Hello friends, families, and friend's families. We have returned safely and are beginning to adjust to the time change. There will be lots of time for post trip-updates now, and they begin with the complete uploading of our trip photos. There are no descriptions yet, but there is a chance they will come later. If anyone wants to know what something is, just let us know the picture number and we'll be more than happy to tell you a short story about it. Ok, thats all for now.
http://picasaweb.google.com/matthensley1
Monday, October 1, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Proost!
Hello to all from Bavaria! We enjoyed a wonderful vacation from out vacation in Dubrovnik and rested our weary feet just in time to gear up for more sightseeing...So off to Venice we went, for two wonderful days and nights...no celebs to be seen unfortunately, we just missed the film fest. But we did enjoy numerous cheap pizzas, live music, long strolls, and romantic water bus rides...no gondolas for us....verrrry pricey.
We caught a night train to Munich and slept soundly, which is a good thing because we started our sightseeing right away with a walking tour of the old city..man will I be telling you all about that when I have more time...quite the historical epicenter for WWII and the nazi movement. After the tour we embibed some delicious bavarian beer with our guide at his local watering hole. Oh yes, people wear lederhosen here..seriously. Yesterday we took some time out to go to fantasy land in the form of an extravagant castle build by mad king ludwig, as the inspiration for the disney castle, this place did not disappoint. Ready to take on some heavier history, we took a guided tour of the Dachau concentration camp. I can go on for hours about that experience and our tour, but somehow a blog doesnt seem like the appropriate place to do it. I can just say that it is an experience not to be missed nor taken lightly.
Tonight, we are off on another train to Prague, where we will regale you with more detailed stories and photos...As always we hope all is well at home and can not believe that we will be back there with you all in two weeks....
We caught a night train to Munich and slept soundly, which is a good thing because we started our sightseeing right away with a walking tour of the old city..man will I be telling you all about that when I have more time...quite the historical epicenter for WWII and the nazi movement. After the tour we embibed some delicious bavarian beer with our guide at his local watering hole. Oh yes, people wear lederhosen here..seriously. Yesterday we took some time out to go to fantasy land in the form of an extravagant castle build by mad king ludwig, as the inspiration for the disney castle, this place did not disappoint. Ready to take on some heavier history, we took a guided tour of the Dachau concentration camp. I can go on for hours about that experience and our tour, but somehow a blog doesnt seem like the appropriate place to do it. I can just say that it is an experience not to be missed nor taken lightly.
Tonight, we are off on another train to Prague, where we will regale you with more detailed stories and photos...As always we hope all is well at home and can not believe that we will be back there with you all in two weeks....
Monday, September 3, 2007
Hey everyone, we've been relaxing on the Dalmatian coast in Dubrovnik, Croatia, for 3 days now and are starting to feel rested enough to update this thing. We left you last in Florence just before we split south for Rome, and plenty has happened in the in-between. Rome was hot, as expected, but well worth the visit. We spent our first full day there exploring the Vatican, visiting the tombs of the popes, admiring the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and generally Catholic-ing it up. We burned ourselves out in the morning by getting lost and walking the long way around Vatican City, so we rested up in a park before heading downtown to see some beautiful sights like the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and some really interesting marketplace areas. Dead tired, we made it back to our campground (yes, we were camping in Rome) to swim in our pool and read a little before an early bedtime. The next day we woke up early and spent about 4 hours exploring Roman ruins before the heat got to us, and after an afternoon dip we went back and spent the evening in the fabled Coliseum. It was bigger than life, and twice as old. Forgive the lack of color commentary but I have nine minutes left on this computer.
Two full days in Rome was "enough", but we would definitely like to return one day to complete our tour. The next morning we bolted (via a four hour train ride) to the rainy port town of Ancona, where we caught our ferry to Croatia. We didn't pay for a sleeping berth, so we just crashed on a couch in the bar like all of the other backpackers but were rudely awoken by the bartender at 1:30am telling us the bar was "closed"! How dare they! Sleepy and disgruntled, we pulled the cushions off of some chairs in a hallway and quite peacefully resumed our sleeping. By the time the sun was up, we were in sight of land and happy to be in beautiful Split, the largest coast town in Croatia. From here we caught a four and a half hour bus across the country to Dubrovnik. It was a decent bus ride, and at least we took solace in the fact that due to measurement differences, Croatian buses can go 30 km in the time it takes a regular American bus to go 20 miles. Look it up, it's true. We also didn't almost get left behind when the bus took a pit stop half way through, so rest easily parents!
