Moscow

Shanna & I have wanted to go to Russia for awhile now.  2 years ago we looked into it, but the cost was going to be more than we could afford, and the process of getting a Russian visa was daunting, to say the least.  Then a year ago we went on a tour with a company that took us all over Normandy and we loved it.  We found out they not only offered a Russian tour, but had a third party company that would take care of the visa for us.  It could not have been easier, and before we knew it, the day of the trip had arrived!

The flight was out of Frankfurt, so Shanna, myself and our friend Katia caught the train from Stuttgart up there, got checked in, and met up with our friends Penny and Adam, and Penny's friend Tara.  You might remember Penny & Adam from previous trips they've done with us to Croatia and London.  Before we knew it, we were Moscow bound!  Or so we thought.  As we approached Moscow, the pilot came on the over head and said that the weather wasn't great in Moscow, so they were going to circle around for a bit so it could clear.  15 minutes later he comes back on and says that they need to refuel, then they'll fly back to the main Moscow airport.  There are 3 airports in Moscow, so I just figured we'd land at one of the other ones.  But instead, they fly us 400km outside Moscow.  We land, and begin refueling at a remote airport.  Shanna was right, it looked a lot like the airport we use when we fly back to in her home town.

After 30 minutes, the pilot comes back on and says that the weather has gotten so bad in Moscow that the airport was shut down for the day, and that the air traffic controllers in Frankfurt had told them to come back to Frankfurt.  Since that required more fuel, they kept refueling.  About 45 minutes later, the pilot came on again and said they'd found buses to take us to Moscow.  We were relieved, because at least we'd make it to Moscow.  Had we flown back to Frankfurt, Shanna & I had no intention of staying with the tour.  We were already talking about finding a last minute vacation deal at the Frankfurt airport.

After taking forever to get through Russian customs, we finally made it outside the airport, only to find the "busses" were actually little 15 seater vans.  They had no room for luggage, so we had to stack everything in front of the seats.

Google Maps said it was 400km.  In Germany, assuming most of that was interstate kilometers, it would take about 4 1/2 hours.  But Google Maps factored in traffic, and that we'd be driving through some remote small towns...and calculated 8.5 hours.  I was hoping it was wrong, but sadly...it was dead on.  We left the airport at 10pm, and didn't pull into Moscow's airport until 6:30am the next morning.  We then met our local tour guide with a bus who took us all to the hotel.  In Moscow traffic, what should have taken 20 minutes, took an hour and a half.  So we finally pulled into the hotel around 8am...a full 14 hours after we landed at the airport in the middle of nowhere.

Thankfully we got in early enough to still get breakfast at the hotel, as well as take a much needed shower.  At 11am we all met in the lobby, got in our tour bus, and took off.

We started off driving around downtown Moscow. We got to see all kinds of neat buildings, including the former headquarters of the KGB.  We eventually arrived at the point I was most looking forward to, Red Square.  We've seen a lot of neat things since we've been here, and as a history buff, I've loved it.  But with the exception of the Berlin Wall, all the things we've seen have just been history I've read about.  Red Square is something I remember from when I was a kid.  I'll never forget Peter Jennings reporting from The Kremlin, or videos of the Soviets having various military parades on Red Square.  And whenever a reporter was in Moscow reporting, they were most likely standing in front of St. Basil's Cathedral, which is on Red Square.  When the bus parked, that was the first thing you saw.

St. Basil's Cathedral was built in the mid 1500's by Ivan The Terrible.  Legend has it that after the building was complete, Ivan had the architect blinded so that he could never create another cathedral like this one again.  While it's called a single cathedral, it's really seven different churches in one building...each spire is a single church.

After we walked past the cathedral, we were on Red Square.  The Kremlin was to our left, as was Lenin's tomb.  Our tour guide then gave us time to walk around and see the sites by ourselves.  We were to meet back up in an hour so that we could enter the Kremlin.  I hadn't realized until we arrived that The Kremlin is not a single building, but in fact is a giant walled off area...practically a fortress.  Inside the Kremlin grounds are buildings and churches.  All the Soviet leaders had their main office there, as well as the presidents of Russia who presided after the Soviet Union's collapse, right up to President Putin today.  We weren't allowed to take pictures in some of the churches there we went into, but they were beautiful.   One area we walked by was blocked off by the police.  Our guide said that usually happens when Putin is about to arrive in his Helicopter.  Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, we heard a helicopter approaching.  We never saw him, but based on all the cars that came flying up with lights flashing, and the TV crew waiting outside the Kremlin, we're pretty sure it was him.

After that tour, we got on the bus and the rest of the afternoon was a tour of the city by bus.  After the long night we'd had, that was fine with us.  We drove by a giant statue dedicated to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.  It was neat, but to me looked like a statue of Buzz Lightyear.

We stopped along the river that runs by the Kremlin, and got some neat shots of it across the water.  We stopped at a few more places for pictures along the way, including a bridge that has a great distant view of Moscow and the Olympic Stadium.  We also drove by (but didn't stop at) a giant park that is also a World War 2 memorial.  They had a neat statue that showed Russian warriors through out the ages.  One was a soldier from Medieval Times, a soldier from the war with Napoleon, and a WWII soldier.  The park, memorial and museum there are dedicated to the 27 million Russians who were killed in WWII.  That number is no exaggeration and shocked me.  I knew they had suffered heavy losses, but I had no idea it was anywhere near that much.  For comparison purposes, US losses were approximately 416,000.

Finally we arrived back at the hotel.  At this point, everyone was beyond exhausted.  We hadn't stopped moving since arriving that morning from the overnight bus ride, so everyone called it an early night.

The next morning we all met in the lobby, loaded on to the bus, and headed to Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius in a town called Sergiev Posad.  Along the way we passed several missile defense bases.  During the Cold War, had the US launched a strike on Moscow, these are the bases that would have had the job of trying to shoot the missiles down.  It's a huge monastery, and I had looked up pictures of it before we left.  It looked beautiful...of course, with how our luck had been so far on this trip, it should have come as no surprise that some of the prettiest buildings would be completely covered in scaffolding for renovation.  Next year is it's 650th anniversary, so they are getting everything all cleaned up for the celebrations.

The scaffolding aside, it was a beautiful monastery.  The entrance alone was breathtaking as you walked through.

Our guide from the previous day, Edward, gave us the history the place as we entered, then stopped for a brief bathroom break.  While I was snapping pictures, I noticed several Orthodox Priests walking around, including one guy that really stood out.  He was a mix of priest and someone off Sons of Anarchy with his leather motorcycle jacket on.  The long beard added to the biker look too.

We walked through the various buildings, which were impressive, but was really neat was the actual Church where they held services.  I've attended church services for various religions, but Russian Orthodox was not like any other that I'd seen.  When we walked in, there was a giant room where women were standing around singing while a priest did...something.  I'm not sure how to describe it.  He just seemed to be walking around a statue of Jesus on the cross, and chanting.  One thing we learned was that the altar is in a separate room from the worshipers.  In all of the Christian churches I've been in, the altar has been at the front of the church, and the people sit or stand facing it while the priest is up there giving the service.  For Russian Orthodox, everything done at the altar is in a separate room that the worshipers can not see.  The priest walks in to the room, performs the rituals, then comes back out.

One reason we always like personal guides instead of audio guides is you get stories that bring the history to life that you don't get otherwise.  This was a perfect example.  Our guide told his his father was an adjunct professor Moscow's main university.  In order to reach a level that high, he had to join the Soviet Communist Party.  That also meant renouncing all religion.  So when Edward was born, they snuck away to his grandmother's village, and had him baptized in secret there.  That way he could be part of the church without his work colleagues knowing.  He also mentioned that during Soviet times, it was primarily only the elderly who went to church.  Young people, and those of working age couldn't afford to attend publicly because it would hurt them socially, professionally and ultimately, financially.  When people retired, they started openly attending church because they no longer had to worry about work or school colleagues.

After walking through the large room, we got to the altar room.   To call it stunning would be an understatement.  The gold and art were amazing.

