Memorial Day 2012

Ever since we moved here, Normandy has been on the very top of my "to visit" list.  Our friends Jenny & Chris found a package tour that included not only Normandy, but Giverny (where Claude Monet lived) and an afternoon in Paris.  It was over Memorial Day weekend, and it was the perfect timing.

The day started off EARLY.  On Friday we arrived on base at 5:30am and hit the road.  We had a few stops along the way, and finally in the early afternoon we arrived in Giverny, France.  Art has never been a big interest of mine, but history is, and knowing who Claude Monet was, I was looking forward to walking through his house.  Shanna was looking forward to seeing the garden he painted, as well as the Lilly Pond in his back yard that inspired one of his more famous works.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  It was sunny, about 75 degrees, and not a cloud in the sky.  It was peaceful walking around the pond.

After walking through the Pond area, we walked through his house.  The preservation society that runs it has set it up so it looks identical to when he lived there, based on pictures and accounts of people who visited.  When you walk in the front door, it's like stepping back in time.

We spent an hour or so total there, then it was time to get back on the bus for the last leg of the trip to the city of Caen in the Normandy region of France.

We finally pulled in around 8pm to the hotel.  It had been a LONG day of travelling, but everyone was hungry.  The tour had arranged a sit down dinner at a local steakhouse, but as soon as we heard it wasn't a pre-order meal, we decided not to go.  With 80 people showing up and ordering at once, we'd be lucky if we were home by midnight.  We ended up finding a McDonalds nearby to get something quick & easy.  I was impressed with how hi-tech the McDonalds was.  There was a lot of people there, so they had employees walking around with PDA's.  They'd take your order, print a slip, and by the time you got to the front of the line, you just handed your slip in, paid, and took your food.  The line flew because of it.  They also had kiosks where you could order yourself and not wait for a person to come to you.  I wanted to get something that you can't find at a typical McDonalds, so I got a McBaguette...it was actually pretty good!

After that we headed back to the hotel & called it a night.

The next morning we woke up to bright sunshine coming in the room.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and I couldn't have been happier.  One of my biggest fears about this trip was we would have bad weather.  After breakfast we hopped on the tour bus and hit the road.  Our first stop was an interesting one...a German Military Cemetery.  I had no idea they had these in France.  While later on in the day we'd see plenty of people at the US memorial sites, aside from our tour, there was no one at the German one.  It was a beautiful layout, and obviously well maintained and cared for.  In the center of the cemetery was a giant hill with a cross on top that had stairs leading up to the top.

We spent about 20 minutes walking around there, then got back on the bus.  Our next stop was St. Mere-Eglise, the first town on the western front of France liberated.  They have an Airborne Museum there that was really neat to walk through.  When we first pulled in to town there was a big church and you could see a parachute draped over one of the spires with a mannequin dressed up like an Airborne trooper hanging from it.   The reason is a group of paratroopers had the bad luck to land right in the middle of town after jumping.  Most were killed immediately, but this trooper, John Steele, got stuck on the church roof.  He played dead, and when they went to cut him down, he got the drop on the German soldier and managed to escape.  In reading about this, it turns out he made many trips back to the town, and it became a second home to him until his death.

It was neat reading about the stories from D-Day, including how the US Military dropped dolls in fake parachutes as well as inflatable tanks.  They dropped them far away from the actual drop zone so that anyone looking through binoculars would think they were real.  After we were done with the museum we walked around town for a bit.  One of the best parts of visiting countries outside Germany is getting to try different local foods.  It was almost lunch time, so we headed to a local baker in town and got cheese sandwiches.  I then headed next door to a butcher and bought some salami to go on it.  So I had a bree & salami sandwich on a fresh baguette roll for lunch...it was DELICIOUS.  We walked around town for a bit more, then got on the bus to head to Utah Beach.

It was incredible to walk on this beach, with how quiet & peaceful it was, and imagine what it was like almost 68 years ago to the day.  This particular section of Utah Beach didn't have too much.  There was a museum, but we weren't there long enough to go through it.  Instead we walked around reading the various memorials, and walked through the only remaining German Bunker.  It was captured almost immediately and used as HQ to direct other attacks that day.

We then took the bus to our next stop, Point du Hoc on Omaha Beach.  Point du Hoc is a huge cliff side that Army Rangers scaled on D-Day under heavy fire.  The first thing you noticed as you approached the area near the top of the cliffs was all the hills.  As you got closer, you realized those aren't man-made hills...those are the massive craters left from the Artillery shelling from the Allied attack.  Some of these craters were at least 20 feet deep.

As we approached the cliffs and looked over, it was incredible....I don't know how they managed to scale these cliffs under a hail of bullets.  There was a command bunker at the end that you could walk through. As we walked around the area we saw the remains of train tracks.  It turns out the Germans had a small railway system going between all the underground bunkers so they could easily send supplies back & forth.

From there it was on to the American Military Cemetery build on the deadliest part of Omaha Beach.  This was relatively flat land, so the initial wave of the D-Day attack suffered heavy casualties.  You wouldn't know that know though...it looks like any other beach, albeit with headstone after headstone.  When we first approached it after getting off the bus, we saw a marker on the ground.  It was a time capsule of news footage from June 6th, 1944.  I thought I'd seen somewhere that it was to be opened on June 6th, 2044, but in looking at the picture, I don't see that.  So maybe I just thought I saw it.  The cemetery wasn't too busy, but there were soldiers there practicing for the Memorial Day ceremony they were going to have on Sunday.  I was glad we were there the day before, though, so we could still walk freely around.

The first part we went to was the small museum they had there.  They had one room filled with stories of various soldiers, including the four brothers that inspired the Saving Private Ryan movie.  They also had a story about soldiers from Bedford, VA.  That was particularly interesting to me because I remember reading a book about the soldiers from Bedford.  That small town in VA suffered the largest loss of life per capita in the nation.  If you ever find yourself in Bedford, there's a great D-Day memorial there.  There was a lot to see there, but it's best described by the pictures rather then words.  What I will say is it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.  Walking through the cemetery, as well as along the upper part of the beach, was incredible and something everyone should do once in their lifetime.

