8 other classmates will be sticking around for. Then on Monday night Mark and I will be leaving on our own. I must say that I am looking forward to that. We like the people we are traveling with, but traveling with a big group can be challenging and, at times, downright annoying! Up to this point, we have been at the same hotel, but starting tomorrow we will be changing hotels frequently, so I am not sure when we will have internet access. Hopefully everywhere, but there’s a possibility we could not. In any case, I’m going to keep writing in Word and posting whenever I get a chance. Thanks for reading! Miss you guys (but not work :) )

Mo Business and Mo Observations

2009-05-28T13:19:00.000-05:00

Went to English Garden last night- it was beautiful! I wish we had bikes because we could not see much of it on foot. No nude sunbathers- it was too cold. We did see horses, bazillions of bikers, tightrobe walkers, soccer players, and many more interesting people. We got dinner last night at the park- they have several beer gardens there. Here are some pretty pictures from the park:

Today we had another company visit. We traveled to the nearby town of Augsburg to visit manroland, a company that manufacturers printing presses. We started off the day with a tour of the museum and then enjoyed being treated to lunch in their cafeteria (more sausage). Then they gave us a seemingly endless tour of their plants. We had to wear hard hats. The tour got to be REALLY long- it was almost 3 hours. About machinery. Not really my thing. The whole day, including travel time, was over 8.5 hours….way longer than any other visit! Other than being long, the trip was okay. Mark’s dad repairs printing presses so he would have loved it. They talked a lot about how the recession is affecting them; they are hurting pretty badly. They are also somewhat aware that they are in a dying industry- with the internet, people are not needing/wanting printed things as much anymore. However, I got the feeling that they wanted to change that mindset and encourage people to use printed material more often rather than reinventing themselves and figuring out a new or supplemental way to compete. And I’m personally not so sure that is going to work. Talking about those things was probably my favorite part of the day; otherwise this was probably my least favorite visit.

Some more observations about Germany:

They do not serve tap water around here, and there are no water fountains. Luckily my coworker Michelle warned me about this so I brought over a Nalgene bottle, which has come in very handy. You can order water, but it is very expensive- about $4 a glass. Also, it is carbonated unless you specify you want it without.

They do not use ice. Anywhere.

They are very efficient. Escalators only run when people step on the platform and/or push a button, and they can go both directions. The lights in our hotel hallway only come on when someone is walking. My dad sent me an article that said Germany is one of the most “green” countries in Europe, and I’m definitely noticing that.

There are always church bells going off at random times.

Munich is a very safe city. We have not really seen any bums. I have never felt nervous or scared. The train stations are very well lit and there are always a bunch of people around.

When you get condiments such as ketchup, dressing, etc with your fast food you have to pay extra. A packet of ketchup is about twice the size as in the US and cost .2 Euro, about .30 USD.

Beer/wine at grocery stores is very cheap. There is a penny market by our hotel and bottles of wine (not super fancy, but nice ones), are about 1.99 Euro, or about $2.78.

I’m sure there’s more but that’s it for now. Tomorrow we go to Salzburg, a town in Austria where Mozart was born and Sound of Music was filmed. I’m not really a Mozart or a Sound of Music fan, but I’m sure we’ll find something to do. Any suggestions?

One nice thing is that we have been spending way less money than budgeted for. This will likely change after we are done with the class part and go off on our own- but that has been a nice surprise!

Peace.

A Dark Day

2009-05-27T10:09:00.000-05:00

Finally got some real food last night- Mark and I went to the main train station (which is almost like a mini-airport) and got some Burger King and pizza. It was heaven!

Today was not so heavenly…just the opposite in fact. We went to visit the concentration camp located in Dachau, a small town nearby. This is a very significant camp because it was one of the first to open and served as a model for all the other camps. People (animals) who ran the other camps were trained here.

We paid for our audio guides and then walked down the gravel road that so many unlucky souls had marched down before us. We entered through the same gate that they had 60 years ago:

The words on the gate say “Work will set you free.” We walked into a big open area:

This area was used for roll call. Every morning and night, everyone had to assemble into this area for roll call. They had to stand at attention until everyone was accounted for. If someone was missing- usually dead- they had to continue standing until they found that person. Some people were so weak they would collapse and die. If someone tried to help another person, they were severely beaten. It was erie to walk on the same grounds where these horrible things had taken place in the not-so-distant past.

