We leave Mykonos Island in Greece in a couple hours to take the ferry to Athens, where we stay 3 nights. After that, we fly back to the States. :(
Here's a pic from the sunset in Santorini the other night!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Still alive!
Yep, we're still here. Not much time for posting as we've been out and about so much! Just wanted to let you know we're alive!
We leave Mykonos Island in Greece in a couple hours to take the ferry to Athens, where we stay 3 nights. After that, we fly back to the States. :(
Here's a pic from the sunset in Santorini the other night!
We leave Mykonos Island in Greece in a couple hours to take the ferry to Athens, where we stay 3 nights. After that, we fly back to the States. :(
Here's a pic from the sunset in Santorini the other night!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Assisi....
We’ve had some new experiences since Florence – mainly driving in Italy! Italian drivers are CRAZY in the city especially, so Jen’s driving is fitting in super well! We picked up our car at the Florence airport and it wasn’t quite what we were expecting. We thought we’d have one of the smaller 4 door cars that we see everywhere, but we were surprised to find this parked in the space they told us to go to!
We successfully navigated to Sienna, about an hour or so drive out of Florence. The landscape was similar to some of the Pacific NW, with its green, tree-filled hills. There were some huge houses on some of the hilltops, often surrounded by grape or hay fields. Once in Sienna, we found our way (without a real map!) close to the city center and parked, so we could go see the Duomo here, along with the Piazza del Campo, a famous town square with a bell tower that overshadows it. The streets in the center of Sienna are all winding and hilly, constantly going up and down and around…easy to get lost! Fortunately there were signs to get us to where we were going.
Inside the Duomo, which is said to be one of the most beautiful in Italy, was this floor that took over 200 years to make. It had all these collages on them.
The pillars were also different from anything we’d seen so far.
Probably the coolest thing about this Cathedral was its library.
The outside was gorgeous too, similar in design to the one we’d seen in Florence. There was also a bell tower to climb to the top of, but we’d had enough stairs the day before!
After taking in the Duomo, we headed to the Piazza del Campo and had a yummy dinner – pasta and more vino!
We attempted to head back to the car, and ended up going in circles thanks to the twisty little streets. After finally getting directions, we made it back to the car and headed on to Assisi.
It was getting pretty dark by this point, so we really didn’t see too much of the country side. We made it into Assisi and had a great view of St. Francis’ Basillica all light up on the hill at night. We tried to follow the directions we had hand written to get to the hotel (Grand Hotel Assisi), but nothing was marked with what we’d written. We just kind of followed any sign that said “Assisi” on it, and somehow, ended up finding it by pure luck. It was at this point Jen and I decided we were destined to be on The Amazing Race…ha!
Our hotel here is beautiful. We had a glass of vino and chatted with some other travelers and the bartender, trying to communicate using French, Spanish, German, Italian, and English. Between all 5 languages, we could pretty much talk about anything. It was so amusing though!
We’re off to explore Assisi and the country side now! Ciao!
Firenze (Florence)...land of a TON of steps!
Firenze (Florence) – the land of many stairs
**This format was so good when I typed it, I'll fix it later!
We’ve been out and about so much every day that we haven’t done much for posting anything. That means we’re having a great time though! Florence is gorgeous…a city that there’s no way to do and see everything in a few days. We didn’t go to any of the major museums (Uffiti, Accademia) but we’ve seen some amazing things. It’s so different to walk through a city where most of the buildings are so ancient looking, like something out of a movie. I love it!
We spent quite a bit of time at the Duomo (cathedral). The pictures don’t even do it justice on its size and all of the tiny little detail on the outside of it.
We hiked up over 400 stairs to the top of the dome, where the ceiling is painted, and then out on to the top of it outside, where we had a 360 view of all of Florence. We’ve been very lucky on weather so far (knock on wood), and it was hot, but gorgeous.
Inside the dome
The view from the top!
After hiking back down all of those stairs, we hoofed it across the river to the Pitti Palace, which was once home to the Medici family.
There are a ton of gorgeous art works there, along with some of the original furniture, etc. We walked through the royal apartments and a modern art exhibit.
We found even more stairs here. After , we went to a little café, had a glass of vino, and people watched – something we do a lot of (imagine that!)
When we were down across the river, we also walked up MORE stairs and hills to the Piazza di Michelangelo where we had another panoramic view of the city at sunset. This trip so far has been filled with so many beautiful sights.
Speaking of vino – it, of course, is AMAZING here! I’ve been sticking mostly to house red wines, and haven’t been disappointed, but the whites are good too! When we drive through Tuscany on our way to Assisi, I’m planning on picking up a few bottles.
