tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27074828367714705522024-03-12T23:14:10.084-05:00You Only Live OnceSo make the most of it!Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.comBlogger190125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-27630602169909249972017-02-19T00:42:00.000-06:002017-02-19T00:42:20.741-06:00New Orleans: Jazz, Great Food and History. What else do you need?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Thanks to Luke's job not providing any vacation days in his first year, we didn't get out much during that time. Thankfully, we were able to get away for a few days to New Orleans in the fall. And what a few days it was! New Orleans is a blast!<br />
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We knew we were in for a good time when, upon our arrival at our hotel, we got upgraded to a larger room with club lounge access and several welcome gifts. Once we got settled in, it was time to explore!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fancy hotel lobby!</td></tr>
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After some quick research online, we started off our trip with a free walking tour. New Orleans has several of these, so you can choose to learn about history, different neighborhoods, ghosts, etc. It's called a "free" walking tour because you don't pay anything up front; you go on the tour, and then at the end, you can pay the tour guide whatever amount of money you think is fair. This way, you're not overpaying for what might turn out to be a boring or terrible tour, and it's definitely cheaper than prepaid tours.</div>
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In fact, we now look for free walking tours whenever we travel. Just search "free walking tour [city]" and there might be one or several options available. It's our favorite way to get acquainted with new locations in a short amount of time!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see why it doesn't take much for the city to flood.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We could barely turn around without seeing a view that screamed for a picture.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good to know.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A style all it's own.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The famous St. Louis Cathedral!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That night, we went to Lafayette Square Park to enjoy the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival. A better combination hasn't been invented!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The only correct choice is a brisket sandwich!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We strolled through the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, which has some of the most entertaining people-watching opportunities in the world. There aren't many places where you see a pirate on your tram and then later find out that no, he's not part of a show, that's just how he dressed for an evening stroll around town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The real objective, though, was to make a beeline for Cafe du Monde and try their famous beignets!! The cafe is open 24 hours and sometimes has pretty bad lines. Fortunately, Brazell luck and good timing were there for us. We went later in the evening and barely had to wait for a table. The verdict: to me, beignets taste like funnel cake, just in a different form. But I love funnel cake, so I was happy!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Could use some more powdered sugar.</td></tr>
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The next day found us on yet another free walking tour, but it was our absolute favorite one, because it was a FOOD tour! And the food in New Orleans is slap-your-mama good. The debate between Cajun and Creole is taken more seriously than most sports rivalries. After the tour was done, we headed back to a few of the places that our guide recommended for things like jambalaya, gumbo, muffulettas and so much more (I'm getting hungry just thinking about them).</div>
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First stop was Central Grocery, where we just had to try the iconic muffuletta sandwich. It contains salami, ham, and other meats, some cheese, marinated olives and pickled vegetables. We were skeptical because it sounds disgusting, but somehow that strange combination of foods magically transforms into a wonderfully tasty meal. And that's coming from two people who hate olives!</div>
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So how in the heck do you pronounce muffuletta? If you're being true to its Italian roots, it should be pronounced moo-foo-letta. But I think most people around town call it muff-a-lotta. Either way, the guys behind the counter will know what you mean.</div>
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This is a half-size muffuletta. The whole size is an entire round! Luke and I shared the half and it was enough to fill us up.</div>
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We ate our mysteriously delicious sandwich while sitting on a bench in the park and listening to jazz music drifting over from the street performer next door (please note: jazz street performers in New Orleans are better than most people you pay to hear play in concert halls in normal cities).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The food and music we enjoyed in this park was Luke's favorite part of the trip. It was a cool, shady slice of heaven.</td></tr>
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Our next mission was to hunt down the best pralines in the city! For this delicious scavenger item, we had to look inside of the French Market, which has dozens of stalls of food and shopping. There was plenty to see but Vicky had only one goal in mind.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJbM5GJcQUo/WHhjgIucuNI/AAAAAAAAPng/tsFZGLjo9wE-sXPHbF-elt1x7vd4GpuDgCLcB/s1600/DSC09421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJbM5GJcQUo/WHhjgIucuNI/AAAAAAAAPng/tsFZGLjo9wE-sXPHbF-elt1x7vd4GpuDgCLcB/s400/DSC09421.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Loretta's, the most delicious pralines in the world! Instead of having the taste and texture of crystallized sugar, these pralines are creamy and come in several different flavors. If you can't visit New Orleans to try them, fret not, because you can order them online and have them shipped to you! So when you can't think of what to get us for birthdays or Christmas, then just send us some Loretta's pralines! I'm 100% serious, here's the link: https://lorettaspralines.com/Pralines</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tourists watching a wedding procession -- a common sight. </td></tr>
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I'll pause here for a note on New Orleans weddings. In most cities, you get married, walk out of the church to a car, then drive to the reception. Not in New Orleans! Down there, they book a walking jazz band, grab a policeman for an escort and dance right down Decatur Street with wedding party in tow. We saw this repeatedly all weekend and even joined the procession for one of them (we weren't being weird, half the people watching joined in). In New Orleans, a wedding borders on a citywide party and they have them all the time.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deliberating food choices at the rooftop restaurant! (He chose alligator.)</td></tr>
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Since we enjoyed our food tour so much, we signed up for a ghost tour of New Orleans in the evening. We figured it would be spookier that way, especially because the city was already decorated for Halloween! And this is definitely one of the best cities be in if you want to go looking for ghosts.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Louis Cathedral at sunset.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even at night, the city has an eerie charm</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This house and the story associated with it was spooky enough to inspire a season of American Horror Story.</td></tr>
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Sadly, our tour guide wasn't particularly great. Instead of suspenseful, intrigue-filled tales, we were treated to stories delivered with the riveting cadence of a Ben Stein lecture and shown crappy phone pictures with slightly discolored blobs that were supposed to be ghosts. Oh well. New Orleans still looks cool and spooky after dark, at least.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner at Jimmy J's!</td></tr>
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Our third day commenced with a visit to the famed New Orleans Cemetery Number 1, where many of the city's most famous people are buried. It was quite an interesting experience to see the mixture of new and old tombs, all jammed together like bricks in the Lego box every kid has. The most visited tomb is unquestionably Marie Laveau, the famed voodoo priestess. But the most interesting/weirdest tomb easily belongs to a man who's not even dead yet, Nicolas Cage. His white pyramid fits perfect with his, let's say eccentric, reputation.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qRAXlAxlnD8/WHxY0NRrBtI/AAAAAAAAPqY/xO-anppuexoKOnzHUHXiLB8KPz6AHGDrQCLcB/s1600/cemetary_entrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qRAXlAxlnD8/WHxY0NRrBtI/AAAAAAAAPqY/xO-anppuexoKOnzHUHXiLB8KPz6AHGDrQCLcB/s640/cemetary_entrance.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">For people who can't afford a stand alone tomb, there's space on the wall for you.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nic Cage's tomb seen here.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tomb of Marie Laveau, the famed voodoo priestess, gets a lot of attention despite being relatively unremarkable.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cemetery can be quite a striking place.</td></tr>
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After a morning contemplating the transition from this world to the next, we opted for a more relaxing and picturesque afternoon by heading for the Garden District. The Garden District has just about every gorgeous style of Old South home you can imagine. They are huge, colorful, and unique. We even managed to take our eventual Christmas card photo here!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Naturally, finding a cat stopped our progress cold while a certain person photographed it repeatedly, then tried to pet it. And you have to admit, the cat is really well framed here!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Halloween!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The establishing shot for every movie and TV show set in the old south.</td></tr>
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As darkness ended our time in the Garden District, we got to have one last great meal before leaving the next morning. Overall, it was a great trip and we definitely didn't want to leave. A return visit to New Orleans is unquestionably in our future and the sooner, the better!</div>
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Vickyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11126887302083302755noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-6319532136513329582017-01-11T22:55:00.001-06:002017-01-11T22:55:57.273-06:00The Name 'Grand Canyon' is Well-Earned<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">After the craziness of our last trip, moving back to the U.S. and getting married (all in the span of 3 months), we tried to slow down. However, a new job and another move didn't really allow our life to take on a semblance of normalcy until the start of the new year. And normalcy is nice, until it gets boring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And just about the time boredom might have set in, we headed for Arizona to visit Luke's grandparents and see the Grand Canyon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The drive up from Phoenix offered some interesting sights: some hot air balloons on the side of the highway, and a quick stop at the family's old vacation cabin! It's too bad that I never got a chance to visit when the grandparents still owned it; I've heard stories of fun memories from that place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When we arrived at the Grand Canyon, the weather didn't afford us the best views. But it was still incredible to see in person! I was surprised that you can walk right up to the edge in most places instead of being blocked by a safety rail. As long as you're careful and have a bit of common sense when taking pictures, you'll be fine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It soon became too overcast to see much of anything, so we ducked into a little museum to learn about how the canyon was formed.</span></div>
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That night, we slept in a lodge on the edge of the canyon. The blue sky that greeted us in the morning looked promising for better views!</div>
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There ended up being low clouds and some haze, but the sunlight broke through and made the canyon look beautiful anyway. The colors and shadows of the canyon constantly changed as the light shifted, which was amazing to watch.</div>
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On our way out, we stopped by Desert View to see the watchtower and lookout point.</div>
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There were a few more things to see on the drive back, too.</div>
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Once we got back to Phoenix, we got to hang out with our grandparents for a few days! They've now moved out of their big house, but it was a cozy and welcoming place for everyone to relax. We can't wait to visit them at their new home soon!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caught a bird on the feeder!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the front door: Colorful desert paradise. :)</td></tr>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-42182184188434397752017-01-10T23:46:00.000-06:002017-01-10T23:48:45.380-06:00All Good Things Must Come to an End<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">Now that we're even more behind on the blog, let's just dive in and continue, shall we?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">Our plane headed to Dublin, the very last stop on our long Europe trip! The flight was delayed, so we didn't arrive at our B&B until 10:30 p.m. Luckily, it was pretty close to the airport. That left us with just enough time to check in and immediately go to sleep.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">The next morning started with a surprisingly delicious continental breakfast at our B&B. What a nice change from the underwhelming food in London! (Yes, the stereotype is true.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">After taking a bus into the city center, we walked down O'Connell Street, taking in the sights. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This bird has no respect for statues.</td></tr>