There is so much more to say and I'm trying to get some pictures up, but they don't want to go up. I'll figure it out and tell you more about dubrovnik before we leave, I promise.
Off to Venice in four days though and will let you all know!
Adios!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Yes, I am aware it has been a while.
Howdy to the folks back home,
Our trip reached the one month mark two days ago. One month of whittling away a dishwasher's fortune on starchy foods and nights on springy mattresses. One month of sleeping in 17 separate beds and struggling through 5 different languages. And one month to go. Luckily it isn't (as the saying goes) "all down-hill from here". Feeling as fresh as we did when we boarded our train in Sacramento for the east coast and with one month of travel knowledge to boot, we eagerly await whatever awaits our footsteps. If the past month is any indication, the odds are that it will be up at least one flight of stairs.
We have one more night here in Firenze (florence) in the heart of Tuscany, home to the Old Masters of the Renaissance and some of the finest leather craftsmen in the world. We left you last in the center of Basque Spain, and it has been a mighty week (and a half?) spent most notably in the Ligurian Coast of Italy in the five villages of the Cinque Terre. The cinque terre is a land of such indescribable beauty that the words we've tried to use to describe it to other people make us sound like we've gone delirious with backpackers fever (or some similar ailment) so I'll try and spare some of the more grandiose adjectives.
The five towns (from north to south: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manorolo, and Riomaggiore, our home base) lie on a UNESCO protected coastline and are surrounded on three of four sides by some of the bluest, clearest water I've laid eyes on. The fourth side is most commonly bordered by a terraced hillside covered with green vineyards and farmland, layered cottages and rolling hills. Connecting them all is a 6 or 7 mile path along the cliff-face that spirals up the hills and down into the villages, about 5 hours worth of hiking in all. We chose to split our trek up between the three days that we spent there, spending the rest of the time soaking in the beach, eating fresh local pesto, conversing with our guesthouse host Sergio, and sitting on a warm stone bench, drinking cheap local wine and watching the sun set and the moon rise. Pictures will commence. I chose to leave out some detail partially because of time and partially because Emily probably wants to impart a little jealousy on you all as well. Mostly because of time.
There are still some gaps to fill in, but more and more I'm beginning to realize that we have a decently large (and dedicated!) readership who may prefer consistent updates rather than long chunks and then long boring waits, so it is my solemn (fingers crossed) promise to you all that to make up for this short entry that I will post more regularly, with more gusto, and more detail than you imagined possible. And pictures! So many pictures.
To all who helped us get to this point, financially or just with some friendly advice or well-wishing, thank you for an incredible month. Rest well knowing that we are fully in gratitude to you all and are having the time of our lives here on the other side of the world. This slice of pizza is for you..........
Our trip reached the one month mark two days ago. One month of whittling away a dishwasher's fortune on starchy foods and nights on springy mattresses. One month of sleeping in 17 separate beds and struggling through 5 different languages. And one month to go. Luckily it isn't (as the saying goes) "all down-hill from here". Feeling as fresh as we did when we boarded our train in Sacramento for the east coast and with one month of travel knowledge to boot, we eagerly await whatever awaits our footsteps. If the past month is any indication, the odds are that it will be up at least one flight of stairs.
We have one more night here in Firenze (florence) in the heart of Tuscany, home to the Old Masters of the Renaissance and some of the finest leather craftsmen in the world. We left you last in the center of Basque Spain, and it has been a mighty week (and a half?) spent most notably in the Ligurian Coast of Italy in the five villages of the Cinque Terre. The cinque terre is a land of such indescribable beauty that the words we've tried to use to describe it to other people make us sound like we've gone delirious with backpackers fever (or some similar ailment) so I'll try and spare some of the more grandiose adjectives.