That was it for the tour of the monastery, so we headed over to the gift shop area and bought a few things.  We then walked outside where there was a huge market set up.  Vendors were there selling all kinds of souvenirs.  Some of it was junk, but some of it was pretty neat.  We walked across the street and found a hole in the wall restaurant selling food called "Pattys".  It was potato bread with all kinds of stuffings.  You could get it with a hot dog, meat pudding, cheese, apples, sugar, and more.  We bought several different kinds and loved it.

We had been there most of the day, and it was now time to head back to the hotel.  We got to enjoy some more of Moscow's finest traffic jams, and it took awhile to get back.  On the way back, Edward offered to arrange an outing if people were interested to take us to see a Russian Folk Dance.  Shanna & I weren't interested, so we passed.  Adam, Penny, Katia and Tara were, but when we got back to the hotel, we had 3 hours or so to kill.  Initially Shanna & I were just going to stroll around the part of town we were in.  While out, we ran in to Penny & Adam, and decided to head to find a pub nearby.  We ended up finding this cozy little pub up the block and ordered a few drinks.  The one thing about Moscow...stuff isn't cheap.  The average cost of a beer was $9.  I've paid that much (and more) for a beer before, but it was usually specialty beer, like an American Microbrew.  This was standard fare Russian Pilsner.  It was still nice to sit and chat around a cold beer, though.  One thing a lot of restaurants had in Russia were giant picture menus.  Shanna noticed a tray of six watermelon shots, so she ordered that for the table.  They were actually fairly refreshing on a warm day.  They had a watermelon flavor, plus an actual wedge of watermelon in each glass.

Here comes the funny part...our waitress didn't speak much English.  So after finished these, she came over and said something that none of us understood.  We assumed she had asked us if we liked it, so we said something like "Yes, it was good, thanks"!  Five minutes later, we see her walking around with another tray of the shots and we laughed, thinking someone else had ordered them...until she came right to our table and dropped them off.  So lesson learned...make sure you know what the waiter/waitress is saying before agreeing.   We stayed there for a bit longer, then headed back.  Penny & Adam went to the show, and Shanna & I called it a night.

The next day was our last day in Moscow, but it was going to be a LONG day.  The plan was check out of the hotel, load our luggage into a bus (this time a bus with a luggage area), and sight see all day.  At 11pm we would be dropped off at the train station, where we would take an overnighter to St. Petersburg.

Our first stop of the day was at one of the famous flea markets in Moscow.  This place was HUGE.  Shanna ended up getting some neat souveniers, including a few Santas.  In Russia, they have a custom of taking a block of wood and carving it into a Santa, then painting it.  Some are hand made, others are cheaper and only have stickers on them.  We first discovered these at some of the bazaars and Christmas Markets they have around Stuttgart, but they were always way to expensive.  Some of the really nice ones ran almost $1,000.  Here, though, we were able to find ones of the same quality, but for a fraction of that cost.  Shanna is good haggling...I hate it.  I'd prefer they just give me a fair price and I'll pay it.  I eventually had to walk away and let her haggle, because I didn't know if she really didn't want it, or was just using it as a tactic.  She'd say things like "I don't know...I'm not sure if I really want it".  I'd think she was worried about the price, so I'd tell her to just get it...which the vendor would leap at.  She was much more successful at bringing the price down when I wasn't standing there.

After we finished walking around, we headed across the street to what appeared to be a giant castle area.  I'm not exactly sure what the point of the place was...they had stores, but most people were closed.  They had some really neat buildings inside the courtyard area, but there was almost no one there.  No employees, no visitors, nothing.  We took some pictures and headed back to the bus at the meeting time.  From there we headed to metro entrance.  I didn't realize this before our trip, but Moscow is famous for it's intricate Metros.  They have beautiful mosaics, sculptures, stained glass and so on.  The really fascinating part was most of the decorations were put in during the Soviet Era, and the artwork reflects that.  There were Hammer & Sickles everywhere, as well as pictures of Lenin, the common peasant, the field worker, and all the other Soviet symbols of "the people".

We visited four or five stations, taking pictures at each one.  We finally ended in one of the shopping districts in Moscow.  It was a pedestrian street that had shops, cafes, and stores lined all the way up and down it.  They also had an amazing amount of American chains.  Adam was excited about his cup of Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee, and I was excited about our Wendy's for lunch.

After we finished up there, we headed to the Tretyakov Gallery, which contains a large collection of Russian art.  At this point, I was beat and my feet were hurting, so I wasn't really interested in an art museum.  Shanna walked through, though, and took pictures that are in the pictures link at the bottom of the page.

Our last stop in Moscow was back at Red Square.  We got some great pictures of Lenin's tomb, St. Basil's Cathedral, and the Kremlin walls with the sun setting.  We then found a great beer bar right near our bus and just relaxed for a few hours.  This bar had a GREAT selection of Belgian and Dutch beers.  They weren't cheap, but were so worth it.  Shanna & I each got a 1 Liter (33 oz) glass of Belgian beer that cost $20 each...but was worth every penny.

From there we took the bus to the train station, and got on to our train.  The standard cabin had 4 bunks in it, but we had paid to upgrade to a room with two beds.  I'm glad we did, because apparently the size of the room we wasn't any bigger, it just had 2 beds instead of 4.  As you can see from the picture below, there wasn't a lot of space.  It would have been miserable with 2 other people.

They hadn't turned the A/C on yet, so we were miserable in our cabin.  Then someone walked by and said the diner cabin had A/C going, so we all headed down there.  Turns out we weren't the only ones who found out...about half our tour group got word, so we were all in there.  It ended up being a lot of fun.  We ordered beer, and because it was Russia, we ordered some Vodka.  What started off as an attempt to cool down ended up lasting a few hours.  We eventually made our way back to our cabin, went to sleep, and woke up shortly before pulling into St. Petersburg.

I split the post up into two, but the pictures are all on the same page.  I'll link to it here, as well as at the end of the St. Petersburg post.

To continue reading about St. Petersburg, click here.

To see the pictures from the trip, click here or any picture above.

Scotland

I've wanted to go to Scotland for awhile now.  Shanna went a few years ago with her friend who was working in England, so she didn't have a desire to go back.  She stayed at home for this trip, and my friend Fred and I made it a guys weekend.  On Friday I picked him up at his place, and we hit the road. We'd gotten a dirt cheap Ryan Air flight, but the downside was it didn't fly out of Stuttgart...it flew out of a town called Memmingen, which is just south of Munich.  Thankfully it's a small airport, so parking and check in were a breeze.  It was a direct shot from there to Edinburgh, and before we knew it, we'd touched down.

After cabbing from the airport to the hotel, we got settled in, then hit The Royal Mile.  It's called that because it's a road that is approximately one mile long, and connects Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace.  All along the way are shops, but more importantly, pubs.  That night we were both beat from traveling, so we just hit a few pubs.  One of the things I was determined to try, despite knowing what it was, was Haggis.  I figured I'd start easy...the first pub had an appetizer that was fried Haggis balls.  I was hooked from the first bite...it was AMAZING.

One of reasons I was excited about heading back to the U.K. was the beer.  German beer is good, but I miss variety.  Specifically, I love Ales and Germany sells almost exclusively Lagers.  Not just Ales...Cask Ales (a.k.a Real Ales).  They are not very carbonated (if at all) and are served at cellar temperature.  The result is you get a lot of flavor in the beer.  That would be my drink of choice all weekend.

We eventually headed back to the hotel and crashed.  The next morning we didn't have anything planned.  I wanted to take a Highlands tour, and in looking at the weather report for the weekend, the weather was going to be bad and worse.  Bad on Sunday, worse on Saturday.  So I scheduled our Highland tour for Sunday.  That meant Saturday was left to explore Edinburgh.  We started off by having breakfast at Deacon's House Cafe.  It's named after Deacon Brodie, a legendary figure in Edinburgh history.  He was a master woodsmith and Cabinet Maker in the late 1700's.  What people didn't know is that by night, he was a gambler and in a lot of debt.  He solved this by making copies of keys for the houses he delivered to, then would sneak back at night and rob the place.  He got away with it for awhile, but was eventually caught during one of his robberies.  He fled to Amsterdam, but was caught there and returned for trial.  He was convicted and hanged.  The irony is he was the first person to be hanged on Gallows he had designed and built a year prior.  Legend has it that he wore a steel collar during his execution and slipped away later.

