The Hills are alive?!

Today started off pretty simply.  Jen and I had booked the Sound of Music tour and were waiting for them to come pick us up at the hostel.  We were picked up in a van to take us to the  bus, and ended up sharing it with a couple from Vancouver, BC.  I had a lot of fun chatting with them the whole way.  There were another couple ladies in the back seat who were on their way to Vancouver next week for the first time.  One told us she had been to Seattle numerous times in all different seasons and had never seen it rain once.  The rest of us just looked at her in disbelief and told her she was lucky.  Particularly in the spring.

We got on our bus, which had a painting on the side of Maria and the kids singing, but as our tour guide informed us, Maria just looks like she's sneezing.   Then we started going to all our destinations.  We couldn't have had a better, or funnier guide.  On our way to the gazebo, he stopped, posed, and sang a high pitched note.  Then he told us to just imagine we had just had our first kiss...by a Nazi postman!  We were then informed that Ralph was a hollywood creation and had not existed in real life.  He regularly referred to him as the Nazi postman who didn't really exist.

Some of his other great lines were:
'Green means go, red means no.'
'You Americans should be proud. We have a statue of Lincoln riding a horse and reading a book.  Not everyone can do that, but Lincoln sure could!'
'This restaurant is better, and not just because they give me a free lunch.'
'Is that a dog tag you are wearing?'
'Please do not eat on this bus.  But you can drink.  In fact, I have a bar up here, anyone want a beer?'
'The mountain Maria was on in the beginning is quite far away, and she ran down it in only three minutes!  What an athlete!'

So I saw the beautiful Lake District, while drinking a beer.  The bus driver informed me that the beer was first brewed in 1492, just like when my country was discovered by Columbus, so I should like it because they are alike.  From then on, I could only think of it as Columbus beer.

We had apple strudel in front of the church where they were married in the movie.  When we went inside, it was incredibly beautiful.  I found it particularly interesting that they had five bodies set above the alter, dressed in incredibly regal attire, and fully visible.  I was hoping there would be something written, explaining who they had been, but there was nothing there.  I also want to go back to Dragon point sometime and climb to the top of it.  You could see a bridge in between two of the points, so you know there must be a way up somehow.  I guess it is called that, because when it reflects on the lake below, the two images look exactly like a dragon.

On our way back in, we heard, what may be the best and worst Sound of Music joke ever.  We laughed for a really long time it was so bad.

A family named the Hills were driving around Salzburg when their car ran out of gas.  It was late at night, but the father saw a light up on the hill, and ran up to see if he could use the phone.  When he knocked, who answered the door but Dracula!  Dracula said he didn't have a phone, but that they were welcome to stay the night, and in the morning he would help them get home.  Well, in the middle of the night Dracula went and drank all their blood at that was that.  Feeling full of energy from all the blood, he went and started playing the piano.  He heard a noise behind him and when he turned around was startled to find the whole Hill family standing there.  'But I know I left you all dead in your beds! How did this happen?' he asked them.  Mr. Hill responded, 'The Hills are alive, with the sound of music!'

It is even better if you could hear our tour guide saying it.  He had the greatest, most expressive voice, and it just made us laugh that much harder to hear it.

After the tour was over, we were dropped off at the Mirabell Gardens, which is where the Do-Re-Mi song was filmed.    As we went in, I found two huge statues of unicorns right on the edge of the stairs.  Of course I had to have a photo with them to send to Morgan for our unicorn collection.   We took pictures of the pegasus fountain, and the tunnel they ran down.  Then we went to the gnome garden.  In the movie, they all pat the head of the one sticking out its tongue, but I was more enamored of two others.  One looked like he was dancing, so of course I needed photos dancing with him.  Another looked like he was pointing accusingly at something.  So I went and had a showdown with him.  Quite a lot of fun in the gardens.

Once we got back to old town, we decided we wanted to try the Salzburg Nockerl.  We had no idea what it was, but its pictures looked delicious and there were postings for it all over the city.  Turns out it is not as good as it looked.  It was huge, and tasted of eggs.  We looked it up later and it is said to be made of eggs and air.  Gross.  Then there was a very thin layer of berries on the bottom, almost a cranberry flavor of sorts.  While this part was good, it could not mask the flavor or scent of egg that was coming off of it.  I do not recommend trying this dish.

We also roamed up on the hill above the city.  It had some great view points and lead us to the castle and the Nonnberg Nunnery, which is where Maria was from. Slowly we wound our way back down again, and decided to go to the Golden Ende again, since it had been so delicious.  We were not disappointed!  This time I had the Wiener Schnitzel, but I had them give me another dumpling instead of the potatoes.  Jen kept it to soup and salad, and she is still feeling a little under the weather.  Everything was wonderful though, and we headed back to the hostel just in time for the rain.  It sprinkled on us a little while we walked, but it was fairly negligible, and it felt really good outside.  So we sat under the umbrella sitting area and read into the evening before calling it a night.

