Hopeless Planner

The national dish of switzerland

2009-04-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

I have close to 6 blog hits a week on the google search term: "National Dish of Switzerland"

So, for the folks that are dying to know.

The National dish of Switzerland is FONDUE.

You can buy a fondue set at Williams and Sonoma or Macy's. You can buy fondue cheese at an upscale market. I even saw Fondue cheese at Trader Joes.

For good Fondue state side, you can go to the Melting Pot, but it is expensive. BOO!

Im Back and on to other things

2008-08-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

We are currently in Wisconsin after passing through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. We hope to spend the next few weeks spending time with family around the country.

We arrived in the USA on August 12th. Last week we spent with family in Pittsburgh and started to slowly adjust to American life once again. Our arrival was bittersweet. We were happy to be home, but sad that our big trip is finally over. :(

I have a few more posts that I would like to put up and you will see them over the next month. Stay tuned as I find my creative self and get a surge of energy to post my very last posts regarding our grand tour of Europe.

Beautiful Graveyards

2008-08-11T01:27:00.001-07:00

The french do not forget their dead. In Pittsburgh, I drive past a cemetery and it is usually dotted sporadically with flowers. I get the same results when I drive past the big cemetery in San Pedro, Calif. Many headstones are bare and have been for some time. The older headstones are usually void of all color or remembrance.

The French are very different in how they remember their dead. They spend a good amount of time caring for their loved ones who have passed. They build gardens of live flowers, trees and plants directly on the headstone. Every grave is marked with color. This is a neat custom.

We saw many headstones in France since we did many tours of battlefields. Soldier's graves and people who were killed during World War II had their headstones well kept and covered with color.

In Rixheim, we saw people gardening in the church cemetery like it was their own back yard.

Lessons Learned: Small Town France in August is a Bad Idea

2008-08-11T01:12:00.000-07:00

Our train rolled into Strasbourg, France and we ended up staying in a very hot hostel. Regardless, Strasbourg was nice city.

We should have stayed there for 4 days.

Instead, we decided to stay at a super nice B&B in a small town of Rixheim which is near Mulhouse. Small town France in August is a very bad idea. Because of a mix up with the B&B we had to stay in a hotel the first night. Their restaurant was closed. We walked down the road and we could not find any restaurant since we were in a more industrial area. The only open place was an all you can eat china buffet. The buffet was packed. This should have been my first hint. Why in the hell would the French flock from all parts of this region to eat greasy egg rolls in a bucket. To make things even more funnier, the food was awful. The French do not tolerate buffets and the presentation which is top priority in every Frenchman's list was laughable. However, the place was full of French speaking people. What the heck was going on?

The next day we made it to our B&B and we walked around town hoping to find a good mom and pop shop with authentic Alsace regional fare. Shop #1: closed. Shop #2: closed. Apparently, the shops all close in August for vacation. We walked about 5 miles looking at cafe after cafe to only find each one closed for vacation. For the first time on my trip, I saw myself starving in this little town of Rixheim. Finally, a pizza place. So much for traditional French food.

Among all this anguish, we found Vino.

We were saved after all.

Eat, Pray and Hike

2008-08-11T00:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, I just had to have one cheesy rip off line as a blog subject before I went home.

Austrians are very religious. I was really surprised to find out how religious they really were.

Mutters was so cute and quaint that I could just hug it.

We did quite a bit of walking above Mutters. As we walked, we found alters, crosses and even little prayer houses.

We joked that hikers must pray that they don't get lost or fall down the mountain. I should have knocked on wood with that.

The Austrian Alps rivaled the rockies but they did not hold a torch to the Swiss Alps. Regardless, we got lucky with one clear day.

After ascending 400 meters, we saw a house in the distance. I had read in my Lonely Planet book that Austria is well connected with Mountain Huts. These huts give hikers a roof over their heads and a warm meal as they walk across long distances. You cannot drive to these huts, you can only hike in. So we traversed across a range and found out we could have a nice lunch of schnitzel and wurst in the middle of nowhere.

We planned out our route back over lunch and we started off with full stomachs.

We met a few friends along the way. (This is one of my favorite pictures, by the way)

About 10 minutes after I snapped this picture, one of our new friends tried to eat the map.

We should have stopped and prayed at the alter nearby, because just then, we took a wrong turn and we found ourselves descending down a steep path for 2 hours. We reached the bottom in shambles and realized we were way off course and we had about two hours to reach the gondola before it closed for the evening. We hot footed a mountain bike path as fast as we could to avoid a long walk down the mountain. We made it with 10 minutes to spare.

After that tough afternoon, we decided we were done with hiking for our trip and we decided to head to Alsace, France for our final 4 days to enjoy France's claim to fame: food and wine.

Kittie in Austria

2008-08-11T00:49:00.000-07:00

We winged it in Mutters

2008-08-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

(Posted on a German Keyboard. I couldnt find the question mark and there is no spell check.)

We arrived in a town call Innsbruck on the western side of Austria with no plan but to go hiking. Innsbruck is a large city. They were one of the host cities for the 2008 Euro cup. We walked into the tourist office and got a map. There are many little villages around Innsbruck but I did not adequatly do my research. Mutters stood out. What kind of Name is Mutters(question mark). The name itself is what I decided on.

We went to the TI lady and asked her to find a place in Mutters. She did. Its a small Pension footsteps from the center of town. We took the so called old school tram which riverted into a train when it left the city streets up the mountains and arrived in Mutters.

Mutters has one road and a jesus christ fountian right in the center. In addition they have a 'you cant miss' church with a big ass steeple. The church rings its darn bells Morning, Afternoon and Night. We cant seem to figure out why. Who rings bells at 4:25 in the morning(question mark)

Our Pension has a gigantic tub, balcony and sitting room and we are paying a fraction of the price we could have payed in Innsbruck.

I love flying by the seat of my pants. You never know what you are going to get.

Hops, Hops, Hops

2008-08-03T10:29:00.001-07:00

We found out from our host family, that Bavaria is the king of hops. Makes sense.

Respect the Brew

2008-08-03T10:28:00.001-07:00

Anyone who has been to Munich will respect this Brew:

We love Beer Gardens

2008-08-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Where have we been??

2008-08-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

I am sure you have been wondering where we have been the past week. Well, the answer is easy. We have been reflecting on our future after the trip and then ......