And the food… oh my, the food… it’s SO good! We keep finding little places to eat along the roadways where you sit outside on the sidewalk area. Lots of pastas, breads, and gelato! Jen and I seem pretty determined to try about every flavor of gelato before we leave this country! (Gelato is like ice cream for the most part…but like a mix between hard ice cream and soft serve in the most tasty flavors!)
Next, we’re off to drive through Tuscany, stopping in Siena and Assisi!
**This format was so good when I typed it, I'll fix it later!
We’ve been out and about so much every day that we haven’t done much for posting anything. That means we’re having a great time though! Florence is gorgeous…a city that there’s no way to do and see everything in a few days. We didn’t go to any of the major museums (Uffiti, Accademia) but we’ve seen some amazing things. It’s so different to walk through a city where most of the buildings are so ancient looking, like something out of a movie. I love it!
We spent quite a bit of time at the Duomo (cathedral). The pictures don’t even do it justice on its size and all of the tiny little detail on the outside of it.
We hiked up over 400 stairs to the top of the dome, where the ceiling is painted, and then out on to the top of it outside, where we had a 360 view of all of Florence. We’ve been very lucky on weather so far (knock on wood), and it was hot, but gorgeous.
Inside the dome
The view from the top!
After hiking back down all of those stairs, we hoofed it across the river to the Pitti Palace, which was once home to the Medici family.
There are a ton of gorgeous art works there, along with some of the original furniture, etc. We walked through the royal apartments and a modern art exhibit.
We found even more stairs here. After , we went to a little café, had a glass of vino, and people watched – something we do a lot of (imagine that!)
When we were down across the river, we also walked up MORE stairs and hills to the Piazza di Michelangelo where we had another panoramic view of the city at sunset. This trip so far has been filled with so many beautiful sights.
Speaking of vino – it, of course, is AMAZING here! I’ve been sticking mostly to house red wines, and haven’t been disappointed, but the whites are good too! When we drive through Tuscany on our way to Assisi, I’m planning on picking up a few bottles.
And the food… oh my, the food… it’s SO good! We keep finding little places to eat along the roadways where you sit outside on the sidewalk area. Lots of pastas, breads, and gelato! Jen and I seem pretty determined to try about every flavor of gelato before we leave this country! (Gelato is like ice cream for the most part…but like a mix between hard ice cream and soft serve in the most tasty flavors!)Next, we’re off to drive through Tuscany, stopping in Siena and Assisi!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Leaning tower of Pisa.. and more Pisa...
Too sleepy to do much of a post, but here are a few pics. more words to come!
Central Pisa along the river..
THE tower!
The bell on top of the tower...
The cathedral..
Another view of the cathedral.
In the cathredal.
More in the cathedral.
Our list of where to go next...one trip a year puts us in our 60s!
Bread..
Spices!
and olives! at the one of the Piazzas in Pisa.
Have I mentioned I LOVE this town? And I'm picking up -some- Italian..and LOVE the vino!
Off to Firenze (Florence) tomorrow afteroon!
Central Pisa along the river..
THE tower!
The bell on top of the tower...
The cathedral..
Another view of the cathedral.
In the cathredal.
More in the cathedral.
Our list of where to go next...one trip a year puts us in our 60s!
Bread..
Spices!
and olives! at the one of the Piazzas in Pisa.
Have I mentioned I LOVE this town? And I'm picking up -some- Italian..and LOVE the vino!
Off to Firenze (Florence) tomorrow afteroon!
Pisa - day 1..sort of!
So..Typed this last night and am a day behind. I LOVE ITALY! So does Jen, despite the fact that she's already asleep..
Here's kinda how the first day went:
11:37 pm Italy time = 1:43 pm Nome time (earlier that day!) In other words, if I weren’t about to go to sleep after a great first day in Italy, I’d be in Nome seeing patients at this very moment. It seems kind of surreal!
It’s official: Jen and I LOVE Italy! The flight over was looooooooooooong but pretty comfortable for economy class (aka the sardine can). There were plenty of entertaining movies (I watched 2.5 of them and didn’t sleep…) between NYC and Paris. We struggled to stay awake through a 3 hour layover there before flying on to Pisa. We arrived in Pisa around 5 pm local time, got our bags, snagged a cab, and made it tour our hotel. This 4 star hotel runs for 180 Euro a night…. I know we didn’t come CLOSE to paying that… sweet deal! It’s a nice hotel – very good pick. I’m a little confused by the two “toilets” in the bathroom though.