Salzburg and Hallstatt. Gorgeousness,

We decided to get up first thing in the morning to see the city.  I am very glad we did.  After breakfast in the hostel, Jen and I headed out into old town, and had fun taking pictures of everything in the morning light.  It was also nice for photographing because not very many other people were out and about, so we had unobstructed shots of most everything.  There was a large golden sphere with a man standing on top, fountains, statues, and my favorite, a statue of Mozart that someone had put a post bag in his hand. It was postman Mozart!

We slowly made our way toward the train station in a meandering fashion to get a ride to Attnung-Puthheim and then onward to Hallstatt.  The train ride alone made it worth while!  Past lakes and mountains, through tiny little towns. We even had to stop sometimes because there was only one track and another train needed to pass at set points. I had wanted to see Hallstatt since watching an episode of Rick Steves on it, and at Heather's wedding, Ryan had mentioned it to me as somewhere I needed to go.  This just solidified it for me as a must see.  And they did not lead me astray!

When you get off the train, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, you make your way down to the ferry dock, where a ferry meets every train for passengers to funnel you across the lake to the town.  Set in a little valley between two mountains, right on the waters edge.  It couldn't have been more beautiful, with all the trees starting to change color, so that the roofs and steeples were backdropped with green, yellow, orange, and red.  Further up the lake we could see people paragliding  down into another village.  

The one thing I really wanted to do here was to tour the old salt mine.  Hallstatt has one of the oldest salt mines, and even has a time era named the Hallstatt Period after it when they were one of the most powerful salt traders around.  They traded all the way down into Africa, or so their burial grounds show from the quantity of artifacts from all over.  

To get up to the mine, which is near the top of the mountain, you have to take a tram up the side of the mountain.  While I find this to be beautiful, in fact I may have been plastered to the side of the car trying to look over the edge as much as I could, Jen is afraid of heights.  She did great though, and toughed her way through it.  I told her she could stay down in the town and see that if she would prefer, but she was determined to face her fear on this one.  Once up there, the view was even more spectacular than I had hoped.  The Alps really are gorgeous, especially in the fall.  

After some photo ops, we headed up the guided trail, set with informational points along the way.  This was the first grave that was found, here is where we found evidence of settlements, here is where we are trying to recreate their way of life.  It was enough to be interesting, but brief enough to keep you moving.  Then at the top of the path was the mine tour.  We had to put on outfits that were like ill-fitting scrubs, with a different material on the back of the thighs, and then our guide stepped up.  He was a great guide.  No-nonsense (good since there was also a high school on a field trip in our group), but fun.  He wore traditional miner uniform, which we learned is buttoned the way it is in honor of the patron saint of miners.  

We went 300 meters into the mountain through tunnels, and watched an informational video, complete with English subtitles.  Then came the slides.  There were two of them, one is the longest slide in Europe.  This is why there was the alternate material in our pants.  You sit in the slide with your legs outside, so you need the material to keep you moving where it rubs on the edge of the slides.  On the second slide they clock your speed.  I managed 31.5 kph, which wasn't the fastest, but it was one of the five fastest.  36.2 was the top winner.  So much fun!

Then we were put onto a little train where we all sat single file.  There was a cute Asian family sitting behind me, and the dad and daughter started singing "Gangnam Style!" and all I could do was laugh.  As we all changed out of our scrubs, they passed out little shakers of Hallstatt salt for us to take home.  

Then we were down the mountain, and walking through town to catch one of the last ferries back over for our train.   It was an uneventful trip back to Salzburg. We kept it simple and had a kebob sandwich for dinner and were going to call it an early night.  Until we realized our hostel was playing "The Sound of Music" when we got back, and were just about to start singing ''Do-Re-Mi.'  We got sucked in and watched most of the movie before heading to bed.  Whoops!

Exploring south Germany

So Germany has not been kind to my blog, and I apologize for that.  Sadly it has not been due to lack of internet for once, but rather a lack of time, which I  view as a good thing.  Too many amazing things going on to have time to write. 

On Friday, Jen and I spent the day getting ourselves down to Stuttgart, Germany.  Allison, has been living here for work and will be for several months more, and she invited us to visit her.  We tried to come on this particular weekend as Collin and Kori were also going to be there for Oktoberfest, and we were all going to go out together for the festivities.  