When we were done there, we headed to a section of Juno Beach where there was a large contingent of German heavy artillery guns.  There wasn't much different from this location then other parts we'd visited with German Bunkers, except these had the large guns intact.

We spent about 45 minutes walking around the various bunkers, including the main command bunker located on the sea cliffs.  Off in the distance we could see the remains of the artificial port the British built to keep the waters in that area calm for ships and transport vehicles.  Finally it was time for dinner.  Our guide had a restaurant picked out in a small seaside village that looked a lot like any seaside resort town in the US.  In fact, it reminded me a bit like Ocean City, MD.  The food was pretty good...not the best I'd ever had, but far from the worst.  At the very least, it was nice just to sit for a bit and enjoy dinner and drinks.  When we finished we still had some time, so we walked around town for a bit.  There was a boardwalk area, a large carousel, and a bunch of shops, although those were closed.

We had one more stop for the day.  Our guide swung by the hotel and gave people the option to call it a day if they wanted.  The older people, and those with young kids, got off the bus, and the rest of us stayed on.  Our final stop of the night was Pegasus Bridge.  On the night of June 5th, several gliders flown by British soldiers landed at the bridge and secured it.  It was a crucial entry point into the city of Caen, and the Germans had wired it to blow.  Since they landed in gliders, it was quiet and they were able to secure the bridge without it being destroyed.  The original bridge has been moved and set up as a museum.  In 1994 they built a replica of the bridge in the same spot.

Finally it was time to call it a night.  We came back to the hotel, took showers, and pretty much fell into bed because we were so tired.

The next morning, after breakfast, we piled into the bus again.  The clear weather from the day before was gone, and it was now cloudy and slightly raining.  I was bummed, but was glad we at least had the nice weather the day before with all the outside activities.  It took us about 2 hours to get to Mont St. Michele, a large Monastery built on a rock, surrounded by water.  Along the way, the weather slowly cleared, and by the time we got there, it was clear skies and sunny.  As you approached, the Monastery was imposing on the skyline.

It was built in the 8th century, and over time a small village sprung up around it.  Originally it was an island, but awhile back the French government decided they didn't want it to be an island, so they built a dam nearby.  Recently they've changed their mind, and are part way through removing the dam and changing it back to being an island.  Unfortunately it was low tide, so it was mostly sand around the rock, but it should be impressive when it's fully surrounded by water again.

The bus parked, and we walked to a shuttle area that took us closer to the Monastery.  It was a steep hike up to the top, but once we were in, the view was amazing.  Below you can see the Atlantic Ocean in the distance.

While we were walking through, there was a service going on.  I'm not sure if it was Catholic, or something else, but it was still impressive.  Inside the chapel area were large stained glass.  They were burning incense, so because of the lite haze in the air, the sunlight looked like individual rays coming in as the choir was chanting.  On the pictures page you'll see a picture of it, as well as video.  It took about an hour to walk through the whole thing with our audio guide.  It was interesting, but it kept describing these rich tapestries that were no longer there...I wish they'd had replicas at least up to see what it was like back then.

When we were done we walked through the small village within the walls.  There really weren't houses anymore, they'd all been converted to gift shops and restaurants, but it was still neat to walk through the narrow streets.

When we were done, we took the shuttle back and had lunch.  Again, it was baguette sandwiches...man were they good.  We then headed to the town of Bayeux.  The town is famous for having the Bayeux Tapestry on display, which is 70 meters long and showcases the story of William, Duke of Norman, and his conquest of King Harold of England at the battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.   The tapestry itself was neat, but what really brought the story alive was the audio guide.  It depicted in rich detail the story of what lead to the attack, as well as the battle itself.  It was neat to see the story, as well as realizing this tapestry is over 1,000 years old.  

When we finished there, we walked around the little museum for a bit, then spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town.  We snacked on Macaroons and spent the last 30 minutes or so sipping some Belgian beer at a local cafe.  That's one of my favorite parts of traveling...eating or drinking at a local cafe and hearing people converse around us in the local language...French in this case, of course.

We headed back to our hotel, and that evening had lunch at a local steakhouse.  I wasn't in the mood for steak, but this place had one of the best burgers I've had in Europe.

The next morning we hit the road to head home.  We had one more stop, though...Paris!  I'd never been, so I was looking forward to seeing the city, albeit for a short time.  Our bus drove all through the city.  We stopped in front of the Eiffel tower for a picture taking opportunity, then proceed to drive around the massive round about that goes around the Arc du Triumph, as well as the fashion district that stretches the Champs Élysées.

We also stopped in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral for a few pictures.  Finally it was lunch time.  Personally, I thought it was delicious.  Our appetizer was shrimp cocktail, and the main dish was Beef Burgundy with potatoes.  After lunch, we walked around for a few minutes, then that was it for our trip.

We saw some amazing sights, and some incredible places.  Over all, this was by far one of the best trips we've gone on.  There are some definite pros & cons of bus tour travel.  It was nice to not have to plan anything, and just show up.  I'm convinced we saw more in those 4 days because of the itinerary and them taking us everywhere then we would have if we'd done it ourselves.  The cons were the bus drive was MUCH longer then a car drive because of the slow speed limits the buses have to maintain.  Plus where ever you go, you bring the crowd when it's you & 40+ other people.  While I'm not sure I'll do a long bus trip like this again, I have no regrets about this trip and am glad we did this.  It's one of those trips I'll never forget.

The next blog post will probably be towards the end of June, after Shanna's Mom and her niece & nephew come visit.  They'll be here for 2 weeks, so I might just post periodic updates instead of doing one large post at the end.  We'll see.

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

Trier

Last month it was slow at work, so I was browsing the local news.  I came across a story about a Trier, Germany, and how they were putting the supposed seamless tunic that Jesus wore right before his crucifixion on display.  The cathedral has had it in it's possession for about 1,000 years, and has taken it out for display only a few times.  The first time was in the 1500's, and it has only been put on display 3 times in the past 100 years.  The article mentioned that it would be on display from mid-April to mid-May, so Shanna & I decided to take a trip to Trier to see it.  Regardless of whether you believe it's authenticity or not, it IS over 1,000 years old, so that alone was enough to pique my interest.