After breakfast we continued down the mile and headed to Edinburgh Castle.  We opted for the audio guide and I'm glad we did...the history of the castle was amazing.  As a Dog lover, one of the places in the Castle I thought was the neatest was the cemetery put in for dogs that belonged to soldiers there.

There was a small chapel in the castle where you can register to have your wedding at.  If you do, though, it'll be a small guest list... I don't think you could fit more than 20 people in there.  Up top there was a beautiful view of the city and the surrounding loch's, but unfortunately it was a rainy cloudy day, so you couldn't see much beyond the city.  I'm sure on nicer days the view is amazing.

We walked around the castle for almost 3 hours.  By the time we were done, our feet were sore and we didn't feel like touring anymore.  So we did the other thing we came to Scotland for...pub crawled.  Fred had a good idea at that point...take a picture of every pub we visited.  I think we got most of them...you can see them in the pictures section linked at the bottom of the post, or by clicking any picture in this post.

Later that afternoon, we grabbed dinner at a pub that also offered live music.  That's where we spent most of the evening until calling it a day and heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up early and hiked up to the meeting point for the Highlands tour.  We'd both woken up pretty early, so we decided to walk around the Royal Mile, taking side roads and exploring.  In doing so, we stumbled upon the old city wall, where we got a great view of Edinburgh Castle.

We also found a plaque in the wall that marked the spot of the last public execution in Edinburgh in 1864.  Finally we made our way back to the meeting point and started our tour.  Our guide, James, was a wealth of knowledge.  He jumped all over the place, giving us the history of areas we were driving through, and even describing various plants and trees we were seeing on the side of the road.  Unfortunately for us, the weather report got it wrong...Saturday was actually a nicer day (relatively speaking) than Sunday was.  The morning started off beautiful, with not a cloud in the sky.  Within 30 minutes of driving, the clouds rolled in and the rains started.  Our first stop was Stirling Castle.  It's where Mary, Queen of Scots was born and coronated.  Outside the castle is a statue dedicated to Robert the Bruce.

As you'll see in the pictures, off in the distance you can also see a monument dedicated to William Wallace, a.k.a. Braveheart.  Walking through the castle was neat, but not unlike previous castle's we've visited.  We saw the royal bed chambers, the meeting room for dignitaries and the banquet area.  We stayed there for about an hour and a half, then hit the road.

The next stop was a brief one to see Nessie, the oldest Highland Cow, at approximately 30 years old.  For reference, most cows only live to be about 8 years old.  The funny thing is I remember looking at the scrapbook Shanna made of her trip to Scotland, and she has a picture of Nessie too!  One of the other things I noticed while we drove around was the abundance of sheep, both young and adult.

Next stop was Loch Lomond and lunch.  I have to admit, this part was the biggest disappointment.  Lunch was good, but when we walked out, we only had about 30 minutes to explore, and the point we were dropped off at didn't really give you a good view of the Loch.  We had some great views while driving, but I waited to take pictures until we got there so I could get a better view up close.  Now I wish I'd taken the pictures when I could.

From there we went to my favorite part of the tour, the Glengoyne Distillery.  We took their tour, which was fascinating, and ended it with samples of a 12 year old and 18 year old Scotch.  I really liked it, and after sampling the 21 year old bottle, I had to get one.  I also noticed a barrel they had set up with writing on it that said it was their first Bourbon, distilled in 1999.  They had just tapped it a few weeks ago, and if you wanted a bottle, you could bottle it, cork it, and stamp it yourself.  I tried a sample and WOW...it was strong.  Since it was straight from the cask, it was Cask Strength.  Whisky and Bourbon are watered down a bit from the cask to the bottle, giving you an average alcohol percentage of 40-45 percent.  Cask Strength whisky is usually between 55-60 percent.  This particular Bourbon was 56 percent and man...it tasted strong.  But once you got passed the strong alcohol taste, the flavor of the Bourbon was amazing.  And because Fred and I both took the tour, and he wasn't buying anything, I was able to use both his coupon and mine to save 10 pounds!  What a deal. :)  There was a bottle of 40 year old whisky that I briefly considered buying when I thought the price said 375 pounds.  I wouldn't have, but the thought briefly crossed my mind.  Then Fred pointed out the extra 0 at the end...as in 3,750 pounds.  If I even had the slightest thought of buying it, that killed that idea.  But man...it was a pretty bottle and I'm sure delicious.

From there we drove back to the meeting point in Edinburgh.  At this point (of course) the clouds were starting to part and the sun was coming out.  We saw a rainbow going over Stirling Castle in the distance.  Unfortunately, since we were on the road, I couldn't get a good angle on the picture of the rainbow to show it going over the castle.  Instead you'll see the rainbow on the right and the castle on the left.  When we got back into town, we finished off with some more pub crawling, dinner, and called it a night.  The next morning we packed up, cabbed back to the airport, and headed home.

Scotland was fun, but I wish the weather had been nicer.  We might have to go back to visit further north in the country where all the distilleries are.  I'll just have to leave my wallet at home. :)

Check back in mid July for the next post about our week long trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia.

To see pictures, click here or any pictures in the post.

Cairo

A few months ago Shanna and I wanted to travel, but we were tired of the cold and wanted to go somewhere warm.  We were seriously looking at going back to Turkey until Shanna thought of Egypt. As a history buff, I've always wanted to go, and as soon as she said it, I knew that's where we were going.  After doing some research on Trip Advisor, I found the perfect hotel and booked it.  This was in early January of this year.  A week or so after, things got crazy in Cairo.  It was the anniversary of the revolution that ousted Mubarak, and the Egyptian people were not happy that things were not going as planned.  A week or so after that, things got real heated in Port Said after several soccer fans were convicted and sentenced to death for their role in a mass deadly riot the year before.  So things were looking worse and worse for our trip, but at this point, it was early February and a month and a half before our trip.  As I'd hoped, things calmed down.  There are still protests going on, but I was checking the news every day, as well as Trip Advisor for reviews of people who were staying there during all this, and each review said they had a great time and were never disturbed by the outbreak of violence.

Finally the day arrived, and we flew out.  Traveling to Egypt is an all day affair.  We flew out of Stuttgart at 10:30am, had a brief layover in Paris, then flew to Cairo, landing around 7pm.  I did not want to have to deal with a taxi after traveling all day, and I was not going to try and navigate public transportation, so I arranged ahead of time with our hotel to have a driver waiting for us.  I'd done this a few times before when public transportation was not readily available, and each time the driver met us outside security, after we'd gotten our bags.  So I was a little surprised when we walked off the plane, out of our gate, and a person was standing there holding a sign with my name on it.  We later found out that the hotel has people who work at the airport so that when you hire a driver, they show up at your gate to speed you through the arrival process.  Normally we'd have to wait in line to get our tourist visa, then wait in another line to have a passport official ask us questions before stamping it.  Then another line to get into the luggage area, and finally one more line with our luggage to have customs check everything out.  Our plane was a Boeing 777 that was almost full, so that was close to 750 people all trying to do this at once.  The person from the hotel, though, immediately took our passports and came back 2 minutes later with Visa stickers inside them.  He then took us to the "Diplomat/ID Card holder" line, which had no one in it, and sped us through all the way so that it took a fraction of the time.  That alone was worth the cost of the driver!  He then took us straight to our driver, said Welcome to Egypt, and we were off.

After all that came reason number 2 I'm glad we had a driver...the drivers in Cairo are CRAZY.  There are lines painted to divide lanes, but I don't know why...people don't pay any attention to them.  On one particular street the painted lines indicated it was three lanes, but at any given time, there were 5 cars lined up side by side moving along.  People were constantly honking their horn.  I had been thinking that on Thursday night, traffic wouldn't be that bad.  What I didn't know is that in Middle East countries, their work week is Sunday - Thursday, with Friday and Saturday off.  So a Thursday night in the Middle East is like a Friday night in the US.  Everyone was out.

We eventually got to our hotel and had a chance to catch our breath.  Our room over looked the Nile, and it was beautiful at night.