....Recovering

Fondue: Switzerland's national dish

2008-07-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

After 4 solid days of solid hiking, I put all my weight back on with one night of fondue goodness.

Mailing List folks..

2008-07-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

I made a few linking errors with pictures. I believe I have fixed all of them, but the automated emails will still show the mistakes. If a picture does not make sense, you may want to check on the actual blog site:

hopelessplanner.blogspot.com

God and the mountains

2008-07-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

I read in a Lonely Planet: California book that God did a test run on the Alps before he created Yosemite. I am guessing that the author never left Interlaken to properly see the Alps.

...and I am sure as hell that the author did not go to Gimmelwald.

Happy cows do not come from California

2008-07-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

They come from Switzerland.

Wildlife in the Alps: Well... not really

2008-07-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Oink Oink

Moo Moo

On a side note, all animals that roam such as sheep, cows, donkeys and goats wear a bell around their necks. As a result, the entire mountain rings with bells. The cows are everywhere and they usually sit on the path you need to walk on. They dont move when you walk by them. They just look at you.

Not every day

2008-07-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

that you see a rock split in two with a tree growing on top.

Hiking

2008-07-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

Four days on the trail equals beautiful pictures

One of our favorite hikes involved a descent into a alpine valley complete with water falls, glacier ice and a wall of rock.

Many Kittys in Switzerland

2008-07-28T05:11:00.000-07:00

Because of the farms, Switzerland is filled with many cats. We must have pet a dozen of cats looking for attention and a good back rub. We even had a cat walk into our bed room on two occasions just to check us out.

...and on to the Mighty Alps

2008-07-28T04:59:00.000-07:00

After a boring 3 days in Bruges due to rain, public holiday and a Sunday we caught an early morning train.

Our day consisted of one very long journey consisting of 5 trains, 1 bus and a gondola.

We arrived in the town of Gimmelwald after taking a gondola up a steep cliff. I had my eyes closed the whole time. Our hostel was what most would call rustic, but we were committed to the ultimate alps experience.

Partially by pure luck and partially by good research, we found our heaven.

These are the tables outside of our hostel.

Switzerland and the alps is more beautiful then we ever thought and this tiny town of about 10 houses, a few farms, a hostel and B&B seemed like it was in the middle of all this glory.

Belgium - lazy days

2008-07-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

After sending my mother off in London, we caught a train to Belgium. We arrived in Brugges on sunday evening to find everything closed but a sweet little italian place with great manicotti.

Wow we were lazy in Belgium. Our first day, we walked into town to find out it was a public holiday. Everything was closed but the tourist joints that charge 5 euro for a beer. We did have time to visit another Kitty:

In the evening, we found a chinese food place. Chinese places never closed and of course the chinese women reminded me of that as I walked out with my Kung Pao Chicken. We had a drink at a local pub. They were open because they are always open. They list their opening hours on the window. Basically, they are open at 14:00 and close at ... every day. I guess they could give a damn about the holiday.

The Belgians have been the most curious about us and the most forward. I think this is because we are away from the main tourist area and we are drinking beer with the locals. One lady said to me, "They say all Americans are filthy rich. You are not rich, are you?" or I hear. "I think Bush is a, how do you call it...., a bastard. That is what he is, a bastard. I dont like McCain either. He is ugly with a thing on his neck" Do you see what I mean about forward? Most of them want to talk about Obama. We always listen and try to give them new insights but we are always careful not to insert too much opinion. These comments are not harsh or directed towards us, they are purely for friendly chats over a beer or passing by when they hear our english.

At the bar, I asked about their holiday. It was their independence day. I said, "Well, happy Independence day" That was the wrong thing to say. I got caught up in a tirade about how this is not their true day of independence. I think, this area which speaks Flemish, would prefer not to be connected to Belgium or at least associated with the french side of Belgium. I have quite a bit to learn on Belgian history. Regardless, the beer is good. Good food, good drink and great talk is what makes the world go round.

London - rainy wonderful days

2008-07-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

We spent 4 rainy days in London with my mom, but we still had time to do some sight seeing

Look how cute we are:

Look how mean this guy is:

Joe's video

2008-07-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

Joe took the opportunity to film the midnight sun. Keep in mind that the sun did not set that night.

Trolls are Norway

2008-07-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Trolls are all the rage in Norway. We went through Troll Canyon, Troll Fjord and even Troll Road. We were even in what they called Troll country. The gift stores had troll pencils and troll figurines.

Puppies

2008-07-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

We did a tour of a dog sledding training center. We were supposed to be learning the details of dog sledding:

For those of you who know me, you would know I probably was not paying attention. I wondered off to pet the puppies:

Fjord's and our Captain

2008-07-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

Our captain was an old pro with this big ass ship. In fact, I believe he paralleled parked the MS Finnemarken while in port. To amuse us all, the crew practically buttered the ship up and squeezed us through this:

On top of that, we hit a dead end and the ship did a three point U-Turn. Our bow was within feet of the fjord wall.

Music Video Fun

2008-07-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

I finally have blazing fast internet and a good opportunity to put up some videos.

I have experienced some things on this trip where a picture cannot possibly describe how I feel. However, sometimes listening will come close.

I got a video of a mass in St Peter's. The video is absolutly useless. In fact, YouTube posted it sideways. However, the sound (not perfect on my little camera) was beautiful.

Another shot I caught was in Krakow. We stumbled upon 3 guys playing accordion. They were in such sync that I thought it could have passed as a full church organ if they brought it down an octave. Once again, it is all about the sound.

A guest post from Mom

2008-07-17T10:32:00.001-07:00

(Posted by Mom Renee)

Well here I am in jolly ol' England having a jolly time with Mauri and Joey. Today we did a London tour and saw all the historical sites including the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. Tomorrow we are doing Joey's favorites: all sites war related. We will also see a play in the evening. The weather has not been great but the company is wonderful. Joey and Mauri look great. Two more days and I am on my way back to Los Angeles. It was fun seeing Mauri and Joey and spending some time with my friend Carlene.

Glacier

2008-07-17T00:19:00.000-07:00

What better picture is there than with you and your mother

...and a big ass glacier in the background.

Kittie in Norway

2008-07-17T00:18:00.001-07:00

The cats in the Scandinavian countries are a bit bashful. We still see them from time to time.

Our first excursion - Fjord Tour

2008-07-17T00:05:00.000-07:00

We boarded a bus with all the oldies on the cruise to enjoy a neat scenic ride through the Fjords.