We got very lucky coming into Stuttgart, as Allison arrived 5 minutes before us at the Hbf coming in from a work trip to Paris.  So she was able to show us where the S-Bahn was and which routes to take to get to her apartment.  Collin and Kori and Allison's friend E had arrived earlier that day and we all had fun catching up a little and having a beer in Alli's living room.   Collin even taught us how to do "cheers" or "prost" properly in Germany, as he had been taught by a 6 year old in a bar earlier.  You must do it as a group, not one person at a time as we often do in the states, and you must make eye contact with people.  I guess this kid had thoroughly chastised him when he had done so wrong.  Then he offered to share his McDonald's hamburger.  

We decided to go get some food (it was already 10:45, as our train hadn't come in until after 9), and went out to see what was open.  Eventually we ended up at a Kebob restaurant, and after getting some communal food and some more beers, we sat around and just had a great evening.  I don't think we got back to the apartment until after 1.  

The next morning everyone was heading to Munich for Oktoberfest.  Jen and I would be coming back that night to stay at the apartment, but the others were sharing a hotel room and were driving down.  So Allison gave us her work cell phone so she could call us when we all arrived and meet up.  We figured Jen and I would get there earlier since the train didn't have to deal with traffic.  

When Jen and I arrived at the train station, we went to turn the phone on and realized it had a pin to use it.  So we found a Starbucks, got on the internet, and sent Collin a Facebook message telling him what the deal was, and that we were heading to the main entrance to Oktoberfest where we would keep an eye out and try to access internet again if we could.  

After waiting for 20 minutes or so, we decided we should go explore the area. So we scoped out all the beer tents with their masses of people waiting to try to get in, all the wonderful food (both of us were eyeing the bratwurst that was in an entire baguette.   There were rides, beer, food, games.  It was like a giant carnival for adults.  Since we still hadn't heard back from the group at this point, and the train station was so close, we decided to go back to the Starbucks and check to see if they had messaged us the pin #.  Unfortunately, the internet there was on the fritz and wouldn't let me sign on to check.  We finally just said whatever, and went back to the park.  Our thought was we would just keep an eye out for them and if we found them in the crowd, good for us.  

After consuming our brats, which were delicious, we found a stand with chocolate covered fruit kebabs.  Easily one of the best ones I have had, just because the fruit and the chocolate were both so good!  I debated doing a ride, but it had started raining, which unfortunately just tends to make fast moving rides painful.  We ended up in the mass exodus of people leaving to get out of the rain.

Once out of the park, we sat on the curb for a little bit to people watch.  We saw a girl passed out on the sidewalk, with a guy watching over her, people stumbling around who had obviously gotten sick all over themselves and were to drunk to notice or care and were continuing to drink, medical personal rushing around with gurneys, a British guy talking on a cell phone confusedly about a fight he'd been in while blood ran down his face, and another guy trying to use his phone but was so intoxicated, this was a huge task to take on.  

We decided at this point, we didn't want someone to accidentally get sick on us, and to take our leave.  As we walked a new direction to the train station, we passed a store selling traditional German outfits.  The dresses with aprons and blouses, and lederhosen. 

Jen tried on the lederhosen, and I went for the dresses.  At first I put on the wrong type of blouse underneath.  I could tell it was wrong, but I didn't know why.  When I came out to ask the girl, she took one look at me and just started laughing.  Then she pointed me in the right direction.  I'm glad I could make her day better though.    I had a lot of fun trying them on and found one I loved!  If I wouldn't have had to ship it home, I likely would have gotten it, as I could have easily used it for a Halloween costume for many years to come.  

My favorite part of the day was at the train station though.  As Jen and I were waiting to cross the street back into the hbf, we overheard an Australian girl talking to her friend.  "Oh come on.  Let's just go to McDonalds and get ourselves a bier."  You first have to imagine beer being said with the German pronunciation, but the Australian accent.  It was wonderful.  We've then looked at every McDonalds in Germany, but never found one that served beer.  This was oddly disappointing.   

Eventually we made it back to the apartment in Stuttgart, where we found a message from Allison exclaiming that she forgot to give us the pin, and then later received a note from Collin where he stated he had only just received my message about the phone.   While it would have been fun to be there with them, Jen and I had fun on our own too.  I guess the others had made it into a tent, but they had to wait for 45 minutes to do as such, and didn't get any of the awesome food we did.  I think we got the better end of that deal.  

The next day we were planning on keeping low.  Jen was feeling a little under the weather, so I told her to take a sleep day and drink tons of water.  Collin, Kori, and Allison had made friends with a couple at the afb, and they had offered to  take them to buy goods on base.  E and I got bored and decided to go explore downtown Stuttgart.  I finally even found a Starbucks card for my friends back home too!

After a little bit of wandering, we decided to try to hit the Stuttgart Oktoberfest.  Now this was what I had been expecting!  We got what was essentially German sausages, and then headed into a tent, where there was no line and we immediately found a table.  There was music playing, which I guess there was none of in Munich, and everyone was standing on tables, dancing, singing, and drinking beer.  We quickly ordered a couple and joined into the festivities and called everyone else and told them they had to get over to this one.   