We were both exhausted, so we just ordered room service for dinner.  Before calling it a night, I went downstairs and talked with Mohamed at the Concierge desk.  He was fantastic all weekend helping us out.  I mentioned that we wanted to arrange a guide for Friday and Saturday, and I told him what we wanted to see.  He took care of the rest, arranging a driver to take us around all day and a tour guide to show just the two of us around.  After dinner we crawled into one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in at a hotel.

The next morning we got up early so we could eat breakfast, then meet our guide in the lobby at 8am.  The breakfast spread was delicious.  Since this was a Muslim country, there were no pork products served...a far cry from the typical German breakfast we usually have at hotels.  They even had Beef Bacon...not as good as pork bacon, but not bad.  The view of the Nile from the breakfast room was beautiful.

After breakfast we met our guide, Mona, downstairs.  She told us our first destination would be the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.  While we were driven there, she gave us a brief introduction of herself, and talked about the city.  One thing she mentioned (and I'll expand upon this at different points later in the post) was about the revolution.  She said what they thought was their greatest triumph 2 years ago ousting Mubarak ended up being their greatest mistake.  She said they were so hopeful for their future when the dictator was kicked out, and that they were excited about democracy.  But the new government is even more corrupt than the previous, and she's come to believe that the Egyptian people need a dictator to tell them what to do, and are not ready for democracy yet.  I thought that was fascinating.

One the way to the pyramid, we entered rural farm land.  The first evidence of this was when we had to stop and wait a few minutes for a Shepard and his flock of sheep to cross the road.

We also drove by several carpet schools.  Mona told us that about a hundred years ago a man did not like the fact that the farmers children were receiving no education.  So he set up a carpet school that taught them reading and writing, as well as how to make carpets.  So if they did not want to farm, they would have a valuable skill that they could use to provide for their family.  From that sprung up several other carpet schools in the area.  She said we would stop in one, but first up was the Step Pyramid.

As we arrived, Mona gave us the history of the pyramid.  It was built 4,700 years ago and is the first known pyramid in the world.  The man who designed it built it tiered in such a way that it would not collapse over time, and the fact that it's still standing is a testament to his genius.  About 80 years ago, while clearing away sand in the area, the pathway to the Pyramid was discovered.  There is a grand entrance that contain blocks of stone smoothed down so much they feel like glass.  They are also so tightly packed together you can't even slide a piece of paper in between...all this with no mortar or sealing compound of any kind.  As you walked through the entrance you saw the first known columns built by man.  It was amazing walking through and seeing all this.

After she gave us the history of the place, we were able to walk around and take pictures.  One of the first things I noticed was how empty the place was.  There were tourists, but not nearly as many as I expected.  I'd read how much the turmoil had hurt their tourism industry, but we were seeing it first hand now.  We walked around, took a few pictures with the locals who were doing what ever they could to get you to hand over some money.  I know we paid too much, but it was fun, and it wasn't THAT expensive.  We wouldn't do it at every stop, but once was fine.

When we were done there, we drove over to some tombs that were discovered near the pyramid.  It was incredible walking down into the tombs.  They were obviously built for much shorter people than I.  I had to bend over almost 90 degrees to walk inside, and some tunnels were so small that I had to crawl.  But seeing the sarcophagus with all the hieroglyphs etched in the wall and ceiling was worth it.  It was amazing seeing the trial of the dead with Osiris etched in the wall, and knowing that it was put there over 4,000 years ago.  In one of the tombs, the paint was still on the etchings.  It had not been restored at all, the paint was the same paint put on there 4,500 years ago.

When we left there, Mona took us to one of the carpet schools.  It's a school on one level, and above that is the show room where you can buy Egyptian carpets.  The cheap ones were made by the students, the more expensive ones were made by the teachers.  We looked around and found one we liked for ourselves, and a few small ones for people back home.  Below is a picture of one of the teachers holding the rug we purchased.

The next stop was the Great Pyramids of Giza. But first Shanna asked Mona for a recommendation for a place to buy hand made cartouches.  She wanted one with her name in hieroglyphs.  She took us to a place, and we were given a first hand look at what people had to do for security now.  The store was just opening, so first they took these huge solid iron doors off their hinges and set them aside.  They unlocked door number 2 and opened it.  They then opened an iron gate.  And finally unlocked door number 4 and we walked in.  We talked with the store owner, and Shanna described what she wanted.  We ordered it, and he got our hotel information because it would take a day to make it.  We picked up a few other things and headed to the Great Pyramids.

When we drove up to the pyramids, my mouth dropped.  After learning about them in history class growing up, here we finally were, standing in front of them.  They were beyond enormous, touring over us.  Mona gave us the history and background of the pyramids, including an interesting fact about how they sealed the pyramid once the body of the Pharaoh was placed inside.  In order to make it difficult to come in afterwards to rob it, the door was built to seal itself from the inside.  So after the body was laid to rest, the workers sealed themselves inside, then escaped through a small back door they'd built into the place.  Once they were out, they sealed the back door and covered it to hide their tracks.

We walked all around the pyramid.  The boulders that make up the pyramid were so massive that Shanna took a picture of me standing in front of one of them with my arms outstretched.  From finger tip to finger tip, I couldn't touch both ends of one block.  How they were able to stack these one by one with no modern tools is beyond me.

After walking around for a bit, we got back in the car and Mona had the driver take us to a secluded spot near by where we could take pictures of all 3 of the Great Pyramids.

Next up was a drive down the hill to the Great Sphinx.  I asked Mona if the story I'd heard in history class as a kid was accurate in regards to how it lost it's nose.  I'd been taught that when Napoleon came through Egypt, his army used the nose as target practice.  She said that used to be the thinking, but when the nose was examined more closely, it was determined that it was intentionally removed using a chisel.  Hundreds of years ago the sand in the area came up to the head of the Sphinx, and the rest of the body was buried.  The current theory is that someone did not want people worshiping the Sphinx as a false idol, so they attempted to destroy it by removing the nose and the beard.  Both pieces have been recovered, with the nose being in the Egyptian museum and the beard being in the British Museum in London.  She said she used to be upset that the various European countries would not return the Egyptian artifacts they had, but after the Egyptian museum in Cairo was looted following the revolution, she said the European countries should keep whatever they have, because at least they'll be safe there.

When we finished up there, we had one more stop.  Egypt is known for things other than pyramids, such as inventing the first process for making paper and various perfumes and oils.  She took us to a hole in the wall store we never would have found that made their own Papyrus paper, and sold all kinds of home made perfumes and oils.  They gave us a demonstration on how to make paper from a Papyrus reed that was fascinating.  They then gave us a demonstration of all kinds of oils that they sell.  Shanna ended up buying some oils to use at home in a bath or as perfume.  As we were leaving, the owner of the store (who was a family friend of Mona's) took us out back to his stable to show us some of his horses, including a 2 month old horse.

Finally it was time to call it a day.  The driver took us back to the hotel and we said goodbye to Mona for the day.  We were wiped out, so we ended up taking a nap.  That evening we went up to the top level of the hotel and had a few beers while watching the sun set over the Nile.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We then went down to their main restaurant, which was having Turkish night.  We had our hands washed by the waiter in traditional Turkish fashion, and had a delicious multi-course meal.  We've come to love Turkish food, and that night's meal was no exception.

After dinner we headed up to bed and called it a night.  The next morning we met Mona in the lobby and headed to the Egyptian Museum.  I was disappointed that there were no pictures allowed inside, because we saw some fascinating things.  They had all kinds of mummies, including Amenhotep and Ramsey The Great.  They had King Tut's mother, and the Pharaoh who drove Moses out of Egypt (can't remember his name off the top of my head).  They also had King Tut's display with his burial mask, sarcophagus, and the burial chamber he was found in.  The artifacts they had on display were amazing.  Last week Shanna & I went up to this tiny village outside Frankfurt that was a historic village with an Easter market.  They had an old brewery you could walk through, and in that brewery was a tiny statue of an Egyptian making beer.  The sign said it was replica, but the real statue from 2,400 B.C. was in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo...after doing some looking, we found the original statue in the museum!  I thought that was neat to see.