We got to tour one of the barracks. The original barracks had all been torn down, but they reconstructed two for the memorial site and one is open to walk through. The prisoners slept and used the bathroom in very close quarters:

It actually got worse. Towards the end of the war, this camp experienced severe overcrowding. These barracks were made for 200 men, but at times housed 2,000. There were 50 barracks in all, mostly used as bunks, but some had other functions.

One of the barracks was called the infirmary and it was one that the prisoners feared the most. They didn’t really take care of the sick. They conducted medical experiments on the prisoners. For example, the Nazis wanted to know if one of their pilots were shot down over water, how long they should look for the pilot before it is useless. So they would put monitoring devices on the prisoners and put them in ice cold water to see how long it would take for their organs to shut down and eventually die. They also injected prisoners with malaria to see how the body responded.

From here we passed on to the most emotional part of the memorial- the crematorium and the gas chamber. It makes me sick just to think about it. When they wanted to gas the prisoners, they told them it was time to take a shower and the prisoners would strip nude. They would all shove into this small room, where they would be locked in and gassed. And killed. The gas chamber at Dachau was not used for mass killings, but it was at multiple other concentration camps.

There are actually two crematoriums because the original one was not enough to fill their needs. They would just dump dozens or hundreds of corpses in there to burn, and would then bury the ashes. We got to see the memorials where the ashes were buried.

I cannot imagine how a human being can do this to another human being. We talk about spiritual warfare in our church group a lot, and about how God can let something this horrible happen if he had the power to stop it. I thought about that a lot today- if this memorial made me this sad, and it did…I was overcome with emotion at times…how much it must sadden Him. That is a whole other post….or a whole other blog….but all I will say is that I truly believe the powers of evil were at work here.

Finally, they had a museum to go through. They had a lot about the history of the war. I’ve never been a history buff and am a little ashamed to say I know very little about the WWs, but at a place like this it really comes alive. Certainly at Dachau, but also at Germany in general. Besides history, they had some art work, excerpts from letters and journals, and some old artifacts.

If anybody reading this gets the chance to tour a concentration camp, I would highly recommend it. Several people from our group did not go. It is sad- very sad- and it leaves you with a lot of questions and concerns. How can this go on for 12 years without somebody stopping it?? 12 years!! What can I do to stop similar (alas different) circumstance in places like Zimbabwe, Darfur, or Burma? It left me feeling a little helpless. But it also made me very grateful for my rights and the things that I usually take for granted. It’s important to embrace learning about this stuff. Differences need to be appreciated.

I feel like I am rambling now so I will stop. This evening Mark and I are going to English Garden, which is one of the largest parks in all of Europe. It’s bigger than Central Park. Apparently there is a lot to do there and nude sunbathers are the norm, but it is cloudy today so we will see. Thanks for reading...I am loving all your comments….show love to your best Jewish/Polish/Homosexual/Austrian/immigrant friend.

Another Business Day

2009-05-26T11:56:00.000-05:00

We had a busy day today. One thing that is annoying about this trip is that our professor worked out some deal with a local restaurant owner by our hotel to provide us with breakfast each morning for 7 Euro, or about $10 USD. He promised the guy we would by at least 20 meals; there are about 24 of us on our trip- so we basically have to go. Their breakfasts are much different than the US- no bacon, pancakes, french toast, etc. Basically it's cereal, fruit, cucumbers/tomatoes, and a lot of bread. This morning I had a yogurt, a banana, and an egg- not really worth $10! We eat there every morning.

After breakfast we went to Siemens world headquarters. They gave us a presentation and I feel asleep (oops)!! They are an interesting company but that part was boring, plus we had already studied it before we left. Siemens is comparable to a GE- they basically do everything. They have over 400,000 employees. They make everything from CT Scanners to trains to refrigerators. I cannot really comprehend a company doing so many things. It’s also amazing to me that they operate in so many countries. Imagine having to know the local laws and customers of hundreds of countries well enough to do business in them. One issue that comes up with this is that some developing countries use a lot of bribes and paybacks in business. Siemens has got into big trouble with this in the recent past; they were using bribes and writing them off their taxes. Now they have strict policies against this. They are pretty excited about Obama’s energy plan and the potential for a contract to update our energy grids.

Here is a picture of their headquarters building and their museum. The building looks old, and probably is, but is very high-tech. They have remote control blinds. The museum was very interesting; it had Siemens products going back to when they first started doing business in the mid-late 1800s.

