France

“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” ~Rudyard Kipling

Well...our plans changed a bit, but all for the best! I can say that now because I loved the places we ended up, but last week I wasn't so sure. 

After our whirlwind trip through Switzerland last weekend, Chris and I arrived safely to Paris, France late Sunday night. Lauren arrived early Monday morning and we conquered France as a team of three!

Monday and Tuesday were slower days, but still great. We took advantage of the time we had allotted for Paris and strolled through the city instead of rushing and wearing ourselves out. We went on two walking tours, we explored the pyramid at the Louvre after dark (amazing), we enjoyed the view of the city from the Sacre Coeur, and we walked through the artist square in Montmartre. 

I could spend a week just walking through Paris and admiring all the beautiful old buildings. I loved the tiny balconies and the style of Paris. I felt like I was in the set of a beautiful, romantic movie the whole time we were there. I did have to breathe through my mouth the entire time we were there however because of the horrible pee smell that covers the city. yuck!

As we had yet to step foot into the famous museums of Paris, we devoted all day Wednesday to them. I am getting quite tired of museums after 5 weeks of them, but these were different. We visited the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay and I actually enjoyed them. Well...the buildings mostly. The Louvre is such a beautiful building both inside and out. It was once a palace which might explain its beauty, but the interior is filled with beautiful white marble and the details are so intricate that one could enjoy the building itself and ignore all the famous art inside ( I think that's what I did...shhh). I did see the Mona Lisa though! It's much smaller than I'd expected, but still something to see for sure. I also loved the Musee d'Orsay. They renovated an old train station for this museum and it's not one to be missed. I actually preferred it over the Louvre. The art is much more my taste (newer) and I loved the style of the old station. After the museums we visited the chapel Ste-Chapelle. The entire upper floor of the church is circled in beautiful stained glass that tells the story of the bible. The afternoon sunlight peaking through the colorful glass was breathtaking! We had a quick visit here because we were all exhausted from our museum trips, but I think we all felt it was worth the visit! Lauren and I spent the night cruising  the Seine River and admiring the city by night while Chris stayed at the hostel. Paris is more beautiful at night in my opinion. The buildings, bridges, and of course the Eiffel Tower bring the city to life in the dark and it truly is stunning. We were also able to see the Eiffel Tower do its "show" of twinkle lights. After dark for the first 5 minutes of the hour the tower twinkles with white lights. Such a sight to see if you are ever in Paris! So amazing! I will never forget sitting on the river admiring the Eiffel Tower by night. 

Thursday was full of sightseeing as well. We had to visit Versailles of course! Beautiful and amazing, but again...another museum! The gardens were amazing though. Versailles is such a huge, beautiful structure that I think you could visit one hundred times and still have missed something. We decided to separate after Versailles and I took the time to see more of Paris, I filled my afternoon full! I admired Notre Dame; enjoyed some wine, beef bourguignon, and crepes at a french cafe while watching the rain over Notre Dame; I walked down the river to av des Champs Élysées and visited the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe; and I walked around the Eiffel Tower. Needless to say I was beat! I finally made my way home, but not before stopping at Pigalle for a view of Moulin Rouge. Fun to see, but much smaller and less glamorous than I'd hoped. I was pleased with my day though and slept hard that night!

We had originally planned to stay in Paris for 4 days and take an overnight train to Venice on Thursday night in order to travel through Italy with Lauren. ha. Only after waiting in line for 2.5 hours in Gare du Nord did we realize that we needed to change these plans. We were told that we couldn't get to Venice until Sunday night after two days of travel. We were not willing to commit to that. Instead we decided to tour parts of southern France. Such a wonderful detour!

Early Friday morning we caught a train from Paris to Avignon in the Provence region of southern France. Holy moly...so so so beautiful. I hate to think that we weren't planning to visit here. We only had a day to spend in the area so we decided to take a driving tour of the surrounding villages. So worth it! Our guide, Benoit, drove us from village to village, through lavender fields, and to an old abbey set in the valley. We did some wine tasting, enjoyed the breathtaking views of the valley, and pranced through the lavender fields (the overpowering smell of lavender was welcomed after the odor of Paris too!). I loved the tour! Please visit here when you come to France and bring me along! 

We stayed in the quaint town of Avignon for the night. Avignon was lovely and a great get away from the big city. It's actually the only town that is still completely within walls in all of France...really cool. I don't think you could go wrong staying in any of the lovely villages in the area, they all offer something very unique and different. 