When we walked out of the museum, I took the picture below because it showed the burial place for the first curator of the museum.  What ended up being far more fascinating was the burned out building in the background.

In the days leading up to the revolution in 2011, the building was an office building used by the Muslim Brotherhood.  One night the building caught on fire, and the Brotherhood played on the people's growing anti-government emotions, and said the Government did it to try and silence them.  That got people even more angry, and helped propel them towards the eventual ousting of the government leaders at the time.  It was later discovered that the government did not set the fire, and the Brotherhood knew it all along, but used it to their advantage.  Shanna & I remember what she said differently.  I thought it was an accidental electrical fire, but Shanna thought the Brotherhood themselves set it on fire.  Either way, though, the Brotherhood lied about the real cause to use it to their advantage.

From the museum we went to the Cairo bazaar.  It's been running continuously for over 700 years.  Remember how I said tourism had taken a big hit, and most of the sites were empty?  The bazaar was no exception, which meant the vendors were even more insistent than usual to try and get you in their shops.  We'd both gotten to the point where we were just ignoring people if we weren't interested in what they were selling.  If you spoke to them, that was their opening and they'd keep insisting you come look.  We ended up talking with one vendor who sold pillow cases that could be used for other things.  Shanna, for example, bought a few that could be used as table cloths.

It was getting warm at that point, so we stopped at a little cafe for drinks.  Mona asked if we minded if she headed to a few shops to pick some things up, and we said no problem.  So Shanna & I sat there, with her sipping Mint Tea, and me sipping Hibiscus juice.  I'd discovered this the day before and LOVED it...I hope I can find some for sale here in Germany.  There's an international Market Hall downtown that I'm hoping will carry it if I can't find it in a normal grocery store.

We had people walking up to us trying to sell things, but a casual no and continuing our conversation was usually enough to send them on their way.  Eventually Mona met back up with us, and we left the bazaar.  On the way out she pointed out a large Mosque that is famous all over Egypt, because the grandson of the Muslim Prophet Mohamed is buried there.

At this point we we were ready for lunch.  Mona recommended a place in a park near by that had a great view of Cairo.  When we got there, she wasn't kidding...the view was amazing.  She'd talked earlier about how delicious pigeon was, so we decided to try it.  Shanna ordered the grilled pigeon and I ordered it stuffed with something called "Freek".  It's a type of wheat cooked in a way that resembles rice.  One thing we'd learned is that there are all kinds of fresh fruit grown along the Nile, and the fruit juices there were incredible.  With lunch, I had strawberry juice and Shanna had mango juice.  I don't like mango, but even I had to admit the juice was good.

Eventually lunch came out, and the pigeon wasn't bad!  My only complaint was there was not a lot of meat on it, but the taste was good.  We also ordered flat bread with this dipping sauce called Labne.  We'd found that the first night with dinner and fell in love with it.  Basically it's a yogurt based dip mixed with olive oil, garlic, and some other herbs.  It's absolutely amazing.  From the deck we were eating lunch on we could see the pyramids in the distance, as well as some of the larger mosques in the city.  We couldn't help but feel Middle Eastern at that point.

After lunch we drove back to the hotel.  On the ride back I was lucky enough to get a clear picture of a street sign that pointed towards the infamous Tahir Square.  There was no chance we would go there, but I was glad I got a picture of the sign.  Mona told us how much that area had changed.  Three years ago before the revolution her daughter and friends used to go there all the time after school and not come home until 11 or 12 at night, and it was no problem.  Even during the first uprising, when thousands of people camped out there, it was a peaceful atmosphere, filled with hope.  Over the last two years, though, it's been taken over by gangs, and even she as a native of the area wouldn't go there.  She said it was the first time she'd seen people openly carrying guns and other weapons in the street.  At one point we were driving through an intersection, and it was a free for all.  There were no lights, and while there were cops there trying to direct traffic, no one was paying attention.  She said that in the days of Mubarak, people feared the cops and it kept them in line, including simple things like obeying traffic laws.  Once Mubarak was ousted, the police force lost a lot of it's authority, and people stopped caring what they said.  Now people drive however they want, and we saw that everywhere we went.  With all the driving around in the city we did, I only saw one stop light...and that's for a city with 22 million residents.

One of the main reasons I like a personal guide vs. a book or a recorded audio guide is because in addition to all the history and facts, you get a personal side.  Talking with her about her thoughts on the failure of the revolution and where she thinks her people need to go was fascinating.  The best part about traveling is talking with local people and getting to know them and their culture.

Finally we made it back to our hotel and got things packed up.  We had dinner at the chocolate lounge (they served normal food, not just chocolate), then called it a night.  The next morning we were up bright and early, and had the hotel driver take us to the airport.  I was worried about things being a hassle, but at that time of the morning the airport wasn't busy, and it was a breeze going through customs and getting to our gate.

Over all we had an amazing time.  Egypt ranks up there was one of our top trips since moving here, and visiting the Pyramids and the Sphinx is something everyone should do once in their life time.  Nothing makes you feel small quite like standing next to a towering pyramid, knowing it's been standing there for thousands of years.

To see pictures, click here or any picture above.  We don't have any more trips planned until early July when we go to Russia, but we might take some last minute trips here and there, so check back often!

Hamburg

Last weekend Shanna & I took the train up to Hamburg for a long weekend.  A few months ago I'd seen that The Deftones were doing a tiny European tour, playing 4 shows in the UK, 2 in France and 2 in Germany.  The only two German stops were in Berlin and Hamburg.  I'd been to Berlin before, but not Hamburg, so I decided to go see them there.  Shanna wanted to go too, but only to see the city.

The trip up was fast, since we rode the ICE train.  It took a little over 5 hours.  We use the car frequently here, but when planning travel in the winter, I always try to use the train.  That way, should a snow storm hit us, we don't have to worry about driving in it.  When we pulled into the Hamburg train station, we took the metro to our hotel, and checked in.  The room was by far the most spacious we'd ever stayed in in Europe.  It was about the size of a small apartment, and when you walked in there was classical music playing through a giant surround sound system.  The speakers were in the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, and bathroom.  The bathroom even came with a Rubber Ducky!

Once we got settled in, we decided to walk down to the water front to find something to eat.  Since most food in Germany is fresh, that also means it's mostly regional.  So if you live in farm country, you get fresh meat, but seafood can be hard to come by.  That's the way it is in Stuttgart.  But up in Hamburg, it's the opposite.  Their harbor runs directly to the North Sea, which in turns connects with the Atlantic Ocean.  So seafood is EVERYWHERE up there.  After a short stroll to the harbor, we found a big red boat that was both a restaurant and hotel.  At first the idea of sleeping on the boat seemed quaint...until we stepped inside.  The rocking back & forth would have bothered Shanna and the fact that I had to duck most of the time would have bothered me.

The food, though, was outstanding.  We both ordered seafood dishes and were not disappointed.  They even had an amber style beer that was delicious.  After dinner, it was freezing outside with the cold wind blowing in off the harbor, and it'd been a long day, so we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night.

The next morning we headed back down to the harbor area.  We'd seen a sign for a hop on/hop off bus tour, and wanted to follow up on that.  Most of the time we prefer a walking guide instead of a bus, but it was SO cold that we wanted to see the city from a warm bus.  The tour took about 2 hours, and took us all over the city.  We got to see the churches, harbor, and other parts of Hamburg.  We even drove across Kennedy Bridge.

Once the tour was over, we got off in the Fish Market area.  We grabbed lunch there, then walked back to the dock area for the harbor tour.  This wasn't nearly as exciting as we thought it would be because the tour was all in German, it was a gloomy, rainy day, and to be honest, there just wasn't much to see in the harbor.  It was all shipping boats, barges and containers sitting on docks.  The highlight of the tour was seeing a rabbit along the side of the harbor.  After the tour we walked around the Reeperbahn area for a bit.  It's partly famous because it's the area the Beatles played in after leaving Liverpool but before breaking it big.  It's mostly famous, though, because it's the center of Hamburg's large Red Light district.

One of the nice things about taking an extended trip somewhere is you don't always have to be on the go.  It was evening time by now, so we grabbed dinner at the hotel.  I can now say I ordered a Hamburger in Hamburg!