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That turned into wandering around to whatever looked interesting.</div>
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It wasn't very difficult to find the famous Temple Bar.</div>
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Since we were still in the British Isles, of course we stuck to the theme of having fish and chips for lunch. :)</div>
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Also staying true to our overarching trend of frugality, we saw a free exhibit at Dublin Castle.</div>
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Walking outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral didn't cost any money, so we opted to do that instead of paying to go inside. We were pretty burned out on churches and cathedrals at this point; they all start to blend together after a while. And this being Ireland, you couldn't walk 20 feet without hitting a church (or bar. Again, Ireland). </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ginger kids will take over the world!</td></tr>
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Then onward we went to St. Stephen's Green, a nearby park with an adorable cottage at it's perimeter.<br />
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Visiting a school isn't a typical activity during our travels, but we couldn't leave without checking out the historic campus of Trinity College.</div>
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It was time for dinner, so we decided to shake things up and have sandwiches at Quizno's instead of Subway. No regrets; that turkey, ranch & swiss sub is fantastic!</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-size: 14.85px;">We only had 1 full day in Dublin, but it turns out that's all we needed. The next morning, we arrived at the airport extra early in an attempt to secure an exit row seat for my tall fiance.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #5e5e5e; font-size: 14.85px;"> The seats were available, but not at a price we were willing to pay. Although I was annoyed about both waking up earlier than necessary and missing breakfast for nothing, we were finally on our way back home!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #5e5e5e;"><span style="font-size: 14.85px;">Despite all the uncomfortable transportation at the earliest and latest hours, the mostly awful to adequate food, the lost sleep due to noise and sub-par accommodations, and the frustration when some plans inevitably didn't work out, we had a great overall experience on our 2-month European adventure.</span></span></span></div>
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With the trip done, we were finally returning to America for the first time in over a year. It was time to kick back, relax and reco..... Just kidding! We had a wedding coming in less than a month. We traded one kind of crazy days for another. But it certainly wasn't boring!</div>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-6932936069022167102016-02-24T20:04:00.000-06:002016-02-24T20:04:05.545-06:00A Pauper's Guide to London<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Visiting London has always been on my bucket list. So as our plane landed and I looked out over the city, I felt... bored and worn out. It was the last few days of our 2-month, non-stop Europe trip and I was ready to go home!</div>
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Boredom turned to impatience in the border control line at the airport. We watched the never-ending queue of EU citizens breeze through, while a dozen of us non-EU citizens stood in line for 30 minutes. :/</div>
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Finally, a cheery, middle-aged woman checked my passport and, upon noticing my ginger locks, inquired about any potential Irish ancestry (affirmative). She told me that I have beautiful hair and that I should never mess with it! So sweet. That helped improve my grumpy mood!</div>
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We successfully navigated London's light rail and underground systems and arrived at our extremely basic and slightly dilapidated hostel... where we would be sharing a room of bunk beds with 8 strangers. That's what you have to deal with when you're young(er) and poor! (We were also saving money for our wedding and honeymoon, so there's that.)</div>
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Dinner was green curry chicken and rice at a nearby Thai restaurant. It wasn't the worst meal we would have in this town.</div>
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Keeping with the miserly theme, we picked up some snacks at Sainsbury's supermarket to save money on future meals. Disaster struck (literally) as I stepped one foot outside the store and a stroller slammed into my leg, hard. (Yep, it left a huge bruise.) The woman didn't look where she was going, yet treated me like I endangered her child. Come on, London, we are <i>not</i> getting off to a great start here!</div>
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The gates into Hyde Park were closed by that time, so we walked on the sidewalk beside it.</div>
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Back in the hostel room, a couple of rowdy Italians made their presence known. Thank goodness for earplugs!</div>
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The next morning, we discovered that the free breakfast offered by the hostel was laughable. First of all, it wasn't even served in the hostel; we had to walk a few blocks to the basement of a random restaurant! The extent of the food was: white sandwich bread, butter, jam, and cereal. End of list. But beggars can't be choosers, right?</div>
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After the obligatory coffee fix at Starbucks, we took a long walk through Hyde Park.</div>
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We were looking forward to our traditional fish & chips lunch! But it was underwhelming. So back to walking for us. Buckingham Palace was first up.</div>
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Then a quick visit to Big Ben.</div>
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And of course, Westminster Abbey.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TaiexwuIduc/VsrJWupT_OI/AAAAAAAAIoo/NbyIdk2-Vf4/s1600/WM%2BAbbey.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TaiexwuIduc/VsrJWupT_OI/AAAAAAAAIoo/NbyIdk2-Vf4/s640/WM%2BAbbey.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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And across Westminster Bridge.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DNDlarpksmI/VsrPp6rl8qI/AAAAAAAAIpc/KdhREa2Jg2Q/s1600/London%2BEye.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DNDlarpksmI/VsrPp6rl8qI/AAAAAAAAIpc/KdhREa2Jg2Q/s400/London%2BEye.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">London Eye.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rMPz6yY4f8k/VsrQufczj_I/AAAAAAAAIpo/plmXCytA3hU/s1600/Parliament.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rMPz6yY4f8k/VsrQufczj_I/AAAAAAAAIpo/plmXCytA3hU/s400/Parliament.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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Our feet didn't get quite enough abuse yet, so we continued walking! </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pXEYzdv-yJU/VsrTPtgrffI/AAAAAAAAIqQ/BqUypr5Ok5I/s1600/horse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pXEYzdv-yJU/VsrTPtgrffI/AAAAAAAAIqQ/BqUypr5Ok5I/s320/horse.JPG" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Horse guard</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trafalgar Square.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H4_r3YYEW6k/Vs2CdMkpSVI/AAAAAAAAIzE/zqw-tn8yJcY/s1600/Helicopter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H4_r3YYEW6k/Vs2CdMkpSVI/AAAAAAAAIzE/zqw-tn8yJcY/s400/Helicopter.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wellington Arch, with bonus helicopter!</td></tr>
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We visited the National Gallery, an art museum with free entry.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sRQKWkln5e0/VsrU7EQh4CI/AAAAAAAAIqw/iLTRCSbrt64/s1600/DSC02423.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sRQKWkln5e0/VsrU7EQh4CI/AAAAAAAAIqw/iLTRCSbrt64/s640/DSC02423.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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There weren't any signs that prohibited photography, but a museum employee reprimanded us for taking non-flash pictures. You can see how much that affected our behavior:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Winter Landscape" by Caspar David Friedrich.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cOXdQGuEwFo/VsrWh-WjzoI/AAAAAAAAIrM/l6k44rQKzV8/s1600/van%2Bgogh.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cOXdQGuEwFo/VsrWh-WjzoI/AAAAAAAAIrM/l6k44rQKzV8/s400/van%2Bgogh.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"A Wheatfield, with Cypresses" by Vincent van Gogh.</td></tr>
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We eventually got kicked out of the museum (because it was closing, not due to our law-breaking antics). </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-89BVsnehjsA/VswTuZHJOUI/AAAAAAAAIsE/ybFVBOyDNkU/s1600/Phone%2Bbooth%2Bred.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-89BVsnehjsA/VswTuZHJOUI/AAAAAAAAIsE/ybFVBOyDNkU/s320/Phone%2Bbooth%2Bred.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quintessentially British phone booths.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EZke0ftFzz0/VswTxrjqOrI/AAAAAAAAIsM/dDO_uAQyBlM/s1600/Phone%2Bbooth%2Bblack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EZke0ftFzz0/VswTxrjqOrI/AAAAAAAAIsM/dDO_uAQyBlM/s320/Phone%2Bbooth%2Bblack.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now with WiFi! </td></tr>
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Walking back to the hostel, there was a guy roller skiing on the sidewalk. Yes, that's exactly what it sounds like: he was holding ski poles and and his skis had wheels. Pretty bizarre! Apparently, that's how some skiers practice during the off-season.<br />
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Our night ended a bit early because the 6+ miles of walking had really exhausted us. Aren't you glad that this long blog post is done?<br />
HAHA, just kidding! That was only the first day!<br />
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Day 2 in London started with a visit to Notting Hill and the Portobello Road Market. Luke wasn't too keen on going, but he was a good sport about it. :)<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iXj86fTSq-E/VswddQxUBNI/AAAAAAAAIsc/aez9y1tMuOg/s1600/Teacups.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iXj86fTSq-E/VswddQxUBNI/AAAAAAAAIsc/aez9y1tMuOg/s640/Teacups.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">Once you get through the overpriced hipster nonsense like antique typewriters and wooden iPhone covers, there are some cute finds!</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2AexDjWmcTc/VswfGob0PUI/AAAAAAAAIso/SN7D4qP7Jy4/s1600/Scarves.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2AexDjWmcTc/VswfGob0PUI/AAAAAAAAIso/SN7D4qP7Jy4/s400/Scarves.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Since my dream of eating a Belgian waffle in Belgium didn't pan out, I settled for a place called Wafflemeister on Portobello Road. It was delicious!<br />
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Check out this bathroom in the middle of the sidewalk:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cHpiEyDtaz8/Vs19zG2dTFI/AAAAAAAAIyI/1-_yDAE2IKA/s1600/Toilet.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cHpiEyDtaz8/Vs19zG2dTFI/AAAAAAAAIyI/1-_yDAE2IKA/s400/Toilet.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next up was a trip to the British Museum, another free-entry venue.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HsQfWll351E/Vswm0WEIBaI/AAAAAAAAIts/cex-pV2yOt4/s1600/DSC02429.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HsQfWll351E/Vswm0WEIBaI/AAAAAAAAIts/cex-pV2yOt4/s640/DSC02429.jpg" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Rosetta Stone!</td></tr>
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If you've been paying attention, you'll notice that the sky was bland and overcast thus far. But for one brief moment, there was a glimpse of blue sky!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3pcWtsb1Ghc/VswqrewAVWI/AAAAAAAAIuQ/3UIHWw8jbfk/s1600/Blue%2Bsky%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3pcWtsb1Ghc/VswqrewAVWI/AAAAAAAAIuQ/3UIHWw8jbfk/s400/Blue%2Bsky%2B2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doth mine eyes deceive me?</td></tr>
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Much to our delight, we stumbled upon a restaurant called El Mexicana, which seemed similar to Chipotle. The guys working there were from Mexico, so they understood the importance of spicy food. That chicken burrito was the best thing we ate in this city!</div>
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Onward, to the Tower of London.</div>
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Complete with lion statues to protect it.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6O20uw-NdWY/Vswr1E96x5I/AAAAAAAAIuc/r7XNprePSR8/s1600/TL%2Blions.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6O20uw-NdWY/Vswr1E96x5I/AAAAAAAAIuc/r7XNprePSR8/s400/TL%2Blions.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We will haunt your dreams.</td></tr>
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At sunset, we walked over to the Tower Bridge. </div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">[<span style="color: #0b5394;">Luke: Our arrival turned out to be perfectly timed. We got to the bridge just at sunset. While the sky certainly didn't provide much of a sunset, the dim light of dusk led to a couple great pictures. The best part was when the bridge raised up to let a ship through. This was both interesting to watch and enabled us to capture one of my favorite travel pictures we've ever taken. You can see it at the very bottom of this post. I love the details, the colors and how it perfectly froze a really cool moment.]</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uhw-DypGpq4/Vsws-8He7FI/AAAAAAAAIu4/8delBL6R7bk/s1600/Luke%2Bbridge.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uhw-DypGpq4/Vsws-8He7FI/AAAAAAAAIu4/8delBL6R7bk/s320/Luke%2Bbridge.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MlQThuA-67Y/VswtDUdoJ5I/AAAAAAAAIvA/zWvgktVdliM/s1600/Vicky%2Bbridge.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MlQThuA-67Y/VswtDUdoJ5I/AAAAAAAAIvA/zWvgktVdliM/s320/Vicky%2Bbridge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now, for the highlight of the city (for me): <b>Platform 9-3/4 at King's Cross Station</b>!! I've been a fan of the Harry Potter books since high school, so there was no way I could miss this.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know, you're jealous of my neon star tights!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a Hogwarts thing; you wouldn't understand.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zrAInyz8N4A/VswuhzpKVfI/AAAAAAAAIvk/DwlrKydnPWg/s1600/HP%2Bshop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zrAInyz8N4A/VswuhzpKVfI/AAAAAAAAIvk/DwlrKydnPWg/s640/HP%2Bshop.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is where the magic happens!</td></tr>