After Siemens we got on a train to a small town called Erding. It was about an hour trip. There is a large brewery called Erdinger here, and we toured their facility and drank their beer. It was comparable to an AB or Boulevard tour. Some parts of it were so hot (remember no AC here) that I could hardly concentrate. It was really interesting to see the level of automation and their bottling lines. Here is a (not great) picture of one of their lines.

I don’t remember how many countries they export to, but it is a lot. You can find it in KC liquor stores. They only have 80 employees, which I think is amazing given the amount they produce. One thing that was disappointing is that we didn’t really get to have a question/answer session with them. After the tour we ate a very german meal in their meeting area- pretzels, sausage, and beer. If I never have to eat another sausage again that will be okay with me. Their pretzels are cold here and not served with cheese.

We have a free night tonight, but it is storming pretty badly so I’m not sure what we’ll do. One thing about being here is that we are constantly on our feet. I walk a lot at home but am not used to standing all day, so my feet are very sore and I take advantage of every opportunity to sit down. Good thing my shoes are comfortable or I’d really be in pain.

Tomorrow is a free day as well (after the stupid breakfast). Mark and I will be going to the Dachu (Daw-cow) concentration camp, and I’m really looking forward to it….does that make me sick and twisted?

BMW and Beer Garden

2009-05-25T16:59:00.000-05:00

This afternoon we visited the BMW world headquarters. Again, we could not take pictures inside. I can just tell you that almost everything they do is very automated! It was so cool to see the robots they use and learn about the processes they use on every step of assembling the car. This is a picutre of their headquarters building. They also have a museum and a technology center we got to explore. After we toured BMW we got to go to the one of the oldest beer gardens in Munich- it has been here for almost 700 years!!! There is a professor in Germany that used one of our professor's textbooks. As he was researching it, he found that our professor was traveling to Munich this summer and arranged a meeting. It was really neat to meet that professor and his students, not to mention see the oldest beer garden in this area! It has over 5,000 seats!

The beers are 1 liter each! They also have these drinks called radlers that are lemonaide mixed with beer...that is what I get, if I get beer at all. Here is our waiter carrying a bunch of drinks at once:

And here is what our food looks like. Not great! I got a cheese and bread tray and Mark got a sausage sampler tray. Not bad, but definitley not good!

Hospital Visit

2009-05-25T06:01:00.000-05:00

We just got back from the hospital. We had question and answer for a little over an hour and then toured the trauma unit. The question and answer was fascinating- the German health care system is so different than the U.S. German employees and employers pay into a "health fund" that is run by non-profit companies. These non-profit companies then work with the insurance companies to provide coverage. It works really well because although it is government regulated, it is not managed by the government and thus does not have many of the drawbacks of "socialized" health care like poor care, long wait times, etc. The hospitals and doctors are very competitive because the people have free choice about where to be treated. It is required that everyone has coverage, but if you make above a certain amount you can opt for private coverage. Private coverage affords the same medical benefits as public, but offers better am entities such as private rooms or shorter wait times. Many people who qualify for the private coverage choose to keep the public coverage. You cannot be turned away for a pre-existing condition or denied coverage.

I think this is all so interesting. I've always thought that the US health system has some major flaws but wasn't sure what a better option would be. I believe in limited government...I think this system is great and think it could work in America IF people get over the mindset and propaganda that it is "socialist"....which could be next to impossible. If people studied this system and looked at the statistics (longer life expectancy, better survival rates, etc), I think it would make an excellent model for U.S. health care.

Now we have about 20 minutes before we leave for the BMW tour....more later!

Castles in the German Alps

2009-05-24T16:00:00.000-05:00

This morning we met our group and hopped on a train to Fussel, a small town about 2 hours by train from Munich. Fussel is famous for its castles, especially the Neuschwanstein, which was the inspiration for the Disney castle.

The train ride was enjoyable. We got to know our classmates a little better and the scenery was beautiful, especially as we drew closer to the German Alps. One thing we noticed was that everytime there was construction, there were cranes, even if it was just a house. Our professor's wife, who is from Germany, told us that German houses are built with concrete blocks and then covered with stucco. Because of this, houses are very expensive- a very basic house would start at about 250,000 Euro, or close to $350,000. That’s one reason why many people live in the city or in shared complexes.