Our tour of southern France wasn't over yet! We left Avignon Saturday morning and were on the "beach" in Nice by 5 that evening. We've just spent the last few days soaking up the Mediterranean sun and exploring the French Riviera. Another wow! We stayed in Nice, but took the bus to Cap d'Ail,  Villefranche, and Monaco when we weren't eating yummy food, watching futbol, or lounging on the pebble beach of Nice. I am so grateful for our change of plans because it allowed us a couple of days to relax and enjoy the beautiful crystal blue water of the Mediterranean. 

Chris and I celebrated 5 weeks on the road yesterday with a bottle of French wine as well. Here's to another wonderful month in Italy and Spain! Cheers!

LOVE LIFE 

Salzburg, Austria; Munich, Germany; & Grindelwald, Switzerland

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” ~Jawaharial Nehru  

I do apologize, this post is a bit delayed. It's hard to sit and write about what has already happened when I could be out exploring the beautiful city of Paris, France. Yep, we have made it to Paris and I love it! It smells horrible, but I'll tell you all about that later.

You know you have been traveling a long time when your toiletries are dry! 

We've been on the road for a month now and we've seen 8 of the 10 countries we planned to visit. We still have money and just barely enough energy to be tourist for another month or so. We've done laundry twice and shipped one box of goodies back to the states! I think my pack is getting lighter even though I don't think I've left anything behind...maybe I'm just getting stronger!

If you read my last travel post you know that we were headed to Salzburg after Vienna, Austria. The rain stuck with us, but Salzburg was such a welcomed change from Vienna. I loved Salzburg and hope to visit again! 

We arrived in the beautiful mountain town in the afternoon on Monday the 11th. We found our way and dropped our bags at the hostel before exploring the old town. Salzburg truly is beautiful with snow capped mountains in the distance, green rolling hills, and a pocket of city right in the middle. There are castles built on top of the rocky mountains and  the beautiful _ river running through. The highlight of our two days in Salzburg would probably be the Sound of Music tour, but we did so many other fun things too. We toured Old Town, visited the Dom Cathedral, meandered through the cemetery (where they pay rent for their graves...or their families I guess), hiked our way to the castle for a beautiful view of the city, we ate pretzel sandwiches, we shopped through the markets, and enjoyed some beer and futbol in the evenings. We meet several friends and spent some time at the Augustiner beer garden too. Like I said...I think my favorite part of our time in Salzburg was the Sound of Music bus tour. We boarded a bus that drove us through and around Salzburg to see and explore some of the sights from the movie. I can't wait to watch the movie again and see all the sights we visited. The tour also drove us about 1.5 hours outside of Salzburg and gave us the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful lakes ever. The clearest blue water pooled under huge mountains with adorable Austrian style homes built throughout. 

I absolutely loved our time in Salzburg and wish we could have stayed longer. I hope to visit sooner rather than later and enjoy it all over again!

We left Salzburg on a rainy morning and took a train to Munich, Germany. Munich was quite an experience. Chris says its his favorite city so far. I liked the city, but enjoyed our time there more because of the people I met and the place we stayed. I kept running into problems when I was booking our hostel for Munich. There were either no rooms available or the prices were crazy high. I found out later that it was because of a big festival that was going on in Munich that week. Anywho...the most reasonable place I could find was to book us at "the tent" for a couple nights. "The Tent" was literally a big tent. Like one you would see at a circus or fair. It slept 100 people in bunk beds in one tent without heating or AC. I was so hesitant about booking it, but it ended up being my favorite place we've stayed so far.There was "family" dinner every night, a bonfire, ping pong tables, a piano cabin, and hammocks scattered everywhere. I loved it!  The environment and people made our stay here great! Follow the link and check out the site to see what I am talking about.

Back to Munich itself. I was pretty sick of museums at this point so we didn't step foot in a single one while there. Instead we walked around town, had a beer in the central square while watching the Glockenspiel (clock with figurines and bells from the 30's) in the Marienplatz, we shopped and ate our way through the Viktualen market, and spent plenty of time with friends at the Hoffbrau and Augustiner beer gardens. We walked through the English gardens and watched the river surfers. We wondered around the beautiful Nyphenburg Palace and gardens. And we spent some time at the concentration camp Dachau. I am so grateful for this visit, but can't seem to put into words what I experienced. It's so much to wrap your head around and then to see it as it was just 60 years ago is something I won't ever forget. 

Munich treated us well! We ended up staying 3 nights instead of 2 because we loved "the tent" and it's $10.50/ night bed! 

I was sad to leave, but seeing the bug on my pillow early Saturday morning made it much easier to pack up and board the train to Switzerland!