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That night, we had our <i>worst</i> meal of the trip: minced meat skewers at a Mediterranean restaurant. We were absolutely sick of eating Subway sandwiches by the end of this trip, but it seemed to be the only way to have a decent, cheap meal without wasting time researching and traveling all over town. I'm not a fan of paying $15 pp for food that doesn't taste good or fill me up.</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Finally, our last day in the English capital!</span><br />
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It started raining as we strolled down Kensington High Street. We ducked into Harrod's, the famous and expensive department store.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready for Christmas in early October.</td></tr>
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There was time for one last walk through Hyde Park.</div>
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So the horses know when to cross the street:</div>
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Finally, we had to visit Sherlock Holmes while we were in the neighborhood!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hwoDbG972Mk/Vs2AI8zr_jI/AAAAAAAAIys/xt9jihO2y2Q/s1600/Baker%2BStreet.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hwoDbG972Mk/Vs2AI8zr_jI/AAAAAAAAIys/xt9jihO2y2Q/s400/Baker%2BStreet.JPG" width="300" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rrcmHpTe77Y/Vs2ANQCpzzI/AAAAAAAAIy0/MgOYrTrmmpM/s1600/Sherlock%2BHolmes.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rrcmHpTe77Y/Vs2ANQCpzzI/AAAAAAAAIy0/MgOYrTrmmpM/s400/Sherlock%2BHolmes.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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That night, we crammed ourselves into an uncomfortable and full minivan for a 1.5-hour ride to Stansted Airport. Dublin, the final stop on our absurd trip, was waiting for us.</div>
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To summarize, London on a budget:</div>
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<li>Stay in a 10+ bed hostel room, with no frills or privacy (don't forget an eye mask and ear plugs!).</li>
<li>Only eat at Subway or McDonald's (choose the healthiest options).</li>
<li>Supplement with snacks purchased from grocery stores.</li>
<li>Walk as much as you can. When your feet are screaming, walk some more.</li>
<li>Plan logical routes to reduce walking time and cost of public transportation.</li>
<li>Visit free events and venues, and don't buy anything unless you can't live without it.</li>
<li>Sit on a bench in Hyde Park and people-watch!</li>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-80699662025065214632016-02-16T23:25:00.000-06:002016-02-24T20:06:08.836-06:00Leisure in Luxembourg<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Saying goodbye is usually difficult, but not when you're going to somewhere as charming as our next destination. From its terraced walls to its sloping streets, to houses older than America, walking into Luxembourg is like stepping into a 19th-century Dumas novel. Old-world European charm was never more readily apparent than here. [In case it wasn't obvious, Luke wrote this intro!]</span></div>
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An uneventful 3-hour train ride from Brussels found us in Luxembourg City, the clean and safe capital of Luxembourg. Seriously, I would have no problem walking around this town alone at night. I can't say that about almost anywhere else!</div>
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Luke and I briefly relaxed at the hotel before taking a bus into the city center. Priority #1 was getting my late-afternoon coffee fix (we all have addictions; this is mine). :P</div>
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Wherever you are in Europe, you'll be able to find a doner kebab restaurant. It's cheap, fast, and tasty. No wonder it's popular! After splitting a kebab plate for dinner, we walked along the edge of the city wall, overlooking the Alzette River and centuries-old buildings.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roman aqueduct.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yep, this was built in 1738!</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HeUjNScEiN0/VsLZvJ7YFNI/AAAAAAAAIkY/Sw8RxpCF8Oo/s1600/Bock.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HeUjNScEiN0/VsLZvJ7YFNI/AAAAAAAAIkY/Sw8RxpCF8Oo/s320/Bock.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bock fortifications.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. John's church</td></tr>
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It's no surprise that this French-speaking city has a neo-Gothic cathedral named Notre-Dame, but that actually wasn't it's original name (or design). Before the 1850s, it was a baroque church called Saint Nicolas et Sainte Thérèse.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notre-Dame Cathedral, Luxembourg.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Are you sick of historic European churches yet? Yeah, so were we.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gëlle Fra monument -- In memory of Luxembourgers who died in World War I.</td></tr>
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I really wanted to check out a cafe called Chocolate House, and it turned out to be a great decision! We went on a Sunday night and it was cozy (read: crowded). Here's how it works: There are blocks of chocolate that are molded to wooden spoons; dozens of choices. You pick your flavor of chocolate and stir the choco-spoon into a mug of hot milk to melt it into a delicious cup of cocoa. It lived up to the hype!</div>
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The next day started roughly. At 8 a.m., housekeepers were vacuuming in the hallway and the thin hotel walls gave us front-row audio to other guests noisily packing their bags. We gave up on sleep and packed our suitcases, too. (There's not a ton to see and do in Luxembourg, so we only allotted 1.5 days there.)</div>
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For me, the best part of the city was spotting the painted elephants all over the place! These were created by artists for <a href="http://www.elephantparade.com/cities/trier-luxembourg/" target="_blank">Elephant Parade</a> to increase awareness about elephant conservation. I believe these pieces could be auctioned off to raise profits for the cause.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gjFtf4d28hY/VsLOQvYLEgI/AAAAAAAAIic/z1t8pO8JqEY/s1600/elephant%2Bcollage.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gjFtf4d28hY/VsLOQvYLEgI/AAAAAAAAIic/z1t8pO8JqEY/s640/elephant%2Bcollage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I even got to ride one!</td></tr>
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Over the weeks, we accumulated some souvenirs to take home. That wasn't a problem when we were traveling via bus or train, but airports don't look kindly upon overstuffed hiking backpacks... and plus, they were getting heavy. Our easy (but slightly expensive) solution was to head to the post office and mail a box back to the U.S.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Ducal Palace -- Where the Grand Duke of Luxembourg resides.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Palace entrance topped by the Luxembourg coat of arms.</td></tr>
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Our last lunch in Luxembourg [alliteration, anyone?] was at the ubiquitous and reliable Subway, where I ate some pickle chips that did NOT taste like pickles. Gross!</div>
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The weather called for a leisurely stroll down the shaded, wooded paths and into the valley. So that's exactly what we did!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ivy. Ivy everywhere!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I shall call these Luxembourg Bluebonnets.</td></tr>
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It was time to take a bus back to the hotel and collect our bags. The shuttle ride to the airport was literally 2 minutes, so it couldn't have been more convenient!<br />
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We boarded a small propeller plane with 14 other passengers. These things are super loud and seem like death traps, but I obviously lived to tell the tale.<br />
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All in all, Luxembourg is quaint and peaceful, but it's not hopping with action. Still, it's worth a visit if you're in the area.<br />
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Next stop: London!<br />
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-89331935677469449332016-02-11T18:25:00.000-06:002016-02-11T18:25:35.763-06:00Beauty and relaxation in Belgium<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hi, friends and family!<br />
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You probably the noticed the unplanned hiatus of 2+ years. This is Vicky, by the way. Luke lost interest in updating the travel blog, so now I'm taking over! We'll combine pictures and stories, but the writing will be mine. Maybe I'll be nice enough to let him guest post once in a while, if he wishes. ;)<br />
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Let's jump right in where we left off!<br />
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Earlier in the year, we had met a fun Belgian couple in the Philippines. They were gracious enough to host us for a few days in Brussels, Belgium! We took a 3-hour bus ride from Amsterdam and arrived at their house at dinnertime. They served us steak tartare and duck pâté, and that was just the appetizers! The main dish was similar to meatloaf, but fancier. It was probably just a casual dinner for them, but seemed like an upscale meal to this American! And they speak French, so everything they do has an air of sophistication anyway. :P<br />
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Even after getting a solid night's sleep, Luke and I were still tired. The cumulative exhaustion of 6 weeks of nonstop traveling will get to you! So instead of exploring the city like we had planned, we relaxed at our friends' house the entire day. And, of course, I took pictures of their pets.<br />
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That evening, our hosts showed us around Brussels a bit! The city center was extremely crowded because a famous musician was throwing a free concert. We avoided that chaos and instead visited some landmarks.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Royal Palace of Brussels - used for state functions.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Infantry Memorial - commemorates Belgian soldiers who fought in WWI and WWII.</td></tr>
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Dinner was reminiscent of our home state of Texas: a BBQ restaurant called Amadeo with all-you-can-eat ribs!! We've been out of the U.S. for 15 months at this point, and we're not picky eaters anyway... so all things considered, the ribs were decent.</div>
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Bonus points for the stuffed cow at the entrance!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moo.</td></tr>
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After dinner, we hung out with our hosts and their friends. One of the guys lived and worked in Houston (my hometown) for a year. The world can be small sometimes! When the group split up a few hours later, one guy said, "I won't see you ever again, so it was nice to meet you." I love the unapologetic frankness of most Europeans. My people!</div>
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We ended the night by strolling through the Old Town. That's where the free concert was held, so there was trash all over the ground.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_DjLylXKYoY/VrxHSqH7jpI/AAAAAAAAIdw/7KyFF-FMK-g/s1600/old%2Btown%2B2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_DjLylXKYoY/VrxHSqH7jpI/AAAAAAAAIdw/7KyFF-FMK-g/s640/old%2Btown%2B2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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You can't visit Brussels and NOT check out the famous Manneken Pis ("Peeing Boy") statue. He's really small.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-No5u3pgHuEs/VrxIDwD4q4I/AAAAAAAAIeE/MOyWw-MfLWw/s1600/Peeing%2Bboy%2Bstatue.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-No5u3pgHuEs/VrxIDwD4q4I/AAAAAAAAIeE/MOyWw-MfLWw/s640/Peeing%2Bboy%2Bstatue.JPG" width="640" /></a> </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Closer view of Peeing Boy.</td></tr>
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Our friends also showed us the lesser-known Peeing Girl statue, but I didn't get a picture of it. Dark alleyways don't photograph well.</div>
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Did you know that a Belgian illustrator created the Smurfs comic strip? That's why we found this statue outside of a museum.</div>
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The next morning, we slept in until almost 11:00! Our hosts are too nice and didn't wake us up earlier. They planned a fun day trip to peaceful and historic Bruges! So after a late breakfast of scrambled eggs, croissants, and juice, we headed out. A quick 75-minute car ride later, we arrived in Bruges and began the walking tour.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ILom_dYR-es/VrxNlPpjZyI/AAAAAAAAIes/yI5FEBFj7T8/s1600/Dahlia%2Bflower.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ILom_dYR-es/VrxNlPpjZyI/AAAAAAAAIes/yI5FEBFj7T8/s640/Dahlia%2Bflower.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Google says that this is probably a Dahlia, or something similar.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bfvMXINa_8Q/VrxNrYcAFOI/AAAAAAAAIe0/phaWs1QOJH8/s1600/Swans.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bfvMXINa_8Q/VrxNrYcAFOI/AAAAAAAAIe0/phaWs1QOJH8/s640/Swans.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stop looking at me, swan!</td></tr>