We decided to take the dogs with us this time, so on Friday I packed everything up during the day.  I had the day off, but Shanna had to work, so when she got off work the dogs & I picked her up and hit the road.  On the way we hit traffic jam after traffic jam, followed by a torrential downpour of rain and hail.  What should have been a 3 hour drive ended up being 5 1/2 hours.  We eventually pulled into Trier, though, and got to our hotel.  The reviews I'd read said it was an unusual hotel, but that people liked it.  I couldn't agree more.  The "theme" seemed to be 70's, but you could tell it'd been remodeled recently.  And our room was HUGE.  Well, huge by European standards, big by American standards.  It had a bedroom, an "office" area, and the bathroom in between.  Essentially, three rooms.  Even though it was newly renovated, I still laughed at the 70's colors.

After getting settled, we ordered room service for dinner and called it a night.  The next morning we woke up early and got ready.  The cathedral didn't start admitting people until 10:30am, and we were ready to walk out the hotel at 9, so we decided to take the dogs with us to explore the town.  I'd picked this hotel because of it's proximity to the the Altstadt (old town) area, so it was a quick walk into the heart of old town.  It didn't take long for Shanna to find a new store she loved...if it was located in Stuttgart, I can only imagine how many Euros they'd get from us.

We were casually walking through town, but we had a destination...the tourist information center.  Most trips we have time to look up things to see, but we'd both been so busy with work that we really hadn't had time.  I'd talked with co-workers who mentioned the Black Gate, but that & the tunic were the only things I knew to visit.  We eventually got to the Tourist Information center, and signed up for the 1:30pm walking tour.  The info center was located right at the Black Gate.  The Black Gate was the original entrance to the city during Roman times, and the only surviving entrance today.  Originally built in approximately 180 A.D., it's an impressive structure.  Since we had the dogs with us, only one of us could go up inside the gate.  Since Shanna didn't really have an interest, I went in.

The gate was multiple levels.  I was disappointed that there wasn't much in the way of documentation, but it ended up being not a big deal because our tour guide later that day was so knowledgable.  But I'll get to that later.  As I walked through, it was incredible to think people had been doing what I was doing for 2,000 years in this very structure.  As I walked up to the first level, I heard what sounded like shouting in German.  My first assumption was it was just kids goofing around.  Then I turned the corner and saw a Roman guard!  Of course, it was just an actor.  Apparently, one of the tour options is a guy dressed as a Roman guard who shouts at you on a tour.

The view from the top was amazing...you could see the entire old town area, plus the surrounding hills.  When you look at the page of pictures that I'll link to at the end, I included a movie I took that is a panoramic view of the city.  At one point I was looking out over the city when my phone rang.  It was Shanna telling me to come around to the other side.  When I did, I saw her sitting out front with both dogs next to her.  I called out Murphy's name and laughed as he looked around, trying to find me.

I eventually came down and we took the dogs back to the hotel.  They were tired, so it didn't take long for them to go to sleep.  We left them in the room, and headed to the cathedral.  The line was LONG when we got there, but it didn't take nearly as long as I thought to get through.  From the time we got in line to the time we were walking out of the church was only 1 hour.  When we got in line, I noticed these tall colored sticks everywhere.  Shanna had read that they were pilgrimage sticks.  As we got closer to them in line, we noticed most of them had strings of yarn wrapped around them.  I don't know where they came from, but close to the entrance was a guy using the string to weave blankets.  It was neat seeing him do it using no machinery...it was entirely using manual methods.  He was using a crude version of the machine that the lady in Istanbul used to weave the Turkish rugs.

At one point in line a priest (or maybe he was a cardinal or bishop) walked through followed by altar boys.  There was a person carrying a portable speaker behind him that was playing music.  As it played, the people in the crowd sang.  It was all in German, but really neat to watch.  In the pictures section, I have a video posted there of them walking into the cathedral.

Finally we got inside.  Unfortunately they'd made it pretty clear that no pictures were to be taken.  They had people standing all around ready to kick you out if you took a pic, so I didn't risk it.  The tunic itself definitely looked old...I don't know if it looked 2,000 years old, but it definitely looked ancient.  It was in a sealed off, climate controlled glass case, but you could get right up on it and look at it.

After we walked outside, we had about an hour before our tour started.  We grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the tourist information center to start our tour.

The guide we had was great...he was VERY knowledgable, and captured our interest from the start.  He first took us to the Black Gate and explained everything about it.  From 180 A.D. to 1,000 A.D., it was the entrance gate to the city.  From 1,000 A.D. to 1800 A.D., there was a church built around it.  In 1800 the Church was torn down, and from then until now, it's been a gate again.  We'd walked through the gate earlier, but hearing all kinds of information explained about it was fascinating.  He showed us parts of the Church that still remained, as well as a stone that'd been exposed over the years with a number carved in it.  That number was how the company who supplied the stones from the local quarry charged the Roman government.  We'd walked right past it earlier and hadn't noticed it.  One other interesting fact he mentioned about Trier was during it's prime, the city was the second largest Roman city next to Rome itself.

From there we walked a short distance to the house that Karl Marx grew up in.  Regardless of your political beliefs, and whether you support Socialism or not, it was still neat to see buildings associated with such a key historical figure.

From there we visited the Three Kings house, which was built during Roman times and recently restored. We meandered from there to the market square, which had been a continuously running market since 958 A.D., then on to a large sundial monument.  Trier has many cigarette companies, and they paid for this sundial.  The running joke locally is that the center of the dial bears a strong resemblance to a cigarette.

From there we headed to what used to be the Emperor's reception hall.  If you look closely at the pic below, you can see some plaster.  The "style" during Roman times was for no bricks to be displayed, they plastered over everything.  In the picture below, you can still see the last remnants of the plaster that used to coat the building.

Once inside, our guide told us all about history of the reception hall.  After the Romans had left, and the Catholic Church had taken it over, one of the local Bishops wanted to tear the place down.  He started, but only got part way through.  Eventually it was restored, but to give a visual, our guide showed us a picture of what the inside used to look like.