By the time the others had shown up, E and I had moved up to one of the front tables and made a lot of new friends.  There were a bunch of Venetians at our table, Fabio in particular was trouble.  He only spoke a little English, and kept trying to tell me all Italians kiss on the lips in greeting.  I just gave him a look and told him, "Mi familia es Italiano. "  He knew he was caught and laughed and then tried the same line on the two girls near me.  I gave them fair warning too and all he could do was laugh.  I also hung out with a really sweet gal from St. Petersburg, Ana, who was married to a guy from Stuttgart.  She only spoke Russian and German, but her husband spoke English.  So we mimed, and cobbled something together, and occasionally asked him for translation.  It was so much fun!  I also hung out with a group of four Australians who were planning on heading to Salzburg the next day, same as us.  I exchanged emails with Scotty so we could try to meet up there.  

They would regularly do the same drinking song too, but we could never get anything but Prost, Prost, Prost! at the end.  So we made up our own lyrics based on English words that sounded similar so we could sing along.  We ended up with:

I'm drinking! I'm drinking! I'm drinking lot's of beer! Prost!  Prost! Prost!

Probably not highly accurate, but very fitting we thought.  We stayed all night until the tent closed down and then grabbed some last food before leaving.   While we were eating, we met up with an Australian gal and her four English friends.  Actually one was Welsh, but we were informed his parents were both from London, and he was barely from Welsh territory, so it didn't really count anyway.   Allison got one of the English gals info, because I guess her job will be sending her near her home soon, so she was going to try to visit.   Basically it was another late night, but worth every second of it!

The next morning we were all supposed to be heading out of town.  Collin and Kori were driving to Paris to see Francois, Allison was flying to Russia for work, and Jen and I were going to head to Salzburg.  But the hostels were all full for us, so Allison kindly let us have her key and stay an extra night at the place.  So instead Jen and I decided to do a day trip to Zurich.  

I was a little disappointed in Zurich, compared to other Swiss cities.  It was just too industrial with too little culture.  And since we had such a short time there, we weren't able to wander far enough to find a better area of town.  I didn't dislike it, but it is not high on my "to return to" list.  I would much rather see Interlaken or Lausanne again, or go to Bern!  We managed to catch the last train of the evening back to Stuttgart, and got back to the apartment late once more.  I took time to upload all my pictures, since that can be hard to do in places where the internet is not as good.  We booked hostels in our next two cities and went to bed.

Today we got ourselves all put together again and packed up.  Allison had let us do laundry and we had taken full use of her shower too.  We both feel fairly human again, and Jen is sounding much better now.  I walked to the local bakery for breakfast and lunch, and then we headed for the train station here one more time.   Of course, the earlier train had been delayed, and was pulling away as we walked up to the platform.  We hadn't been planning to catch that one, but if we had only been one minute earlier we would have made it.  Instead we sat at the little cafe inside and had some coffee and people watched.  It was also quite enjoyable, if not as time constructive.  

Our train into Salzburg was a tiny little thing with unusual open compartments, and smelled a little funny.  But as we zipped through southern Germany with it's rolling hills and into Austria where the hills were turning into the mountains, and couldn't be bothered with that at all.  I spent the whole time gazing, delighted, out the window.  And as we rolled into Salzburg, all I could think was 'Thank you John, for his recommendation.'  

I don't know that I have seen a more picturesque place, especially when you're leaving the train station.  Mountains, castles, beautiful blue river.  Salzburg is truly stunning and I was instantly charmed by it.  And the dinner we had, oh the dinner!  Jen had Wiener Schnitzel and I had a pork rump roast with a huge bread dumpling and homemade sauerkraut.  Our server was wonderful, and recommended a beer to go with my dish that it was actually cooked with.  It was a wheat beer, and it was perfect with the dish.  And when we saw how beautiful the city was at night when it was shadowed, we instantly made plans to get up early so we could see it at first light.  And thus began our adventure in Austria. 

Biking like the Dutch

Today started off simply enough.  We had to get up and get out of the hostel. I'd looked up online about our bike trip for the day, and everyone assured it was easy.  That the routes were simply numbered and simple to follow.  Grab some sandwiches on our way to the train station so we could have lunch as we went.  But that's about where the simplicity ended.  

We checked the boards for the train to Rotterdam and found it, went and waited (we had 15 minutes), and then in the last 5 minutes they announced it had changed platforms.  So we hustle from 4a to 15b.  Luckily, we asked an official on the platform, because it turns out that was the express train and it cost extra for us to ride it.  He kindly told us the train we wanted was at 2a, and that it left in 3 minutes.  So we hustled as fast as we could and barely got to our seats before the train started moving.  