The journey from Munich, Germany to Grindelwald, Switzerland was a mess. We left Munich around  7 am on Saturday. 4 trains and about 8 hours later we finally checked into our place in the beautiful Swiss Alps. While the ride was long, the view was absolutely worth it. Running through the mountains was a huge lake of clear, clean, blue/green glacial water. It was stunning! I could have spent a week up in the mountains and on the lake! 

We didn't have much time in Switzerland, but we definitely made the most of it. We hiked through the mountains and enjoyed a nice dinner in the village of Grindelwald where we slept. Grindelwald is a small farming village further up in the mountains from Interlaken. The town was so nice and peaceful and the view was one for the books!

We spent Sunday canyoning through the Alps. I have to say that this was the best part of our trip so far!! I absolutely can not wait to get our pictures in from this adventure so I can share with you, but until then I'll try to tell you how amazing it was. We started by getting sized for our wet suits in Interlaken and having a short intro session to the sport. From there we boarded a bus with about 10 other people and two guides for the hour drive up the mountain. We found our canyon and suited up! Our first obstacle was the repel down to the canyon from the street. The driver dropped us in the middle of the road and next thing I knew I was standing the clear, freezing canyon water surrounded by ice and snow. We spent the next 4 hours sliding, swimming,jumping, zip lining, and floating down the canyon. The experience was once in a lifetime!! I seriously can not wait to show pictures so you all understand what I'm talking about. The views from the canyon were pretty spectacular as well!

We went straight from the canyon to the train station where we boarded a train for Paris, France! 

I've had a wonderful trip so far! It's been crazy, and fast, and full of adventure! I am looking forward to spending more than a couple days in our next countries and will write a about Paris ASAP!

Love Life and be adventurous 

healing the soul

"It is only to the individual that a soul is given." ~Albert Einstein


Do you believe that music can heal a soul? 
I do. 
At times over the past couple of years music has been such an escape for me. Listening to Needtobreathe is my escape. No matter my location or how I am feeling, when I listen to Needtobreathe my attitude changes for the better. For me, their songs are a reminder to be ever grateful and reminded that I am blessed, loved, and cherished. 
This is my favorite "soul healing" song from these guys... 
'Washed by the Water"  (youtube video)
I am not too sure how I feel about the video, but these guys are amazing live!
I hope you enjoy and appreciate it as much as I do. 
Live Life

Czech Republic & Vienna, Austria

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” ~Jawaharial Nehru 

Well, we are riding and rolling our way through the hills of Austria and it is absolutely breathtaking. Rolling hills of the greenest grass for as long as the eye can see dotted with beautiful Austrian style homes tucked in the valleys. 

In order to tell you how we got here, I must first tell you where we've been.

We left Germany on Wednesday of last week and traveled south to beautiful Praha (Prague), Czech Republic. It's easy to see when you cross the border from Germany to Czech Republic. It's absolutely beautiful! We spent the last two hours of our trip alongside a flowing river with the sun shining on the rolling hills and huge rocky mountains. It is truly amazing. We arrived into Prague late that night and spent the evening settling in, grabbing a bite to eat, and chatting with Mom and Dad. 

We spent a couple days exploring Prague and I feel in love! I loved Prague! I think it's my favorite place we have been yet, next to Brugge. Prague was like a beautiful painting come to life. You know those paintings you see of beautiful old towns with clouds that look fake? That is Prague. We were beyond lucky to have beautiful weather during our stay too. I can't wait to show pictures! 

Anywho...we explored the Prague castle estate, toured St. Vitus's Cathedral, and climbed our way up the Cathedrals south tower to enjoy a 360 degree view of the city. We spent some time in the Old Royal Palace and walked across the Vltava River via the beautiful St. Charles Bridge and rubbed the feet of St. John of Nepomuk to grant our one wish! We saw the famous astronomical clock in the Old Town Square (did you know they blinded the man who built the clock so he could never build another one as magnificent...crazy) and sat through a classical concert in the church of St. Nicholas. We explored the wonderful John Lenon graffiti wall and strolled along the lovers bridge. Story goes that a long time ago and boy and girl stood on the bridge and threw a locked lock into the water to signify that their love would last forever. Since then people visit the bridge and lock their own locks on the gates with their names or writings on them. We had traditional Czech food out in the square before renting a row boat and spending an hour rowing down the river and visiting the old Jewish cemetery and museum in the city. We spent the night watching the Czech Republic vs Russia futbol match in the Old Town Square where they had set up a huge screen and were having concerts and activities for the city to celebrate Euro 2012. This was great fun except that Czech lost! 