At that point our tour was over.  Shanna & I walked through the gardens, then headed to the ruins of the Roman Baths.  We were going to walk through them originally, but we found a vantage point to look inside and realized there wasn't much left.  Since that was the case, we decided not to head inside.  Instead we took a short walk from there to the Amphitheater.  It was here that the Romans used to hold Gladiator fights, both between men and animals.  While walking through we got to walk under the Amphitheater where the Gladiators would prepare for battle, as well as in the rooms on the main levels where they'd keep the Lions that the Gladiators would fight.  The picture below is taken from within the Lion's den, looking out to the center of the ring.

In it's prime, the Amphitheater could hold 100,000 people.  It obviously used to be much larger, there's no way you could fit that many people now.  Once we finished walking around, it was time to head back to the hotel room for the dogs.  We put their leashes on and headed back out.  Our first stop was the Karl Marx birth house.  I didn't care about going inside, but I wanted a picture of the house.  After that, we headed to the Roman Bridge.  Rumor has it the Romans built the bridge over the Mosel River into the city.  That's a debated fact today, but it was still nice walking out to the bridge and taking a picture.

From there we wandered around looking for a place to eat dinner.  We eventually found a small place that had some of the best Italian food.  I had lasagne and Shanna had a ravioli dish.  We started with a plate of Buffalo Mozzarella that was DELICIOUS.  It was coated in Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar.

I also got to sample some local beer that was amazing.  After dinner we were beat, so we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next morning we packed up, and while we'd seen all of Trier that we wanted to, we wanted to stop somewhere on the way home and sight see some more.  Shanna pulled out the map on the iPad and found Bingen.   It's a major city located on the Rhein river, and they have daily cruises from there along the Rhein.  It was an hour drive from Trier to Bingen, and when we got there, we bought our roundtrip tickets for the cruise, and headed out to the docks.  While it was cold, it was also clear & sunny, so a beautiful day for a Rhein river cruise.  We had lunch on the boat and sampled a great bottle of local wine.

The whole ride the dogs just sat under the table snoring.  We slowly cruised down the Rhein, looking at all the towns and castles along the way.  The boat stopped at it's final destination in St. Goar.  I'd never heard of the town, but as soon as we stepped off the boat it was obvious this was a town made for tourists.  It was nice walking down the old town street and going through all the shops.  We picked up a few bottles of local wine, and I got a new stein.  This one was unique because it was made from black crystal...the more I look at it, the more I'm glad I paid the extra money for it.

Eventually we headed back to the dock, and took the cruise back to Bingen.  From there we hit the road, and headed home.

Overall this was a great trip.  It was nice to get away with Shanna & the dogs, and just relax and view Germany.  Almost all of our trips involve a country outside of Germany, so it was nice for a change to stay in a country where we were comfortable with the local language and could easily drive to wherever we wanted.

As I stated in a previous post, we have a lot going on between now and Mid-July.  Our next trip is next weekend, Memorial Day weekend, to Normandy, France, to view the beaches of D-Day and various memorials related to it.  Normandy is somewhere I've wanted to visit for years, so I can't wait for this trip. Check back after next weekend for a full report!

In the mean time, click here or any pictures above to see the see the pictures from this past weekend.

Summer Travel

This is just a short post to let you all know to check back here every few weeks over the summer.  Between now & Labor Day we have trips planned to Trier, Normandy, the US, Slovenia, as well as a visit from Shanna's Mom and her Niece and Nephew.  So there'll be lots to read about!

Nove, Italy

     This weekend, we decided to take a quick drive down to Italy for a little ceramic shopping.  Some of our friends had heard all of the great stuff you can get directly from the warehouse and I started reading some blogs.  Everything I found on the internet made this place sound like a great bargain, so I was all in.  As soon as we had a date, Bryan and Jenny found a rental car and a hotel.  The plan was to go pick up the rental car on Thursday and leave around 6 am on Friday morning.  Thursday didn't go quit as we had planned.  The rental company didn't check to make sure the registration was in the van.  Because we didn't have the registration, we were unable to register the van as American driven, so we couldn't get American prices for gas.  It was a great thing that the van got excellent gas mileage.  For the total trip, we only filled up twice.  Plus, we divided that by everyone in the van and it wasn't too bad.

     On Friday morning, we met up at 6 am to get on the road.  With a 7 hour drive ahead of us, we wanted to do all of the shopping we could on Friday.  Once we got down into Austria, the drive was getting beautiful.  We could see white capped mountains all around.  Bryan saw this lookout and couldn't help but pull over.  The view was amazing.

     We finally arrived around 1:20pm.  Great timing because the shop opened at 1:30.  In Italy, everyone takes a siesta just like in Spain.  All of the stores close anywhere from 11:30 - 2:00.  It's so weird to see all of the streets empty.  Once inside the factory, we were so overwhelmed.  There were racks and racks of pottery everywhere.  This particular factory sells to Tiffany, Williams and Sonoma and Lenox.  They had all kinds of stuff from all three.  It was so much cheaper than you can get it in the states.  We looked and shopped for hours, but it only felt like 30 minutes.

     Jenny, Katia and I each picked out several things and loaded up moving racks.  The owners were so nice.  I asked for a three tiered serving tray.  When he didn't have it, he made me one out of any dishes of my choice.  Once our dishes were purchased, they began packing them in boxes and in bags.  While the dishes were being packed, he pointed out some things on the factory floor.  Since all the workers had gone home, he let me walk around.  You could see the molds sitting near the kiln and I even found some of the raw dishes in the pattern that I had picked out.  Then you could see where they add the glaze and let it dry.  All the racks in the factory were the perfect pieces that were going to the stores.  The stuff in the factory store upstairs had little imperfections, but most of the time, you couldn't even find them.  Their standards must be really high.

     After a long day, we were ready to find the hotel and grab some food.  We drove out to a few more stores, but they had nothing on the first, so we headed to check in and eat dinner.  Since we were in such a small town, not everyone spoke English, but we were able to get around thanks to Katia's Spanish.  The restaurant was awesome.  We had pasta and seafood, two of my favorites.  Bryan and I split the seafood sampler and it tasted so fresh.  The only thing we didn't eat were the little fried sardines.  I tried one, but that's about all I could do.  Even if it tasted good, I couldn't get past eating the head and tail.  Bryan and I also ordered some awesome red wine.  I'm always amazed at how cheap things can be in smaller towns.  our whole meal with drinks and two courses was 35 euros including tip.  The waiter was so gracious for a 4 euro tip.