Here we are with our boat below heading to Molde.

It was weird to see our boat leave without us when we left on these excursions. Since the cruise is a working ferry, it does not have time to wait around for us sightseers. As a result, our excursions usually require transportation to the next port.

Next up on our bus tour were waterfalls.

The water was so blue everywhere we drove. It was breath taking. Unfortunately, a guy next to me spoiled my fun when he flung a cigarette into the water. The water is so pure that you do not need to treat it before drinking and that bastard tosses a cigarette into it. His wife or girlfriend was smoking too and as her cigerrette went down to the nub, I was thinking of begging her to give it to me so that I can toss it correctly. Luckily, she was a bit smarter than her counterpart and I was spared from making a huge scene.

More rushing rivers, but this image does not do as good of job of portraying the blueness of the water.

The water was so blue, I could have sworn the rivers belonged to a mega mini golf course.

Joe would now like to show you where this water comes from.

Joe...

If we go high enough to see snow pack, you know that there is only one place to go to get back to the ship. Down

Obviouslly, the cruise ship is not clever enough to run up the water fall to pick us up. The criss cross path was our route. It was pratically one way and we were in a big ass bus. Mom almost had a heart attack and had to look down. Despite my fear of heights, I was okay for some reason.

We all needed some drinks after we got back on the ship.

Cruising Norway and the Fjords

2008-07-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

The boat we took is an actual working ferry ship with cruise aspects. The boat weaves in and out of islands, fjords and open ocean to get to various secluded cities. They put people, cars, mail, soda pop and anything else that these small towns require. In addition they hold about 500 people that are just there for the ride such as us.

We are heading into Garinger Fjord.

Inside the Fjord, the water is as still as glass. I was amazed.

Here is our ship.

It looks like a cruise ship, but its a bit smaller in order to maneuver through some of the narrow inlets and fjords.

We really enjoyed the cruise and seeing bits of Norway that are very hard to get to. We passed many beautiful waterfalls and I wished I could jump off, swim ashore and hike. The water would have been a bit cold.

Back from the Top of the World

2008-07-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

A week ago we boarded a cruise bound to the very top of Norway. Internet was non existent with only enough patience to check my email due to the slow connection.

After 7 days of rest, relaxation, excursions and eating, eating, eating, Mom, Joe and I are back in civilization. Carlene has moved on to Iceland. Lucky her.

We are in London for four days and it is good to be back in an english speaking country. I guess now is as good of time as ever to update my blog. I apologize now to the mailing list people who may get slammed with email as I post 10+ entries in the next few days.

Joe......eating

2008-07-10T02:16:00.000-07:00

I called my father a few days ago. He told me that his favorite pictures are of Joe eating.

Here you go dad. This is Joe eating whale.

Made it to Oslo

2008-07-10T02:01:00.001-07:00

I always told everyone before my trip that I would randomly show up in Oslo on 7th of July. WE rolled into Oslo on time and found Carlene, my mother's friend at the hotel. Mom was in London Heathrow after arriving there four hours earlier from LAX. I jumped on the internet to check my mother's flight status.

Dang...delayed 2 hours. I got comfortable and started to straiten up and then checked the internet again. Dang... delayed 3 hours now!!!! My poor mother. She almost was not able to make it due to a stomach flu she had the week before.

Mom's delay did not stop us from having a good time.

We went upstairs and had some drinks.

I came back to the hotel room and saw my mother's flight was canceled. Luckily, after a while, mom called. Her cell phone was broken and they put her in a hotel. The poor thing was exhausted. I pushed the train to leave at 4pm the next day instead of 10:30 to allow my mother ample time to get to Oslo.

The next morning, I got a call and Mom's flight was canceled AGAIN!!!! Now, our train at 4pm was affected and our hotel reservation in Bergen was as good as gone. So we stayed over the next day and I sat in my hotel room completely stressed out while I watched my mother's flight slowly get delayed 15 minutes at a time to another 2 hour delay.

Finally mom arrived and she was not happy about the whole situation but very relievd to get there. We surprised her at the airport.

Here we are. The foursome is complete and we took the train the next morning to Bergen:

Norway is pretty:

We were so happy to be all together that we splurged big time at a seafood restaurant.

Sweden with a Family

2008-07-10T01:20:00.000-07:00

We stayed in Odense in a hostel next to the train station. I thought it was a marvelous idea until I heard announcements of train departures over and over plus the screaching of trains as the stopped.

The next morning we departed to Sweden to meet our host family in Uddevalla.

How wonderful would it be to have a house near here!!!!

and....

we found a cat.

There he is:

Our host family was wonderful and took us around the area for the day. Unfortanatly, the heavens opened and a cold rain came down all day.

We still had a good time.

Here is Joe on the car ferry:

......and the cozy little coastal villages

....and finally US

Denmark...we are in Denmark

2008-07-04T11:33:00.001-07:00

We are flying through countries so fast that it is hard to enjoy them. I am looking forward to seeing my mother and spending longer than a few days in the countries we see.

We stayed with Hanne in Denmark outside of a city called Odense. Odense lives in the shadow of Copenhagen. So as a result, this is a great little city without the crowds. On top of that, they have great shopping. Everything is on sale.

Hanna took us around on bikes and showed us her town.

Cow with a comb over

An after dinner fire and good conversation.. thanks Hanne.

And of course.. a kittie in Denmark (not really)

and just to make this post interesting:
a pretty denmark neighborhood:

Kittie in Holland

2008-07-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

We found that Czech and Poland are more dog countries. We did see Kitties in Poland and Czech but it was just impossible to snap a photo of them.

Here you go: a nice Kittie in Holland:

Holland = windmill

2008-07-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

You need a windmill in every blog about Holland. It would not be right without it. Our hosts Margo and Frenk rolled their eyes when we mentioned the windmills. I think they get that alot from their guests.

Amsterdam... sightseeing...ugh

2008-07-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

We loved Amsterdam. They had tons of things to do, but Joe and I were very citied out and we were rather bored of the same old sights.

While looking through our guide book we thought about my sister Devon, Vanessa and baby riley.

In Amsterdam, they have a monument dedicated to gay rights. It is called the homomonument. We were thinking it would be a beautiful sculpture. No...it was three triangles. We didnt realize we were even standing on the monument. We were so disappointed.