Once we got to Rotterdam, we found a place that rented bikes.  He gave us a ferry schedule to get to Kinderdijk, but told us to get the biking route, we needed to go to the information center below.  I went in while Jen waited with the bikes, and she told me the roads to go on, but she didn't have any maps for me.  So with a couple street names, and a single town in the middle, we set off.  We found the fountain, headed for the river, and thats where things went wonky on us.  

We turned one block too soon, and couldn't find the one street name I knew for us to be on.  So we stopped at a little lunch stand and asked for help.  The guy in the booth had no idea, but his two patrons jumped in, pulling out a smart phone, trying to help.  Unfortunately , they had no idea what they were doing, but they did give me a general idea of where we needed to go: one more block up.  So we set off that direction, and the road was going to force us to cross a bridge, which I didn't think we wanted to do yet.  So we turned the other direction to look for a street name.  Nothing.  We stopped and asked for more directions, and were told the street we wanted was directly across a different bridge (the one on the street we started on, which sounded more correct,) and that there would be signs leading us on as soon as we got there.  

So we huffed up the only not flight places in the Netherlands, a bridge.  Crossed over, and there was a sign pointing us for a street I recognized in one way, then in a completely different one!  We followed one direction and then stopped to ask someone else.  She told us she didn't know the road, but that there was a ferry that would take us there directly if we went over this bridge right next to us, and then crossed over the red bridge, the one we had originally thought was wrong.  Then a man pipes up behind her who had been getting out of his car.  They start rapidly conversing in Dutch, and the words I gather about location and the hand gestures, I could see they greatly disagreed on how to get there.  

We tried anyway.  No luck.  We did manage to tip over our bikes though while adjusting our packs.  So back over the bridge we went.  Then we saw a sign for the ferry on the pack the bicycle renter gave us.  So we followed that.  Back up and over the big initial bridge hill.  As we near the bottom, I see there is no way for me to follow the car signs in a far lane to get to the ferry.  Then I see it right in front of me.  A sign saying Kinderdijk this way.  At an intersection we had passed through 3 times, but had always been facing the wrong direction to see the sign.  Along with a map with a couple of the numbered routes, though of course not ours, and we never saw another map the entire time explaining the numbered routes.  I could see how it would be orderly if you knew which numbers to travel!

So on our way we go again.  an hour and a half into the ride that was supposed to take an hour each way.  To top it off, everyone we ask starts off with "that's really far!"  Really?  It's 15k, thats only like 9.5 miles.  And here I thought these people biked everywhere!  So we pedal, pedal, pedal.  Jen doing well since she informs me part way in that she hasn't been on a bike since the last time with me...(that was 6 years ago).  And here she was trying to convince me she would be able to bike across the Netherlands with her pack on her back!  Luckily for her I couldn't find a bike place to rent in one city and return in another...

So the route takes us to the point with that red bridge that we originally thought was wrong.  Again.  But then I realize there is a path that goes underneath the end of the bridge rather than across it.  And it is labeled with our middle city!  So we hustle on down, and follow the path.  And second guess ourselves twice, and end up back on that path again, luckily correctly. 

We get to the town of Krimpen aan den Ijssel and there are no more signs.  So we figure we should find an information center and start biking through the town.  Nothing.  Ask directions, they don't match with what we've seen, and it starts to rain.  So we back track to the tunnel a block back to take cover, and an older gentleman is there too.  Running out of options I ask him, and what luck!  He knows what road to the next little town where the ferry that takes us across the river and then we are there!  We couldn't thank him enough.  

And off we go again.  Biking across the dijk, like he said, passing all the farms. There was even a llama farm!  Followed by a bunch of ducks.  All I could think was llama, llama, duck!  My web video friends should get that.  If not, ask Anne Peasley and she'll happily fill you in. 

 We get into town and the road is closed and we are unsure if we can pass it on our bikes or not.  A gentleman on a bike says he's not sure either and hollers down to the workers who happily wave us in.    As we bike the road we chatted a little.  He wanted to know about American politics, a subject I approached with extreme caution and neutrality.   But he obviously enjoyed it and pointed us down the road to the ferry.  We get there, get funneled straight across and Boom!  We're in Kinderdijk, home of the best preserved Dutch windmills.  And then we are biking amongst them and it is wonderful.  We even got a ticket to go up inside one and explore.  But it was getting late and we needed to catch a train to Brussels so we could catch one to Brugge.  That's 3.5 hours of travel left ahead!

The windmill attendant shows points us towards the town of Alblasserdam which is closest to us, and has the fastest ferry.  So we head out across the windmill dijk again and travel the 5k to the town.  After asking directions again in this town, the most helpful was a 12 year old boy who knew exactly where to point us, we found the ferry and waited for the one we wanted.  