      The next morning, we were all set to go shopping again.  Bryan and I had used the hotel internet to email our moms and get their shopping lists.  Back we went to the same street.  We went to a few more stores and found some more great warehouses.  It was so hard to tell which were stores and which were houses.  We would look for the sign and then ring the bell.  If someone answered, we would ask to see the store.  One stop, the guy painting took off his gloves and showed us around.  He had just finished a 24in x 36in tile mosaic for a custom order for an MD back in the states.  His English was not so good, but he tried and he showed us the designs for the kitchen where the tile was to be placed.  He was so proud.  Katia considered talking further about ordering one too until she found out it costs over 700 euros.  That's over $1000 just for one piece of a kitchen.
     We went to another factory and the store was so small.  Most of the things inside were old and outdated.  I did find this one planter that I thought Bryan's mom might like, so I asked if he had it in Red in my best Spanish.  He said 'rosso' in Italian and took us to the warehouse in the back.  Oh my gosh, ANOTHER warehouse full of stuff.  He moved several racks and took me to a whole rack of red planters.  They were just what I had been looking for.  Here's a picture of us trying to figure out how much room we still had left in the van.  It was getting so full already.

     We picked out a few pieces but not too many.  While he was wrapping them, we saw three or four workers packing up some dishes in the corner.  Upon closer inspection, I saw some racks full of serving pieces with TJMaxx stickers.  Katia asked him who all he sold to and he started naming them off, TJMaxx, COSTCO, Williams and Sonoma and some I hadn't heard of.  He even showed us the packing of things he had sent to COSTCO.  By now, we were quickly running out of room, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the big store and pick up the last bit of things from the day before.  When we got there, Katia noticed they had put out more dishes and decided to buy a serving set.  Bryan was so nervous it wouldn't all fit.  Let the Tetris begin.  I never would have imagined that three people could buy enough to fill up a 12 passenger van, but we did.  With one more stop to go, we were running out of time.  We needed to be on the road by noon to have the rental car turned in by 7.  We hit up the Northface outlet and headed home.  Jenny and Katia were worn out.  Can you see the packages in the back seats?  They were tucked everywhere.

    Now, it's Sunday and I want to unpack it all and have a dinner party.  Here's a link to all of the pics.

Dublin (Ireland Part 2)

When we got back to Dublin we met up with Jenny & Chris at the hotel.  We'd read about a place nearby that served some of it's own beers, and were intrigued.  When we got there we had dinner and their beers were pretty good.  They had a home made Pale Ale that was delicious.  Next up was the famous Church bar.  It's named that because it actually used to be a church.  And not just any church...it was where Arthur Guinness was married in 1761.  Now it's been converted into a giant bar.  It was over priced, but worth a drink or two to say we'd been there.  It's funny how we've gotten used to cheap beer (price, not quality) in Germany.  The average price for a half liter glass is 2-3 Euros in Germany.  In Ireland, the average price was double that at 5-6 Euros.

We walked around for a little bit more after that, but since it'd been a long day for all of us, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next morning we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel.  It was a decent sized buffet, and cheap compared to some prices.  Some hotels we've stayed at charge anywhere from 20-30 Euros for the breakfast buffet.  This one was only 8 Euros, and was more then filling.  After breakfast we headed down to the City Hall area to start the tour.  The lady who took us through was VERY knowledgable.  We started off at the Dublin Castle, which looked more like a palace then a castle.  The original Dublin Castle was built around the 1100's, but due to war & fires, was mostly demolished and replaced with what's today known as the castle.  Until the Irish independence in 1922 it was used by the British for their local government.  There is one tower that still remains from the original Castle.  It's interesting, but definitely looks out of place.  The back part of the castle is a pretty green lawn now, but used to be a swamp.  It's waters were so murky & black that the local Vikings called it "Dubhlinn", meaning black pool.  Over the years the spelling was changed a bit, until it became what we know today as Dublin.  Through out the tour we stopped at Christchurch Cathedral, nicknamed the Whiskey Church because Jameson Distillery helped fund the majority of the renovations over the years.  Our tour guide told us the story of the Cat & the Rat, whose mummified bodies are on display in the crypt of the church.  One day the organ player was testing the organ and he noticed that when he hit a particular key, the organ didn't play any chime.  They took it apart, and found a mummified cat inside.  The organ was in the lower part of the church, where the air is very dry, which is why it mummified.  They put the organ back to together, but that key still wouldn't play any music.  They took it apart again, and this time further up the pipe found the mummified remains of a rat...presumably the one the cat had chased up there.  For some reason, instead of burying or disposing of the animals, the priest at the time decided to preserve and display the animals.

From there we headed to Trinity College, a university that has been there for hundreds of years.  It was a beautiful campus.  The tour ended in the local gardens that used to be private, but are now opened to the public.  It's also where the Irish resistance in 1922 during the uprising holed up.  They stayed there for awhile until British snipers started picking them off from the surrounding buildings.

After the tour we were hungry, so we headed over to the Jameson Distillery for lunch.  The food wasn't bad, but was over priced.  The dessert Shanna & I shared was good though...we even had an Irish Coffee to go with it.  After lunch I walked down to the bar area and tried a 15 year old bottle of Jamesons..it was AMAZING.  The neat part was the bar area had a glass floor that was situated over the remains of the original distillery.

At this point we'd been walking around all day and we were beat.  We weren't far from our hotel, and didn't have any plans for a few hours, so we went back & took a nap.

That evening we headed to the Workman's Bar in the Temple Bar district area.  The tour we had taken earlier in the day sponsored a pub crawl through out pubs in the area.  The first bar started you off with a complimentary pint of Guinness.  We hit five pubs between 7:30pm and midnight, and had a great time talking with our pub guide.  She was about 5 foot tall, had a thick Irish accent, and just talked & talked all night.  But it was a lot of fun...it's great spending time with friends, but one part of travelling we both love is talking with the people who live where ever we are visiting.  At the end of the pub crawl we cabbed it back to the hotel and called it a night.