After dinner we settled in for the evening and watched movies on the SKY Movie Channel.

The next morning we got up and headed down to the harbor for the weekly Fish Market.  There were fishermen everywhere selling their morning catch.  If you like fresh seafood, it doesn't get any fresher than right off the boat.  We strolled through it, and ended up at the big fish auction hall.  On Sunday mornings they use it to host brunch.  It's two stories, with the top level being a traditional sit down brunch area.  But the main floor was set up more like Oktoberfest, with long bench seats and a band playing on stage.  At one point, the band even came out and played a few songs standing on the tables!

After breakfast, the plan had been to take a train up to the northern town of Lübeck.  Shanna felt like she was coming down with something, though, and was not feeling good at all.  She went back to the hotel to sleep, so I decided to take the train myself.

It took about 45 minutes to get there, then it was a short bus ride to the old town area.  It was a quaint little town, and tons of old buildings.  One neat thing was that all the historical buildings that had signs in front, explaining their past both in English and German.  On the pictures page, I took a picture of the plaques first, then the building itself.  The first plaque describes a chapel that was destroyed, so the next picture just shows the outline of where it used to stand.

After walking around for a bit, I found a restaurant that had been there since 1535.  That definitely sounded like a place I wanted to eat!  I wasn't too hungry, though, so I just got some shrimp and beer.  It wasn't bad.  Not as good as I'd hoped, but not bad.  It was getting late in the afternoon, and Shanna had texted me that she was awake and feeling better, so I took the next train back to Hamburg.

We don't normally go to a Hard Rock when we visit a city, but we both were kind of in the mood for it.  We did dinner there that night, then on the way back to the hotel, stopped into a local brewery to get some great beer.

The next morning we went across the street to a little cafe/bakery for breakfast.  We ordered our food in German, and answered the lady behind the counter in German whenever she asked us something.  One thing we found in Hamburg that we really liked was that if you spoke English, they spoke English back to you.  But if you attempted German, even if you stumbled over a word or mispronounced something, they would continue to speak German to you.  That's one thing that's made learning German more difficult in Stuttgart...whenever you mess up a word, or don't know a word and pause, they immediately switch to English.  The people in Hamburg would not switch unless you did.

This was the day of the concert so we didn't have too much planned.  We headed up to the Rathaus, which was decorated beautifully, and walked around the platz in front of it.  They even had a large column dedicated to the Hamburg soldiers killed in WWI.

From there we walked around the shopping district, then back to St. Michael's church.  When we walked in there was a service going on, so we couldn't go into the main part, but we could head down into the crypt area.  It was used as a bomb shelter during WWII, and it was amazing seeing some of the pictures they had showing the church in 1932 and 1945.  The difference was astounding.  In 1932 it looked like a vibrant city area.  In 1945, everything around the church was rubble.  There were all kinds of amazing artifacts down in the crypt area.  When we headed back up to the surface, the church area was open.  As typical in European, it was beautiful inside, with all kinds of intricate carvings and gold.

Since I was going to be up late that night, and was already starting to drag a bit, we headed back to hotel so I could take a nap.  At 6pm, I was out the door, headed to the concert.  Shanna stayed behind since she's not a fan.  I got to the club about 6:15, and the doors weren't open yet.  There was a line already forming, though.  It was a sold out show, so I knew there'd be a LOT more people coming.  There was a guy standing relatively close to the front wearing a Deftones jacket, and I'd heard him speak to someone in English with an American accent.  At that point, I thought he was a roadie based on the way the jacket looked.  I asked him if there was a line, or if it was a free for all.  He said he wasn't sure, then asked where I was from.  We started talking, and I guess people around him just assumed I was with him.  He was living and working in Zürich, but took the train up just for the show. We continued to chat until the doors opened.

Once the doors opened, I made straight for the stage.  Over the past few years, I've pretty much stopped going to large arena shows.  With the groups I listen to playing smaller clubs, I can always get a great spot for a fraction of the cost.  With every ticket being "General Admission", I got there early enough that I was able to get right to the front stage with no problems.  The downside is that without someone else there with you, you can't leave that spot to get a drink or use the bathroom.  But being right up front for the show is worth it!

The show was fantastic.  One unusual thing that happened during the break between the opening act and The Deftones was a security guy came walking through the small divide area between the barrier and the stage.  He handed out cups and filled them with bottled water for anyone who wanted some.  I didn't even realize I was thirst until he poured me a cup.  I've never been to a concert where they did that.  At one point I turned around and was glad that I'd gotten there early.  It was PACKED.  Not only the main level, but the upper level too.

It was a great show, I had a lot of fun and afterwards I took the train back to the hotel.  Normally, the post would end here.  The next morning we slept in, had breakfast, checked out, and headed to the train station.  But as the train was pulling away and reached into my bag, I realized I'd left my headphones in the hotel room.  If they were just any headphones, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal.  But these were Bose Noise Cancelling headphones that are not cheap.  I immediately called the hotel and told them what was going on.  The receptionist said she'd check with housekeeping and get back to me.  The next morning I get a phone call from the hotel saying they'd found the headphones, and just wanted to confirm my address before they mailed it back.  A few days later they arrived at the house, along with a great letter.  I won't spoil the letter, though...I scanned it, and included it in the pictures section.

That's it for a few weeks.  Our next trip is Cairo, Egypt, at the end of the month.  Until then, you can see the pictures here or by clicking any picture above.

Bamberg

For Valentine's Day Weekend, we wanted to do a quick trip, just a couple of days somewhere not to far from here.  Bamberg is a town we've talked about visiting for awhile.  It's known for it's unique Rauchbier (Smoked Bier), as well as the fact that it was never bombed during WWII, so there are old buildings and architecture everywhere.

Saturday morning we took the train from Stuttgart to Bamberg, with a brief layover in Nürnberg.  The train is a nice way to travel, since you don't have to worry about weather (for the most part), traffic, or dealing with security & baggage at the airports.  You also get to see the scenery along the way.

The hotel was only 600 meters from the train station, so it didn't take long to walk there.  By 2pm, we were checked in and ready to see the town.  There was a bridge right outside our hotel that led straight to the Old Town area.  There weren't too many "must see" things in particular we wanted to see in Bamberg, it was more about just walking around and seeing the historic town.  We walked down one street with a bunch of old houses, and noticed that each door had "20*C+M+B*13" over it.  I'd never seen that before, so we looked it up on my phone.  Turns out it's a Catholic tradition to write that above one's house in chalk to bless the house.  The first & last digits combine to form the current year,  and the three letters are the first initial of each of the Three Kings.  Growing up Catholic, I don't ever remember that from when we were younger.  Around the corner was a small area called "Little Venice".  I was hoping we could walk along it, but they are all private homes, so you can only see it from a bridge or by taking a canal tour.  It was too cold & windy for a tour, so the best we could do were pictures from the bridge.

Across Europe we've seen bridges all over the place where couples attach a lock to it, then toss the key into the water, symbolizing love.  While walking over this bridge, we noticed a lock that had been placed there that day.

Next we headed up towards the big Cathedral on the hill.  Up there, in addition to the Cathedral, was the New Residence, where the Bamberg Royal Family lived.  The Cathedral was neat, and one thing I noticed was it seemed more "simple" than other Cathedrals we'd visited.  Not to say it was simple, just not as extravagant as others.  But it was still neat.  The original Cathedral was built 1,000 years ago in 1012.  It burned mostly down, was rebuilt, burned down again, and finally the version that stands today was completed in 1237.  Most of the statues and furnishings inside have been added over the years, but the guide book we read pointed out that the knight on the horse was sculpted and put in there when the Cathedral was completed in 1237.

Once we finished at the Cathedral, we walked over to the New Residence, but it had closed for the day.  We saw it was open daily, so we just planned to come back the next day.  Instead, we headed down to a street that had multiple breweries on it.  We stopped in each one, getting a beer or two at each.

We ended the night at Fässla Brewery, where we had some amazing smoke beer and incredible food.  The brown sauce on the beef was outstanding!  Our hotel was right around the corner, so after dinner we headed back and called it a night.