The five towns (from north to south: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manorolo, and Riomaggiore, our home base) lie on a UNESCO protected coastline and are surrounded on three of four sides by some of the bluest, clearest water I've laid eyes on. The fourth side is most commonly bordered by a terraced hillside covered with green vineyards and farmland, layered cottages and rolling hills. Connecting them all is a 6 or 7 mile path along the cliff-face that spirals up the hills and down into the villages, about 5 hours worth of hiking in all. We chose to split our trek up between the three days that we spent there, spending the rest of the time soaking in the beach, eating fresh local pesto, conversing with our guesthouse host Sergio, and sitting on a warm stone bench, drinking cheap local wine and watching the sun set and the moon rise. Pictures will commence. I chose to leave out some detail partially because of time and partially because Emily probably wants to impart a little jealousy on you all as well. Mostly because of time.
There are still some gaps to fill in, but more and more I'm beginning to realize that we have a decently large (and dedicated!) readership who may prefer consistent updates rather than long chunks and then long boring waits, so it is my solemn (fingers crossed) promise to you all that to make up for this short entry that I will post more regularly, with more gusto, and more detail than you imagined possible. And pictures! So many pictures.
To all who helped us get to this point, financially or just with some friendly advice or well-wishing, thank you for an incredible month. Rest well knowing that we are fully in gratitude to you all and are having the time of our lives here on the other side of the world. This slice of pizza is for you..........
Sunday, August 19, 2007
The Golden City and the Marvelous Coast
Well my friends...things are, as they say, on the up and up. Matt and I happily left Madrid a few days ago and took a rather uncomfortable night train to Lisbon. Arriving at 9 am we lugged our bags over some pretty steap hills to our hostel..where a hung over and snippy woman let us drop our stuff and told us not to come back until 2 in the afternoon. Tired, hungry and smelly, we strolled the empty streets of Lisbon looking to kill time.
After a breif nap on a bench we made our way downtown, and what a downtown it was. The streets are paved in smooth golden cobblestones intermixed with deep black ones to create wonderful mosaics with different patterns all over the city. I was unaware how significant painted tiles were here until I started noticing buildings completely covered in them - a variety of patterns and bright colors that would warm even the weariest of travelers' hearts.
The next few days were completely wonderful, and wonderfully cheap as well. Matt and I managed to cook most of our meals in the Pension's tiny kitchen and explored the many hilly neighborhoods Lisbon had to offer, catching some great views of the city the higher we climbed. We also managed to see Europe's biggest Aquarium which housed the oceans biggest vertebrate fish, the Sun Fish, a truly strange creature that can be several meters long and way just as many tons...it is very pokey, needless to say. On our final day we took a bus along the seaside to Belem, a neighborhood with THE BEST (self proclaimed and affirmed by others) Pasteis de Nata...tasty tiny warm flakey crusted custard treats covered with powdered sugar and cinnamon...truly deadly.
The next day, we departed on another overnight train for San Sebastian. Finally, a coachette..how marvelous to sleep in a bed on the train...though it arrived at 6:30 in the morning. It was a fantastic trip across the Portuguese countryside in our little compart that we shared with a french family, whose 3 year old Anna was the source of much entertainment and laughter. There is something majestic and intoxicating about seeing a beautiful foreign land pass by your window as you listen to music...for us, it was Seu Jorge singing David Bowie tunes. As the sut set like a juicy peach dripping over the terrain, I knew that I would someday return to this place.
We woke up early in San Sebastian, which turned out to be a blessing. At 7 am there wasn´t much we could do except walk around and hope that maybe, we could find a place to stay. Our first impression of the city wasn´t the greatest...there was trash all over the street and people wandering about, still drunk from the night before. Thankfully, that opinion was quickly turned round.
After trying several pensions...there are about 6 on every block in the Parte Vieja, we found one with a room for us, for 60 Euro per night...well above our budget, but we knew this was going to be an expensive place to stay in Summer. So we took the room, and took to finding some breakfast. By this time, the dirty streets were suddenly clean and the drunks had all gone to bed. We had the city to ourselves and snacked on apples and peanut butter by the beautiful La Concha beach. After finding a good supermarket we bought some baguettes, cheese, and deli meat to dine on for lunch and returned to the Pension to get ready for a day in the sand.
We went to the third beach in town, supposedly less crowded but popular with surfers...Noah, you would have loved it. Warm water, 4 - 6 foot waves, and long rides. The sand was softer than any I could remember digging my toes into, and the water was great. Matt and I spent 3 hours body surfing, bobbing in the waves, and laying on the golden beach. When people say that sometimes you need to take a vacation from your vacation...they mean, get to the beach.