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We walked by Minnewater Lake...</div>
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... over canals ...</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IBR_hKzMtDk/VrxQD7RjsPI/AAAAAAAAIfY/Sb_DgsJQTzc/s1600/flowerpots.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IBR_hKzMtDk/VrxQD7RjsPI/AAAAAAAAIfY/Sb_DgsJQTzc/s640/flowerpots.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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... and through the central square! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Belfry tower.</td></tr>
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The only Belgian waffle we had was from a Bruges street vendor, and it was microwaved, soggy, and disgusting. The Belgian fries with mayonnaise were much better.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking a break!</td></tr>
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We walked around even more and visited some souvenir shops.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the strangest living statues we saw during the trip.</td></tr>
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All that walking and sightseeing made us hungry, so we drove back to Brussels and had dinner at Il Giardino, a French/Italian restaurant. You know the free bread that you get before a meal? I watched our female friend spread butter on the bread and sprinkle some salt on top. It blew my mind because I never considered sprinkling salt on bread before! Well, that simple trick made a delicious difference. I ate all the bread and also had a pizza for dinner, because I'm a sucker for carbs.</div>
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It was past midnight and our hosts wanted to go hang out at a club. Luke and I were way too tired for that, so they dropped us off at their house and went out without us. Party hard, my friends!</div>
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The next morning came too soon and it was time to leave. Our hosts packed us some Nutella and jam sandwiches for the train to Luxembourg and sent us on our way. Au revoir!<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">[Luke's comments: "Belgium was really nice. Pretty without being grandiose. A relaxing time when we needed it badly. Part of the great experience may be due to the incomparable hospitality of our hosts. Definitely somewhere I'd like to visit again!"]</span><br />
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-74514828650580874512013-10-04T07:08:00.000-05:002016-02-11T12:54:50.746-06:00Amsterdam, a canal city we actually liked <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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If you've been paying attention to these posts, I bet you can guess how our visit to Amsterdam began. If you guessed "wild party" then it's back to listening school for you. If you guessed "checked into hotel, then took a long nap to recover from the early flight" then congratulations, you win a cookie.<br />
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After our recovery nap, we headed for the center of the city to check out the canals and see if the city was as pretty as advertised. It was. Even under gray, ugly clouds, the water produced a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere.<br />
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It was especially lovely once the sun set. Naturally we headed back out to our hotel fairly early to get more of the wonderful sleep our room so admirably provided.<br />
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The next day we had the brilliant idea to visit a cheese and wine tasting event in the basement of a cheese store. Naturally the wine tasting part was optional. It was the cheese we were excited for. It didn't disappoint. The flavors were interesting without being overwhelming. We thoroughly enjoyed it!<br />
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We spent the next few hours wandering around letting the city itself act as an attraction. We picked up a souvenir or two. We had apple pie. We wondered down alleys in quiet neighborhoods. We took pictures of the nicest places we saw. In short we had a wonderfully, carefree, stress-free time.<br />
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Evening found us tired once again headed for an early bedtime.<br />
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The next day it was off to Belgium to meet some friends we made in the Philippines. Needless to say, we were excited. </div>
Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-42565695102828114672013-09-28T16:55:00.004-05:002013-09-28T16:55:49.986-05:00Lisbon, full of old world charm <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Our arrival in Lisbon began with an expected pattern. Early flight = little sleep, so we get to our hostel, check in and take a long nap. This was doubly necessary since I was sick.<br />
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With our needed nap out of the way, we began to enjoy the old-world charm of Lisbon. That evening we walked around its gleaming white streets and enjoyed a lovely oceanfront square under the stars.<br />
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The next day I actually felt worse but we didn't want to waste our only full day there. So we headed out to the tower of Belem and the monument to discovery. Both were quite beautiful as you can see.<br />
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After an afternoon nap that would make Grandad proud, we went out for dinner and a visit to the ruins of the castle of St. George that overlooks the city. Though a bit hard to find, it was fun to explore with great views. While trying to find the place, we met a US couple where the husband works as an animator at Pixar. Between him and the Google software engineer we met in Switzerland, it feels like half of Silicon Valley decided to join us in this trip.<br />
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The next morning was another crazy early flight. It was the first scheduled departure of the day at 6:30am. Fortunately I was feeling mostly better by this time, so the horrible hours weren't such a problem. That and this was our last early flight of the trip until it's time to go home.<br />
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And while the prospect of home sounds wonderful, now we got a chance to visit a canal-filled city that we actually liked, Amsterdam.<br />
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-33476429129792609252013-09-27T04:14:00.001-05:002013-09-27T04:19:19.120-05:00Barcelona, the break we needed <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After the stressful mess that was getting there, we needed Barcelona to be relaxing. And it was. But not right at first.<br />
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Once we'd caught a shuttle into the city, we promptly hopped on a train going out the other way since our hostel was in the hills outside the city. When we finally got there, we were distressed to find a hot, loud room that offered almost no hope of sleeping. To our utterly exhausted, and in Vicky's case sick, bodies, this was a nightmare.<br />
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Here we opted to do one of the smarter things we've done on this trip. We checked out the next morning despite only getting 4 hours of sleep and moved to a hostel in town with a private room. It was more expensive but worth it 100 times over. And since mom and dad very generously helped with the cost, the price difference wasn't a problem.<br />
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We actually arrived before our room was ready and we were so tired we just waited in the lobby until they let us in around 1:30. Vicky then slept for 4 hours and I slept for 2. And we still were in bed that night before midnight. That's how bone tired we were.<br />
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Thankfully, after this, things improved greatly. The sleep helped Vicky feel better and by the time we left Barcelona, she was almost back to normal. That evening we walked up and down the famous pedestrian street La Ramblas and definitely enjoyed ourselves.<br />
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That night we slept well and long. The next day we dived into sightseeing. We visited the Guell Park which was designed by Antoni Gaudi as a perfect, gated community. It failed at this but it succeeded as a park/modern architecture exhibit.<br />
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From Gaudi's name is where we get the English word gaudy. His style of architecture is over the top and crazy, with plenty of nature images mixed in. The best example of this is the place we visited next. Sagrada Familia, the church of the sacred family is his unfinished masterpiece. The building began in 1882 and has yet to be completed. It is an enormous, interesting and downright bizarre church. Since the admission price was about $25 per person, we chose to enjoy it from outside.<br />
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Our last stop of the day was at the magic fountain. Sadly no magic was seen since the fountain didn't start til 9pm, 2 hours later than we arrived, and we couldn't stay since we had a 7am flight (with a 4am wakeup alarm) the next morning.<br />
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On the one hand, you could see our time in Barcelona as a failure. We didn't see many attractions and really only had one full day there. On the other hand, we got some desperately needed sleep. We got to relax and enjoy the city. And having decided we like it, we now want to go back again some day. We succeeded in discovering a future vacation spot.<br />
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The only downside evident as we left was that I seemed to have picked up Vicky's minor cold. Oops. Good thing Lisbon was nice and warm. </div>
Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-36953679066409987572013-09-24T07:24:00.000-05:002013-09-25T17:35:49.137-05:00A brief interlude about flying with a terrible airline, Ryan Air<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In case you forgot, allow me refresh your memory about our condition at the end of my last post.<br />
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"At this point, we were completely exhausted. In fact, Vicky was sick. We were really hoping Barcelona would be relaxing so we could both recover. And it was. Getting there, however, was another matter."<br />
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The reason for this ominous warning was Ryan Air. This is what I wrote about it right after the incident happened.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Wow was that ever a mess! We just had a preflight to make us swear off ever taking Ryan Air again. We caught the bus way out to an airport that's basically a Ryan Air only airport. It took about an hour and forty five minutes to get there. But we left early so we arrived with an hour twenty to spare. It was barely enough. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Because we're not EU citizens, we had to go to the check-in counter even though we checked in online. The line was moving horrifically slowly because of Ryan air's cabin bag rules. You get 1 bag, not a bag and a personal item. Everything must go in one bag. It must weigh less than 10kg. It must fit in those tiny bins every airline has that nothing fits in. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">So the desk clerk was rejecting bags and forcing people to pay big fees to check bags and it was making the line crawl. We waited in line until the desk was supposed to close in 10 minutes. The line behind us alone would have taken another 90 minutes at that rate. And we knew our bags were a little too big and heavy (11kg instead of 10), and we were bracing for the huge fee to check the bags and the possibility of us missing our flight while trying to get it done. We were resigned to paying the fees if we had to.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Around then they opened a new line. Hoping the desk clerk wouldn't be such a slow prick, we changed lines. Finally they approved our passports and sent us to security. Yay. We had saved $150 and wouldn't miss our flight.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Except security was run by them too. By now we thought the flight had been boarding for 40 minutes and was about to leave. So we were semi-panicking. Security didn't help. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">They were slowly checking tickets and making people check their bag size and weight again. Vicky's bag mostly fit in their tiny bin and we told them mine was the same size. But they wanted us to weigh them. As we expected, hers was 11kg and mine 12kg. The security guy then tried to tell us to go check out bags which set Vicky off. She told him we've flown with these all over Europe with Ryan air with no problem and we'd miss our flight if we had to check them. He told us, so you'll miss your flight over 1 or 2 kilograms. That didn't help. Finally after more yelling by Vicky, he let us go while telling us if we are nicer, he will like us and let us through no problem. Much skepticism. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">The actual security part was the only easy thing about this experience. Just a normal security check. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">When we got through all this, hoping the plane hadn't left, we found that no one had boarded and the plane was late. But of course they didn't announce it. So we found ourselves waiting at the end of a huge line to board (no assigned seats, remember).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Finally about half an hour, we finally got through the last check and boarded. We've flown with Ryan air twice on this trip and arrived over an hour late once and were harassed the other. Also the no assigned seats is incredibly annoying. It produces lines to board over an hour before the flight. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Our problem was less with the money it would have cost to check our bags (though $150 isn't small change) and more with the attitude of the workers and the incompetence of the company. Forcing non-EU citizens to get their passports reviewed at checkin even when you checkin online is idiotic since no other airlines require this. Having only 1 line for a flight is insane (doubly so when you factor in the mandatory passport checks). Weighing and checking every bag in that line, right down to purses, just guarantees that the line doesn't move. That combined with a completely dismissive attitude towards the passengers ensures that angry people won't be in short supply. I know it's all in the name of trying to save money but that isn't an excuse.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">In short, we shall do everything in our power never to fly with them again! </span></div>
Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-57825760363428467632013-09-23T12:05:00.002-05:002013-09-24T07:40:29.165-05:00Paris, the busiest 2 and half days of our trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Our flight to Paris on Ryan Air arrived about an hour late, so we got to our hostel after midnight (remember that airline. They'll come up again in a future post). We were exhausted and starving. Fortunately we found some food still open and got some decent, if not great, sleep. The next day we woke up and moved to a new place to stay (one with a private room instead of a dorm. this really makes a difference in the quality of sleep you get and was worth the hassle of changing places).<br />
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Then began our extremely busy, and surprisingly cold, days. We bought a Paris Museum Pass that, while expensive, let us into basically any museum or monument in the city for two days. We first put this to use by heading out to Versailles to see the most magnificent palace in Europe.<br />
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After walking all around that huge chateau, we came back to get dinner and climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately, it was raining and so getting pictures was difficult to impossible depending on the direction.<br />
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The next day, we were at it again. We went inside Notre Dame to enjoy one of the oldest, most impressive churches in Europe. Then we popped over through more cold rain to Saint Chappelle and the best stained glass windows I've seen. Some of them were under restoration but it was still really cool.<br />
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After this, we walked over to the Louvre and used the Rick Steves walking tour to see the highlights. I really enjoyed his tour, it hit all my favorites. Of course by the end of this, our feet were killing us and our bodies felt like the weighed 5 tons each.<br />
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So naturally, after we walked to dinner, we did a ton more walking to go see the Eiffel Tower at night. On the way we saw the moon over Notre Dame. It was gorgeous.<br />
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The tower itself looked great also. The moon was next to it and made for some really exotic, cool views.<br />
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And lest you think we were lazy (or completely exhausted), the next day we went to the Luxembourg gardens in the late morning for a relaxing walk. They had some lovely flowers that I tried to capture here.<br />
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And to finish our Paris trip, we visited the Sacre Coeur before getting our stuff to catch our flight to Barcelona. The Sacre Coeur was "interesting" for the reasons detailed below.<br />
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At this point, we were completely exhausted. In fact, Vicky was sick. We were really hoping Barcelona would be relaxing so we could both recover. And it was. Getting there, however, was another matter.<br />
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Scam attempt of the week.<br />
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We've been all over Europe and had a lot of people try to sell us stuff but this was the first time someone tried to outright scam us. We were walking up the steps to the Sacre Coeur when we turned a corner to find a group of six men holding strings and aggressively approaching anyone who passed. </div>
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In case you're unfamiliar with this con, let me explain. The conman approaches the victim with a smile and ties a colorful string around their wrist or finger before the victim has time to object. They tell the victim it's a friendship bracelet. After the string is tied tight, the scammer asks for money for the "gift". If the victim refuses, the scammer's friends come over to support him/intimidate the victim into paying. </div>
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Being experienced travellers, Vicky and I knew about this con beforehand (and even if we hadn't, we would have spotted it instantly). We tried to ignore them and go around but one aggressively blocked me. I moved to go around him when he shoved me. It had no effect on me beyond being offensive but it made Vicky mad. She instantly started yelling at him as we walked away (I was proud of her). I wasn't happy about it but I wasn't going to do anything when surrounded by a group of his friends. </div>
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The sad part was, this group of scam artists were all African immigrants. And because groups of black men were doing this, it makes tourists and locals alike suspicious of all the black men in Paris even though it was only a few perpetrating this scam. It unfortunately reminds me of how the thug culture in the US has made many white Americans see all young black men as a threat. </div>
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I don't have any great solution to these problems. I just try not to treat people like the worst representatives of their groups (as in don't treat all black people like they are criminals or all teenagers like they are irresponsible idiots) unless I have a good reason to think they are. It's an imperfect world we live in. But at least they didn't get my money!<br />
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-63545625784076144582013-09-22T16:27:00.000-05:002013-09-22T16:32:24.856-05:00Florence, the sworn enemy of Guilder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'll keep this one short since I'm kinda sick right now and don't feel like writing a ton. The train to Florence was nice. We arrived, dropped our stuff at the hostel and went out to do some walking through the historic part of town. It was pretty, if crowded with tourists like ourselves (mid-September is the perfect time to visit Italy. In summer, the temperature is often in the mid 90s). We visited the Duomo, walked by the Uffizi and ended the day at the Piazza Michelangelo.<br>
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The next day we slept in, enjoying a former monks very dark room. The weather was rainy and bad, so we went and waited in a very long line at the Accademia (like Disneyland long). We did this to see the best statue in the world. Michelangelo's David remains the most life-like inanimate object I've ever seen by a large margin. It's well past the uncanny valley. The only problem is that taking picture is strictly forbidden. There were in fact guards watching everyone to make sure no pictures were taken. Very sad.<br>
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We met a solo traveler from Turkey while there and grabbed some dinner with him after leaving the museum. Thanks to the bad weather, we headed home after that. At this point, we had eaten gelato 9 times in 7 days. We were so proud!<br>
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The next day we hopped a train to Pisa since we had a late flight out of there to Rome. Naturally while there we stopped by the tower. And yes it does in fact lean. Astonishing. Mostly we made fun of the other tourists doing ridiculous holding-up or pushing-down the tower poses. See below for details.<br>
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That night we flew to Paris to begin a very busy 2.5 days.<br>
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PS. Bonus points to you if you understand the reference in the title.</div>
Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-16262209509749295442013-09-21T04:59:00.001-05:002013-09-21T04:59:21.843-05:00Rome, the reason history class was fun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When we last saw our dashing heroes, they were leaving Venice and happy to be doing it. A pretty straightforward trip got us to our hostel. Our room had no windows but it was clean, thankfully quiet and centrally located in Rome. </div>
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After some much needed sleep and a slow easy morning, we decided to start at the Vatican. We'd been seeing churches all over Europe. It was time for the most impressive one in the world. As ever, it did not disappoint. </div>
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Pictures never do the place justice. This is a church that's 2 football fields long, 1.5 wide and 1.5 tall. It covers 6 acres. It can hold 60,000 people. And every inch is richly decorated. This place didn't cost a fortune to build. It cost a thousand fortunes.</div>
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After being suitably impressed, we went back to our room before heading to the Colosseum to see it at night. We accidentally met a friendly American couple there and chatted for 2 hours that flew by. </div>
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When they left, we decided to take a moonlit stroll to the Trevi Fountain. Of course, this being Rome, our stroll took us past the Forum, Trajan's Column, an outdoor play in some ruins, and the giant Vittorio Emmanuelle Monument. I love Rome! </div>
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We enjoyed our fountain visit, including the requisite coin toss into the fountain. However, neither of the coins we tossed in were from this continent. Hope that doesn't affect our luck. </div>
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We decided to walk home and only hit one major landmark on the way. Fortunately, Republic Square is especially pretty at night. </div>
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The next day we got up at 6:30am so we could see the Vatican and Saint Peter's Basilica without the crowds. It really made a difference in the experience. We also climbed to the top of the dome for a great view of early morning Rome. That climb is not for the old or the large. It was long, challenging and such a tight fit that I barely got through a couple spots. </div>
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After our morning excursion, we went home and slept for several hours to catch up on our sleep. That afternoon we went back to the Colosseum, this time to see the inside. It also impressed. </div>
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We finished the day with an excellent Italian dinner. It goes without saying, of course, that we were having gelato AT LEAST once a day every day we were in Italy. </div>
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The next morning was a chill one before walking to the station to catch the noon train to Florence. After a rough Venice, Rome had lifted our spirits. </div>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-48233724935919296742013-09-18T02:56:00.003-05:002013-09-18T02:56:38.476-05:00Venice, surprisingly underwhelming<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">The Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice </span></div>
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Leaving Switzerland was a sad moment for us. We both love that place, even though the prices are absurd. So it was with heavy hearts that we boarded our train onward. We were headed for Venice but we had a layover in Milan that was long enough to allow us to stop by the Duomo. Duomo is the Italian word for cathedral. The Duomo is easily the most impressive site in the city and the only site I was really interested in seeing there. <br />
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It lived up to expectations. The outside is probably the most impressive example of Gothic architecture I've seen. And like many churches in Italy, it's massive. The columns inside are the size of Giant Redwoods. Sadly we didn't have time to climb to the roof but it was still definitely worth the visit.<br />
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After Milan, we caught our train to Venice. We arrived and only had minor trouble finding our hostel since it was a little out of the city on a campground (staying on Venice island doubles or triples your price while cutting your room quality in half). As a side note, I've actually been fairly impressed by Italian trains. While not as organized and precisely on time as Swiss ones, they mostly seem to be new, clean and comfortable. A pleasantly unexpected surprise.<br />
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The next day we slept in because we badly needed it. After a relaxing morning, we arrived in Venice around 1 and at first were quite charmed by it. The colorful old buildings, winding canals and maze-like streets were whimsical and interesting. Unless you stuck to the main tourist routes (which was boring), the street you were on would frequently dead end into a canal. This made navigating the city a fun challenge (again, for a while). When we finally reached St. Mark's Square on the far side of the island, we found the line to enter the Basilica shockingly short. 3 minutes short. <br />
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The inside had gold mosaics all over the ceiling but the lighting was so bad that you could barely see them. Which is sad considering how lovely the place could be in good lighting. Also half the front of the church was covered in scaffolding because, at any given time, 99% of Europe is covered in scaffolding for restoration. I'm joking of course. It's really more like 50% (note: this isn't a joke).<br />
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After the church, we had some excellent gelato nearby because, Italy! However it was around now that a couple problems with Venice began to rear their heads. One is that there is almost no free seating in the city. Low cost restaurants don't have seats. They are purely takeout. And every inch of the city is so crammed together that there really isn't much space for benches. And after several hours on your feet, this starts to become a real problem.<br />
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Also we discovered that all coffee in Venice (and Italy in general) comes in portions so small a Smurf would ask for seconds. This obviously didn't bother me since I don't drink coffee but it was a major problem for Vicky, who sometimes gets headaches if it's been too many days since her last coffee. Let's say that for a while, Italy gave her headaches.<br />
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Finally those charming, winding streets with their dead ends become a lot less charming when you're tired, sore, hungry and you need to use the bathroom and you've discovered there are no free ones on the island. As we learned that day, the entire city of Venice is an elegant, decaying, tourist trap. And if you have plenty of money to spend, that might not bother you. But for us on a budget, it wasn't exactly a match made in heaven.<br />