I was sad to go, but we left Prague (barely catching our train) early Saturday morning for Vienna, Austria. 

We spent about 36 hours in Vienna and I have to admit that I think we could have skipped it all together.  I can't decide whether it's Vienna or the rain or the fact that I am finally tiring after 3 weeks of constant traveling, but I wasn't taken by Vienna and am pleased that we are headed out this morning. Don't get me wrong, parts of Vienna were beautiful and nice. It's a lot of what we have seen over the last few weeks and it is all starting to look and sound the same though! 

Since we knew we wouldn't be in Vienna long we decided to spend our time on a tour bus to give us a brief look at the city and all the main attractions. After the bus tour we walked through the main streets of town, but everything...absolutely everything is closed on Sundays. We had some lunch then decided to head back to the hostel and call it an early night of resting, reading, and watching futbol. First we stopped at the Schloss Schonbrunn castle to walk around and explore for a bit. I am so glad we did because if not I would have felt that Vienna was a absolute waste. The ground and gardens of the castle were so refreshing and after a quick walk up the lawn we were able to get a nice view of the city past the castle. This was all before the sky opened and it started to rain cats and dogs on us! We rushed our way out the castle gates and made it back to our hostel, but not before we were drenched from head to toe. We called it an early night and I was able to catch up on some sleep before packing up and moving out this morning. 

Like I said before, Austria is absolutely beautiful and I am able to see it now that we are traveling through the countryside. I hope that the beauty and charm sticks with us all the way to Salzburg!

LOVE LIFE

and know that you are blessed!

Netherlands and Germany

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” ~Clifton Fadiman 

Greetings all! 

Hello, halo! 

I am writing to you on a train somewhere in Germany. We have just spent two days in Berlin, Germany and are on our way to Praha (Prague), Czech Republic.

I last wrote from our hostel in Amsterdam soon after we had arrived. Oh, little did I know all I would have to write for you. Let me just start by saying that I have seen enough of Amsterdam and all it has to offer and we were only there for a couple nights. We arrived in Amsterdam at about 4 and I swear to you that my jaw was on the ground until about 9 when we shut the door to our hostel. When you train into the city you are forced to enter the city and walk through the Red Light District. Once we walked through I thought "oh mess, I've seen it, now I can move on!" Little did we know that our hostel was right smack dab in the middle of the red light district, ha! Oh yea, and literally right next door to the hemp museum...we were in the heart of it all!! When I could finally walk the streets without embarrassing myself and Chris by the looks I couldn't hide we made our way down Damrack Straat for a bite to eat. After dinner we spent some time in Rembrandtplein or Rembrandt square. I enjoyed some coffee while listening to a Dutchman attempt to entertain us with some american tunes. I also LOVED the people watching ( all over the city really), no surprise! If you've been to Amsterdam, you know...everyone smokes and EVERYONE rides bikes. It's absolutely insane how many bikes are in the city and chained to anything and everything. It gives the city such a nice feeling though and is a great get away from being surrounded by cars and buses. 

We spent Saturday and Sunday biking through Amsterdam and exploring the city. I avoided our neighborhood as often as possible and never stepped foot in a "coffeeshop." I preferred to hide from the nearly naked women in their windows and see the beautiful city rather than the inside of a smelly shop.  We visited some old paintings at the Rijksmuseum, spent time learning about the amazing Van Gogh at his museum, and walked in Anne Frank's footsteps at the Anne Frank Huis. I have always loved learning about Anne frank and the Holocaust and really enjoyed our tour here. It also made me very eager to see more of these historical sites as we travel through Europe. Chris tried to get us tickets to the Northern Ireland vs. Holland futbol match, but it was sold out so we cheered along with the fans at a local pub. I also took a canal cruise through the city for another great view of the city.  Amsterdam is such a beautiful city both architecturally and naturally so it was nice to simply sit and see the city pass by. 

The environment of Amsterdam is so different from anywhere I have ever been and hope I will ever go. I was uncomfortable most of the time and was ready to make our next move to Berlin. 

We took an early morning train on Monday for Berlin and were in the city by about 2. The ride was long, but we were able to rest, read, and catch up on some things while enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way. 

Berlin was such a new experience for me. It was so strange to be in a city that has grown and developed SO much in just my lifetime. I learned so much about the city and feel lucky that I got to see first hand some of the historical sites, but mostly all that has been developed just since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. I would absolutely recommend visiting Berlin if not for the fun, then to simply experience a city that changes daily and is growing and developing daily.