After an early evening nap we were ready to get out and enjoy the festivities of Semana Santa...a week long festival and international fireworks competition. The expensive room was well worth the free entertainment we enjoyed here. First we watching some of a sand castle building contest, then went and heard some really great, slightly trippy music. It was played by a band..no, a symphony, called Tirri Tarra that included a choir. They played kind of rocking, sort of classic, and sometimes new wave (the bad parts) but all and all was really incredible to watch.
Then, we sampled some delicious tapas and headed out toward the beach for the fireworks display. While most of the entrants into the competition are from various regions in Spain (each getting their own night to display) we were there on the biggest night of the festival (Saturday) which meant we got to see China´s fireworks. I´m telling you guys, I´ve never seen anything like it - the craziest, most complex, completely colorful fireworks you could ever imagine. I hate to say it, but they put Sonoma´s to shame...but hey, I suppose I shouldn´t have expected anything less from the country that created them!
This morning we slept in and got ourselves up just in time to see the Giant´s parade...a gathering of about 30 or so giant costume things maneuvered by people perched within them. Each giant danced its way through the streets to musical accompaniment of accordians and various flutes. Trotting alongside them were smaller giants - little kids dressed up sporting enormous paper mache heads - who would bop onlookers in the head with their balloons...pretty funny to watch a giant devil bopping a two year old over and over again, just to be met with laughter. It´s been a bit rainy today but we´re hoping the sun will break through so we can hit the beach again and take some photos of this unusually beautiful city whose french and spanish influences are reflected in the ornate architecture and flamboyantly decorated bridges, monuments. It is no wonder that everyone tells you to come here. Truly, you should.
After a breif nap on a bench we made our way downtown, and what a downtown it was. The streets are paved in smooth golden cobblestones intermixed with deep black ones to create wonderful mosaics with different patterns all over the city. I was unaware how significant painted tiles were here until I started noticing buildings completely covered in them - a variety of patterns and bright colors that would warm even the weariest of travelers' hearts.
The next few days were completely wonderful, and wonderfully cheap as well. Matt and I managed to cook most of our meals in the Pension's tiny kitchen and explored the many hilly neighborhoods Lisbon had to offer, catching some great views of the city the higher we climbed. We also managed to see Europe's biggest Aquarium which housed the oceans biggest vertebrate fish, the Sun Fish, a truly strange creature that can be several meters long and way just as many tons...it is very pokey, needless to say. On our final day we took a bus along the seaside to Belem, a neighborhood with THE BEST (self proclaimed and affirmed by others) Pasteis de Nata...tasty tiny warm flakey crusted custard treats covered with powdered sugar and cinnamon...truly deadly.
The next day, we departed on another overnight train for San Sebastian. Finally, a coachette..how marvelous to sleep in a bed on the train...though it arrived at 6:30 in the morning. It was a fantastic trip across the Portuguese countryside in our little compart that we shared with a french family, whose 3 year old Anna was the source of much entertainment and laughter. There is something majestic and intoxicating about seeing a beautiful foreign land pass by your window as you listen to music...for us, it was Seu Jorge singing David Bowie tunes. As the sut set like a juicy peach dripping over the terrain, I knew that I would someday return to this place.
We woke up early in San Sebastian, which turned out to be a blessing. At 7 am there wasn´t much we could do except walk around and hope that maybe, we could find a place to stay. Our first impression of the city wasn´t the greatest...there was trash all over the street and people wandering about, still drunk from the night before. Thankfully, that opinion was quickly turned round.
After trying several pensions...there are about 6 on every block in the Parte Vieja, we found one with a room for us, for 60 Euro per night...well above our budget, but we knew this was going to be an expensive place to stay in Summer. So we took the room, and took to finding some breakfast. By this time, the dirty streets were suddenly clean and the drunks had all gone to bed. We had the city to ourselves and snacked on apples and peanut butter by the beautiful La Concha beach. After finding a good supermarket we bought some baguettes, cheese, and deli meat to dine on for lunch and returned to the Pension to get ready for a day in the sand.
We went to the third beach in town, supposedly less crowded but popular with surfers...Noah, you would have loved it. Warm water, 4 - 6 foot waves, and long rides. The sand was softer than any I could remember digging my toes into, and the water was great. Matt and I spent 3 hours body surfing, bobbing in the waves, and laying on the golden beach. When people say that sometimes you need to take a vacation from your vacation...they mean, get to the beach.