When we got to Fussel we had about an hour to burn before the bus arrived. We broke off into groups to get lunch/snacks. We also found our first bathroom that charged- we knew that Europe does not have many public bathrooms and that some charged, but had not actually seen one yet. You have to pay .50 Euro, or about .70 USD, to use one.

We then started to hike to the castle. It is quite a hike- a mile up the mountain, and it was pretty warm today. As we wrappd up the mountain, the castle teased us, becoming closer and closer. We also had the beauty of the Alps to enjoy.

The castle has a fascinating history. King Ludwig almost bankrupt the country during his reign by building lots of fancy castles. This one was built over 17 years from the late 1860s to early 1890s. Imagine building a castle in the mountains at this time, before modern technology or cars! King Ludwig built it to honor a person in the oprea he liked. Ludwig lived there for only 165 days before he died under mysterious circumstances. The castle was only 1/3 finished at that time and remains unfinished today. It opened to the public for tours 6 weeks after Ludwig's death. It is the most photographed building in Germany and draws up to 6,000 tourists a day in the summer.

The pictures below do not really do the castle justice. It, and the surrounding scenery, is truly breathtaking. We paid about $10 USD for a tour and it was well worth it. We only saw a small part and were not allowed to take pictures inside, but I had never seen anything like it before. The floor in one room was a mosiac made of 2 million tiles. The chandlier in that room weighed 2,000 pounds. The kings room had so many intricate wood carvings that it took 14 wood carvers 4 years to complete it. The walls were masterpieces of art. Words cannot describe it. It is amazing, but it also made me think about the role that money and greed play in a persons faith. Most of the artwork was biblically based, and there was a shrine to Christ in the main room. I can certaintely appreciate, and did appreciate, the beauty of the castle, but I wonder if that is how Christ woud like one to spend their resources when they are people that go to bed hungry every night. That being said, it was truly beautiful, and the views from the castle were even more beautiful than the views on the way up. See for yourself:

We got back to the hotel about 9:30. We were starving and were worried about finding food, because almost everyplace is closed on Sundays, especially Sunday evening. We walked about 5 blocks from our hotel in a direction we haven’t been, and finally found a pizza place. It was good, it came with some kind of cream on top that looked like ranch but didn’t really have a flavor…it just gave it a creamy taste. I am not a big fan of the food here- it’s not bad; it’s just a bunch of meat plopped on your plate. We ran into a soldier who was stationed here and asked him what he missed the most about the states, and he said Mexican food!

We’re going to take it easy tonight. We have to meet the group at 8:00AM tomorrow (1:00 AM CST) and will visit a hospital and BMW World Headquarters. Should be an interesting day!!

Observations

2009-05-23T16:48:00.001-05:00

Our hotel’s location is great; just a short walk from the train station. European hotels are known for being small, as people here are not as accodomated to all the space that Americans are. Our room is no exception, but it is not too bad. Another thing that is not standard in European hotels is air condition. Some hotels have them, but many do not- including ours. Mark is not very excited about this as he gets hot really easily. The rooms also do not have alarm clocks. All that being said, we are happy with the hotel and it has everything we need; it’s just different than American hotel rooms. And different isnt always bad.

A few things we have noticed about Germany:

Boys wear capris

There are dogs everywhere- at restaurants, on the train, walking around city center

They really do speak German! Seems funny, but everyone told us that it would be no problem to find someone who can speak English, and for the most part it has not been. But German is definitely the language they use, and not knowing much at all definitely makes you feel like a foreigner.

They love bikes and have dedicated bike lanes, and you’ll be sorry if you stand in them when they come by. There are hundreds of bike all over the city, some parked, some for rent.

I’m sure there will be more as the week wears on. That’s all for tonight, time to catch up on some sleep!!

Arrived!

2009-05-23T10:38:00.001-05:00

We are in Germany! We have actually been here for several hours now, since about 4:00 AM CST. We had a short layover in Duesseldorf and then flew into Munich. From Munich we took a train to our hotel.

The trains are very easy to navigate. We had an easier time getting around in Germany than New York! Our class was waiting in the lobby when we got to the hotel. We checked our bags at the desk and left immediately for the town center, known as MarienPlatz. It is a very busy place! Lots of local vendors and some American ones, such as Mcdonalds and Subway. There is a huge soccer game going on today so there were small but loud pep rallies all over the place:

People really love their soccer here. There is a beer garden in MarienPlatz that was packed. We finally found an empty picnic table and sat down next to some people we did not know. An older man, probably in his mid-40s, sat across from us. Our friend Evan asked where he was from and he puffed his chest out and said “Old Germany.” He then started telling us how he was from Berlin and he did not like America, in fact he HATED America. He said this over and over again and would not answer why. We weren’t looking for trouble so we just got up and left. We found a small sidewalk café and stopped there for a drink and ice cream.