Joe's face when he realized that we found the monument tells the story:

To Devon, Vanessa and Riley and any other readers out there that are either gay or supportive of the gay community, I give you the Homomonument in Amsterdam:

(Joe is standing on it)

Netherland's answer to high gas prices

2008-07-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

I have never seen so many bikes in my entire life and of course we did our best to blend in:

Rummel's...everywhere

2008-07-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

Servas, our homestay organization allowed us to stay with another Rummel family outside of Berlin.

In true Rummel spirit, Lothar and his wonderful fiance Maran were the best of hosts.

We really felt like we were living at home.

Joe spent some quality time with the Rummel cat:

He even mowed the lawn:

In the evenings we went to Maran's family's house and visited with her mother and uncle. Uncle Gunther and the rest of the group just loved Joe. We all didnt speak each other's language, but we still loved just sitting outside and drinking beer after a good day.

During the day, the Rummel's were out and about and let us roam around their neighborhood.

You just cant beat this neighborhood.

and...Yes...those are cherry trees. We ate until we pratically threw up.

New video from Matt harding

2008-07-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

Lex, my sister, can contest that I am a huge internet geek. I look at everything. About a year and a half ago I came across a video on you tube from Matt Harding and my motivation to travel set in.

Now granted, I dont plan to travel nearly as much as Matt does, BUT I hope one day I can visit the places he has seen.

He has a new video out.

One thing Matt is famous for is picking very interesting spots to dance. I thought this memorial to the holocaust victims in Berlin made an interesting picture.

to Jim Price

2008-07-04T11:01:00.001-07:00

To my dear friend Jim Price who is a regularly comments on the blog.

Its not every day you see a giant beer walking around with a "free beer" sign.

To Bobbi: another dragon

2008-07-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

As promised to Bobbi I got another dragon pic. This one has an interesting myth. This dragon hid in a cave in krakow and then drank himself. Sounds like a twisted dream to me.

A day to remember

2008-07-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

Krakow was sooo hot and muggy and (did I say Hot?)

Our trip was enjoyable, but the weather at the same time made us borderline miserable. We managed a day trip to Auschwitz and Berkanau which was very sad, but extremely hard to grasp.

Here I am waiting for our tour to start.

Most of the exhibits we could not photograph. I think those pictures would be too sad to put on the web anyways.

We walked through bin after bin of shoes, eye glasses, suitcases and clothes. These items were found one the camps were liberated.

Here in the entrance to Auschwitz:

The sign means "Work will set you free". This is complete irony since most of the workers were killed by gas, starvation, disease, gunshot, or experimentation.

The entrance of Birkanau:

Most people brought here saw this last before being sent to the chambers and put to death. Our tour guide described the process in detail which was hard to swallow.

The rail cars would roll up on these tracks and the passengers would unload and then get into one of two lines: women and children; and men.

Each person was evaluated by a german doctor and the were told to go left or right. Right was for working and left was to extermination. However, no one knew this. Most women and almost all children were sent to the gas chamber. The only exception were twins who were used for medical experiments. The poor souls were sent to a room where they were told to undress for a shower. After being filed into a room with fake shower heads, they were locked in (a thousand at a time) and they died within 20 minutes. there is some recollection that the germans had a band play to prevent others hear their screams.

The whole visit was very heart sickening, but it was hard for us to grasp this at the same time. How could 1.5 million people be murdered. It was unreal.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

2008-07-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

I turned 29 on July 1. This is the first time I've been out of the country for my birthday. We spent the day in northern Holland with a couple named Frenk and Margo. They let us use their bikes (they own 4 of them) while they were at work, so Mauri and I biked all over. There are many bike trails in Holland and even very old people bike. As a result, most Hollanders are very fit. Frenk and Margo were no exception. Also, Hollanders save mucho dinero by biking. Gas is about $10/gallon in Holland, after converting from liters to gallons and euros to dollars, so they pay a lot more than we do and cry a lot less about it because they've already come up with a solution that works. Our country should look to Europe to find ways to conserve energy, because the Europeans are pretty good at it. Both Frenk and Margo live over an hour away from where they work. She drives to work in her small, fuel efficient, stick shift car (stick gets better gas mileage than automatic) and he bikes to the train station and takes the train to work.

They are also members of a canoe club, so when they came home from work, they took us canoeing and we had a picnic for dinner on an island in the lake. All in all, a great birthday for me!!

A special stay in Germany

2008-07-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to put up a quick post about a SERVAS stay we did in Germany. We stayed with a family about 70 km (~40 miles) from Berlin. The man's name was Lothar Rummel!! That is right, we found a Rummel in Germany, though they pronounce it differently (ROOM ol). I know my Grandpap Rummel's grandfather Charles (I think he went by his middle name because the Allegheny County census has his name as John C) was born in Berlin in about 1862 and immigrated to the US in the 1880s. (Thank you Uncle Mark for that info) So, Lothar showed me his family tree and there was a Johann (German for "John") Christophe Rummel on it, but that could not have been him because their Johann was born in 1805. So, to my knowledge, we are not related. On a funny note, Lothar said he recently had a fender bender with another Rummel that he has never met.

Lothar and his fiancee Maran are getting married this month after living together for 11 years. Apparently in Germany, very long courtships before marriage are quite common. They are both teachers and they enjoy teaching English to the Germans. Lothar started a program called "English Weekends" which he is very proud of. It is a workshop where he spends an entire weekend with German people who are learning English and they speak only English the entire weekend. He includes different exercises to help them learn. Lothar and Maran also enjoy dancing and they included Mauri and I in one of their dance sessions with their friends in their back yard. All in all it was a wonderful stay and I was excited to let everyone know that we found Rummels in Germany. Mauri will post pictures later. We also have pictures from Auschwitz and Holland that we need to post. We are in Denmark right now.

Falling way behind in Posts

2008-06-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

So much has happened to us since our last post. We have left Krakow and had a wonderful day trip to Berlin and a nice family stay outside of Berlin. We are now in Amsterdam. We have tons and tons of good pics and posts to add to our blog, but we do not have any estimate on when this will happen.

We will do what we can. :)

Another Pittsburgish Post

2008-06-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

Pierogies are special in Poland. They are stuffed with Meat, Meat and Cheese, Meat and Cabbage, Meat, Cheese and Cabbage, etc, etc.

We ate Pierogies our first night in Krakow until we dropped.