After an early evening nap we were ready to get out and enjoy the festivities of Semana Santa...a week long festival and international fireworks competition. The expensive room was well worth the free entertainment we enjoyed here. First we watching some of a sand castle building contest, then went and heard some really great, slightly trippy music. It was played by a band..no, a symphony, called Tirri Tarra that included a choir. They played kind of rocking, sort of classic, and sometimes new wave (the bad parts) but all and all was really incredible to watch.
Then, we sampled some delicious tapas and headed out toward the beach for the fireworks display. While most of the entrants into the competition are from various regions in Spain (each getting their own night to display) we were there on the biggest night of the festival (Saturday) which meant we got to see China´s fireworks. I´m telling you guys, I´ve never seen anything like it - the craziest, most complex, completely colorful fireworks you could ever imagine. I hate to say it, but they put Sonoma´s to shame...but hey, I suppose I shouldn´t have expected anything less from the country that created them!
This morning we slept in and got ourselves up just in time to see the Giant´s parade...a gathering of about 30 or so giant costume things maneuvered by people perched within them. Each giant danced its way through the streets to musical accompaniment of accordians and various flutes. Trotting alongside them were smaller giants - little kids dressed up sporting enormous paper mache heads - who would bop onlookers in the head with their balloons...pretty funny to watch a giant devil bopping a two year old over and over again, just to be met with laughter. It´s been a bit rainy today but we´re hoping the sun will break through so we can hit the beach again and take some photos of this unusually beautiful city whose french and spanish influences are reflected in the ornate architecture and flamboyantly decorated bridges, monuments. It is no wonder that everyone tells you to come here. Truly, you should.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Alright everyone, it´s time for some of MY photos (this is Emily). Matt´s monopoly must end :) Anyways, this is a view of one tiny area in the gardens at Versailles. They actually go for miles and include several small palaces and a venetian canal that Louis XIV rerouted a river to create, also the canal housed a full sized 28 (?) gun battle ship..pretty nuts. So here are some more photos, out of order for our blog timeline but in order in their own timeline..got it?
This was the view out of our hotel room window in Paris.
One of the more elegant metro stops in Paris, and one of the few still holding onto its art noveau style. This was also our connection to the rest of the city.
Ah the Alps, I feel that I´ll never properly capture their magnificence in words or photos. You simply have to be face to face with these mountains to truly appreciate them, to hike along a ridge side trail with the peaks so close you swear you could almost touch them. This was taken on Matt and I´s hike up to Murren, a beautiful Swiss town/chalet/hamlet. This town, and many others are reached by wonderful cable cars, trains, and terrifyingly claustrophobic funiculars...but you gotta do it. Even you mom. It´s an experience you´ll never forget.
I think you get the idea.
Oh my Gaudi!....I had to, sorry. But the point is, this guy was nuts - in a good way. His buildings and concepts behind them are to be admired if for no other reason than they were trying to be something no one had seen before. Plus they´re pretty cool looking, especially if you´re into Dr. Seuss. This is one of the many building in/surrounding the Park Guell...a very cool green space in the middle-ish of Barcelona. While we were there Matt and I saw Woody Allen filming a scene for his new movie with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem...I took a photo from far far away, damn not having telephoto. It was kinda cool to see, but pretty annoying because they were filming on this awesome staircase the we were forbidden from climbing and pretty much viewing due to the shoot.
The hall of mirrors is infamous, at least if you took art history or saw Marie Antoinette. In reality, it´s pretty cool, but too crowded with people to really get the feel for what it would have been like promonading through the space in the days of the sun king. An interesting factoid - this hall was built because mirror was incredibly expensive and was a sign of wealth, additionally, the king had them installed here strategically because all the aristocrats and got an ego boost from looking at their all important selves
The last photo for now is from the Park Guell, where instead of carving hearts and initials intro trees, they carve them into cacti. You could spot them all over the park and I thought it was pretty neat. Anywho, that´s all for now from me. Matt and I have been in Madrid for a few days now, both sick (with colds), and a bit weary. But we´re staying at a great hostel with free internet, a good kitchen, and dvds in the living room...not a bad place to feel like crap:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)