The next morning, after breakfast, we had a few things planned.  That morning we wanted to see a few things in town, then later that afternoon we were heading to the nearby coastal village of Howth.  We first walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  It was a pretty cathedral from the outside, but really neat from the inside. One thing I learned was that Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels, is buried there.  There was also all kinds of plaques & memorials in there.  One plaque I thought was really interesting, it was dedicated to a guy who was killed in action in Afghanistan.  I assumed it was a recent plaque until I noticed the date...1842.  Remember how Christchurch Cathedral was nicknamed the Whiskey Church?  Well St. Patrick's is nicknamed the Beer Church because the Guinness Brewery put a large amount of money into restoring it.

From there we headed to the Christchurch Cathedral that we had stopped at the day before on the tour.  This time we were able to walk in, as well as go down into the crypt area and see the Cat & the Rat mentioned earlier.  They also had some of the set costumes from the show The Tudors.  Apparently they filmed at the church all the time.

Now it was time to head to Howth.  We hopped a bus to the train station, then took a quick train ride there. It's too bad the weather was overcast, because it was pretty enough as it was, but on a clear day it would have been amazing.  We walked around the dock area for a bit, then headed over to a row of seafood restaurants for lunch.  They are all lined up right where the fishing boats dock, so they would unload their catches that day and they go right into the restaurant.  The place we ate at served them "tapas" style, so we ordered a bunch of plates and just shared them.  The food was outstanding.

We walked from there, along the dock, to the tourist information center.  Inside the center a local artist had a small shop set up.  Shanna fell in love with a watercolor print of the local light house, and it was reasonably priced, so we picked it up.  The artist was really nice, and gave us his contact info.  He asked us to send him a picture once Shanna had it framed and hung in our house.  While walking to the local bus stop, we saw a dog that I had to get a picture of...he was the same breed as Murphy, and was even sitting with his legs crossed, the same way Murphy does.

The bus wasn't going to be there for another 45 minutes, so we took a cab up to the summit area.  The view from up there was amazing.  You could see way out into the ocean, as well as the local lighthouse.

We walked around the summit area for awhile, then were lucky enough to catch a bus that went all the way to Dublin.  It was neat riding on the upper level of the bus and seeing the country side.  It was also strange riding on the left side of the road.  That would take a long time to get used to.

When we got back to Dublin, we walked around shopping for awhile, then headed back to the hotel and ate dinner there.

The next morning we got up early, headed to the airport, and flew home.  One neat thing I saw while in the air was some mountains.  We were way above the cloud layer, but these mountains were so tall the peaks broke through the cloud layer!  I took a picture of it and it's on the pictures page.

So that was it...over all we had a great time, and now more then ever I want to go visit Scotland.  The people in Ireland were so friendly, and the country side is stunning.

The blog will most likely be quiet for awhile...our next planned trip isn't until the end of May when we go to Paris & Normandy for Memorial Day Weekend.  Then in June Shanna's Mom is bring her niece & nephew out for a few weeks, then in July we fly back home for a week!  So it'll be quiet until May, but then there'll be lots of posts between then & mid July.

To see pictures, click here or any picture above.

Belfast (Ireland Part 1)

A few months ago our friends Jenny & Chris mentioned doing Ireland in March.  They were looking at spending a Sunday - Wednesday there, but we decided to go a few days before them, then meet up when they arrived.

We got a good deal on direct flights, so it was nice not have to change over anywhere.  When we landed in Dublin, we couldn't help but notice the same thing immediately...English was everywhere!  You get used to not being able to read every sign, or having to pick out words you know to get the over all meaning.  But for the next six days, we wouldn't have to worry about speaking or reading anything but English.  It was a quick trip through Passport control, then we got our baggage and hopped a cab to the hotel.  On the drive there I noticed the cabbie was driving the speed limit, and sitting in the left lane.  I thought that was a jerk move, but then I thought about it...I knew they drove on the left side of the road, then it occurred to me that maybe that meant their left lane was the cruising lane and they passed on the right side.  Sure enough, I saw cars pass him on the right, then get right back in the left lane.  That would be hard to get used to if we lived there.

We got to the hotel, checked in, then hit the town.  Both of us were tired, so we didn't stay out too late, but we did head to a pub for dinner and a few drinks.  The first thing we noticed when we walked into the pub was how friendly everyone was.  The bartender said hello, and talked with us for a few minutes before seating us, and all through out the evening, everyone who worked there was really nice.  I had a delicious dinner of chicken, wrapped in bacon and stuffed with herbs.

After we were done there, we headed back to the hotel and called it an early night.  It was nice being able to flip through the TV channels and have every one of them be in English.

The next morning came quickly because we had to be at the train station by 7:30 to meet up with our tour. We got there on time, got our tickets from our tour guide, then hopped on the train to Belfast.  Our tour guide was really nice, and on the 2 hour train ride would move from group to group talking with people.  The country side was BEAUTIFUL.  It had rained the night before and was sunny now, so the whole country side looked like someone had hosed it all down and cleaned it.  It was bright, shiny, and most of all, GREEN.

Before we knew it we had arrived in Belfast.  The interesting thing about Belfast, which I didn't know prior to our trip, was that it's the capital of Northern Ireland, which is a different country from the Republic of Ireland.  The southern part of the country is called the Republic of Ireland, and is it's own independent country.  It's part of the EU and uses the Euro for currency, but has it's own government.  Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, and uses the Pound for currency.  The hotel we were staying at was right outside the train station, so we were able to quickly check in & drop our bags off, then hop on the tour bus that was going to take us all around the northern part of the country that day.  On the way to our first stop, we saw a full rainbow!  I thought that was neat, seeing a rainbow in Ireland.  Our first stop was Carrickfergus Castle.  Because we had a lot of places to visit, we didn't actually go in the castle, we just stopped for about 10 minutes outside the castle to stretch our legs and take pictures.