Heinz really has 57 varieties (at least in the Czech Republic)

2008-06-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

Heinz is everywhere.

See for yourself:

(Note: If you are bewildered that I would take a picture of Heinz ketchup then I am guessing you are not from Pittsburgh) :)

Beer and Grub: A Day with a Local

2008-06-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

We contacted a friend of ours that we met in Spain in December. Marian works in Prague for a software company. When he is not working, he is a world traveler for months at a time. I envy his free spirit "just do it" nature.

Marian graciously showed us around and took us to a few local haunts for greaaattt Pivo (beer). On top of that, we did the tourist stuff and also saw an open air concert with a great flamenco band.

Here we are with one kilo of Meat

The Czechs go a bit crazy with the mass quantity of Meat. In fact, Marian had to request that they tone it down for us or else we may have gotten two kilos of meat.

Here is Joe contemplating how much meat he ate:

3 (1/2 Liter beers), 1 Kilo of Meat, 2 baskets of breads and an awesome Czech Cheese appetizer = 25 USA Dollars.

I am not sure you can beat that.

We love Prague

2008-06-24T02:01:00.001-07:00

Dont forget, Czech was Communist at one point

2008-06-24T01:55:00.000-07:00

We have learned quite a bit about communism. Some of it was good and much of it was very troubling. Prague is for the Velvet Revolution (uprising at the main square) in the late 80's.

The people who protested communism put their lives on the line because the secret police were not too kind to them.

Here are some funny pics at the communism museum.

Boy.... did they hate us during the cold war. This makes sense since we were not too fond of Communist either.

I think Joe would portray a good Stalin in a major motion picture. Dont you think?

We are in Beer Country now

2008-06-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Prague and went strait to the bar to try the famous Czech Beer.

Over the course of the next few days, we explored many types of Beer and many different pubs thanks to our friend Marian. Beer is cheap too at a euro a glass.

2008-06-19T23:49:00.000-07:00

I feel like I only get pictures of us eating or seeing sites. I never get any pictures of us doing the daily grind while on travels.

Here is one in the U-Bahn (Vienna's Subway) trying to get to the train station.

Sorry, its another picture of Joe and not me. I have been listening to your comments that there are not enough pics of me. The problem is that I seem to be the one snapping all the pictures at the right time. :)

Vienna - EuroCup Madness

2008-06-19T23:46:00.002-07:00

Every shape and size has descended into Vienna for EuroCup madness. Unfortunately the day we were there, the games were not too exciting (3 games in 1st round) and there was no match in Vienna.

However, like the Olympics, the city dresses itself up to welcome fans from all over europe.

Budapest - Architecture

2008-06-19T23:46:00.001-07:00

Just a pic.

Kitty in Hungary

2008-06-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

While our Kittie (as reported by our wonderful pet sitter) does not miss us at all, we continue to visit the Kitty's of Europe.

Thank you to Tomas and Panna.

Budapest- what a suprise

2008-06-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my ealier postings, we just loved Budapest.

Look how happy we are:

A funny ongoing joke that Joe and I have been sharing since Ljubljana is that every city looks a tad like Pittsburgh. We mention the river, how green everything is, hilly (sometimes), etc.

You can imagine that our joke got a new level when we saw this in Budapest:

Yes... that is an incline to the left.

More Grub Food

2008-06-19T23:36:00.001-07:00

I would say, this is less of a wow and more of a "Why did I not think of this"

This is pure greesy goodness. A burek.

This is a pastry stuffed with meat and cheese from Croatia.

Mucho cheap (about 2 -3 dollars), filling and damn good.

Wow Foods

2008-06-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

I have dubbed a particular type of eating experience Wow Eating. It goes like this:

"Wow, I can't believe they put into "
or
"Wow, I can't believe you do to "

When we were in Venice we had a wow food: Fish in Lasagna.
In France it was a wow to putting coffee in a bowl
In Hungary is was warming up wine.

Here is a good wow food for you.

Wow, I cant believe they put 2 eggs and a hotdog on a pizza in Croatia.

I would have to put this down in my book as the ultimate grub food.

Flashback: Zagreb (party all night)

2008-06-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

After the big match, the Croatians sang and danced all night.

After the big win, Joe and I walked about quite a few blocks away from the main square to grab a bite to eat. We took our time and before we know it, the game had been over 2 hours.

However, the streets were still rocking and keep in mind that this was a bit away from the main party zone.

(Note: You really need the sound on to appreciate this video.)

After we returned to our hostel, we had a few shots with a very happy Croatian and went to bed.

The party went on and on and on and on and on.

You want photos, right?

2008-06-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, you are waiting for photos. Not quite yet. You will have to wait till I get to my next destination.

We have 3 full days of free flowing internet to post away.

Prepare yourself for a flurry of posts.

To keep you up to date, we are in Vienna.

Ballet at the Hungarian Opera House

2008-06-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

Last night, we treated ourselves to a Ballet. At 400 HUF a piece (roughly $2.50), I wouldnt call it much of a splurge.

Our seats were all the way up at the very top and to the side so we could really only see one side of the stage.

For our first ballet (except the Nutcracker), we understood what was going on and enjoyed the dancing. I would go again, but I think I would pay a little more for better seats. :)

A day at the baths

2008-06-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

Hungary has the neatest turkish baths. They are quite old, but the buildings have beautiful architecture.

We decided to try out these baths to see how relaxed we can really get.

After changing in our suits, (hungarian baths wear suits, germany baths suits are optional) we went on our way.

First up, the indoor traditional thermal baths. The traditional baths contain multiple pools. Some are big and some are small. All are of different temperatures. Cleansing yourself and relaxing your body requires you to go in and out of the different baths. (Hot, Cold, Warm, Cold, Hot).

The first bath was somewhere around 40 celcius. The next 32. The next 38 and the next 32. Before jumping into another bath, we steamed and showered and cleaned our feet. We then got into the cold plunge pool (a cold 20 degree celcius, yikes). Plunging in without screaming was a true art.

Outside there were more large pools. One was for swimming and the other was for relaxing. The relaxing pool had waterfalls to stick your head under, fountains, bubbles coming from the floor and the side, and a little area that has a current that goes in a circle.

To make the day even more enjoyable, the bath costs us about 10 Euro (4800 HUF's).