The next morning we slept in, then had breakfast at the hotel.  We'd seen most of the city the day before, so we were in no rush to get moving.  Eventually we did, though, and headed back up to the New Residence.  The tour was really neat.  It was all in German, but each section of the residence had a booklet in English explaining what we were looking at.  One neat thing mentioned was the influence the Habsburg's of Austria had.  We've visited palaces all over Europe, even as far east as Turkey, and seen their influence in style and color.  One of the more beautiful rooms was used to entertain guests, with large chandeliers and paintings all over the ceiling and walls.

Once the tour was over, we walked around town some more, including going through the old town hall that was built in the middle of the canal, with a bridge connecting to it on each side.

From there we headed back to the train station, got lunch, then got back on the train to Stuttgart.  One funny thing I noticed at the train station was a coin operated car ride for kids with a painted image of David Hasselhof on the back.  You always hear how the Germans love him, so it was funny seeing that.

This was just a quick weekend getaway, and we had a great time.  The next post will be sometime next week after we get back from a long weekend in Hamburg.  The original reason for going was because a band I like is only playing two shows in Germany, Hamburg and Berlin.  Since I've been to Berlin, I wanted to see Hamburg.  Shanna wanted to go to, so we're turning it into a trip.

To see pictures, click here or any picture above.

Milan

The first post of the new year! This was not a trip we'd planned on taking, it just sort of fell in our lap. In December we ran into some of Shanna's old co-workers downtown at the Christmas Market. We spent the rest of the evening walking around with them, and they invited us along with them to Milan for MLK weekend. They'd done a "blind booking" with one of the local airlines, and ended up with Milan. If you like to travel and see new places, blind booking is a GREAT way to do it. You log on to the website, pick a "theme", which consists of anywhere from 5-8 cities. You choose your dates, pay for it, and when you're done, you find out where you are going. The benefit is you get to fly for dirt cheap. Each flight you blind book is 60 Euros, round trip. If you know how to work the system, you can usually guarantee the city you are going to. We were able to do that, and got Milan also.

We did blind booking 2 years ago and got London, but the flights we were on weren't great. The flight out of Stuttgart left at 7pm, and the flight back to Stuttgart left at 7am. So two whole days of travel were shot. This time we got lucky. Our flight to Milan left Stuttgart at 6:45am, and our flight home left Milan at 8:30pm. So our travel days gave us plenty of time to sight see. That Saturday we flew out, and in 45 minutes we were in Milan. The airport was about an hour drive from the center of the city, but they had a shuttle service that gave you round trip for 15 Euros. We eventually pulled into the city, and checked in at our hotel. The hotel room even had the TV set to greet us!

Once we got settled in our room, we headed back down to the lobby to meet our friends.  That first day we had scheduled a 3 hour walking tour that ended with us being able to view The Last Supper painting by DaVinci.   The rest of our group wasn't interested, so it was just Shanna & I.  We had some time, so we grabbed a bite to eat at the hotel, then strolled into the Duomo district.  At this point it was time for our tour, so our friends went their separate ways.

Our tour guide, Alice (pronounced Ali-chey), was very knowledgable.  We started at the Cathedral.  It took 600 years to build and is the third largest Cathedral in the world, second only to St. Peter's at the Vatican and one in England whose name I can't remember.  Inside was BEAUTIFUL.  I'm glad we took the guided tour because there were all kinds of tidbits of information we never would have known if we'd just wandered in ourself.  For example, for hundreds of years the Cathedral had no front, it was just open.  During the construction, a canal was built so that limestone could easily be transported from the caves straight to Cathedral.  Because of fresh flowing water, a vibrant fish market sprang up in the area, and the fish vendors would sell fresh fish right at the entrance to the Cathedral...even while the priest was giving Mass!  Eventually one of the Archbishops insisted they put a proper front on the Cathedral.  In the early 1900's, the town decided to dam the canal, and it is no longer there.

She showed us a small set of tiles that I would have easily stepped over with 4 images of astrological signs.  Then she pointed to the roof, where you could see a tiny hole.  It was positioned in such a way that at noon (or 1pm during DST months), the light would shine through on to one of the signs.  Based on the sign, you know whether it was Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall.  Further in she stopped at statue of St. Bartholomew, the patron saint of skin.  He was standing there with what looked like a robe draped around his body, with his back facing the wall.  The statue used to be out in the open, but it was scaring kids.  The reason being, on the back, you realized that wasn't a robe draped around him, it was his skin.  He is the patron saint of skin because he was a martyr who was skinned alive.

We left the Cathedral and walked through one of the main shopping streets in Milan.  It was built in the 1800's, and at the time, was considered ugly.  Over time, people's tastes changed and it is now more highly regarded.  There were shops from Louis Vitton, Prada, and other top brand names.  I ended up getting some nice leather gloves while we walked through.

On the other side of the street was the grand Milan Opera House.  You can only go in on certain days with special reservations, so our tour guide just briefly talked about it.  The snow was now really starting to come down, so we took a short break in a local cafe.  From there we headed to Sforza Castle.  All we did was walk through the main courtyard, but I couldn't believe how big it was.  If we'd had more time, I would have liked to have gone through it.

From there we headed to the main attraction of the tour, The Last Supper.  Tickets for seeing it are extremely hard to get if you don't buy early in advance.  We tried to buy tickets a few weeks prior, and it was already sold out.  Thankfully we found this tour company that included tickets with a tour of Milan.  DaVinci used a new method to paint this painting.  It's not on a canvas, but instead is painted directly on a wall.  The previous method of painting on walls required painters to paint fast while the plaster was still wet.  It would then dry with the plaster.  For this painting, that wasn't going to work...it took DaVinci four years to paint this, finishing in 1498.  So he had to come up with a new method that allowed him to paint on a dry surface, and keep coming back to it.

As a result, it didn't take long after he finished before it started to fade.  By the 1900's, you could barely make it out.  An extensive restoration project began, and from that point forward, the room was strictly climate controlled.  One interesting fact about the church it's located in is that during World War II, the church was bombed.  Two walls in that room have paintings on them.  The two walls that don't were the only ones destroyed.  The Last Supper and the other painting survived untouched.

Today when you enter, you have to go through a series of air tight doors.  The one in front of you won't open until the one behind you closes.  They also limit it to 30 people at a time in the room.  It's a large room, so when you enter, you have plenty of space to sit and admire the painting.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed, so the image below is one I pulled off the internet.  Notice in the picture the cut out below Jesus.  His feet used to be there, but the door that was below it lead to a kitchen, and the previous kitchen staff decided it'd be more convenient to widen the door.  Doing so took out part of the painting.  If you ever find yourself in Milan, make sure you see it...you won't regret it.

When we finished, that was the end of the tour, so we hopped on the tram back to the hotel and met up with everyone else.  Based on the hotel's recommendation, we cabbed over to a part of town with a great restaurant for dinner.  It did not disappoint, the food and wine were outstanding.  Shanna & I both had a pasta dish with lobster that was amazing.

The next day the girls found out about a shopping trip that was offered that would take you to the outlets in Switzerland.  The guys stayed back and decided to just walk around town, stopping in at the occasional tavern.  Unfortunately for the girls (but fortunately for our wallet), the bus was full by the time they got to the pick up point.  The girls still ended up shopping, though, because the pick up point was in a big shopping district.  While there is amazing history in Milan, shopping is definitely the #1 reason people visit.  The locals know it, and there are shops EVERYWHERE.

We eventually met up with the ladies, and just spent the rest of the day casually strolling around.  That evening was the AFC and NFC championship games, and we thought we'd found a place to watch it because it was an "American" bar, but no such luck...Milan's soccer team had a big match that night, so we knew we weren't going to find anything.  We stayed there anyway, though, and ended up watching part of Milan's game before calling it a night.

The next day everyone split up after breakfast.  Shanna & I wanted to walk around the downtown area some more, while the other people in our group wanted to see the part of town near the main train station.  As we were walking around, we saw a "Marella" store.  I'm still not exactly sure what they sell, other than clothes, but it's the name some good friends of ours gave their daughter after seeing the store in Rome, so we take pictures of the store every time we see it while traveling.  So far we've seen it in Malta, Rome, Milan, Sicily, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  We stopped by a watch store, but I just couldn't justify spending that much when my $50 watch works just fine.  Some of these watches cost more than a car.