Chris and I were only in Berlin for about 48 hours, but we filled those days full! We went on a 4 hour walking tour throughout the entire city. I loved this and learned so much. We visited the TV tower that gave us a complete 360 degree view of the city, we toured the Berliner Dom and cathedral and overwhelmed ourselves with German history in the Deutsches Historisches museum (German history museum). We also spent some of our time enjoying yummy German beers in the brauhaus. 

Our hostel was wonderful here and allowed us to meet so many new people as well. We roomed with two Canadian sisters, found another brother sister group of French Canadians, and spent some time with a new friend from North Carolina. We are slowly learning that everyone we meet is doing the exact same thing we are. It's so funny to be a traveler and meet other travelers though. We will spend days and nights with these people and never actually know their names until we are exchanging information as we head out of town. Such a different experience, but so fun! So fun because we make these friends and have the opportunity to enjoy a night of pub crawling our way through Berlin...once in a lifetime! 

I think we will both miss Berlin and our friends we made, but we hope to meet up with them later and have high hopes that Prague will treat us well. 

Cheers to you!

LIVE LIFE and be grateful for your freedom!

Belgium

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." ~Martin Buber


I am sad to say that we are leaving Belgium and making our way to the Netherlands. It's not that I am not looking forward to what's to come and all that we still have to explore, but I really enjoyed Belgium. The people were very friendly even though we didn't speak either of their primary languages, French and Dutch. The scenery is amazing! Beautiful old homes, buildings, and churches everywhere. If I remember correctly, there are 16 catholic churches in the walls of Brugges that only has a population of 20,000. Actually, one man told us that most days there are more tourist in the walls than locals. The food was tasty too! How can you say no to sweet, chewy Belgian waffles, mouth watering chocolates, tasty beer, and fresh mussels! I had no problem staying full throughout our three days in Belgium that's for sure! 


Our Belgium adventure started Tuesday in Brussels. We took a train from London to Brussels early Tuesday morning and after talking with people and looking at prices, we had planned to just spend the afternoon there. Once we arrived we had to exchange our pounds for euro, store our bags, and find out how to travel around Brussels...oh and try to learn either French or Dutch! I will  admit that most of the people we ran into spoke English fairly well though. We found our way to the Grand Place and started our day. After walking around a bit and taking in the beauty that is the Grand Place, we sat down to enjoy a beer and sandwich on the square. I will post pictures later this summer, but google "Grand Place Brussels" and take a peek...it's beautiful! After lunch we decided to do the hop on hop off bus which I think was a great decision. The bus was a perfect way for us to see Brussels in such a short time. We rode around for about 3 hours and after found the statue Manneken Pis and the sister statue Jeaneke Pis. Strange, but kind of cute. Look those up too! It had been about 5 hours and we felt that we had seen what we needed of Brussels so I picked up a waffle with strawberries and chocolate (YUM) and we made our way back to the train station. The next train only took about an hour and we were in Brugges by dinner time.
Brussels was nice, some pretty things to look at, but in the end was just another big city much dirtier than I prefer. The buildings were old, but not the beautiful kind of old we have seen and will see in other places, but old and dirty looking.


Brugges on the other hand was fantastic! I haven't seen the movie In Brugge, but if you have you know the atmosphere of the town. Brugge is a small town surrounded by walls and canals where everything is within walking distance. Everyone (and I mean everyone) rides their bikes around town while the tourist are walking, riding horse drawn carriages, or floating through the canals in tour boats. Chris and I spent our time here visiting several museums, eating chocolates and tasty food while sipping on Belgian beer, and making new friends! In one of the city's old Catholic churches which is now a museum, The Church of our Lady, we saw the beautiful Madonna with Child by Michealangelo. I loved this museum/tour the most! The church was absolutely breathtaking and some if the old artwork and structures they house are amazing. we also hiked our way up the Belfort Tower and enjoyed the magnificent view of Brugge and the surrounding areas. I loved this part, but man was it tough to climb the very, very steep 366 stairs up and 366 back down. 


Brugges was a nice break for us. We were able to sleep in because we stayed in just a four person room as opposed to the 16 person rooms we had been sleeping in. We were also able to walk around the city without feeling rushed or pressured to fill our days from start to finish because we did have 3 days. I appreciated this because it allowed us to slightly emerge ourselves in the culture and appreciate the city rather than just passing through. I would absolutely make a trip back to Brugges if I had the opportunity, you should plan to visit if you ever make it to Belgium! 


We are spending our last full day in the mess that is Amsterdam today and head to Germany tomorrow. I'll post all about Amsterdam soon I hope! 


I miss you all and hope that everyone is staying safe and enjoying summer! 


LIVE LIFE and enjoy fine chocolates!