Buda Pest

2008-06-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Hungary two days ago and all I can say is Wow. I didnt expect much of Hungary because no one ever tells me that they are going to visit. Italy...yes. France...yes. Hungary is always an itinerary adder. It is a country where you have a few spare days to spare and decide to make a detour from Vienna.

Hungary was on our list because we dont know many Hungarians and we heard lots of positives about Budapest. Also, the food is in a class of its own. European food after a while is bland and boring. However, Hungary loves Spice (paprika, paprika, paprika).

Our host family rolled out the red carpet for us with food, food and more food. Wow, can Panna cook and she taught me a thing or two on how to make her dishes. To make things even better half of the food comes from the garden that Tamas (prounounced Thomash) tends. They have raspberries, strawberries, and cherries all growing in their yard. At their insistence, we picked cherries until we fell over. We walked with them when they walked their dog and they let Joe pet their two kitties (I have the pic in my camera)

Croatia wins 2-1

2008-06-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

We watched the game in the main square where a big screen tv sat on a stage. We were packed in by the hundreds and Joe and I were terribly out of place. We were the only ones not in checkered shirts and we did not know any of the words to the chants or the songs.

Goooooaaaalll... by Croatia. Items go flying into the air. Firecracker light up and everyone is jumping in the air.

Gooooaaaaaallll.. by Croatia. Same antics at the first goal.

When the game is over, we were soaked with beer and god knows what and we grabbed pizza.

It is now 4 hours since the game has ended and people are still honking horns and screaming outside.

What a game. What a team. What a country.

Zadar: Thoughts

2008-06-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

After a tough bus ride, we arrived in Zadar and walked to the booking agent to get another room. Once again, a random person picked us up to take us back to his house. The Croatian are not nearly as good at English as Slovenia. The fellow that picked us up was soooo disappointed that we were not German (since he speaks German). This guy ( I will name him James for this story) was an interesting fellow. He spoke a little english but not much at all and we had a 10 minute drive to Jame's house.

Small talk is common in car rides like this.

"English?"

This time we understood him the first time.

"No, American, Californian"

He immediately became embarrassed.

"California, Ocean, Beautiful. Croatia, hmmmm"

I disagreed out of politeness.

"President Obama... Yeah"

In Spain, we found that people were very confused with our election and were assuming that the election was between Obama and Hillary. We tried to correct him.

"Obama..... or McCain"

He didn't understand. At least I tried. James continued to press his point.

"Bush....no like"

I wasn't going to diss my country so my response was.. "Yes... we need a change."

He wanted to tell us that he disliked the war. He shaped his fingers to formed a gun and made sounds that sounded like shooting with his mouth.

"No Like Iraq. Croatia 15 years of bad. Many people....uhhhh... lost minds"

He was right. During our two days in Zadar, we saw quite a few people that were not quite right. A couple stopped us and talked us in Croatian with a lunatic voice. We also had one guy waves his arms in the air and yell at us.

I can respect James's opinion. He has seen 15 years of war. I checked the history in Zadar. They had a 60% loss when the Allies bombed them during World War II. In addition, they were pummeled during the 90's. Some of the houses we passed by were pockmarked and we just knew that the people suffered here immensely. When Yugoslavia dropped missiles on the town of zadar, the townspeople were held hostage in their houses for months without much food or water.

I can understand, why they disagree with the war. They know what an air rade feels like first hand. All in all James was a nice guy and I am guessing he would vote for Obama if he could.

Mission Accomplished: Kitties in Croatia

2008-06-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

Zadar - swimming in the Adriatic

2008-06-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Zadar was a nice town that is slowly growing. Croatia does not have sandy beaches. They have shelves and docks to jump off of. The water is so clear. What clearly looks like 3 feet deep is truly 6 feet.

Joe's new favorite pastime

2008-06-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

EuroCup is on and all of Europe is excited. Watching the games is so easy here. They have two games each night. One at 6pm and the next about 45 minutes following the previous. All the bars have flatscreens and the place is lively. Beer is cheap (about 2 - 3 dollars for a pint) here.

Tonight Croatia and Germany play and we are in Zagreb, Croatia's capital. They have a big screen set up in the square and everyone is wearing red and white checkered. If we win, we probably wont sleep. If we lose, we will have to best sleep in a big city so far.

Look out Eeyore

2008-06-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

At a Croatian rest stop half way between Zagreb and Zadar.

MMMMMM....... Donkey

Small Note: The Croatians don't actually eat donkey. This is clearly a misprint that is worth a good laugh. Oslic is actually hake. (fish)

New Map - Thanks Cheri

2008-06-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

I received an email from a friend (first) and coworker (second) asking me if I had worked with google maps.

I had, but I was way too impatient working with it. Cheri has graciously made me a map based on my blog postings that I hope to keep up. I have embedded the map on my blog side bar.

I have marked my current location with a green push pin.

Thanks Cheri. You have saved me hours of work.

If you like the map please give her thanks.

Bled in Pictures

2008-06-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

For the folks that actually went and looked up Slovenia, I am sure you are wondering now what is in Slovenia to do and why we love it so much.

I hope I can summarize my answer with just these pictures and a few words.

Bliss

=

+

+

Minus the tourists

Ljubljana - dragons and vino

2008-06-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ljubljana is really into dragons. They believe the dragons of the town protect the town.

Dont believe me?

Slovenia is a hidden gem when it comes to Vino.

No one ever takes pictures in the train.

2008-06-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

I decided to break the trend.

Here we are leaving Venice toward Austria (eventually to change trains and head to Slovenia)

Kittie in Slovenia (the correct Kittie)

2008-06-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

I made a mistake on a previous post, but I have changed it. The previous kittie was Italian and belonged to my host family.

We did get a kittie in Slovenia, but just barely. Apparently, the Slovenian kitties are just not fond of Joe.

You see that black spot?

Here he is:

Chilling in Zagreb, Croatia

2008-06-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Zagreb this afternoon. Zagreb is an ok town that has a big city feel. We head to Zadar tomorrow by Bus.

I will try to get some pics of Slovenia up tonight.

We love S(love)nia

2008-06-08T22:49:00.000-07:00

Picture posts sure take alot of time to post. As a result, I have spent most of my internet time in Slovenia trying to get Italy posted for you. As a result, my blog looks like I am in Venice. Well.... that was 3 days ago and we have been in Slovenia since Friday.

We love Slovenia. The capital, Ljubljana (pronounced: Luby - awna) is small enough to wrap you hands around but big enough to know its a city. Joe is absolutely in love with Ljubljana and has moved the city into the #2 slot of his favorite city list. (#1 Pittsburgh).