After that it was back on the bus.  The drive to the rope bridge was going to take approximately 2 hours, so we stopped at a rest stop along the way in a little village.  I only mention this because we took some pictures there, including one of a plaque I thought was interesting talking about Paddy, a carrier pigeon used shortly after D-Day to send information to troops in France.  It flew there and back in just under 5 hours, which was a record time.

When we got to the rope bridge area, you couldn't help but be in awe of the cliff sides and small islands.  It was a 1 kilometer walk from the parking lot to the rope bridge, but it took us awhile to walk it because we kept stopping to take pictures.  The rope bridge was HIGH up...several hundred meters above a rocky area with the ocean flowing beneath us.  You'll see it in the pictures, it would have been a long way down.  It didn't help that it was windy and the bridge was swinging.

There wasn't much on the other side of the rope bridge, just an area on the rock outcropping to take pictures and look around.  We then crossed back over the bridge and headed back to the bus.

The next stop was lunch at the Bushmill's Distillery.  It's the oldest licensed distillery in Ireland, with it's license being issued in 1608.  They had been distilling on that site since the 1100's, but in the 1600's they were required to get a license to continue.  The food there was pretty good, I had a cottage pie, which was basically hamburger meat and vegetables with a baked mashed potato like topping.  We also might have picked up a few bottles of the whiskey from the gift shop. :)

Before the last stop, the bus driver pulled over to the side of the road so we could get out & take pictures.  From there we could see an amazing sight...castle ruins built on top of the cliffs looking out over the water.  The pictures of it are some of my favorites that we took during the trip.

The next stop was the last one, and the main reason for the trip...the Giant's Causeway.  It's a natural rock formation that's unique because of it's shape...hexagons.  It was due to volcanic eruptions, but in typical Irish fashion, they have a different reason.  They like to say that a giant named Finn McCool used to live there (hence the name), and it had a problem with the giant who lived across the Irish Sea, in Scotland.  They would throw rocks at each other, and that's how part of it formed.  They also say some of the strange formations of rocks in the area were used by the Finn.  They have the Giants Chair, the Giants Chimney, the Giant's musical Organ, etc...  You'll see some of them in the pictures.  We got there before sunset, but the sun was lower in the sky and it was beautiful.

After we'd walked around there for a bit we got back on the bus and headed back to Belfast.  Once we got back there, the rest of the tour got back on the train and headed back to Dublin, but Shanna & I had arranged to have our return tickets dated for the following day since we were staying the night in Belfast.  We went back to the hotel and dropped our stuff off, then walked around town.  The first pub we walked into was neat, it had a bunch of guys dressed up in kilts and other guys dressed in green watching the Ireland Vs. Scotland Rugby match.  Neither Shanna nor I had ever watched a game before and knew nothing about it.  This was another example of Irish hospitality...the bartender, in between serving drinks, sat and explained the rules to us while we watched.  Once we had a rough idea of what was going on, it was actually a lot of fun to watch.  Ireland won the match.  We wondered around town after that, and found a good pub to eat dinner at.  After dinner we stopped back in the first bar for a few more drinks, then called it a night.

The next morning we got up and hit the town.  It was around 9am, and we were scheduled to meet our tour guide at noon.  We found a great place to eat that had a traditional Irish breakfast, consisting of eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, toast, and these things that had the consistency of pancakes, but were not served with syrup.  I'm not sure what they were, but they weren't bad.  After breakfast we came across a few neat landmarks.  First was the Europa Hotel, which is famous because it was the most bombed hotel by the IRA during the 70's and 80's.  Across the street from it was the Crown Bar.  It had a giant crown on the ground at the entrance, and we were told that if you were Catholic you stepped on the crown as you walked in, and if you were Protestant you stepped over the crown.  We also passed by the Grand Opera House, which was a beautiful building.

The nice thing about Belfast was, in contrast to Dublin, it was quiet.  We walked around that morning and barely saw anyone.  At one point while we were reading a tourist sign, a guy walked up and asked if we wanted to sign up for a tour.  We told him thanks, but we already had a tour lined up.  He said ok, then asked if there was anything he could help us with or any questions we might have.  We talked with him for a few minutes, then he wished us a good day, and headed off.  It was that kind of friendliness from people that was unexpected, but we saw it our entire trip.

Eventually noon rolled around and we met our tour guide in front of City Hall.  The guy I had set the tour up through had told me ahead of time that he couldn't do it on Sunday due to a prior committment, but his friend was a professor at Queen's University in Belfast.  He was really nice, but had a THICK Irish accent. Most people we talked with were easy to understand, but I had to listen hard to this guy to understand everything he said.  The tour billed itself as "Hidden Belfast", and he took us through all sorts of back alleys and areas where you never would have known had historical value.  He showed us where the old Linen factory used to be, where members of the IRA would gather in secret, and other historical places.  We ended the tour at the oldest pub in Belfast.  From there we walked with the tour guide to St. George's Market, which was near our hotel.  It's a large indoor market where vendors from all over the city come to sell their goods.  They also had food, so we ate lunch there.  There's a video I posted in the pictures that is from the market.  They were playing Irish music as we walked through.  Finally it was time to head to the train station and hop the train back to Dublin.

Since between the two cities there's a LOT to write about, I'm breaking the post up into two, one for Belfast and one for Dublin.

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

To head on to the Dublin post, click here.

Karlovy Vary

I had to work Valentine's Day night, but had a three day weekend right before it, so Shanna & I decided to take a get away trip just for the weekend.  The new job is a 24x7 operation due to the nature of it, and when you first start, they like you to work all the shifts so you know everyone and what the job is like at all times of the day.  That means for January & February I've been working nights.  It's not too bad, it's quiet and I love the group of people who work at night, but I'm looking forward to shifting back to days in April.  So Friday morning I drove home, we loaded the dogs & luggage up, and hit the road.  First stop was to drop the dogs off, then I put my head back & slept in the car while Shanna drove to Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.  Shanna had wanted to go since she heard of the town from friends and saw the movie, The Last Holiday, which takes place in the town and the hotel we stayed in, the Grandhotel Pupp.