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A good summary of the price gouging goes like this. Regular buses on the mainland cost 1.2 euros per trip. And on Venice island they have buses too but water buses. No problem we thought. Until we found out that a one way ticket on a water bus was 7 euros each. Seven!!! We're taking an hour long train from Florence to Pisa for that same price.<br />
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The next day was rough too. The length of the trip was wearing on us but we forced ourselves to go sightseeing and it frayed our tempers more than usual that morning. We recovered a little by finding a decent restaurant with fairly reasonable prices and we spent a good while in there. We found Vicky a full sized coffee at McDonald's McCafe of all place. And of course we got more gelato (because again, Italy!).<br />
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We left late in the afternoon to pick up our bags and catch a flight to Rome that night. We were definitely happy to be leaving and hoping that Rome would treat us better (it did).<br />
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Funny story of the week. We were walking through Venice, when we stopped at a Church named San Giovanni e Paolo. As we walked inside, I was hit with a massive sense of deja-vu. I'd been here before. I'd seen this place. I knew the layout of the inside already. Which made no sense since I'd never been to Venice before. It took me a moment to realize why I recognized this place. It was part of a video game I played set in 1500s Venice. In the game, I'd explored the church thoroughly and climbed all over the inside of it. The game must have done a good job too because the church looked exactly like my memories of it. Who would have thought that playing a video game could allow you to accurately explore Italian tourist attractions and monuments? Crazy huh?<br />
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-15991905566210216292013-09-14T02:34:00.000-05:002013-09-14T14:29:58.481-05:00Switzerland, the reason I ran out of superlatives<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Vicky and I in our own personal paradise</span></div>
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It's good to try new things. On our trip from Munich to Interlaken, Vicky and I did just that by taking 1st class on train. The tickets were barely more expensive than 2nd class and the quieter cars and better seats definitely made it worth the small upgrade fee. This left us free to enjoy the ever improving views as we neared our destination. </div>
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As we neared to Interlaken, Vicky loudly stated she wanted to stay there for the rest of the trip and possibly move there. I was inclined to acquiesce to her request (means yes). We had blue skies and white clouds that first day and we decided to take advantage of it by eating lunch at a restaurant that overlooks the city. It even has its own viewing walkway, complete with glass floor. </div>
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After that we wandered around town enjoying the sights. We ended up at a park watching para-sailors land in front of us with the Alps in the background. It was pretty much perfect. </div>
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We got up early the next morning and went looking for a reasonably priced breakfast. This was much harder than it sounds. We ended up going to the grocery store since it offered the best deal. Plus it had Dr. Pepper for me. Then we stopped by the hotel to get our stuff and took the train towards our home in the mountains, Gimmelwald. A train, bus and cable car lift combined to get us there in just about an hour. </div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Going up</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">This is where we stayed in Gimmelwald. Could it be any cuter?</span></div>
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The weather forecast for the day called for rain and cold but fortunately nature had other plans. We had another beautiful day and boy did we seize it. After arriving at noon, we fixed a hearty meal, then spent the next 5 hours hiking all over the mountainside. </div>
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We stopped to enjoy a meadow that could have come straight out of The Sound of Music. </div>
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We stopped to photograph the Eiger when it popped out from behind its normal cloud cover. </div>
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We stopped to watch para-sailors launching off of a steep slope above our trail. </div>
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We burst into song from time to time (zip-a-dee-doo-da). Basically we walked around in a live action </div>
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Disney movie. </div>
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That night we slept well indeed and were happy to find we weren't sore the next morning. We were less happy to find out that it was raining and foggy all day. So we improvised. We scrapped our mountain top breakfast since we couldn't have seen anything anyway. Instead we hiked around near our hostel and watched the fog roll in and out and up and down around the mountains. </div>
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Around 1pm we caught the lift down and headed back into Interlaken. Fortunately it was not raining when we first got down. Unfortunately it started raining soon after we dropped our bags. </div>
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For the afternoon we walked around the covered shopping area downtown. We even found a cute souvenir or two. With the rain continuing, we called it an early night and prepared for our morning train through Milan to Venice. </div>
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Cute story the week. We were sitting at the bus stop waiting for the bus back to our hostel when I noticed an adorable little girl sitting next to me. She was probably about 5 and hadn't said a word but she was starring at me and at my Nexus tablet. I was about to put it up when reached for it. Laughing, I opened a game and showed her how to play while her mom gratefully used the break to eat some food. After a bit she had to go but she told me goodbye in German and kept waving to Vicky and I even after she got in the bus. It made us both smile.</div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Bye Switzerland. See you again as soon as we possibly can!</span></div>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-27481638086570915042013-09-11T05:05:00.001-05:002013-09-11T05:05:18.167-05:00The last of our Bavarian fun, Munich<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The morning we left Salzburg seemingly everything went wrong and yet it worked out great. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast that morning, then caught a bus to town so we could get to the train station in time for an early train. Snafu 1 - our bus took a different route than the one posted for it, so we missed our train. <br />
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Fortunately, this was a problem we could overcome by catching a later train. Of course that meant that we arrived in Munich an hour later than planned. Now instead of having 1:30 to get to our hostel, check in, eat lunch and catch a train to Neuschwanstein, we had 30 minutes. Snafu 2 - we caught the train but didn't have time for lunch. Oh, just an FYI, we were able to do all this train travel for the low price of 13 euros each thanks to something called the Bayern Ticket. It allows you unlimited travel in Bavaria for one day. For us it meant we could get from Salzburg to Munich to Neuschwanstein to Munich for almost nothing. Gotta love it.<br />
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Traveling on a growling stomach isn't much fun no matter how pretty it is outside the train. And it most certainly was pretty outside, as you can see.<br />
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So we arrived in Fussen starving and headed straight for a restaurant. We found one with some good food for shockingly reasonable prices and had a nice relaxed meal. Then we headed back to catch a bus up to the castle only to discover Snafu 3. The buses to the castle only run just after the trains had arrived. Which meant we were waiting another half hour to catch a bus up there which was important when you realize that the daylight would be running low soon. We considered a taxi but dismissed them as a ludacris ripoff.<br />
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So we caught the next bus up, then double timed it up the hill to the castle. Literally. The estimate said it would take 45 minutes to climb up. We did it in 20. When we reached the bridge overlooking the castle we found the final snafu. Snafu 4 - the sun was in a lousy position for taking pictures of the castle. We did our best anyway.<br />
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The reason this all worked out great is because we did some more climbing to a spot very few visit. There we got to sit all alone and enjoy the beauty of the castle and countryside together. And that time made the whole day worthwhile.<br />
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Later we caught the train back to Munich, slept as best we could in a loud dorm (Vicky picked has sworn off dorms for all future trips) and hoped for good weather the next day. Fortunately, we got it. It was clear, warm and lovely, so we decided to visit Schloss Nymphenburg. The palace itself wasn't that impressive but the gardens around it were and walking around in them was a wonderful way to relax and enjoy a nice day.<br />
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That afternoon, we went back to the hostel and I took a nap due to sleep deprivation . That evening we decided to visit the historic center of Munich for a little evening sightseeing. The Neo-Gothic New Town Hall was definitely the most interesting site (though hard to photograph).<br />
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That night we had better luck sleeping, which is surprising since we were extremely excited about going to Switzerland the next day. But sleep well we did, before walking the 3 minutes to the train station to ride in 1st class for the first time. The most beautiful country on earth awaited us! </div>
Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-88248557475267291472013-09-08T05:04:00.001-05:002013-09-08T05:04:38.805-05:00Our favorite city so far, Salzburg! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After a fun visit to my former home, we were ready to see the city of Mozart. Salzburg was a salt trading power for over 1000 years. The wealth from that trade and the massive fortress on the hill above the city made Salzburg an island of peace for most of its existence, even though it was surrounded by war. </div>
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The peace and prosperity allowed Salzburg to become one of the most beautiful places in Europe. The lovely baroque architecture, friendly people and idyllic location in the foothills of the Alps combined to make this the favorite place we've visited so far. </div>
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We arrived around 2pm and immediately caught a bus out to our B&B which was a little outside the city. It's called Haus Am Moos and is run by a lovely Austrian couple. The B&B was adorable and our room was quiet with a lovely balcony and view. If you go to Salzburg, I can't recommend this place highly enough. Vicky and I already can't wait to go back. </div>
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Once we got checked in, we went and walked around the old town for a while. We saw some lovely churches and learned that the entire city seems to close around 7pm. We finished the evening at the Augustiner Brau having dinner with locals outside under the chestnut trees. </div>
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Our only regret from day one was that it was overcast all day and we really wanted to see how beautiful Salzburg would look under a blue sky. The next morning our wish was granted. Around 9am the sun came out gloriously. The true beauty of the city was revealed. And wow. </div>
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We caught the bus into town and hiked straight up to the fortress. We wanted the best views available while the weather was good. Boy did we find them. </div>
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The Hohensalzburg fortress has overlooked the city for the last millennium. It was almost never used in battle and was never taken by force. And that was the point. It's position was so commanding and its walls so strong that it acted as a deterrent, preventing battles and saving lives. The fortress was peacefully surrendered only once, in 1800, when Napoleon invaded with his army. Salzburg wisely chose not to fight.</div>
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Once we finished exploring there, we took a break and then headed for the Mirabell Gardens. This is a lovely spot with pretty flowers and great views of the old town. We had a funny moment with an older Korean couple there. They asked us to take a picture of them. We had heard them speaking Korean earlier so when Vicky counted for the photo, she counted in Korean. The woman was so surprised she completely forgot about the picture and had this hilariously shocked look on her face when Vicky took the shot. After giving them a moment to recover, she took a second picture where they were both actually smiling. I liked the first picture better. </div>
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This day, like the one before it, finished at the Augustiner. We slept well that night and in the morning we were ready to catch the train to Munich and then on to Neischwanstein Castle. More Alpine beauty awaited us. </div>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-11698159683744013152013-09-06T13:52:00.002-05:002013-09-06T13:52:46.591-05:00My former haunt, Prague! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By the time we arrived in Prague, we were starving. After some trouble getting to our hotel, we finally got checked in, got some food and felt good enough to go out walking. </div>
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Something most people don't realize is that big trips like this are exhausting. Getting between cities is confusing and tiring since you're carrying all your things with you (and no matter how light you pack that still gets heavy), you don't speak the language and something always goes wrong. So that's why we had to see how we felt before going out that night. Sometimes you need to stay in for a bit and recover your strength to properly enjoy a trip. <br />