On top of all the fun of experiencing a non touristed capital, the EuroCup has started. Watching the games at the bar with a glass of wine for me and beer for Joe has consumed most of our evenings. (Note: Slovenia prides itself on great wines AND great beers)

After Ljubljana, we went to the tiny town of Bled which sits on a lake. The town is heavily visited by Germans. We heard a few American accents, but not many.

At the tourist office, the women behind the counter took a look at our passports and excitedly told us that our Presidente was in Ljubljana. Surprised, I said "Huh?".

"Your president, Buuuusssshhh. Visiting Ljubljana"

This was the first time, I heard excitement in someone's voice over Bush. However, I doubt that Slovenians actually like Bush.

In Eastern Europe, accommodations are not always in place to handle tourists. As a result, you just stop at the Tourist office and ask them for a room. The office then calls, Frank, Cindy, John or Mike to see if they have room in their house. Then Frank, Cindy, John or Mike come in their car to pick you up and take you back to their house.

Our host is an old couple. I would guess they are around 80 and the husband does not speak much english at all. He probably speaks either Italian or German and of course his native language: Slovene.

"England?"

Of course, we didnt understand that he said England in a heavy accent.

"Australia?"

Oh... he wants to know where we are from.

"United States"

"Huh?"

"American"

"Ohhhhhh.......Ammmmmeeeeerrrrrriiiiiiiikaaa"

I wish I could have tape recorded his voice. He sounded so awwed and impressed. We both felt like a million bucks. My hunch is that Americans usually stick to the hotels and hostels and shy away from the "Sobe" rooms.

Joe and I conquered Bled. We rented a little wooded row boat and we rowed around the lake. Joe rowed, I sat. All I needed was a little frilly umbrella and we could have time warped into the 1800's.

After that, we walked around the lake. I'll post some pictures up when I get a chance.

Today we pick up the train and head to our next destination.

Please keep those comments rolling in. They are so special to Joe and I.

Kittie in Italy

2008-06-08T22:45:00.000-07:00

Thank you Martina for letting Joe pose with your Kitty.

Venice

2008-06-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

We thought Venice was beautiful.

We passed on the whole Gondola experience. The going rate was 80 euro for a half hour.....no thanks.

San Giovanni with our host family

2008-06-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

We spent some time with an italian family. They live in a small town outside of Bologna. Bologna reminds me of Minneapolis. You hit farms until you are practically in the center of the city. San Giovanni as a result was a small town where every one knows everyone else.

Simonetta and Leonardo spoke very good english. Martina was learning in school and Daniele had just a little exposure. After a scoop of Gilato at the local Gilataria with the family we went to a small museum which featured stamps the had the different Disney characters. I rate mickey mouse up there with CocaCola and McDonadls on total world wide understanding. We had a blast going through all the disney characters. They had different names for many of the characters. They just could not believe that someone would name the three ducks Hooey, Dooey and Louie.

That evening, Daniele was to sing in the chorus for a presentation of Mozart's "The Magic Flute". School events are the same everywhere. Every child was waving at mom and dad.

It felt like the whole town showed up to the concert. We sat in the fourth row and felt like we were part of the family cheering on Daniele.

Overall, we had an absolute blast with the family. Simonetta and Leonardo were wonderful hosts.

I also got a chance to help Martina with her English homework while Joe played a strange game with Daniele which involved special cards and action figures. I still do not understand how Joe figured out how to play.

I guess no matter how little you can communicate with someone, you can still figure out how to play games with children with patience and understanding.

Look what I found!!!

2008-06-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

I accidently stumbled across the Malaga Cove Neptune statue's twin brother.

For the folks that live near Palos Verdes, I am sure you will be amused.

The Malaga Cove statue of Neptune in Palos Verdes Est is a replica of the Neptune statue in Bologna.

Money please?

2008-06-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

It's only fitting that beggars bow down in a praying position when asking for money near the Vatican.

In France, they held their hands out. In Siena, they kneeled on the knees as put their hands out like they were trying to receive Eucharist. Then in Rome, we got the complete bow.

I am a big fat scrooge. They got nothing from me.

The Vatican on Republican Day

2008-06-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

June 2 is the day that Italy declared itself a republic. So, all the police and milatary jumped into their fancy uniforms and paraded around Rome.

I was really impressed by how neat and unique each branch of the military's and law enforcement's uniforms were.

way more snazzy then the british (red coats) in my opinion:

These guys had really big guns earlier in the day. I guess the afternoon mellowed them out and they exchanged their guns for flags on long poles.

On to the Vatican:

The Vatican museum is a way to show off the church's loot. So you can imagine how many roman lawn ornaments they had lying around.

I look at this picture and I think star wars. I don't know why, but I do:

Michaelangelo only painted the chapel. Raphael painted a whole series of rooms, but no one ever says they want to go to the vatican to see his stuff. Poor guy.

Swiss Guard. They look like pansies, dont they? These were the colored guard, but the swiss guard in the museum didn't take to me kindly when they found my pocket knife in my back pack. Unlike the TSA, they held on to it for me until my visit was complete.

Finally...St. Peter's Bassilica. I had the opportunity to tour the church during a mass. The music and chanting echoed around the church. The experience was amazing, but I couldn't help but be a little bothered to see tourist talking loudly and sitting on the kneeler's in the chapel.

I unfortunately did not get any pics of Pope John Paul's tomb, but I did visit. I was deeply humbled.

Joe goes to the museam

2008-06-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

When you dig around Rome, you are bound to find some cool stuff. Statues seem to be the big item. These were mostly lawn ornaments (think Pink Flamingo).

So on a hot day in Rome, we spent the afternoon looking at real real real old lawn ornaments.

Rome: Food

2008-06-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick pictures of Food in Rome:

To my godson. Dont forget that your name is Italian too. In fact, there is an entire museum dedicated to you in Florence.

Thank god for Gilato. We have not stopped eating Gilato since we arrived in Italy.

The ultimate rip off beer. We learned our lesson on this one. Always ask for size and price before ordering items in a high tourist area.

If not you get this for 11 Euros:

We were not gonna walk away waisting 11 Euros.

Roman Empire: What's left

2008-06-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Its a shame to see the ruins from what was once a massive and beautiful empire.