Once we checked in and dropped off our bags, we decided to go find some food. The first couple of places nearby were still closed for siesta (at 6:30 pm). We happened upon a Bar/Tortteria (bars = coffee shops here for the most part). They didn’t officially reopen until 7 pm (we showed up at 6:50). We didn’t really know this for sure because the cute little older couple that were running the place didn’t speak English…and somehow between the two of us, Jen and I don’t speak really ANY Italian (oops.) We managed to order some food. It was really cute: the sweet little lady brought out three different dried pasta noodles and presented them to us to choose from: Penne, spaghetti, and one that looks like penne without the beveled edges. Of course, she used the Itialian words for them. We pointed to the penne and nodded when she asked about Bolognaise. A little while later, we were presented with this lovely pasta dish.
It was super yummy, especially with some bread and olive oil/vinegar. We were feeling pretty content, when another waiter (possibly the couple’s son?) came over. He was trying to ask us about our 2nd dish… and we weren’t getting it at all. He definitely didn’t speak much English because at one point he was asking us if we were speaking German! We managed to get our beef dish. again, delish.. along with a salad. Somewhere around this time, a group of guys come in (4 or so?) and mind you, we were the only ones in the restaurant at this time. Our waiter comes back and asks us if we want any caffe (coffee), the (tea), or dulche (icecream). Jen pipes up that she wants dulche, which manages to entertain the table of guys next to us.
Our dulche (ice cream) was sooo good. It was shaped like a piece of pie with vanilla ice cream, some sort of nut inside, and cocoa powder sprinkled across the top. During this whole encounter, we were only drinking bottled water. We finish our dessert and are getting ready to head back to the hotel when the table of guys start talking to us. We really don’t have many common words, but between our English, their bad English, their itialian, our even worse Italian, Jen’s Spanish, and my French, we manage to talk some.
Time goes on, we are asked if we want any caffe… we refuse. A guy from the next table pipes up about vino..we laugh.. and suddenly, there is a small carafe of vino at our table. I ask about it… it’s a local Piza vintage.. made from grapes locally. A house wine at it’s finest. Even jen enjoyed it! We managed to have a few glasses of this wine, and then were served some “Punch” – espresso and rum. After that, another glass of wine, and we decide to call it a night around 9:30. We head back to our hotel, and decide to grab a drink and head to the pool. We don’t quite make it to the pool. Instead, we sat in the lounge, Jen sipping a cosmo, me an amazing red wine from the Chianti region south of here, and munching on some green olives, bruschetta, and other fried veggies that the bartender served us. We do make it to the pool to stick our feet in for about 5 minutes, then head to bed, exhausted from lack of sleep.
Tomorrow, we take on Piza! We’re off to find the leaning tower, and check out the sites!
Here's kinda how the first day went:
11:37 pm Italy time = 1:43 pm Nome time (earlier that day!) In other words, if I weren’t about to go to sleep after a great first day in Italy, I’d be in Nome seeing patients at this very moment. It seems kind of surreal!
It’s official: Jen and I LOVE Italy! The flight over was looooooooooooong but pretty comfortable for economy class (aka the sardine can). There were plenty of entertaining movies (I watched 2.5 of them and didn’t sleep…) between NYC and Paris. We struggled to stay awake through a 3 hour layover there before flying on to Pisa. We arrived in Pisa around 5 pm local time, got our bags, snagged a cab, and made it tour our hotel. This 4 star hotel runs for 180 Euro a night…. I know we didn’t come CLOSE to paying that… sweet deal! It’s a nice hotel – very good pick. I’m a little confused by the two “toilets” in the bathroom though.
Once we checked in and dropped off our bags, we decided to go find some food. The first couple of places nearby were still closed for siesta (at 6:30 pm). We happened upon a Bar/Tortteria (bars = coffee shops here for the most part). They didn’t officially reopen until 7 pm (we showed up at 6:50). We didn’t really know this for sure because the cute little older couple that were running the place didn’t speak English…and somehow between the two of us, Jen and I don’t speak really ANY Italian (oops.) We managed to order some food. It was really cute: the sweet little lady brought out three different dried pasta noodles and presented them to us to choose from: Penne, spaghetti, and one that looks like penne without the beveled edges. Of course, she used the Itialian words for them. We pointed to the penne and nodded when she asked about Bolognaise. A little while later, we were presented with this lovely pasta dish.
It was super yummy, especially with some bread and olive oil/vinegar. We were feeling pretty content, when another waiter (possibly the couple’s son?) came over. He was trying to ask us about our 2nd dish… and we weren’t getting it at all. He definitely didn’t speak much English because at one point he was asking us if we were speaking German! We managed to get our beef dish. again, delish.. along with a salad. Somewhere around this time, a group of guys come in (4 or so?) and mind you, we were the only ones in the restaurant at this time. Our waiter comes back and asks us if we want any caffe (coffee), the (tea), or dulche (icecream). Jen pipes up that she wants dulche, which manages to entertain the table of guys next to us.