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So once we were sufficiently recharged, which of course included coffee for Vicky, we went strolling around Old Town. To no one's shock, Prague is still gorgeous. And the weather was excellent for an evening walk. It was a great combination for us. </div>
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The next day, we decided to take the royal walk through Old Town up to the castle. Since I've described this in detail before when I lived there, I'll just post some recent pictures of it. </div>
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From there, Vicky wanted to see my favorite park in Prague, Divoka Sarka. I was happy to oblige her. A couple hours in the park had us ready for dinner and an evening off of our feet. <br />
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The next day, I took her to the far less touristy Vysehrad. The park built on the remains of an ancient fortress was just the quiet, slow trip Vicky needed. Her Achilles tendon was hurting her and extended bouts of fast walking would have been disastrous. From there, we caught a tram to the park with the best view of the city, Letna Park. <br />
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After Letna, we spent the afternoon resting up before going out for a night visit to the river. This excellent decision helped Vicky feel better and us to see a small fireworks show. <br />
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The third day was a chill day. We had lunch at one of my favorite places in Prague, the Pivovarsky Club. Then we dropped by a laundromat, lest we have no more clean clothes to wear. Sporting better smelling clothes, we picked up dinner and headed for our hotel. </div>
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Our fourth and final full day took us out to Kutna Hora. I wanted to visit my old work area and Vicky wanted to see the bone church. Both were accomplished. And yes the bone church is still as cool and creepy as always.<br />
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The next morning, we caught an early bus headed for Salzburg and the beauty of the Alps! </div>
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Random funny story. As I've explained before, old Czech men often don't bathe. The results are aromatic in the extreme. In plain English, THEY STINK! I had the privilege of sitting next to one of these gentleman on a train and it made me wish for a baby. Why, you ask? So I could hold the baby facing the old man when it spit up due to the smell. Then covered in baby barf, the old troll might have actually had to take a bath involving soap! <br />
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-60889836259578040152013-09-05T02:10:00.002-05:002013-09-05T02:10:59.361-05:00Vienna<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Schonbrunn palace reflected </span></div>
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First, I'm going to take a moment to praise the Lord since I'm now fully recovered from being sick and haven't shown any symptoms of it since. </div>
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Second, I want to apologize for this being late. It's taken a while to find time to write and longer to find a computer I could use to transfer pictures off my camera. Obviously, I have plenty of pictures but getting them from my camera to my Nexus 7, which I'm using to write these updates, is impossible without the aid of a computer. And since mine is currently in Texas, this has been a problem. </div>
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Vienna, as expected, was great. Far more polished (and expensive) than our previous spots. After arriving in the afternoon and dropping our stuff, we headed straight for Schonbrunn palace. This is the most beautiful thing we've seen on the trip so far. Schonbrunn was the Hapsburg family's summer palace. It was modeled on Versailles in Paris and is Versailles' closest competitor for most beautiful palace in Europe. Hopefully these pictures show that a little. <br />
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We finished the day with dinner in the city and a visit to the opera house at night. The Vienna opera house is pretty during the day but is downright stunning at night. </div>
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A good night's sleep later and we were off to explore. We visited St. Stephen's cathedral in the center. It's by far the tallest building in the center by Viennese law. It's half Gothic and half Baroque inside. This means it's dark with lots of sharp edges and vaulted ceilings. But it also has tons of statues of saints and other wall decorations. An interesting mix. <br />
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We also ate Sacher torte at the Sacher Hotel. This was essentially a light, fluffy chocolate cake with a chocolate fruit frosting. It was good in a very different way from American chocolate cake. </div>
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After that we walked around the Hofberg (the main city palace of the Hapsburgs) , went back to Schonbrunn to take the tour inside and explored several other interesting buildings and parks along the circle tram line. Needless to say, we slept well that night. </div>
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The next day we enjoyed a quiet breakfast before catching the 1pm bus to Prague. I was going home! <br />
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Random observation on Vienna. The Vienna public transportation network seems to rely almost entirely on the honor system for its income. There were no turnstiles, gates or ticket inspectors in sight during our entire visit. We could have taken every train and tram we rode there free of charge had we been so inclined. I find that to be an excellent comment on Austrian culture. How well do you think that system would work in, say, New York City? .... Exactly. </div>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-52265140080942605872013-08-27T12:46:00.001-05:002013-09-05T03:08:58.526-05:00What's worse than Belgrade? Being sick abroad!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
First the good news. We survived Belgrade. We weren't certain of this after our first look around as we rode into the city. It was decaying. Destroyed. Dilapidated. Debilitated. It was even descriptors that don't begin with D.<br />
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Seriously, this place looked like every movie ever where they show a post apocalyptic future. The train station had lovely squat toilets and all (which I had to use) (with diarrhea) (try not to think about that).<br />
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Our hostel actually wasn't bad. It was in a less, let's say worn, part of town. And in the center, they even had some new, gleaming buildings and a nice pedestrian walk where it seemed every single young person in the city gathered at night. I've never seen a group of young people so obviously dedicated to their appearances. There were more fake tans, short shorts, wife beaters and steroid users there than on Jersey Shore.<br />
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We arrived fairly late and were going to leave early the next morning but we decided to stay for the next day and catch a private mini-bus to Budapest that night (we would regret our choice of transportation).<br />
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Our time in Belgrade was interesting. The best site was the Tesla Museum. I'd never had 50000 volts pass through me before. You know it's a good museum when they ask anyone with a pacemaker to leave so that they won't die. The other sites were blah but the people were friendly and of course everything was extremely cheap. I enjoyed it quite a bit, if nothing else as a contrast to many of the other places we're visiting.<br />
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Unfortunately, getting out turned out to be a headache. The private bus that picked us up was an hour late, then wasted another hour making us change vans before we finally left. We were supposed to arrive in Budapest around 2am. We got there are 5:30am exhausted, frustrated and angry. (note: we were angry because even though we were already very late, our driver stopped for 2 20 minute smoke breaks. This did not sit well with the non-smoking passengers)<br />
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In any case, we arrived at sunrise, checked in and collapsed. Got up around 1pm and yet we were ready to sleep by 11pm that evening. We did a little walking around on this short day but there wasn't time for too much. The next morning was when the trouble started.<br />
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I woke up with my stomach feeling off and it got worse from there. I'll spare you the details but basically, I was in bed for most of that day and the next 2 days also. Vicky was an angel, getting food and medicine for me and just being there to comfort me. She didn't even really go sightseeing until I was able to move around on my own.<br />
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Fortunately I seem to be coming out of that. My full strength isn't back but maybe after another good nights sleep it will be. And it would certainly be good timing if it was, since tomorrow we head for Vienna. I can't wait!<br />
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As a final note, please pray that Vicky and I don't get sick again on this trip. It was miserable being sick abroad in a hotel and I don't want either of us to repeat it. So your prayers would be greatly appreciated.</div>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-81594320931737444572013-08-20T06:43:00.000-05:002013-08-20T13:17:05.939-05:00Istanbul - Great food, impressive sights and aggressive shop owner<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span id="goog_1258880624"></span>The Blue Mosque</span></div>
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And after 10 hours of desperately needed sleep, we awoke in Istanbul. Our first priority was food. And how do you pick a good place to eat in a city you've never visited? You follow the locals!<br />
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We did and it led to a cheap and great lunch. We followed that with a visit to a 150 year old Turkish dessert shop. There we enjoyed fantastic Turkish delight, baklava and Turkish coffee for Vicky. It was not our only visit.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">The dessert cafe</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Walnut Baklava</span></div>
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We then wondered through crowded streets until we reached the Gunhale Park. This place was cool, shady, relaxing and wonderful. We spent a long time enjoying it and people watching. And of course commenting on everything (you call that a burka? I can still see an eyebrow!)<br />
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Sunset found us between the nearby Hagia Sophia and the Sultan Ahmet Mosque (or Blue Mosque). Both were stunning, especially then. When you factor in that Hagia Sophia (or Ayasofya) was built around the year 550AD, it becomes even more impressive.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Hagia Sophia was originally a church but was converted to a mosque when the Muslims invaded. After they fled, it became a museum.</span></div>
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The next day we actually went inside the Sultan Ahmet Mosque. It was pretty but disappointing because so much stuff was hanging from the ceiling that the walls and the roof were heavily obscured.<br />
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After that we headed to Taksim Square and decided to spend half a hour hiking uphill in the hot sun instead of taking the 3 minute tram up because apparently we hate ourselves. The square itself was pretty boring but at least we figured out where to catch the bus to the airport.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">A random, cool Egyptian obelisk. I have no idea why it's in Istanbul though </span></div>
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The rest of the day held more good cheap food, of course more dessert and another park visit before Vicky's stomach started acting dumb again. Thankfully some prayer and an early bedtime left her feeling much better the next morning.<br />
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The next morning we stopped by the Grand Bazaar before leaving. It was a shoppers dream, so Vicky and I left after 15 minutes. Now we're winging our way towards Belgrade (which sounds like the beginning to a bad horror movie or Taken 6). More updates coming soon.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">The Grand </span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Bazaar</span></span></div>
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Best sales lines Turkish shop owners actually said to us.<br />
1) "Excuse me. How can I get your money?"<br />
2) (after eating a free sample) "Ah, now you are poisoned. I will give you the antidote after you buy something."<br />
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-7191690916582584252013-08-19T14:24:00.000-05:002013-08-19T17:44:30.445-05:00I blame China<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I blame China. I wrote a solid, detailed update but unfortunately I wrote it in China. Since China hates Google (look it up. They really do) the update didn't save and has been lost forever. And since I don't feel like trying to rewrite it on a tablet, you get the cliff's notes version (which is probably the one you wanted anyway). </div>
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We left Jeju without any major problems but with plenty of stress. Unfortunately right after arriving in Seoul, Vicky picked up a stomach bug and spent most of our 2.5 days recovering from it. Fortunately, we did find time to eat dinner with an old traveling buddy of mine at a Brazilian steakhouse. We also met our two best friends from Jeju for dinner at Subway since they also happened to be in Seoul. It was an excellent goodbye to Korea. </div>
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The very VERY long series of boring flights the next day was only broken up by meeting an Aussie astrophysicist who has run with the bulls in Spain, visited Oktoberfest in Munich and currently lives in China. When you factor in his impressive beard, he might be the real-life most interesting man in the world. </div>