(Colosseum)

Regrouping in Rome

2008-06-06T14:48:00.001-07:00

The rain just wont stop falling and I am about to scream out of madness.

Our original plans were to spend a few days in Cinque Terre on the beach. After a disturbing weather report, we decided to head to Rome for some museum time. While we were at it, we might as well say a prayer at the vatican about all this damn rain. As I write this now 7 days after the fact, God did not answer my prayers.

Here is that fountain that Joanne loves so much.

Dont worry Joanne, we threw a penny in it for you:

The next day, it was sunny (go figure), but hot as heck. In rome, and Italy in general, they have these awesome awesome fountains. Think about the hottest and muggiest day in Pennsylvania and then think about these constantly running fountains shooting ice cold water at you. Pure heaven:

Washing it all down with a glass of Chanti

2008-06-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I updated this blog since I have not had a good strong internet connection. Tonight I am staying at a hostel with a blazing fast connection, so I will overwhelm you now with a series of posts.

It has rained solid since Paris and of course, our splurge tour of chianti was no better. So much or being under the tuscan sun!!!!! Regardless, we had a good time with our tour guide, Roberto who has a serious problem with Olive Garden.

We visited a few towns in Chianti and went through some history of the region.

Pretty.

Next, we sampled Chianto Classico at a smaller winery in the region.

If you have ever went wine tasting with Joe and I, you would know that we cannot resist buying a bottle. With our little packs, we drank our premium bottle (7 euros, by the way) of Chianto Classico with pizza.

Bologna

2008-06-05T00:26:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

I am running a tad behind on posts and pictures. I am not sure when I will be able to catch up since I do not have wireless access.

We are outside of Bologna with an Italian family: Simonetta, Leonardo, Martina (13) and Daniele (11).

We spent yesterday exploring a nice city Bologna.

When in Rome.....

2008-06-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

After a few schedule adjustments, we made it to Rome for a 3 day stay. Today we went to the coliseum, the Forum and the Rome National museum. The coliseum was only ho hum for us, but the Forum was fantastic. WE just couldn't believe how many ruins there were. We saw where Cesar was creamated, where the senators held court, where the houses were of famous romans (what is left of them) and tons more. We also saw where the romans courts were, unfortunately there is nothing left of them.

It just floors me how advanced the romans were.

The night before, we visited the spanish steps and the trivoli fountain. Both places were 5 deep with people and tourist central.

We are staying at a fantastic B&B near the train station.

Italy

2008-05-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

We have arrived in Italy after two buses and six trains. I will save our night train experience for another post. Its a good story.

For now, I will tell you we are in a medium sized town called Siena smack dab in the center of Tuscany.

Here are some nice pics of us living up life Italian style.

Joe listening to a Rick Steves pod cast:

Antipasti to start a meal off right and washing it down with Chianti

Speaking of this, we totally messed up the order. I got a liter of Chianti thinking 1 Liter was no more than a few glasses of wine. Joe informed me later that a standard bottle of wine was 750 ml. So we got a mega bottle of wine. My head hurt for the rest of the day. :)

Not the best picture of me considering that I was a mess after the 6 trains:

Mauri goes the grocery store

2008-05-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show my appreciation to my hosts by buying a bottle of wine for them. If you recall, it is polite in the states to spend about 20 dollars for a bottle of wine you intend to give. Anything below 10 dollars, may show you look like a cheapo. Am I correct with this assumption?

Imagine, my dilemma when the wine display was shelf after shelf of this:

The store had tons of new items for us to figure out. I cant recommend more to try cooking in another country. You can add two hours to your day just browsing through the supermarket trying to find the equivalent. Here were a few of our surprises:

1. They do not have russet potatoes. Imagine my surprise when I had baked potato on the menu.
2. Cheddar cheese is not very common at all.
3. Cream is not refrigerated and comes in little juice boxes.
4. Eggs are not refrigerated either.
5. You pay for your plastic bags OR you bring your own bags.

Sometimes you are taught something your whole life and then when you realize that someone does it different and the sky does not fall, you start to rethink everything.

Food..Food and more Food

2008-05-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

French markets in small villages are a true experience. Uta and Alain took us there and told us that this is the way they see the families from the mountains that come down once a week. Everyone was saying hello to Uta and Alain with two kisses, one on each cheek. The children and the puppies were all playing off to the side and everyone walked around the market with baskets buying anything and everything.

Markets are not all about food, we bought a pocket knife and Uta bought some new clothes for Theo. Markets sell everything, even pets.

One of my favorite memories will be at the market. Joe went off to buy dried sausage and the fellow was speaking french to joe pointing to the different meats and making him try each piece. There was an old lady picking out some produce and a crowd around a stand that was selling every spice you can think of. I could smell the paprika from where I was standing. To the right of me, were two people buying cheese from the Frommage (cheese) stand. They had about 60 different types of cheese. Finally, right beside me was a butcher selling his meat and right underneath the meat slicer was the fattest golden retriever you ever did see hoping that some meat would fall from the slicer and into his mouth.

We did remarkably well maneuvering around the market. Joe finally got a sausage, and we went on to continue to fill our packs with more picnic supplies for the train ride.

The result:

The Head Waiter at the Brasserie

2008-05-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

Les Vans with our host Family

2008-05-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic time with Uta, Alain, Theo and Christophe outside of Les Vans in the Languedoc region. To get there, we took two trains and a bus. We really felt like adventurers hopping around.

Our host family had a lovely house and were just wonderful hosts. Uta made us a lovely home cooked french meal and we reciprocated with a nice American meals (hamburgers) the following night.

Here is the back of their house:

Here is a pic of a neighborhood in Les Vans

The family cat helped continue our streak of Joe and a cat in every country:

Avignon: a whole lot of blah

2008-05-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

I have a couple items of interest to post on my blog.

I dont feel right completely not addressing Avignon. We did not have a problem with the city. It was nice, but it rained, rained, rained.

We did a few things: we put our hand in the Rhone River, laughed at dumb signs and tried to force two snails to be friends on the side of the road.

Getting to Avignon was really neat. We rode a TGV train at 200 KM an hour. I felt like I was flying.

This post is so boring, that I think a dumb sign picture is in order.

One thing I liked about france is that the french family does not wait until the weekend to have outings together. After work (between 4pm and 5pm), the local families will take their children for a stroll in a park or along the river.

In closing, here is a pic of Avignon from across the Rhone.