Right as the ferry lands in Rotterdam 45 minutes later, it starts to sprinkle.  So we take Jen's poncho and wrap up her bags, I situate mine so my bag with my electronics is most covered and we head out into a very mild drizzle.  We take one wrong turn, quickly get back on track, and the flood gates open.  It downpoured on us!  I knew there was no way my bottom bad would stay dry, so I shortened it's strap as much as I could and put it under my coat in front of me.  I figured the only things that might not dry out right are my ipad and my camera and that's all I cared about keeping dry.  But when I pedaled, my coat lifted and my bag was still getting wet.  And Jen's glasses were so wet she couldn't see. At this point we stopped in a slightly covered place and discussed what to do.  We were both sopping, and we were so close to the train station.  The choice made was to suck it up and walk the bikes.  We were already as wet as we would get and Jen was moving slowly enough she could navigate while I could keep my bag dry (well, as dry as it still was...). 

Finally we get back to the bike rental and unload.  I check my devices and everything made it out okay, and when we step back outside, the rain is gone.  Of course.  When we comment on this one of the bike attendants starts singing  "I can see clearly now the rain is gone..." as he passed us.  All we could do was look at each other and laugh.  Jen then pointed out how much mascara I had on my face.  Whoops!  And who really knows how far we traveled.  Jen's pedometer was keeping each pedal she did as steps, so I'll have to ask her what it says we did.  Unfortunately I managed to loose mine on a hike in Iceland, so we are dependent on hers now.  That will teach me to climb on rocks with stuff hanging off my belt line.

So starving (Jen super thirsty), we grab some sustenance in the train station. since we haven't eaten in over 8 hours now,  and double check that the train we are about to get on is good for our Eurorail pass, we board for Brussels at 7:I put down on our hostel booking in Bruges that we would try to be there by 5.  Another whoops!  At least that's never been a problem for me in the past though.  As long as you pay for the night they usually don't have an issue with this, and luckily this held true, despite the fact that we checked in a11:45.  Oh well, it is what it is.  

Overall, I think we had a wonderful adventure and had a lot of fun, but then again, I slightly enjoy getting lost like that.  Jen looked like I'd put her through the ringer at the end.  I think she has the best idea of what she signed up for in traveling with me now.  Hopefully a good night's sleep puts her to rights again, since this is going to be a fast paced train day to get down to Stuttgart, Germany and meet up with the Douglas' and friends.

The summary of this leg of the trip?  Love the Dutch, they are very friendly and wish to be helpful.  But this also means that if they don't necessarily know, they will try their best to know instead of telling you that they don't know, and this is not good in direction giving.  They also apparently only bike in their own cities, and consider crossing into others to be "really far" which it would not have been if we hadn't got lost.  Also, always bring plastic lining for your electronics in case of emergencies.  Well, Belgium, it's your turn.  Throw your best at us!  You have a couple hours of our undivided attention before we hit Germany.  (sorry Luxembourg, I think you might be out...)

The Amsterdam Experience

Today involved a lot of walking and exploring.  We slept in a bit this morning, but that turned out all right.  Our hostel served breakfast, but it looked a little blah so I just went for the coffee.  Once we were both up and going and had a general game plan for the day, we took off.

First we decided to see the Red Light District.  But we wandered some different streets than before and got off on our blocks.  This led to finding the coolest block ever with giant saxophones, pianos, and dancing men hanging from the buildings in 3-D.  We meandered the different blocks some more and boom, there was the flower market!  Not only was this beautiful and colorful, but the postcards in the stores opposite were easily some of the raunchiest I have ever seen.  We couldn't even think of anyone we could send one to in humor without the horror of "what if someone else sees it" kicking in.  I know I wouldn't want my anyone, even my mailman, to see me getting a card like those.

After getting a shocked laugh out of us we found the canal to take us into the Red Light District.  We came in by way of their Chinatown, and then quickly cut over.  I couldn't believe how young some of the kids were walking down the street with their parents here, like it was nothing.  To be honest though, it was just a kind of sad.  I can't imagine just sitting in a window like that all day, much less than to be sitting there selling yourself.  What a life...  Jen had similar thoughts to me, so after a quick lap through, we aimed to happier parts of town.  We walked past all the big monuments and slowly made out way towards Amsterdam Centraal.  I was trying to go in every Starbucks to find cards for my Starbucks friends.  Unfortunately Amsterdam keeps them out of reach and requires $5 be put on them.  So sorry Kristin and Chris, nothing from Amsterdam for you!  I'll try the next city.

We grabbed a couple sandwiches, and (you may want to skip this part mom) headed south again, looking for Abraxas.  Of course you have to go to a coffeeshop while in Amsterdam.  The guy who worked there was very nice and helpful in making our selection.  It was off to the side in a well-kept alley in the main part of town, and we enjoyed a little time there before we decided there were things to be done still!  So out we went again, exploring new routes and deciding on postcards.