Our dulche (ice cream) was sooo good. It was shaped like a piece of pie with vanilla ice cream, some sort of nut inside, and cocoa powder sprinkled across the top. During this whole encounter, we were only drinking bottled water. We finish our dessert and are getting ready to head back to the hotel when the table of guys start talking to us. We really don’t have many common words, but between our English, their bad English, their itialian, our even worse Italian, Jen’s Spanish, and my French, we manage to talk some.
Time goes on, we are asked if we want any caffe… we refuse. A guy from the next table pipes up about vino..we laugh.. and suddenly, there is a small carafe of vino at our table. I ask about it… it’s a local Piza vintage.. made from grapes locally. A house wine at it’s finest. Even jen enjoyed it! We managed to have a few glasses of this wine, and then were served some “Punch” – espresso and rum. After that, another glass of wine, and we decide to call it a night around 9:30. We head back to our hotel, and decide to grab a drink and head to the pool. We don’t quite make it to the pool. Instead, we sat in the lounge, Jen sipping a cosmo, me an amazing red wine from the Chianti region south of here, and munching on some green olives, bruschetta, and other fried veggies that the bartender served us. We do make it to the pool to stick our feet in for about 5 minutes, then head to bed, exhausted from lack of sleep.
Tomorrow, we take on Piza! We’re off to find the leaning tower, and check out the sites!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Leaving on a jet plane...
Jen and I are at JFK waiting for our flight to leave! So excited!!!
Last night we watched fireworks at Westpoint. I took some sweet videos, so when I figure out how to upload them, I will. Here's a couple pics tho...
After, we went to one of her favorite bars near where she's been living. Her friend/bartender made us a "Red/White/Blue" shot.. Grenadine, Blue Curaco, and something else. Sweet but yummy! A couple beers later, we headed home.
Went shopping today a little, and then went to meet Paaton, my aunt Kandy's 18 day old daughter. She is GORGEOUS! Kandy took some pics, so hopefully I'll get to post some later on.
Now to go try to score better seats....
Last night we watched fireworks at Westpoint. I took some sweet videos, so when I figure out how to upload them, I will. Here's a couple pics tho...
After, we went to one of her favorite bars near where she's been living. Her friend/bartender made us a "Red/White/Blue" shot.. Grenadine, Blue Curaco, and something else. Sweet but yummy! A couple beers later, we headed home.
Went shopping today a little, and then went to meet Paaton, my aunt Kandy's 18 day old daughter. She is GORGEOUS! Kandy took some pics, so hopefully I'll get to post some later on.
Now to go try to score better seats....
Saturday, July 4, 2009
On my way!
My flight actually left Nome EARLY tonight! Hope that's a sign of how the trip is going to go! I'm just hanging out in the Anchorage airport waiting for my flight to Seattle, then on to Newark.
I'm going to try to post pictures and stories along the way. I'm so excited to be traveling with Jen! Last summer we did a 7 night cruise to the western Caribbean which was incredible. She's the best travel buddy ever!
Here's the current itinerary:
July 3: leave Nome! (yay!)
July 4: Arrive in Newark, spend the 4th in NYC!
July 5: meet Paayton, my aunt Kandy's new little gem then fly out to..Italy!!
July 6-8: Pisa, Italy
July 8-10: Florence, Italy
July 10-12: Assisi, Italy
July 12-15: Rome, Italy
July 15-17: Santorini, Greece
July 17-19: Mykonos, Italy
July 19-22: Athens, Greece (missed the Olympics by a year, dang it!)
July 22: Fly to NYC
July 23: Fly to Portland!
July 24: Ghadeer & Pancho's wedding!!
July 26: Back to the grind in Nome
Cheers to travel!
I'm going to try to post pictures and stories along the way. I'm so excited to be traveling with Jen! Last summer we did a 7 night cruise to the western Caribbean which was incredible. She's the best travel buddy ever!
Here's the current itinerary:
July 3: leave Nome! (yay!)
July 4: Arrive in Newark, spend the 4th in NYC!
July 5: meet Paayton, my aunt Kandy's new little gem then fly out to..Italy!!
July 6-8: Pisa, Italy
July 8-10: Florence, Italy
July 10-12: Assisi, Italy
July 12-15: Rome, Italy
July 15-17: Santorini, Greece
July 17-19: Mykonos, Italy
July 19-22: Athens, Greece (missed the Olympics by a year, dang it!)
July 22: Fly to NYC
July 23: Fly to Portland!
July 24: Ghadeer & Pancho's wedding!!
July 26: Back to the grind in Nome
Cheers to travel!
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