Then we walked around town for awhile and found the oldest church in Munich- it’s over 1,000 years old. It has been rebuilt after the wars. We climbed about 300 steps to get to the lookout point up top. The steps were very narrow and the building was not air conditioned!

However, this view made it well worth it.

After this we came back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. We headed to the Hofbrauhaus, which is one of the oldest beer gardens in the area. Hitler loved this place- the Nazis held meetings here, some of the first violent attacks against Jews were here, and Hitler proclimed the 25 theses that established t Nazi party here. Today it is a happy place where people from around the world gather to have a good time. Our group paid for the buffet and sat in the huge upstairs room with live entertainment.

All of those seats got filled up and we had a night full of singing, dancing, and laughing.

Well, mostly. I think the jet lag is setting in and have been in a pretty grouchy mood this evening (sorry Mark). But after a good night's sleep all will be fine. More to come.....

NYNY

2009-05-22T15:15:00.000-05:00

We have safely landed at JFK, though I won’t be able to post this for quite awhile since we have found that getting internet is a pain here. Our flight to NY is totally separate from our flight to Germany- we purchased them at separate times; it’s not a connecting flight. So when we landed we weren’t sure where to go. After talking to about 8 friendly strangers and 1 rude one, taking the Air Train twice, and wandering around lost for awhile we finally found the Air Berlin counter.

Our next flight leaves in about two hours so we are just passing time. In our camera we have a 2GB memory card, and we keep a smaller one in the case to use if we ever need to. Out of boredom on the plane, I put in the smaller card to see if there was anything on it.

After being surprised by this:

I was instantly transported back in time by the memories the pictures brought back. There was this picture, which was taken at a murder mystery party a couple months after Mark and I got married.
When I look at this picture I think of how much our lives have all changed since then. Kelly and Jimmy now have a beautiful home and are getting married in July. Lainy and Joe got married a few months after this picture was taken. And Scott and Becca, who were a brand new couple when this picture was taken, are now engaged.

Then I came across this picture of my family. I don’t remember when it was taken, but we went tubing at Snow Creek and had such a fun day!
I remember Kaydee was going through a rough time, but we had a really great day. I got yelled at for going too fast and running into the hay bales at the bottom. I like this picture because my dad’s hat makes me smile.

And then there were about a zillion pictures of our cat Oliver, who we had just gotten. He looks so small! Now he is bigger than both dogs. He trusted dogs in this picture- now he just wrestles with Hooch.Anyway, all that has nothing to do with travel, but it did make our first plane ride a little more enjoyable. One down….five more to go. We’ll go to sleep at about 5PM CST and wake up about midnight CST…only it will be 7:00 in whatever time zone Germany is in. Then we start our adventure!

***Update: We’ve been sitting in a sports bar making small talk with a random stranger who works for CBS- we got to hear all about their fall line-up. He offered to pay for internet if we would let him use our computer- score!

Packed!!

2009-05-21T20:19:00.000-05:00

Many of you know that I was determined to fit everything I needed for three weeks into one* carry-on bag- and I'm happy to report that I succeeded! Three business casual (emphasis on casual) outfits, two dresses, two capris, three pairs of shoes, and a half a dozen tops all packed into one little bag. I must say I'm pretty proud of myself.

Our flight tomorrow is at 9:50....the countdown is on!!

*One carry-on bag denotes one bag for clothing and toiletries. Technically, I have a very large purse for other important items.

Travel Journal, 2009 Style

2009-05-21T11:32:00.001-05:00

My family has always gone on vacations, even though we didn't always have a ton of money. We went to Branson or Omaha or Okalahoma City. It didn't matter where we went, so long as we were going. My grandma Lucille once gave me a journal to take with us on vacation. Since then, I have always journaled about my trips and let others read about them upon arriving home. It is so fun to find these old journals and read about the trips years later- it always surprises me what I had forgotten! This is a focused blog to document those trips- a 21st century travel journal, if you will. It will start tomorrow with the biggest trip of my life- our Europe trip!