Near our hostel was the diamond museum, which said free, so we wandered in.  A museum that is actually free in Amsterdam!?  Turns out it was a teaser taste of the diamonds, and not the real exhibit that was free.  Should have known.  We did get to see people cutting diamonds though, which was interesting and intense work.  They are litterally sanded down on a grinder with diamond dust one facet at a time.  Talk about focus!  We got to see replicas of some famous diamonds too, and then they funneled us through the selling area of the stores.  Of course they did.  After being shuffled past things I could only dream of affording, we went through the CZ cases, many of which looked very familiar to what we carry at FK.  Then  finally to the museum, where they wanted 10 euro to get in.  Still too much for this stingy gal!

After getting back to our hostel, we checked on the address to the restaurant we wanted and set back out again.  Hap Hmm was amazing.  Just to the east of Vondelpark, it serves traditional Dutch food, which is apparently just up my alley in all ways. My meal consisted of perfectly cooked beef in a gravy, with fried potatos and fried (carmelized) onion with a stroganoff sauce.  So good!  Jen just laughed at how fast I consumed it, though se said her "grandmothers meatball" was also fantastic.  And it was cheaper than almost everywhere else we have seen in the city!  If we had more time we also wanted to try De Keuken van 1870 which looked equally as good, just further from the hostel.

All in all it was quite a delightul day!  Tomorrow we go in search of windmills, and then on to Belgium!

waterfalls, waterfalls, and then some canals.

So yesterday, Jen and I decided to rent the car for one more day.  We figured we could cover much more ground this way, and boy were we right!  Setting off at about 10am, south down the HW1, looking for the two waterfalls which had eluded us the day before.  After about an hour and a half, mountains began to appear again, and one had a ribbon of white down its side.  Starting to get excited, we pressed onward to see an incredible waterfall experience.  Seljalandsfoss was not only large and stunning, but it also contains a pathway were you can walk behind the falls, and a trail to the base of the pool from behind.  Despite the chill to the air, the was no lack of romping around.  Finally we decided we should press onward.

The next fall was maybe 20 minutes away.  Skogafoss is considered to be Iceland's most incredible waterfall, and I was not disappointed.  With a black sand beach around its base, we were able to creep very close to the bottom, only stopping because we were drenched from the spray.  Then, as we were walking back to the car, we realized there was a path to the top.  So of course we decided it was time to head up!  Stopping at a lookout point 3/4 up, a really nice man from Alberta offered to take my picture.  We got talking and he gave us his card to look up the photos later.  It's amazing how many wonderful people you meet while traveling.  After deciding my life wasn't worth climbing around a rickety point for a better photo, we continued to the top where we could look down over the falls from above.  I definitely prefered the midpoint better for the view though.

We climbed down at about the same time as Richard, our new friend from Canada.  He and his wife told us about a couple of wonderful places, we may have otherwise missed.  Derholeay was a little road out of nowhere which provided excellent views of the black sand beaches.  While incredibly windy, it was worth the cold.  I could even lean into the wind and it would hold me upright at times.  Then we drove up higher to the lighthouse (another turn we would have missed if not for them), and had an even better view of the cliffs hollowed out by the sea.  It was a steep road for our little car, but we made it safely by taking our time (and thanking the gravel insurance we had paid for).

Then, still not quite done with our day, we continued for a short stint through Vik, and then to the ferry point for Vestmannaeyjar islands.  Plus stopping along the way for view points of the glaciers Myrdalsjokull and Eyjafjallajokull.  I still can't pronounce either of those despite my many attempts to learn.  All in all it was a pretty incredible day trip.

Once we got back to the hostel and dropped off the car, we decided it was time to go get some dinner.  We decided on the Islandia Barinn (the Icelandic Bar) because we heard they had reindeer and that it was delicious.  The conclusion?  Yes, rudolph tastes wonderful.  I encourage trying it if you get the chance.  The foal is still my favorite though.  Then we finished off with desert and coffee at Cafe Paris before going to pack our stuff.  The shuttle was coming to pick us up at 4:30 in the morning, and it was already quite late.

Somehow we got our stuff together, and eventually got some (very little) sleep before waking up to head out again.  I think we both slept most of the trip to Amsterdam, though I was awake when we flew directly over Edinburgh.  Sadly, it was too cloudy to see the city, so I wasn't able to wave to my friends below.

We quickly learned that the train from the airport to the city was valid on our Eurorail passes, so we are officially verified and running on that front now.  We got to our hostel in a lovely part of the city. Close to all the museums, but off the main drag so it is quiet and cosy.  We only stopped in long enough to ditch our bags though, before turning back around.  We walked all over the city.  While looking for the Anne Frank House, we found a cheese museum (free, score!) that had lots of demos.  They had a farm cheese that was mixed with truffle.  To quote my mom, yummo!