Five hours later we pulled up at the hotel.  If you've read it in the news, the stories about the deep freeze going through Eastern Europe is no joke...it was COLD.  Thankfully they had parking right in front of the hotel, so we headed inside and checked in.  The first thing we noticed was the size of the room.  It was HUGE.  And the bathroom had heated towel racks and a heated floor.  After we unpacked & got settled in, we decided to take a drive into the center of the city.  On a nice day, we could have easily walked to city center, but like I said earlier, it was freezing out.  So we drove, parked, and walked  around for a bit.  It was early evening at this point, and since it's not high tourist season, most places were closed or were closing up.  We managed to pick up a bottle of Czech wine and got some information for things to do on Saturday.  I wish I could say we stayed & did more, but there just wasn't much to do, so we headed back to the hotel.

We did walk around that evening near our hotel.  While we weren't in city center, we were in the city, in an area known for ritzy shopping & spas.  I don't think I've ever seen so many jewelry and clothing shops in such  tight spaces.

One neat area we passed was where some thermal mineral springs were.  They had buildings built around them, which were closed for the night, but it was neat seeing the outdoor pipes that carried the water from the springs into the buildings.  The spring water had various temps, with the hottest being 72 degrees Celsius (161 degrees F), so the pipes were also hot.  In that frigid air, they gave off a TON of steam.  Shanna got this picture that I thought was neat of one of the churches through the steam.

After we'd walked around for a bit, we stumbled upon a little hole in the wall restaurant that looked cozy inside, so we stopped to eat.  I had a DELICIOUS plate with deer medallions in a brown cream sauce, and I'll be honest...I can't remember what Shanna had.  But she liked it!  They brought out some delicious bread, and we washed it down with some Czech beer.  Great food at reasonable prices.  Our last stop of the night was at the front desk to schedule massages at the hotel the next morning.

When we got up, we headed down to the breakfast buffet.  They had some great food, including a pancake making station!  After breakfast we headed to the massage area.  It was run by a Russian couple, and they didn't mess around with the massages.  There were times I thought I was going to have permanent bruising.  But they did a great job, and when it was done, my whole body felt relaxed.  Speaking of Russians, that's one thing we noticed...we heard a LOT of people speaking Russian.  The strangest sight was a guy speaking to his kids in Russian and wearing a Washington Capitals jacket.  But I digress.  After the massages, we wanted to walk around town.  Here's where things get a little embarrassing.  Remember how cold I said it was?  Well, I don't own thermal underwear because I never need it.  This weekend I needed it, and Shanna had brought along an extra pair of tights.  I don't know how I squeezed into them, but I somehow managed and WOW...they kept me warm under my jeans.

We walked around town a bit more and noticed how many ducks there were in the canals that ran through the town.  The canals were almost entirely frozen over except for a few sections, and those sections that were still water had ducks crowded in them.  I don't know how they stood the cold temps.  Our first stop was the train up the mountain behind the hotel.  At the top was Diana Tower, built in 1914.  From the top of the tower, you had a spectacular view of not only Karlovy Vary, but the huge forest behind it and the mountains in the distance.  Had the wind not been whipping along the top, I could have stayed up there for awhile admiring the scenery.

When we finished walking around up there, we took the train back down to the bottom and headed into the hotel cafe to warm up with some hot chocolate.  After we had sufficiently warmed up, we decided it was time to hit the Hot Springs.  They sell special mugs all through out town that are made so the handle doubles as a straw.  We each picked out our mugs at a store, then headed to the springs.  The water is free, you just need something to put it in to drink.  They have three different stations, with the temperature of the water ranging from 30 Degrees Celsius (86 degrees F) to as hot as 72 Degrees Celsius (161 Degrees F).  The water was very...mineraly.   At the low temp you could really taste it, and it was pretty bad.  But at the high temperature you couldn't, and it wasn't bad.  Shanna didn't like it, but I didn't mind.

Apparently in the first picture she took I was closing my eyes...so I made sure I wasn't in this picture. :)  After we spent some time wandering around this part of town, we had two more places we wanted to go visit that would require driving.  First up was a trip to the glass museum right outside of town.  It's not just any glass place...they make glass and sell it to big brand names like Waterford, who then slap their name on it, mark it up, and sell it to you.  Unfortunately only the shop was open by the time we got there, the tour & museum were not.  We walked around the shop, hoping to find some high quality glass cups, bowls, etc.. for dirt cheap, but man...they were expensive.  So that didn't last long.  We headed from there to the Becherovka Distillery museum.  Becherovka is a digestif served after dinner that is supposed to aid in digestion.  We cut it close with their closing time, but managed to catch the last tour.  The only problem?  It was only in German.  We actually enjoyed it because they gave us a written English guide, so we could try to pick up as much of the German as we could, then see what we got right or wrong when we read the written material.  There was another older German couple taking the tour and we were able to understand what they were saying and said a few things back.  I was even able to understand & answer the guide when she asked what country we were visiting from.  At the end of the tour we were given samples of all their products.  They are pretty good...Becherovka is made from herbs, and you can really taste them when you try it.  One of the funnier things we saw in their shop after the tour was an Advent Calendar, but instead of candy for each day, it had shots in it.  So 25 shots for 25 days of Advent!  It was a bit pricey at 1,490CZ ($75), but I guess when you consider it's 25 shots, that's not too bad.  No, we did not buy it. :)

We were in town at this point, so we headed to an Italian restaurant that a co-worker of mine had raved about.  He'd lived in Italy for 8 years, so when he said it was great Italian food, that was all the endorsement I needed.  Plus he said it was pretty cheap.  He wasn't kidding!  We each ordered a dish, had a few beers and shared a bottle of wine, all for about $40.  The food was delicious.  Shanna ordered a spinach & meat dish, while I ordered Gnocchi with spinach, chicken, and bacon.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and ended the night in the lounge underneath the hotel.  They had a live band playing cover songs, so it was fun sitting down there & listening to the music.  One thing of note on the drink menu was a shot of 100 year old Cognac.  I was very tempted, but just couldn't justify $250 for a shot...but I won't lie, I thought about it.

The next day we checked out, hit the road, and headed home.  It was a great weekend, and a nice quick getaway.

We have a few weeks of downtime, then in early March we're flying to Ireland to visit Belfast & Dublin, so I'll be sure to have a post & pics up shortly after we get back!

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