One store we stopped in that was really neat was the Ferrari store.  It was 4 stories with all kinds of things.  They had little motorized Ferraris for kids, and a Ferrari box car that was 7,200 Euros!!  I bought a leather Ferrari cover for my iPad, but unfortunately it was only for the first generation iPad (I have the 3rd gen), so it didn't quite fit.  Shanna got some neat Puma shoes with the Ferrari logo on it, though!  If you REALLY wanted to spend money in there, you could have purchased parts from actual Ferrari's that raced F1 circuits.  A piece of a fender would set you back about 1,000 Euros.   But it was a neat store, and we enjoyed walking around in it.

It was getting close to time to head back to the hotel, but we had time to duck into a little Pizzeria that had a DELICIOUS four cheese pizza.   After that we headed to the train station and hopped on the bus back to the airport.

It was a fun weekend to get away and just relax.  Our next trip is at the end of February when we head up to Hamburg.  I was originally going to see a concert up there, but Shanna wanted to go too, so we turned it into a 5 day weekend trip.

To see pictures, click here or any picture above except the Last Supper picture.

Dutch/Belgian Christmas Markets

A few weekends ago Shanna & I headed to The Netherlands and Belgium to visit their Christmas Markets.  The last time we were in Maastricht we accidentally stumbled upon a town outside of it called Valkenburg while trying to find a grocery store.  They have a large castle ruin that over looks the town, and an intricate sandstone cave system that are open for tours during spring/summer months.  While there we found out that during December the caves turn into a large Christmas Market.  We've always said we wanted to come back during that time to check it out.

Our friends Penny & Bruce had mentioned wanting to see some markets outside Germany, so when we invited them along with us, they jumped at the chance.  On Friday we dropped the dogs off in the morning and hit the road.  Normally I wouldn't mention the drive at all, but this drive was unusual.  The weather was CRAZY.  It was snowing when we left Stuttgart.  The dog kennel is 30 minutes north of Stuttgart, and by the time we got there, the snow had changed to rain.  Within 30 minutes of leaving the kennel, the sun had come out and there was not a cloud in the sky.  The entire 4 hour drive was like that, switching from sunshine to rain to snow and back again.

Early that afternoon we finally pulled into our hotel and immediately loved it.  It has quite a history too. There was a Saint buried on the grounds there (St. Gerlach) in 1175.  In 1202, a monastery was built on the site because so many pilgrims were visiting his grave.  It was turned into a convent for nuns from 1354 to 1786, when it was sold to a private family who turned into their residence.  They built a mansion there, and it changed hands a few times, but was always a private residence until 1979, when the person who bought it then had an idea to turn it into a hotel.  It took years to get everything in place, and finally in 1997, renovation was complete and the hotel opened.

We parked the car and as we walked to the check in area, Bruce and Penny drove up.  Once we were all settled in, we decided to walk around the grounds.  It was beautiful, but we can only imagine how it looks in the spring/summer time when all the flowers are blooming.  The monastery is now a church that is open to the public, so we went in there first.  Like most large European churches, it was beautiful inside.  In the center of the church was the tomb of St. Gerlach.

After we'd walked around for a bit, we used the free shuttle service the hotel offered to go into Maastricht.  After we were dropped off, we headed into the old town area.  First up was dinner.  I never pass up a chance for Mussels and Fries when in Belgium or The Netherlands, so I had that for dinner...it was DELICIOUS.

After dinner we headed into the market area.  There was a giant ferris wheel, and all kinds of vendors set up selling things.

My foot has been hurting lately (it's better now), so after awhile I was done walking.  Shanna, Penny & Bruce still wanted to see other parts, so I headed to the pub we loved from the last time we were there and waited for them.  Eventually they came in, and we had a great time chatting with the owner of the place.  Finally we called it a night and the shuttle came back to get us from the hotel.

The next morning we all met up in the lobby, then drove into Valkenburg.  We had breakfast in town, then headed to the first cave.  There were three caves, two of which had Christmas Markets and one had a bunch of sandstone carvings.  There was a bit of a line for the cave, but it moved pretty fast.  Once you were inside, you could wander around like normal.

It was COLD outside, so the first thing we noticed was how warm it was in the cave.  The cave maintains a constant 53 degrees year round, but with all those lights and people in there, it was probably closer to 65 degrees.  We walked in all bundled up, but it didn't take long before we were holding our jackets.

It was neat walking around there.  There weren't too many things being sold that you couldn't find at a German market, but it was neat walking around the cave and seeing it all decorated.  There was even a make shift restaurant set up inside.

After plenty of shopping, we left the cave and dropped off boxes at the car.  We headed to the second cave, but at this point my foot was really starting to hurt, so I sat down and waited outside the second cave.  From what Shanna, Bruce & Penny said, though, there wasn't much inside there that wasn't in the first cave.

The final stop was at the cave with the sandstone carvings.  As soon as we walked inside, we were amazed at the carvings.  These were huge, and all showed various Christmas scenes.  As impressive as the first ones we saw were, the ones in the final room were breath taking.  They had a huge carving of Bethlehem, complete with a shining star above the city.

When we walked out the caves, everyone was shopped out.  We'd found out there'd be a parade coming through town, so we found a restaurant along the parade route and sat down for dinner.  The parade was OK...we didn't take many pictures because there weren't any big floats, it was more just people dancing through the town.  But it was nice to sit in a heated restaurant and watch it.  After that we stopped at the local grocery store, Albert Heijn, and picked up some Dutch goodies to bring home.  And I might have picked up a six pack or two of Belgian beer...

The next morning we had one more place to go.  Shanna had found out about an Antique Market held every week in Liege, Belgium.  It was only a 30 minute drive from Valkenburg, so we hit the road.  When we got there, we were a little surprised...it wasn't really an Antique Market at all.  I suspect there are multiple markets over the city, and we went to the wrong one.  This market sold all kinds of things, though, from food to trinkets to livestock.  That's right, livestock.  You could buy hens, geese, roosters, ducks and more.  I made sure to buy some delicious Belgian Frites (fries) for Shanna & I to share!

After walking through the market, Bruce & Penny were ready to head home.  At that point, I probably could have headed home too, but we decided to drive to city center to see if we could find the Liege Christmas Market.  We found it there, but they weren't going to open for 30 more minutes.  While we waited, we ducked into a small cafe and I had a delicious Belgian Ale called Orval.  It was 2 Euros for the bottle, and that was at a restaurant.  I've seen that brand sold in stores in the US for $8/bottle.  It's amazing how cheap great Belgian beer is in Belgium.

When the market opened, we walked through.  Most of the food vendors were still setting up, but we stumbled upon one that specialized in beer from the Hughes Brewery.  For those not familiar with Belgian beer, they make Delirium beer, one of my favorites.  Not only did they have regular Delirium, but they had my seasonal favorite, Delirium Noel!

So of course we couldn't walk by without stopping for a glass.  The market wasn't that big, but like all the markets, it's still fun to walk through.  Since Liege is in the French speaking part of Belgium, their food has French influence.  So the smells wafting through the market were amazing.  One the stands we stopped at had French Canadian things, including Poutine and French Canadian beer!  Normal Canadian beer isn't my favorite, but there are some amazing ones from the French Canadian section.  So Shanna & I split some Poutine and a Porter beer...amazing doesn't begin to describe it.  Poutine, if you don't know, is french fries covered with a thin gravy and curd cheese.  I hadn't had it since the last time I was in Montreal about 6 years ago, so I was excited to find it...and it was just as good as I remember.

That was the last place we stopped.  From there we grabbed lunch to go, and hit the road to head home.

It was a fun weekend, and I'm glad we went.  This Friday we're flying back to the US to visit Shanna's family in Texas for Christmas.  In January we're spending MLK weekend in Milan, then we're going to Hamburg for a weekend in February.  And finally, for 8 days in July, we booked with a tour company here to head to Russia to visit Moscow and St. Petersburg.  So check back over the next few months for posts all about it, plus any other trips we decide to go on!

To see pictures, click here or any of the pictures above.