Shortly after this we found the Anne Frank house and stopped to pay respects to this memorial.  We didn't go in as we can't afford the costs of museums here, but we took some time from outside before continuing on our way.

Following the canals provided delightful people watching and scenery gazing.  We found a nice little restaurant and were hit by the extreme difference in price from Iceland.  What a pleasant shock when we got the bill!

Were only here the two nights, so we will have to make the most of tomorrow.  Our agenda at this point is the Red Light District, renting bikes, and anything else that catches our eye along the way!

Land of Fire and Ice

I have officially made it back to Iceland once again, and it is as wonderful (and expensive) as I remembered.  Jen and I landed yesterday at 7 am, after only sleeping about an hour on the flight.  Needless to say we were rather tired.  But I have learned the hazards of jet lag, and we forced our selves to stay awake for the first day.  So we dropped our bags off at the hostel, and set off to explore!

First we went by the metal viking ship on the shoreline.  A classic point in Reykjavik, especially since it is across the street from our hostel.  Then we headed on into town.  We wandered a little bit, bought some postcards, had some breakfast, then aimed up for the church, Hallgrimskirkja.  Somehow I have never been into this church before, even though it is one of the focal points in town. Not really sure how I managed that.  But it had the most amazing organ inside.  Absolutely huge, and the organist was in and rehearsing while we were there.  Slowly we headed back to the hostel from here and settled in a bit, making ourselves stay up as late as we could before going to bed.  

And this morning we woke up jetlag free! So we walked down to the car rental and picked one out before hitting the road.  We  made our own version of the Golden Circle, by going to Thingvellar National Park, Geysir, and Gulfoss falls.  All three were amazing, though Gulfoss remains my favorite.  It was fun to see it raging too, since last time I was here it was frozen solid.  At Geysir, we met a guy who went to the U of O and has a cabin at Priest Lake.  We chatted for awhile, and learned that he was there working as a photographer for a cruise line.  He had spent the last four months aroudn the Baltic Seas, and had just come from the Shetland and Faroe islands.  Next week he will be in the Caribbean.  

After finishing our circle, we headed south to try and find Selfoss, which it turns out is not a waterfall like I thought.  So instead we continued on to Stokkseyri, which I've wanted to see since I've loved the song "Stokkseyri" by Jonsi and Alex.  It was raining a constant drizzle here, but we still got out to see the unique black sand beaches.  They were very neat, even if the tide was really far out.  

Once we got back, we decided to see the Harpa music hall and then get some dinner.  The Harpa was even more amazing than I thought it would be!  Especially once we realized the ceiling was a continuation of the hexagonal cuts, only in mirrors.  The whole place was like a giant glass honeycomb.  And just to top it off, the music coming from the ground floor was The Planets, by  Holst.  Couldn't have asked for a better experience there.  

Then Jen and I went to the Tapas Barinn for dinner.  We went here because we could get smaller serving (cheaper) and it was a popular choice for the city.  The menu may have also swayed us a bit.  We tried the minke whale, smoked puffin, and Icelandic foal, as well as each ordering  a potato with salad.  We became slightly concerned to what the portions would be like, when our waiter asked us if we just weren't very hungry then tonight.  Then he brought us the bread and tapade dish, which we didn't order with a smile.  We decided we were hungry enough that we didn't really care if he charged us for that too or not.  And it was delicious.  Then came our courses.  The foal was delicious!  Rather tough, but great flavor.  The puffin?  Smoked raw.  That was an odd experience to eat what seemed like raw bird.  And the flavor was odd.  We didn't care for it much, so you puffins are safe from us!  Then came the whale.  It was pretty good, though not memorable until we put the sauce on it.  Made a complete difference!  

After we finished up, our waiter tried to convince us to get desert.  We told him we were just too full!  Then we laughed a little over an accidental, "if you now what I mean joke" and just had an overall good time chatting with him, and laughing that what we really need was more water, not more food.  He then proceeded to run off and return to present us more water with a grand flourish.  He then wouldn't let me pay yet, telling me to wait, and came back with a dessert for us, and insisted that we try it.  It was so delicious!  Even though we were both rather full, we quickly cleaned the plate of the soft cheese dessert that was drizzled in a citrus sauce when a crisp bottom.  To top it off, when he brought the bill, we hadn't been charged for it or the bread.  What a delightly meal it had turned out to be, and we tipped as well as we could, since we had little ISK on us at that time.  

Tomorrow we are thinking we may keep the car for one more day, and try to see a couple more waterfalls and head to the Blue Lagoon.  We'll see what we end up doing in the end though!