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And around 28 hours after we left Seoul, we arrived in Istanbul at 1am and promptly fell asleep. To be continued (maybe even with pictures of i can find a computer) </div>
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Requisite funny story. <br />
On our flight from China to Istanbul, this woman who was barely 5ft tall sat in the seat in front of me. Several times during the flight she tried to recline her seat. But every time she tried, her seat wouldn't move backwards. Maybe it was broken. Maybe it was stuck. Or maybe the 6'2 guy behind her made dang sure her seat didn't infringe on his much needed legroom. It's a mystery. </div>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-82111096643709011592013-08-08T13:38:00.001-05:002013-08-08T13:38:36.210-05:00When work is viewed as play. The problem people who work abroad face when they return home.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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For those looking for travel updates, you'll have to wait a week or so. This one is longer than normal and examines the effects of working abroad on your future work potential when the traveler returns home.<br />
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There are many things I love about living abroad. First and foremost, I love how it makes a challenge of everyday life. Buying milk, yep. Ordering in a restaurant, check. Trying to get anywhere you can't walk to, definitely. When the simplest tasks can stretch your imagination, improvisation, and miming skills, every day is interesting (can you mime your pizza order? I now can). Every time I'm back in the US, everything is so .... easy. Frankly, it's boring.<br />
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I also miss the unexpected, like going to the sauna and ending up in a conversation with an older gentleman while naked in a hottub (this happened last week). And of course, I hate to lose the easy travel. Vacations to the Philippines aren't exactly simple when you live in Texas. So obviously, there's a lot to like about working abroad.<br />
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However, many people see traveling and teaching abroad as a lazy slacker's way to avoid responsibility and a "real job". They think people who do it lay around on a beach all day, living out a Peter Pan complex. And for a few people I've met, that's accurate. I'm not one of those people.<br />
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This leads to my one concern with working abroad. Namely that doing this will hurt me when I decide to return to the US and look for a job. It shouldn't. My time abroad has helped me develop some very useful skills that will help me in every job I do. One of the first that comes to mind is adaptability. After 3 years abroad, I can deal with any problem, change, or situation without batting an eye. Almost nothing phases me anymore. <br />
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Going hand in hand with adaptability is comfort with uncertainty. People prefer certainty in most aspects of their lives, i.e. they prefer a steady income over a fluctuating one. Uncertainty makes people worry. When you work abroad though, uncertainty is a constant. One you quickly become comfortable with. Instead of worrying, you prepare for what might happen.<br />
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Another advantage is cultural awareness and sensitivity. Working abroad teaches you how to work with a variety of people, even when communication isn't clear. It helps you respect and learn from the views of others and often to adopt their way of doing things when they are superior to your own. It makes you more open-minded to options and opinions other than your own.<br />
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Along with that open mind discussed above, comes a willingness to question things most people take for granted. Some basic examples include why the US doesn't use the metric system or why ethics, manners and personal finance aren't taught in middle and high school as they are many places. Or an even simpler one. Why is it considered rude to verbally call a waiter over when we want something? We expect them to read our minds and just know when we need food or drinks in a restaurant. In Korea or Vietnam when you want something, you loudly call "over here" and a server comes right over. It works so much better! But most people wouldn't even think to question things like this because "that's just the way we do it". In short, living abroad teaches you to think outside the proverbial box.<br />
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Even if potential employers accept these skills, they will often say, "You're several years removed from your degree. You've been away from your field of study. Your degree was worth more when you first graduated." I couldn't disagree more.<br />
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What does an undergraduate degree prove? It proves you're smart enough to graduate. That you're dedicated enough to finish what you start. What about a Master's degree? It proves you can analyze a situation at least reasonably effectively. That you can actually come up with solutions on your own, instead of just being told what to do and how to do it. Unless you're in a highly specialized field like engineering or accounting, degrees don't impart knowledge specifically useful to a job so much as they impart a way of thinking and solving problems. Almost all jobs will teach you what you need to know. Give me an intelligent, hard-working person and I can teach them to do almost any job. If the person is willing to be humble, learn, and work hard, the time since they graduated shouldn't be an issue for a company with even a half-decent training or mentoring program.<br />
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I write about all this, of course, because it personally affects me. I love my life and I don't regret the choices that led me here for a moment. The experiences I've had have shaped me into the man I am and provided a lifetime of wonderful memories. However, I do worry that others may not understand and it might hurt me later. So for now, I'll apply what I wrote about the above and prepare as much as possible for the uncertainty that will come when I decide to return to the US for good. When I do, I'll pray that I find an employer that recognizes the value of my experience here.<br />
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However, that's enough somber reflection on this subject for now. Now it's time to focus on the present and the amazing trip with Vicky that fills my very immediate future. See you on the road!</div>
Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-36382303168377496792013-08-03T10:52:00.000-05:002013-08-03T10:59:08.443-05:00Our route through Europe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rxvvOlkmKuc/Uf0iJWtQ4TI/AAAAAAAAF_U/Yp9HNUO47S0/s1600/Europe+trip2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="392" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rxvvOlkmKuc/Uf0iJWtQ4TI/AAAAAAAAF_U/Yp9HNUO47S0/s640/Europe+trip2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #0b5394; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Click on the picture to make it bigger</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Several people
have asked me about where Vicky and I will be going in Europe and when.
So here it is. The map should help visualize what we'll be doing.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Aug 16-19 Istanbul, Turkey</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Aug 20
Belgrade, Serbia</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Aug 21-22
Budapest, Hungary</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Aug 23-24
Vienna, Austria</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Aug 25-27
Krakow, Poland</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Aug 28-Sept 1
Prague, Czech Republic</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 2-3
Salzburg, Austria</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 4-5
Munich, Germany</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 6-8
Interlaken, Switzerland</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 9-11
Venice, Italy</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 12-14
Rome, Italy</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 15-16
Florence, Italy</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 16
Pisa, Italy</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 17-19
Paris, France</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 20-21
Barcelona, Spain</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 22-23 Lisbon,
Portugal</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 24-25 Amsterdam,
Netherlands</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 26-28 Brussels,
Belgium</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sept 29-30 Luxembourg,
Luxembourg</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Oct 1-3 London, England</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Oct 4 Dublin, Ireland</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Oct 5 Fly to Dallas!!</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The first day or two back in Texas I plan to do nothing but relax (eat), enjoy
being back in Texas (eat more) and stare in wonder at all the people (why
doesn't everyone look the same??) (did I mention I'll eat?). I'll probably look
around in confusion when I hear people speaking English everywhere. I'll
definitely use small words and exaggerated hand gestures when
speaking to any service people at stores. I'll start to yell "yogi-oh"
when I'm looking for a waiter in a restaurant (in Korean, that means "over
here") before realizing we don't call out for service in the US.
I'll most likely appear quirky, strange, maybe even crazy. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
So in short, I'll behave exactly like I normally do :)</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2707482836771470552.post-49715285057770362392013-07-29T04:43:00.000-05:002013-07-29T04:43:38.346-05:00Making progress in our prep to leave<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b5Zichvday4/UfY2Ws8NjDI/AAAAAAAAF-o/aSA8_fDNY3Y/s1600/DSC00459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b5Zichvday4/UfY2Ws8NjDI/AAAAAAAAF-o/aSA8_fDNY3Y/s640/DSC00459.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"> Sunset at Tap Dong Harbor</span></div>
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Last time I said I was working on a massive to-do list before we leave. That's still true but we're making good progress on it. Most of the major tasks from it are finished (find a place to honeymoon, pick and reserve our 22 hostels/hotels, figure out exactly how to get from one city to another, get visa extensions, choose what color elephant we want to ride at our wedding, etc).<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-omkfOj34U-o/UfY119KmTrI/AAAAAAAAF-A/VvQC3Dkh7U0/s1600/DSC00340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-omkfOj34U-o/UfY119KmTrI/AAAAAAAAF-A/VvQC3Dkh7U0/s640/DSC00340.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Sunrise seen from our roof</span></div>
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We're now working more on the things we have to do to leave. Ie) Shipping home suitcases, getting our pension refund, planning how to smuggle our new Korean children off the island (we only took the smart, cute ones), putting things up for sale online, etc. Fortunately, none of that is too hard.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eDDj-Wphd2U/UfY2AamnCbI/AAAAAAAAF-Q/LthcA1zQitI/s1600/DSC00440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eDDj-Wphd2U/UfY2AamnCbI/AAAAAAAAF-Q/LthcA1zQitI/s400/DSC00440.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Down by the ocean in Tap Dong</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WkybfWYSVJ0/UfY2GJccHWI/AAAAAAAAF-Y/jOO4V6H61zU/s1600/DSC00448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WkybfWYSVJ0/UfY2GJccHWI/AAAAAAAAF-Y/jOO4V6H61zU/s640/DSC00448.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">More of Tap Dong at sunset</span></div>
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The random funny story of the week comes to us courtesy of the local taxi drivers. Five of us were splitting a taxi headed for the beach when we realized the meter wasn't running. Our friend Ron decided to make up a song about it. He began singing, "Hate being in a taxi, when the meter ain't running. Being overcharged sucks and I know the drivers lying." It was at this exact moment that the driver chimed in, "Good song!". We all completely lost it then. The one Korean girl in the car told the driver he made a funny comment. He beamed with pride. We laughed harder.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tmHrdf8NXRo/UfY1z5dyF5I/AAAAAAAAF94/ET2XmaIgvyQ/s1600/DSC00187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tmHrdf8NXRo/UfY1z5dyF5I/AAAAAAAAF94/ET2XmaIgvyQ/s640/DSC00187.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Vicky's dream come true</span></div>
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This week the goals are 1) go to the pension office to get our refund 2) find out more information about the attractions in the cities we're going to visit. Specifically, when are they open, how much do they cost and is there a way to skip the lines 3) figure out how to release the kids we've held captive to keep them from causing trouble in our classes 4) figure out if we can ship our suitcases home without being charged an arm, a leg and possibly our firstborn child.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JOWdIqXMKTk/UfY17JwCDmI/AAAAAAAAF-I/9B-98X1DMc4/s1600/DSC00358.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JOWdIqXMKTk/UfY17JwCDmI/AAAAAAAAF-I/9B-98X1DMc4/s640/DSC00358.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Jeju City Park, behind the Culture and Art Center</span></div>
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And on the happiest note yet, only 2 weeks until we begin our crazy "Returning to America" tour with stops in Seoul + 20 European cities before returning to good ole Texas for the remainder of the year. The phrase "I can't wait" is nowhere near strong enough to express how we both feel about this. See you soon, I hope.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-47SDaGLTlvo/UfY2MgEzhKI/AAAAAAAAF-g/TpIUX7SkdB8/s1600/DSC00484.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-47SDaGLTlvo/UfY2MgEzhKI/AAAAAAAAF-g/TpIUX7SkdB8/s640/DSC00484.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">The Tap Dong oceanfront seafood restaurants framed by the fading light above Halla Mountain</span></div>
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Lukehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470030866181918335noreply@blogger.com0